Chapter 338: Countering with Their Own Tactics

While in Port Leyton, Donald had already gathered information about Prince Andrew through the local Leyton family. This prince of Celt was extremely resourceful—he had borrowed large ships from prominent maritime families in the Eastern Region and brought along a force of 200 men, all of whom were skilled fighters with at least bronze-level strength. Yet even this was far from enough to match him and his allies.

Andrew relied solely on reinforcements from the Church of the Three Glorious Gods. However, in Celt, colluding with foreign religious forces had always been taboo, so Andrew didn’t dare take extreme actions. The royal family was only slightly aware that he had had contact with people from the Land of Dawn, but there was no concrete evidence.

Thus, neither Duri nor the silver fox Anguva had anticipated that Andrew would truly ally himself with the Church of the Three Glorious Gods. Not only was the old king still alive, but the royal family also had the Ansel family as a pillar of the kingdom—surely they wouldn’t allow their own prince to ally with foreign religious forces, let alone such a dangerous group as the Church of the Three Glorious Gods?

What was the Land of Dawn? Sendel had long since become a vassal of religion, with the church controlling who became king.

In the eyes of the nations on the continent, the Church of the Three Glorious Gods was known as the most aggressive of all religious sects. If not for their perpetuated image of justice and light, they would likely have been universally hated.

Donald, whose soul came from another world, understood that “absolute justice is itself a form of evil.” Everything in the world is dualistic—without positive, there is no negative; without light, there is no shadow, and vice versa.

If, as the Lord of Dawn claimed, all dark, negative, and evil things were to be eradicated from this world without consideration, then the world itself would likely collapse!

Andrew did not return to Celt but stayed in Peace Port. With the Sirens being the only foreign force there, it was almost certain that any unknown forces targeting them were there to cause trouble—there was no need to be clever to realize they weren’t there to make friends!

Although they had no proof that these people were sent to deal with them—after all, such actions would surely not be carried out openly, and it was also a time of great crisis due to the demonic plague, making it easy to cover up subsequent events. Donald and the others realized that once they succeeded, they would surely blame everything on the demons. Even if Selt tried to investigate later, there would be nowhere to start!

“Hmph!”

Duri let out an angry snort, then bent down and said apologetically to everyone, “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault for dragging everyone into this. I never expected Andrew to be so insane, showing no brotherly loyalty and even violating the royal traditions. He foolishly allied himself with those ruthless religious fanatics from the Church of the Three Radiant Gods, which is like making deals with demons—surely he would end up losing himself as well!”

Donald comforted Duri, “It’s not your fault. None of us anticipated how insane Andrew could be. At first, I thought he would just collude with external forces to pull some tricks during the demonic plague. We have enough strength, so there’s no need to worry. But maybe we resolved the source of the plague too quickly, forcing them to find a way to salvage their failure!”

Seeing everyone’s worried expressions, Donald instead smiled and said, “Actually, we don’t need to fear the people from the Church of the Three Radiant Gods. They may be strong, but if they could attack us freely, they would have already invaded Selt openly. Why would they need Andrew as a pawn to interfere in Selt’s affairs? So I think they can only act secretly.”

After hearing Donald’s analysis, everyone felt relieved, and their concerns about the Church of the Three Radiant Gods diminished significantly.

Donald continued, “I guess the leaders they send are at most legendary warriors. The Church of the Three Radiant Gods surely wouldn’t send demi-god-level warriors just for this. But they don’t know we have such strength! So I plan to make sure they come and can’t leave, suffering a heavy loss with nowhere to complain. It will also serve to show everyone that Selt isn’t easy to bully!”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up.

Duri was even more excited and said, “Exactly. The various forces on the continent closely monitor demi-god-level warriors. If one of them makes a move, it will be noticed by other beings of the same level within a few days. Even legendary warriors wouldn’t act rashly! So we don’t need to worry about these.”

Without any worries, everyone finalized their plan. With the enemy in the dark and them in the light, instead of blindly pursuing them, they decided to stay put and wait for the enemy to step into their trap.
Construction on the Swordhorn Peninsula continued unabated, with work on the mage tower progressing. After all, the people sent by the Church of the Three Glorious Gods probably wouldn’t bother those uninvolved!
Moreover, among this construction team were two Archmages on site. As established neutral deities, the God of Knowledge and his followers might not be very powerful, nor did their church have a structured organization, but their networks were exceptionally extensive. Even the priests of the most domineering Dawn Lord didn’t want to provoke them unnecessarily.
Outside Daric City, the City of Dragon Knights, in the forests a few miles away, eleven men wrapped in thick black cloaks, revealing only their faces, stood solemnly in silence.
Before long, another man dressed similarly entered from outside the forest, moving swiftly as if he were a fast-moving magical beast.
“How’s the situation?” asked the burly middle-aged human at the head of the group.
The man who returned bowed and reported, “Lord Hawk, our second target has received land granted by the Duke of Sirens and is currently exploring the territory west of Dragonfang Fortress. Our first target is with him, along with the Duke of Sirens, those professionals from the north, and several mages from the second target’s territory!”
“Hm?”
They had planned to ambush the targets along the only route they would take—outside Daric City, the capital of the Sirens. But after waiting seven or eight days with no sign of activity, they sent someone to meet spies in the city. Who would have thought they’d get such news!
That Seltic mage noble had actually received land from the Duke of Sirens and seemed determined to stay there for now.
Upon hearing this, the members of Justice Hand grew furious. They had been made to wait idly for days—were the intelligence agents just slacking off?
“West of Dragonfang Fortress? I heard that’s where the Siren plague originated. It seems like a perfect place to eliminate witnesses!”
The leader of the men in black spoke with a murderous tone, clearly not an ordinary church member who shied away from killing.
Apart from when necessary, these twelve men were usually very quiet. Without delay, they destroyed all traces they had left behind and set off around Daric City toward the western part of Sirens.