The Devil's Cage

The sun rose as usual.

Edatine Castle was blessed with liveliness once more on a new day, as though the chaos last night was just a nightmare and was melted away by the warmth from the sun.

The merchants opened shops at Central Third Ring.

The soldiers went on patrol duties.

The civilians went to work as usual.

Other than the sealed up slum area of the Lower Seventh Ring, it was no different than other days.

Marquis Horton stood in front of the entrance of the sealed slum area. He was listening to the temporary person in charge of the sealed area talk about what happened. Although the person in charge was young, the old marquis dared not treat her poorly because he knew who the young girl represented.

It was not just the Mist, there was also the Snake Sect Demon Hunter.

Especially the latter, the elusive organization had become a part of Edatine VI’s plan.

The old marquis couldn’t allow anything to go wrong.

“We will listen to our lord’s arrangement and head to the temporary shelter. Before that, we would need some food and water, plus some tents,” Erin stated her own request in a steady tone and tried her best to pronounce every word clearly.

She forced herself to remain calm in front of a marquis. In her heart, she was repeating the Mist’s name.

It seemed like the words in her heart worked, at least Sivalka, who hid in the crowd, heaved a breath of relief.

He could tell the old marquis did not come bearing ill intentions. As long as Erin remained calm and nothing went wrong, they could easily acquire the food, water, and tents they sought after badly, especially the latter!

Winter in the Northern Lands was no joke! It was really scary!

Without food and water, one could survive for days, miraculously a week; without a tent to defend against the cold, a single night could take one’s life.

“Very well. The food, water, and tents will be delivered here in the afternoon. I give you my word. Please send my regards to that lord,” The old marquis showed a kind smile.

Erin nodded a tad.

“Thank you for everything that you’ve done for us.”

After thanking the old marquis, the little girl went back to the crowd and delivered the good news to those who waited.

Cheers sounded.

“Thank you Mist, thank you my lord!

Thank you Mist, thank you my lord!

Thank you Mist, thank you my lord!”

…

The grateful cheers sounded one after another continuously.

The old marquis watched with a smile but right after he turned away, the smile on his face disappeared.

He had predicted things would unfold like this, he was prepared to handle a situation like the one that happened before his eyes.

However, seeing with his own eyes only allowed him to understand how much that one had influenced the civilians. It had surpassed his wildest expectations.

‘All of you seem to have forgotten that a king is the most important figure in a country! The others… are just appendages! They’re minor! Including… the Gods!’

Seeing the scene with his own eyes, the old marquis’ thoughts were further strengthened.

The authority of God transcended above the authority of the king, since when did that happen?

After the first king was assassinated?

Or after the revolution the second invoked?

The old marquis had no idea, but he knew the first king was a great king with unparalleled wisdom; the second king brought the city to its prime, blessing it with utmost prosperity.

A great and wise leader was the country’s everything, not a God that fought day and night.

‘Another greedy, wild jackal appeared in Edatine Castle! Let’s hope you are not blinded by your greed and commit some sorry atrocities. Otherwise you will taste regret!’ uttered the old marquis in his heart before he strode to the city gate.

There, a squad of royal court guardians were waiting for him.

After the old marquis returned to the group, they travelled through the passage of the city gate and reached the outside of the city before they got on their horses.

The old marquis was gazing at a faraway spot when he saw a group of men appear at the horizon. When the flag the group was waving came into the marquis’ sight, a trace of a smile appeared on his face.

It wasn’t feigned, it came from the bottom of his heart.

The flag had a sword icon on it.

Throughout Edatine, everyone knew the icon of a sword represented the viscount in Sicar, it was his family emblem.

The difference in the flag that the marquis saw was that it did not have the old icon, which was a bloody flaming sword; this flag had only a sharp sword.

The bloody flaming sword was a symbol of War God Temple and it had always been the family emblem of the viscount’s family. It was widely known since that late viscount was a devoted God of War believer.

Now though?

The old marquis laughed.

“Let’s go welcome the new lord of Sicar!” said the old marquis before shaking the reins on his horse.

The royal court guardians followed tightly.

Further away, the group from Sicar spotted the welcoming royal court guardians of Edatine yet they didn’t stop. They followed orders from their own lord and rode on.

Sitting inside the biggest wagon, Erin Sicar was a little nervous.

The last time she was at Edatine Castle was with her late brother to attend the king’s ball.

It has been 10 years since her last visit.

Back then, her old butler and brother took care of everything for her, all she did was sit there quietly and be a lady. The old butler had passed away a while ago and her brother had died recently.

Fortunately, Simon was with her.

Intuitively, Erin Sicar held ‘Simon’s’ hand. She sought comfort.

Bloody Mary clearly sensed her thoughts.

“Don’t worry, I am here,” said Bloody Mary confidently.

It followed its boss’ order and completed all the arrangements that led to this meeting.

Both the Mist and Snake Sect had been completed. The only thing waiting in the line was the convoy from Sicar, or more precisely… Edatine VI!

Its boss had confirmed that that king bore ill intentions.

As a matter of fact, they had Kurtzargert to thank for this. The memories he provided helped a great deal and made a lot of things smoother.

At least it filled in a lot of the blanks for them, allowing them to have a clearer insight on what to do next.

“Do I have to do something?”

Hearing the comfort from Bloody Mary, the baroness heaved a breath of relief, but she hoped to get more guidance, as though it could further calm her.

“Just be yourself, like you always have. Answer if you can answer, and if you can’t, leave it to me,” said Bloody Mary.

“I understand,” the baroness nodded.

Then the convoy stopped.

Rogart’s powerful and rough voice sounded, “My lord, my lady, the welcoming emissary is here.”

“I understand.”

Bloody Mary gave an eye signal to the baroness before it pushed the door open to get down.

At the same time, the old marquis also skillfully came down from his horse.

Both were 10 meters apart and were sizing up each other upon entering the other’s sight.

‘A normal looking face but the eyes are kind. Emissary of God? I guess all these have trickery involved. I hope you can maintain your countenance later on.’

The thoughts ran wild in the old marquis’ head as he sized up Bloody Mary’s look.

Bloody Mary was much more direct. [Demon Instinct] allowed it to acquire more information from the marquis than him from it.

‘Calm but has a sense of malicious intent and taking pleasure at the unfortunate? Are you trying to get a front seat to watch the Mist and God of War fight? I guess you will be disappointed soon.’

Bloody Mary had a rough idea on the current state of God of War and Lady Calamity, chuckling coldly deep inside itself. Its face was as kind as always with that signature smile, it didn’t even change after being sized up by the marquis.

“Greetings, Marquis Horton,” Bloody Mary bowed.

It bowed not with the etiquette of the northern nobles, but the etiquette of the Mist religious sect.

It put both its hands together in front of its face, five fingers fanned out at one hand and only two fingers at the other, showing the number 7 before bowing slightly.

“Greetings, Emissary Simon.”

After a set of meticulous northern noble etiquette later, the old marquis straightened himself from the bow.

Neither Bloody Mary nor the old marquis asked the stupid question about how did the opposite heard of their respective identity.

Both of them also decided to overlook the fact that Edatine VI once sent a group of royal court guardians to Sicar.

They exchanged a smile before conversing like standard operating procedure.

“Where’s the baroness?” asked the old marquis.

“The new lord of Sicar is in the carriage. Traveling continuously has exhausted her. The windy weather from yesterday night even have given her a cold, so she is currently in no condition for meetings,” said Bloody Mary with its kind smile.

“Is that so? What a pity. The royal court has many great doctors, do you want me to make the necessary arrangements?” asked the old marquis.

“We would be utmost grateful for that,” replied Bloody Mary.

“Then what are we waiting for?”

After Bloody Mary nodded, he got back on his horse and Bloody Mary returned to the wagon.

When both of them were out of each other’s line of sight, they despised each other in their hearts.

The old marquis knew everything that happened in Sicar. He hoped to rope in Sicar as the king’s ally but unfortunately, through that little test just now, it clearly stated that the new lord of Sicar wouldn’t lean towards Edatine VI.

The new lord was nothing different from those orthodox parties, all they cared about were their dukeship and turfs.

They had never tried to view things from a higher vantage point.

“What a pity,” the old marquis sighed.

Bloody Mary also sighed, “That Edatine VI is much more ambitious and eager than expected.”

Bloody Mary explained it to the confused baroness after getting a questioning gaze.

“The new decree is just the beginning. The new nobles are nothing but subjects to test the water sent out by the king. Once successful, he will then snatch all the land for himself and put them under his control.”

“How could it be? The decree from Edatine II isn’t something that Edatine VI can simply change!” the baroness said out of surprise.

“It can’t be changed but… without an heir, it would automatically become his eventually,” Bloody Mary reminded the baroness.

“You are saying… the southern islands?” The smart baroness immediately understood what Bloody Mary was referring to.

Edatine VI plotting against the southern islands was not a secret to many.

Anyone who followed the country’s updates would know that after the south got suppressed, the southern islands were the king’s next tactical target.

A war could break out any moment but Edatine did not fall into a miserable atmosphere. Quite the opposite, the whole of Edatine was excited.

Both the new nobles and the orthodox party felt as such because opening new lands was the most anticipated event for every single noble. It was also the fastest way to rise through the ranks.

As for failure? No one would even think about it.

Compared to the entire Northern Lands, the southern islands were insignificantly small.

Although there were numerous islands in the south, there were only some natives living on the islands and pirates lurked in the waters. They were no match for the regular army of Edatine.

Therefore, all nobles were eager for a test.

But, what if the war ended up in failure?

Or worse, a great amount of nobles lost their lives to the war?

With that question in mind, the baroness shuddered out of fear.

She could already picture how the dead nobles without an heir would get patronized as heroes; those nobles who survived or had an heir would be accused as guilty!

The guilty ones responsible for the failure of this war!

The crimes of the guilty were all made up on the spot: missing the tactical advantage, snatching military merits, framing colleagues, etc.

Hu, hu, hu!

The baroness’ breath sharpened.

She shook her head, hoping to discard those images out of her mind. She knew if everything were as she expected, Sicar would be a thorn in the king’s flesh. What followed would be Sicar being on the bad side of the king.

If the king had the thought of preserving peace at home and repelling foreign threats, Sicar would be greeted by a heavy blow right away.

It wasn’t a difficult thing to achieve.

The simplest and quickest way would be to kill her and then her son.

Sicar, without an heir, would eventually fall under Edatine VI’s control.

The baroness’ countenance went through many ups and downs, intuitively grabbing Simon’s hand tightly.

She was thinking about how she could change her situation, so that she could protect herself, and at the same time, the land of Sicar.

If she failed to find a way… using the land to trade for her safety would also be viable.

A naturally smart woman, the baroness wasn’t a stubborn person. She understood what the important things were.

Otherwise she wouldn’t have prepped herself to come to Edatine Castle shortly after her brother was killed. Back then, she really had thought of using Sicar to exchange for her safety.

Feeling the extreme thoughts in the baroness’ mind, Bloody Mary couldn’t help but put its hand on hers.

“I told you before. Things are not as bad as you think. It’s even… good to us from a certain perspective. Don’t forget who you are! You are a noble and a believer of the Mist,” Bloody Mary reminded the baroness.

“Our lord will help us?” asked the baroness.

“Of course. As a matter of fact, he is already working on it,” said Bloody Mary.

It then whispered to the baroness, informing her about its boss getting a piece of land and Demon Hunters being stationed there for guarding duties.

The baroness’ eyes gleamed strongly.

She read about how strong the Demon Hunters were through some books in her collection.

If there were more Demon Hunters here to aid her, even the king couldn’t do anything about it, hence rendering the king’s methods useless. The king would then have to resort to using other secretive means.

A smile hung over the baroness’ face after hearing what Bloody Mary said. Bloody Mary subtly pulled out its hand and wiped it against its back.

It still couldn’t get used to it. It was a strange feeling, albeit a demon had no gender.

However, its memories originated from Mary, its past life.

The memories made it very uneasy. If it wasn’t for its boss, it would have cut the baroness once and for all with its hand blade.

Uncontrollably, Bloody Mary sighed. It knew the obstacle that it had just overcome was just the first of many.

The second and third would be on their way soon and would be much more difficult than the first one.

It wouldn’t be something that it could overcome with some bullsh*t.

‘Hope it won’t hurt too much,’ Bloody Mary prayed in its heart.

Another group appeared at the city gate of Edatine.

They bore a remarkable manner and were aroused with battle intentions.

They wore the attire of War God Temple.

They were looking at the convoy coming in their direction with hostile intent.