Chapter 646 - The Hint of Conspiracy
Chapter 646: The Hint of Conspiracy
17-year-old Eliza, who was the most beloved niece of 1 of the 3 cardinals, Roger, was also the apprentice of the Holy Lady of the Holy Light Mountain. She had a very special status in the Holy Church.
Eliza was completely different from the sacred and solemn temperament imagined. She had a pair of clear and big eyes which gave the first impression of cuteness. She had blue curly hair, exquisite features. Together with her short skirt, she looked younger than her actual age. She was just an innocent and lively little girl.
In addition to the 6 Light Knights coming with Eliza, there was also 1 man and 1 woman.
The woman was Eliza’s friend, Joanna, the eldest daughter of the Dragon Bright Empire’s Philip Family. She was slim and her looks were inferior to Eliza. She had a charming and gentle temperament.
Chen Rui knew that under this lady’s gentle and weak appearance was a persistent and strong heart. Ms. Joanna was the woman who fell in love with Samuel. The real purpose of accompanying her friend to the Garden City this time was to elope with Samuel.
The man was tall with short silver hair and a handsome appearance. There was a hint of haughtiness in his eyes. He wore a shiny silver half-length armor and a luxury golden silk cloak on the back which looked very dazzling. If he was on the Earth before Chen Rui crossed over, he was definitely a “tall, rich and handsome” guy.
The tall, rich and handsome guy’s name caught the attention of Chen Rui, Paul. Loman.
Joanna’s fiancé, Samuel’s love rival who once defeated Samuel in a contest hosted by the Light Divinity Temple in front of the Dragon Bright Empire’s Lex the Great. He won the appreciation of Joanna’s father and became Joanna’s fiancé.
In terms of appearance, Paul was really above Samuel. He was courteous and eloquent. He was especially attentive and considerate to Joanna, but Joanna’s reaction was very cold.
She and Samuel had been childhood sweethearts since they were young, and they had a deep relationship. The Kemplot Family was a top commercial family, and the power and financial resources were even greater than those of the Philip Family. The family was still supportive of their relationship. However, after the disappearance of the Third Prince Arthur, Samuel’s Kemplot family was suppressed and excluded by the Second Prince Garfield, and gradually lost the trust of Lex the Great.
At this time, Paul of the Loman family launched a fierce pursuit of her. Paul was the apprentice of the Holy Light Mountain’s Paladin Terestan, the most talented swordsman of the Dragon Bright Empire, and 1 of the candidates for the Divinity Temple Knight of the Light Divinity Temple. Considering the fall of the Kemplot Family and Joanna’s father, Longzes, wanted to use Paul to climb up the church to further stabilize his family power, so he forced his daughter to marry Paul.
Joanna desperately objected, so Longzes had to change his strategy and found Samuel. Samuel was so excited that he agreed to compete with Paul, but he failed miserably. After leaving a letter to Joanna, he left sadly.
Samuel had been missing for several years and Joanna couldn’t find him. Due to family pressure, she was engaged to Paul. She was ecstatic after learning that her lover had returned from the Demon Realm. She came to meet Samuel with the excuse of accompanying Eliza this time to leave everything behind and elope with Samuel. Joanna didn’t expect Paul would follow suit, so she was very depressed. It was as if she was about to drink a bowl of delicious soup, but she found that there was a dead fly in it. How could she show pleasant expressions to Paul?
The arrival of Eliza was the most important event for Solanton. He led Mana and others to wait outside the city long ago to greet Eliza’s carriage.
“Ms. Eliza, you must have a tough journey. Please rest at the Hall of Light for a while. I have already set a banquet at the most famous gourmet manor in the city. I sincerely invite Miss to go there by then.”
“Sir Solanton, thank you, I have to trouble you this time.” Eliza had a bright smile on her face without the slightest arrogance which gave people an approachable feeling.
Solanton did not dare to put his guards down. He greeted Eliza and the others into the Hall of Light. Soon after they sat down, someone reported, “Sir City Lord Kraut and Lord Walli have learned that Ms. Eliza has arrived, and they are here to visit.”
Solanton’s brows frowned slightly— Due to the amazing performance by ‘Richard’, he resolutely made a decision to directly designate him as the only Reserve Light Knight recommended by the Garden City’s church. However, in this way, the 3 other candidates, including the ‘related candidates’ recommended by the city lord and the lord, were excluded.
The main reason was to get close to Cardinal Roger through Eliza this time so that Solanton’s faction would benefit from the major changes in the internal personnel of the church a few months later. Otherwise, even if ‘Richard’ was very capable, he couldn’t fight the rich officials’ second generation.
Eliza’s arrival at the Garden City this time was internal news. Solanton didn’t notify City Lord Kraut or others, but he didn’t expect Kraut to actually have such good intel that he came here to visit Eliza immediately.
“Is it the city lord of the Garden City?” Eliza was stunned when she heard the words, “Uncle Roger once said that the development and growth of a city’s churches cannot be separated from the support and recognition of various local forces, especially the controllers of the regime. It seems that Sir Solanton has a pretty good relationship with the city lord.”
Solanton hurriedly said with a smile, “Miss has overpraised, Sir Roger’s teachings are always in my mind, but I have not done well enough.”
Eliza smiled sweetly, “Sir Solanton, don’t be humble. Let’s meet the city lord together.”
Soon, there were a few more guests in the hall. City Lord Kraut of the Garden City was a red-faced fatty with a body figure similar to Mana. Lord Walli was a middle-aged man in his 40s dressed in the most popular clothing of the noble family. He had a thin body and a pale face.
“Welcome to our Garden City, Ms. Eliza. Please allow me to extend the warmest welcome to miss on behalf of this city.” Fatty City Lord’s face was full of kindness and friendliness without a hint of the usual coldness and rage in front of ordinary people.
“Sir City Lord is too polite,” Eliza performed the courtesy of the church, “I… I initially planned on going to the Yang Shao Capital with my uncle this time. When I heard that Garden City has the Yang Shao Empire’s largest demonic beasts trade fair, I begged my uncle to allow me to come here to broaden my horizon. If there is any interruption, please forgive me, Sir City Lord.”
Eliza’s tone was as sweet and pleasant as her appearance, just like a little sister next door. The eyes of Lord Walli who were looking aside were very different. He liked to play with girls of this age most, especially with such a cute and pure temperament…
However, Walli knew that Eliza was definitely not someone he could touch, not to mention that she was the apprentice of the Light Divinity Temple’s Holy Lady. Just her cardinal uncle alone was not a little lord of an empire could provoke.
The Fatty City Lord laughed and took out a small box, “Here is a small gift as a token of respect for our first time meeting. Please don’t mind it, Miss.”
“Thank you, Sir City Lord.” Eliza looked at the small box curiously, “Can I open it to see? Oh, yeah, it seems impolite…”
“It’s okay! I’m about to explain its usage to Miss!”
Eliza opened the box and saw that there was a small delicate badge inside.
“The Garden City has just held a demonic beasts trade fair these days. This is the highest-level VIP badge representing the city lord. Miss can take it to any level of trade fairs and take away 3 things that you like at will. I believe there will be no blind men that dare to provoke Miss.”
Eliza’s big eyes lit up, “Fantastic, this gift is really…Thank you, Sir City Lord!”
“You’re welcome, Miss.” The Fatty City Lord was secretly happy when he saw Eliza’s joy, “By the way, let me introduce you to Lord Walli; this is my cousin Omi; this is Lord Walli’s nephew Matt. Both of these young talents are candidates for the Garden City’s Reserve Light Knight this time.”
Solanton’s face suddenly sank. He had previously stated that ‘Richard’ was the only candidate for Reserve Light Knight recommended by the Garden City church in front of Eliza. Now Kraut, the fatty, deliberately mentioned both Omi and Matt as candidates in front of Ms. Eliza. It was clear that this was a disrespect to Solanton.
Lord Walli stood up, “It is a great honor for me to see the beautiful Ms. Eliza. Initially, I also prepared some small meeting gifts, but it was only when I saw Miss that I realized that those gifts looked dim and dull under the beautiful light of Miss. Only this priceless red magic ring could barely match the beauty of the young lady.”
“What a beautiful ring!” Eliza stared at the ring inlaid with red magic diamonds, then she shook her head again. “No, I can’t accept such an expensive gift. Uncle will blame me.”
“It’s just a symbol of friendship. It has nothing to do with its own value.” Lord Walli smiled pretentiously, “I know that Miss is of noble birth. If you can’t appreciate the friendship of an empire’s little lord, I have to destroy it sadly.”
This sentence directly ‘sublimated’ to the height of friendship and political position. Eliza couldn’t bear the crime and persuasion, so she finally accepted the ring. Lord Walli took the opportunity to add another sentence to ask Eliza to take care of Matt and Omi in the future which made Eliza finally reacted and asked, “By the way, Sir Solanton, why are there so many candidates for the Garden City’s Reserve Light Knight? Isn’t there just 1 spot?”
Solanton glared at Kraut and Lord Walli fiercely, and he forcefully smiled at Eliza, “This… Ms. Eliza, there were initially 4 candidates. Besides Richard, Omi and Matt, there was also the Garden City Light Knight Legion’s Captain Tenisio’s apprentice, Lodan. These 4 people are all excellent, and choosing between them can be said to be a painful thing. After careful inspection and selection, I finally determined the candidate to be Richard who is recommended by Town Gudam.
Eliza nodded and glanced at Chen Rui, “Oh, that’s the case.”
“As far as I know, Pastor Solanton is the only 1 deciding from the beginning to the end of the so-called selection and inspection… or it is called manipulation. I don’t know what hidden secrets are in it.” Fatty City Lord sneered while turning a blind eye to Solanton’s fierce gaze.
Eliza showed a surprised expression. Her gaze flicked over Solanton and landed on Tenisio next to him, “Captain Tenisio, is that true?”
Solanton’s heart relaxed. He had persuaded Tenisio to give up his spot a few days ago and promised a lot of benefits.
To Solanton’s horror and rage, the Garden City Light Knight Legion’s Captain Tenisio nodded, “Sir City Lord is right!”
Chen Rui, who had been watching with cold eyes, narrowed his eyes slightly as he smelled a hint of conspiracy.
TL: Such a conspiracy is just a child play for Chen Rui…