"The Demon King Army has been spotted?" Gu Shanhai looked at the latest intelligence with so puzzlent. It shouldn’t be possible. As a traditional RPG, how could one encounter the final boss just by stepping outside? Oh, wait, he was the final boss now.
It was normal for the report to end up in his hands since they were heroes ant to resolve the Demon King issue.
The Demon King Army was composed of the Demon Clan and monsters. The Demon Clan referred to humanoid monsters, while monsters were non-humanoid.
There was also a distinction to be made: the Demon Clan possessed intelligence, whereas only a small portion of the monsters were intelligent. The majority were brainless beasts under the Demon King’s control. They simply followed the Demon King’s orders, but this control could also be shared with other high-ranking mbers of the Demon King’s forces, forming a chain of command.
"Am I going to handle these creatures?" Hualou Chun spoke up again.
Gu Shanhai completely ignored his eagerness for battle, his mind preoccupied with the matters at hand.
"Where have all the noble families looking to clear out the Royal Capital ended up? Specifically, how many troops do they have?" Gu Shanhai inquired.
He wondered if he could get these two sides to test each other first.
"Not too sure, they might have been wiped out by the Demon King Army on their way here." Hualou Chun shook his head.
The combat power of the Holy Kingdom was of great concern. As the military force of the Royal Capital, there were very few among the higher ranks who could reach above level 50; the rest were nothing but good-for-nothing schers, adept at greedily imposing taxes on the poor and plotting against political rivals, yet utterly lacking in combat ability.
It was rather infrequent for a world where strength reigns supre to have upper echelons devoid of corresponding martial prowess.
"Forget it, don’t get your hopes up," Gu Shanhai sighed. After gathering intelligence, he understood why the Holy Kingdom was so ineffectual, yet sohow still maintained its position as the top power in the Hero Continent - it was all because of the Goddess.
They acted as envoys of the Goddess, capable of summoning heroes.
But these heroes were all too arrogant, considering they were ant to save the world; instead, they acted like they were above everyone.
What’s more crucial, Gu Shanhai had uncovered so secrets, like once the hero successfully defeated the Demon King, they would conveniently "escort" the hero to the afterlife.
They didn’t employ honorable thods, of course. Poisoning, assassination, and the like - in short, out of sight, out of mind. They weren’t foolish either; if heroes stayed around, they would have to share power, and in their eyes, a re servant didn’t have the right to stand equal with them.
If a hero were to return, it would be tolerable, but if not, it would impact their influence.
Even so exceedingly powerful heroes would conspire secretly with the Demon King, ensuring the hero’s path would be difficult.
Gu Shanhai had assessed the overall situation of the Holy Kingdom; the average military force was around level 30. The Royal Capital’s City Guard was considered to have high standards, whereas the military power of the smaller nobles in outlying areas left much to be desired.
"So... are we just going to leave it at that?" Hualou Chun appeared puzzled about what they should do next.
"How could we just leave it at that? The two of you go and investigate the Demon King Army’s situation, and don’t blow your cover," Gu Shanhai said, massaging his temples. This couple seed only to know brute force.
"Alright then." Hearing this, Hualou Chun figured Gu Shanhai must be planning sothing significant.
The two didn’t ask how to go about the investigation; lacking such basic RPG knowledge would an they had no business being involved. Even if they were just the muscle, they couldn’t simply charge in blind.
After their departure, only a bunch of nobles remained, their eyes flickering. Glancing at one another, the leading Regent Minister stood up and said, "Heroic sir, we have discovered the Sword of the Hero left behind by the previous hero..."
The Regent Minister rambled on, implying that with the Sword of the Hero, the Demon King could be slain with a single stroke.
Gu Shanhai listened with faint interest to the praise and then asked, "Such a great piece of equipnt, why don’t you use it?"
His remark was loaded with implication. If it were powerful enough to slay the Demon King with one strike, why summon heroes at all? They could just have the wind-elental Holy Domain Warrior wield the sword and go to battle.
The color drained from the other party’s face, as it seed to dawn on them. However, the Regent Minister quickly replied, "Respectable hero, only a hero can wield the Sword of the Hero."
"Oh, why didn’t you say so sooner? Wait for Hualou Chun to return, and he can go get it from you," Gu Shanhai responded with waning enthusiasm.
Upon hearing this, the expression of everyone present soured. How could this man not play by the rules? If it were them, they would have imdiately secured such a wondrous Divine weapon for their own treasuries, not left it for soone else.
"No, no, no, heroic sir, only you are worthy of the Sword of the Hero. Aren’t you afraid if you give it to that Hualou Chun, he might usurp your position?" The tone of the Regent Minister was seductive.
In the eyes of all the ministers, only Gu Shanhai was the core mber of the hero’s party, the other two simply lacked brains and followed Gu Shanhai’s lead. Precisely for this reason, they saw it as their opportunity to turn the tide.
After all, the display for Gu Shanhai showed him at level 1, unlike the other two heroes who were at levels 99 and 98 respectively.
So, if they could just trick Gu Shanhai into leaving the Imperial Palace and then capture and forcibly extract the antidote from him, only then could they truly rest easy.
As for why they didn’t just take action here and now, it was naturally because there were too many uncertainties.
Another reason was that the high-ranking nobles aspired to monopolize the antidote and then control other nobles and the City Guard, and so elevate their power even further.
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