Chapter 1649: The Report II

"Oh? What did she say?" Lory tilted her head, a calm smile remaining on her lips.

"The information we got is more or less what we anticipated," Leon explained. "But she managed to fill in a few gaps in what we already knew."

Fargo leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Luxembourg and the S.A.I.N.T. organization have been working together for a very long time, far longer than we previously suspected."

His expression turned serious. "Their alliance was forged even before the Dark Age War began, and now we have solid proof."

Lory’s eyebrows rose in anticipation as she listened to Leon continue speaking.

"Somehow, Alexander Behrenn found a way to break out of the Nazareth from it’s cage, Lucia claimed it was some sort of prophetic dream—if you can believe that," Leon said dismissively.

Lory and Zhao Li Xin instinctively exchanged glances, for they knew the source of that prophetic dream.

Leon continued, "Upon realizing this, he sought out Theodore Navaro, who turned out to be having similar dreams; it seems such prophetic dreams had become a common occurrence, like a wet dreams or some sort." Leon snorted cynically.

"Well, I suppose bringing down Lucient really was indeed their wet dream," Fargo scoffed.

Leon went on with his story, "So, those two nasty old men conspired and joined forces for a single goal: to topple the Kingdom of Harland and wipe out the Lucient family once and for all." Leon’s jaw tightened as he struggled to suppress his anger, then he muttered under his breath, "To make their wet dream come true, I supposed."

"Please stop using the term ’wet dream’ in this conversation," said Lory, looking disgusted. "It makes me sick."

"Understood; my apologies, Your Highness," Leon said apologetically.

"Here drink your tea" Zhao Li Xin thoughtfully pour another cup of warm tea for Lory.

"And then, one thing lead to another, they knew about our favorite monster, Zalchana," Fargo added.

Leon nodded. "Lucia only heard bits and pieces, gathered from other members of the Constellation. It seems Alexander isn’t the type to share much with his underlings. Regardless, from that point onward, they began preparing to summon Zalchana and unleash the Black Dragon, Nazareth. A strategy designed to bring calamity upon the world, creating the perfect opportunity to eliminate King Marcus and the former Archknights."

Leon fell silent, letting his words linger in the room for a moment.

"...And they succeeded," Lory muttered quietly.

Fargo’s expression darkened. The mere mention of Nazareth’s name was enough to make his blood boil. It was understandable, given that the dragon had been responsible for the deaths of the former Archknight and the former king, and had also been directly connected to the incident involving Lory.

Nazareth’s name alone was enough to act as a trigger, stirring old wounds and dragging his buried trauma back to the surface."Lucia did mention one other thing,"

Unfortunately..." Leon said in heavy tone before continued. "An ancient shrine with a hidden gate buried deep inside it. She said that place was connected to Zalchana’s summoning."

His eyes shifted toward Zhao Li Xin, "I think Mr. Zhao knows the place. It’s called the Death Knell Labyrinth."

Zhao Li Xin’s hand stopped mid-motion. For the first time since the conversation began, his attention shifted completely away from the apple.

He slowly raised his gaze, "So ’The gate for god’ they mention is the placethey invite Zalchana?"

"That’s what we think." Fargo moved his glass across the table, the ice inside clinking softly against the crystal.

Lory nodded thoughtfully. "That would explain the strange symbols scattered throughout the labyrinth and the paladin’s involvement in it."

"That’s also our prediction," Leon nodded. "After that, they discovered a way to break Zalchana’s shield by combining Zalchana’s own power with the power of light."

Leon expression grew heavier. "Once they managed to bring Zalchana in they find the tool to break Nazareth cage" He paused, allowing the significance of those words to settle over the room.

"They discovered that the shield could only be broken by combining Zalchana’s power with the power of light. Unfortunately because of this they uncovered the other purpose of the light power. The tragedy continue on when a single healer wouldn’t possess anywhere near enough power they need. No, They realize it would take hundreds of healers, each contributing the fraction of light they possessed, to accumulate enough energy to break the shield," Fargo said grimly.

"That is why they began aggressively recruiting healers from all over the world, offering them numerous benefits to join their cause. That’s what ultimately led to the tragic deaths of numerous healers in Black Hill, including Miss Jessi Hubert and Olivia Myre, Miss Madelline’s older sister." Leon’s voice was heavy with emotion.

"That still makes my stomach churn, no matter how many times I hear it," Lory said, pressing her lips together to control her emotion.

Fargo took a deep sigh. "And if we don’t investigate it, no one will ever know what happened to them." He took a big gulp, then poured himself another drink, filling his glass almost to the brim.

Lory fell silent for a moment, her brows drawing together as she processed everything they had told her.

"But with Lucas is still alive, and I’ve returned—even though they still don’t know about my return, yet. That should have been enough to derail their plans, right, but they seem keep continue on?" She frowned. "What are they planning, anyway?"

"That’s true. According to Lucia, the plan remains unchanged. After all, you can’t simply change a decade’s worth of planning overnight. So, they simply moved the schedule forward," Fargo explained.

"Originally, after Lucas was gone, they planned to put the Paladin and the Saintess forward as the figures who would save the world."

"From Bael," Lory sneered.

"Exactly." Fargo nodded. "The Saintess would heal the people and cleanse the contaminated land. But that alone wasn’t enough. As long as the gifted people remained free, there would always be resistance." He raised an index finger as if asking to stop for amoment then continuing, "So they needed a way to control them. That’s why they created MADD. But..."

"But?" Lory reterated.

"They needed a legitimate reason to sneak that thing into the gifted people," Leon said.

He placed a document on the table in front of Lory. "And that’s where the new crop seeds came in. This is the report, Your Highness."

"From the seed sample Clift brought back, we managed to figure out what those seeds were actually designed to do," Fargo added.

Lory picked up the document and began reading, shifting it slightly so Zhao Li Xin could see it as well. 𝐟𝒓ℯⅇ

"The seed eats mana..." Her lips pressed together in indignation.

"Yes." Fargo nodded grimly. "Mana is basically the life force of gifted people. Once the seeds enter their bodies, they’ll gradually drain it. At first, they’ll simply feel exhausted all the time. Their bodies become heavy. Fever, weakness... symptoms that look like an ordinary flu."

He leaned back, "When they go to the hospital, the doctors will tell them they’ve contracted a new type of illness and need a vaccine."

"...And that’s how they get the MADD implant into their bodies," Lory guessed.

"Yup!" Fargo raised his glass and drained the rest in one gulp.

Lory frowned at the document.

"Smart move, I’ll give them that. But..."

Then she looked up. "However, Lucas is still alive. The Archknight is still around. Harland is still standing. So what makes them think this plan can actually work?"

"Zalchana." Zhao Li Xin spoke quietly.

He placed the apple he had finished peeling on the plate in front of Lory. Somehow, he had carved it into the shape of a little rabbit.

"My guess is that they intend to use Zalchana to do the job."

He wiped his hands with a clean cloth before lifting his calm gaze toward the others.

"They had used this plan before, you Nazareth to kill King Marcuss and the former arch, how now different. Make the Lucient and arch knights fight Zalchana if they lucky Zalchana will dead too" Zhao Li xin explain in light tone like he wxplain about a bad weather.

"You think they want to kill Zalchanaas well?" Lory agape.

"Once their objective is achieved, what further use would there be for Zalchana? With MADD in place, they can already bring all gifted people under their control. So why would they allow a dangerous creature like Zalchana to continue existing? Ultimately, Zalchana’s existence would become a threat unless they had a way to control it completely," Zhao Li Xin added.

"Sh*t, that makes sense!" Fargo slammed his glass onto the table, the sharp crack of crystal against wood cutting through the room.

"I never thought about this before." Leon scratched his jaw, his expression tightening as the implications sank in. "We need to tell the King."

Lory frowned. "But what if their plan fails? What if Zalchana survives?"

"Then they must have a way to take that creature down. Perhaps that’s why they tried to revive Scion in the first place." Zhao Li Xin lowered his gaze, a cold smile slowly touching his lips.

"Jade!" Lory’s eyes widened, "it remind me... they just not put Scion into Lucas to kill him, but also to nurture the creature. If that had succeeded, they could have used Jade to control Zalchana." Lory covered her mouth in shock as the scattered pieces finally fell into place.

"But King Lucas is still alive. You returned, and I managed to purify the darkness within Jade. So..." Zhao Li Xin smile was calm and serene, "Their entire plan was destined to fail." Zhao Li Xin then casually picked up the apple and brought it toward Lory’s mouth.

"Aaah..."

His voice was so gentle that Lory instinctively opened her mouth.

She mechanically bit into the apple and began munching on it absentmindely, still too stunned by the revelation to fully register what she was doing.

"Those sons of b*tches!" Fargo growled, his fingers tightening around his glass. "They planned everything so meticulously."

"I’ll report this immediately." Leon straightened, his voice carrying the weight of someone already organizing the next steps in his mind.

"They probably think their plan is perfect," Fargo gritted his teeth, his gaze shifting between Lory and Zhao Li Xin.

"But they don’t know..." A dark smile slowly spread across his face.

"We are the ones who hold all the keys."

Zhao Li Xin wiped his finger from the apple juice and say: "My wife doesn’t need to fight. I will handle everything, I kill Zalchana"

"Why not" Lory rebuked.

Zhao Li Xin reached out and clasped Lory’s hand; his warm fingers held hers firmly. His gaze remained fixed on her, calm and unwavering.

"Your mere presence is enough to rally your people and shake the enemy’s confidence; that alone is enough to cripple their forces."

His voice remained gentle, it sound natural and unburdened, yet there was absolute conviction behind every word he spoke. "As for the rest..."

A faint smile played on his lips. "Leave it to me... or rather, to us."

"I agree with the Prince Consort." Fargo raised his empty glass in a cheerful toast.

"Do I have a say in this?" Lory pouted, clearly unimpressed that everyone seemed to be making decisions on her behalf. "Why do you all make decisions without telling me?" she added, still annoyed.

Zhao Li Xin calmly glanced at her, a faint smile touching his lips.

"Because you are pregnant, my dear." ℴℴ𝗺

Lory’s mouth twitched. She understood that her baby’s safety was the most important thing. No matter how reckless she might be, she would never risk her baby’s life.

With that thought in mind, she decided not to argue any further.