I'm really not a dragon.

In a dark corner,

The monarch extended his gauntlet and traced several hand seals in the air, as if invisible servants had suddenly appeared from the void, removing the heavy armor from this strange creature.

It's hard for ordinary people to describe what it feels like to see a mind flayer.

They are creatures so distant they seem to belong to a time period beyond our reach. They possess a high degree of rationality, innate mental strength, and peculiar eating habits.

Monarch, this spirit flayer perfectly embodies all of the above characteristics.

"Commander!"

The monarch raised his palm, and the spiritual energy fluctuations between his fingers simulated sound waves in the air. "No need for formalities, welcome everyone."

"Gawa Tagore, how's your progress?"

To the monarch's left stood a humanoid creature covered in grotesque barbs, wielding a greatsword, resembling a classical knight. If one ignored the blood on the armor's hooks and spikes, its appearance was quite appealing.

In ancient times they had many names: Blackguards, Forsaken, and Forsaken Knights.

The divine light no longer shines upon them; having abandoned their oath, they will undoubtedly become Death Knights after death.

Gawa Tagos hummed:

"The 16th dungeon exploration failed. The reason: during the exploration, unexpected monsters suddenly appeared, including burrowing worms and six-legged dragon serpents. Even the Overseer's Eye appeared!"

The Eye of the Warlord is a relatively high-level existence among the Eye Demons, almost second only to the Nest Mother.

This creature retains the magical abilities of bewitching beings while possessing incredible magical abilities.

"Oh, this time it's a monster, so what will be the reason next time, dear Gava?" To the right of the monarch, a slender figure emerged from the shadows, wearing an iron mask, with flint-like pupils flashing in their sockets, and a long, spiky tail swaying behind her full waist.

She said in a slow, deliberate tone, "Last time, you encountered Baal's assassins; the time before that, the airship crash caused an earthquake; and the time before that, oh, the time before that, it wasn't your responsibility! Hehe!"

Gawa remained silent; the losers had no right to speak.

"We will find it!" the monarch said gently. "The Hidden Lord's Shield is at Baldur's Gate, without a doubt. It will eventually return to our hands, to the Knights of the Shield. And you, Shadowmoon?"

Iron Mask Tiflin smiled slightly, lifted his non-existent skirt like a princess, and bowed.

"Your Majesty, please allow me to report on recent developments. The Van Sampur family is becoming increasingly obedient. They have relinquished partial ownership of Baldur's Gate's overseas colonies—which is only natural, as the bloodline of Purgatory is backfiring on them. Both the patriarch and the young Van Sampurs are eager to find the Hidden Lord's Shield and drag Baldur's Gate into Hell. Only in this way can they completely transform into demons and bid farewell to their short-lived, weak mortal bodies."

"Excellent!" the monarch couldn't help but exclaim in approval.

Although Baldur's Gate's overseas colonization was a complete mess, the colonists did unearth many treasures from that ancient and mysterious land: new potion recipes, mysterious shamanic spirit spells, ores, and all sorts of exotic creatures.

The Van Sampure family has been a covert supporter of the Knights of the Shield, continuously investing large sums of money into this mysterious organization in an attempt to find the legendary artifact, the Hidden Lord's Shield.

Their increased support is a good thing for the Knights of the Shield.

"The only problem!" Shadowmoon Tiplin put a finger to his lips, "The current chieftain of Van Sampur might not live much longer!"

"What a pity!" the monarch lamented. "What can we do?"

"Find me a giant! I want to steal his spell-like abilities!" Silver Moon smiled, a red light flashing in her eyes. She was the Hell Thief, and with close ties to the Nine Hells, she possessed the ability to steal others' spells and spell-like abilities.

The giants, from the outer elemental planes, are dressed like figures from the Arabian lamp, wearing turbans and wielding curved swords.

Their most prized spell-like ability is the Wish spell, which every giant has a one-in-three chance of possessing.

"That's not difficult!" The monarch smiled slightly. "I will find a giant with the Wish spell for you! Hopefully, the Wish spell can allow Chief Van Sampur to live a little longer."

Yingyue smiled slightly and retreated into the shadows.

To the monarch's left, an old man, dressed in tattered clothes and covered in withered leaves, spoke impatiently.

"Your Majesty, the Emerald Court is interested in supporting a council member. They prefer to trust their own people rather than my recommendations. A druid from the Earth Society will soon arrive at Baldur's Gate to participate in the council election."

The monarch couldn't help but chuckle. "They should trust your experience. Let's welcome this druid in the way we know best."

The man, covered in withered leaves, nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then couldn't help but say:

"Your Majesty, my life is nearing its end! I can feel death drawing ever closer!"

"Master Oak Leaf! I understand what you mean! Have you chosen your target?" The monarch raised his wise eyes and sized up the man.

"Baldur's Gate, the Botanical Garden of All Spirits, the habitat of the natural spirits flowing with sunlight. If I can ignite this natural spirit, perhaps I can advance and gain the power of immortality."

Master Oak's eyes gleamed with a faint, emerald light.

The Withered Ones are a powerful druid archetype. They level up much faster than other druids and gain abilities related to disease, plague, and corruption.

As for the cost, being hated by nature causes them to age faster.

However, once they approach the legendary level and receive their first legendary blessing, the situation reverses; almost all the withered ones will choose the "Blessing of Immortality!"

"Are you sure you want to ignite that natural spirit?"

The monarch rarely raised a question. The Botanical Garden of All Spirits is located in the city outside Baldur's Gate and is guarded by many druids. Even without druids, the spirit of nature, Liu Yang, is not to be trifled with. In its previous life, it was a forest lord, a giant deer with a body height of five meters, whose powerful brute force was enough to crush an army.

After becoming a natural spirit, the magical abilities and natural divine arts it gained filled the void of power lost due to the loss of its physical body, and its strength increased rather than decreased.

"Sir, you will help me, won't you?"

Master Oak Leaf's heart skipped a beat.

"I will not refuse any subordinate's request, however, killing Liu Yang will indeed require a very, very huge price, Master Oak Leaf! Do you understand?"

"I understand! What do I need to do?" Master Oak Leaf said respectfully.

The Mind Flayer Lord raised a finger, and an open letter fell into his hand.

"Just received news that someone spotted the Chisel Priest of Yellow Rose Monastery and the Holy Grail Knights in the Land of Death."

The more radical followers of Ilmas, the god of weeping, formed the Yellow Rose Monastery. The Chisel Priests were responsible for inscribing Ilmas's earthly stories, while the monastery's protectors, the Holy Grail Knights, were responsible for protecting these defenseless priests.

As an aside, many members of the Holy Grail Knights were not knights by birth, but rather monks.

The monarch continued, "I will send a squad of assassins. You should possess the natural form of a deep-sea monster, shouldn't you?"

Master Oak nodded.

Tentacles replaced his long, lush green hair, and his body gradually hunched over, taking on the characteristics of a Koto fish-man and a Naga. A stench of rotting seafood then spread.

"Very good, now many people will think it was done by the Sea Queen's priests."

The natural form dissipated with a shimmering aura, and Master Oak retreated with a face full of excitement.

The monarch looked at the second person on his right.

She was a young woman with a melancholy air and an ordinary appearance. Her neck and the left side of her face were covered with magical runes.

"These adventurers aren't so easy to fool lately!" she said lazily. "This is all I got, don't think it's too little!"

A bag of soul coins landed on the table, and several silver coins popped out of the pocket, the faces of the dead branded on them, constantly howling in pain.

The monarch's gaze faltered slightly; the number was somewhat too small.

"Louise? The number of Soul Coins is wrong!"

"Recently, some taverns have been competing with me for business, so I can't lure more adventurers to Hell for the Blood War, and naturally I'm earning fewer Soul Coins."

"You know the Dragon and Gourmet Tavern, huh?" Louise, a Hell Knight, crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Their cut is 70% to 30%, or even 90% to 10%. Stygia above all, 90% to 10%—what's the difference between that and giving adventurers money?"

"The worst part is, some idiot named Artorias spent a fortune posting a quest to find childhood friends, and those adventurers are getting a good meal!"

The bloody battle between devils and demons requires a constant stream of troops. Sometimes, it's not necessary to corrupt mortal souls through a devil's pact.

There is also a style of fighting in northern Myanmar.

By cultivating spokespeople like Louise to lure adventurers into hell for the eternal blood war, even though adventurers can only be used as disposable resources and their souls cannot remain in hell forever, the devils are still happy to accept these new recruits to temporarily alleviate the shortage of troops.

Perhaps some of these mortals can truly believe in the rules of hell, willingly defiling their bloodline and transforming themselves into tifflin or even demons.

Unfortunately, adventurers who are not short of money are unwilling to believe Louise's so-called low-risk, high-paying job, so naturally fewer people are deceived.

"Dragons and Gourmet Taverns!"

The name swirled in the monarch's mind, and he couldn't understand how the other party could affect the Shield Knights' income in such a matter.

"This tavern dares to do this? They're asking for it! If no one's going to deal with them, then I will!"

Louise said with a cold laugh.

The monarch shook his head, his fingers tracing a series of sonic waves in the air. "This person still has some value."

"Is this person very famous?"

Louise, far away in Waterdeep, had no idea about Suen.

The monarch hesitated before speaking, "As the hero who just saved Baldur's Gate, he could be a good puppet, a part of our control over Baldur's Gate. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to know what's good for him!"

"Then kill him!" Louise's eyes flashed with malice.

The monarch hesitated, "Sun himself is a powerful mage, who even killed one of my nemesis, the bronze dragon Anzu. Considering his value, I suggest treating him gently?"

"A mage? I love prey like that!" Shadowmoon's DNA as a spell thief stirred.

Louise was somewhat puzzled. "A gentler approach... you mean..."

"Adventurers are the most unreliable group of people. They forge mission objectives and lie about mission progress. If there are a hundred tricks in the world, adventurers can achieve them in a thousand ways. Louise, this mission is yours. Let him see the art of deception you learned from the devil."

"Please look forward to it, Your Majesty!"

Just as the monarch announced the objective, the underground room shook as if the building above had been detonated by alchemical explosives.

Dust and an uneasy atmosphere lingered in the air.

A moment later, a group of lower-ranking knights from the Shield Knights frantically knocked on the door. "It's terrible, Commander Knight! Adventurers have broken in!"

Adventurer?

The monarch looked up at the solid steel dome above his head.

How could adventurers possibly breach the Iron Throne, a structure that sank to the bottom of Baldur's Gate hundreds of years ago?

The withered one understood immediately, and while chanting the incantation, pressed his hands to the ground.

Strands of mycelium emerged from the ground and stuck to his arm.

A sphere of water ripples appeared before everyone, showing Urd and a group of Flame Fist mercenaries rushing into the Iron Throne with great enthusiasm. Old Black, wielding a two-handed greatsword, swiftly cut down two Koto fishmen.

His guards raised their shields and knocked unconscious the two lower-ranking knights who emerged from the tunnel.

The monarch, seeing this, was utterly baffled. "How did this guy sneak in? Oh well, just arrest him!"

Soon after, the Dragon and the Gourmet Tavern.

Artorias's mission has been announced for several days now.

The results so far have been quite substantial.

Suen chose a safe approach, breaking the task down into smaller tasks: investigating the location of the Witch Light Carnival, investigating the carnival tickets, and investigating the children who entered the carnival in the first place...

Finally, this information was compiled and handed over to the private investigators at Baldur's Gate for a summary.

The conclusion is that

The Wuguang Carnival takes place every eight years and will be held this month. Each time it takes place, selected children will receive tickets to enter the carnival.

All that's left is to get a spot at the Witchlight Carnival and collect the tickets.

Adventurers don't follow so many rules. Why can't these big kids be chosen children? Why can't they experience the joy of childhood?

Kids can't handle the tickets for the Wuguang Carnival; the adults should come.

Having learned the above information, Artorias was satisfied with the progress of the mission and added an extra reward.

Bloodbath Commander Helmet.

According to Artorias, wearing this helmet makes it particularly easy to attract Nightmare Riders when casting summoning spells.

Artorias's spellbook was filled with spells of banishment and monster immobilization.

His favorite thing to do was to use the Disintegrate Wand to break the spell resistance on the demon, then use the Immobilize spell to paralyze the demon, and then steal all the equipment from the demon.

However, the downside is that this helmet is teeming with demons, so it can't summon any evil spirits and can only be kept as a collectible.

"Does anyone actually want this trash?"

Suen was completely baffled, but still added it to the task rewards.

"Sueen, is it? You want tickets to the Witchlight Carnival?" A plain-looking woman stared at Sueen with aggressive eyes. "I have two here!"

"Let's sign the contract!"

Suen picked up a gold coin and threw it into the altar behind him.

The scales gradually emitted a glow. Su En placed the two contracts on the scales and waited for the light to dissipate.

Suen accepted the ticket and the money bag on the ground.

The plain-looking woman took the money pouch, raised her face, which was covered in runes, and said arrogantly, "Compared to my loss, it's insignificant. However, I hope you will remember this lesson today."

Su En frowned. He didn't seem to have seen this woman before, so how could he have offended her?

Soon, Su En understood what the woman meant by "lecture."

In one day, he received two hundred tickets.

Meanwhile, nearly thirty people said they knew the exact address of the Wuguang Carnival.

Things seem to be getting interesting.