Divine Kingship

Chapter 558 Karin: I'm a Detective (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
There's nothing more to discuss regarding the strategy for the Kingdom of Bolun. The next step is to assess the situation domestically and then decide on the appropriate course of action.

This must be mentioned.

Rand is the King's Hand and wields immense political influence in the Frostmoon Kingdom.

If Rand makes up his mind, it is very likely that he can persuade the nobles in the country to form a national army, take the initiative, and launch a national war.

And now, it seems the time is almost here.

Previously, Rand rarely used the power of the Frostmoon Kingdom. One reason was that he needed to be careful about the intensity of the war. Once a real war broke out, Grand Duke Vladimir and other cults would have an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

National wars are not decided by one or two battles. The Kingdom of Bolun has always been careful not to provoke the Kingdom of Frostmoon too much as a whole, and even when it launches surprise attacks, it has always been under the guise of recovering lost territory.

Therefore, Rand almost never launches an offensive, let alone initiate a war against the Kingdom of Bolen as the Hand of the King.

However, things are different now. Now, Grand Duke Vladimir can only rage helplessly in purgatory, and the dangers the Torch Goddess spoke of in the future are clearly not in the near future, at least not in the near future for Rand to discover.

Recently, Land has also sensed some undercurrents within the Frostmoon Kingdom. While the Bolun Kingdom has designs on Land, the Frostmoon Kingdom is also gradually starting to have designs on the Bolun Kingdom.

The Frostmoon Kingdom was never a peaceful country; otherwise, it wouldn't have been the case that two wars for the throne broke out in succession.

Now sitting on the throne is the unfathomable Marcus, who also has the support of Land, the Marquis of the Stag, and the Marquis of the Black Brown, all of whom are very influential noble families in the Frostmoon Kingdom, in addition to Marcus's Thorn family.

In any case, the nobles in the country had no intention of overthrowing Marcus and establishing a new king.

They may have some ideas, but they are at least self-aware.

So, thanks to the governance of Rand and Marcus, the country has been stable and able to recuperate, and everyone has gradually recovered some of their strength from the previous series of battles.

Of course, this amount of time is not enough for the nobles to return to their heyday of more than a decade ago.

But it seems that the Kingdom of Bolen is much weaker, much weaker, isn't it?
Despite all that it had gone through, the Kingdom of Bologna remained extremely wealthy due to its maritime dominance.

So, is it possible to...?

However, those are not things that will happen in the near future. Although the new king of the Kingdom of Bolen has begun to plan his actions against Rand, and Rand has also decided to plan to divide up the Kingdom of Bolen, it is estimated that it will be several months or even a year from now.

The most important thing right now is revenge.

A stray dog ​​on the roadside tried to bite him earlier.

Now Rand is planning to have a dog meat stew, which, in short, means he's going to bite the dog.

Today, Rand, Karin, and Berlan are not far from the target territory.

Rand was so "arrogant" that he did not bring his own army; instead, he was surrounded by the armies of other nobles from the Kingdom of Bolen.

"I'm sure you already know," Rand said, looking at the minor and middle-ranking nobles of the Kingdom of Bolen around him.

The number was not large, about a thousand men, including a hundred knights and several hundred regular soldiers. This was the force brought by these minor nobles.

It's roughly five times the strength of a baron, and slightly less than twice the strength of a viscount.

This is nothing to RAND today.

But for a viscount, it is already somewhat difficult to defeat. Of course, if he chooses to hide in the castle and stay inside, then his safety is not a big concern in the short term.

But right.

Rand brought Karin and Berlan, and although neither of the kings was at their peak, unless the enemy was also a king, then...

At this moment, the nobles in the manor are still feasting. The assassination, which was carefully planned, has a high success rate, and even if it fails, there is no need to worry about Rand discovering anything.

The mother and daughter who were assassins knew little, and they wouldn't live much longer.

Therefore, they wouldn't even mind celebrating Rand's demise in advance.

Therefore, the drunken viscount did not realize what had happened until he was surrounded by Land and the minor and middle nobles of the Kingdom of Bolen.

I woke up to find myself surrounded.

He was surrounded by people from the Kingdom of Bolun.

The viscount, helped to his feet by his attendants, wiped the wine stains from his lapel and opened his mouth, revealing fairly even but yellowish teeth: "What do you want? Why are you with Rand?"

He seemed to be still quite lucid, able to recognize the nobles of the Kingdom of Bolen and Rand.

"Everyone believes that there are loopholes in the legal basis for your family's rule over this land, and they have come together to discuss this matter with you."

Rand's sentences are very polite, but apart from the choice of words, there is no politeness whatsoever.

“Rand has taken our land, robbed our people, and plundered our wealth. How can you stand with such people?” The viscount continued to try to persuade the nobles of the Kingdom of Bolen around him.

This is the most likely way to survive.

“You may not know this, but Rand has always been our enemy. If we can kill Rand, that would be an opportunity for our family to advance further.”

“Rand is right here, outnumbered and outmatched. If we kill him, his wealth and his land will obviously be our share. He's just a few men. Kill him!”

Honestly, in this state, to still be able to speak relatively clearly and have relatively reasonable logic is already a testament to one's high level of competence.

Unfortunately, the minor nobles of Rand remained unmoved by this.

They were well aware that the two women beside Rand were likely top-level professionals.

And Rand's army could be deployed at any time to destroy their family territories.

Putting aside whether he could kill Rand, killing him would lead to the destruction of his family.

Rand was never the kind of person who would actually "take a risk".

The viscount before everyone tried many ways to persuade the nobles of the Kingdom of Bolen who stood with Rand.

But all that answered him was the scorching summer wind.

After talking until his saliva was dry, the viscount finally realized that it was all in vain.

The army of minor nobles from the Kingdom of Bolen, who stood with Rand, destroyed the viscount's manor.

Rand had no time to observe these things; as for whether any had slipped through the net—the nobles who had made the move were more concerned about that than Rand himself.

They will not let a single one go.

As for why Rand didn't use his own army, one reason was that he had promised the nobles of the Kingdom of Bolen not to start a war easily, and now was not the time to alert them.

Another reason, of course, is that by the time Rand reached that stage, he no longer needed to use his own power for everything.

Asking these minor nobles who benefit from Rand and are on good terms with Rand to do some work would be a costless and beneficial thing for Rand.

The dog that tried to bite him has now been slaughtered, and now it's time to enjoy dog ​​meat stew.

This viscount's territory is not large, partly because the minor and middle nobles of the Kingdom of Bolen have all contributed to its distribution, but Rand is still entitled to a share.

But for Rand, all of this was essentially free.

Don't ask for too much.

The matter of revenge was resolved quickly.

Rand, Berlan, and Karin separated from the main force and rode their flying bulls and horses back along the roads of the plains.

The fields are enveloped by wheat, and the scarecrow on the threshing floor remains in a threatening pose with its arms raised. A dry wind sweeps across the field ridges, startling the larks into chirping that scatters among the golden waves of wheat.

Bolan has lived in the cold White Country since birth. The southernmost place he has ever been to should be the capital of the Kingdom of Lunsa.

At that time, we needed to fight the Azure King.

Bertrand had only ever seen such a southern summer field in the paintings of court painters.

I also saw it in letters to Rand.

Berlan loved these landscapes, so different from the White Kingdom; the warm breeze was almost intoxicating.

Meanwhile, Karin kept observing Ellie, who seemed perfectly normal.

Ellie seems a little different lately...

Although Ellie is known for her unpredictable behavior and eccentric personality, it's quite normal that she underwent some changes after her trip north.

However, isn't "Ellie" being a bit too serious lately?

As a competent detective, she has a very keen sense of observation.

Small details that seem insignificant to ordinary people are often the key to solving a case. As the detective with the highest success rate in solving cases within the Holy Domain, Karin has a lot to say about this.

Although the Holy Domain doesn't have many detectives, apart from Karin, most of the other detectives are just amateur detectives who imitated Karin after reading a few detective novels.

Karin's investigative methods are naturally closely related to her observational skills as a queen.

In the past, Ellie no longer insisted that she live with everyone, but given Ellie's personality, she would still occasionally make some subtle hints.

Now Ellie has become very serious.

Karin must then suspect that Ellie is plotting something big.
Karin's observations were very subtle, after all, as a "blind" person without sight, her observational abilities all came from factors other than light.

This kind of observation, which doesn't come from sight, makes it very difficult for Berlan, who is using Ellie's body, to notice.

Of course, Berlan knew Karin's identity well, and she was still quite wary.

And Berlan is actually very curious about why the Crimson Queen Karin and Rand have developed into their current relationship.

Berlan admits that Rand is very charming, after all, even she can't bring herself to dislike Rand, but how could Rand's unreliable personality be liked by a pure saint?
The three of them were almost back in the Holy Moon Territory.

Flying oxen and horses, even when walking, are not slow.

Along the way, Karin observed Berlan with some wariness, while Berlan also observed Karin with some wariness.

There wasn't much conversation for a while.

By saying less, Berlan's risk of exposure was also significantly reduced.

And so the stalemate continued until evening.

Even during dinner, the two were subtly observing each other.

Rand could sense some of the mysterious atmosphere, but he didn't interfere too much.

Continue living today at your own pace.

After returning, I will gradually take over the affairs of the territory.

However, he couldn't take over everything at once. In the next few days, there was something quite important to do—King Marcus was going to bring his ministers to the Duchy of the Moon Phases, and Rand had to go back to the Sanctuary to receive them.

As for why Marcus came here, it was naturally because of matters concerning the Kingdom of Bolen.

National war is not something to be taken lightly. After the domestic nobles expressed their intentions and Rand did not object, King Marcus and the ministers, feeling that war might really break out, took it very seriously.

But that's a few days from now; tonight can be spent normally.

The night breeze is gentle.

The construction of the Torch Church and the Church of the Goddess of Harvest and Health has also begun in the Holy Moon Territory.

Rand, Berlan, and Karin visited together.

The faceless goddess of harvest and health stands in stark contrast to the sacred goddess of the torch.

The group arrived at the foot of the already completed stone statue of the Torch Goddess.

No one knows the goddess's true form; she may just be a ball of fire, or she may truly be in human form.

But the statues remain the same, always looking the same.

Karin then closed her eyes and prayed for a short while.

Under the clear moonlight of summer, the praying saint was quite pure and captivating.

After that.

After sensing Berlan's increasingly strange gaze, Karin ran away with Rand.

Karin is one of the few Rand lovers who has never been observed by "Ellie".

To prevent Ellie from doing anything really bad, Karin decided to escape from Ellie with Rand first. As for whether there would be any problems, there shouldn't be any. Today was her day, and she could spend some time alone with Rand.

But could this be considered an elopement?
I don’t think so.

Berlan could certainly sense that Karin was taking Rand away, but of course she wouldn't stop her.

Karin was a great help.

This rare period of safety was about to begin, and Berlan decided to go back to Rand's bedroom to get some rest.

Meanwhile, under the moonlight, the beautiful blonde saint with red eyes rested her forehead on Rand's shoulder, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Even though "Ellie" is the rightful mistress, she shamelessly stole Rand. She's really become a bad woman.

But since I've already stolen it, I might as well enjoy some time alone.

The Torch Church is developing very rapidly now, and it's not appropriate to leave everything to Archbishop Kahn, so Karin is much busier than Rand.

Rand even gave her some bad advice, such as having her re-elected as a saint of the Torch Church as Sister Karin, but Karin refused the suggestion, knowing that the old man would definitely recognize her!

In the evening breeze, on a deserted hilltop, Rand reached out his hand.

Karin jumped back immediately, clutching her chest where Rand had pinched her, and stammered, "Y-you, what do you want to do?"

Rand blinked and said in an innocent tone, "After all, it's been a long time."

"Coco, we're outside, how can we be outside?"

Despite being frequently tormented by Rand with various gadgets, Karin remains shy and timid.

Karin didn't read all sorts of strange books like Lysa.

Even now, Karin is still like a blank sheet of paper, with only Rand adding some color to it.

(End of this chapter)