Chapter 81

“Report, Your Highness, I have exceeded my mission!”

The moment Mozell saw the scene outside the window, he felt as if his soul was suddenly yanked out, leaving him drained of all spirit.

Meanwhile, when he heard Lynn’s second sentence, the fog in his mind instantly cleared up a bit.

Right, the Samuel Bell Tower ceremony is clearly not happening in seven days, so why was I so convinced? He looked blankly at the originator of all this chaos.

Noticing his gaze, Lynn chuckled, “You’re such a pig.”

“Yeah, I’m a… not, wait!”

Mozell once again sensed something strange and shook his head vigorously.

Mental control? Hypnotic suggestion? No, if it were something like that, the Sealed Item that protects me from soul attacks would have worked.

This must be some kind of more mysterious and powerful ability!

At the same time, the devotees and citizens below seemed to recover from the earlier shock. Streams of angry glares gathered on Mozell, fists raised and curses spilling from their lips.

But strangely enough, even though there were just a few floors separating them, Mozell couldn’t hear a single sound coming from outside.

It was as if everything around him had been muted.

“What exactly did you do?”

He asked, stunned.

Sensing his confusion, Lynn pulled out a palm-sized magic stone from his pocket, engraved with a dazzling Magical Guiding Matrix.

“Magic suppression.”

As he spoke, Lynn tapped a node on the magic stone.

In the next second, as the invisible barrier in the room slowly dissipated, waves of enraged shouts and curses flowed in from the window like a tidal wave.

Mozell’s face paled even further.

“And… amplification magic.”

Lynn tapped another node on the matrix again.

In an instant, his voice echoed back, magnified several times, from the high bell tower.

This gadget was crafted with the help of Ms. Milani; the principle was simple and had discreet measures to hide it.

Without the help of searching Sealed Items, it would be nearly invisible to the naked eye.

Feeling a hint of absurdity rising in his heart, Mozell exclaimed, “How could I and my subordinates be watching this place since yesterday, and you had time to set all this up!”

“You really are naive,” Lynn sighed, “It wasn’t set up yesterday but right when everything began.”

“When everything began?”

Mozell instinctively clenched his fists.

“Yes, from the very beginning.” Lynn stepped forward, patting his shoulder, “Even earlier than you think.”

“I started arranging things the night I decided to ally with Duke Tilius.”

“Impossible?” Mozell gritted his teeth, not believing a word, “Do you think you have the ability to foresee the future?”

In a certain sense, I really do, having read the original work.

Lynn silently scoffed at that thought but maintained an outward calmness, “Let me teach you something.”

“When devising a perfect plan, the first step is to clarify what your ultimate goal is.” He controlled the magic stone to disable the amplification spell and placed the matrix back in his pocket. “Do you think my goal in getting close to Duke Tilius was to steal money from you guys?”

“Isn’t it?”

Mozell forced out a bitter smile.

“Big mistake!” Lynn lazily elongated his tone, “Mozell, you misunderstood me, I didn’t care about your measly coins from the beginning, because making money is really simple for me.”

“My only goal has always been one thing…”

“To eradicate you and the Church of Heavenly Justice behind you.”

That’s right. He wasn’t out for cash. Or rather, the money was just a side benefit.

The primary aim from the very start was to complete the trial set by the Sorceress of the End.

At this, Mozell seemed to plunge into unprecedented confusion.

He really couldn’t understand what enmity he had with this guy, why it had to lead to complete annihilation.

Even killing a father in revenge couldn’t compare, right? Was it because he had embarrassingly offended that third princess at the banquet? A startling realization thundered in Mozell’s mind.

Just because of such a small matter?!

Mozell felt a mix of yearning to laugh and wanting to cry, but he couldn’t manage a grin.

He felt like a fool.

Noting Mozell’s seemingly chaotic thoughts, Lynn carried on, “If that’s the purpose behind the plan, everything becomes clear.”

“To wipe you and your Church clean, the first step is to shatter the blind faith held by the people.”

“To destroy their blind faith, you must invoke their anger, causing their worldview to utterly collapse, leaving them feeling betrayed like never before.”

“To do this, you must expose those ugly thoughts hidden deep within your heart to the glaring light of the public.”

“So, since the night of the banquet, including forcing you into negotiation and drawing out your true sentiments right now, every part has long been a step in the plan.”

Lynn’s tone remained steady.

Meanwhile, Mozell felt an absurdity like never before.

This negotiation was initiated by him, with the location even being set by himself.

Is this punk seriously implying he calculated even the Samuel Bell Tower as the negotiation spot from the start?!

If that were true, it would be treating him like a complete fool!

Perceiving the mix of anger and confusion in Mozell’s eyes, Lynn shook his head, “Honestly, it doesn’t matter where you set the negotiation.”

“You’re somewhat cautious, and since you came with the intent to kill me, you would choose a location you can control.”

“With that in mind, relying on Duke Tilius’s intelligence network, I’ve already figured out all the hidden properties you and your close allies own in Orlen City and sent people in to set up those two types of Magical Guiding Matrices.”

“Even if today’s negotiation spot was a private house of yours in the city, the result would still be the same.”

“Perhaps it was fated; the burial ground of a heroic character like the founding Archbishop has ended up as the grave for you, the last Archbishop, connecting the beginning and the end.”

In Lynn’s view, after this incident, the reputation of the Church of Heavenly Justice in Orlen City would suffer unprecedented damage.

They might even choose to abandon this impure source of faith entirely.

After hearing that, Mozell finally fell silent, completely sinking into despair.

No, it seemed there was still one last path to take!

In his desperate state, Mozell suddenly thought of something.

At this moment, Mozell had clearly lost his rationality; his crimson eyes lifted, glaring fiercely at the orchestrator before him.

If he could kill the root cause of all this chaos right here and now, then eliminate all those worthless commoners below, no one would know what happened today! As a Fourth Stage Transcendent, bolstered by Sealed Items, he could easily achieve this!

With that thought, a soft purple glow emanated from within him.

A powerful gravity twisted the space around him, causing the ground to slowly sink, and even the glass by the window couldn’t withstand this strange energy, instantly shattering! In a backwoods place like Orlen City, his Fourth Stage power would reign supreme.

The demon-like woman seemed to be on a mission outside, not yet returned, so right now, Lynn was undoubtedly the most vulnerable!

As long as no Fifth Stage Legend showed up, he could-“I bet you’re thinking now, if this guy has no Fifth Stage strongman protecting him, then there’s a chance to turn the tables?” Lynn looked at him and suddenly snapped his fingers, “Well, I actually do.”

In the next second, the rugged man who had just been suppressed on one knee stood up, suddenly pulling off his hat.

Staring at the completely unfamiliar face, Mozell couldn’t sense any hint of threat coming from him.

But then the burly man spoke: “What the hell are you snapping your fingers for? You think I’m your summon or something?”

The voice sounded oddly familiar to Mozell.

In an instant, he realized that the burly man was actually someone in disguise.

The Duke Tilius himself had come?! Cold sweat instantly dripped down Mozell’s back.

“Sorry, Duke, but I’ll be troubling you for the next bit.”

Lynn answered with a smile as he took a step back, bringing the duke forward.

Even though that old fellow was being crazily suppressed by Ivyst at the banquet, it didn’t mean he was truly weak.

On the contrary, just being able to match with her for a brief moment was a testament to his formidable strength.

Looking at the despairing Mozell, Duke Tilius shook his head, “The victory and defeat are already decided; you should just surrender.”

“Mozell Brandy, for mocking the faith of the Church of Heavenly Justice, as the governor of the Southern Province, I will arrest you in the name of heresy, you can…”

“Spare the chit-chat with that scum, Duke; now you’ve got a reason to raid him, so hurry up and do it.”

Lynn suddenly interrupted him.

“Just hang this guy up on a street lamp or something.”

Just consider it a welcome gift for the second prince who hasn’t yet arrived in Orlen City.

That very night, the explosive news of Mozell, the current Archbishop of the Church of Heavenly Justice in Orlen City, being toppled swept across the entire city.

Simultaneously, an inside scoop quickly spread through various other churches.

Do not offend that rumored Third Princess, for she has a mad dog at her side that bites anyone it sees! If you don’t believe it, just look at the fate of Mozell Brandy, who merely offended her with a single word!

The next noon.

The Augusta family, center of the lush green lawn.

“Are you sure His Highness will really return today?”

Looking up at the cloudless sky, Lynn asked Duke Tilius beside him.

“Should be—hey, are you feeling a bit too high and mighty these days? Talking to me without even adding a ‘Sir’?”

Duke Tilius appeared a bit displeased.

But after sizing Lynn’s current demeanor, a hint of resignation flickered in his eyes.

This kid was sitting atop a giant wooden crate filled to the brim with gold coins collected from various churches and from Mozell.

The combined total was about nine hundred thousand from the various churches, with another hundred and ten thousand contributed by the Church of Heavenly Justice itself.

Previously, because all the churches in the city were tightly aligned, he couldn’t find an angle to strike, only able to sigh toward a mountain of wealth.

Yet now, Lynn had provided him with a perfectly crafted excuse to launch an attack on the Church of Heavenly Justice.

After such a scandal, not only would the people’s faith in the church shatter, but it would also severely damage the empire’s credibility.

After all, those officials and nobles had also exploited and oppressed the populace.

So, last night, after dealing with Mozell, he eagerly took people to raid the Church of Heavenly Justice.

Of course, he didn’t touch the Sealed Items or Relics; he just cleaned out all the cash.

Adding it all up, it came to a staggering two million coins, which was a horrendous astronomical figure.

What they had initially agreed upon, the fifty thousand gold coins needed for Duke Tilius’s military expenses, was now far surpassed several times over.

However, due to Lynn’s request, Duke Tilius didn’t take the money immediately, but instead staged this production here, waiting for the princess to return.

“You just enjoy basking in everyone’s shocked and admiring gazes, don’t you?”

The Duke asked a bit exasperated.

Even though he said that, over these past couple of days, he too had woken up laughing in his dreams.

Realizing it wasn’t a dream, he laughed even harder.

In response, Lynn shrugged, “What can I say? If you don’t show off, what’s the difference from being dead?”

“By the way, Duke, what exactly did you and His Highness talk about after the banquet? And where did she go the past couple of days?”

Since the original work barely touched upon the storyline in Orlen City, Lynn was in the dark about how things developed.

Upon hearing that, a serious flicker crossed Duke Tilius’s eyes: “That’s a secret.”

“Fine, if you don’t want to say, then don’t… Oh? They seem to be back?”

Lynn’s gaze was suddenly drawn to a shadow circling high above.

As the shadow descended, a massive black dragon with a wingspan exceeding several dozen meters came crashing down, enveloped in a tempest and waves of energy, like a meteor plummeting to earth.

Lynn looked up.

Standing atop the head of the fearsome, regal red-dressed woman was a sight to behold.

On her dragon’s back, familiar faces including Morris, Afia, and Rhine, among others, numbered about a dozen, all looking wearied from travel.

However, Lynn’s gaze skimmed past the unimportant figures, locking eyes with Ivyst in mid-air.

Meeting her cool, red gaze, Lynn did not hesitate and jumped down from the crate.

Then, under the watchful eyes of many, he flung open the lid on top!

“Report, Your Highness, I have exceeded my mission!”