Chapter 701 William’s Methods

“Alright, let’s leave it at that.”

Loren interrupted Jessica. He could understand why her parents blamed him. As long as Jessica had made her position clear, that was enough.

But if they still refused to appreciate it, Loren had no objection to handing them over to the Church.

“Next, I’ll take you somewhere remote. You can continue living there.

“In the Church’s eyes, you’re all dead. Besides, you’re nobody important, and hardly anyone recognizes your faces. Those who do are mostly dead by now, so there’s no need to worry about being recognized.”

“Yes… Master Mentor…”

By now, Jessica’s father had realized what was going on and had become deferential toward Loren.

Jessica let go of the hand covering her mother’s mouth. Her mother still tried to say something, but before she could get the words out, Jessica’s father stopped her with a slap.

“Master Mentor saved us. He’s our lifesaver…”

Jessica’s father trembled as he emphasized each word.

He truly meant it. Jessica’s father was indeed more reasonable than her mother and could understand the situation.

Jessica’s mother, however, was still dissatisfied with Loren. But Jessica and her father had rendered her speechless, and Loren couldn’t be bothered to deal with her.

“We’re leaving now. I’ll fly you there.”

Loren immediately activated Abundant Magic. Vines tightly bound Jessica’s parents together, and he motioned for Jessica to grab hold of them.

Once the vines had bound Jessica with them as well, Loren took hold of the other end and flew into the sky.

…

With the vines wrapped around them, Loren didn’t need to worry about their safety, so he traveled at nearly full speed.

Before long, Loren had brought them to a remote town. There weren’t many people there, and it lay at the far western edge of the God of Bountiful Harvest’s territory, far from the battlefield. Even if the God of Bountiful Harvest died, it was unlikely to affect this place.

“Just pretend to be nobles fleeing the war and enter the town. I won’t be responsible for what happens after that. Here’s some money.”

Bringing them here was already the extent of Loren’s kindness. He was in a hurry and couldn’t be bothered to do more, so he tossed them a bag of gold coins and prepared to leave.

“Master Mentor!”

As Loren was leaving, Jessica called out to him.

“What is it?”

“If there’s ever anything I can do for you, I’ll do everything in my power to help!”

Jessica’s tone was resolute. So even though Loren knew she couldn’t really help him with anything, he still accepted her offer.

“Alright.”

With that, Loren flew off without looking back.

He planned to find William and ask what exactly was going on, and what was behind the bombs beneath the Church.

William had remained in the Royal Capital. That was not only his own choice, but the Church’s as well.

William now controlled a little too much, to the point that the Church had become very wary of him, especially since he had once been one of Loren’s people.

If William sided with Loren now, the consequences would be unimaginable.

That was why William had to remain somewhere the Church could keep an eye on him, such as the capital of the Nofica Theocracy.

Aside from having to stay there, William still enjoyed considerable freedom, since he hadn’t openly committed any crimes.

Loren easily found William on the Chailros Family’s estate. William spent most of his time there, handling the family’s affairs.

Production ran on automated assembly lines. Before leaving, Noah had even enchanted them. The lines were now extremely sturdy, and despite Noah having been gone for so long, they still needed no repairs.

As long as they had electricity and raw materials, they could keep running.

“Master Mentor?”

William was delighted to see Loren, but not at all surprised.

“You knew I was coming?”

“Yes. I’ve already heard what you did in that small border city. You used Heavenly Fire to burn an entire city to the ground.”

“How did you hear about it?”

Loren had acted quickly. Even if someone had learned what happened and immediately ridden to the Royal Capital on a fast horse to deliver the news, it couldn’t have arrived this soon.

The Church was trying to suppress the news, so it had been deliberately restricting how quickly information spread.

“I have my own channels.”

“Are your channels faster than the Church’s?”

“Yes.”

William flashed a confident smile.

“Never mind the small talk. I’m here to ask you something important. Were you behind those bombs beneath the Church?”

“Yes. The Church has been trying to force me to hand over the technology for making the rings, so I studied one of your rings.

“Then I discovered that your rings were actually bombs.”

“You managed to figure that out?”

That surprised Loren. He knew his own methods well. He hadn’t been especially meticulous when making the rings, but he was still surprised that anyone could figure out what they really were.

After what had happened to the Dawn Society, the Church had been suppressing genuine scholars. Loren hadn’t thought anyone would uncover his methods.

“Yes. I put a lot of effort into it.

“I had no choice. The Church was pressuring me hard, and I needed to show them some results. I couldn’t possibly hand over the assembly lines.

“So I copied the principles behind your rings and came up with all those Gemstone Bombs.

“Unlike your creations, though, the bombs I made are just bombs. They do have an amplifying ability, but it’s negligible. Still, they’re more than enough to deal with the Church.”

As he spoke, William smiled as if his scheme had gone exactly as planned.

“After that, I passed off the bombs I’d made as unfinished prototypes and sent them to Churches in various places…”

The Church was not a monolith. Each local branch had its own ambitions and schemes, hoping to achieve some great success. That was why William had sent the bombs to every branch.

They could divert the Church’s attention and stir up conflict between its branches, but that wasn’t the most important part.

“Now, every Church in the Nofica Theocracy has bombs I planted. If I want to, I can make every Church in the Nofica Theocracy disappear in an instant.

“That way, even if I really have to break completely with the Church one day, I’ll still have a trump card.”

There was only one reason William would ever break with the Church: Loren. With those words, William was making it clear that he was willing to turn against the Church for Loren.

“William, would you be interested in ruling this world?”

Unlike Ofemia, William had stood by Loren from beginning to end, so Loren would give him an appropriate reward.

Even if an AI took over ruling in the future, William wouldn’t have to step down.