Chapter 98: Chapter 81: The Mountain Stronghold_1

While Duanmu Huai and the others were fighting fiercely on the front lines, General Pastte was not idle either.

As he had previously stated, the fighting groups are responsible for assaulting and breaking the enemy’s core, leaving the other parts to the army to recover. Without their leaders, the scattered troops hidden in the ruins naturally stood no chance against the organized military. Most of Modheim had already been reclaimed, and the complete recovery of the city seems to be just around the corner.

However, General Pastte looked discontented, the reason for which was the letter in his hands.

This was the reply that came with the reinforcements after General Pastte had reported to the Great Crown Prince. In the letter, the Crown Prince first praised General Pastte greatly and urged him to persist until Modheim was fully reclaimed. Then, he stated that in order to avoid further troubles, he demanded that General Pastte confiscate all the Dimension Stones in Modheim and to transport them for storage in Aldorf.

If it had been before, General Pastte wouldn’t have found this order inappropriate, but now… something felt odd.

Dimension Stones are of great importance, and Modheim is far from Aldorf. For safety’s sake, they should have been sealed on the spot.

Why should they be moved back to Aldorf?

Moreover, His Majesty the Emperor emphasized in his letter that this was of paramount importance even implying he’d rather give up Modheim than fail to get the Dimension Stones to Aldorf. The hidden meaning of this made General Pastte feel somewhat uneasy.

As for the Dimension Stones themselves, General Pastte had seen them. They were indeed stones imbued with a mysterious power. However, his impression of these stones was not good. After all, since coming to Modheim, every time he saw these Dimension Stones, they were being used for some evil ritual.

Like the Desecration Ritual the Chaos Believers enacted in the temple, the portal that the Followers of the God of Lust tried to open, and now the Brutal Believers…. umm?

At this thought, a chill ran down General Pastte’s spine as a realization hit him.

Could it really be as he suspected, that His Majesty the Emperor had defected to the God of Trickery? Could he be planning some blasphemous ceremony in Aldorf using these Dimension Stones?!

In the past, General Pastte wouldn’t have dared imagine such treasonous thoughts, but now, his views were changing.

Especially since in General Pastte’s previous report to the emperor, he had specifically pointed out that the Archbishop of Sigma Church was a follower of the God of Trickery, and urged the emperor to be cautious. But in this latest reply, the Emperor didn’t mention anything about this Cultist of the Evil God.

In addition, as a commanding officer stationed in the city, General Pastte was aware of some of the current internal affairs of the empire, and knew that the Emperor’s position was not secure. Although he was indeed the Great Crown Prince and should have inherited the throne, his overly eager attitude had led to a lot of dissatisfaction. The previous Three Emperors War seemed heated on the surface, but in reality, it was just the three princes and their supporters clashing while most of the lords remained neutral.

Moreover, there were many in Aldorf, like General Pastte, who suspected that the Crown Prince had something to do with the Emperor’s demise.

After all, the imperial subjects serve the emperor, and the sudden death of the emperor, especially by assassination during a large expedition, was unthinkable.

Moreover, the Crown Prince’s reaction was too quick. Almost as soon as the news arrived, he declared “a country cannot be without a king for a day” and ascended the throne. It gave people the impression that the Crown Prince had been waiting for this news.

As a result, many high-ranking officials in Aldorf City, although they outwardly supported the Crown Prince, they either disobeyed his orders secretly or found excuses to delay them. It could be said that the Crown Prince’s tenure as Emperor was not secure at all.

So, could he have some thoughts he shouldn’t have?

General Pastte was well aware of this, as he was one of them. In fact, if it wasn’t for the lack of available people for the Emperor, he wouldn’t have been sent here from Aldorf.

Hence, after learning that Duanmu Huai and others had successfully eradicated the Followers of the God of Lust, he immediately invited Duanmu Huai and the others to discuss a strategy.

“He wants the Dimension Stones?”

“Yes.”

In response to Duanmu Huai’s question, General Pastte nodded bitterly, realizing that he might be a pawn in this bigger game. Now in the city, the God of Lust, Brutal God, Plague God and Ratman were all fighting over the Dimension Stones, and they represented one side too.

But the question is, do they represent the Empire or the God of Trickery?

“This ……”

Upon hearing this, the Combat Nuns and the Witch Hunter also furrowed their brows. They agreed with the idea of sealing the Dimension Stones on the spot in the monastery, but what did the Emperor want the Dimension Stones for?

“Did you report the amount? The number of Dimension Stones we have confiscated is not small.”

Duanmu Huai had previously gone to the slums and had Ogis cut a large Dimension Stone from the center of the meteor pit and brought it back. That Dimension Stone was three to four meters high and very large. In addition, during the process of eliminating the Ratmen and Chaos Believers, they had also confiscated many Dimension Stones, and the amount of Dimension Stones fragments found by the army in the city was also not a small number.

“Of course, His Majesty said that all of them should be transported to Aldorf and kept by the Academy.”

“…………”

Hearing this, both the Combat Nuns and the Witch Hunter seemed somber. They’d naturally heard of Aldorf’s Magic Academy, as many of their Empire’s wizards were students there. That, however, did not mean that they were not a danger. In fact, as members of the clergy, they all held quite the grudge against wizards.

Especially the Witch Hunter – his job title alone suggested that eight out of ten of his targets were wizards. To let this mad bunch guard the Dimension Stone?

Wouldn’t that be the same as the fox guarding the henhouse?

“It’s simple.”

However, Duanmu Huai seemed nonchalant.

“If they want it, then give it to them – only not the real one.”

“Not the real one? Are you suggesting we give them a fake one?”

Hearing this, the Combat Nun questioned, puzzled. The Dimension Stone wasn’t just some ore but a stone imbued with magic power. It was green in color and even glowed. How could they possibly fake it?

“It’s quite simple. Grind some smaller Dimension Stones into powder and apply the powder onto stones, then deliver them over.”

Duanmu Huai’s idea was quite straightforward. He was equally skeptical of the Emperor’s actions. Frankly, if Duanmu Huai weren’t currently barred from entering Aldorf, he would have gone straight there with the hammer to judge the Great Crown Prince himself.

Another option would have been to bring the Dimension Stone to the Royal City and discreetly watch over it there; once the Prince decided to use the Dimension Stone for something, they’d instantly expose him.

But then again… who specified that it had to be the real Dimension Stone?

We could simply present a counterfeit.

Just like gold necklaces, they all look more or less the same on the outside, but who could say which was pure gold and which just gold-plated?

“That’s a good plan.”

Hearing this, the silent Witch Hunter suddenly nodded in approval. As a Witch Hunter, he excelled at dealing with wizards and naturally was well versed in magic.

“As long as we find some rubble, grind some fragments of Dimension Stone into powder, and smear it over the rubble, we could deceive most of the wizards.”

“No problem, we can help.”

At this point, the Combat Nun also nodded in approval. Within the stocks of Dimension Stones they were tasked with sealing away, many were pebble-sized fragments of Dimension Stone. Frankly, the Combat Nuns found these fragments quite troublesome. Discarding them was risky, but properly sealing them away felt wasteful. It would be better to grind them into powder and use that to dress up stones – at least that would put them to some use.

As an aside, throughout the whole conversation, none of the people present saw anything inappropriate in their plan. They didn’t see anything wrong with deceiving the Emperor – indicating that the Great Crown Prince, their Emperor, really didn’t have much of a presence.

Soon, they made a decision. The Combat Nuns from the monastery would be responsible for completing this mission. After all, if soldiers were to carry it out, there was a risk of a leak. The Combat Nuns, on the other hand, were capable and staunch believers, so there was less risk of a leak. Also, the Dimension Stones are usually handed over to the monastery for sealing, so this only made sense.

However, the only problem is that if the truth were to come out, the Rock Monastery will instantly become a target.

But then again… if the truth did emerge, it would mean that the Great Crown Prince was really trying to use the Dimension Stone for something.

At that moment, Duanmu Huai could confront him with a song of loyalty.

After sorting out this issue, General Pastte only had one concern left.

Those were… the followers of the Brutal God.

According to the Prophet, the followers of the Brutal God had already used the remains of the Sacred Knight to set up a barrier in the military camp. Anyone who died in combat within the boundary would enhance the strength of the opponent, and eventually open the portal to the Demon Realm.

However, completely avoiding battle was not possible as the barrier continued to expand. Were they supposed to completely abandon Modheim?

“That’s not a problem.”

Naturally, compared to General Pastte’s worry, Duanmu Huai appeared quite relaxed.

“I’ll take care of it personally. When the time comes, we’ll go together and completely annihilate those Chaos Believers!”

If this had been some time ago, Duanmu Huai might have found the task a bit daunting. But now, things were different. He had the Gravity Gloves — if not for battling, couldn’t they also be used to destroy structures?

After all, one of the methods that players used the Gravity Gloves for in the game was to dismantle buildings, and now, it was finally Duanmu Huai’s turn to have that thrill!