Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 518 Goal Setting
Upon seeing the Queen, Levi was initially surprised, but then he thought about it—it wasn't so unexpected after all?

After all, the saintess beside him was one of the twelve knights of the same era as Emperor Arthur, and could even be considered the original founder of the empire. As the current leader of the empire, it was only proper for the Queen to come and meet this founder.

Of course, based on Li Wei's understanding of Her Majesty the Queen, she certainly didn't come to see the saintess just for the sake of it.

"Your Majesty."

Li Wei stepped forward and bowed to the Queen, who looked at him and nodded.

"Sir Levi, you did a great job. After receiving the news, I decided to come overnight... Fortunately, thanks to Dr. Tester, the Imperial airships are now faster and more convenient."

It turned out to be the case.

Looking at the fan blades installed on both sides of the airship that brought the Queen, Levi silently nodded in approval. It seemed that these airships had also undergone Dr. Tester's modifications—yes, the steam generators were indeed very effective, but it was quite surprising that the Queen had decided to adopt them so quickly.

"This must be the Holy Maiden."

The Queen turned her gaze to the saint beside Livy, who bowed.

“I am Jeanne Darque, one of the Twelve Knights. Greetings, Your Majesty.”

"There's no need to call me Your Majesty. After all, strictly speaking, it is you who created this empire."

"I was just helping Arthur out."

The two chatted as they walked, with Levi and Katie following behind. Levi looked at Katie with a questioning gaze, asking what Queen Katie was doing there, but Katie simply shook her head. Then she suddenly sniffed, moved closer to Levi, and whispered something.

"You smell like that woman."

"Ok?"

"Miss Darke, what are you doing?"

"Well... you guess."

"I know without even guessing, it's not like I haven't seen it before."

As she spoke, Katie pursed her lips. Come to think of it, she used to run around the downtown area all the time and deal with those socialites. She wasn't the kind of flower kept in a greenhouse, so how could she be completely clueless about this?

"I'm just interested in what excuse you're going to use to brush me off."

Why do you think I would use an excuse?

"Because men always lie at this time, don't they?"

"Women are pretty much the same... Never mind, there's nothing to say about this kind of thing."

Levi sighed, while Katie blinked.

"So, you like her?"

"I don't dislike it."

"So what's going on with you guys?"

She said it was to repay my life-saving grace, because I saved her sealed soul.

"Such a thing is true?"

Upon hearing this, Katie's eyes widened immediately.

"Then why doesn't she repay me?"

"……………………You can ask her yourself."

Levi was utterly speechless at Katie's thought process.

"Then I'll go ask her later."

Katie nodded, seemingly intending to do so, but Levi didn't try to stop her; he was also curious about how the saintess would respond.

The group then arrived at the control room of the floating city. Through the images on the surrounding screens, Li Wei and the Saintess explained the current situation to the Queen in detail again. After listening to their report, the Queen pondered for a moment and then looked at the Saintess.

"Miss Dark, is there any way to stop the fog from spreading?"

"Although my title is Saintess, Hell is not within my scope of study."

The saint shook her head.

"As far as I know, this black mist is actually a manifestation of the power of hell infiltrating this world. As long as the seal can function again, the source can be completely cut off."

"And the reason the seal failed was because the Holy Bishop misled people's understanding of demons?"

That's exactly right.

The Queen pondered for a moment, then looked at Li Wei.

"Sir Levy, do you have any ideas?"

"Me?" Faced with the Queen's question, Li Wei looked completely bewildered.

Even Solomon, the culprit, doesn't know how to handle this mess. You ask me? Who am I supposed to ask?

I'm not Emperor Arthur, and I don't have the power to activate the seal.
[Reality Anchoring] might work, but Li Wei is afraid that he would die immediately if he used it.

This is no ordinary cat or dog.

"Sorry, I don't have any ideas at the moment."

"Isn't the goal to change everyone's perception of demons? I think you're perfect for that."

"Hey?"

Looking at Li Wei, the Queen smiled slightly.

“Sir Levi, aren’t you quite skilled at creating picture books? You could easily publish a picture book, like ‘Betty the Dog,’ and then we can use the Empire’s power to spread it to every corner of the Empire. That should quickly change people’s perception of demons.”

"………………………"

So you came all this way just to urge me to update?
Li Wei felt he might as well go and fight the angels for another three hundred rounds.

"Picture book?"

The saintess also looked at Li Wei with suspicion, clearly very interested in the sketchbook the queen was talking about.

"what is that?"

"Uh...it's something to pass the time, you could call it leisure reading."

Li Wei gave the saintess a brief explanation, then looked at the queen.

"But Your Majesty, will this... work?"

"Of course, the Holy Bishop reversed people's perceptions by using stories rather than swords, so we can do the same."

"That's true..."

Li Wei had to admit that Her Majesty the Queen had a point.

As expected of Her Majesty the Queen, she grasped the key points so quickly.

“I can give it a try.”

If it really works out, that would be a good thing. At least it's better than actually fighting the devil with swords and spears—which seems even more troublesome, doesn't it?

Fighting the demon directly wouldn't be this troublesome.

"Then, it's up to you, Sir Levi."

Her Majesty the Queen smiled slightly upon hearing Li Wei's reply.

"If you can, don't forget Betty the puppy in the next issue."

"……………………yes."

"Well, it's about time."

The Queen stood up and looked at Livy and the saint.

“Miss Dark, there is one more thing I would like to ask you for help with.”

"what's up?"

"I hope to borrow your floating city as the focus of the next phase of the Empire's war against Krant."

Let's take down Krant first.

Hearing this, Li Wei raised an eyebrow, but he didn't object to the Queen's idea. As things stood, stopping the Hellish invasion in the short term was simply unrealistic. If the Empire were to deal with the Hellish demons now, it would only severely weaken itself, and might even be bitten by Krant in the end.

Therefore, from the Empire's perspective, maximizing their interests means taking down Krant in the shortest possible time, and then figuring out how to deal with those hellish demons.

In this way, at least the Empire doesn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back by Krant.

"no problem."

"If you have any needs, you can mention them to the Empire, and we will do our best to meet your requirements."

At this point, the Queen smiled at the saintess again, then looked at Li Wei.

"Then, Sir Levi, I'm leaving everything to you."

After saying this, the Queen turned and left.

It's confirmed, this person came here to urge for more updates.

(End of this chapter)