Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

She thought helplessly, feeling somewhat complicated.

"You were still being stubborn before you left for Lentiheim, but now..."

After a brief moment of not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Lao Deng seriously considered the words of the witch and the hero, and finally nodded slowly:

"Since you have said so, I have nothing to advise you. However, remember, you are not powerless in the face of Victoria—"

She solemnly told the witch and the hero:

"You actually have a trump card."

[To be continued]

-

12. Another possibility

"A trump card?" Lacier asked curiously, "What trump card?"

How come she didn't know what trump card she and Ciel had?

Although from a common sense point of view, as a time traveler, she should prepare a few trump cards for herself.

But what kind of trump card can deal with world-destroying crises like the Crazy Mother and the Slender Shadow?

Lacey couldn't imagine it.

She is a witch, yes, but witches are just one of the components of the mysterious system of the Pan-Continent.

Whether it is Lentiheim's mad mother, or Diesel's slender shadow and limited wishing machine, they all occupy an absolutely dominant position in the mysterious system of "personality is power".

If you want to fight them...

Then she has to find a way to improve her status.

But Lacille was confused.

She only knew how ordinary wizards improved their status - as long as they accumulated magic power step by step, learned and created high-level spells on their own, they would eventually achieve a super-status.

Therefore, what limits the promotion speed of ordinary mages are usually resources and talents.

As for immortal species like witches, as long as they are not dead, they can always rely on their long life to reach the super position.

Time will always be the most powerful and universal weapon of the immortals.

But Lei Xier is really too young.

She is barely a hundred years old.

A hundred years is the entire life of mortals, and almost one-third or even one-half of the complete lifespan of wizards; however, for witches... these immortal species who are almost completely unaffected by time, a hundred years is not worth mentioning at all. According to the standards of witches, a hundred-year-old Lacie is not even an adult.

Therefore, compared to other predecessors who have lived for thousands of years, whether in terms of knowledge reserves, accumulated power or simply status, Lacier is much inferior.

She is still in the stage of "survival and development".

It was really too much for her, who was so young, to fight against those old men.

But if you really ask her if she has any secret weapon...she actually does have one.

——Her trump card is the White Tower.

After arriving in Pangaea and meeting Lao Deng, she spent several decades building the White Tower with Lao Deng.

Lao Deng once told her that the White Tower would be her strongest support.

So she had no doubt that if she and Charles were to declare war on Victoria, Old Den would immediately stand on her side.

"But is the killer move that Lao Deng mentioned really that simple? If it is so simple, why didn't she just say it?"

Lacey thought about it, frowned, and thought seriously for a moment.

After a moment, she thought she had guessed what the trump card that Lao Deng was talking about was, so she raised her head suddenly and asked:

"You mean, if Victoria plots against me and Ciel, we can spread the news that Victoria murdered the previous heroes and stole the forbidden magic power that belonged to the heroes of all generations?"

"That's right," Old Deng nodded slowly. "As long as this news spreads, I believe that those mages who were originally fighting on their own will all point their staffs at Victoria..."

"They will not sit idly by and watch Victoria rise. They will do everything they can to strangle the still weak Victoria in her cradle."

"..."

Rachel fell silent.

She had to admit that what Old Deng said was right. Perhaps no wizard could accept the rise of Victoria. In Diesel, the steam armor that was exposed to them for the first time had already proved its power to them.

Low-level mages would be powerless in front of those iron cans. Perhaps only high-level mages could easily turn those iron cans into parts all over the floor. But high-level mages were so rare, and compared to the mass-produced steam armor, their "cost" was too high.

If those steam armors concealed something that would allow them to fight against high-level mages in a short period of time, or even to perish together with them... such as a backup hidden energy source, that would be too scary. Lacey couldn't imagine how the mages would fight against those tin cans that could rush up and explode at any time.

Even if a steam armor costs a lot, it is definitely worth it to replace a high-level wizard.

Thinking of this, Lacey had a new question:

"If that's the case, then why don't we use red from the beginning... No, why don't we spread the news from the beginning?"

Upon hearing this, Lao Deng gave a rare bitter smile:

“This is exactly what bothers me the most…”

She paused, sighed a little tiredly, and continued:

"Can you imagine what kind of impact the mage world will have if this news gets out?"

Lacier hesitated and nodded:

"Ah."

Of course she could imagine it.

The entire mage world will be shaken.

Just as Lao Deng said before, the high and mighty mages will not allow mortals to covet their authority and status. After learning that Victoria may have murdered the previous generation of heroes and stolen the forbidden magic power that belonged to the previous generations of heroes,

They will certainly declare war on Victoria under the banner of upholding justice for the heroes of previous generations.

Then, perhaps the largest war in the history of the Pangaea, between the Law and Reason, will begin.

Lacie didn't know who would be the winner of the war. Perhaps it would be the mages, who had deeper background and accumulation?

But maybe it will be the rational side, that is, the mortals, just like decades ago, when the White Tower claimed to revolutionize the world with fire, the vast majority of wizards agreed that they were wishful thinking.

But in the end they succeeded - although not completely.

Lacey sighed.

"So you're worried about the war?"

"Well," Lao Deng replied seriously, "It is foreseeable that if the wizard world gets to know this news, war will inevitably come."

Her expression was tinged with heavy worry, as if she was worried about the future of Pangea.

"We are the White Tower," the old man whispered. "The White Tower is supposed to stay out of this, to remain neutral, but at the same time, we are all mages - we are part of the Covenant."

"In the tide of the times, no one can remain immune, not even our White Tower is an exception..."

"So?" Rachel asked, "What are you going to do?"

As she spoke, she subconsciously glanced at Charles and the holy sword hanging at his waist, and thought of herself who had fallen into her current situation.

Her mood suddenly became complicated.

Then Lacie sighed and continued:

"But the truth cannot be hidden. Even if you want to deliberately conceal the news...it depends on what Victoria is thinking."

"But Victoria's steam armored troops have already arrived in Diesel," she said with a hint of sarcasm, "Obviously, the Victorians have completely opposite views from you on the issue of 'whether to conceal intelligence'."

"——They don't seem to mind the news being spread, what do you think, Old Deng?"

Lao Deng could hear what Laciel wanted to express, but she didn't care about Laciel's slightly sarcastic tone. She had long been accustomed to it. She even knew that Laciel actually cared about her.

"Even after falling in love with the hero, her personality is still so weird?" She thought subtly, and secretly glanced at the hero, praying in her heart, "I hope the hero... can tolerate Lacier's weird personality."

But now is not the time to worry about this.

Lao Deng was silent for a moment, then answered Lacier:

"The Emperor of Victoria is not a fool. He... I have met him before. He is an outstanding leader. I don't think he would do something as stupid as making an enemy of the entire wizard world."

"But the fact is," Rachel retorted to Old Deng, "Victoria's steam armored troops have already drawn their swords against the neutral White Tower. Even so, don't you think the Emperor of Victoria is going crazy?"

"No," Lao Deng's tone suddenly became serious again, "I don't think so."

"Hmm?" Lacey frowned.

And Lao Deng continued:

"I don't know the emperor of Victoria, but our White Tower investigators do. From the intelligence they handed me, the emperor of Victoria was far-sighted, strong-willed, and ambitious. I trust our White Tower investigators, and the reports they handed me were rarely wrong."

"And being able to build such a huge empire from scratch despite being excluded by the mages... such a person can't be called stupid in any way."

She seemed to have thought of something, an answer that was a little unbelievable to her but could explain all her doubts -

Then, she said in a slightly heavy tone:

"If the Emperor of Victoria was neither a fool nor a madman, there was probably only one possible reason that drove him to show the steam armored troops to the world..."

This time, it was Charles who first understood Lao Deng's idea.

"The emperor felt that the time had come," he said in the same heavy tone as Lao Deng, "--perhaps he had already prepared for the coming war."

At this time, Lacier also followed their thoughts:

"If the Emperor Victoria is really as far-sighted, strong-willed, and ambitious as described in the White Tower investigators' report, then the reason why he sent the Steam Armored Unit to Diesel is probably because he felt that there was no need to hide it any longer."

So, maybe that steam-armored troop is just the tip of the iceberg of Victoria's true power?

And besides that steam armored unit, does Victoria have hidden more, more dangerous, killer weapons that can fight against high-level or even super-level mages?

Lacie didn't know, she just suddenly felt a little heavy in her heart.

Lao Deng whispered:

"If the facts are as we suspect, then things will get tricky: maybe the Emperor Victoria is not crazy, and old Donald is not talking nonsense..."

"It's them. It's the mortals in Victoria who really have the power to fight against the wizard world. They really... want to challenge the old order built by wizards in the Pangaea."

[To be continued]

-

13. Best Reward

Laceier's expression became strange.

She thought to herself, no way, it turns out it’s not that we didn’t try hard, but the enemy has Gundam?

Before, she was wondering why the Victorians thought they could annex Diesel, which had a limited number of wish-granting machines, and who gave them the courage?

She didn't expect there was another expert.

It's true that Diesel has a limited wish-granting machine, but there is always someone stronger than you. Victoria, who has been eyeing Diesel, has even stolen the forbidden spells that belonged to the brave heroes of all generations.

Plus the witch Thea who appeared out of nowhere...

"Oh my god!" Laciel almost let out a sharp cry, "Could Victoria really have a Gundam?"

When she saw those steam armors before, she wanted to deduct 1. Deducting 1 would give Gang, Da Mu and Luo Bo as gifts. Now she just wants to withdraw.

I really can’t deduct 1 from her. She was just a little witch who didn’t know any better. How could it really exist?!

I'm just not sure where Victoria's technology tree is at, and what type of war machines they've produced are.

Super series? Or real series?

byd What they're going to face by then can't be a purple and green general-purpose humanoid weapon that goes berserk when the power goes out and starts to bite people, right?