Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 513 Crisis! Is our Old World actually the New World?
Byron's heart moved, and the raven Wuni, who was stationed on the battlefield between the two parties in the local area, flapped its wings and flew towards the "young painter", transmitting a clear picture back.

"elder sister!"

He then reached out and took Catherine's hand wearing the engagement ring, activated the [Golden Triangle], and shared the distant view with her.

The succubus Therese Ashbell, whose real body was not here but only a fragile clone, could not see anything. She crossed her arms and pursed her red lips.

Leonardo, the Painter of Hell, who was strolling leisurely in the mountains and forests as if he was taking an outing, looked like a handsome young man in his twenties.

He was wearing an ordinary white shirt and black trousers, with a red and green plaid cloak on the outside. His long golden hair was tied into a small braid and hung down to his vest. His olive green eyes were extremely deep.

If such an artistic and romantic young man appeared in a salon held by noble ladies, they would surely scream and fight on the spot for the right to take him home that night.

But the last time Byron and Catherine returned to the royal capital Kingston to accept the title of earl and the canonization of sainthood, they inadvertently glimpsed the true face of Richard York, the "Devil Duke".

I have also read some of the details of this "Devil in the Bottle", and of course I will not be deceived by his harmless appearance.

At the end of the Silver Age 1471, Richard accidentally found the bottle containing the devil on the seashore while inspecting the territory of Prince Sorenburg.

Based on the direction of the ocean currents, he deduced that the message in the bottle most likely drifted along the "Third Gyre" from the depths of the Sea of ​​Monsters all the way to the end of the belt.

However, he didn't know that this guy actually came from the more distant Eastern Continent, which was ruled by living knowledge, and was a hundred times more dangerous than he expected.

[Devil in the Bottle] Richard York promised that as long as he rescued himself from the bottle and gave himself a suitable body, he could fulfill three wishes.

But the condition was that whatever Richard gained, his mortal enemy would also gain.

Richard, who was cautious by nature, only made an experimental wish - to obtain the forbidden knowledge of becoming a mythical creature [devil] "Mark of the Beast of the Abyss":
"As a spiritual creature, the [Devil] that rules the bottomless pit of hell can obtain the 'fifth element' through trade and maintain immortality like the [Night Demon].

It is because the soul and the fifth element are the source of the devil's eternal life that they become the currency of the devil's transactions.

As long as the soul is immortal, one can possess other people at will, replace one's own body which will eventually age, and live forever in the world.

The best person to possess is one's own bloodline descendant, who can be a perfect match without any rejection reaction."

After the "Death Stranding Incident" that occurred in the palace, Byron and Catherine already knew that Richard wanted the ability to change his body at will in order to occupy his nephew's body and get rid of this annoying dwarf body.

As long as he could successfully become king by using his nephew's body, his other wishes would naturally be easily realized without the need for any external help.

As a cunning conspirator, Richard, the Devil's Duke, is well aware that there is no such thing as a free lunch and is very cautious about making deals with the devil.

In accordance with the agreement, he found a suitable body for the devil in the bottle that was related to him by blood.

This is the painter Leonardo, who was once a very poor art student who failed the entrance exam and couldn't even get into the Vienna Academy of Arts.

After being possessed by the devil ancestor from the Eastern Continent, he immediately became knowledgeable without any prior education. From a mediocre person who "knew nothing" about art, he suddenly became an all-rounder who "knew everything"!

[Kingmaker] Warwick also obtained the forbidden book "The Seal of the Beast of the Abyss" because of the transaction.

After putting George, Duke of Clarence on the throne, he planned to seize the body of his grandson or granddaughter and naturally become the real ruler of the country.

It can be said that if it weren't for this devil in the bottle stirring up trouble everywhere, the [Devil Duke] and the [Kingmaker] would probably not have such great ambitions for a while, and the royal party and the earl party would not be able to fight.

The Devil in the Bottle was able to stir up such a mess in the Kingdom of Hattings, which had a "golden trouble-maker" passed down from generation to generation. He truly lived up to his racial name of the devil.

This guy is the real mastermind behind the scenes, the big fish that is hidden the deepest, and also the "big threat" lurking around the two of them.

Byron was naturally wary of this "kindred spirit" with superb skills, and was particularly attentive to his every move.

"Sister, Miss Therese, old Woodville won't show up for a while.

Why don't we follow this visitor from the East Continent to see what he is going to do?"

As Byron spoke, he offset the gravity of the two people and flew away in the wind as light as two fallen leaves, while Therese's clone flapped its wings and followed behind.

After following the [Painter of Hell] silently through the woods for more than ten minutes, there was suddenly a noise in front of us. After passing a sheltered valley, we saw the fire again.

Through the snow-covered treetops, they discovered that it was a hunting team under the banner of nobility, obviously belonging to the Earl's party in the camp of Warwick the Kingmaker.

And they also saw a familiar figure inside.

"Huh? Isn't this George, Duke of Clarence, the puppet son-in-law in Warwick's hands? Is he coming out too?"

Catherine was somewhat puzzled as to why the second-in-command of the Earl's party would personally go out into the snow and ice to hunt down old Woodville.

In fact, the other people traveling with George didn't quite understand their master's intentions.

A noble transcendent who was gathered around the fire handed a roasted hare to George and asked them about their doubts:

"Your Highness, why did you come out in person to hunt down that old guy?

Now his [Rupert's Tear] has exposed the vital point, which is under his left armpit. As long as they can hit the vital point, even a child holding a branch can kill him.

Our temporary command center is relatively safe, but there is a certain possibility that we may encounter scouts from the royal party, so it is not without risk.

Besides, we ran away secretly without the knowledge of the Earl of Warwick, and it might be hard to explain when we return."

When George heard the name "Warwick", a hint of displeasure rose in his eyes. He did not answer his men's questions, but just tore the rabbit meat silently.

Compared with his two brothers, the Duke of Clarence may seem very mediocre, and his abilities are totally incompatible with his ambitions.

But compared to ordinary people, he is not too bad. Not only does he have the strength of the third level, he also masters the most basic political tactics.

Everyone knew that he was a puppet pushed forward by the Kingmaker Warwick. Even if the Kingmaker eventually defeated his brother and helped him become king, he would still have no power.

How could he not know this himself?
In this world, as long as one does not possess the mighty power of the Creator, the only god of the seventh order, power will always be from the bottom up, not from the top down.

He knew very well that he could not hide behind the "King Maker" forever, and he tried hard to have children with his new wife Isabel according to his father-in-law's request.

Although Isabel never understood the sinister nature of politics and was somewhat naive, her pure and charming demeanor in the boudoir was particularly touching.

He also had to leave his comfortable life, take his team away from his father-in-law's control, and take every opportunity to establish merit, build prestige, and seize greater power in the process of seizing the throne.

Of course, he would not admit that he was thin and as a [Lawyer] he was always suppressed by Isabel, the [Punishment Knight], and it was really too much for him to bear after a long time.

Looking up at the dazzling snowfield, he sighed deeply, but dared only roar in his heart:
"Power! If I had overwhelming power, I wouldn't have to bother with anyone or ask anyone to recognize me. I should be the king of Hastings.

Creator, since you have revealed the destiny with the three phantom suns, why can't you also give me the corresponding power?

Even if it's just a huge amount of wealth that can be used to recruit soldiers and horses, it will be fine!"

He had just revealed his inner thoughts, which could not be known to outsiders.

clang!
Suddenly there was a slight sound under his feet. George looked down and found an exquisite golden pot inlaid with gems lying under his feet.

He looked up at the sky again and deduced that the golden pot must have fallen from the top of the mountain that surrounded their small valley, but its exact origin was unclear.

Under normal circumstances, if you want to live long in this world, you must maintain necessary vigilance against things of unknown origin.

But George only took two glances at the golden pot and couldn't take his eyes off it.

He subconsciously picked it up from the ground and opened the lid without asking any servants to "test the poison".

As a large cloud of smoke rose, a "genie" with blue skin suddenly emerged from the bottle.

Byron and Catherine saw it clearly. This was all the work of the fourth-level devil [Painter of Hell] from beginning to end. His target was also obvious, which was the puppet Duke of Clarence.

[Painter of Hell] As the secret "ally" of the kingmaker Warwick, it is very easy for him to grasp George's whereabouts and even help him hide his tracks from Warwick. He will act decisively after seizing the opportunity.

“What is he going to do?
He looks like a genie. Is he helping George fulfill his wish? Is he doing this secretly just to do good things and help the frustrated young man get back on his feet? "

Hearing Catherine's question, Byron shook his head:
“It’s obviously not that simple.

Just like the [Night Demon] needs to keep "usurping power" and the [Dragon] needs to keep collecting treasures.

The two most important rituals for the advancement of mythical creatures such as the Devil are the Game of Thrones and the Devil's Contract.

These are all their natural instincts to guard the house and eat.

The devil in the bottle is probably using George to complete some kind of ritual.

In fact, we have come across relevant knowledge before.

For example, the "Faust Contract" in our hands is a bet between the Creator (divinity), the devil (animalism) and Faust (humanity) from the beginning.

Another famous devil's contract book is the incomplete zero-level holy relic "King Solomon's Key" preserved in the Remit Church.

In this kind of transaction, if your mind is not clear enough and your trading level is not good enough, you may be easily distorted by the devil by exploiting loopholes in the rules.

It is a common practice to use the decorative details of a contract as hidden clauses full of traps.

The purpose of everything is to take away the soul of the trading partner at the lowest cost!"

Sure enough, the "genie" in the bottle introduced itself to George and offered to fulfill one of his wishes, but his enemy would also receive the same gift.

"What? How can there be only one wish? Shouldn't it be three?
What about the other two? Did you, the black-hearted middleman, take the difference? ! "

George, whose mind was bewitched by the devil and who had lost his vigilance, although had never met a real "elf", knew the market situation. After his great joy, he immediately became annoyed at being taken advantage of by unscrupulous businessmen.

The Devil in the Bottle looked him up and down and laughed strangely:

"Sir, I assume that your first wish is to be healthy and to be able to wake up in the morning full of energy, every day."

George felt as if he had been completely seen through by the other party. He turned his head to look at the people he had brought with him, and found that they were all frozen in place as if the pause button had been pressed, and they could not hear their conversation.

Then he blushed and said:
"Yes, you're right, I do want this."

The Devil in the Bottle shook his finger at him and continued, "I assume that your second wish is to have endless wealth.

Waving a handful of gold coins, you can get beauties if you want them, and you can recruit soldiers if you want them."

George's eyes immediately sparkled with gold, and the freckles on his face turned slightly red due to excitement:
"You're absolutely right, I really want this too.

With money and a strong body, you can have fun however you want. You wouldn't trade it for anything even if you were the king of a small country."

The Devil in the Bottle seemed like a master who was well versed in human nature, and he said to him calmly:
"As an elf who has helped so many people achieve great things, I know too well what humans want. It all comes down to that.

Now tell me your wish."

"I want."

George was about to say his last wish when he suddenly remembered that the "elf" said that whatever he got, his enemies would also get.

Who is his enemy now? Of course, it is his brother Edward IV, who is sitting on the throne and mocking him for not knowing his own strength.

George felt that if Edward IV got the benefit he wished for, it would be worse than killing him.

Moreover, he heard that his brother's health was currently worrying and he was becoming increasingly thin due to excessive sexual intercourse with his elder sister-in-law.

What would happen if Edward IV was allowed to enjoy the most beautiful woman in the Channel Islands at will?

But he was still waiting to kill his own brother in the future and then inherit his beautiful sister-in-law. Imprisoning her in Kingston Tower as a concubine was a perfect choice.

So George looked into the eyes of the Elf and said:

"I don't want anything else for my third wish. I would rather give up better treasures than let my enemies get anything. Is that okay?"

[Devil in the Bottle] laughed strangely and gave him a thumbs up:

"That's right, you are harming others without benefiting yourself. You already have the potential to become a devil.

Then as you wish."

Byron watched this scene from a distance and commented:

“Humans have indeed been placed at the center of the world by God. They can ascend because of their choices, or they can fall because of a single thought.

If nothing unexpected happens, a new devil will be born."

He had seen another similar story in a book.

The girl and her fiancé lost their way in the mountains. The fiancé accidentally ate a poisonous mushroom with a red umbrella. All he saw were little jumping people in front of him. He might die at any time.

Fortunately, they met a real elf who lived in a cabin in the woods and could grant the girl one wish.

The girl was overjoyed and made a wish: "Please give me a secret recipe to delay aging and keep my skin white and smooth forever!"

The elf agreed to her request.

As a result, the girl's skin became fair and smooth, and she would never get tanned no matter how much she was exposed to the sun, and she would always look like she was 18 years old.

Sometimes, the devil a person encounters may not be a real devil, but the unrestrained desires of human beings themselves will always be one.

The way that [Devil in the Bottle] fulfilled George's wish was the same as [Devil Duke] and [Kingmaker], which was to give him a forbidden book "The Mark of the Beast of the Abyss".

Moreover, the first step of the ritual "Selfish Choice" has been completed, so you can get started directly.

In addition to "harming others without benefiting oneself", it can also be accomplished through "indiscriminate killing of innocent people", "contract fraud", "killing one's wife to prove one's teachings", "sacrificing the whole family to heaven", etc. The more extreme the method, the stronger the power gained.

As long as you learn the forbidden knowledge, not only can you make your body strong, but you can also use the collected "fifth element" to draw real gold and silver treasures, and others will not be able to tell the difference between the real and the fake.

It is equivalent to having everything if you have a vast amount of souls.

Of course, what the devil did not explain to George was that after passing the ceremony he presided over, George, Richard, and Warwick, as his subordinates, would passively transfer 30% of the fifth element to him.

In fact, every gift has already been secretly marked with a price.

In fact, the [Devil in the Bottle] himself is the same, and he also has to hand over part of his harvest to his superior.

At this time, the Eastern Continent has become a red ocean. The powerful people who hold the power of life and death have long been divided up by various major sects. However, this place is a virgin blue ocean that has not yet been developed.

After he came here, he was like a mouse jumping into a rice jar. He could develop any downline he wanted.

Perhaps it would be easier to understand if we change to Byron's perspective.

This is just like the members of a certain Xixi, a large group of people standing on one side of the strait shouted to the other side of the strait with deep affection:

"My fellow countrymen, please don't download yet. Wait for me to send you a link to invite you! We are all brothers, please don't forget to chop me first!"

With such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, shouldn’t you be full of enthusiasm for work?

In the mountains and forests, the [Devil in the Bottle] changed back into the appearance of the [Painter of Hell] and continued to go deeper into the highlands in a very good mood.

Humming an unknown tune:

“Now there is only one last target left. In desperation, old Woodville will definitely grab me as a lifeline.

In this way, I can gather all the subordinates of several forces, and the situation of the entire kingdom will be a one-sided and transparent game for me.

How could we lose with such unique conditions?

Since the religious wars began, our spring has come. Chaos! Turmoil! Death! What a fascinating smell.

The great [Devil Lord] and [Pianist of Death] Her Majesty Lorena will definitely reward me, the pioneer colonist who first entered the New World.

I, Leonardo, will also be the first devil to successfully complete the 'Bridgehead Colonization Plan'.

Oh, a group of stupid natives who were blinded by power. They closed themselves off for a thousand years because they were afraid of "knowledge", which resulted in the whale oil technology just starting now.

And our knowledge is always developing fully, and our strength far exceeds that of these natives.

Only we, the Abaddon Cult, are the destined rulers of this king and even this continent.

By then, I will have the opportunity to become the [Devil Lord] who rules a country in the Luoyan Era! Hehehehe"

A few kilometers away, Byron frowned.

"New World? Bridgehead Colonization Project?

Isn't the bridgehead for mankind to enter the New World the trapdoor on the south side of the 'World Serpent Celestial Circulation Belt'? What does it have to do with Hastings?"

After a moment of shock, I suddenly understood what he meant.

"Wait! To these people from the East Continent who think they have a higher level of civilization, our Old Continent is actually their New Continent, and I am the native?!
This "Devil in the Bottle" did not come here accidentally like the mother and cousin, but the Abaddon Cult was deliberately launching colonization activities.

Because the population of Anchor Bay was too small, the Kingdom of Hastings, which was also located at the end of the first circulation belt, became the bridgehead chosen by the Eastern Continent for reverse colonization.

hiss--! "

Byron's scalp tingled, and he realized that he had been intentionally or unintentionally ignoring an important problem.

The split in the church will lead to instability in people's hearts, and the power of the [Silver Law] will be dispersed, and the suppression of the source tide will be significantly reduced.

Although he took advantage of the chaos in the Old Continent to allow the Holy Golden Empire to develop rapidly.

The same goes for the old gods' followers and monsters that are entrenched in the Echidna Triangle Gyre, the Sea of ​​​​Monsters, and the Eastern Continent.

Even the Old World is in such a state of chaos and order that only a fool would believe that there is no mastermind behind all this.

“Reality is not like playing a game and clearing dungeons, waiting for the protagonist to grow up level by level, and then going to challenge the boss at the end of the level, and then reaching the peak of life.

In fact, the boss at the end of the level may be more insidious and cunning than anyone imagined. He may have sent out vanguard troops to lay the groundwork before the real large-scale attack.

Draw maps, develop downlines, use money to erode the upper and lower classes, and even build schools to subtly influence the entire society to undergo peaceful evolution.

Abaddon's cult has no branches in the southern continent. It is obvious that they are planning to take an unconventional approach and land in the old continent to colonize the Dragon King's Court in one go!"

Byron realized that although he was growing very fast, the time left for him might not be as long as the year he had originally expected.

Even without obtaining the Level 0 Holy Relic [Whale Oil Powered Steam Engine], the planned six months would have been required to complete a fleet of one hundred heavily armed cruisers.

It is highly likely that before this, the demons and various lower creatures under the Abaddon Cult had already sneaked into the Kingdom of Hastings as silently as spring rain.

[The Iron Law of Royal Power: Magna Carta] itself is like a sieve because the power is dispersed, and it cannot suppress these evil things at all.

"If I want to move the experience of those Lighthouse Sequence Extraordinaries in the collective subconscious ocean in constructing the 'Lighthouse Matrix' to the material world, I can build a relatively stable 'deep sea defense line' in the Kingdom of Hatings to meet the first impact of the Luoyan Era.

It is necessary to replace the Magna Carta with the Golden Law before the Abaddon cult infiltrates on a large scale, and to make this archipelago nation an ironclad entity.

I had hoped to let the royal party and the earl party fight each other so that I could benefit, but now it seems that time is running out for us."

Thinking of this, Byron silently took out his first-level holy relic "Faust Contract".

After a few minutes.

clang!
[Painter of Hell] Leonardo paused, looked down, and found that a familiar-looking metal bottle had inexplicably fallen at his feet.

"this is.???"

When he saw clearly what it was, the expression of this "Devil in the Bottle" suddenly became a little weird.

(End of this chapter)