The overlord of the gods is interrogating the alien female spy.

　These remarks had a profound impact on her worldview, which consisted of a novice swordsman who only knew how to swing the piece of iron in her hand a few times.

　If it's just a few strong teams

　The bandits weren't enough to make them so miserable. Quesatushta's servants were all powerful swordsmen or sorcerers skilled in magic, and Quesatushta himself was very learned. Some bandits could only provide them with food and travel expenses.

　However, they were unlucky enough to run into a noble army that was suppressing bandits.

　As Sarkaz, even if Therese and the others tried to explain themselves, the other side wouldn't think they were good people. They would simply treat them as another group of bandits fighting amongst themselves and beat them up as well.

　That was the first time Therese had ever seen... a land-based warship.

　That mountain-high, monster-like thing fired only one shot, and she and the bunker flew away.

　Fortunately, she was on the edge of the bombing zone and was only affected by the shockwave, so she was not seriously injured.

　But as a result, their team lost three members, all of whom Therese knew, had spoken to, and had talked about their pasts...

　Familiar faces die before your eyes, their bodies torn to shreds, reduced to ashes, and you are powerless to stop it...

　This feeling caused Therese's heart to ache in waves.

　"Don't worry too much about other people's deaths, Therese. You've done the best you could."

　The absolutioner of White Horn had already prayed for their fallen comrades. After coming over, he took out a flask of wine and tossed it to the swordsman.

　"People always have to die. Whether it's the Sarkaz or the Letanians, they simply returned to the Souls a little earlier than us. And we who are alive must carry their expectations of us and live better."

　"..."

　Therese looked at the wine in the leather bag in her hand, unscrewed it, and took a sip. It was cheap wine; it tasted sour and astringent, and the alcohol had a very pungent smell—it was awful.

　“I know. But…”

　"Cheer up, Therese. We're not far from finding your sister."

　yes……

　Cheer up, Therese.

　Find Theresa, find her sister, and tell her all about what's happened during this time...

　Then, they went home together.

　"..."

　Kal'tsit, hooking her hand on the Kirin's tail, looked at this obedient and proactive Sarkaz slave, and felt something was amiss...

　The colors of jade and pink peach clashed together, and Kal'tsit saw the 'smugness' in her eyes.

　Ok?

　Why would someone show such emotions?

　Why did you give her that look?

　"Master... is there enough food? Do you need some water?"

　Theresa was like a chattering sparrow; before Chen Lingxu had even swallowed a bite of bread, she had already asked several questions.

　"Noisy."

　"Waaah... If Master doesn't want me to say it, then I won't. Just tell me what you need."

　Her ankle was still hurting, so Theresa simply bent her knees and sat on the floor by the bed. She lay on Qilin's knees, her peach-colored eyes staring at him... and the large lynx lying on Qilin's back.

　"Want a bite? If you eat those cube-shaped compressed biscuits all the time, you might suffer from malnutrition."

　That freeze-dried cat treat was fine for Chen Lingxu to eat one as a novelty, like a mint. But if he had to eat it all the time, he'd rather jump off the tower and starve to death...

　"Aww. The nutrition in the freeze-dried food is specially formulated by me, so don't worry about that. I can change the flavor when needed."

　Kal'tsit peeked out from the Kirin's shoulder and took a bite of the bread he offered.

　Dolly was in charge of preparing the food at the tower, using fresh ingredients he sourced from various places. Whether he practiced cooking for fun or to improve his own culinary skills was another matter entirely.

　"Wait... what is this soup...?"

　Kal'tsit saw the meat broth being heated by Kirin's electric eyes in his hands, and that somewhat familiar muttony smell...

　"Mutton soup. I'll heat it up a bit, otherwise it'll be too gamey. Would you like a sip?"

　“No… no.”

　This is authentic mutton soup, not a substitute for the mutton from the unicorn, but the source of the mutton in this tower...

　Kal'tsit glanced at the Kirin, who was eating meat and soup without any burden and whose mouth was dripping with oil, wiped the oil from the corners of his mouth with bread, and then obediently ate her bread.

　"Lamb...?"

　Theresa listened to their conversation and blinked...

　Well, it's probably best not to think about it too much.

　"Don't be so surprised, Kal'tsit. It's not like you've never eaten mutton before."

　Chen Lingxu smacked his lips. He was an old Beast Kingdom native and loved the smell of mutton. This was the authentic taste.

　"It's been a long time since I've had this... Ah Xu. You can try the horned leaping beast; it tastes a lot like mutton."

　Kal'tsit hadn't eaten mutton in ages. After most of the beastmen became human, the wild beasts on their menus became similar horned beasts, pack beasts, and meat-eating beasts—native Terran wild animals. Originally, most people chose to eat these beasts because they resembled their former beastmen, eating them with a sense of nostalgia. Now, it's become 'common sense'. Whether it's Lupo or Caprini, they eat beast meat. If Lupo ate Caprini, he'd be labeled a 'cannibal,' at best driven to the wilderness to fend for himself, at worst killed on the spot.

　"Hmm, I've caught some similar creatures before. But they still don't really suit my taste. I'll get used to them gradually."

　After finishing his meal, Chen Lingxu looked at the person lying down.

　The little peach slave was even more obedient than Agnese in front of him.

　"Master~?"

　"Don't act crazy in front of me. Get up now, pack your things, and we'll go find the Lich Tower tomorrow."

　"Huh? Yes, Master..."

　Qilin grabbed her by the neck and pulled her up from the ground. Theresa wanted to ask some questions, but when she saw the bills Qilin handed her and felt that familiar healing power, Little Peach hugged the bills tightly to her chest and skipped away.

　Chapter Seventy-Seven: A Monumental Lie

　"The Lich Tower? Ludwig?"

　The lynx lay lazily on the bed, its white, tender, mangosteen-like, moist paws gently stepping on the unicorn's broad back, catching up with the topic from his earlier words.

　What are we looking for there?

　"Let's enlighten these two foolish Sarkaz. I've heard that liches are scholars of the Sarkaz, and the popularization of Originium Arts in Letania is inseparable from them. So I intend to broaden the horizons of that idiot and send him to school. Besides, the liches should also have information about the secrets within the Sarkaz."

　"Yes, there are some... Why don't you just ask me? Ah Xu? I know a lot of things too."

　Chen Lingxu grabbed the soft, white jade sticky rice cake with his hand and gently pulled it, causing the lynx's short tail to stick to the qilin's scales.

　"You are my sage, not the Sarkaz sage. After regaining the existence of civilization, I have no interest in playing house with them. At that time, she will need to broaden her horizons herself before she does anything foolish enough to make me laugh."

　"Hmm...is that all?"

　Qilin's words made the lynx feel warm and moist, just like the soles of her feet... In short, she was quite happy to hear Chen Lingxu say that.

　"And one more thing."

　Chen Lingxu took a bite of the lime seed; its refreshing and sweet taste was quite delightful.

　"I am very curious about that thing called 'Souls'."

　Chen Lingxu hadn't made a move in a while. He had just gotten a little excited fighting the Far Chaser when the old alien couldn't take it anymore and started self-destructing.

　The time span he traveled through was too great; the bones of the heroes in history had all turned to ash, leaving only a bunch of old, weak, sick, and disabled people, which made him completely uninterested in taking action.

　Kal'tsit said that the Sarkaz souls are a kind of consciousness, and that the Sarkaz will return to the souls after they die.

　Chen Lingxu thought that if he could fight the other souls, he could fight those 'powerful' aliens at the same time.

　"Hmm...that's it."

　Kal'tsit really has no way to see the souls. She'll just have to temporarily abandon her efforts to recruit the Letanians and spend some time with her grandson.

　"correct."

　Kal'tsit lifted her toes, leaving a few wisps of 'sweat' that traced bright lines in the air, when she suddenly remembered that she still had some things to take care of.

　"what happened?"

　"That Elector Caprini named Zoros..."

　"Oh. Agnese has already taken care of it. She even complained about the old sheep getting stuck in its teeth."

　"Huh? The reason why no guards appeared at that time was..."

　Kal'tsit assumed that Zoros's men had succeeded in killing Horn or Veronica, which was why the guards had rushed over to catch the thief.

　"What about Hochberg and Lancaster?"

　"I found that deer-man Horn somewhat agreeable, so I gave him a little push. But in the current Letania, if Jin Lu Le Zhang doesn't change his bad habits, even if he sits on the throne, he probably won't be able to sleep well."

　"Lancaster, that Veronica...did she marry Hochberg?"

　"Yes. Originally, Veronica, as a princess of Lancaster, was to marry into a close electoral family to solidify her support during the subsequent election of the emperor. However, after she was cursed with the transformation curse..."

　"No, no, no, I wasn't talking about her transformation curse. In fact, she wasn't cursed at all, right?"

　Chen Lingxu scratched the lynx's paw with his fingertips, and as he watched the five pearl-like toes stretch out in front of him like a plum blossom, he chuckled and burst into laughter as if he had thought of a joke.

　"Those fools didn't realize that the so-called Lancaster princess had long been switched. The current Veronica is just a fake."

　“A-Xu is right.”

　Kal'tsit smiled too.

　"Veronica was a bright and talented young woman, but she was also very rebellious. When she heard that she was to be married off to someone she could not choose herself, she ran away."

　"And she 'didn't know' that with someone's help, she actually found a shapeshifter. In order to cover up the truth about her escape, the shapeshifter deliberately adopted the trope of a well-behaved and pitiful daughter who took a knife to protect her father and was cursed as a result, and has been pretending to be a princess ever since."

　Kal'tsit shook her head again.

　"And the death of Letania's former emperor..."

　This was another incident caused by a shapeshifter who was tired of playing the princess game. Since the old stag was already close to death, she added a little something extra to end this tedious drama that had been going on for over a decade, causing the old stag king to pass away prematurely.

　That was the original plan.

　The shapeshifter, tired of the game, attends a banquet, dies there, and then goes wherever he pleases. Zoros then stirs up the conflict.

　The plan was to shift the blame to Hochberg, who was closest to the Lancaster family, thereby altering the course of Letania. The death of a Lancaster heir at the hands of the Sarkaz would naturally incite hostility towards the Sarkaz among the Letanians.

　At that time, it would be natural for Letania to join the coalition forces that were going to defeat Kazdel.

　"Unfortunately, you've ruined all the plans."

　Kal'tsit had been planning this for twenty years, from finding shapeshifters to facilitating marriages... she even used her connections to get the Gallic organ at the banquet.

　But no matter how much they planned, they didn't expect the Qilin Overlord to appear at this time.

　Fortunately, they were able to get involved with the Hochberg family.

　"But that's okay."

　Without Letania, there would be no Letania. Kal'tsit could easily conquer Kazdel single-handedly on her Kirin now, and she and Chen Lingxu could rampage through it all.

　As for how Kal'tsit got the shapeshifter to agree to cooperate, it was partly due to their intermittent friendship over ten thousand years, and partly because Kal'tsit found her the fun of 'playing the Beast Princess'.

　Where is the real Veronica now?

　Chen Lingxu was somewhat curious.

　"It seems they got married on some count's land."

　"...Didn't you do anything else important?"

　She went through all that trouble to escape the palace so that she could choose who she would marry.

　Chen Lingxu realized he had overestimated the other party.

　"She is indeed quite talented in Originium Arts. She has studied her family's Golden Melody for many years and created a new Originium Arts system."

　"That's somewhat interesting. What was the name of the nobleman she married?"

　"I can't quite remember the name. I only remember that the nobleman's fiefdom was..."

　Kal'tsit is very busy every day. It's already more than enough that she can spare some time to check whether Veronica is still alive. She doesn't have time to care about how many children she has or what great things she has done.

　After carefully recalling her memories, Kal'tsit finally unearthed that name.