Chapter 581 The Objectives of the Empire Spiri
As soon as he heard this, Faxul could feel the little ball in his head that was his friend heat up with anger, and although he felt the same, he kept a calm face and just nodded, as if he wasn't too interested in what he was seeing.
This tied in with the old Black Raven's original personality, which was one a stoic one that seldom spoke.
In the memories, it was clear that this was one of the reasons why the man, who had later become this Empire Spirit, had become close with the Raven because he loved to talk, and the Raven would just listen.
Thus, they had made a pair of unlikely companions, and Faxul also knew that the man didn't have any male companions that he was close to except the Raven.
In fact, this action of Faxul's also seemed to have brought back old memories in the mind of the Empire Spirit.
"Ah, I've missed company, old friend. These past few millennia have been torture, I tell you. Bless this age that we were able to finally emerge in. Now is our time, and as soon as we get our bodies back, we will find a way to outlive all those other fools who said we were foolish in choosing this path. But…didn't you go crazy in all these years? How are you still the same as the bird I knew? Heaves know I've gone crazy and done my fair share of killing…"
Clearly, this was a trick question, and if Faxul answered wrong, suspicion would arise in the Empire Spirit.
This danger finally allowed Daneel to snap out of his anger.
It had barely been a second, but Daneel hadn't been able to help it.
He was now perfectly clear regarding what was going on inside this dastardly Kingdom.
Clearly, he was being depicted as the villain to unite against while the true villains, the Empire Spirit and the King, did whatever they wished by using him as an excuse.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't imagine a way in which this could be reserved.
It was equal parts genius and ruthless. Because they were closed off, they wouldn't be able to verify the truth. And because they had a lot of reasons to be miserable about, they needed someone to blame and vent on, and he was available so that they could do just that.
All in all, this damn Empire Spirit was every bit as smart and cold-blooded as Drakos had said.
In the pause, Faxul acted like he was thinking, before answering.
"I did go crazy. But getting a body seems to have made that better. Occasional urges still come and go, but I can control them. And you would have done your 'fair share of killing' regardless of whether you were crazy or not, Arnold. So don't test me, and just lead the way. I still don't know if you are that same person who was legendarily known to be the only one to enter a lair of Godbeasts and try to bed them. You might have changed, too, and I intend to get the answers I want with time. For now, we are only cooperating for convenience, so let me make it clear that I trust you just as much as you trust me."
The smile on the King's face got broader and broader with each word, and it especially lit up with a fond expression when the part about the Godbeast was mentioned.
Thankfully, it seemed to have worked.
Simply nodded and gesturing forward, King Safiros, who was currently under the control of Arnold, continued to fly in the direction of the capital.
Inwardly, Faxul released a sigh of relief, following which he said to Daneel, "Close shave. But we knew he would be distrustful, anyway. Daneel, I'm as angry as you are. But keep in mind what we are here for."
Right.
That was exactly what Daneel intended to do.
Their objective here was threefold:
Find out all the plans of the Kingdom of Axelor
Find where the pieces of the Grand Inheritance were being kept
Gain enough trust with the Empire Spirit so that there wouldn't be a problem when the time came to stab him in the back.
They sounded simple when listed like this, but, in fact, each was more difficult than the last.
Still, they were determined to succeed.
On the way, Daneel continued to observe all the towns and villages, most of which had similar posters that the citizens were showing their hate on.
In some places, even children had expressions of wrath while they flung stones at him.
It both pained Daneel and aggravated him to see the way his image was being twisted and used, but he knew that he was powerless to stop it now.
So, he looked past them to observe other things.
For instance, he noticed that many villages were so primitive that they weren't even using proper trinkets to farm large areas of land.
A lot of people were doing work manually, where a trinket would have saved them a lot of time and effort.
The most apparent example of this was a large piece of land in which over a hundred people holding water cans were patiently watering the land.
In Lanthanor, and even in many places around the continent, there was a very simple trinket which flew in the air and properly irrigated each and every part of a designated farm.
This either meant that the trinkets weren't available at all, or that these citizens were too poor to use them.
Soon, it became clear that the latter was true, as he spotted a small garden in a mansion being irrigated using that same trinket he had just thought about.
With this also came the discovery that most of those who had wealth had various army titles in front of their name.
So…it was clear that for the most part, only those who supported the government were able to hold wealth.
More and more, this Kingdom started to remind Daneel of one back on Earth.
Many similarities could be drawn, including a crazy ruler who cared nothing for the well-being of his citizens.
However, that was unimportant now, as, by the time he had transmigrated, no one had found a solution to tackle said country yet.
Soon, they approached the Capital, which was a sprawling city with the predominant colors, for some reason, being red and grey.
Most houses were in either of those colors, and many citizens were also wearing clothes of these colors, too.
Only a few wore luxurious ones of different colors, and these were almost always surrounded by a retinue of soldiers.
The Capital was peculiar in the fact that humongous horns of some creature propped up its gate, and also its entrance.
This, however, was known to the people of Angaria, as it was one of the few features of Axelor that had been made public by the scholars who traveled here and lived to tell the tale.
Daneel had asked Drakos which beast those horns might belong to, but the Ancient Dragon had been unsure, as there were multiple options.
And right now, he wasn't present to view this sight.
However, Daneel did have the system.
[Phenomena Analysis Module analyzing bone structure. 2 matches found:
Bones of an Ancient Giant, reported to have roamed Angaria in the time of the Empire
Bones of multiple mutated beasts joined together.
Because a long period of time has passed since the making of these objects, system cannot give a definite answer.]
That was interesting, to say the least.
However, it wasn't the most interesting detail about the Palace, by far.
That was because even Faxul had detected certain dangerous formations around the Palace, which made him feel as if he would be at the mercy of the Empire Spirit if he entered.
This made him pause right at the point where these formations began, which led Arnold to turn around and smirk, before saying, "Trust runs both ways, my dear, old friend, just like you said. So, if you need my help, you need to find it in yourself to abandon some of that caution of yours."
Typically, advanced formations had specific purposes.
Some were designed to keep people out, and others…were designed to make sure that those who entered would not be able to leave no matter how hard they tried.
One such formation was around the Palace, and it was even clear that it had been set up recently.
At this point, it became clear that the day of time that Arnold had taken had been spent in setting up this formation.
With his hands behind his back, the Empire Spirit waited for an answer.
Daneel was almost inclined to tell Faxul that they should just go in, but he paused, as he knew that his friend must be going through those memories again.
So, when he did react, it made Daneel feel dumbfounded.
"No thanks. I'll find a way to help myself."
Saying so, Faxul promptly turned around and began heading back in the way they had come.
As Daneel saw the Empire Spirit's reaction, he realized that this was another test.
Teleporting in front of Faxul, the Empire Spirit laughed and raised his hands, as if in surrender, and said, "All right, all right! I couldn't resist! Come on, there's a separate place I set up."
At this moment, Daneel couldn't help but marvel at how Faxul had understood the nature of that Ancient Black Raven.
Clearly, it was so cautious to the point that it would never enter an area like that, which would be tough to leave from.
Soon enough, they were sitting in an abandoned house in the Capital, where a few refreshments had already been waiting for them.
By now, it was obvious that Arnold had expected the reaction, and had prepared beforehand.
This made Daneel wonder what would have happened if they had gone forward, and he couldn't help but shudder due to the thought.
As both of them sipped wine, there was silence, at first, following which Arnold spoke up.
"So, first, tell me exactly everything what you have in mind."
Instead of responding, Daneel asked Faxul to put forward a question that had been bothering him.
"Before that, why are you killing off so many citizens? Aren't you concerned that it'll set off alarms in the Big 4?"
This made the Empire Spirit sit back and let out a burst of laughter, before giving Daneel and Faxul a response that left both of them astonished.
"Hehe, purges were always a custom in this Kingdom, so I just upped the frequency, Besides, I'm not doing it for fun. They keep the population low so that satisfaction level can be high, and they also keep the people afraid, so that they also feel happy to not be purged. Which, obviously, means that they are happy to be in this Kingdom. There is a third purpose, though. Haven't you wondered why this Church wants to kill everyone after taking over? I've been doing experiments to find out just that, and I'm proud to say that I have had some good results…"
…
Meanwhile, in the Goddess's Sanctum, Xuan had just exited her isolation with a smile on her face.
All of her time had been spent dreamily thinking about the King and the moments they had shared together, so when she saw Molan waiting for her, she asked, "Have I received any messages? Did the King contact me?"
This made Molan frown, as she usually did these days, and say, "No. But that Eloise did contact me for something, and by mistake…she overheard a few maids gossiping about two people who were said to have been kissing in the Secret Archives."
As soon as Xuan heard this, she froze, remembering the woman who had almost died just because she didn't want to back down.
As anger started to enter her mind, she was about to heavily reprimand Molan, but she first decided to teleport away to meet Eloise, first.