I am the heroine's godfather!

The burly Satanic man smashed a bone table with his fist: "Let commoners into the academy? Next time, are you going to give my lava mine to beggars! Damn it, my ancestors fought tooth and nail to earn military merit, not so that my kids could study in the same academy as these commoners!"

The vampire noblewoman toyed with a crystal wine glass, the blood-infused wine reflecting her scarlet fingernails: "Last week, my offspring was defeated by commoners in the academy's assessment; it was a disgrace."

She suddenly crushed her wine glass: "Do you know what those bastards said? 'Lord Lucifer said knowledge belongs to all'—ha!"

She let out a sharp laugh: "How ridiculous! Since when have these lowly commoners become worthy of 'knowledge'?!"

By the end, her expression had become somewhat ferocious.

The lich elder slammed his bone staff on the ground: "What's most hateful is the new regulations of the Pharmaceutical Bureau! The old lich actually allowed ancient formulas to be made available to the academy for study! Those formulas are the accumulation of our lich clan over thousands of years!"

The black-haired youth of the Fallen Angel race toyed with a dagger, the blade reflecting the Fallen Angel mark on his forehead: "What's even more terrifying is that she planted spies in the black market. Last week, three of our race's drug smuggling hideouts were busted. Guess what my mole in the enforcement team found on them?"

He tossed out a token engraved with Lucifer's winged emblem. "Monitoring even your own people, you madman!"

The burly man from the Satan tribe gritted his teeth: "Why not just..."

He made a throat-slitting gesture.

"idiot!"

The vampire noblewoman's bat wings suddenly spread open. "Not to mention that assassinating the ruler of the royal court is tantamount to declaring war on the four royal courts, she is a seventh-level saint!"

"Then what do you suggest we do?! Are we just going to stand by and watch her do whatever she wants?!"

"We can't do something so reckless!"

"Okay, be quiet!"

The lich elder tapped the floor, his will-o'-the-wisps in his eyes shrinking sharply: "Don't be impatient... I have my own way."

--------------

At the bathhouse, a bird emerged from the void and slowly landed between Lucifer's fingers, delivering a letter.

Lucifer opened the letter, frowned, and after reading it, returned to his languid demeanor: "It seems the nobles have prepared a great gift for me."

"what?"

Lestinger's face hardened with murderous intent: "Those brainless idiots want to attack you? Who! I'll kill them all right now!"

"Don't rush, Lesteen."

Lucifer smiled faintly: "Don't let a small matter cause a big loss... These guys have finally shown a weakness. If we arrest them so hastily, wouldn't that be like stirring up trouble?"

"Ha, what a woman with a perverse sense of humor."

Lamia gave a cold laugh, then her entire demeanor changed, and she was now Lilith: "Lucifer, no, won't there be any danger?"

There would have been a little.

Lucifer waved his hand: "But now that Lorian and the little princess are here, there's no danger."

Chapter 199 Some people are indeed born villains

After bathing, Loran and the others met in a private room on the second floor of the bathhouse. Estia and the others' skin was slightly flushed from the hot spring, and steam still rose from it. Estia and Lilith sat to one side, watching Loran and Lucifer exchange information.

Lestinger yawned: "Are you done talking?"

But no one paid any attention to her.

"The Minister of Finance of the Fallen Angels, Countess Nemo of the Vampire Clan, the High Priest of the Satan Clan, and the Third Elder of the Lich Clan."

Lucifer listed these people's names: "They were all high-ranking and powerful men who could have lived a life of wealth and luxury, but alas, they had to be greedy..."

"Minister of Finance? If I remember correctly, you were the one who promoted your Minister of Finance, weren't you?"

Lestinger clicked her tongue in amazement: "What, you betrayed me again?"

"That was just a compromise I made with the nobles within the royal court."

Lucifer shook his head: "He probably realized it too, that I plan to replace him after I've trained someone new."

"No wonder they betrayed you."

"We were never on the same path to begin with, so how can you talk about betrayal?"

Lucifer continued, "Unfortunately, I had originally intended to let him die peacefully."

"Can he really die peacefully? I don't believe it."

Lester scoffed softly, and Lucifer didn't explain, but instead looked towards Loran.

Loran narrowed his eyes, looking at the letter Lucifer handed him: "So, you mean these nobles might take the risk of cooperating with the Church of the Evil God?"

As Lucifer tended to his black wings, he said, "It's just a guess. After all, if they don't side with the Church and still want to bring me down, the only way is through the Church of the Evil God—oh, I forgot."

Lucifer grinned smugly: "It's not an option to side with the Papacy now."

Loran smiled and shook his head. Indeed, there were many capable of bringing down Lucifer, but few were willing to act. The dragons were isolated overseas and indifferent to worldly affairs, and the elves already loathed the demons; there was absolutely no possibility of cooperation. Now that relations had eased, they were even less likely to choose to help these nobles.

After much thought, only the Papacy and the Church of the Evil God had the ability to act on his behalf. Now, Lucifer had even brought in the saintess Loran to act in his stead, blocking the Papacy's path as well.

That leaves only the Church of the Evil God.

"So, you're thinking of continuing to fish?"

"good."

Lucifer nodded: "We can certainly eliminate these guys now, but it's easy to alert them. It will be difficult to find an opportunity to wipe out the evil god's cult in one fell swoop next time."

"Hehehe..."

A cold laugh rang out as Lamia crossed her arms: "You call yourself treacherous and cunning so openly? Is it really that amusing to watch these insects struggle, thinking they've gotten away with it?"

"Yes, it's very interesting."

Lucifer smiled faintly: "In fact, no one cares what they think. Their only use is to lure out the bait of the Church of the Evil God."

"Aren't you worried that they never even considered contacting the Church of the Evil God, but are just arrogant enough to think they can take you down?"

"Heh... If they don't even have value as bait, then they don't need to exist."

Lucifer's eyes were indifferent, while Lamia's lips curled into a somewhat terrifying smile: "As expected, Lucifer, the position of Demon King is truly suited for you."

"Hey, don't you think these two guys really look like villains?"

Lestinger muttered something, and Loran nodded in agreement: "Like a villainous boss defeated by the protagonist in a storybook."

Estia glanced at him silently, without saying a word.

"Ah."

Lamia didn't say anything, just sneered and returned her body to Lilith.

"Well, Lamia isn't a bad child, she's just... just..."

Lilith tried to explain, but remembering Lamia's usual behavior and her brutality on the battlefield, she simply couldn't come up with a coherent explanation. In the end, she could only let out a mournful cry: "Ugh..."

"Hey Lilith, you don't need to say nice things about Lamia. Everyone knows who she is."

"Lestinger waved his hand and said. It's only because Lamia didn't want to pay attention to this guy, otherwise she would have gotten another beating."

"I don't understand your riddles—just tell me, what do you want me to do?"

Lestinger cracked his knuckles, making a "crack" sound: "Should we kill them now, or wait a while before killing them?"

"Let's wait a while."

Lucifer knew that Lester didn't want to think about such complicated things, so he said directly, "It's not too late to kill the prey after it takes the bait and the bait has worked."

"Tsk, okay."

Lestinger clicked her tongue: "So what do we do now?"

"Just wait and see what happens."

Lucifer said with a smile, "If you don't mind, you can take Lorian and Estia to see the four major tribes—but you'll have to change your appearance to avoid alerting them."

That's the truth. As formidable enemies of the Demon King's army from over a decade ago, many demons still recognize these two. If word gets out that they're here, it'll inevitably cause some trouble.

Loran didn't care. He casually cast a spell, and his eyes instantly turned scarlet. Sharp fangs grew in his mouth, and his appearance changed. His eyebrows and eyes softened, making him look like a gentle vampire prince. If you had to say, he looked more like a transgender Serena.

After all, Serena was the vampire that Loran knew best.

"A very good disguise technique."

Lucifer complimented her a couple of times, and Estia pondered for a moment before casting her own spell, transforming into a vampire as well. Her appearance was not much different from before, but it was enough to fool most of the guys who had only met her once.

"Okay, let's go then."

Feeling bored, Lestinger put her arm around their shoulders and started to leave: "Come on, let's go to the Satan's Court. I'll give you a good welcome!"

"Oh, by the way."

Lucifer said, "If you don't mind, you can also gather information on anything that seems off to you; it might just be useful intelligence."

"That, that."

Lilith timidly said, "If you have time later, you can come and visit the Vampire Royal Court."

Chapter 200 Satan's Court and Diana

The borders of Satan's court are lined with active volcanoes, lava flowing like crimson veins through the mountains and ravines. Lesteengel, carrying a greatsword, led the way, with Loran and Estia following behind.

"See that?"

She pointed to the distant, faintly visible mine shafts. From afar, she could see many black dots—the settlements of the Satanic artisans. At that moment, the Satanic artisans were inside the mine, using specially crafted pickaxes to extract ore.

"The molten iron comes from here! The best weapons in the entire demon realm are forged from the ore here!"

Loran's crimson pupils, concealed by his disguise, narrowed slightly. The Satan race's molten iron was renowned throughout the continent, far superior in quality to the human race's iron mines.

While not as fine as specially crafted magic steel, equipment forged from these refined iron pieces could significantly enhance an army's strength. A demon clad in full iron armor would require at least a squad of knights to defeat.

It was also thanks to the low production of molten iron that the pressure on the main battlefield during the war would have been several times greater.

Because of the insufficient production of molten iron, the only soldiers available are the elite soldiers of the demon race. A squad of elite soldiers can conquer a city, and two elite regiments can destroy a country without a saint.

It's a pity that so many elite troops were casually wiped out by Loran and his men.

The Buried Lorian (bushi)

Passing through the mining area and continuing further in, you'll reach the main city of Satan's court. The city's overall architectural style is very rugged, giving it a carefree and unpretentious feel.

Estia frowned; this style was really out of step with elven aesthetics. But she didn't say anything.

The first rule of the Elven travel guide is: do not casually criticize the aesthetics or customs of other races.

There didn't seem to be many people coming to the main city lately, so the guards at the city gate were inevitably a bit lazy. It wasn't until Lester walked up to them that they came to their senses and hurriedly bowed: "Sir."

"Alright, why are you so nervous?"

Lestinger naturally wouldn't care about their laziness, since no one would be foolish enough to cause trouble anytime soon.

Although Lesteen seemed unassuming, the two guards dared not joke around or act as if nothing was wrong.

As for the reason...

"Lady Lestinger, you're back."

A red-haired Satan woman walked over. She had a very dignified demeanor, wore glasses, and looked quite different from the other Satan people.

"Ah, yes, Diana, I'm back."

Lestinger waved her hand and said, "Nothing has happened in the clan during this time, has it?"

"Our clan's grain production declined again last month, forcing us to purchase grain from the lich clan. At the same time, our trade, primarily focused on lava iron, has further developed, offsetting the trade deficit caused by the grain purchases..."

"Alright, alright, stop talking about that. Just tell me if anything serious has happened."

"Ugh."

Diana sighed and said, "I knew you'd say that, Lady Lesteen... Nothing's wrong."

"That's fine."

Lestinger clapped his hands and said, "My lord, you should handle the internal affairs of the royal court more personally..." Diana, somewhat troubled, advised, "Your Majesty, you should also..."

"Hey, isn't that what Diana is all about?"

"...Never mind, I should have known it would be like this."

Diana sighed, then looked at the two guards beside her and said, "Because of their laziness and dereliction of duty, and considering that no serious mistake has been made, they will have a week's wages deducted."

The two guards were immediately relieved and repeatedly promised that it would never happen again.

Lestinger wanted to plead on Diana's behalf, but a single look from her silenced her.