"So it seems your situation is quite dangerous," Aske remarked upon grasping the whole affair, "Firstly, the Aragon-Castilla Kingdom hopes to defeat the Undead by themselves and continue to hold all the benefits of the Wizard Stone mine vein."

"Secondly, if they cannot achieve victory in the war, they will betray you to make peace with the Undead."

"For half-elves, the former offers no benefits, while the latter is tantamount to the extinction of a civilization. That's why you want to bring in more outside assistance to break the stalemate. However, bringing in outside support means diluting the Aragon Royal Family's share of the mine vein."

"Therefore, they will inevitably do everything in their power to prevent you from publicizing this information. Even considering at a deeper level, if they discovered that the information has already been leaked..."

"They claim they would directly inform the Undead Kingdom," Queen Maya snorted coldly, "The reason being, once the news is leaked and the Church Court launches a Christ Holy War across the continent, the Undead Kingdom would stand no chance of winning. Before being forced to retreat, they might launch a final counterattack against the Aragon-Castilla Kingdom to gain bargaining chips for negotiating peace with the Church Court."

"The Aragon Royal Family asserts that if they leak the news to the Undead, the Undead would immediately turn their blades towards Lusitania, occupy the mine vein as quickly as possible, and engage in destructive mining to offset their losses after defeat."

"Is this the threat they made to you?" Aske inquired, "It sounds like a mere bluff to me."

"Of course, it's a bluff." Queen Maya shook her head, "If the Church Court finds out who's tipping off the Undead, let's not even mention their fate; the Aragon Royal Family would certainly be done for, with being stripped of their right to overthrow laws being the best outcome."

"However, even though both you and I can be certain of this, some of the stubborn factions among the half-elves have been scared out of their wits. They take the threats from the Aragon Royal Family seriously, or rather, they aren't willing to risk even a sliver of danger and only want to shrink back into the Lucitania Great Forest, waiting for the outside war to produce a victor."

"If we can't persuade them, we'll just have to deal with those who need persuading," said Aske.

"Yes, it will have to be up to you to resolve them," nodded Queen Maya.

The cell fell silent again.

"Speaking of which, your team members all seem to be quite strong. I gave you a list yesterday, and today they're almost all taken care of," Maya said with a laugh, "How did you cultivate them?"

"We cultivated them diligently," Aske replied perfunctorily.

"So is it really love that motivates them to grow stronger?" Maya speculated suddenly.

"Complete nonsense," Aske said, covering his face, "We don't engage in office romance."

"So you're dragging your feet and not confessing to them?" Maya began gossiping, giggling, "Hey, tell me about it. There's no one else here anyway... Which girl do you like most at the moment, Miel?"

Aske: ...

"Eh! Could it be that Enchanting Demon miss?" Maya pretended to be shocked, "Really? Can you handle her? She's an Enchanting Demon who demands endlessly!"

Aske, unable to endure any longer, decided to use the Topic Shifting Technique once more:

"I heard from Miel that you and Sherry, Derek, and Rasul have been close friends since childhood. Haven't any feelings developed between you?"

"Me? With whom?" Maya was taken aback for a moment and rolled her eyes, "Rasul's tastes are twisted, Derek turned himself into an Undead Spirit. If it were you, would you take a liking to them?"

"So now that you're a demigod, you've never been in a relationship," Aske said with a tone of pity.

"And have you?" Maya retorted angrily.

"Even though I haven't, there's still someone who likes me, so I do have some say in the matter," Aske said, shrugging as he saw the Topic Shifting Technique working again. "Actually, it's not that complicated. First, you need to interact more with the opposite sex, and then you can't be too reserved, nor too gossipy..."

"Shut up, I don't need your guidance," Maya snapped back, infuriated and embarrassed. "I am the Queen! The Queen! With just a wave of my hand, countless handsome half-elf men would volunteer to share my bed!"

"Ah, this!" Aske showed an expression of shock as if to say, "Is that all you understand about love, just sleep?"

Maya also instantly realized her slip-up and quickly stood up:

"Ahem! I was just talking, it doesn't mean I would actually go looking for young consorts..."

"I understand, Your Majesty," Aske said seriously. "Rest assured, Your Majesty. Since we've signed the contract of employment, we, The Azure Longsword, will certainly take care of those stubborn old men for you. Afterwards, whether you choose consorts or a more feminine company, absolutely no one will interfere with your 'romance'."

"I should just get rid of your memory of our conversation right now!" Maya, filled with indignation, reached out towards the void in front of Aske, about to drag him into a dream.

Aske then drew his longsword in mid-air and executed Star Nine Forms. Spirit Shattering, severing the other's Law Skills.

Following that, the girls suddenly appeared in the cell and saw Maya stretching her arm through the iron bars as if to grab Aske, while he seemed about to use his sword hilt to knock her hand.

Although the situation looked tense, neither of them emitted any killing intent; instead, they appeared like green teenagers horsing around with each other.

"What are you doing?" Miel asked in surprise.

We... We were gone for just one day, and you've already progressed to flirting and teasing each other?

"Isn't it obvious?" Medea, always stirring trouble, glared at Maya and said resentfully, "While Teams A and B have been fighting life-and-death battles outside, our Squad Leader decided to form a Team C and stayed behind to foster a romantic connection with the employer, huh."

"Hey! Medea!" Aske immediately scolded the Enchanting Demon Miss.

However, the Squad Leader's usually invincible authority seemed to be ineffective at this moment. Peggy still looked disapproving, Thira folded her arms and sneered, Eleanor was in a daze, Sigrdrifa frowned slightly, Mia had a confused face, and it was only Nora, who looked at Aske and then at the embarrassed Maya, stepped forward to mediate:

"Wait, there must be some misunderstanding, right?"

"What misunderstanding?" Miel turned her head to look at Maya.

Maya, oh Maya, I can't believe that you... would take action against the Squad Leader when I wasn't around!

At that moment, the half-elf girl felt almost heartbroken and was on the verge of shedding tears. After all, the Squad Leader was so outstanding; just because Sherry, a feminist, didn't appreciate the Squad Leader didn't mean Maya wasn't interested in him!

Moreover, Maya's personality and preferences were usually so similar to her own that their views on choosing a partner might not be so different...

With this thought, Miel felt a sense of betrayal and her expression grew increasingly gloomy, as if she were becoming darkened too.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.