“Without hesitation...”
“...hesitation...”
“...hesitation...”
As if affected by the barrier activated by the magic scroll, Fido's near-roaring words continued to echo throughout the conference room.
Yet, these lingering echoes did not soften the chilling, tense atmosphere in the room in the slightest.
On the contrary.
It was like both the final straw that broke the camel's back and the spark that lit the fuse.
It caused the tension in the room to mount, higher and higher.
At the same time, Irene, sitting at the head of the table, lowered her head, pressing her clasped hands against her smooth forehead.
She seemed to be making some sort of choice.
Gulp.
Gar swallowed hard.
A layer of sweat had broken out on his bald forehead, and his usually upright cowlick had gone completely limp, drooping over his mechanical eye.
“Heh...”
A sudden, soft chuckle rang out.
“Hehehe...”
The laughter gradually grew louder.
Everyone turned toward the source of the sound.
They saw Irene, sitting at the head of the table, her shoulders trembling slightly.
It was as if she were holding something back.
Before the others could recover from the suffocating atmosphere from just moments ago—
—Irene finally stopped holding it in and burst into a hearty laugh.
Her laughter held a touch of mischievous amusement at teasing her subordinates and making them look foolish, a sense of relief at finally uncovering the unknown, and a hint of warmth from how Fido's words had touched her heart.
Ever since she had arrived in this so-called “otherworld,” her long-repressed mind seemed to have found an outlet, achieving a satisfying release.
The result of this was...
Irene was laughing so hard she couldn't stop, looking like a complete fool.
If Daviel were here, he would surely have cried out, “Sis, did you sleep for so long that you went brain-dead?”
But he was not here.
Thus, her three vassals—Fido, Gar, and Arthas—could only exchange bewildered glances.
They had no idea what was happening with their Grace.
Deterred by the previous atmosphere,
they didn't dare step forward to ask.
They could only stand there foolishly, watching their Grace laugh non-stop.
Meanwhile, the noisy sounds of battle outside the window gradually quieted down.
The first light of dawn rose from the horizon, casting its rays upon the wild land, bringing a successful conclusion to the siege that had lasted all night.
On the city walls, the Black Knights, who had fought hard all night, breathed a deep sigh of relief as they watched the mutant beast tide recede like the tide.
But when their gaze fell upon the massive crater left behind on the battlefield, the hope in their eyes was quickly replaced by awe.
No one knew who was the first to shout: “Everything for Her Grace! The glory of the Empire shall eventually shine upon the entire land!”
Soon, the entire wall echoed with praises and songs dedicated to the Empire.
Inside the city, the citizens, who had also spent the night in fear, quickly ran to their windows upon hearing these triumphant songs of victory. They unlatched and pushed open their windows.
The warm sunlight filtered past the towering city walls, shining on their somewhat weary faces and illuminating smiles of survival.
The morning light also fell upon the Holy Scripture of Redemption they clutched in their arms, making the exquisite cross holy symbol reflect a dazzling radiance.
Carrying streams of the power of faith, it drifted like ribbons toward a single direction.
And at the destination of this power of faith—
—inside the conference room sealed by the barrier.
Irene was struggling to stop laughing.
Under the bewildered and dumbfounded stares of Fido and the others, she wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye with her fingertip, performed a tactical lean-back, and slumped lazily against the backrest of her chair.
Then, an invisible Mage Hand dragged her golden throne back a short distance. Her slender legs lifted, crossing over each other as she rested them casually on the conference table.
After letting out a long breath,
Irene raised a fair hand and pressed it down slightly.
She motioned for Fido and the others to sit.
In the end, other than Arthas, who sat back down, Fido and Gar did not react.
Seeing this, Irene chuckled softly and said in a casual tone, “I have witnessed your loyalty.”
“My dear subordinates.”
“Since you now know the truth of the world...”
“...I wonder, would you be interested in joining me to overthrow the deities who oppress and enslave you?”
“To take back this world that belongs to us from those despicable invaders?”
As soon as those words fell,
everyone present was stunned.
To their knowledge, their Grace was also an “invasive alien species” herself. Strictly speaking, the deities were her ancestors. Was she planning to betray her own kind?
But before they could wrap their heads around it, a crisp snap of a finger echoed with a click.
A massive flood of memories was suddenly forced into their minds.
At this moment, they felt as if they were witnessing and experiencing the ancient history recorded on the stone tablets from another perspective—the perspective of a human named Chu Xia...
Time ticked by, minute by minute...
When they finally snapped out of it, their eyes refocused, and they looked back at the one sitting at the head of the table.
They saw Irene resting her right elbow on the smooth armrest of the throne, lazily supporting her tilted cheek with the back of her hand, while her left hand rested casually on the other armrest.
Invisibly, she exuded a faint... regal aura.
“Your Grace... you...”
In this inexplicable atmosphere, Gar was the first to speak. His face showed a mix of excitement and confusion, his eyes highly complex.
However, before he could finish, Irene raised a hand to cut him off.
“I know you have many questions.”
Irene's gaze swept over the three of them before finally settling on Arthas. Looking directly at the soul fire flickering beneath his helmet, she said slowly, “The scenes you saw are what I once experienced.”
“Or rather, the experiences of my past life.”
“This is all thanks to Arthas. It was the power of faith he gathered that allowed me to recall all of this.”
After offering Arthas an indirect compliment, Irene looked away, a sincere smile appearing on her face. “So, my dear subordinates, now that you know all this, are you interested in doing something big with me?”
Then, she repeated the words Fido had just spoken: “Even if... it might plunge us into the Abyss forever!”
The moment her words fell, Gar was the first to shout, “I'm in! I'm absolutely in!”
With his quick-thinking mind, he had rapidly understood and digested this massive amount of information. He was now raising both hands, shouting in excitement, “I've long wanted to use my imagination to figure out what a god is made of!”
Arthas was the next to react. Only now did he release his grip on Frostmourne, bowing his head with deep reverence as the soul fire in his eyes flared wildly. “Mother, your will is the only belief that guides my path.”
“I am willing to eliminate all enemies that stand in your way.”
“Even if... they are gods!”
In response to this, Irene gave a barely perceptible nod, then locked her gaze onto Fido's astonished dog face.
This guy still hadn't fully recovered from the shock.
Such wild ups and downs made it impossible for him to calm down, despite the steady composure he had cultivated over the past few decades.
But in the next instant, a light seemed to flash in Fido's eyes. Under Irene's watchful gaze, he fell to one knee with a heavy thud, performing a textbook knight's salute.
“Your Grace!”
Fido raised his head, looking up at Irene on her throne from a strange angle. With a face full of fanaticism like a zealous believer, he roared, “Woof! You are simply the savior sent by the heavens!!”
In his extreme excitement, this kobold dragonborn had actually blurted out a word of his “mother tongue.”
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