Heir to the Kingdom of 1.4 billion people

Chapter 146 You Have Been Chosen as a Believer of Suffering
The Northern Frontier, Ice Deer Village.

When the village chief rushed over upon hearing the news, he saw the kind young lady who had given him the grain earlier distributing steaming hot porridge to the children in the village who were starving.

puff.

The old man, with tears welling up in his eyes, immediately knelt down on both knees.

"Respected sir, your generosity and kindness are as bright as the sun in the sky. Thank you for saving us once again. Please leave your name so that our entire village can pray to the gods for you day and night."

Dorothy didn't answer, but silently poured magic into the emerald earring. A moment later, a green light hole appeared facing downwards.

Bang bang bang.

Bags of wheat fell out of the hole and in the blink of an eye, they piled up into a small mountain on the snow.

"There's no need to pray for me. Please try your best to live on with these children."

Dolores said softly that she did not intend to leave her name, because having been honored as an infant by Grand Duke Mason, the name Dolores was still too conspicuous.

After saying that, she put down the ladle and hurriedly walked out of the village.

She still had to fulfill her vow to kill Lucas within three days, and couldn't afford to waste any more time here.

As the girl's figure gradually disappeared into the snowflakes, the old man etched her face into his heart, and then pulled a group of children to kneel deeply in her direction.

He remained kneeling until Dolores's figure completely disappeared before slowly rising again.

"Children, eat!" the old man called out, his voice filled with joy.

The village, which had been lifeless, was brought back to life with the laughter of children.

evening.

On the desolate wasteland where snowflakes were falling, the cold wind was like a knife, tearing through the silent night sky.

Dorothy, enveloped in emerald green magic, raced at full speed, flashing across the snow like an aurora.

The soles of the boots crushed the snow, splashing up tiny ice crystals.

Her breath condensed into white mist in the frigid air, only to be torn apart by the oncoming wind.

Meanwhile, Xia Mingyu, the size of a doll, sat on her shoulder like Pikachu, leaning wearily against the girl's silky, smooth, ice-blue hair.

After leaving Ice Deer Village, Dorothy ran non-stop for several hours.

As expected of a Crescent Moon rank knight, even his tall black horse, handpicked by the Iron Horse Lord, couldn't outrun the girl on her own two legs.

"Your Highness, I plan to travel through the night tonight, so please go and get some rest."

Noticing that he was so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open, Dorothy stopped and said with concern.

"Well, see you tomorrow."

Xia Mingyu did not refuse. After saying goodnight, his small figure turned into a torch and gradually dissipated.

Looking at the empty shoulder, a strange sadness flashed through Dorothy's heart.

She looked around. Above her was a pitch-black night sky, and all around her was an endless expanse of snow. It was so quiet that she could hear her own heartbeat.

one two three
A sense of loneliness welled up within her, but Dorothy quickly suppressed it deep inside.

"If only His Highness could stay on my shoulder forever, so that only I could see him!"

A ridiculous thought flashed through the girl's mind, and she quickly scooped up a handful of snow from the ground and washed her face to clear her head and prevent herself from overthinking.

"Keep going!"

After washing her face, which was whiter than snowflakes, with snow, Dorothy rallied and once again transformed into a green aurora, soaring towards the endless snowfields in the distance.

Red Fox Castle, guest room/bedroom.

After regaining consciousness, Xia Mingyu found himself lying on the soft, large bed in the castle.
To his right lay a blonde girl in a pure white nightgown, none other than Anlia.

At this moment, she nestled with her eyes slightly closed in the fluffy down pillow, her white silk nightgown slightly pleated at the waist, outlining her soft curves.

A slender leg peeked out from under the skirt, its skin shimmering like pearls in the moonlight filtering through the window curtains.

Her cherry-pink lips parted slightly, releasing even breaths. A faint body fragrance mingled with the subtle scent emanating from the aromatherapy diffuser on the bedside table, floating gently in the still air.

Most importantly, Anlia's hands were tightly wrapped around his right arm, so much so that Xia Mingyu could clearly feel that extremely soft touch.

hiss!
Xia Mingyu gasped. He wanted to pull his arm away, but he was afraid of waking the sleeping girl.

In the end, he could only be forced to enjoy the girl's soft body and fragrance, and gradually drifted off to sleep.

After he fell asleep and began to snore softly, the sleeping girl slowly opened her eyes, a hint of resentment flashing in her deep blue eyes.

Then she moved her body slightly upward and rested her head on Xia Mingyu's chest.

Listening to the sound of her heartbeat and feeling the firmness of the pillow beside her, she smiled slightly and finally drifted off to sleep contentedly.

A night alone is long, but a night with someone else is when all you remember is his body temperature.

at the same time.

The North, Icefield Fortress.

It was already late at night, but the study in the main building was still brightly lit.

The young lord was lounging comfortably on the leather sofa in front of his desk, toying with a vial of potion filled with shimmering golden liquid in the candlelight.

"Not bad, not bad." He kept marveling at it as he played with it.

This was a high-quality power-boosting potion that he had ordered from the slave capital at a price of ten gold sols.

It is said to be refined from the essence and flesh of the man-eating demon lion Orych, a mythical beast, and can greatly enhance a person's strength. For those who cultivate the path of knights, it is undoubtedly a rare and precious resource.

"I heard that Hagorcus killed that man-eating lion with just his bare fists, and thus made a great achievement and was promoted to the Crescent Moon rank of Hundred Death Warrior. And he is only twenty-one years old now!"

Lucas gently turned the bottle, watching the shimmering golden potion surging within. He seemed to see the figure of the man who, born a slave, defied his predetermined fate with his fists in the Bloodfang Arena.

How powerful, how diligent, how admirable!
Unlike other lords, Lucas deeply despised his compatriots who indulged in pleasure and rested their heads on women's laps. He believed that such things were nothing more than fleeting moments in life, which would disappear after a moment of pleasure and were not worth mentioning.

Lucas dedicated his entire life and all his energy to what he considered the greatest and most magnificent cause in the world—the elevation of his own status!

When he read the creation myth as a child, his whole body and soul were deeply shaken.

It turns out that everything he lived in, including himself, was built upon the body of a great being.

So, the sun that radiates boundless light and brings warmth to the entire North is actually alive?
So, are there really creatures that can stand alongside the stars and live forever?
From that moment on, a thought that seemed incredibly blasphemous to ordinary people popped into Lucas's mind—he too wanted to stand alongside the stars and become one of those unspeakable great beings.

Therefore, he sacrificed almost all entertainment in the past, spending his days cultivating. Among the hedonistic noble children, he stood out, and was even hailed as the "Bee of the Ice Plains," meaning as diligent as a bee.

His father, the former Ice Atom Lord, who gained prestige among the lords of the North through this, praised him highly and, at his request, spent a fortune to buy various magical potions to support his training.

Unfortunately, his talent is still too lacking. Now he is twenty-four years old, but his strength has been stuck at the peak of the Morning Star level. He is still one step away from the level of the true strongman in the world, the Crescent Moon level, where he can be directly granted an honorary title based on his strength.

Thinking of this, Lucas sighed softly, but a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes as he looked at the glittering golden potion in his hand.

As long as he takes this high-quality power-enhancing potion, he will definitely be able to successfully advance to the Crescent Moon rank!

dong dong.

Just as Lucas was about to head to the secret chamber to take the potion, there was a gentle knock on the study door.

"Come in." Lucas frowned slightly, a hint of displeasure in his expression.

He had already guessed who the visitor was.

An elderly man with white hair and beard, dressed in a tailcoat, carefully pushed open the door and entered. He immediately bowed deeply to Lucas.

The visitor was Holt, the steward of Icefield Castle. He had served two generations of Icefield Castle lords, and even Lucas received a lot of care from this old man when he was a child.

"What brings you here so late?" Lucas asked calmly, but his tone carried a hint of reproach.

"Master, I apologize for disturbing your peace."

Upon hearing this, Holt immediately offered a sincere apology.

"But it is a matter of great importance, and I have to ask for your permission immediately."

“Speak,” Lucas said calmly.

"Recently, far too many villagers in our Icefield Territory have starved to death. A kind-hearted wealthy family in town is willing to sell us grain at a low price to aid the villages. The price is..."

"That's enough, how much money do you want!" Lucas interrupted the old butler impatiently.

“Master, just four gold sols will be enough to buy enough food to temporarily alleviate the famine,” Holt said carefully.

The actual amount of money needed was six gold sols, but he had worked diligently as a steward for decades and had saved up two gold sols for his retirement, which he could use to help the Icefield Territory at this time.

After all, he knew that the new patriarch was extremely stingy in everything except for spending lavishly on cultivation resources, and even frequently stopped paying the castle maids' salaries.

"What?! Four Gold Sols!"

Lucas, who had been calm just moments before, now glared at the old butler like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Four gold sols, that's enough to buy almost half a bottle of power potion, and you want me to use them to help those useless farmers!" The young lord said coldly, suppressing his anger.

“My lord, farmers are not useless. They cultivate the land, produce new grain next year, and pay taxes.”

Holt tried to argue, but a fed-up Lucas waved him away.

"Master, if this continues, there won't be a single living person left in our villages in the Icefield Territory in five years!"

Left with no other choice, Holt painfully recounted the grim truth he had uncovered through his on-site investigations and calculations over the past few days.

The sight of children with swollen bodies and the emaciated villagers being dragged away by the locust-like Clay merchants to the slave capital deeply shocked Holt.

He even began to suspect that he was going to hell because of this.

The lord, who had the power to change all of this, actually opened the floodgates wide and allowed his people to be bought and sold at will, simply because the Clay merchants had pooled together a head tax for him.

Right now, buying that batch of cheap grain to relieve the famine-stricken villages is the last chance to save the Icefield Territory.

Lucas heard the tragic truth under Holt's expectant gaze.
"What? It can last another five years?" the young lord asked, his face full of surprise.

Holt: "."

“Looks like it’s still not radical enough,” Lucasto said thoughtfully, stroking his chin.

For him, the only purpose of this territory, which the Icefield family had inherited for centuries, was to help him break through to the New Moon rank as soon as possible.

After breaking through to the Crescent Moon rank, the resources produced on this land are far from enough to help him with his subsequent advancement, so he will inevitably leave here to travel.

Before leaving, he would definitely sell everyone in this territory for a good price, which is why he was so greedy.

Five years? Haha, that's still too long!

Meanwhile, the old butler, who had roughly guessed Lucas's thoughts from his expression, left dejectedly.

At this moment, he finally realized that this lord, who was once regarded by everyone in Icefield Castle as the best heir in the history of the entire North, actually had no noble honor whatsoever.

He was a monster, a monster who only wanted to advance in rank and was willing to sacrifice everything for it.

"My deceased lord, can you tell me what to do?"

Holt thought in despair that his lord was Lucas's father, the former Icefield Lord, who had been attacked by a monster during a hunt with Lucas a few years ago and was never found.

Chamber of Secrets.

Snapped!
With a crisp cracking sound, Lucas looked angrily at the shards of the potion bottle that he had smashed on the floor.

He had just taken and digested the power-enhancing potion. Although his strength had been further improved, he was still far from reaching the Crescent Moon rank.

"Damn it, I spent a whole ten Gold Sols for this little bit of effect. I should have tried other potions instead," he cursed under his breath.

At the same time, a sense of despair crept into my heart.

His aptitude is really too poor. He has failed to advance to the New Moon stage despite consuming so many magic potions. He probably doesn't even have half the talent of that Hagoromo.

If things continue like this, he won't be able to realize his ideals, let alone even leave the North.

“Great being, if you will hear my prayer, please grant me the power to break through the new moon, and I will give everything I have in exchange.”

With no other options, Lucas clasped his hands together and prayed devoutly.

He believed that as long as living beings were great enough, they would surely be able to hear any prayer in the world.

This great being may be one of the seven gods, or perhaps the creator, or even a being beyond the crystalline barrier formed from the creator's skin in creation myths.
No matter who it is, God or devil, as long as they can help him!
As he prayed, gradually, an incomparably magnificent being cast its gaze upon him.

"Aaaaaah!" With just one glance, Lucas's soul was thrown into a frenzy of trembling.

After an unknown amount of time—perhaps a moment, or perhaps eternity—Lucas gradually regained his consciousness.

He vaguely remembered that he had just seen an eyeball larger than the entire world, and in the instant he met its gaze, he felt as if he were tasting all the suffering in the world—hunger, fear, numbness, cold.
At the same time, a message remained in his mind.

"You have been chosen as a believer in suffering."

(End of this chapter)