Do you all know the future?

Chapter 73 True Face

"Is it serious?"

Diane didn't quite understand. She turned to look at the head maid, whose smile was somewhat stiff. She roughly understood; it was a big deal.

"It's extremely serious. Just imagine what the entire material world would look like if it turned into a spiritual realm—it's terrifying!"

Noi was deeply worried. The demon had escaped from the abyss, not for a vacation. The tragedy of Ishtar was right before their eyes; who wouldn't be afraid?

"Is that so?"

Diane thought about the environment of the Spirit Realm, and imagined that the material world would also become that gloomy and terrifying place, and felt a little scared.

“Lord Anne, you don’t need to worry. It’s not that scary for you. You have Dean Isabella’s support and protection. Even if the demon comes to Tudor, it won’t have much of an impact on you.”

Noi looked at Diane with envy. Diane was clearly someone who didn't need to be worried about. Even if these demons wanted to kill, they wouldn't choose a high-risk target like Diane.

"No, that won't happen. If there are more demons, the Bureau of Investigation will have more work to do, and my chances of encountering risks will also increase!"

Diane did not forget her identity. Although she went to the Bureau of Investigation to find Bridget and was avoided by her, so that she got almost nothing, Diane did not forget that she was still a member of the Bureau of Investigation.

"The Bureau of Investigation, this is no good place for you now. Lord An should try to find connections to get out of there as soon as possible, and beg Dean Isabella for help."

Noy's expression was initially somewhat gloating, as these nobles had climbed in through connections and were now in dire straits. However, he quickly realized that Diane was also this kind of person, and immediately changed his attitude to offer advice.

"Okay, I understand. Thanks for reminding me. But with demigods protecting us, it shouldn't be that scary, right?"

Diane thanked them, but didn't take the change in their attitude to heart, and could only offer a word of comfort.

"Demigods can only deal with other demigods. They don't even have the time to notice small fry like us. The demons that escaped the abyss aren't just demigods, but also many cultists and evil spirits. Even demigods can't handle all of these things."

Noy was never worried about demons or demigods, as these things had no connection to him. What he feared were the evil spirits below the level of demons, the spiritual government officials, who were people in the material world who attracted cultists.

"It's alright, there's a detection barrier, the cultists won't be too rampant."

Diane comforted her, saying that the detection barrier could suppress evil energy and also detect spirituality. Unless cultists were insane, they wouldn't dare to expose themselves too obviously.

"Lord An, haven't you realized what happened last time with the cultists? How effective are detection barriers against cultists? They commit crimes and run away. I feel like they're just monitoring us normal people!"

Noi said angrily that he was venting his emotions to some extent. The detection barrier does have an effect on cultists, otherwise the cultists would not have run away when he took action.

However, it's not very useful to show it, because cult members will always find loopholes. If there are methods to detect them, there are ways to evade them.

"I feel the same way. We need to apply for permission to use supernatural powers, but cultists seem to use them with ease!"

Diane also wanted to complain about this detection barrier, which was only used to deal with the head maid and was of little use against cultists.

"Therefore, people from various families like to set up shielding spells outside the city to avoid being detected by the detection barrier when using extraordinary powers."

Noy chuckled. This was also a way of exploiting loopholes; cultists were exploiting them, and so were the nobles.

"Forget it, I won't say anything more. It seems like all I can do is pray."

Diane appeared helpless; he truly couldn't solve the problem.

"So, it would be great if we had another Queen Greta. Although she deceived the people and colluded with demons, she did manage to suppress them. That's much better than the gods not being able to keep the demons in check!"

When Noy reminisced about Queen Greta's time, he still maintained a critical attitude, since the whole world criticized Queen Greta.

"Perhaps, but Queen Greta has already fallen and cannot be resurrected. There's no point in saying that. Everyone should be careful. Didn't Duke Ryan also sacrifice himself because of a cult attack?"

Diane disliked hearing such disparaging remarks about the head maid, so she changed the subject and became worried.

"Duke Ryan, Lord Anne, you..."

Shouldn't she be happy? Duke Ryan is dead, Diane should be happy, because it means Diane has a chance to become Dean Isabella's husband.

However, thinking of Bridget and the Peffer family, Noy felt somewhat hesitant. Perhaps Diane really felt sorry for Duke Ryan.

"The teacher is here, I need to ask for leave. See you tomorrow, Mr. Noy!"

As the teacher entered the classroom, it quieted down a bit. After understanding what had happened, Diane decided not to stay there any longer.

As usual, Diane asked her teacher for leave to go and learn from Isabella. Today she was going to learn spellcasting, but seeing the head maid's surprised look, Diane had a feeling that today's learning might not go so smoothly.

Diane asked for leave very easily; to be precise, Diane's ability to ask for leave was already a favor to the teacher, and the teacher always granted her request.

"Margaret, is the demon's escape such a big deal? Why are you making that face!"

With no one around, Diane was already prepared and asked the head maid why she had that expression earlier.

"With the power of the gods, they should be able to completely suppress the evil gods. I don't understand why they were able to lose!"

The head maid, who has been guarding the abyss for many years, is particularly clear about the strength comparison between the two sides. The gods clearly have a great advantage, not only in the spiritual realm but also in the material world, which is a source of soldiers. They cannot lose to the evil gods no matter what.

The evil god wreaked havoc on the land of Ishtar, but he would eventually be driven away. However, she never imagined that it would be by breaking through the gods' defenses.

What exactly happened to the gods? Ishtar is backed by their theocracy. They can let Ishtar become a wasteland, but how can they allow their own theocracy to be invaded by demons?

"I don't know, maybe the teacher knows more. Let's go ask Teacher Isabella!"

Diane felt a strange sensation upon hearing the head maid's words. The gods were so powerful, was it intentional to let the demon go? Did they discover that the head maid had faked her death and wanted to use the demon to find her?

"Yes, one more clue is always good."

The head maid was trying to come up with a reason, but unfortunately, she had too little information to respond. As soon as they entered Isabella's office, Isabella asked them a question first.

"Have you two heard? The demons have breached the gods' defenses and spread throughout the entire material world."

Isabella's expression was just as grave, no less so than the superhumans in the government affairs class. Diane's heart tightened, and she quickly replied, "I just heard, does the teacher have any special news?"

Isabella's position and power meant she was destined to know more.

"There is some news that the gods unanimously tightened their defenses, which ultimately allowed the demons to succeed and break through the defenses, giving all the demons a chance to crawl out of the abyss."

Isabella was puzzled; she only knew this information, and even that was not entirely true.

"I see!"

But with her reminder, the head maid immediately realized what was going on. She made the most malicious guesses about the gods' actions and then came to a conclusion.

"Does Miss Margaret know anything?"

Isabella was also in a daze, her mind was in turmoil, and she hated being involved in this kind of trouble that no one could avoid.

"The demons were released by these gods, who did not want to lose their power, so they allowed the demons to run rampant."

Considering the nature of these gods, the head maid gave her conclusion.

"Oh no, that can't be. Their material world's church isn't finished. If God can't save mortals, will mortals still believe in gods?"

Isabella was skeptical of the head maid's words; although it was a guess, she herself didn't really believe it.

"No, their church will become stronger on the contrary. Queen Greta suppressed the things in the abyss before. This world has not been disturbed by demons for too long. Now is the time to establish the church's authority in front of the believers."

The head maid understood God and the church, and the analytical methods that Diane taught her made her exceptionally adept at transforming binary oppositions.

"They all failed, allowing the demon to break through. How can they establish authority then?"

Isabella didn't know much about the church or the logic behind its operation, but Diane, having seen many charlatans on Earth and in this world, quickly understood.

"The operating logic of faith is actually fear. As you said, Teacher Isabella, if believers cannot be protected, why should they believe in God? And why do believers need God's protection? Because there are demons!"

"The appearance of the demon proves the power of God. I believe that after Duke Ryan's death, the Breeze Church must have gained nonconverts because everyone fears the power of cultists and prays for the protection of the church."

Diane drew her own conclusion and explained it to Isabella, who then understood!
"So, is this still an opportunity for the church? To slay the demon that everyone fears and prove God's power!"

"Moreover, if the demons are trapped in Ishtar, they will be very united and cause the demigods to die in the hands of the gods. However, scattered demons will basically have to tuck their tails between their legs in front of the orthodox church. Even if both sides are demigods, the church, which has the advantage of terrain, will be more dominant."

The head maid added that the more she talked, the more certain she became. Considering the bottom line of these gods, she felt it was not surprising at all that they would do such a thing.

"Finally, this method is also a form of risk-sharing, with the churches around Ishtar sharing their risks with other churches that do not have contact with Ishtar."

"For gods like the Moon Goddess, this is a sure-fire way to make money. As for how many people died, you haven't even ascended to godhood yet, so you have no concept of human life, let alone a god who is high above you?"

The head maid understood and felt relieved. She had obviously also thought of Diane's thoughts: the demon was sent to find her, and somehow knew that she had not perished.

Now that we know these people are just beasts, we feel much more relaxed and less worried than before.

"These gods... they killed Queen Greta, destroyed Ishtar, and now they're sacrificing the people as a price. How are they any different from the actions of evil gods?"

Isabella was not a pitiful person who died for no reason; she simply felt the terror of the gods, how terrible it was that the gentle and benevolent gods could scheme against her.

"There's no difference. For example, the Moon Goddess, if she didn't have the divine duty of hunting, would be more than qualified to be an evil god with her red moon and plague. And then there's the God of War, with his endless wars and battles."

The head maid said disdainfully that she also disliked these gods, so she had believed in them all, but in reality, she didn't truly believe in them and just nominally followed them.

"This this……"

This was the first time Isabella had faced such a shock. She had not yet reached the level of being able to get close to the gods. To her, the gods were still shrouded in a veil, making it difficult for her to see them clearly.

"What, you can't believe it?"

Margaret smiled, seemingly ready to teach Isabella a lesson and let her see the true nature of these gods.

"No, I believe it. If they can smear Queen Greta, what else are they incapable of doing!"

Isabella refused Margarita's teachings. She gritted her teeth in anger, her fists clenched tightly. If it weren't for her lack of power, she might have already stormed the gods' realm.

"Queen Greta was naive to think that these people couldn't do without her guarding the Abyss. Little did she know that not having Queen Greta was more important than guarding the Abyss!"

On the surface, she was a follower of Queen Greta. The head maid uttered this sigh, as if summarizing her own mistakes, having been too superstitious about her role in guarding the abyss.

"These treacherous and despicable villains, even after Queen Greta died, they still don't let her go. They actually spread rumors that the demons were able to break through their defenses because Queen Greta had raised them to their own detriment. If they had regularly carried out exterminations, there wouldn't have been so many demons. But because Queen Greta indulged them, the number of demons exceeded the number of angels, which caused the defenses to collapse. They could only retreat to protect themselves!"

Isabella, a die-hard fan of Queen Greta, was furious. After Margaret's analysis, she saw through the true nature of the gods and now hated them even more.

"Queen Greta is really useful. She thinks she can bully people because they can't speak up? These gods are really capable of doing such things!"

The head maid didn't think much of it, but Diane, having heard slander twice today, couldn't help but get angry and curse.

"There's no other way. The victors write history. My master has to work hard so that I can get justice from them!"

The head maid comforted Diane, gently pressing her cheek against Diane's temple, and began to whisper in a hoarse voice that could almost melt a person's heart.

"Teacher, I want to learn magic! Can I learn to cast spells today?!"

Diane understood the head maid's implication: he was to become the Queen's prince, but to become the Queen's prince, he first had to complete the selection process, which required powerful protection.

"I'm afraid it won't work today. The demon's escape is a huge matter. Her Majesty the Queen has summoned us to discuss it. I'm also not comfortable sending you to the Spirit Realm. Why don't you go and have some fun? You're lacking women, so I brought my maid..."

Isabella clapped her hands, and a pretty maid walked in.

(End of this chapter)