Raise Joan of Arc to be an empress, then discard her.

"Woof woof!" The naked man immediately lunged forward excitedly, but because he rushed too fast, he accidentally pulled on the dog leash. The girl behind him scolded, "Don't rush, go slowly."

A dog and its owner were playing in the field. Soon, the blond man picked up the dog toy with his mouth and excitedly handed it back to the girl, barking twice. The girl patted the man's head and said, "Great job, great job, so good boy."

Aaron looked at the scene in the distance. Needless to say, he had already confirmed that the person was Alex Moore Siddes, the young man who was expected to become the future Minister of Finance.

“But if someone like that becomes the finance minister, the Kingdom of Dok is doomed. I need to find a way to immigrate to the Lusset Empire,” Aaron said.

Without a doubt, that person was Alex. At that moment, he was excitedly circling around the girl, holding a dog toy in his mouth. Aaron believed that if he had a tail, it would be spinning like a propeller.

Moreover, Aaron always had a strange feeling about Alex, who was excitedly spinning around. It was as if he was completely releasing his nature when he ran in the fields, a feeling of unrestrained freedom without any repression.

Then he went to look at the girl holding the reins.

To be honest, Aaron felt that the person who could casually walk the dog with the "future finance minister" at Siddes's estate must be no ordinary person.

What surprised Aaron the most was that the person walking the "future finance minister" was not an adult, but a girl who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old.

She wasn't very tall; when Alex lay down, she only reached the girl's navel. Her black hair was tied into twin ponytails with simple red ribbons. From behind, you could see the two ponytails hanging down to her knees, swaying behind her as she ran.

She wore a long black dress with many fox elements at the waist, straight legs, a slender waist, and a delicate face. When she walked the dog, she had a pure and sweet expression on her face, and her dark red eyes shone brightly.

If she were walking a normal dog, Aaron would think she was a sweet and lovely girl, but when she was walking a person, Aaron felt that her expression was as scary as a little devil.

Especially when I occasionally see her seemingly magical red eyes.

She was smiling, but her eyes seemed to possess a magical power, radiating allure and charm. Especially when she laughed, her pupils turned blood red, and her entire face flushed a riotous crimson.

Aaron shifted his gaze from the girl to Erwin beside him, only to find that Erwin's eyes were also fixed on the girl. In Erwin's eyes, he could clearly see the girl's reflection, as if she was the only one in his eyes.

It's not Erwin's fault. When the girl's eyes sparkled, she did exude a captivating charm, like dewdrops on a flower. Especially when you met her unrestrained and reckless gaze, the mere upturn of her lips and the look in her eyes were enough to bewitch you.

But what Aaron found most terrifying was that the girl had normalized the absurd.

Even though it was daytime, and she was walking in the fields with the future Minister of Finance—that handsome young man—no one around her thought she was abnormal. The servants who usually served the Siddes family and called him Young Master Alex simply stood behind them, watching them respectfully, at most with envious looks in their eyes, without finding the scene particularly unusual.

“She’s just like a witch…” Aaron said softly.

Legend has it that witches possess the power to bewitch all beings and captivate everyone with their absurdity. Rather than being captivated by the absurdity itself, it is more accurate to say that people are captivated by the witch's charm. And at this moment, in this vast manor, it seems that this is indeed the case. Everyone is captivated by her charm, and it seems that the moment they see the girl, they can cast aside all the ethics of the normal world.

"Hey."

Aaron kicked Erwin: "Do you want to get run around like that too?"

"No...no way...! I didn't want to!" Erwin woke up as if from a dream, his face flushed, but he still couldn't help staring at that spot.

"Don't you think we should do something?" Aaron made a normal suggestion.

“But looking at him like that, I don’t think anything we say will make a difference,” Erwin said, putting himself in Erwin’s shoes.

Indeed, he was probably the happiest person in the entire estate, but Aaron didn't think he was bewitched. He was simply letting his true nature shine through. If you only saw him squatting there with his tongue lolling out, you would think he was a healthy and happy golden retriever. The fields were where he truly roamed, not the Treasury office in the Capitol.

"Okay, that's enough for today. Let's play again tomorrow, okay?"

The moment Aaron had this thought, the giant golden retriever looked aggrieved and picked up the dog bone from the ground again, intending to put it in the girl's hand.

"It's covered in your saliva, I don't want to touch it." Although the girl was wearing black gloves, she still looked at the dog toy with disdain. She casually handed the dog leash to a servant behind her. "Take it away, I'll bring him out to play next time."

Behind her stood a burly, bear-like man with a menacing face and an ugly appearance. The girl was only up to his waist, but the man was very obedient to her, respectfully taking the dog leash from her hand and leading Erwin's cousin out.

"Ugh, I'm so tired."

The girl stretched out her arms. She was short and petite. When she stretched out her arms to yawn, her arms only reached the chest of the strong man. In the sunlight, she looked charming and lovely.

Her twin ponytails swayed behind her as she skipped and hopped away in another direction. Aaron glanced at Erwin and said, "Let's go find your cousin." Erwin looked longingly at the girl's retreating figure and nodded in agreement.

When Aaron and Erwin met their cousin, he was slowly changing his clothes in the stable, looking as if he had just finished an equestrian event.

Erwin hesitated, and just as Aaron was about to say something, his cousin reached out and interrupted them: "I know everything. Let me change my clothes, and then we'll go to the room to talk."

Aaron and Erwin looked at each other and waited obediently by his side.

The study in the manor.

The maid served them black tea and then left, closing the door behind her. The three sat facing each other in the room. The younger cousin, Alex, was dressed in a well-tailored suit and looked every bit the shrewd and capable gentleman.

Indeed, Alex gave off that impression. Whether it was his speech or his interactions with others, Alex was impeccably perfect. If Aaron hadn't seen what happened on the lawn, he would probably have been deceived by his appearance.

“Let’s get straight to the point. We saw what you did on the lawn.” While Erwin was still hesitating, Aaron cut to the chase, since he was an outsider and more suited to start the conversation.

“I know what you’re trying to say. What you’re seeing is just the surface. I know I’m perfectly normal,” Alex said calmly.

"No normal person would let a little girl run around them on the lawn."

“That’s just a way to release stress,” Alex said seriously. “Lord Aaron, you’ve been in noble circles for a long time, so you should know very well how nobles release stress.”

"It's normal to rely on beauty and alcohol in this circle. Some people are even worse, needing to resort to novelty and violence to satisfy their special desires. That's why Birmingham has bred so many dens of iniquity. In comparison, my hobby is harmless. It won't affect anyone or harm a single tree in the city."

Aaron was speechless upon hearing Alex's words. It wasn't that he thought Alex's words were really so righteous, but compared to others in the aristocratic circle, Alex's hobby was indeed quite harmless.

Aaron decided to change the subject: "Just who is that girl, that she's worth doing this for?"

When the girl was mentioned, Alex became excited: "She...she's an angel...my savior...before I met her, my world was dark, but after I met her, my world lit up again."

“Your cousin told me that you betrayed the Seven Gods,” Aaron said.

Erwin was taken aback, but remembering that he had come here to persuade his cousin, he chose to stand firmly on Aaron's side.

Alex, who had seemed completely at ease, hesitated for a moment before saying, "I did join her cult, but that doesn't mean I betrayed the Seven Gods..."

This time it was Aaron's turn to interrupt him: "I hope to see her no matter what. Then things will be clear. Can you help me?"

"We do have a party this afternoon, and she will be attending."

"Can you tell me more about her? How did you two meet?"

Seeing Alex hesitate, Aaron said, "Don't worry, at least so far she hasn't done anything bad, so we won't do anything to her."

"Her name was AA. I remember meeting her in the Lower City. At that time, I heard that there was a mysterious area in the Lower City where people lived happily, and that there was a witch there who could grant any wish."

"Does she claim to be a god if she can grant any wish?"

"No, she claims to worship the God of Darkness, one of the seven gods, a deity who grants desires."

"Is it that old-fashioned theory of the seven gods?" Aaron raised an eyebrow.

The concept of the seven gods is a problem that every believer will encounter in the early stages. In short, the goddess of nature and the goddess of death have always been considered to be two-bodied gods among the seven gods, and they are one. However, if they are considered as one, a problem will arise: there are actually only six gods among the seven gods.

The number seven has been a sacred number in the Old World since ancient times and is never to be changed. Therefore, a great debate has taken place in the religious community about whether the goddess of nature and the goddess of death are two gods or one god. If they can only be counted as one, then there are only six gods among the seven gods. So who is the other god?

Therefore, many conspiracy theories and various hypotheses exist in the New World regarding this debate. And because of this loophole, many cults falsely claim that their deity is one of the Seven Gods, which is no surprise to the members of the Church of Judgment.

It seems that this AA is simply forcibly comparing the God of Darkness to a cultist among the Seven Gods.

The God of Darkness sounds somewhat similar to the Goddess of Death in the Kingdom of Dok, which is perhaps why the Kingdom of Dok has a higher acceptance of that deity.

Chapter 223 The Dancer

"This is the symbol of that god of darkness."

Alex took out paper and pen, began to draw in his notebook, and then showed it to Aaron.

Upon seeing the pattern in the painting, Aaron's eyes widened instantly, and he was speechless with surprise.

What Alex had drawn in his notebook was a terrifying symbol that devoured everything. The dark vortex maw opened wide in a frenzied and unrestrained manner, as if it wanted to devour the entire world. Just staring at that maw gave one the feeling of being swallowed up.

"She said this symbol... belongs to the God of Darkness?" Aaron felt his mouth go dry, but he tried his best to remain calm.

"Yes, she told me that the God of Darkness existed since the beginning of the world's creation, but for most of the time, it was like the night that shrouds the earth, always asleep, until a thousand years ago, when the God of Darkness awoke once, and then fell asleep again, until about fourteen years ago, when the God of Darkness awoke again."

"Fourteen years ago?" Aaron asked.

He was deeply shocked because fourteen years ago was the Lusset War.

"Yes, she said the God of Darkness awakened fourteen years ago, so they have been active since fourteen years ago and have continued until now. They came to Birmingham recently."

You mean they have an event today?

"Yes, it's still in the lower city."

"Take us to see it."

*

Evening, dusk, in the lower city area.

Aaron and the Siddes brothers changed into casual clothes and appeared in the lower city.

Aaron wasn't here for the first time, but he noticed that the atmosphere in the lower city was completely different today.

The intersection between the upper and lower districts was blocked by stones before evening. Then he saw that the entire lower district was packed with people, as if people who usually stayed at home had all appeared on the streets. The streets were decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and it looked like a festival.

Before coming, Aaron did his homework to find out what the Eastern District, where the Dark God's Order gathered, was like. This place was known as the immigrant settlement, where many people who immigrated from other places would gather. There were cheap restaurants, tailor shops, grocery stores, clinics, and even its own security team. It was almost a small city.

However, because this is an immigrant community, many immigrants come here as soon as they arrive in Birmingham. It is a melting pot of people of all skin colors, and is also full of crime and gangs. Before coming, Irwin repeatedly reminded them to be careful with their wallets.

Aaron's attention was completely elsewhere; his mind was preoccupied with the dark symbol that Alex had drawn.

“I just took a look, and many of these immigrants came from areas outside the Seven Gods' cult. I never expected that they would also worship the God of Darkness after arriving here,” Erwin remarked.

“Yes, that’s the charm of AA,” Alex said.

They pushed through the crowd and arrived at what appeared to be the performance area. There, they saw a circus tent, and a trainer was leading a tiger out of the tent to perform outdoors. The onlookers were both afraid and curious about the tiger, while the trainer brandished a whip and a torch, making the tiger perform all sorts of actions beside him with great fanfare.

After crossing the circus-like animal performance area, the scene ahead became even more lively. Aaron saw many men standing below the stage, their emotions running high. Pushing through the crowd, Aaron saw young girls wearing veils and dancer costumes performing on stage. They were adorned with gold jewelry, which jingled as they swayed their hips.

The dancers' performance was reaching its climax, and the three men naturally stopped in the audience. At this moment, the dancers even came to the front of the stage to interact with the audience, allowing them to touch their skin. The audience's emotions were stirred up, and they stared intently at the dancers' figures. However, Aaron keenly noticed that among the dancers, there was a veiled girl whose face looked very similar to the face he had seen at the manor.

Seemingly noticing that Aaron was looking at her, the two met eyes across the crowd, and it was in that one glance that Aaron realized that the girl was the one he was looking for.

The girl turned around and retreated behind the curtain.

Without saying a word, Aaron left the two of them and chased after them.

"Lord Aaron... Lord Aaron... What are you going to do?" Erwin looked at Aaron in surprise.

Aaron had no time to care about anything else; his eyes were only on the girl. He deftly pushed through the crowd and rushed backstage, chasing after her relentlessly.

What are you here for?

Backstage, a fierce-looking man was waiting. When he saw Aaron enter, he suddenly blocked Aaron's path with his towering body. Just a second ago, he saw Aaron rushing towards him, but the next second Aaron's figure disappeared. He turned around and found that Aaron had already appeared behind him.

Those responsible for protecting the dancers were all ordinary people, so they couldn't stop Aaron. Aaron stepped directly into the tent behind the stage and suddenly flung open the curtain, only to see a dancer putting on makeup inside. Behind the dancer, the curtain was just lifted, and a figure went out from the other side of the tent.

"who are you?"

Ignoring the wide-eyed dancer, Aaron chased after her. Although it was evening when he entered the tent, the sunlight outside became blinding when he came out. A crowd appeared again ahead, and behind the tent was a crowded street with people shoulder to shoulder. Trying to find someone in it was as difficult as finding a sardine squeezed in the middle of a sardine can.