Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

"You're quite the talker," Daisy said, arms crossed, coldly eyeing the assassin leader. However, after a long while, no sound came from inside the carriage.

"What's going on?" Raslaufer raised an eyebrow, first looking at the assassin, then at the spotted cat-man siblings. "Sistine, you should go and try to persuade them. No matter what, hiding like this isn't a good thing."

Helpless, Sistine could only try to persuade them from another angle, basically saying that Raslaufer and the others would protect her safety, but the response from inside was exactly the same as before—there was no response at all.

"Open it and take a look," Leslaufer ordered the assassin who had no connection to him whatsoever. "What on earth are you guys up to?"

Facing a warrior several heads taller than himself, the assassin dared not resist. He cautiously thrust the tip of a throwing knife forward, but as the interior of the carriage was revealed, all he saw was an empty space. Although a few pieces of fabric were folded in the corner, they were clearly too thin to hide anyone, and the carriage belonging to the spotted cat siblings did not have any side or bottom partitions.

But there wasn't a single person inside.

Chapter 637 The Little Queen Under the Car

The bewildered assassins dispersed. Raslaufer had already said he would protect the two spotted cat people, so they would have to be crazy to resort to force. Besides, even if they captured Sistine and Rosso, it might not be of any use. Although the spotted cat people had a somewhat unique appearance, they were not dragons. After discovering that the carriage was empty, their faces and eyes showed the same clarity and confusion as the assassins.

Obviously, they couldn't understand why either.

"Alright, they've all gone far away. Now you can talk, right?" As the assassins disappeared from sight, Mary turned her gaze to the spotted cat-man. "I've heard of a tactic where you first use a fake target to lure the enemy away, and then secretly achieve your goal. Could it be that you're using the same trick?"

The siblings, who had just escaped from the jaws of death, showed no signs of relaxation. Instead, they shouted even more anxiously, "There are no twists and turns! There's no such thing as light or dark, truth or falsehood. We're the same team! Kendall is missing!"

“Don’t rush me, let me ask you a simple question first: Who is this Kendall you’re talking about?” Raslaufer interrupted their rambling conversation and asked.

Rosso had recovered better than his sister at this time, and when he heard Raslaufer ask, he sighed: "Kendall Jenner, the little queen of the small kingdom of Arkent, the previous one."

"You kidnapped the Queen?!" Daisy almost jumped up. "That minister would kill you! Not to mention you've lost her now!"

“Why would we kidnap her for no reason? The one who wants to kill her is none other than Chancellor of the Exchequer Griffin!” Sistine slapped her forehead, and her two cat ears immediately bent backward. “We were helping her escape. It happened very suddenly, and we weren’t prepared at all, so there’s nothing complicated about it.”

"As you can see now: we were caught and nearly died, you saved us, but Kendall is missing—what are we to do?"

If it were to save lives, the siblings sacrificing everything would be a beautiful story, but now? She really needs to reflect on whether what Rousseau said is the right thing to do.

Perhaps they shouldn't have bothered with Kendall? After all, aside from her running to their house for help, they had almost no connection with her. Whether she lived or died... what difference would it make?

“Wait a minute,” suddenly, Raslaufer raised his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet, “something’s not right, you guys better be quiet.”

Since Raslaufer said so, everyone quieted down, even holding their breath. Raslaufer's senses soon detected a difference in one of their breaths.

Its owner wanted to hold their breath but couldn't, so they started slowly and then sped up, becoming rapid—meaning that the person was also expending energy, and either their physical strength was less than that of an average person, or the thing they were doing was extremely physically demanding.

But that wasn't enough for Raslaufer to make a decision. Doppler wasn't some private detective; it was already quite an achievement for him to notice these things. For Raslaufer, the truly important part was... the smell of blood.

Fresh, in small quantities, but accumulating. The source is—still the train carriages.

But there was no one in the carriage.

“Daisy, check the magical auras. Anyway, those guys are all gone,” Raslaufer said.

The poet's eyes lit up, but then dimmed again. She shook her head: "No, besides, if it were an invisibility spell or something, the time would probably be up by then."

Unless the caster can use super magic or other means to delay the time—then why is she running away? Is she afraid that she will kill the people who come to kill her?

“Very well, then the answer is obvious,” Raslaw was not surprised by what he heard. He nodded, turned his gaze to the bottom of the carriage, and slowly said, “A very clever method. I guess you climbed out during the previous chaos, right? But it’s hard to run away, so you planned to take advantage of the blind spots in people’s thinking and hide on the spot to avoid being caught.”

“There’s not much to hide in the carriage, and the surrounding corpses aren’t enough to bury a living person, but if it’s an entire carriage, that’s a different story—besides, the current lighting will keep your shadow from being seen.”

"But you overestimate yourself. Clinging to the bottom of the car while remaining still and trying to keep your breathing steady is too difficult for someone who hasn't received much training. If I hadn't come, and those assassins had searched for just a little while longer, it would have been inevitable that you would have been discovered."

Under the car?

Angelita and Mary couldn't help but exchange a glance. Putting Daisy aside, both of them were of noble birth. Mary had received some training, while Anne had almost no experience in physical training or martial arts. If they were in each other's shoes, they probably wouldn't have been able to last this long.

The little queen must have slipped inside before they showed up, otherwise she would have been discovered.

However, even after Raslaufer said that, no one came out. Dopler's patience finally ran out. He stepped forward, kicked the floor of the narrow carriage, and with his brute force, the whole carriage was flipped over. As the dust settled, the girl hiding underneath could no longer hold on and fell to the ground with a cry of pain.

She was dressed in ordinary civilian clothes, and now she was covered in dust and looked utterly disheveled. Leslaufer then discovered the reason for the bloody smell—in order to hang herself under the car, the girl had dug her fingernails so deeply into the wood and its crevices that they were all turned outwards.

At this moment, she was completely exhausted and could not even struggle to get up. She could only hold her head up and stare at Dubul.

“Don’t look at me like that. If I really wanted to kill you, do you think you’d still be alive?” Leslaufer frowned and turned to look at Sistine and Rosso. “It’s her?”

"It's her! It's Kendall Jenner!" The spotted cat quickly helped the girl up from the ground and let her sit on the reclined wheel to rest. "My God, you scared us to death!"

“Kendall, let me introduce you. This is Lord Reslaufer. They saved our lives before, and now they're here to save yours! They are all good people; you can rest assured!”

Kendall looked on with gratitude as the spotted cat siblings helped him and Daisy treated him, but his muscles remained tense, like a rabbit that hadn't yet let its guard down, ready to run away or scare itself to death.

Seeing this, Raslaufer thought for a moment, then took out a Lesotho coin and showed it to Kendall: "Felix, ever heard of him? The one who recently became king, I went to help him. Look, this is a coin he minted for me."

Chapter 638 Kendall Jenner

"Is that Duple really you?"

After a moment, Kendall, who had fully realized who he had met, relaxed completely. He curiously rubbed the cold coin in his hand, and occasionally looked up, as if comparing Raslaufer with the portrait on the coin: "I recently... heard about your deeds, and His Majesty 'The Rebel' Felix."

“We originally intended to seek refuge with that king,” Sistine added, “but we didn’t expect to run into you here. Since it’s such a coincidence, could you please… take her there as well? With your help, she will definitely arrive safely, and my brother and I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.”

It's not just about getting them safely there. For Raslaw, Felix was like a messenger descended from Mount Paradise. All he had to do was say a word—no, he didn't even need to say a word! As long as he could get Kendall there, the girl's future would be secure!

Sistine thought to herself: This way, she and Rosso could leave this place of trouble in peace.

People born under the spotted cats love to travel, and making the world their home is the norm for them. As for wealth and status, although they can't be said to be completely useless, they come and go, so having them or not isn't that important.

However, Raslaufer did not agree with this plan.

“We just came from over there,” Doble said with a sneer. “Our destination is Arkent. You want us to go back? Wouldn’t that be a waste of time? I’m not going to give you a penny’s discount on this kind of work.”

“They might have to raise the price.” Angelita nodded in agreement, since it wasn’t her who had commissioned Leslaufer.

Kendall smiled bitterly upon hearing this: "Sir, please take whatever else I have on me. I'm afraid even if I sold myself, I wouldn't be able to pay this price."

If she were still the little queen of the small kingdom, it would be fine, but the so-called small kingdom was actually just a few counts, and now she doesn't even have those anymore. All that's valuable is probably this commoner's clothes.

Veruna's voice rang ethereally in Reslaufer's ears; she was communicating with him telepathically: "Lord Reslaufer, perhaps we could wander around this area and find a druidic society or a temple of a benevolent god, which would provide her with a safe haven."

As a celestial being, she still has that much face to give.

But what good would that do me?

Raslaw asked herself this question, which made the unicorn fall silent—she already knew that this one thought differently from her.

“Sending you to become a nun or a druid is one way,” Raslaufer said, stroking his chin and casually pushing the Leso gold coin Kendall had handed back to him. “But that would delay our travel plans for quite some time—finding you a suitable place to stay won’t be easy, and it might not even be as easy as sending you to Talecher or Moser.”

This is the most troublesome thing. If something happens to the girl there, even if Leslaufer is willing to ignore it, his friends will definitely not approve, as the person who personally sent her there.

It's better to solve the problem once and for all.

“Get up when you’ve rested enough, pack up and get ready to go,” Leslaufer said, glancing at the sky. “We don’t need the carriage; we’ll walk. We can still cover some distance before dark.”

"Huh?" Kendall and the spotted cat siblings were a little confused: Hadn't they already decided how to deal with Kendall? Why were they leaving already?

Where to go?

"Of course I'll send you back!" Daisy patted the little queen's shoulder in a friendly manner. "Old Lei can handle any serious kingdom, let alone a small one! His track record is impeccable!"

Raslaufer grabbed the poet by the scruff of her neck and pulled her aside, a faint smile on his face. Kendall wasn't sure if the man was smiling because he could help her reclaim her rightful place, or something else entirely.

"Don't mind me, Your Highness—if the person sitting in the only seat in the small kingdom were your relative, I could still address you that way—but Daisy's speech is a bit difficult to understand, but that's the gist of it," Doble said slowly, leaning on his sword guard. "Sending you elsewhere would be troublesome and foolish, while leaving you here would seem heartless—one cannot be both foolish and heartless at the same time, can one?"

"And you must have heard some things about me, such as dealing with demons, dark elves, and tyrants. Of course, I've also dealt with bandits, robbers, monsters, goblins, devils... all kinds of enemies. I don't think your finance minister is any more troublesome than these things, so helping you go back is the most reasonable way."

Angelita, who had been watching Kendall's expression and eyes closely, suddenly spoke up: "Uncle Raslaufer, excuse me for interrupting, Your Highness Kendall, I think it's necessary to confirm one thing: Is your enemy just the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a small group, or an entire kingdom?"

What's the difference?

Kendall wanted to ask that question back, but when she looked around, there were fewer than ten people in total. If it weren't for the fact that the person making the suggestion was Raslaufer, who had recently "successfully" made it, she would have almost thought it was some kind of mockery. But looking into Angrita's eyes, she suddenly felt a little dazed.

Somewhat similar, perhaps.

After a moment of contemplation, the fallen lord gave his answer: "It's a small group, Miss, led by the Minister of Finance, Griffin, with the Minister of War also involved. Over the past few years, they and their supporters have woven a web that has bound me to the throne. In my name, they once divided up the lands of 'Bald' Wright with other lords, and with the help of Sistine and Rosso, they raised enough funds to reclaim half of one of the silver mines that had been lost."

"I have to admit, they did a good job. If Griffin had intended to keep me as his puppet, I would have been willing to die on it. But he intended to kill me because I was old enough—unfortunately, perhaps he was right."

“This information isn’t very useful to us,” Mary shook her head. She understood why Anne had asked: if they didn’t need to deal with the army, the few of them would suffice. “Speaking of which, who is the nominal ruler of the small kingdom now? The finance minister himself? Or your replacement?”

“It’s My Little Girl, my sister,” Kendall replied, pointing to his head. “She… isn’t doing well here. If I hadn’t directly supported her, Griffin’s ambitions would have been exposed almost ten years earlier, and I probably wouldn’t be in the picture.”

Angelita and Marie exchanged a glance upon hearing this, then sighed simultaneously. It seemed that even His Highness himself wasn't so quick-witted.

It doesn't matter who it is or whether they're smart or not; what matters is having one less target to deal with.

Chapter 639 Chancellor of the Exchequer

"So you mean, you came back empty-handed because of a mercenary?"

Griffin stared grimly at the assassins who had returned empty-handed. If one judged solely by appearances, no one would believe that this pure human, weighing over 300 pounds, was actually the de facto ruler of a small kingdom.

Unfortunately, it was ultimately just a small kingdom.

"The money you gave us isn't enough for us to kill someone's head, Minister," the assassin leader bowed to him, but the respect in his gesture was very limited. "Going past the protection of two spotted catmen to kill an unarmed little girl, that's what you want us to do. A Dople, and the one who's been making waves lately? Forget about it."

He didn't even intend to ask for more money—it was something that couldn't be done no matter how much money was offered. Who was that Dubler? That guy kicked almost half the Benedictine Order to death, along with a king! How could they possibly fight that?

Not to mention the most important point: they didn't find any trace of Queen Kendall at all!

“You can go and ask everyone who was there at the time, even the spotted cat-man siblings—if you can catch them,” the assassin leader saw Griffin’s displeasure through the layers of fat and sneered. “There was no trace of the target in that carriage. In fact, we had already agreed with that Doppler that if there really was someone there, he had no reason not to hand them over to us.”

"Really not?" "Absolutely not! I swear to the lord of all thieves!"

“Alright, I believe you, my friend, what you say is true,” Griffin averted his gaze. If he really believed that a conman’s god could prove his followers were telling the truth, he must be crazy. “Go down, I will pay you your fee, and I look forward to our next collaboration.”

"As long as it's not dealing with that Dubler again..."

The assassin leader grumbled as he left the room, and after that, the mountain of flesh inside finally began to shake. The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved almost like a worm to the south wall, where a full-length mirror reflected his midsection.

"It seems that the little guy is a bit smarter than we thought."

He seemed to be talking to himself in the mirror, but as his fat gradually stopped jiggling in the mirror, the image inside began to become bizarre and magical, and then distorted wildly, eventually transforming into a middle-aged bald businessman who was only about two-thirds the size of Griffin.

The person in the mirror was dressed in gorgeous silk, the material of which came from the Elven kingdoms east of the Empire and Corazond. Against the backdrop of the bright and beautiful clothes and the surrounding light, his high, hooked nose cast a deep shadow on his face, blending into the darkness below his eyes.

"You mean, she might have just taken advantage of your misconceptions and didn't actually leave, but is still hiding in the territory?" The merchant-like figure seemed to have seen through Griffin's thoughts, and asked wearily, "That's not impossible. Unfortunately, I'm not with you, so I can't help you verify the truth of this matter. You'll have to figure it out yourself."

"If you ask me, you don't need to worry about her at all. The profits from the previous war have been largely absorbed. It's time to make your move. Didn't you want to take back all the silver mines around here? Then do it as soon as possible. Your body can't hold out for much longer."

Griffin knew what the other person was referring to. He was fifty-two years old and had even gone blind a few years ago, which was cured by the other person. He really didn't have much time left.

"Don't worry, once the new batch of silver mines arrives, the next attack will be on the agenda," Griffin replied in a low voice. "However, those silver mines alone will not be enough. We will need your financial resources to help us through this difficult time."

The merchant on the other side of the mirror laughed, but his fierce face made him look particularly sinister: "Don't worry, old friend. When have I ever let you down? For the sake of the kingdom's revival, I don't care if I lose all my wealth."

"However... you need to speed up the progress at Dreamfall. Right now we only occupy about half of one of the mines, and mining is hampered at every turn. We can't compare to the east side here. Otherwise, I would have just hired those dwarves and gnomes. They are all experts at digging rocks."

Griffin scoffed, “Dwarves and gnomes? Hmph… We have more kobolds, goblins, and serpent people here. But to be honest, it wouldn’t be easy to gain a foothold around Dreamfall if it weren’t for those serpent people.”

In the previous war, the small kingdom of Arkent only expanded its sphere of influence to the area around Dreamfall. The three silver mines and the waterfall itself were still under the control of the kingdom's old rivals. However, not long ago, a group of snake people who came out of the Devouring Swamp occupied a mine near the border, killing or driving away the original garrison and guards. This gave Griffin and his group the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and seize part of the mine, which had temporarily become "no man's land".

Anyway, nobody wants it.

“But now those snake people have become a stumbling block,” the merchant’s figure blurred. “Well, it seems the time limit for this magical item has expired again. Perhaps I will go to visit the new little queen in a while, and we can talk in person.”

His voice became distorted and eventually disappeared completely.

“Little Queen… Hmph.” The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s face darkened once again. Kendall’s escape had caused a slight lapse in his regency plan. If possible, he would have preferred a healthy person to sit on the throne, so that her radiance could overshadow his physical condition. A person with a congenital defect would easily expose his flaws.

However, he had to admit that it was difficult for him to firmly control someone who was intellectually, physically, and morally sound. No matter what achievements he brought to Arkent, Kendall could not possibly listen to him in everything.

He was just a minister.

Griffin, panting, couldn't help but think of Fachan, who had just been overthrown not long ago. If only he were a figure like the King's Uncle! His job would certainly be much easier. After all, Kendall wasn't Marseille; he wasn't in any way.

There was a knock at the door. Griffin returned to his armchair and let the servant in. He recognized the man's face; he was one of the secret agents he had sent to monitor the various directions of the city gates.

"At the northwest gate, we found a trail that looked exactly like Prince Kendall, with the spotted cat-woman Sistine and Rosso beside him."

"...You didn't run away but came back on your own? You brought this on yourself. Go, keep an eye on them, but don't alert them. Remember, Prince Kendall died young from illness, understand?"

"Yes, Minister."

Chapter 640 Dinner from the Past

The accommodation that Sistine found for everyone was a forest ranger's base in the city.

Previously, due to their escape, these rangers also scattered like birds and beasts. Now that the huge stronghold is empty, it can provide them with shelter.

“Don’t worry, we won’t be staying here for long,” Angelita waved her hand in front of her nose, trying to dispel the faint musty smell. “We just need to get rid of two ministers, and it won’t be long before you can move back into your own home.”

Kendall gave a soft reply and slowly walked to the window, peering out through the curtains. Although the city was now very dangerous for her, the familiarity also made her feel at ease... such a contradiction.