“Puji.”
【The Headhunter Cult is trading large numbers of human women to the goblin king to produce a massive amount of goblins. They want a giant monster army.】
“Could it be to attack Hera City?”
Flora easily made the connection.
“To attack Hera City and use more human deaths to please their evil god in exchange for power?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Hera City cannot be destroyed. It is an outpost of the Grand Duchy of Rose, and the Grand Duchy of Rose would never allow anything to happen to this nail monitoring the Hera Plains.”
“Furthermore, large-scale life sacrifices are not the kind of sacrifices preferred by the Headhunter Cult's evil god, so it wouldn't grant much power.”
“The evil god the Headhunter Cult worships is called the God of Envy.”
“Torturing individuals with exceptional traits in an inhumane manner and then decapitating them—offering those heads filled with resentment is what pleases the God of Envy most.”
“Among those, the trait of beauty is the easiest to identify, which is why those individuals are the most persecuted by the Headhunter Cult.”
Evelyn dismissed Flora's conjecture.
“However, I can guess the goblin king's purpose.”
“He needs a ritual—a ritual to ascend to a High-tier Monster.”
Zoe looked at Evelyn and began to listen intently.
With his limited knowledge in his past life, he had never heard of an ascension ritual.
“When a Mid-tier Monster's strength reaches its limit and wants to become a High-tier Monster,”
“besides progressing step-by-step and accumulating enough massive mana to ascend,”
“they can also ascend through a ritual.”
“The ritual requires gathering a large number of souls in a short period of time.”
“The goblin king's goal is highly likely to attack Hera City, trigger a war, cause massive casualties, and collect enough souls to complete his ascension to a High-tier Monster.”
High-tier Monsters were already the pinnacle of monsters; anything higher would be unrealistic. Was such a powerful goblin king about to be born?
“But is the Headhunter Cult's goal simply to create a goblin king that is a High-tier Monster?”
“Could their goal be to create a High-tier goblin king, and then manipulate and enslave it to obtain its power?”
Flora made her best guesses regarding the Headhunter Cult's goal.
“No, a High-tier Monster cannot be manipulated unless the Headhunter Cult has a Quasi-Demon King-level mentalist.”
Evelyn was also contemplating what the Headhunter Cult's goal could be.
The leader of the Headhunter Cult was highly likely from the wealthy and noble class of Hera City.
Their goal...
Evelyn closed her eyes beneath her mask, working hard to piece together the existing clues.
“Mr. Slime, how did you manage to get along with a white dragon?”
Feeling that the air had grown too quiet, Flora spoke to Zoe as if to find a topic of conversation.
She cared quite a bit about the dragon that had killed her younger brother, which made her very sensitive to anything related to dragons.
“Puji.”
【Just treat her like a friend. Vera is my precious companion.】
“Her name is Vera? Can I ask her about something later?”
【Ask about what?】
“About an adult red dragon that appeared on the Hera Plains last year.”
“I was thinking that since they are both dragons, Miss Vera might know something related to that red dragon.”
【Vera probably doesn't know. But Miss Flora, why do you care about that red dragon?】
Flora looked at Zoe on the stone platform and spoke solemnly.
“That red dragon killed my brother. Moreover, there was a conspiracy by the Headhunter Cult behind that red dragon.”
“They stole the red dragon's egg, which ultimately caused my brother to die in their conspiracy. Whether it's the Headhunter Cult or that red dragon, I will make them all pay the price.”
Flora's words warmed Zoe's heart. This girl was truly showing admirable devotion, not letting his past guidance go to waste.
Wait.
A spark of realization flashed through Zoe's mind.
“Puji.”
【Are you saying that the Headhunter Cult stole the red dragon's egg, which was what caused the red dragon to come to the Hera Plains?】
Flora looked at the pop-up text box and nodded.
Was the Headhunter Cult's goal dragons?
Zoe recalled the scene when he first met Vera, when she had been hunted and captured by goblins.
And the goblins were in cahoots with the Headhunter Cult.
Perhaps it wasn't the goblins who wanted to enslave Vera back then, but rather the Headhunter Cult behind them who needed this white dragon for something.
【The goblins once formed a dragon-hunting team to attack and capture Vera.】
【It is highly likely that the Headhunter Cult was behind those instructions.】
Zoe quickly shared this intelligence with Evelyn and Flora.
“Dragons...”
Evelyn lowered her hand from her chin beneath her mask and stood up. The clues in her mind began to connect.
Or rather, she confirmed her previous suspicion.
The Headhunter Cult's actions twice had to do with dragons, and the dragon scent on Jaden made him absolutely suspicious.
But what Jaden's goal was, she couldn't imagine at all.
Since it consistently involved dragons, Zoe decided to call the dragon involved to ask and get to the bottom of it.
Hopping away, he called Vera into the cave, looked at her, and then explained the situation clearly to her.
“To think that the dragon egg and the attack I encountered last time were both related to the Headhunter Cult!”
Vera spoke in disbelief.
“Miss Vera, do you know what their goal is?”
Evelyn looked at Vera and asked.
Vera thought hard, digging through the Dragon's Heritage in her mind.
Until her head spun, she finally found a relevant taboo in the memories of her Dragon's Heritage.
“Dragon Body Fusion and class change—a dragon taboo.”
Vera's eyes widened.
“Fusing a dragon's body to obtain the dragon bloodline and temporary dragon strength, while temporarily changing classes to a monster.”
“Those who fuse a dragon's body suffer bloodline conflict; they become neither human nor dragon and will be hunted by dragons for eternity.”
“Should a dragon encounter anyone who has fused with a dragon body, they must execute them.”
Upon hearing the final piece of the puzzle provided by Vera, Evelyn understood completely.
“I understand now. The truth about the Headhunter Cult, and Jaden's goal.”
Evelyn stood up, walked over to everyone, and began to explain from the beginning.
“Jaden Asher Jacob, the third son of Grand Duke Jacob.”
“Grand Duke Jacob has four sons. The eldest son was the most outstanding, becoming a High-tier Rose Knight at the young age of thirty-one, but he died in battle in the year 636 of the Sacred Circle Calendar.”
“The eldest son's death allowed Grand Duke Jacob's third son, Jaden, to harbor ambitions.”
“However, to capture Grand Duke Jacob's attention, he needed to display outstanding talent.”
“And so, Jaden began to scheme, starting his plan right here in Hera City.”
Evelyn paused slightly to gather her thoughts, or perhaps to calm the anger and disgust inside her.
“In the year 637 of the Sacred Circle Calendar, Jaden arrived in Hera City and commenced his plan.”
“He needed to prove himself even more outstanding than the eldest son to gain Grand Duke Jacob's attention.”
“And so, he committed acts that, as a human, should absolutely never be done.”
“He took the initiative to build up the Headhunter Cult in Hera City, pulling the strings from behind to make them do his bidding in the dark.”
“At the same time, he established contact with the goblin tribes in the Hera Forest, deceiving the goblin king.”
“Then, he supplied the goblin king with human women under his rule and sold out adventurers to serve as breeding beds, allowing the goblins to expand their army.”
“Now, the goblin king is accumulating strength, waiting for a war to gather enough souls to ascend to a High-tier Monster.”
“And this is precisely Jaden's goal.”
“Since he arrived in Hera City three years ago, he had already planned to incite this war.”
“By letting monsters and his own subjects slaughter each other, he will accumulate enough souls, merge with a dragon egg to transfer classes to a monster, and thereby break through to a High-tier Monster.”
“In the end, he will strip away the dragon bloodline and transfer back to a High-tier Rose Knight.”
“At that point, he will lead his knights to exterminate the goblin king, and he will become the hero who slew the goblin king amidst an unprecedented monster tide, saving Hera City.”
“The heinous crimes of the Headhunter Cult colluding with monsters will also be exposed then. He will wipe out the despicable Headhunter Cult with decisive, wise, and fierce methods, capture the cult's ringleaders for public display, and restore peace to the people.”
“Perhaps he will even leave a stone monument in Hera City recording his heroic deeds, to be revered daily by the future generations of Hera City.”
“And all of this will serve as his political capital when he returns to the capital city, Mogue.”
Rate on N.U.
