The long-troubling issue of Shulbon territory's ownership was finally resolved, at least temporarily, following the unanimous request from the Church of Abundance and the people of Shulbon.

Viktor would become the lord of Shulbon, while Pricis changed her surname to Kravina.

She became the only person in the kingdom with the Kravina family name.

With such a surname, even though Pricis remained a vampire, no one dared to discriminate against her anymore.

The nobles even couldn't wait to curry favor with Pricis, quickly forgetting Count Laurien's past actions.

After all, they hadn't died, and none of Shulbon's residents were harmed.

Besides, Laurien was already dead.

As for Pricis?

Don't be ridiculous, her surname is Kravina.

She's a vampire of the Kravina family and has absolutely nothing to do with Count Laurien.

It seemed that under the surname 'Kravina,' everything about Pricis could be forgiven.

At least that's what these nobles believed.

Regarding the cause of Laurien's death, because the matter involved too many aspects,

And even implicated vampires, a race from forbidden legends that drained blood,

Grand Duke Balo issued a stern warning, prohibiting anyone who knew the truth from leaking it.

Even more importantly, the common people must never learn the truth about this incident.

Anyone who leaked information would face unbearable consequences.

So the cause of Count Laurien's death was romanticized for the public.

In their eyes, Count Laurien willingly sacrificed himself as an offering to resurrect his beloved daughter.

In the end, his soul, along with his wife who had fallen into madness, ascended to the heavens.

His sacrifice even moved the Goddess of Abundance.

The Goddess bestowed mercy, blessing the entire Shulbon territory.

That day, the fertile land transformed into golden waves of wheat, covering all of Shulbon.

Faced with Count Laurien's actions, the people were deeply moved.

They became even more convinced of Count Laurien's greatness, believing him to be a righteous person who could summon the Goddess of Abundance.

The various doubts and discussions that initially arose dissipated after the appearance of the Goddess of Abundance's light.

It further increased people's reverence for Laurien.

This heroic act of sacrificing oneself for one's daughter, putting family above all else, filled them with profound emotion.

The people collectively offered to fund the creation of a statue for Count Laurien, to stand forever in the center of Shulbon.

The stonemason in charge of construction even voluntarily gave up payment, simply because Count Laurien's actions earned their respect.

Therefore, Laurien's daughter Pricis received abundant care and assistance.

People organized themselves to repair her destroyed mansion.

The reason the mansion was destroyed, they said, was because of that legendary mage from the Empire—Viktor.

To help Count Laurien fulfill his wish, he used magic to assist Count Laurien in completing the sacrifice.

But everyone knew very well the reputation of this legendary mage.

Rumor had it that he loved explosion magic.

Almost every place he visited, there was hardly anywhere he hadn't blown up.

It was said that this mage, during his visit to the kingdom, even blew up the royal city.

So, casually casting a spell to destroy a mansion seemed quite reasonable.

Afterward, this mage would replace Count Laurien, raising the resurrected Pricis and temporarily serving as the lord of Shulbon.

Truly worthy of being a mage who loves explosions, they approved!

...

At this moment, Grand Duke Balo's territory was perfectly basking in the warm spring sunshine.

The beautiful birdsong and fragrance of flowers lingered in the air.

Large flower beds resembled colorful blocks intertwining with each other, flanking both sides of the tree-lined path.

There was also a chair, gently placed in the perfect corner of the flower bed.

Viktor still sat in this chair, with gentle sunlight covering his shoulders.

He held a profound magic book in his hands, carefully reading through it.

During his leisure time, only reading could keep him from feeling bored.

Vega stood on the table beside him, dozing off.

A warm cup of tea nearby provided it with a comfortable temperature.

Vanilla stood to the side, and from time to time, she would pick up the teapot from the table and pour Viktor a cup of tea.

After several idle moments, she would quietly stand beside Viktor.

Even when butterflies landed on her, she wouldn't make any extra movements.

Only her tail would occasionally sway, one of her few pleasures.

Aurelianne was practicing in the vast courtyard.

Today, her training partner was the female tiger-person martial artist.

The female tiger-person couldn't speak because she hadn't learned human language.

But as a martial artist, she could still teach quite a bit.

At this moment, the tiger-person stood steadily in place, with one hand behind her back, only using one hand in front.

A cold gleam flashed from Aurelianne's waist as she stepped lightly, attacking the tiger-person who was half a head taller than her.

However, facing the incoming dense sword strikes, the female tiger-person merely rotated her palm, easily deflecting Aurelianne's thrusts.

Finally, she extended two fingers, easily pinching the sword tip between them.

The difference in level between Aurelianne and the tiger-person was still too great.

Especially since this was a tiger-person with the [Martial Artist] profession.

The [Martial Artist] profession was quite mysterious and rare.

Their profession was also the reason Viktor kept the two tiger-persons.

As for why Aurelianne didn't go to train with Gwen,

Gwen had been busy every day lately, barely having time for herself.

Early in the morning, she would lead numerous knights and demi-human guards to train together.

Mainly for those newly subjugated demi-humans, and those demi-human slaves who had just been rescued from noble dungeons and regained freedom.

These fellows, though physically strong, had few other merits beyond that.

They couldn't be compared to the demi-humans trained by Lia.

Those demi-humans trained by Lia were well-disciplined, with both discipline and obedience like normal humans.

They were even more excellent than ordinary people.

But these wild demi-humans had not yet undergone rigorous military training.

They were naturally fierce, with their inner wildness still present, more like beasts.

The demi-human slaves were somewhat better, but having regained freedom, they were more resistant to discipline.

Without training, they might develop rebellious attitudes due to painful memories.

Although, apart from the two tiger-persons, Viktor didn't plan to take them back to the Empire.

Shulbon would become their hidden base.

They would continue to secretly rescue more demi-humans in the kingdom.

So, training them had to be firmly controlled.

To prevent them from becoming unmanageable due to their bestial nature.

Now, demi-humans were Vega's basic guarantee.

Especially those demi-human slaves who had just been rescued.

For Vega, they were the perfect blank slates for implanting faith.

Followers aren't easily gained; followers believe in deities based on what the deities can do for their faith.

The followers of the Goddess of Abundance believe in the goddess for fertile lands.

The followers of the Goddess of Justice believe in the goddess to uphold justice.

Similarly, to gain followers, Vega also had to give.

And the simplest way was to gain these demi-humans.

Because demi-humans only wanted to survive, and Vega could let them live.

The rescued demi-humans wanted freedom; they never wanted to return to those dark dungeons.

So, to survive, they needed power to protect themselves.

The evil god they believed in might not offer much else, but at least it could help them survive.

Those demi-humans who had tasted the sweetness of freedom would increasingly depend on Vega.

In this positive cycle, they would become Vega's loyal followers.

When the conditions of faith were met, Vega could harvest divine power.

At this point, Aurelianne stopped training, sweating profusely, looking very tired.

The daily morning practice was now complete.

These days, the Minister of Foreign Affairs needed to frequently appear in the royal city to handle diplomatic matters.

Since the king couldn't appear, Aurelianne and Viktor naturally had free time and didn't need to accompany him.

In other words, even if they wanted to accompany him, those nobles wouldn't dare let them.

This left the two with some free time recently.

As for why they hadn't returned to the Empire yet,

It was because Augustus was about to get married soon.

The person Augustus was marrying was the female instructor Hilda from the Star Academy.

At that time, Hilda would become the queen of the Kanter Kingdom.

However, how long she could remain in this position was unclear.

After all, Augustus no longer had his thoughts.

Aurelianne was very clear about this.

When Augustus and Hilda were brought back by Hilda's sister, Aurelianne was present throughout.

Her grandfather separated Augustus's soul from his body.

This was Grand Duke Balo's final punishment for this unworthy king.

Extremely cruel.

Similarly, for wanting to help Augustus escape, Hilda also received her punishment.

The punishment for these two wasn't made public or announced to others.

Augustus's soul was extracted, while Hilda's punishment was:

"I want you to marry Augustus."

"You must live with this king until the end of your life."

In that realm of the dead, thick with mist,

Grand Duke Balo looked at Hilda with cloudy eyes, delivering a cold and cruel punishment.

Surrounded by ghosts, Augustus's soul was wrapped in a vortex of spirits.

His empty body stood on the broken ground.

Hilda knelt on the other side of Augustus, head lowered, face dim.

The green ghostly flames reflected in her eyes, yet she didn't blink.

At this moment, Hilda was on the brink of despair.

Such punishment was indeed desperate to the extreme for Hilda.

She had always loved Augustus, longing to live and die with him.

Now, her wish had come true.

But Augustus, with his soul extracted, was left with only this body.

She had to face this shell that looked like Augustus, accompanying this living corpse for the rest of her life.

This extreme contrast was unbearable for Hilda.

More desperately, even if Hilda couldn't bear the despair and wanted to commit suicide to escape,

Under Grand Duke Balo's necromancy, she couldn't even die freely.

In comparison, Hilda's punishment was still better.

At least she could still live freely in this world.

But Augustus was completely imprisoned, even his soul.

Before Augustus had his soul extracted, he had said:

"...I am the king, I just didn't want to see those lords' contempt for me anymore."

"I just wanted to reclaim my rule, what did I do wrong?"

At that time, Augustus was hysterical, no longer having the elegance and calmness of the past.

"Festan Balo! Even if you are the greatest and most legendary necromancer, you are still just human."

"You can't escape the limitation of lifespan, you are also destined to die!"

These words he spoke weren't cursing Festan Balo.

Aurelianne understood very clearly.

The Samuel royal family had declined, with only Augustus left, destined never to return to its former glory.

Grand Duke Balo was the kingdom's last guardian.

Indeed, Augustus could ensure his rule through Grand Duke Balo, but what if Grand Duke Balo also died?

He was an old man over a hundred years old, even if magic extended his life, how many more years could he live?

Ten years, twenty years?

Twenty years was so short.

At that time, who else could protect the Samuel royal family?

The lords would never submit to a king with no achievements.

This was an extremely realistic problem, and Aurelianne even saw her grandfather's body become more hunched.

Even though he was already too old to straighten his body,

When he said those words,

His body, in the shadow covered with heavy ghostly fires, showed uprightness:

"Your Majesty."

"From the moment you viewed the lives of the kingdom's residents as worthless as grass, you were no longer fit to continue as king." """.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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