Demon King, you just need to conquer, and your husband will come up with the solution.

Or should he return now and report to the Berman Empire on the situation of the Duolun army that he has observed?

After some consideration, Chris finally chose to continue following the Doron army. After all, the Doron army's current marching direction was also deep into the Demon Realm. At least in the initial period of time, he should go the same way with them.

I can also take advantage of this time to observe the situation of Duolun’s army and learn more intelligence. At the same time, we can also complete the plan of sneaking into the Demon King’s City.

Although this would delay his original plan to arrive at the Demon King's Castle a lot, it was of no concern.

Anyway, his colleagues in the Demon King's Castle have been lurking for thirty years, so it doesn't matter to him if he delays for a month or two.

So, after some consideration, Chris became a follower lurking on the marching route of the Doron army.

While paying attention to the marching route of the Duolun army, he also collected intelligence about the Duolun army. In this way, half a month passed.

During the past half month, Chris has been keeping a subtle distance from the Doron army, observing them from afar. Under the cover of distance, he has not exposed himself so far.

But now, he had to get closer.

It was not because he needed to further investigate the situation of Duolun’s army, but... he needed to replenish his own food.

According to the original plan, the food Chris carried was enough to support him to reach the first demon gathering place in the Demon Realm, Troll Ridge.

If he continued at his fastest speed, his food would be just enough for him to reach Troll Ridge. At that time, he would only need to find supplies inside Troll Ridge and then he could continue to the next destination.

But now, in order to observe the situation of Doron's army, Chris slowed down a lot, which also meant that the food that he had originally calculated to be sufficient was about to run out.

Faced with this difficulty, Chris's idea was not very sophisticated or complicated. It was very simple. Isn't there a ready-made supply station in front of him?

After observing the situation of Doron's army again through the telescope, Chris got to work.

The plan is divided into the following parts: first, get close to Duolun’s army; second, find lone soldiers, kill them and replace their clothes; third, disguise yourself and blend into the ranks, and then sneak into the logistics to get supplies.

After a few days of observation, Chris has basically figured out which places in the entire marching army are the logistics teams in charge of military rations. Having played out the entire process in his mind countless times, he can be sure that he is foolproof!

And the reality is indeed similar to what Chris himself deduced... At least, the front part is exactly the same.

He found a soldier who had left the team to relieve himself, and knocked him down with an unsportsmanlike sneak attack, then stripped him of his military uniform and threw him into a pile of rocks.

The whole process was incredibly smooth and easy, and even the military uniform he had snatched fit his body shape perfectly. Chris even wanted to shout, "It was such a wonderful start ever!"

With this set, it would be easy for me to enter the Duolun army and get supplies.

Then... when things got to this point, it was no surprise that something unexpected would happen...

"You kid! Which team are you from? Come to my side, go back!"

"Um...Okay! Sir!"

Chris was extremely surprised that he was pulled out by an officer just after he had mixed in with the march. He was clearly dressed the same as the other soldiers around him, so how could he tell that he was not in the same team as them?

When I was on missions in the past, I used this trick to sneak into the military camp and it always worked. Why was I caught out the instant I got here?

Although he was full of doubts, in order not to expose himself, Chris pretended to leave the previous queue and acted as if he was looking for his own team.

However, in reality, he had no idea which team this stolen identity belonged to.

"Hiss... maybe I was just unlucky just now and met a strict commander... maybe I can just switch teams..."

With a glimmer of hope, Chris quietly mixed into another queue. Seeing that there was no officer around to check on him, Chris breathed a sigh of relief.

Ah~ It seems like I was just simply unlucky~

Just as Chris was thinking with such relief, he did not notice that the eyes of the other soldiers marching with him suddenly became sharp.

"Hey...which team are you from? What are you doing here?"

"Why don't you return to your own team and come here to have fun?"

"Hmm... you... why are you so sneaky? Also, why are you hiding your magical power? Don't you know that the military prohibits the use of the Breath Suppression Technique?"

As the interrogation continued, Chris realized that he was surrounded by men on both sides, and men on top of men, which made him sweat all over...

Chapter 164

Unacceptable method

Because the Demon Realm is covered by dark clouds all year round, it is not easy to judge the time changes in the Demon Realm from the sky, especially for the Duolun army, which is the first time to enter the Demon Realm.

Therefore, this led to a lot of problems in the army's adjustment of rest time in the first few days after entering the Demon Realm.

Fortunately, the time issue is relatively simple. The real trouble is actually another thing, which is the issue of marching direction.

After nightfall, in the clan tent in the center of the military camp, Catalina stood in front of the parchment map hanging on the wooden board holding a candlestick, thinking secretly.

The map in front of him depicted the entire terrain of the Demon Realm. However, perhaps due to the urgency of drawing, the structure of the entire map was visibly quite sloppy and simple.

This map is a standard map of the Demon Realm that is widely circulated in the human world. This map may have been drawn a thousand years ago.

I heard that it was a team of brave men a thousand years ago who recorded the terrain of the Demon Realm based on what they saw and heard during the process of defeating the Demon King, so the painting technique is very simple and ancient.

As for why there has never been a new map in the past thousand years... the reason is very simple. After all, for humans, the Demon Realm is a forbidden area that is difficult to enter.

Unless a brave man is fighting the Demon King, humans have no need to enter the Demon Realm. Without the need, there is naturally no motivation to renew.

Moreover, the difficulty of updating is too great. How can a human being travel around the entire Demon Realm without any time to spare? That would really be a way to die.

Due to various reasons, this map of the Demon Realm has not been updated for thousands of years, and it is not very complete. After all, it was drawn by the brave according to his own observations, and the focus of the entire map is the route to the Demon King's Castle.

Apart from that, the rest of the areas are more of a brief summary, indicating which areas are in which directions.

Of course, for Katarina, her target is also the Demon King's Castle, and it doesn't matter whether the other areas are detailed or not.

What really bothered her was that even the records and descriptions of the route to the Demon King's Castle on this map were quite difficult to understand.

Catalina used her cane to gesture on the map, indicating the direction of the army's march at the moment according to her own impression.

As she was gesturing, her cane stopped moving, because according to her memory, she did not see some indicators marked on the map for the subsequent route during the march.

According to this map marked thousands of years ago, there will be a huge hourglass-shaped mountain rock as a landmark terrain ahead of their army.

However, neither the scouts' reports nor the Griffin Knights' aerial reconnaissance had revealed the hourglass-shaped mountain rock marked on the map.

So, to put it simply, Catalina was not sure whether the route the army was taking was correct. This made her feel distressed.

Now, all Katarina can do is to continue to command the army to advance in the general direction of the Demon King's Castle and see if she can try her luck and find other terrain marked on the map to determine the direction.

Just when Catalina felt a headache, Minerva put a bearskin coat on the empress and said, "Lady Catalina, it's very cold in the Demon Realm at night, please keep warm."

"I'm not so frail as to be afraid of a cold wind..."

Although her words were a bit harsh, Catalina still did not refuse Minerva from putting the coat on her.

For some reason, feeling the warmth brought by the bearskin coat, Katarina looked a little dazed, and muttered inexplicably: "I don't know how Ains is doing in the Demon King's Castle... Is he feeling cold..."

Hearing this, Minerva looked a little surprised. She pulled the hair at her temples to make sure she had heard it correctly.

Hiss, unbelievable, this seems to be the first time in this period of time that the Queen has truly expressed her concern for Ains who is far away in the Demon King's Castle?

She quickly spoke to comfort him, "Don't worry, Queen. With the talent of Lord Ains and their previous trade experience, it is unlikely that the Demon King would abuse him."

Catalina simply nodded in response to Minerva's comfort, then touched the bearskin coat on her shoulders, slightly absent-minded.

After a long silence, Catalina suddenly asked, "Minerva... What do you think of my transferring Ains out of the capital and exiling him to the frontier?"

"This……"

Hearing this question, Minerva's expression suddenly became embarrassed. If she didn't answer this question well, she would anger the moody empress in front of her.

So, although she wanted to say that this matter was very unwise, she still held back the words and said, "Your Majesty, you have made such an arrangement, and there must be a reason behind it..."

"Deep meaning..."

Hearing this, Catalina couldn't help but let a smile appear on her lips, but that smile was really not friendly.

"Minerva, there's no need to beat around the bush with me. Just tell me straight, do you think it's unreasonable for me to transfer Ains away from the king?"

“This… um…”

Minerva was stunned and fell silent for a moment. Then, as if she had given up, she nodded and said, "Your Majesty... Queen, I have always felt that this decision is extremely unreasonable."

Hearing this, Catalina smiled again, but this time the smile was more natural and more heartfelt.

"Haha~ That's normal. I know very well that my decision will make you uncomfortable. After all, you don't really get along with Ains, and you don't actually know him.

In your eyes, he is omnipotent, a perfect minister who can do everything perfectly. But... he is not omnipotent..."

As she spoke, Catalina's thoughts returned to the past. After staring at the map in front of her for a while, Catalina turned around and looked at Minerva.

"You know what? Minerva, Irons once told me about two possible future endings for the Duolun Empire."

"Hmm?" Hearing this, Minerva's expression was slightly stunned, and there was a hint of curiosity and a hint of helplessness in her expression.

She had a hunch that if she listened to what Catalina had to say, her views might change drastically.

But Minerva couldn't contain her curiosity and asked, "What did Mr. Irons say?"

Catalina lowered her eyes and said in a deep voice: "He said...there are only two paths for the Duolun Empire. One is to expand greatly, acquire more territory and population, and enhance its development potential.

The other is to maintain the current boundaries and territory, carry out deeper development and improvement, and make the entire country advanced and developed.

However, no matter which of these two paths you take, there is only one final outcome..."

"Wh…what ending?"

"It became the only one of the 9st and most concise words that can be written in history books, and then it went to destruction in its glory..."

"This..." Minerva said in disbelief: "Is this really what Mr. Irons said? Why!?"

"Because of Duolun's geographical environment, it is destined to have an upper limit..." As she spoke, Catalina used the lights to illuminate the entire map of the Demon Realm, "We are too close to the Demon Realm.

If the Demon Realm were to invade on a large scale, even if we could withstand it, we would still be plunged into a difficult situation with people's livelihood declining.

By then, our neighboring countries will rush over like hyenas seeing carrion and eat us up completely... Isn't that how we took over the southern territory of our empire?"

"...In that case, let's expand our territory to the north! We'll annex all those guys who are eyeing us covetously!"

“Then, we will be trapped in the fatigue of fighting on multiple fronts. Even if we can annex all those countries, we will be trapped in the quagmire of resistance from the lower classes of the people in those countries.

In this case, even if there is no Demon King's army, there will be other forces with ill intentions intervening, making the expanded territory a burden to us..."

"..."

Listening to Catalina's story, Minerva's expression gradually became ugly. The reason why it was ugly was not because she disagreed with these words, but precisely because she agreed with these views!

It’s as if it’s the thing that you are most reluctant to face, but it is actually right in front of you.

"So... this is the only way for the Duolun Empire to end..."

When Minerva said this, she was filled with great loss and grief, and the question seemed to be a request, or perhaps... acceptance of fate.

However, Catalina suddenly changed the subject and said, "It's not..."

"Ok?"

"Ains actually mentioned a third possible path... a path that can lead our country to a new life..."

"Really? As expected of Mr. Irons! But what did he say?!"

"...a path...that I simply cannot accept..."

"what?"

"..."

……

“Katerina, there are actually other methods, but using that method means that the Duolun Empire will change into another form.

If Duolun wants to survive, expansion is necessary, but if we expand in the name of the Duolun Empire, we will face fierce and endless waves of resistance from the people of other empires and other ethnic groups.

However, these resistances are not unsolvable. In fact, we can make them part of us.

What is needed is a name that is more general than empire, religion, or even nation, a name that can resonate with all the grassroots people.

I call this name the oppressed proletariat. It is a name that is completely free from national, religious, and even ethnic labels and can resonate with all the grassroots people.

If the Duolun Empire wants to survive, it must transform itself, abandon the labels of ethnicity, religion, and even the emperor, and become a new country that can unite all the oppressed proletarians! "

Chapter 165

I won't tell you anything!