Mystery: A Spark

Then, to further satisfy the fortune teller, she described the specific location and situation in detail:

"Those nine mausoleums have already been restored, and the 'teleportation' channels have been temporarily closed. Even with the corresponding talismans, they cannot be reopened, and finding them directly from the outside is virtually impossible..."

"No one else may enter except Prince Grove, Duchess Georgina, the two royal angels, and King George III himself..."

Arthur listened quietly, mentally comparing the information with the original text, searching for any possible flaws.

After a while, he chuckled and said:

"I didn't expect you to be so cooperative. This gives me no excuse to find a chance to spread your secrets."

Katarina cursed inwardly, but maintained her charming smile and said:

"I hope you will keep your promise."

"Of course, after all, we now have each other's secrets, which is the basis for cooperation."

"Goodbye, beautiful lady." Arthur gave a graceful bow, then let Azik lead him away.

"I don't want to see you again. It would be best if you were dead," Katarina said through gritted teeth as she watched Azik and the Virtuoso leave.

She felt somewhat helpless in the current situation because the other side knew the most important secret of their witch cult.

Most importantly, Katarina is still unable to confirm whether this is all the other party knows.

She had to notify headquarters to handle it... She sighed inwardly.

……

Back home, Arthur changed back into his usual attire and then said to Azik:

"Mr. Azik, could you do me another favor?"

"You said."

"Could you please help me find a mausoleum later?"

"can."

Chapter 285 The Curtain Rises

After making his promise, Azik chatted for a while longer before leaving.

Arthur returned to the recliner, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest, making a "tap...tap" sound.

Not far away, Arthas lay obediently on the sofa, silently watching Arthur fall into deep thought.

It knew perfectly well that when Arthur made up his mind to stop him, the king's failure to ascend to the position of Black Emperor was already an inevitable event, and there would be no surprises.

The reason Arthur is still thinking about this is probably because he is not satisfied with this and wants to gain more from this incident.

Arthas was right; Arthur was indeed not satisfied with merely killing George III.

After all, it is foreseeable that the upcoming "George III's deification" event will inevitably attract the attention of many, and it will definitely be a great opportunity to play tricks.

Therefore, Arthur was quite displeased if he didn't take this opportunity to stir up some trouble.

Entering the Black Emperor's mausoleum was not difficult for him; Triss had already told him about the special symbol she had obtained from Mr. Door.

All it takes is collecting the blood of twenty-two extraordinary individuals, mixing them, and then drawing this symbol to grant entry into the nine mausoleums.

For Arthur, who has a wide circle of friends, collecting this blood was basically no problem at all.

In particular, Arthur collected enough blood from criminals and prisoners to even bathe in.

"Tap...tap." Arthur's tapping on the armrest stopped, and he asked:

"Arthas, go find Leonard for me."

“So what should I say to him?” Arthas asked, standing up.

“Just say that a major, high-profile event is going to happen, and then you say you want to return the Time Worm to them,” Arthur replied.

Arthas paused, and asked somewhat strangely:

"But didn't you take that Time Worm? You didn't give it back to me."

"Just say that," Arthur smiled.

Arthas looked on with suspicion. He felt that Arthur's strategy was becoming increasingly abstract, leaving people only half-understanding it.

"Alright, alright, I'll go. I'm just born to run errands for you." Arthas sighed seriously, and then left.

After he left, Arthur lowered his head and murmured to himself:

"A fool who doesn't belong to this era..."

……

“I request to communicate with the ‘world’.”

……

Above the gray fog.

Klein looked at Arthur in front of him and asked in confusion:

"Is there a problem?"

"How are your preparations for becoming a sorcerer going?" Arthur asked, getting straight to the point.

“Little Sun said they have successfully hunted the evil monster, and the materials should be ready soon. They don’t have any clue about the ritual yet, and for now they plan to go to the sea or the southern continent to look for opportunities and targets,” Klein said without hiding anything.

These places are usually chaotic, which could give him the opportunity to stage a murder in full view of everyone.

"Is that so... How about I point you to a target?" Arthur said after a moment's thought.

"Oh? Who is it?" Klein asked curiously.

“A demigod of the royal family, Chunus Korg,” Arthur said.

"Is there something wrong with this person?" Klein asked, puzzled.

"He is linked to the Backlund smog incident."

Upon hearing Arthur's words, Klein's eyes narrowed instantly.

But what surprised him even more was what happened next, because Arthur directly told him the whole truth behind the smog incident and the recent Fussack air raid.

"So, all of this is because George III wanted to become a god?" Klein asked, barely suppressing his anger.

“Yes.” Arthur nodded, then shrugged. “Actually, if he really had the magnanimity of an emperor like Roselle, I wouldn’t have bothered with this matter at all. But what this man has done is simply unbearable for me.”

Klein nodded in deep agreement.

Having lived in this world for so long as an extraordinary being, he knew all too well that the underlying logic of this world was inherently chaotic and insane.

Those who are at a high rank have all had blood on their hands.

Therefore, Klein naturally wouldn't naively believe that driving the people to build mausoleums to ascend to the position of Black Emperor, or waging war to achieve his own goals, was something utterly evil.

After all, even on Earth, these actions wouldn't be considered a major stain on a monarch's record.

The problem is that George III's actions were utterly disgusting.

They allowed cultists to unleash a plague in their own capital, artificially creating disasters to slaughter the people, and they also deliberately transferred their own troops away, allowing enemy troops to enter the country and launch airstrikes.

All of this filled Klein with deep resentment.

Does someone like that deserve to be the Black Emperor? What makes him worthy of being promoted to Black Emperor? Klein thought to himself.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked Arthur.

“Your most important task now is to advance to the rank of Trickster. As for everything else, I will handle it. Don’t worry, I will make sure that George III is taken care of clearly and thoroughly,” Arthur replied.

Klein's current advancement speed is a bit faster than in the original story, because it's not even June yet.

The reason why Fursac launched an air raid to provoke the war so early was mainly because the series of effects brought about by Arthur's establishment of the Umbrella Corporation made George III feel the urgency and also made the Fursac people uneasy about the rapid development of Rune.

It is worth mentioning that, perhaps sensing the changing trends of the times or realizing the crisis, the Mercury Serpent Willoncetin was born ahead of schedule in mid-May.

Klein then used his umbilical cord blood to trade with Cattleya, and it is believed that the Tarot Society will soon welcome another demigod.

"Are you sure you're confident?" Klein asked, still uneasy.

"Of course, don't you trust me to do things?" Arthur asked with a smile.

“Alright, then I won’t interfere. I’ll focus on advancing to the level of a Trickster Master. But I still need to figure out a way to do the ritual,” Klein said.

If it were at sea or on the southern continent, it would be easier to pull off, but murdering a demigod in Backlund would make it difficult to attract a large audience.

We can't exactly have a battle between extraordinary beings in front of the public, can we?

“Sometimes when quantity isn’t enough, you can make up for it with quality,” Arthur reminded him.

“I understand.” Klein nodded thoughtfully.

……

Inside a meeting room in the Umbrella Corporation building.

At this moment, a dozen or so distinguished young men and women were sitting scattered around.

At the very front of them stood Audrey, dressed in a white shirt and black suit, and began to speak:

"I'm sure you're all aware of the current situation in our country. Now is the time for you, as descendants of nobles but neglected because you're not the eldest son, to demonstrate your value."

"I have already given orders for the nobles and wealthy merchants to cooperate. Your duty is to ensure that the Workers' Mutual Aid Association's stability maintenance work can proceed smoothly. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" a dozen young men and women answered in unison.

They were all personally selected and recruited by Audrey. If it weren't for the esteemed Miss Hall giving them this opportunity, they would still be living a life of debauchery, extravagance, and utter meaninglessness.

Now, under Audrey's leadership, they are truly demonstrating their value within the Umbrella Corporation.

What followed was a change in their family's attitude towards them.

All of this gave them a great sense of accomplishment, and made them follow Audrey's lead without question.

……

Saturday.

Today is a special day because the Kingdom's government has announced that His Majesty the King intends to deliver a speech to the nation today to boost morale for the war and assure the people that Rune will surely win.

Under the gloomy, foggy sky, people gradually emerged from their homes and arrived at the Memorial Day Square in the West District.