Chapter 260: Preparations

"But that would put you all in danger!" A flicker of light ignited in Silvia's eyes, only to quickly die down. "Benefactor, I'm so grateful for your willingness to offer your aid, but if it will put you all in danger, I'd rather not do this."

"I… I've thought it over again, and maybe I was too hasty. As a Necromancer, Henry naturally has a longer lifespan than ordinary people. But his research has hit a bottleneck, so his future gold wings are very limited. I, on the other hand, have more time to get my revenge. It doesn't have to be now…"

"Maybe in another few years, or even ten? I can go after him when I'm certain of victory. By then, I won't have to trouble you—"

Silvia forced a smile, pretending she had put it out of her mind for now, but she couldn't fool anyone. Even Delaford, were he here, would have heard the insincerity in her voice.

"Give it a rest, Silvia," Ron said, smiling at the Vampire Descendant. "You want to 'forget it for now'?"

"I'm afraid that's not going to work. You were so focused on what Elden said about Henry, have you forgotten why he brought him up in the first place?"

"Uh, the Gemstone?"

"Precisely," Ron nodded. "There are still two keys missing for the slots on the Amethyst Slate, and he should have one of them. I have five of the Gemstones and the slate itself right now, so of course I have to collect the whole set."

"If there were no history between him and us, I wouldn't mind paying a price to buy it—though I suspect that deal would fall through anyway. But since he's the slave master in question, we might as well just get rid of him. It would solve the problem once and for all."

"As for any potential suspicion and accusations later, I think we'll need some witnesses to help us out. Since Carolina is also part of the City-State Alliance, what do you think about the members of the Rose Council?"

Ron's proposal was brought up at the regular meeting the next day and met with almost no resistance. The vast majority present approved of his suggestion. The few who objected were led by Rurik. The deadline for the first order from the Hells was fast approaching, and the thought of potentially being the main temporary representative for the Delusional Land and coming face-to-face with a Desire Demon terrified the Dwarf.

"I don't want to stay behind." Klade, seeing Ron's gaze fall upon him, crossed his arms, his big blue nose wrinkling. Reluctance was written all over his face.

"See? Even Klade doesn't want to face those fiends from the Hells! They're actual, bona fide devils, sir! You can't leave me here all by myself!" Rurik was on the verge of tears.

"Rurik, what the hell are you talking about?" the Earth Goblin Warlord shot the Dwarf a look of displeasure. "My soldiers need a war! Clearing out beasts and Undead Creatures in the Delusional Land is just skirmishing. It's not nearly enough to satisfy my army's thirst for battle!"

"Ron's trip to Carolina is the perfect opportunity. I can lead my army to set up camp in the wilds. If Ron can't solve the problem from within the city-state, then we'll solve it from the outside!"

"A Gemstone, an old grudge… he's just one measly Necromancer. If he's foolish enough to resist my warband, the only thing that awaits him is being ground into a pulp under the wheels of my war chariots!"

"As for the other slave masters, they had better know what's good for them…"

Before the ceasefire with Carolina, Ron and the others had considered reducing the size of Klade's army to avoid potential risks. But Klade wasn't Ron's subordinate, which made the topic difficult to broach.

But the earth goblin himself had a need even more pressing than Ron's. As their Commander-in-Chief, Klade knew his soldiers' morale better than anyone. For now, in the Delusional Land, there were still plenty of beasts and monsters to clear out, especially around their territory, which kept his troops busy.

But what about in a few more months?

An army composed mainly of goblins wasn't like the standing armies of humans, Elves, or Dwarves. Only true warfare could forge them; training and guard duty were just boring, meaningless tasks.

As for conscription? The word didn't even exist in the earth goblin's dictionary. He, Klade, would become the laughingstock of all earth goblins!

"We should do our best to avoid it escalating to that point," Aive said, glancing at the earth goblin. "The Rose Council has already intervened on our behalf once. We can't expect them to stand with us every time."

"Are you planning to go to war with the entire City-State Alliance?"

"I fail to see the downside," the earth goblin said, completely fearless. However, judging by the look on Ron's face, Klade knew the chances of that happening were minuscule.

"But a little external pressure has its benefits," Quest said with a laugh. "Our friend Klade here really gave those parasites in Carolina's high command a good scare back then!"

"Still, I think I should go with you this time. Since the main goal is to solve problems from within the city-state, well, I'm something of a veteran at that," the "Tiffling" said, patting Carlos on the shoulder. "We should bring this kid along, too. He's learned quite a few tricks from me. It's about time he put them into practice!"

"Sorry, Rurik, my friend!"

"Carlos, weren't you learning from Seymour before?" Ron glanced at the young man. The training in the Delusional Land had certainly taken the edge off him. He no longer looked like the spoiled brat who got 'more than friendly' with another man's fiancée and then beat him up in the street.

"I only taught him how to fight. The rest is all thanks to Quest," the Zor said with a light chuckle. "In fact, I'm his student myself."

"The subterranean world is very different from the surface," Quest explained. "Carlos is going to be operating mainly in cities in the future, whether he's back in Rose City or here. My bag of tricks has a wider range of applications."

"As for the training of a Martial Monk, I'd be willing to teach him, but unfortunately…"

"I don't have the discipline or the 'aptitude for enlightenment'," Carlos said with a grin, not seeming to take it to heart. "Quest also told me to recite sutras. It's so boring!"

While the others were joking around, the Zor glanced at Silvia, then turned to Ron after a moment's thought. "Benefactor, may I also join you on this mission?"

"After all, I have some old scores to settle as well. Three of them, to be exact."

Victoria's composure finally broke. "Seymour, it's not that I'm against you getting your revenge, but isn't this a bit much? You're practically challenging the law!"

"We already have to consider Carolina's reaction to us killing just one Necromancer. And now you want to add three more?"

"A law like Carolina's is as good as no law at all," Aive snorted. "A corrupt order is worse than no order at all."