Translator: AtlasStudios Editor: AtlasStudios
The room was oddly quiet.
After Lize completed her sentence, she seemed to have relaxed a little as she leaned back into the chair and looked at Rhode. Rhode went into deep thought and after a while, he responded.
“I understand, Lize. So what are your plans?”
“To me… I don’t think I have any special plans.”
Lize smiled bitterly and shook her head.
“Indeed. Even though it means that I accepted my identity when I returned to Golden City, I don’t feel anything different. I don’t have talents like Marlene. And to me, just dressing up grandly in the palace as a decoration would be too boring. I think… Like now, I will remain in the mercenary group. But…”
“I understand.”
Rhode nodded and interrupted.
“Since your mindset on this didn’t change, I need not say much then. You can continue your life here as per usual and get ready for the next battle. As for your identity, I will explain to those people in our mercenary group for them to not be too mindful… This isn’t difficult, so don’t worry.”
Rhode said the truth; indeed, with a princess’ identity, it would be normal to have deputes within the mercenary group. But luckily, Lize was easy to get along with, and as a Cleric, everyone respected her. That was why Rhode believed that if he controlled the situation well, there wouldn’t be any unhappiness within the mercenary group. Of course, this mainly depended on Lize’s good relations with others. If she was an and proud person, her identity wouldn’t do her any good, but rather bring her more trouble instead.
“Thank you, Mr. Rhode.”
Lize let out a sigh of relief. Then, she revealed a smile and stood up.
“I shall return to my room now.”
After Lize disappeared into the corner of the hallway, Rhode frowned and rubbed his forehead.
He had finally connected all his suspicions. He could see that Lize didn’t have any political experience, which was why she couldn’t understand some matters.
Lize wasn’t in the wrong. It was her birth that was wrong.
The Munn Kingdom was an odd country. Although its ruler inheritance was passed down from generation to generation from a common point of origin, it was unlike the historical royal family, where they gave birth to offspring and fought for authority. They also weren’t required to go through several recognitions of the royal family in order to become a ruler. Their ruler’s identity was decided since birth. In other words, only the Archangel could take over the throne. This was a ‘historical problem’ because the Munn Kingdom was originally under the control of the Light Dragon’s Archangel. That was why generations of rulers had always been Archangels. In other words, Munn Kingdom was originally a territorial land under the name of ‘army’. But, thereafter, as the Light Dragon’s rights got crippled and deprived from the parliament, in order to resist the parliament, the Munn Kingdom stood for its own independence and formed an independent country. However, such ruling conditions were also passed on, which was why the Munn Kingdom was different from other countries. Their civilians worshipped the Archangel and Light Dragon. And as the Munn Kingdom’s ruler, the Archangel vowed loyalty to the Light Dragon.
It was due to this reason that every Munn Kingdom’s ruler was ‘inherent’. They didn’t need to pass through political achievements or gain prestige and respect from the civilians. They didn’t even require the support of various lords. As long as one was an Archangel, one would definitely be the ruler of the Munn Kingdom and no one else had the right to fight for this position.
The parliament felt that this method would only breed tyrants who would be arrogant, proud, and cause harm to the country and civilians. Furthermore, there wouldn’t be any equality and fairness. However, this was totally untrue. Just as Lize explained, the Archangel had the pure, holy spirit and also powerful abilities. The Angels were kind and protective by nature, which predetermined that it was impossible for them to become demons or humans who would hurt their own kind. Indeed, from a human’s standpoint, such regulations would possibly cultivate a scary tyrant. That was because when humans were born, they were like a blank sheet of paper. If anyone misguided them, they would go down the wrong path. However, Angels were different; unless one was a depraved Angel, that would definitely not happen.
Different races had different standpoints. However, the parliament obviously didn’t understand this. Perhaps they understood it, but didn’t accept it. Therefore, after they witnessed that attacking the royalty wasn’t effective, they turned their attention to the Munn Kingdom’s civilians and encouraged them to rebel against this ‘hetero-dictatorship ruler’. According to them, this country didn’t belong to an Angel, but belonged to the Dwarfs, Humans, and Elves instead. Therefore, since every race was equal, they had the rights to participate and take over the throne in the Munn Kingdom.
It was only fair, holy, equal, and justifiable this way. So, let’s stand up, civilians! For the sake of freedom, resist the dictatorship of the angel, for the sake of a better life!
Rhode had completed many missions regarding this, which was why he was clear that the parliament’s ‘continuous efforts’ in selling ‘freedom’ had been on for a long time. Although most civilians didn’t want to follow them, there were some who were willing to believe the parliament’s arguments. This caused anxiety within the Munn Kingdom.
With such backgrounds, the reason why the Reformist Party from the South wanted to capture Lize had become clear to Rhode.
Indeed, just as Lize had explained, she was born in the royal family, but she couldn’t receive any glory or a position like Lydia, which seemed pitiful to the public. Her mother was the same. As she couldn’t give Lize a rightful ruling position, she pampered and doted on her to the extreme.
Whereas to the Reformist Party, Lize’s presence was undoubtedly like a lamp. She was born in the royal family with human bloodline, but was unreasonably stripped off her authority and rights by the Munn Kingdom’s regulations, forced to wander in the wild on her own. Even if Lize rejected their suggestion and did not support the Reformist Party, they could still use her as a teaching material to their civilians.
Look, a person who was cruelly rejected and brainwashed by the terrifying ruler that she had lost all her independence and resistance. What a horrible thing to happen… do you wish to become like her?
That was why, no matter what thoughts Lize held, as long as she landed in their hands, the Reformist Party would have other methods to use her to their benefit.
Lize didn’t realise this, but Rhode could confirm that Lydia was 100% aware of it, which was why she made such a move. Rhode was sure that news of Lize’s true identity would spread across Golden City in one day. Also, with the impact of Midsummer Festival, the whole Munn Kingdom would probably come to know that they had another princess.
After knowing this, everyone would definitely raise the same question. And that was ‘how is this princess like? Why didn’t I know about her before? And what does she do now?’
Rhode had no idea how Lydia would manage this problem, but these questions could be used by the Reformist Party as an excuse to attack the royal family. But he felt that with Lydia’s attitude, it was almost for sure that she would answer to everyone’s doubt in a convincing fashion without fail.
This was totally an overt plot, because Lydia had become the ruler of Munn Kingdom for a long time. If she had only taken over the throne and the Reformist Party threw her this question, perhaps it would affect her ruling position. Initially, the royal family noticed this possibility, so they sent Lize far away and kept this a secret from the Reformist Party. But now, it was different. Lydia had been the ruler for years and the Munn Kingdom had been prosperous. The civilians were living peacefully and after understanding what this ruler could do for them, their ideas of replacing her weren’t as extreme anymore. That was why even if Lydia decided to generously accept Lize’s identity, it wouldn’t affect her ruling position at all. And this way, as long as Lize didn’t attract too much attention, the people’s attention on her would gradually drop. It wouldn’t work even if the Reformist Party wanted to use this as an example.
Rhode couldn’t help but feel a little startled. It was because he had experienced this era before that he could link everything together. In other words, Rhode observed everything from a high level perspective due to his own personal experience. And because of that, he could furthermore understand how ingenious Lydia was to make such a move. Even on the surface, Lydia had no losses and could easily dissolve this huge crisis. Of course, credits had to be given to Lydia’s formidable strength, as it wouldn’t be possible if she didn’t make the Munn Kingdom prosperous all these years.
But… are things really so simple?
Although this had nothing to do with Rhode, for some unknown reasons, he had a premonition that Lydia had a plan which held a huge connection to Starlight. After all, Lize belonged to the mercenary group and didn’t seem interested in leaving. So then…
Rhode shut his eyes.
“Gillian, get Old Walker here.”
Gillian immediately left, and shortly after, Old Walker pushed the room door open. He displayed a complicated expression. “Kid, what do you want? Is it regarding Lize?”
“We’ll talk about this later.”
Rhode gestured and said.
“The matter that I told you to do. How was it?”
“Everything’s good, kid.”
Old Walker nodded with confidence as he withdrew a map from his pocket and opened it in front of Rhode. Several red circles were drawn on the map.
“This wasn’t any absolute secret, so I got hold of the information quickly. During the Midsummer Festival, foreign travellers will be placed by the regions beside the Sacred Arena. The pubs and hotels would be there too and got to say, Golden City is indeed a huge city…”
“That’s good.”
Rhode scanned the circles in silence. Then, he took out a coin pouch filled with coins and gems and placed it before Old Walker.
“Take this money. I want you to bring your men to those areas and disguise as ordinary travellers. As for the next move… you only need to follow my instructions.”
“This…”
Old Walker gazed with widened eyes as he couldn’t figure out what this young man was up to.
“What exactly do you want us to do, kid?”
“Very simple.”
Rhode gestured.
“I need you guys to defeat our enemies.”
