Chapter 747: Chapter 119: Countermove
“Friend?” Aske said, “I thought she was your sister.”
“Sort of a sister,” Maya smiled.
What does “sort of” mean… Aske didn’t understand at all and decided not to delve deeper, “Let’s talk about the employment contract.”
“Yeah, about the payment,” Maya said. “If I’m not wrong, all your teammates have already reached the Law Level, right?”
“True,” Aske didn’t deny.
“Once you achieve Bloodline Completion, the material needs lessen greatly,” Maya said with a look of difficulty, “How about we settle on the friendship of half-elves?”
Aske: ………
So-called friendship was just what one commonly refers to as “owing a favor”. But did The Azure Longsword Mercenary Corps lack such a thing?
Olympia City, Weisbach Family, Church Court, and Lixini Family, as well as Enchanting Demon Queen’s Lingbo City, Sicily’s Outville Family, and Miel’s contact list—boasted as the six major pillars of The Azure Longsword. At any time, a single call could get demigods or resources, enough to make any mercenary group green with envy.
As for the major organizations that they had decent relations with, such as the Night Watchman, Sparta City, Life Sect, Pure Blood Monastery (taken over by Peggy’s master Agrippina), Richartnal Knights, and Steel Cross Mercenaries, and many more, one could almost list a long roll of names.
Favors? Sorry, we completely don’t lack such things.
However, Aske soon realized: the ‘friendship’ Maya Queen talked about was not just about “owing you a favor.”
It was more like “For Miel’s sake, can you do me a favor, big brother, pretty please?”
Given this factor, he should certainly agree. Even if Aske didn’t, Maya could turn to Miel, and then the half-elf girl would come running with tears in her eyes, softly pleading with the Squad Leader.
At this point, if Aske were still heartless, then Miel’s goodwill toward him would start to drop.
Eleanor asks you to help and you agree to save the Iberian Peninsula; I’m just asking you to help Maya, why can’t you agree? Is Miel not as important to you as Eleanor is?
So with such things, if there’s one, there will be another. Thankfully, they lacked nothing at present, only time and experience to level up… With that thought, Aske decided to agree after all.
However, noticing his long silence, Maya tentatively spoke:
“Speaking of compensation, how about the news of ‘Heavenly Mountain’?”
“Heavenly Mountain?” Aske immediately turned on his ‘expression management’, asked in “confusion”.
“Miel mentioned that you guys are looking for the fragment of Heavenly Mountain, aren’t you?” Maya said with a smile, hands clasped together. “I know where one of them is. If you help me, I will tell you afterward.”
“Deal,” Aske immediately responded.
————————
After reaching an agreement with the squad leader of The Azure Longsword, Maya quietly withdrew from Aske’s dreamscape.
And made a slight adjustment, allowing him to have a pleasant dream in the later part of the night. As for the scenario where Nora would take up a sword and darkly slaughter the whole team, that was entirely Sherry’s request, not Maya’s intention—Sherry felt sorry for these girls and was also dissatisfied with Aske, though she couldn’t really fault him for anything.
Next, Maya strolled in the Subconscious Ocean, watching the dreams of others.
It had to be said, Aske, as the squad leader, indeed held high goodwill among the team, showing up in almost every teammate’s dream, albeit in varied roles.
Considering privacy, Maya didn’t pry too much but quickly entered Miel’s dream.
Miel’s dream was set in a small forest, at the center of which stood a simple but warmly decorated wooden house. Inside the kitchen, bustling in an apron, was Miel preparing dinner for Aske.
At this moment, her appearance was that of a twenty-year-old adult woman, somewhat resembling Maya in both looks and demeanor. Clearly, the similarity wasn’t just in appearance; Miel subconsciously felt she would probably look like Maya when she grew up.
Sherry even joked, asking if the two half-elves could be long-lost sisters. Maya actually went to check later, only to confirm that she and Miel had no blood relation whatsoever (obviously).
It was just a mere coincidence.
Maya knocked on the door from outside and heard Aske’s drunken voice inside:
“Who is it?”
“I’ll open the door, you keep sleeping.” Immediately after, Miel’s voice of mild annoyance was heard. After a moment, the door was opened from inside.
The moment Miel saw Maya, her expression cleared up—she realized she was dreaming.
“Come in,” Miel said.
After Maya entered the room, they saw Aske lying on the sofa, seeming to have drunk too much. Miel snapped her fingers, and the “Aske” immediately disappeared.
“Wouldn’t have guessed you’d consider being a housewife,” Maya joked.
“Being a housewife is quite nice,” Miel replied. “Actually, I never had much ambition.”
“I really don’t know why Rasul chose you as the heir.” Seeing Miel say this, Maya could only sigh regretfully. “You could have refused it.”
“It’s pointless to talk about it now,” Miel said.
“True,” Maya nodded, “By the way, I’ve spoken with your squad leader.”
“Oh.”
“Aren’t you going to ask what we talked about?” Maya said, frustrated. How could Miel be just like her squad leader in this regard?
“Alright,” Miel showed an exasperated expression and asked perfunctorily, “What did you talk about?”
“The Azure Longsword will accept my commission,” Maya said.
“That’s good; our connection can be made public now,” Miel said.
“But you must know, being public means you’ll be more feared in the hearts of your rivals,” Maya said. “Like that Enchanting Demon, Medea, right? I dare not get too close to her even in the Subconscious Ocean, her perception is very acute.”
“You must have accidentally shown hostility, as Purgatory Demons have a Conspiracy Sequence in their bloodline,” Miel replied. “But she probably doesn’t know it was you.”
“Maybe,” Maya said with a frown. “And I heard that the Enchanting Demon Queen is planning to pass on the throne to her?”
“Her mother intends to,” Miel answered.
“She might become your biggest rival in the future,” Maya said with a smile. “But Rasul must have left you a fallback, right?”
“Don’t remind me, it’s full of traps,” Miel shook her head in resignation.
Rasul did indeed leave Miel multiple fallbacks, a whole set of them.
The Eden Fruit could implant a backdoor in the Mind Body, subtly influencing or even manipulating the target’s mind, similar to a weakened version of the Manipulation Law. Over the years, the key figures with Rasul’s backdoors had spread across major forces in the world.
For instance, against Medea, Rasul set plans both with Purgatory’s Jailer and in Purgatory’s Lingbo City. If necessary, a devil invasion could be incited like a fuse, followed by Purgatory’s Jailer launching a vengeance-driven cross-border attack on Lingbo City to dismantle Medea’s power.
Similarly, against Eleanor, Rasul staged a dormant scheme in the Upper Lorraine Duchy of the Divine Luo Empire. Although most of the moles inside Aachen Palace were removed by the Dragon of Imagination, Bruno, it didn’t affect the overall operation of the plan. Once activated, the Emperor of Divine Luo would die immediately, leaving the Iron Throne hanging in the void, stirring undercurrents throughout the empire, making it impossible for Eleanor to return and smoothly take over power.
However, the Church Court had the most traps, relying on Raphael, the biggest internal ally. God knows how many pitfalls were buried within Solomon City, all aimed at Nora. Once she returned to receive the sainthood from the Church Court, and Miel activated this series of deadly moves, Nora would immediately find herself in a storm, with an imminent risk of crashing.
And the reason why none of these fallbacks were triggered was solely that Miel didn’t want to do so—as Nora believed, Miel truly was a kind-hearted girl.
“So, what do you plan to do next?” Maya asked with a smile.
“My goal has never changed,” Miel said silently after a long pause, speaking softly. “I wish…”
“… to have everyone eternally happy, forever joyously together.”