Chapter 439: Old Grudges, New Schemes
"Holy crap, a new Divine Chosen!"
Phield rubbed his eyes to make sure he had not seen it wrong before finally letting out a sigh of relief. His territory was desperately short on manpower right now.
After zooming in on the map and taking a closer look, a strange sense of familiarity washed over him.
"Isn’t this where the underground ball is being held?"
Phield slapped his forehead and muttered inwardly, Oh no.
"Could it be Night Owl? Or someone Simon captured and intends to kill? That would be troublesome. That bastard Simon is ridiculously lucky. He keeps catching Divine Chosen with incredible potential."
Since Simon was always capturing beautiful women from across the empire, he somehow kept getting lucky and catching women with exceptional potential. However, he never contracted them. He simply used them for his own amusement.
By the time they arrived at Maple Leaf Territory, Simon was already waiting for them.
"Is that... the Imperial Guards?"
Phield was just about to greet Simon when he noticed two familiar figures.
"Miss Sherry, good day. We have finally been waiting for you!" Biskaly strode forward with a massive divine axe resting on her shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. "I can hardly wait to hunt down those filthy vermin."
"Thank you very much for the assistance of the Imperial Guards and Sir Simon."
"Miss Sherry, you are too kind. We are all loyal servants of the empire," Simon replied with a grin.
Naturally, he was more than happy to build a good relationship with a major noble family, especially with one of the Empress’s most trusted aides.
"I should be thanking your hunting party too."
As Biskaly scanned the group, she suddenly spotted Phield.
Her expression immediately became strange.
"Isn’t that Phield? Long time no see."
"Wish I could say the same."
Phield gave a slight nod, inwardly feeling that things were about to get troublesome.
Biskaly was one of the two Imperial Guards who had fought against Phield’s side when Rosalia had first advanced to Tier Three. They served directly under the Empress.
Back then, Rosalia had shattered both of Biskaly’s arms.
What surprised everyone was that Biskaly’s arms had somehow been restored completely.
Her arms were slender and her skin was pale and smooth. They looked completely devoid of strength, more like the delicate hands of someone who had been pampered all her life. They did not quite match the skin around Biskaly’s neck, almost as if the arms had been grafted onto her body.
The regenerative abilities of Divine Chosen were extraordinary, but without some kind of special ability, even a Divine Chosen could not regrow a pair of fully intact arms.
"I remember that the last time we met was also in Maple Leaf Territory."
As Phield chatted casually, his eyes subconsciously drifted toward Biskaly’s arms.
A hint of hostility quickly spread through the air.
"Where were you when we were attacked that time?"
Biskaly’s companion, the Dark Curse, had keenly noticed Phield staring at her arms and suddenly questioned him.
"What attack? When did that happen?"
Phield did not panic in the slightest, nor did he deliberately come up with an excuse. Instead, he looked genuinely confused.
"Who would be bold enough to attack the Empress’s guards?"
"You had better truly know nothing about it. Otherwise, you will die a very unpleasant death."
Thinking about how she had been beaten nearly to death back then, Biskaly was furious.
"You were the only one who had a conflict with us at the time. Our family merely took a little credit for the military achievement. You would not happen to have held a grudge against us, would you?"
No one was stupid.
After being attacked, Biskaly had repeatedly gone over everything that happened. The more she thought about it, the more suspicious the whole incident seemed.
"You are threatening a noble."
Phield no longer bothered being polite. His voice instantly turned cold.
"I am now an appointed commander of Her Majesty the Empress. You were attacked because you were incompetent. If I had been attacked, I would never have behaved like some mangy stray dog barking with its hind legs in the air."
"You!"
Biskaly exploded in rage. She took the massive axe from her shoulder and prepared to strike.
Phield immediately ducked behind Sherry.
"Sherry, look! She is trying to kill a noble! I am one of Her Majesty’s men, and I still have to fight for the empire. You have to protect me, otherwise the empire will suffer a tremendous loss."
The moment Sherry heard that the empire might suffer a loss, something seemed to click inside her.
She immediately stepped forward to stop Biskaly.
Sherry spread her arms wide.
"Miss Biskaly, please calm down. Phield is not that kind of person. He may like taking advantage of small opportunities, but he is a good person. He even saved my life. I swear to that with my honor."
"Tch. What a coward, hiding behind someone else."
Biskaly said nothing more, but the suspicion in her eyes was impossible to hide.
"Let’s drop this."
Sherry rubbed her temples.
"Sir Simon, tell us about the current situation."
"Our informants received word that Night Owl is planning to strike the underground ball. Those lunatics intend to wipe out every noble attending the gathering."
Most of the people attending the underground ball were nobles and merchants. If they were attacked, the losses would be enormous.
"Fortunately, we arranged spies and bribed a traitor, allowing us to obtain the information in advance."
Simon laughed maliciously.
"We have already prepared a trap and are simply waiting for them to walk right into it. Night Owl will attend the ball tomorrow night."
"Excellent!"
Sherry was visibly excited.
"We will ambush them together and wipe them all out!"
"Spies? Looks like they are pretty useful."
Phield rubbed his chin.
He remembered that Simon had also sent spies into his own territory.
Looks like Nightfall Domain needs an intelligence department of its own.
Through the teleportation array, Phield and the others arrived at the location of the underground ball.
Unlike the first time he had visited, the underground palace now contained nothing that seemed out of place.
The chains, shackles, and various instruments of torture had all been removed.
In their place were luxurious decorations and musical instruments, making the entire place look incredibly elegant.
Only the stone walls of the underground arena still bore faint traces of blood.
"Simon knows how to restrain himself when he is dealing with the Imperial Guards and Sherry."
Phield opened his minimap.
The green marker was located in the room at the far right end of the underground palace.
"What kind of trap have you prepared?"
Sherry looked around curiously.
"Some kind of mechanism? Or puppets?"
"Neither. My ball is the most private and secure gathering in the empire. There are no mechanisms here."
Simon proudly explained,
"I will have soldiers disguise themselves as nobles, and I have also stationed a large number of Divine Guards here. Once Night Owl arrives, we will surround and kill them here. When that happens, we will need everyone to work together."
Sherry did not seem concerned in the slightest.
"No problem. It is time to show them what our hunting party can do."
"Everyone is free to walk around the underground palace and familiarize yourselves with the terrain. There is nothing shameful here."
Simon puffed out his belly and gave everyone an honest-looking smile.
"Do not pay any attention to the rumors outside. The underground ball will always welcome nobles."
"No problem."
Phield told his soldiers to find a corner and rest.
There was no way he was going to use his precious soldiers to capture Night Owl.
Instead, he took Ashina and Firomina with him and casually wandered around for a while.
Then, pretending to be interested in sightseeing, he made his way toward the location marked by the green dot.
Unlike the other areas, which had no guards at all, this room was guarded by six lizardmen.
"Can I go inside and take a look?"
"Hiss... of course, sir. This is the fish pond. Be careful, the floor is slippery."
The gray lizardman awkwardly opened the door.
A strong fishy smell immediately wafted out.
The lizardman instinctively licked the corner of his mouth.
A fish pond? Could it be a Divine Chosen who raises fish?
Phield stepped into the room curiously.
"Ah!"
In the pitch black room, a chorus of women’s screams immediately rang out.
"Shut your damn mouths, you weak mermaids!"