Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 174 Why Does It Exist?

On the last night of 1349, Audrey officially came of age in a social sense.

On the same day, King George III of the Kingdom of Rune was assassinated.

When the nobles arrived, they found only ruins of the palace and George III sitting cold on his throne.

They even encountered two archbishops from the Church of Storms and the Church of Steam, as well as Duke Georgina and Prince Sonia. The first two were archbishops of the Orthodox Church, genuine saints. The latter two, as important pillars of the royal family, were undoubtedly demigods.

Even if the nobles didn't know exactly what had happened, they could guess that the king had been successfully assassinated under the protection of at least four saints!

This discovery sent chills down the spines of the nobles, and the recollection of the assassination of Duke Negan a few days earlier inevitably caused some to feel uneasy.

But they soon realized an even more important question: who should be the next king?

A family cannot be without a head for a day, and a country cannot be without a ruler for a day.

Although the king's death caused them immense grief, choosing a new king was their top priority!

In contrast to the other nobles, the expressions of some nobles, led by Earl Hall, were quite subtle, because they were all followers of the Church of the Night.

As is well known, the Kingdom of Rune has three major orthodox churches. Currently, the archbishops of the Storm Church and the Steam Church are present, but Archbishop Saint Anthony is nowhere to be found. Does this, in some sense, represent the attitude of the Night Church towards the royal family?

If that's the case, how should these nobles, who are followers of the Church of the Night, conduct themselves?

Count Hall lowered his head slightly and glanced at Prime Minister Agushid not far away out of the corner of his eye.

Prime Minister Agushid was standing next to the Deep Blue High Priest, seemingly gathering intelligence. He turned around sharply, meeting Earl Hall's gaze, and shook his head almost imperceptibly.

-

In a lounge at Sodrak Palace, Hilbert paced back and forth nervously, looking extremely uneasy.

When news of the King's death reached the ballroom, the Queen, though heartbroken, took immediate action—the nobles accompanied her to the scene to assess the situation, while their families returned to their respective lounges, and no one was allowed to leave Sodrak Palace during this time.

"Click!"

The door to the lounge was suddenly opened, and a weary-looking Earl Hall returned.

Hilbert rushed forward immediately, unable to contain himself, and asked in a low voice:

"Father, how is it?"

Earl Hall glanced at his impatient eldest son, but did not reprimand him. He shook his head and said:

"His Majesty the King has been assassinated, and the assassin has been captured on the spot. Don't worry too much, we can leave first thing tomorrow morning."

"The assassin has been captured?"

Hippobur breathed a sigh of relief, then asked with some curiosity, "Father, who are the assassins?"

"She is a Sequence 6 witch named Triss Chick."

"Sequence 6? How is this possible... Wait, Triss Chick? Triss!"

Hilbert initially thought it impossible—how could a Sequence 6 witch possibly assassinate George III? But he quickly remembered something else—the Third Prince, Edsack, had been harboring a witch, colluding with a witch cult, and harming the people. He had fled three days prior and was still wanted. And the witch he had been hiding was Triss!

Hilbert's eyes were filled with disbelief, and his voice was hoarse as he said:

"Is it the third prince?"

"That's right."

Earl Hall nodded, then sighed softly, "We all underestimated this Third Prince, including His Majesty the King. To assassinate the King, he gathered at least five saints to storm the palace. Not only did they successfully assassinate His Majesty the King, but they even killed one of the royal saints!"

"Five..."

Hilbert felt his thoughts were hard to process.

If Edsack had gathered five extraordinary beings, even mid-series extraordinary beings, he wouldn't have been so surprised. But these were five saints, five saints comparable to the archbishops of the Church of God, genuine demigods!

Where did he get to know so many demigods?

Hippo blurted out instinctively:

"Is it a witch cult?"

"Very likely." Earl Hall nodded slightly; the information he possessed was the only conclusion he could draw.

From his perspective, Edsack fled to escape punishment because he colluded with the Witch Cult, which put the Witch Cult on the blacklist of the Kingdom of Rune—although the Witch Cult was a regular on the blacklist.

This is why both Edsack and the Witch Cult harbor deep hatred for George III. Neither side is exactly sane, so it's entirely possible that they could easily unite and send several saints to storm the palace.

Hilbert then remembered another important question and pressed on:

"And what about Prince Edsack and those saints?"

Earl Hall mumbled:

"They're all dead, that's what the royal family says."

Hippostat immediately understood.

That's what the royal family said, which means that the truth is not so simple.

It is very likely that Prince Edsac killed someone and left unharmed. After all, that person was a saint, and he was not so easy to kill.

The royal family, wanting to save face, will naturally announce that the murderers have been killed on the spot.

As for the truth, who cares?

Just like with the death of Duke Negan, most people are not interested in who was behind it all.

And it's the same now—

It doesn't matter who killed the king; what matters is that the king is dead and a new king must be established!

Hilbert's expression shifted slightly, and he asked cryptically:

"Father, what about the eldest prince...?"

"Need not!"

Earl Hall shook his head and reminded him, "The eldest prince is the first in line to the throne."

"clear."

Hibbert nodded solemnly. The eldest prince was the first in line to the throne, so even if they did nothing, the eldest prince would still be the first in line to the throne.

Besides, the eldest prince has always been closest to these old noble families and is the one who best represents their interests.

In contrast, the second prince knew he was no match for the eldest prince, so he associated most closely with the emerging bourgeoisie.

In other words, the House of Lords supports the eldest prince, while the House of Commons supports the second prince.

The former represents traditional power and influence, while the latter possesses vast wealth and even the support of the king. Yes, although these individuals are far less powerful and influential than the aristocracy, they do have the king's backing.

Just as the name "Sodrak Palace" means "balance" in Old Fusak, the king also desired balance.

Too much power held by nobles is not a good thing for the royal family, so the king has always suppressed the upper house and nobles, and strengthened the power of the lower house. The strengthening of the lower house's power has indirectly given the second prince the ability to rival the eldest prince, which is essentially the "balance" that the king wants to achieve.

Now that the king is dead, the balance has been broken, and the succession to the throne has become a game between two forces.

In this respect, the nobility naturally have an advantage.

Those who attend the New Year's Eve party are all nobles, meaning that those who attend must at least hold a noble title.

Although many members of the House of Commons have received knighthoods with the King's support, they are a minority.

Most of the councilors were still kept in the dark and had no idea that the king was dead.

Furthermore, the eldest prince is the first in line to the throne, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, his succession to the throne is a foregone conclusion.

Even if, hypothetically, the eldest prince were to lose and the second prince were to ascend the throne, it wouldn't do Earl Hall any harm.

Because he was not only an old aristocrat, but also a successful banker, and he had a good relationship with the members of the House of Commons.

So even if Earl Hall does nothing, he can still sit back and relax.

Earl Hall's feelings about the king's death were undoubtedly complex.

The cooperation between the two sides had been relatively pleasant so far. Although the king was suppressing the nobles, Earl Hall's interests had not been seriously damaged. Although the previous "hypnosis incident" had caused a great deal of unpleasantness, and Earl Hall had even contacted the nobles despite the repercussions, preparing to confront the king, it was only a standoff. He had no ability to overthrow the king, much less to launch a coup.

Forcing the king to back down and give him an explanation would already be the greatest victory.

As a result, the king died, and the original plan naturally fell through and ended without a trace.

Count Hall, who was planning to go bankrupt, was not particularly upset; rather, he felt a bit conflicted.

He was hypnotized, and the king was assassinated.

Hypnosis can be broken, but a dead king cannot be resurrected.

Given the circumstances, Earl Hall could only sigh—

"It seems so!"

-

Somewhere in the Sodrak Palace.

The Queen, gazing at the King's body placed in the crystal coffin, forced back her grief and said:

"Grand Duchess Georgina, I want you to tell me the truth: has the murderer escaped?"

Georgina Augustus said softly:

"Your Majesty, just as I said, the murderer is already dead."

The Queen wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, looked at the woman in an evening gown beside her, and said in a hoarse voice:

"Didn't you even consider leaving one survivor?"

Georgina's face showed a hint of bitterness:

"Live? If it weren't for Archbishop Horamik's timely rescue, I would have almost died at their hands. How can we capture him?"

Georgina still feels a chill when she thinks about it now.

Those assassins entered the palace with the intention of risking their lives; they never thought they would return alive!

So even when besieged by two demigods, even when they were already wounded and on the verge of death, they never once thought of running away. Otherwise, even if the two demigods joined forces, they wouldn't have been able to defeat them so easily.

It was precisely this fearless attitude that made Georgina extremely wary.

After all, those red knights were all saints! And no matter which faction they belonged to, saints were the absolute backbone, but their fearless appearance was exactly the same as the death squads trained by the royal family! It was as if death was just a common occurrence for them.

"good!"

The queen looked at Georgina expressionlessly and calmly said:

"Even if they're dead, what about their bodies? Even if we couldn't hold back in the battle and accidentally crushed them to ashes, what about their extraordinary abilities? What about their weapons and armor? Why was nothing left behind!"

Georgina opened her mouth, but was speechless.

It wasn't because she couldn't answer the Queen's question, but because even she knew her answer wouldn't convince anyone—

The red knights who broke into the palace have all been killed, but they left nothing behind after their deaths.

There were no corpses, no armor, no weapons, and no extraordinary attributes.

They left nothing behind.

If it weren't for the corpses of George III and another royal demigod lying right in front of her, if her wounds weren't still throbbing, and if Archbishop Horamik hadn't personally testified for her, even she herself would have doubted whether this was a dream.

But Georgina couldn't remain silent forever, and finally, with difficulty, she gave her answer, saying softly:

"The one who killed the king was an angel, an angel of at least Sequence 1. We saw no body, nor any extraordinary traits, perhaps because those were already taken away by 'He'."

"Angel……"

The queen's expression changed slightly. Why would a Sequence 1 angel personally come to kill a king?

If it was truly a Sequence 1 angel who personally intervened, why would He send several saints to their deaths? He could have easily killed Georgina and the other saints, then brazenly stormed into the palace to kill George III, and finally left gracefully.

With the strength of a Sequence 1 Extraordinary, the entire process could be carried out completely undetected. Killing a Sequence 5 king wouldn't require such trouble, unless...

The Queen seemed to suddenly realize something and subconsciously looked at Georgina.

-

Meanwhile, Ember, who was also in the lounge, fell into deep thought.

The death of George III was not surprising, but the process was unexpectedly smooth.

Leaving aside the Fool, he had assumed that at least one of the Twilight Hermits or the Church of the Night would intervene, but no fourth force intervened until George III's assassination. The Church of the Night remained inactive, and the Twilight Hermits seemed to have never existed. Apart from Herwin Lambis, a demigod suspected of being connected to the Twilight Hermits, no trace was left behind.

On the contrary, Prince Edsack and the third-party forces he represented were completely unexpected by everyone.

The power he wields is clearly different from the "Extraordinary System" of this world, belonging to none of the twenty-two pathways. Instead, it overlaps with some of the power possessed by Ember, and they share a common origin!

Ember murmured softly:

"The Forge Knight, the Black Blade Assassin, and the Dark Outcast—why are they all appearing in this world at the same time?"

The person behind Prince Edsack might be able to give him the answer, but they don't seem to have any intention of contacting him directly.

However, this may not necessarily be a bad thing.

With George III dead, his Sequence 1 Extraordinary Ability fell into the hands of the Embers, and the "Black Emperor" project was declared a failure.

Whatever conspiracy the forces behind him were plotting, it no longer mattered to Yu Jin.

He will not link the fire until he has fully understood all the secrets behind it.

Because he first had to figure out why he was passing on the fire.

(End of this chapter)