I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

The kingdom is vast, and there is a time difference between the capital and the island where Ji Tian is located; at this moment, the night is deep.

The main hall doors closed behind Viktor with a dull thud.

He strode through the empty corridor, the magic crystal lamps on both sides of the pillars lighting up one by one as he passed, and then going out one by one behind him, like pairs of eyes blinking in the darkness.

He stopped before the throne and bowed slightly.

"Father, the chief diviner has just sent word that Uncle George's soul imprint has completely dissipated, confirming his death. The diviner cannot pinpoint the exact location of the Golden Crown, but it is certain that it has changed hands."

silence.

The main hall was empty as usual, with only Victor's own breathing echoing under the dome.

He waited as usual for his father's telepathic message, but after a few breaths without success, he looked up in confusion and a voice came from the direction of the throne.

It was as if dozens of voices of varying depths were rising simultaneously, layering together to form a magnificent and resonant sound:

"I see."

Viktor was taken aback at first, then an overwhelming surge of excitement welled up inside him.

"Father! You can speak again! Does this mean—"

The layered sounds emitted a low chuckle, as if something was stretching its limbs.

"Thanks to the last divine descent, they were a bit impatient, which accelerated my integration process. Now I can briefly respond to you with words."

"That's wonderful! When will you return?"

"Their resistance has indeed weakened, but full integration will take some time. For now, do not publicize George's death or the whereabouts of the crown, nor send anyone to investigate. Just tell the outside world that they are still patrolling the western border, and I will handle it personally when I return."

"clear."

"Step down."

Viktor bowed again, took three steps back, and then strode towards the palace gate.

The palace doors slowly closed behind him, and in the void above the throne, the dark red eye reopened, then slowly closed again a few breaths later.

There are reasons why the royal family dares to challenge the church, which is protected by the gods. As the actual controller of the capital city, which has been visited by the gods 230 times, the royal family has secretly accumulated a lot of resources over the years, including several gods who have actually descended.

However, most of these so-called gods are down-on-their-luck gods who couldn't survive in their original worlds. They wouldn't dare to challenge the authority of the church even if they had a thousand lives, otherwise the kingdom would have already taken action against the church.

However, it is precisely because of this that the royal family dares to use special means to recruit gods to obtain power, since the Three-Part God will be there to cover for them if anything goes wrong.

As he walked through the corridor, the evening breeze from the garden carried the fresh scent of trimmed grass and trees. Victor slowed his pace, turned past a few neatly trimmed holly bushes, and saw a small figure squatting by the flower bed.

Princess Sonia wore a light apricot-colored dress with delicate daisy patterns embroidered along the hem. Her sleeves were slightly rolled up, revealing a slender wrist.

She was looking down, reaching out to tease a short-haired cat crouching on the edge of a flower bed. Her light golden hair was loosely tied into two short braids that hung down her shoulders, the ends of which were covered with grass blades, but she was completely unaware of it.

Viktor stopped a few steps away, offering a perfectly timed, brotherly smile, his tone gentle:

"My dear sister, it's getting dark, why are you still outside playing with the cat?"

Sonia looked up, and upon seeing who it was, her smiling expression, which had been focused on playing with the cat, quickly vanished, replaced by a cold expression tinged with disdain.

"Victor, I have my own name. You can call me 'Your Highness' if you insist."

Viktor's smile remained unchanged, as if the words spoken directly to him had not reached his ears at all.

His smile remained gentle as he stood quietly, waiting for her to continue.

Sonia dusted off her hands, shooed the cat away, and then stood up.

"How is things on Father's side?"

Their royal family had a strange rule from some point in time: once the crown prince of the kingdom was established, the other sons were no longer allowed to see their father on their own initiative, and all information was to be conveyed by the crown prince.

Of course, the crown prince and the princes and princesses could not control the kingdom's violent institutions at this time.

"Father is busy with state affairs. You know that things haven't been very fair in the Southern Border lately. He'll come to see you once he's finished with his work."

Sonia snorted, bent down to brush the grass off her skirt, and without even glancing at Viktor, turned and walked toward the gazebo at the end of the garden.

Victor stood there watching her walk away, her skirt shimmering behind the clusters of roses before disappearing around the corner of the corridor.

The smile on Viktor's face slowly faded only after she had completely disappeared from sight.

He clicked his tongue softly, lowered his head to straighten his cuffs, and spoke as if to himself, or perhaps to the cat hiding in the bushes:

"All I did was kill all the pet rabbits she had when she was little, cook them, and send them to her. I only told her the truth after she had eaten them. She just lost her pets, but I'm her older brother. Is it really necessary for her to hold a grudge like this? She even chases away all the animals around her when she sees me?"

After entering the study and closing the door, he sat down behind the desk, casually picked up the unopened official letter on the table, twirled it between his fingers, and sighed as if he had a change of heart.

"It's a pity I was young and inflexible back then. If I had taken the opportunity to frame my second child, she would probably look at me much more gently now."

……

Ji Tian put the golden crown back into the depths of his spatial ring, patted his robes, and stood up.

"Let's go see how those pirates are doing now."

The group arrived at the venue under the cover of Ophelia's concealment spell, only to find it had changed drastically.

The previously scattered stands have been reorganized, and the central throne has been removed. Now, only a large wooden board stands on the platform, with words written on it in charcoal:

"Orc Kingdom Naval Reserve Training Program - Phase 1".

The pirates, divided into more than a dozen squads, were sitting in the stands listening to the lecture.

Standing on the platform was a burly half-bear instructor, holding a pointer, his face expressionless.

He tapped the wooden board, the sound loud and clear:

"The one with the brown hair in the third row, yes, the most conspicuous one, you answer: If you are patrolling at sea and see a merchant ship flying the Lion Fang City flag in the distance, what should you do?"

"Rush in, force them to stop, unload the goods, and then let them go—no, I mean, 'take stock of any potential safety hazards in the goods' and eliminate those hazards?"

The instructor glanced at him expressionlessly:

"It's barely related, but too rude. The correct approach is to use flag signals first to identify yourself. Do you understand? It's about letting people know you're legitimate!"

Then they went up to negotiate, collected the toll, issued a receipt, and finally sent a small boat to escort them out of the area, making sure they didn't run into any reefs or other "unlucky creatures" before leaving.

The pirates had never seen anything like this before. They looked at each other in bewilderment.

One of them tentatively asked, "So... how much is appropriate?"

"From now on, the price will be fixed at 5% of the value of the goods!"

"What is five percent?"

"Didn't you study math? You only learned half of tithes!"

"Oh...I understand."

……