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

The nobles wanted to get rid of this guy, but Aaron was very interested in him because the man looked like a desperado.

Aaron's idea was confirmed; that guy was indeed a desperate criminal. Indeed, no one would volunteer to be a test subject unless they had absolutely no other choice.

The guy was a gambler who had squandered all his money at the casino and was now heavily in debt. His parents had also cut off all contact with him. He was now penniless, and if he couldn't pay his debts tomorrow, his creditors might chop off his hands and feet. Therefore, he decided to volunteer to be a test subject.

Aaron asked about his background and learned that he came from a noble family in Lucerne and was destined to work in diplomacy. He had just passed his exam with excellent grades a month ago, and as a reward, he was taken to a casino in Lucerne.

He was stunned by the gamblers' extravagance in the casino, so he tried playing himself. As luck would have it, he won three bets in a row and received a huge sum of money that he never dared to dream of before.

From then on, he was unstoppable until his luck turned from extremely good to extremely bad. When he sold the last valuable thing he owned, he finally became what he is today.

The day before yesterday, he found the last crumpled banknote in the pocket of his vest and happened to hear about the self-destructing lab from a friend.

So he suppressed his gambling addiction, gave the money to a friend, and had the friend bring him here. Then he used his last money to bribe the hotel guards and broke in, hoping to meet the influential person who could influence the experiment, namely Aaron.

At this moment, he knelt in front of Aaron, hoping that Aaron could give him a chance. If Aaron did not give him a chance, it didn't matter. He turned around and went out to jump into the river.

Chapter 65 The Red God's Gift, The Red God's Retrieval

The young man seemed completely oblivious to the danger. The nobles were disgusted by this young man who had suddenly barged in. He reeked of mildew, clearly having lived in a slum for a long time. The nobles couldn't stand the smell on him.

Aaron, however, was fascinated by the young man, perhaps the most interested person he had been all day. He sat on the high platform, scrutinizing the young man who declared he would jump into the river if he wasn't given a chance.

“Even if I give you a chance, even if you pass the physical exam and become a test subject, there are still many hurdles ahead of you. Moreover, the experiment has only just begun, and everything is still unstable. You could die at any stage. Have you thought it through?” Aaron asked.

“It doesn’t matter, at least I can get a lot of money. Without this money, I would die today,” the penniless young man said, kneeling before Aaron.

The nobles were already impatient and shouted for him to leave, but Aaron stopped them and said softly:

"Okay, I'm willing to give you a chance."

In an instant, the hotel fell silent. Everyone looked at Aaron, wondering why this young Obsidian Knight had agreed to the boy's request. Only Aaron knew that it was purely out of interest and curiosity, wanting to know how far this young man would ultimately go.

The young man's eyes regained their vitality: "Okay, thank you. Where can I collect my bounty?"

"You bastard! Hurry up and thank the master!" A guard next to him kicked the young man, bending his back.

“Take him out, give him the bounty, and then tell him the reporting time.” Aaron didn’t care.

After he finished speaking, Aaron gave a wink, and two knights stepped forward and dragged the young man away like a wild dog, leaving the dumbfounded nobleman behind.

*

It was evening at Aaron's apartment.

Aaron was sitting on the sofa opening the mail delivered by the postman, while Joan of Arc was in front of the dining room, watering the flowers in the marble pot. The afterglow of the evening sun shone through the window, making the room somewhat dim before the lights were turned on. On the sun-drenched terrace of the apartment, pedestrians came and went in the evening.

Aaron returned home unusually early today, and Joan stayed a little longer. Both of them felt a rare sense of peace, as if life had returned to normal.

What happened a while ago was just a minor incident in their lives. This kind of life is what they feel is normal now.

Just then, Joan of Arc heard a knock at the door. She thought it might be the landlady or someone coming to sell her wares. She said, "Coming!" and opened the door, but saw no one there.

Is it a prank?

Joan muttered to herself, then closed the door again. By this time, it was already dark, and the room was so dark that she had to turn on the lights. Suddenly, in the shadow of the balcony curtains, Joan saw a dark figure.

Joan of Arc instinctively summoned the Blessing, her whole body tensing, but a familiar voice came from the shadows: "It is I, Brand."

Aaron, who was sitting in front of the sofa, had put down his newspaper and stood up. Brand also emerged from the shadows. Just like the image Joan of Arc had seen him that day, he had a left eye that was like a burning flame, a right eye that was frozen like an ice lake, and long gray hair.

Just when Joan of Arc thought the matter was over, Brand reappeared.

"You dare to show up here now?" Aaron wasn't too surprised by Brand's appearance.

"Don't worry, several days have passed, and the guards in Lucerne have weakened considerably. They won't find me."

“I’m not worried about you being discovered, after all, your job is assassination.”

The events of that day seemed to have ended abruptly, but in reality, it was far from over. The reason they only showed up now was because they were afraid of being discovered.

"Thank you for the compliment, but that's not why I'm here. How is Abby?"

“She’s dead in a social sense. No one except Joan of Arc and me knows she’s still alive. We’ve been secretly raising her in the church, and her current job is to act as a nun,” Aaron said. This is the most reliable place they found for Abby after careful consideration. Besides Aaron, Abby trusts Joan of Arc the most, and in the Sacred Heart Church, Joan of Arc can take care of her, so it’s the best place for her.

“What does the King think?” Brand asked.

"Didn't you get any intelligence?" Aaron said.

"No information can compare to what you say yourself, after all, you are the person closest to the king."

"As I expected, the king doesn't care about such things; he's more interested in Lister's mines."

"What about that Knight King? If he is still interested in us, our actions in Asgard will be greatly restricted."

"King Knight is busy digging into the secret experiments of Esgard and has no time to care about you. To be honest, just understanding the secret experiments the king has been conducting during this period is enough for him to digest for a while. Once he clearly understands the hobbies and interests of the king he serves, he should be shocked. But I don't know how that self-proclaimed righteous King Knight will ultimately react. We still need to wait and see."

Is it possible to win them over to our side?

"Do you want to win over the King of Knights using the doctrines of your Red God?"

"The proposal to win over the King of Knights is too tempting; it's hard not to have such thoughts."

"Impossible. That's the Sword of Omniscience. It will live for Lucette and die for Lucette. Even if it knows about the experiments the king has been doing all these years, at most it will only conclude that 'the country is sick' and think about changing the country. It's not like someone like me who treats being a knight as a job."

Brand nodded. "I understand."

“Speaking of which, you owe me a favor this time, right? According to your doctrine, you should grant me a request,” Aaron said.

“Given by the Red God, taken back by the Red God,” Brand replied expressionlessly.

“But before you came back, I also helped this little girl a lot, so what I owe you and what you owe me are evenly matched.”

Joan of Arc was slightly surprised to suddenly become the center of attention, but she quickly calmed down: "What does he mean by 'the Red God bestows, and the Red God takes it back'?"

“This is the most important doctrine that their Red God gave them,” Aaron said. “Whatever the Red God bestows, the Red God will take back. I don’t understand it either. In short, just understand it as a debt that must be repaid.”

“That’s a very superficial understanding of the doctrine. This world was created by the Red God, and whether the Red God takes it back or bestows it, it is justified,” Brand retorted.

Aaron shrugged: "That's basically the gist of it, but we generally hope that the Church of the Red Gods owes us a favor, because they always pay back what they owe, and they can satisfy whatever you ask for."

"But at the same time, you'd better not owe them anything, because they always pay their debts. What they give you, they will eventually take back, no matter who you are or what they want you to repay."

Chapter 66 Teacher, don't you love your country?

Jeanne trembled slightly as she listened to Aaron's explanation. She had heard about what they had done afterward. Undoubtedly, this cult outside the Seven Gods possessed immense power and even dared to confront the Knight King head-on. She didn't understand why her teacher would associate with such a cult.

"But you also encouraged Joan of Arc to do things for you, and you dragged unrelated people into it without my consent. That's what you owe me," Aaron said coldly.

After a moment of silence, Brand said, "Alright, consider it something I owe you both. You can make a request."

Aaron's expression finally relaxed. Although he had been in deep contact with the people of the Red God Church, he still felt that owing them something was too terrible. On the contrary, if he could get them to owe him a favor, it would be a great help, and could even be used to save his life in critical moments.

Joan of Arc vaguely understood her teacher's meaning, but what Brand said next left her speechless:

"How about that previous proposal? Didn't we talk about assassinating the king before? Does that still count? If you agree, let's do it..."

"Assassinate...assassinate the king...?" Joan of Arc covered her mouth as soon as she uttered the words, her face turning pale.

For people in other countries, the idea that everything they say is known might just be a fantasy, but for the people living in Lusset, it might be a reality, after all, they have an all-knowing king above them.

“Don’t worry, you should have used their stuff before. Their stuff does indeed have the ability to block the perception of the Book of Omniscience,” Aaron said.

Jeanne recalled the coin Brand had given her. Although she was eventually found by the All-Knowing Sword, it was only after the coin had lost its power. They truly possessed the ability to block the Book of Omniscience's search. Jeanne also remembered another statement Brand had made: the Red God was a god equal to the All-Knowing God…

Emotionally, Joan of Arc was unwilling to admit this, after all, she had always been taught that only the Seven Gods were the true gods, and all other gods were evil gods.

But the truth told her that the Red God did indeed have the ability to block the perception of the Book of Omniscience, which made her waver.

"The assassination of the king? We don't want to think about it right now. Even if we had that idea, we couldn't do it now. We're doing fine with our current lives, so it won't become a reality for the time being," Aaron replied.

The teacher actually considered assassinating the king?! Joan of Arc was psychologically shocked and speechless for a moment. But she was also shocked. Could they really do what they promised? Even assassinating the king? What kind of dangerous group were they?

Seemingly sensing Joan of Arc's doubts, Brand said, "We can indeed assassinate a king, but with someone of such high status as a king, I cannot set a time limit for my mission. However, it is much simpler if it is someone else. For example, if you want to assassinate a duke or prince, it can usually be done in one to three months."

"It can be completed in one to three months?" Joan of Arc was still surprised.

"Three months at most, three days at least. Just give us a name, anyone will do," Brand said calmly, his gaze serene.

"No... there's no one I want to kill..."

“I see.” Brand remained calm, as if he were talking about something as ordinary as eating and drinking. “Then let’s talk again when you’ve thought it through. My words are the same as today.”

After saying that, Brand turned around. Jeanne thought Brand would leave the terrace like an assassin, but to her surprise, he walked to the door normally, opened it, and left.

But the moment the door closed, Joan of Arc suddenly felt the presence of the people behind it vanish, as if they had disappeared the moment they stepped out. Joan of Arc also realized that they were always silent, whether they disappeared or appeared, and even if she used all her spiritual power to sense their presence, she could not detect their existence. This made Joan of Arc feel extremely terrified.

“One advantage of being their creditor is that they will never target their creditors for assassination; it’s part of their professional ethics,” Aaron said.

Brand had been gone for some time, but Joan of Arc was still standing there, seemingly because of the shock. Aaron initially thought she was daydreaming and was a little worried, but when he got closer, he found that Joan of Arc's eyes were very lively and she had a serious expression of deep thought.

Aaron didn't know what Joan of Arc was thinking, but considering the shock Joan of Arc had experienced in the past few days, it was normal for her to fall into deep thought. Whether it was fear or apprehension, it was a normal reaction.

As Aaron was pondering how to begin, Joan of Arc met his gaze and spoke in a calm tone, as if after careful consideration:

"Teacher, you don't love your country."

Being looked at by Joan of Arc with such unusual calm, and being spoken to by a girl named Joan of Arc, gave Aaron a strange feeling.

However, Aaron was also well aware that although Joan of Arc was the kind of person who genuinely cared about her country and always regarded it as her mother, she was not actually a fanatical patriot. Aaron didn't need to feel any pressure because of this, but looking into those eyes, Aaron felt for the first time that he couldn't understand her. He didn't know how Joan of Arc would react after he answered.

“I am very patriotic. I see the King about once every two weeks and serve the country every moment,” Aaron replied.

He chose to explain himself through his actions, and his words were impeccable. After all, although he said that, most of his actions were for the benefit of the country. Compared to those who like to shout slogans, he actually made far more practical contributions.

Joan of Arc shook her head and said, "I didn't mean to blame my teacher. To me, a country with teachers is very important. If my teacher really did something that I think is wrong... I..."

"You...?" Aaron raised an eyebrow.

“Then I will find a way to correct the teacher and bring him back on the right track,” Joan of Arc said earnestly.

Many years later, Aaron realized how flexible the interpretation of Joan of Arc's words, "I will find a way to correct the teacher" and "bring the teacher back on track," truly was.

However, once Joan of Arc had become the supreme Queen of Lucerne, as the representative of the nation, she could rightfully say that loving her was loving the country. So much so that when the Queen emphasized that Aaron should love his country, the words had acquired a completely different meaning...

After Aaron returned to Asgard, he had things to do every day, but it wasn't just work.

In fact, Aaron even felt a little guilty, because he felt that he was too engrossed in his work and neglected Joan of Arc, which led to this incident.

The High Tower Holy Church.

"Excuse me, is this the vice principal's office?"