Chapter 53 Chapter 52 Setting Off Together
Jima was not as optimistic as George; she muttered, “Then her life in the future will certainly not be easy.”
“Why?”
“Admitting her past was her biggest blunder.” Jima empathized, “Her husband is just a toy that others have played with; how could a man possibly not care? If she were a mistress, it might be different, but she’s the wife. Not divorcing now just seems like a delaying tactic….”
“A delaying tactic?” George didn’t quite understand the term and asked, “Is this a military term?”
“The meaning in this context is that he is only considering his reputation and is temporarily not asking for a divorce. When everyone has mostly forgotten about it, he’ll quietly file for divorce.” Jima explained, “And before that, Duke Kisleaf has a strong hold over his wife; he could easily manipulate her with one sentence: ‘You can cater to the demon king in different ways, so why can’t you cater to your husband?'”
“In other words, Duke Kisleaf could treat her like the demon king’s maid and take a new lover. If the lady objects, he can just bring up her past. What could she possibly say?”
“This hold was also voluntarily given by the lady; it’s really hard for me to give her a high evaluation.”
At this moment, Eve Frostleaf, who was most perceptive to the implied meanings, spoke up and asked, “Jima, are you insinuating George?”
“Of course not.” Jima immediately responded with certainty, smiling as she patted George on the shoulder and said, “I believe George has high morals; he’s an honest and trustworthy good boy who would never do something so lowly and degrading, right?”
George corrected her, “I’m not a child. Putting aside your sarcasm, I’ll answer your question directly, yes.”
Certainly, if I were honest, you would just be sharpening your axe to chop my head off.
George continued, “By the way, do you know the old man with blue wings? Do you know who he is?”
Jima recalled his face and had some impression, as if she had seen him in Adolf’s presence, but couldn’t remember.
Jima shook her head and said, “I’ve committed many sins; I’ve got a slew of enemies. Who remembers him?”
During their small talk, Jima prepared the ritual. Amidst the incense, she firmly grasped the wish compass, visualizing the fragments of the demon king’s crown in her heart.
A strange thing happened; the fragments of the demon king’s crown she visualized began to speak to her secretly.
“Familiar soul, are you the previous holder? Today, you are the second person to seek me. As long as you find me and seize me, I will fulfill a wish for you, just like before.”
The whisper awakened familiar feelings in her body. She remembered the excitement and thrill of taking the blood-stained fragments of the demon king’s crown from a loser at that moment. There was also the happiness of using it to fulfill her own desires and build her own crystal palace.
It even provided her with a list of names suitable for building her harem, some fit to be maids, and some fit for pimping, including the name of the great benefactor Blanxi, who, after receiving Jima’s help, developed characteristic industries such as slave training (female) and beauty contests in Shaling City, famously becoming the horse breeder of the otherworld “Yangzhou Thin Horse.”
But now was not the time to reminisce about good times; behind her stood a righteous person.
Jima replied, “Shut up.”
“I can feel your strong desire; I’m waiting for you, as well as everyone else.”
The fragments of the demon king’s crown in her mind disappeared. Jima opened her eyes to see the wish compass remained still, pointing slightly toward the east of north.
She asked, “How much time has passed?”
George gave an accurate estimate: “Less than three heartbeats.”
Jima moved the wish compass; its needle stayed steadfast. She said, “The direction is correct; we can draw a line on the map now.”
George, clad in heavy armor and wearing iron gloves, found it hard to draw a line.
Jenna held a pen, slightly bent over so her chest almost touched the high-precision map. Holding a steel ruler, she used the position of the room on the map as a starting point to draw a straight red line that crossed through the vast Northskar Mountains in the north.
That was in the northern part of the troll kingdom.
Next, everyone needed to move to a castle more than ten kilometers away from Kisleaf City and perform divination again, drawing a red line. The point where the two red lines intersected would be the approximate location of the demon king’s crown fragments.
Jima looked at the Northskar Mountains and said, “I hope it’s not in the Northskar Mountains.”
George nodded in agreement.
The high-precision map of Kisleaf was quite accurate domestically, but once it reached the troll kingdom, it began to lose accuracy, and by the time they reached the Northskar Mountains, the precision was just for reference.
After all, when the map was first drawn, Kisleaf could not have sent mages and relevant personnel to the troll kingdom to draw the map in the perilous Northskar Mountains.
George asked, “Is everything settled?”
“Settled.”
“Prepare to set off and be ready for battle at any time.” George’s gaze fell on the cat around Jima’s neck. “Before we set off, I want to ask you something.”
“Go ahead.”
“How did you get your cat?”
“Of course, I summoned it from the Dream Palace.”
George’s face behind the helmet darkened, “I remember that was a very mana-consuming skill, right?”
“Just a cat.” Jima said, “It’s not that mana-consuming; until now, it’s only about one-tenth per hour.”
“Now is not the time to enjoy life.” George rebuked, “Now is a time of war; I hope you can cherish every bit of mana.”
“Meow!” Rianxi the cat lifted its head,伸出爪子, and waved its little cat fists at George.
Jima rolled her eyes at George and said, “Alright.”
The cat Rianxi that was waving its fists suddenly disappeared without a trace.
The four of them packed their belongings and headed directly to their destination.
But reality is often harsh.
By evening, the four arrived at the castle marked on the map.
The yellow-red glow of the setting sun fell on Kisleaf’s map. After the maiden Jenna cleanly drew a red line, the intersection of the two red lines landed within the Northskar Mountains.
“Really.”
I clearly tied the fragments of the demon king’s crown to a stone and tossed it into the vast ocean; not even I knew where it landed. How did it cross nearly half the world and end up in this ghostly place?
“Just outside the range of the Order’s camp,” George said, “We can’t get Kisleaf’s support. Without military support, things could become very troublesome.”
Jima fully agreed.
In this world, there are very few strong individuals who can start an army. Some may be strong but lack the ability to quickly deal with mobs, like George, who, in the obsessed classification of the shrine, was classified as a duelist.
This means he is great at one-on-one, but lacks the means to handle mobs.
Jenna does have ways to handle mobs, but that requires the enemies to stand foolishly huddled together; if they spread out, it greatly weakens her divine tricks’ lethality.
At this moment, an army is needed to make the opponents hesitate to spread out; otherwise, if they rush in and the position becomes unstable, scattering to dodge spells would lead to a rout.
Jima said, “Looking on the bright side, perhaps we only need to infiltrate an underground city brimming with mobs, where we only need to fight a few team battles in narrow spaces, and finally confront the mastermind behind it to smash their head and seize the fragments of the demon king’s crown to perform the ritual.”
Eve Frostleaf, who generally doesn’t like to talk, suddenly interjected: “Just like when we infiltrated the demon king’s palace back then.”
Hehe… if my army had been stationed at the demon king’s palace back then, let’s see how you would have handled it.
Jima’s smile froze for half a second before becoming even brighter, “Right.”
George said, “I hope so.”
“Let’s set a time to depart.” Jima yawned, lazily looking at the Kisleaf castle, which had cramped space and poor living conditions.
She hoped to spend the night in the Dream Palace, and if they stayed in the castle today, she would have a reason to spend the night in the Dream Palace.
“I plan to set off after getting ready.” George looked at the three and asked, “Does anyone have any other opinions?”
Jima wanted to object, but upon seeing Eve Frostleaf shaking her head and Jenna saying, “No,” she changed her mind and said, “Give me some time to change clothes.”
“Alright.”
After Jima changed, she saw George holding a notebook, occasionally marking lines on it. He looked towards Jima; he didn’t really need to turn his head because he had a 360-degree field of vision, but it was a matter of courtesy, letting the other person know he wanted to talk.
“I almost forgot one thing.” George
