Chapter 45: Chapter 45: The Chess Player Louis, Plays at Tengen!
The receptionist at the Adventurer Guild, Aliye, was feeling melancholy.
She had encountered something that troubled her.
Previously, while receiving the guild’s rising star, Alice, she met an incredibly handsome youth.
In the booth on the second floor of the Adventurer Guild, the afternoon sun shone on his face, and just passing by and making eye contact with him would make you fall in love with his eyes, his lips, and his smile, which was like the autumn afternoon sunlight.
——And then unconsciously sink!
When she came to her senses, she realized the heat had climbed up along her collarbone.
She had never seen someone so good-looking.
It even made her originally annoying errand work much more diligent.
But what happened yesterday was of such an evil nature.
She couldn’t understand why Caesar would do such a thing.
This was simply intentional harm!
The goodwill in her heart dissipated instantly.
It turns out mom was right! Good-looking men can also lie!
Just as she was troubled, her colleague called out from beside the reception desk: "Aliye, the president is calling you."
"Okay, I’ll head up right away!"
...
"This matter will trouble you all. My only requirement is confidentiality, confidentiality, and more confidentiality!"
As soon as she entered the guild office.
Aliye heard a familiar voice.
"It’s Mr. Caesar!"
She was slightly invigorated, but her expression soon fell.
She pushed the door open.
She saw Mr. Caesar sitting in front of her guild president, his gaze as calm as still water.
"Ah, Aliye, you’re here. Let me tell you something. This is our guild’s major client, Prince Louis, who is here for the matter of the guild’s farce yesterday."
Aliye: ???
She instinctively glanced around.
She didn’t find a third person other than Mr. Caesar and finally understood that the Prince Louis mentioned by the president was Mr. Caesar.
Louis secretly made a shushing gesture towards Aliye.
Aliye said nothing and looked at President Hans.
President Hans said solemnly:
"His Highness Louis plans to issue a large-scale mission. Aliye, the task to be publicly announced will be under the guise of ’Helping the girl Grace find her father,’ selecting intermediate and high-level adventurers.
Inform them, it is a semi-covert contract type of mission. The real mission is an exploratory and composite mission of ’Investigating the anomalies in Dragonbone Prairie.’
Remember, only adventurers of Steelscale level and above, or medium-sized organizations using adventurer groups as units, are allowed.
Make it clear to them that this could be very dangerous."
Aliye finally understood what it meant, staring at Louis in awe.
No wonder he caused the chaos.
It turns out the purpose was to cover up the true intentions of the adventurers heading to Dragonbone Prairie.
Wait, wait a minute!
A terrifying thought flashed through Aliye’s mind.
From yesterday to today, the response from the good-hearted citizens to the ’Help the girl Grace find her father’ task was incredibly rapid, and the number was too numerous.
Too many to be normal, as if those good-hearted citizens had known early that a public reaction would erupt and had organized the task in advance.
As if... someone was pulling the strings from the shadows.
"Is it you, Mr. Caesar?"
Then a more terrifying idea flashed through her mind:
"So to say, Mr. Caesar must have at least thrown out over 200 Gold Coins, setting up the Dragonbone Prairie mission!"
"What on earth is happening in Dragonbone Prairie?"
...Twenty minutes later...
After arranging the subsequent matters calmly, Louis got into the carriage.
William was waiting for him inside.
As soon as he got in, Louis’s expression collapsed, gripping William’s sleeve with a face full of despair:
"I’ve spent so much already, do I still need to spend more?"
William, torn between laughter and tears, replied:
"Well done, Your Highness."
Louis rolled around madly in the spacious carriage. It took a while before he raised his head, staring intently at William:
"William, keep a tight grip on the gold pouch I gave you! Don’t let anyone touch my money!"
At this moment, his entire being seemed to pour into his eyes, never leaving the pouch clutched by William.
Less than two seconds after the carriage started, Louis asked again:
"Are they still there? Are they still there?"
The voice was tinged with undeniable anxiety.
William gently said, "They are, Your Highness."
"Tie the pouch tightly and show me the cleanest few gold coins! I want to see them!"
Then came a series of bizarre comments about "huge losses," "my little money," "only gold coins can warm the heart," and so on.
Not until he was thoroughly exhausted did he lay on the cushion, drained, and said:
"William..."
"Your Highness, any instructions?"
"Better give me the money pouch, hugging it makes me feel safer!"
Controlling his little tail to wrap around the bulging pouch, Louis still felt it wasn’t enough and hugged the pouch and tail together in his arms.
Only then did a contented smile appear, and he slowly fell asleep.
Louis’s greed was flaring up again!
...
When Louis listlessly got off the carriage, he finally saw Beatrice.
Beatrice looked at Louis and said:
"You look especially tired today."
Louis glanced around, made sure it was relatively safe, and said:
"Six point four-five percent of my small treasury is gone, the pain is suffocating!"
Beatrice chuckled and said:
"The power of the Sin of Greed isn’t easy, this feeling isn’t something easily controlled."
"No choice, what needs to be spent must be spent!"
By now, Louis’s voice already carried a sobbing tone.
It hurts! It hurts too much!
Beatrice lightly brushed back his hair, whispering:
"The trouble you’ve stirred is quite significant; going to Dragonbone Prairie like this, I worry someone might ambush you!"
"Better send a few more Dark Crows with you! Some matters, don’t endure it alone, you can trust me."
Louis noticed his big wife looking at him with an expression full of meaning, coughed and said:
"Then I won’t refuse the favor."
Indeed, the reason for making Grace kneel all the way was also to fuel the public reaction, seen by all in the Imperial Capital.
Louis even carefully chose the spot where Grace prayed.
The headquarters of the Imperial Daily is just diagonally opposite the Adventurer Guild.
He even sent someone to notify the newspaper there in case the public reaction couldn’t further ferment.
As everyone knows, even emperors in feudal kingdoms dare not claim they can do as they please.
The emperor is still around!
Beatrice hasn’t ascended to the throne; moving people still requires some reasons.
And when public opinion rises uncontrollably in a short time, some operations that usually require process can apply special treatment.
——For instance, better send some people to protect a certain prince who might be hit by angry Tino Adventurers.
Though it seems like coercing with public opinion, Louis is responsible for Beatrice’s and his future safety.
So!
He did it!
Adventurer Guild?
Powerful individuals above the Steelscale level?
These people look so ridiculous in front of the empire’s foundations.
Do you understand what "army-structured powerful individuals, terrifying indeed" means?
Just look at the situation with William and you’ll understand.
It was unexpected that before he could make the "request" for his big wife to send more people to protect him during his practice, Beatrice seemed to see through everything and directly helped him gather people.
Thinking of this, he showed a gentle smile.
The feeling of not being alone is great!
Louis felt relieved, the pain from the damage to a few thousandths of his small treasury was also greatly alleviated.
"Beatrice, I will never let you die!"
With a flicker of his gaze, Louis added a somewhat insincere line in his heart:
"Protecting Beatrice is protecting myself! Yes, that’s it!"
Up to this point, Louis successfully laid down a triple safety net as expected.
A look of anticipation appeared on his face.
No matter what’s happening on Dragonbone Prairie or what gutter rats are lurking behind!
——He’s determined to get involved in this situation!
Dropping the piece on the board!
Time to strike!!!