Chapter 923: They Want to Kidnap My Wife?!

The following morning came far too quickly.

Asmodeus didn’t regret delaying Yumiko and Yuina’s departure. Still, the moment he stepped from his temporary room and felt the activity inside Baltimore Castle, he understood that the brief peace earned yesterday was over.

’Damn, maybe I should have slept with them...’

Though he didn’t take the two to bed, he felt content just cuddling with Valena.

Now that soldiers and knights filled the corridors and battlements, everything felt different.

He stood beside the large window, watching his people. Messengers and couriers rushed between houses carrying letters and sealed parchments with orders and guidelines, while the chaos from the night before still lingered.

’At least nobody died.’

"Without Riel and Elena, it might’ve been dangerous..."

That alone made Baltimore different from most disasters he’d experienced in the past few years. So many people who believed in him faded into the darkness because of his powerlessness.

"Forget it."

He descended the stairs while tightening the silver clasp around his mantle.

A light tapping followed his every step as someone’s hand clutched his side cape, her beautiful eyes focused on Asmodeus and nothing else.

"Valena, it’s alright. There are no enemies here."

"A-Ah... sorry!"

Unlike yesterday, she didn’t cling to his arm crying or beg him to stay. She wore simple travelling clothes beneath a dark cloak, her horns and scales visible without any attempt to hide them.

Asmodeus found his eyes trailing to her muscular abdomen and wide hips.

"W-What’re you looking at?"

"Your ass."

"...Y-You?!"

The beautiful dragoness huffed and turned away. Her cheeks became faintly red, while Asmodeus continued to walk, ignoring her little play.

When they reached the lower floor, Yumiko and Yuina were already waiting outside Simon’s office.

The two sisters had changed into their travelling equipment.

Yumiko wore her armour while Yuina kept the elegant mixture of armour and kimono she’d arrived in yesterday. Several Beastwomen stood further down the hall, apparently preparing supplies for their eventual journey.

"Morning!" He waved.

"Ryuji~ I love you!"

Yumiko darted towards him, her body leaving the floor as she jumped into his arms and gave him a quick kiss.

"Mwah~~"

"Mmm..."

Asmodeus held her waist so she didn’t fall.

Their kiss lasted a few seconds before she clung to his chest. "I really missed you." She then pushed away and hopped from his arms before running behind her sister. "Go on, be more aggressive, Yui!"

Yuina remained considerably more restrained, she grasped his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before leaning close enough to peck his cheek.

"Good morning, dear husband."

"Mhm."

’This is nice.’

He would’ve happily returned to their room for another few hours. Sadly, the next moment, Simon’s office door opened, and Alice stepped into the corridor.

"..."

Asmodeus stopped.

"Alice?"

The witch looked terrible.

Her hair hadn’t been brushed properly, dark circles rested beneath her eyes, and several rolled parchments were trapped beneath one arm.

"When the hell did you arrive?!"

However, her eyes narrowed as she stared at each woman surrounding him.

"Do you ever realise how dangerous things are when you just leave like this?"

Alice didn’t sound angry because of the usual jealousy, she looked genuinely exhausted.

"...What’s wrong?"

"Come inside."

Her voice lacked the usual energy, and he couldn’t ignore it. Yumiko and Yuina followed without a word, while Valena remained close, clutching at his cape. Once everyone entered Simon’s office, Alice dumped the parchments across the desk.

Thud!

"I arrived before sunrise."

"You haven’t slept?"

"Obviously not."

Asmodeus frowned but didn’t interrupt.

Alice spread several reports apart, revealing markings from Baltimore, the Beast Kingdom, Grigor and the Elven forests. It was an impressive amount of information. He covered his mouth to hide his shock.

"I contacted every information network available to me after Ciela sent the first report."

Yet her mouth continued to spit out sentences like a machine gun as she tapped names, places and parts of the map marked with her handwriting.

"Merchants, mercenaries, wandering priests, refugees... none of them share the same employer."

"Then they’re unrelated?"

Alice immediately shook her head and pulled another parchment free.

"The money changes hands several times before reaching them. Different merchants, different guilds, different nobles... but the original payments all begin outside the continent."

"The Empire... and not just any part. It’s a specific branch of the Imperial army, a group under the direct control of the Emperor. We’ve met them before, it’s those damned Emperor’s eyes again."

Asmodeus’s expression darkened.

’Those bastards...’

He remembered them.

Unlike regular soldiers, the Emperor’s Eyes rarely acted openly. They gathered information, manipulated people and vanished before anyone realised an Imperial hand was involved.

"So everything happening here..."

"I don’t think Baltimore itself was their objective." Alice shook her head. "They wanted a reaction. Humans attacking Beastmen, Beastmen retaliating, then news spreading through the continent before anyone understood what actually happened."

Yuina stepped closer to the map.

"Then... are you saying their goal was merely to make us busy?"

"Yes, I don’t even believe they wanted to turn us against each other, but tell me, what are you doing right now, Asmodeus?"

"Hm? Me?"

He tilted his head, trying to think about what she meant.

"Can’t you see it? You’ve sent Ciela and her knights to the elven forest, planned to send Yumiko and Yuina to the Beast Empire... though we do have teleportation and the ability to fly... we don’t have convenient communication devices other than your telepathy..."

"Ah...!"

Alice dragged her finger between several markings.

"I believe that things went awry for them the moment you intervened with their first plan in Baltimore, after that... they’ve been moving with less tact and guile than before."

Asmodeus raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"They’ve begun moving faster, making mistakes as they try to adjust their plans. Though even at this point I have no idea what this might be... Maybe the empire is just testing us, but we cannot rely on such a positive goal or aim."

Several routes had been crossed out and rewritten in Alice’s handwriting.

Groups meant to remain around Baltimore had already scattered. Others suddenly changed their destinations towards Grigor and the Elven forests.

’They know.’

Maybe not that he understood everything, but whoever controlled the Eyes realised the operation here had failed.

Alice then reached beneath the pile and pulled free another sheet.

"This is what actually bothered me."

Asmodeus followed her gaze, and then found a flier... it resembled a criminal’s wanted poster, but the person drawn on it couldn’t be more familiar to him.

"Why the hell is Velvet on this...?"

Asmodeus grabbed the flier from Alice’s hand and brought it closer. He studied it intensely, reading each line of Imperial lettering. His chest pounded faster and faster when he realised it was literally a poster seeking to capture his wife for a bounty.

"These arrogant fucks!?"

BOOM!

The sudden burst of his aura created a squall of wind that shattered the table, sent all the documents flying in a massive swirl and cracked the castle walls. He struck them with a force so intense that the stones curved inward, becoming concave.

"Asmodeus! Calm the fuck down!" Alice shouted at the top of her lungs, placing both hands on his shoulders before pulling her leg back and kicking his shin.

"Ngh!"

Though it didn’t hurt much, he made a noise and glanced down at the trembling woman in his arms, her beautiful face struggling under the pressure of his aura.

"Please, stop being stupid... It’s just a poster..."

His anger collapsed instantly upon seeing her face twisted in pain, he then bit his lower lip. "Sorry, forgive me, Alice..."

"Forget it and listen! I found three copies carried by different groups: one merchant, one mercenary and another inside the belongings of an Imperial agent. What matters is that these people are after one thing. Their true goal was never Lumeria or to attack our nation... It’s to make an opening for them to kidnap Velvet."

"Kidnap Velvet...?"

Asmodeus spoke with a low, aggressive tone.

Alice nodded and released his shoulders.

"Look at the routes again. Every disturbance pulls someone away from Lumeria. Ciela to the forest, Yumiko and Yuina towards the Beast Empire, you to Baltimore... even Serena has been forced to manage everything happening back home."

’So that’s it...’

He was so quick to take action that it became a crutch. "Did those bastards plan this?!" He couldn’t help but remember the paladin and noble from before, but he chose to move on and instead focused on Alice and her words. "What should we do now, Alice?"

Alice remained silent for several seconds, staring at the ruined table before releasing a long sigh.

"First... stop reacting exactly how they expect."

"..."

"Don’t call Ciela back. Don’t cancel Yumiko and Yuina’s journey either. If we suddenly change everything, they’ll know we’ve discovered the real objective."

Asmodeus narrowed his eyes.

"So we pretend nothing happened?"

"No." Alice shook her head. "We let them think their plan is working."

She crouched and retrieved one of the scattered parchments.

"Velvet stays inside Lumeria, surrounded by people we trust. Serena doesn’t leave her side, and nobody outside our circle learns that we know about the bounty."

"And us?"

"You continue exactly as planned."

Alice looked directly into his eyes.

"If they’re desperate enough to expose Velvet like this, they’ll eventually make another mistake."

"And when they do?"

Alice’s exhausted expression finally sharpened.

"We stop chasing their shadows."

She placed Velvet’s poster against his chest and glanced up at him with eyes narrowed into slits before curling her lips into a twisted sneer.

"We make those arrogant Emperor’s Eyes come to us and then.... Crush them."