The story of the black silk female knight

Meanwhile, the Chiba clan's ninja forces and the intelligence departments of various factions began working overtime at high intensity to uncover the full details of the Central Continent Empire's vanguard fleet operation from existing clues and the confessions of prisoners.

Himika even took matters into her own hands... She spent the entire night in the dungeon with the Chiba sisters, Chiba Shin and Chiba Rui, and Zhu Jiuchi, whose bones had been broken.

The next day, when Valensa saw Himika again, it was clear that she was in a good mood, while Zhu Jiuchi had completely disappeared, turning into an interrogation record in Chiba Shin's hands.

Four days later, the investigations from all sides had yielded results, and with all the clues put together, people easily pieced together the truth.

The summit was also officially launched.

Before everyone began discussing how to deal with the Central Continent Empire, Qianye Rui first reported on the cause and effect of the whole matter.

One person played a crucial role in this incident; it was he who connected the vanguard fleet of the Central Continent Empire with the traitors of the Sage's Tower, thus enabling the completion of this conspiracy.

The avenger from the Tsuchimikado family was actually named Tsuchimikado Oboro.

As a descendant of the Tsuchimikado family, Tsuchimikado Oboro harbored a deep resentment towards Himika from a young age and resolved to seek revenge.

However, he also knew that the difference in strength between the two was too great, and there was no chance of revenge in a direct confrontation. Therefore, Tsuchimikado Oboro changed his name and identity at a very young age and hid himself, becoming an ordinary craftsman in the Shishima Alliance.

In order to gain the power of revenge, Tsuchimikado Oboro once went to the Sage's Tower to study when he was young. He was very interested in the power called technology used by some otherworldly civilizations recorded in the Sage's Tower.

It was a power that allowed the weak to defeat the strong, a power perfectly suited for his revenge.

Unfortunately, the Sage's Tower strictly forbids in-depth research into knowledge of other world civilizations. After discovering that Tsuchimikado Oboro had an unusual interest in other world civilizations, he was expelled from the Sage's Tower.

However, Tsuchimikado Oboro also took this opportunity to meet the Ninth Sage.

The Ninth Sage is a person who is fascinated by all kinds of mysterious knowledge. He believes that the exploration of mysteries should not be bound by so-called morality. He admires Tsuchimikado Oboro's love for the civilization of another world. Unfortunately, the rules of the Sage's Tower were set by the Great Sage.

If you want to stay in the Sage's Tower and use its resources for your research, you must abide by the rules set by the Great Sage; even the Ninth Sage can't change that.

After leaving the Sage's Tower, Tsuchimikado Oboro combined the technological forging techniques he had secretly learned with traditional enchanted forging skills, and quickly became a renowned genius craftsman in the Four Islands Alliance.

He didn't waste the opportunity, kept building his reputation, and finally achieved results.

Himika's right-hand woman, the genius swordsman Chiba Rui, went to the Vado Workshop to repair her damaged weapon after a battle, and was assigned by the workshop owner at the time to be in charge of Tsuchimikado Oboro.

Tsuchimikado Oboro focused all his attention and used all his skills to meticulously serve Chiba Rui, making the repaired weapon significantly stronger than before.

Chiba Rui was overjoyed, believing she had met a genius. After that, she would come to Tsuchimikado Oboro to repair her weapons after every intense battle... and the two eventually became friends.

At first, Tsuchimikado Oboro did not use Chiba Rui to do anything, and did not even dare to inquire about Himika from the side, for fear that Chiba Rui would become suspicious.

Occasionally, Chiyori would complain to him about the troubles of her sister competing with her for favor, but he would never say a word about it.

Such a person, who is both discreet and highly skilled, naturally gained trust easily, making Tsuchimikado Oboro the first person Chiba Rui would always think of when she needed technical support.

So, Chiba Rui, who obtained a complete high-level Mist Demon core in a battle last year, took the core to Tsuchimikado Oboro and asked him to help process it into a beautiful piece of jewelry to give to Himika as a gift.

Tsuchimikado Oboro seized this opportunity, secretly swapping the high-level Mist Demon core with another, and using this core to make a deal with the ninth sage of the Sage Tower, in exchange for a lot of otherworldly civilization technology data that had been sealed away by the Sage Tower.

The orc armor that could greatly enhance a person's combat power by burning their life and soul was the final result of Tsuchimikado Oboro's creation based on the technology of another world civilization... Unfortunately, the creation of this armor had too many coincidences and unrepeatable factors, and even though people later found the creation notes in Tsuchimikado Oboro's private workshop, it was difficult to reproduce.

Originally, Tsuchimikado Oboro hadn't thought that much about it. He just wanted to use Chiba Rui's intelligence lead to find an opportunity for Himika to travel alone, and then wear that armor to take revenge.

Himika rarely left Jade Island, and even when she did go out, she would be accompanied by the Chiba sisters, and there were ninja squads patrolling and guarding her all around, so Tsuchimikado Oboro had no chance at all.

For this reason, Tsuchimikado Oboro regrets not being a girl... If he were also a beautiful girl, he could take the opportunity of offering himself to Himika to get revenge.

However, at that moment, Xiao Yu suddenly arrived at Jade Island and beat up all the powerful members of the Four Islands Alliance, including Himiko.

Chiba Rui also fought with all her might, almost losing her sword and her life. She only survived thanks to the protective array of Jade Island.

Afterwards, Chiba Rui naturally went to repair the weapons damaged in the battle, while Tsuchimikado Oboro, who had already learned about the summit through the Morgan family, took the opportunity to install a listening device in Chiba Rui's sword hilt to keep track of Himika's movements at all times.

At that time, Tsuchimikado Oboro had no intention of dragging the Ninth Sage into the mess. He wanted to collude with the Central Empire and send information about Himiko's side to the Central Empire so that the Central Empire could help him create an opportunity for revenge.

The turning point that led the Ninth Sage and the other traitors of the Sage's Tower to fall into the trap was the recent incident of the evil god's consciousness descending.

Because Vincent took the blame for the entire incident of the descent of the evil god's consciousness, the Sage's Tower also faced a lot of criticism, making it even more difficult to carry out some dangerous research, and it may even be subject to the supervision of the Church of the Sun in the future.

This incident further fueled the discontent of the Ninth Sage, who had long been dissatisfied with the various restrictions imposed on him by the Great Sage.

Because the Ninth Sage had once helped Tsuchimikado Oboro, after learning that the Sage's Tower might be under the supervision of the Church of the Sun, Tsuchimikado Oboro also decided to 'help' his friend.

At that time, Tsuchimikado Oboro, who was already cooperating with the Central Continent Empire, acted as a go-between, introducing the Ninth Sage and Zhu Jiuchi to each other.

The two hit it off immediately, feeling like they had known each other for a long time.

Zhu Jiuchi readily made a promise to the Ninth Sage, saying that as long as the Ninth Sage agreed to donate all his research results to the Empire, his research in the Empire would not be subject to any legal or moral restrictions, and the Empire would support him no matter how inhumane his research methods were.

The Ninth Sage readily agreed... He never cared how the research results were used; what he pursued was the process, the joy of gradually exploring mysteries and finding answers.

He prefers an unrestrained research environment and inexhaustible research resources, and detests any rules and regulations that restrict research.

And there are quite a few researchers like this within the Tower of Sages.

So the Ninth Sage secretly spread the theory of the threat of surveillance within the Sage's Tower, managing to trick nearly one-fifth of the sages into joining him in betraying the Sage's Tower and heading to the ideal country across the sea where they could conduct research without any restrictions.

Thus, the turmoil at the Sage's Tower occurred that day... In fact, the Central Continent Empire's real purpose that day was not to conquer the Sage's Tower, but to take away the sages who were willing to submit to the Empire.

The coveting of the central pillar was entirely Zhu Jiuchi's personal affair, which is why the number of Central Continent Empire troops and Sage Tower traitors who remained there when Valensa arrived at the Sage Tower was very small, and she easily wiped them out when she later swept the tower.

Because the main force of the true vanguard fleet and most of the defecting sages had already fled long before Valensa arrived at the Sage's Tower.

At that time, only Zhu Jiuchi and his trusted troops remained in the tower.

As for the second sage, another traitor among the top ten sages, it was because all his knowledge and power had been consumed by Elena that he had no choice but to join the Central Empire in order to try to recover them, thus taking a risky step by attempting forbidden research.

Because the Great Sage had personally diagnosed his condition and told him that with the technology of the Sage's Tower, it was impossible to restore him, and also told him to prepare for retirement.

He is the Second Sage, a pinnacle figure among cultivators on the continent of Frenoia. Would he be willing to retire as an ordinary person?

Of course not, so after being secretly swayed by the Ninth Sage, he decisively became a traitor.

This was the beginning of the entire conspiracy of the Central Continent Empire's vanguard fleet... Valensa personally experienced almost everything that followed.

This report also gave those attending the summit pause for thought.

Those present were not fools; they were able to represent their own power at the summit.

Even without Himiko saying it, everyone had already realized a problem—the difference between the Central Continent Empire and the three great natural disasters they had been fighting against for thousands of years.

The Central Continent Empire is also human.

Humans are capable of scheming and can undermine you from within.

In contrast, while the wild beasts and mist demons also employ cunning, they are of different races, and their schemes are often not very sophisticated, making it difficult for them to win over genuine human traitors.

Not to mention the ghosts who mindlessly turn humans into the dead.

What Himika said in her heart before was not an exaggeration.

The Central Continent Empire is likely more terrifying than the three great natural disasters combined.

The continent of Frenoia must unite to fight against this, or becoming corpses or slaves will be their only fate.

Of course, there is an even more important point, which is also because the Central Continent Empire is made up of humans.

The Church of the Sun will not interfere in human civil wars, which means that nearly half of the high-level combat forces on the continent of Frenoia cannot be easily deployed, and there is no longer any divine assistance or healing on the battlefield.

For the Frenoa Continent army, which was used to fighting under divine grace, this was almost like a bird losing its wings or a tiger having its teeth pulled.

To put it bluntly, Valensa's actions in rescuing the Sage's Tower violated the rule of the Church of the Sun that it should not interfere in human civil wars.

If the Central Continent Empire seizes on this point and sends civil officials to protest to the Church of the Sun through diplomatic means, Valensa will likely be imprisoned for a period of time.

However, given the Dragon Emperor's arrogance, he would disdain using such methods.

In short, the Church of the Sun cannot openly support one side in a human civil war.

Valenza was not a participant at the summit, but only a witness... She could only record the process and results of the meeting, but could not speak, much less offer advice on how the Frenoia continent should fight against the Central Continent Empire.

Fortunately, Tia attended the meeting, so it didn't really matter that Valensa couldn't speak... Tia could just say whatever she wanted to say.

Such as now.

In the silence that followed Chiba Rui reading the investigation report, Tia, as the military representative of the Kingdom of Fran and, as everyone knew, the representative of someone else, was the first to speak:

"We must unite to have any chance of winning! Form a continental coalition, immediately! Soldiers from all countries will be under the unified command and training of the coalition! And the training content can no longer focus on monsters and natural disasters as hypothetical enemies... Our soldiers must also learn how to fight against humans!"

The majority of people responded positively, with some agreeing and others expressing concerns.

Some have raised concerns that this might give the coalition too much power and could affect the stability of the regimes in the various countries after the war.

For example, if the commander of the allied forces were to raise his arms after the war and lead his soldiers to seize the opportunity to become the emperors of the Frenoia continent... how would the interests of the current rulers of the three countries be guaranteed?

Before Tia could even speak about these people's concerns, Himiko sneered:

"Let's focus on surviving until the war is won before we think about these issues! We're already worrying about the distribution of spoils before the war is even over... If that's all you guys are capable of, you don't need to attend the next meeting."

The representatives of the French nobles and the American business families immediately fell silent, lowering their heads and daring not to utter another word.

Himiko ignored them and looked at Tia instead:

“Miss Britannia is right, the coalition must be established, and quickly! I don’t think there’s any need to discuss this issue anymore… What we should really be discussing is the command structure of the coalition and where the coalition headquarters should be located.”

"Seconded."

The French Crown Prince immediately agreed.

The president of the America Merchants Association hesitated for a moment, exchanged a glance with his white dragon wife, and finally nodded.

"very good."

Himika smiled with satisfaction:

"Then let's start by talking about the coalition's command structure, such as the selection of commanders."

The word "commander" clearly attracted a lot of attention.

Himika could see the eagerness in Tia's eyes, the determination on America's sunglasses-wearing general's face, and the sudden gleam in the eyes of the Iron Wall Witch. Even the Chiba Shin and Chiba Rui sisters beside her had some ulterior motives.

"Ha~~"

Himika smiled smugly at this, completely oblivious to the fact that she was currently a young girl, and puffed out her small chest, which held neither authority nor allure whatsoever:

"I think it is very appropriate for me to serve as the commander of the allied forces! Because I was the first to realize the crisis of the Central Continent Empire and to initiate the summit, and no one knows the Central Continent Empire better than me!"

"I object!"

America's sunglasses-wearing admiral was the first to object:

"I do not deny Your Majesty's abilities, but given Your Majesty's current condition... I'm afraid you are not well-suited to command an army?"

...Indeed, Himika doesn't seem to have much of an imposing presence right now.

Valensa glanced at Himiko's current childlike appearance and almost laughed.

"This state is only temporary! I'll be fine once my injuries have healed!"

Himika was clearly furious, glaring angrily at the sunglasses-wearing admiral:

"You say I can't do it, but do you think you can?"

"I really think I can do it."

The admiral in sunglasses didn't mince words, stating bluntly:

“I have been in charge of America’s army for 190 years. I have far more experience than the younger generation.”

After saying that, he looked at Tia:

“If it were your father who came this time, I would definitely hand over the command position to him... After all, he has guarded the northern border of France for more than a century, and I admit that I am not as good as him in commanding large-scale armies. It is a pity that he chose to hand everything over to you at this time. You are still young and this is your first time leading an army. How about you serve as my adjutant this time?”

He clearly wanted to use his seniority and experience to intimidate others and eliminate a competitor first.

But Tia wouldn't back down easily... In order to complement Valensa's performance, Tia had to strive for the position of commander of the allied forces.

She is indeed very young, but she is a representative of the French military, and Valencia is behind her; she is definitely qualified to compete.

Even if we can't win the battle, we must at least ensure that Himiko becomes the commander; she absolutely cannot be one of America's people.

It's not that Valensa has any issues with America, it's just that Valensa and America's sunglasses-wearing admiral aren't very familiar with each other, which might make things a bit more complicated.

For example, if a fleeting opportunity arises during the war and plans need to be changed, Tia, as the commander, will definitely support Valenza unconditionally, and Himiko will most likely do the same.

But if it were Sunglasses who were to become the commander, Valencia would likely need to explain to him the reasons for changing the plan before he would agree and support it.

Therefore, Tia cannot back down.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Maisel."

Tia brushed her long silver hair behind her ear, her voice neither humble nor arrogant:

"I'd rather be your superior than your adjutant... Since Father has entrusted everything to me, he must recognize my excellence."

"In terms of military experience, I may indeed be somewhat inferior to you... but in your 190 years of leadership, have you ever experienced a large-scale battle? If I remember correctly, the main opponents of the Merchant Alliance army have all been Netherworld Demons and undead transformed by them, right? Are you sure that experience fighting enemies who lack any strategy won't backfire when used against the powerful and cunning Central Continent Empire?"