DKIE CH65: The Oriole

Amidst the wind and snow, the winters in the Holy City were always exceptionally cold.

This was destined to be a day of extraordinary significance.

When Luka gave his speech in the main auditorium, the academy had already conducted related discussions in advance, including with the Austin Magic Academy he had previously contacted.

During the academy’s internal meeting.

“Not only must we establish the major, but we must also ensure the safety of the Magic Rune students. Any student from another major who is verified to have maliciously harmed or bullied them will be expelled directly.”

As the dean held a remote video conference via the terminal, the other professors exchanged glances. Just as they were about to speak, he interrupted.

“I have received definite news that the Eli family and the Bate family are privately and frantically recruiting magic rune talent.”

The terminal’s space station had issued a notice this morning that it would soon open up upload qualifications. Any software that passed review could be launched on the terminal!

Seeing how “Weird Tale Travels” had made a fortune in just a few days, how could these great families sit still?

Just as the dean had predicted, the families interested in sharing the cake were not only thirsty for talent, but the head of the Eli family had also publicly expressed his admiration for Luka:

“He is a morning star of this era.”

“We are very optimistic about and supportive of his ideas, and we are willing to provide more employment opportunities for more people.”

Countless reporters captured this scene.

The next day, the headlines of all the newspapers revolved around magic rune studies and Luka.

A photo of the latter giving his speech in the Revelation Hall was printed in the most prominent position.

As the center of public opinion, Luka’s number of followers saw terrifying growth.

Under any random post he made on the network, the comments could exceed a million:

【I specifically saved up my wages to come to the internet cafe just to leave this message. You are the best! You have given our family hope of settling in the Holy City in the future.】

【Ahhh, has no one noticed? His profile picture is so beautiful, the number one beauty on the continent, no arguments accepted!】

A legendary background, a story of rising from the mud—every detail perfectly captured the hearts of those who admire the strong.

While Luka was being flooded with comments, he was discussing the construction of schools with Cullen.

“The high-ranking families will probably go to the central cities and directly screen from those who come to take the recruitment exams.”

Everyone wanted to pick ready-made talent. Once this batch of people was snatched away, there would be a gap.

Education still had to start from a young age.

Luka: “Let’s build two hundred elementary schools first as a pilot project. I’ll put up the bulk of the money, and the schools will be named Luka Magic Academy.”

Cullen nearly spat out his tea.

That direct?

Luka nodded calmly. “Of course.”

When doing good deeds, one must always leave their name.

Quill looked coldly at the tea-spitting Cullen, despising his surprise.

Every one of his own manuscripts that circulated outside was signed. Otherwise, who would know he wrote it?

A snowflake landed on Luka’s eyelashes. He rubbed it away, his eyes instantly becoming bright and dewy.

“Why has it been snowing for two days without stopping?”

He complained casually, but unexpectedly, Cullen explained, “At the beginning of every new year, a new batch of prelates takes office and receives blessings. I heard the Tree of Life is an object of extreme cold, so the climate in the main city district becomes exceptionally cold.”

Luka’s eyes flickered. “So that’s how it is.”

He looked up at the snow-filled sky, reaching out to catch a flake or two, his thoughts unknown.

The snow blanketed half the sky, almost forming a unique domain that easily radiated in and out of the main city.

At the source of the blizzard, the almost boundless Tree of Life had translucent branches that climbed to the horizon, obscuring the surrounding light.

Visibility under the tree relied entirely on the Tree of Life’s own illumination.

Young prelates dressed in white robes stood under the immense Tree of Life, solemnly taking their oaths.

Their hearts were filled with pride and glory.

After the oath, the apprentice prelates bowed respectfully and departed from the Tree of Life.

Today’s ceremony was presided over by the Saintess.

A handmaiden stood to one side with her head bowed. After everyone had left, she stepped forward and began to report the news from outside. “The whereabouts of the Sword of the Sage are still unknown.”

The Saintess frowned slightly.

The sword had been pulled out on the open day. She had made the worst-case speculation, which was why she had gone to see that child.

In the hall, she had not sensed any aura of the Sword of the Sage, nor had she detected any excessive nervousness from him.

“The core of the terminal has been confirmed. It is sustained by the leaves of the Tree of Wisdom… Also, Iliad’s prestige is very high right now.”

When she said the last sentence, the handmaiden’s tone clearly weakened, not daring to look at the Saintess’s expression.

The Saintess stood quietly in the sea of snow under the tree.

“What a pity.”

She had finally waited for the Tree of Wisdom’s period of decline.

If the Grand Prelate had succeeded, the Liquid of Life could have helped them deal with the trouble of the Elf King. On the other hand, every time the Tree of Wisdom produced a Fruit of Wisdom, it would fall into a state of weakness.

The Holy Court could then march straight into the Elf Island and seize the Tree of Wisdom.

By absorbing the Tree of Wisdom, the Tree of Life’s injuries might have been healed.

The world suddenly grew even colder. In the center of the mighty tree trunk was a terrifying crack, where a bone of the ancestor of humanity had once been inserted. The wound had not healed over the years.

The Tree of Life was enraged. Lightning flashed in the air, and every biting wind was filled with killing intent.

All the surrounding handmaidens knelt on the ground, trembling.

The Saintess removed her cloak, slowly walked to the trunk, and said piously yet cruelly, “I will find a way to resolve this trouble.”

The blizzard lasted for several days, finally stopping on the fourth day.

The ‘snowfall’ on the network, however, had just begun.

Lilian paid close attention to public opinion and immediately came to inform Luka when she noticed something was wrong. “Recently, there have been many people criticizing you from a racial standpoint.”

These criticisms were clever, focusing on the fact that Luka had the idea for the network but chose to implement it in the human realm.

With constant instigation, the humans and demons started cursing each other, and some demons had already begun to shift their anger towards Luka.

If this continued, the prestige he had accumulated during the hunt would likely dissipate.

Lilian sneered, “They don’t even think about what kind of treatment you receive in the demon realm.”

Would the Demon King offer unconditional support like the Saint?

The more she spoke, the angrier she got. “Otherwise, let’s just ban their accounts.”

Luka shook his head. That would just give them something to use against him.

“No matter. Some princes have already contacted me, wanting to become official distributors in the demon realm.”

Anyone could use the terminals, and the ultimate control was with the elves. This line of argument would soon be covered by other hot topics.

Lilian breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”

After Lilian left, Luka studied the list of demon princes who had contacted him, screening for the most suitable partner.

After comparing the conditions, he quickly made a decision.

With the terminals, communication was exceptionally convenient. It was just that signing the contract still needed to be done in person.

Luka: “A prince can’t just travel to the human realm, so I have to make the trip. I don’t want to go.”

Quill: “Fly.”

Luka cleared his throat: “I fly to you, the gentle wind blows…”

“?”

Quill could see that he was really low on energy lately, starting to sing at random again.

In the end, the two still used the most primitive method of travel, renting a beast carriage.

A steady stream of faith flowed in along the way, and Luka cultivated quietly throughout the journey. The speed at which he purified faith was far behind the speed at which it was coming in.

Being too popular was also a problem.

As they neared the border, Luka sighed, “Ah, I miss the days of being a tower.”

It was here that he had been wrapped up like an iron tower, withstanding the self-detonations of various suicide soldiers.

Quill, on the other hand, seriously considered the terrain. His power had recovered by sixty percent. Before spring arrived in March, he could grab that Princess Mary for a return trip to this old spot and set off some fireworks.

At the mention of Princess Mary, Luka paused his cultivation, thought for a moment, and took out his terminal. He rummaged through a pile of accounts that were practically registered with real names, though it was unclear who he was contacting.

As dusk approached, the beast carriage was finally about to reach its destination.

As a prince who had only risen in recent years, Aman’s fief was not very vast. Because she had plundered the interests of some other princes, it was still relatively prosperous overall.

The streets were under traffic control today, and not many demons could be seen on the road.

The meeting place was a dark fortress adjacent to the Vibe River.

The entire building was forged from steel and demon ore, heavily guarded. From a distance, it looked like a steel monster.

The impenetrable fortress had a clear path specially left open today to welcome the distinguished guest.

“Welcome, Your Highness Iliad.” At the end of the door, a tall demon servant bowed with a humble expression.

As the demon servant bowed his head, his gaze lingered on the shadow on the ground for an extra second before he said, “Please follow me.”

Luka nodded.

The fortress was laid with a long red carpet. There were few windows, and lights had to be lit even during the day.

The demon servant led the way to the main hall.

Prince Aman was sitting under a dark-colored lamp stand. The long table in front of her was already prepared with meat-based dishes.

When she saw Luka, she revealed a seductive smile.

“I knew that with your intelligence, you would definitely come to me.”

Luka glanced around and saw no one else present. His eyes moved slightly. “I had many choices.”

“But only one has a grudge against Alex’s father and has actively helped you with publicity in her domain.”

Aman said unhurriedly, “The authority of the Red Banyan City Lord is limited. At the same time, compared to the established old princes with deep roots, you will have more initiative in our cooperation.”

After speaking, she raised her wine glass. “To the best partner.”

Luka stood at the other end of the long table, his gaze sweeping over the wine glass, but he did not raise his for a long time.

At the movie premiere back then, Aman had even shown up to support him. The two had some history.

After a moment of silence, when he looked up again, he said, “So I’m very curious, why did you suddenly want to turn against me?”

His relatively calm tone was like making a casual inquiry.

But the words he spoke took a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.

Aman’s smile instantly froze.

“This meeting is too low-key. If it were me, I would have invited a bunch of reporters to announce our meal to the world, so that the other princes would think our cooperation was already settled.”

When they entered, the demon servant had even checked his shadow, as if wary of a secret guard following him.

Aman showed her displeasure at being misunderstood.

She was well aware that although Luka spoke with conviction, he was merely magnifying his suspicion to bluff her first.

It was just the normal state of a suspicious person.

Luka continued to probe:

“Let me guess. First, the partner you’re turning against me for isn’t the Demon King; he acts faster than he schemes. And cooperating with other princes against me brings you no benefit. That leaves the crown princes. I remember a certain someone used similar tactics during the hunt, bribing other crown princes to deal with me…”

Luka paused. “There are no permanent enemies.”

“Come out, Alec!”

A hoarse, low chuckle came from behind.

A bizarre, swaying shadow appeared on the wall. In the main hall, Alec slowly walked in, followed by several demon generals completely encased in armor. His light green eyes were deep and bright.

He clapped his hands in praise. “Iliad, you are indeed smart.”

The moment he entered, several figures all froze.

Luka’s expression was difficult to describe.

Prince Aman’s face was no better.

“What are you doing out here?” she practically squeezed the words through her teeth.

Alec: “Since it’s already out in the open…”

Idiot!

Out in the open your ass.

Aman: “Didn’t you hear him say it was a guess?”

He had started with ‘let me guess’.

If Alec hadn’t taken it upon himself to come out, she could have completely dispelled some of his suspicions through verbal maneuvering.

At the very least, she could have dragged it out until the meal. The food and wine had been tampered with. Even a legendary great mage could have fallen for it.

A dead silence fell over the surroundings.

The snow outside was falling harder. The first thing to break the silence was a dull sound from the world outside.

Alec’s expression returned to normal. He tapped his finger lightly on his temple, as if hinting something to Luka.

Luka immediately scanned with his divine sense, and his gaze gradually darkened.

The once quiet and beautiful bank of the Vibe River was now surrounded by demon cavalry, with more demon soldiers rushing in from the distance.

Every one of them wore tusked iron masks and wielded long pikes, showing they were well-trained.

“Two thousand demon guards, five hundred iron cavalry.” He was afraid a blockade had been established in the air as well.

Alec smiled smugly.

“Your foundation in the demon realm is too shallow, yet you have to personally attend to many matters. Those great figures you rely on can’t accompany you every single time.”

If he wanted to proceed slowly, he could only continuously win over the princes and city lords with benefits. In this process, anyone with ill intentions could plot against him.

Greed really does blind the eyes.

Instead of developing in human territory, he fantasized about having it both ways.

Luka’s lips moved, but Alec directly gave the order: “Attack!”

Delays could lead to complications. He would not give the other party any chance to speak.

The four great demon generals attacked at once with overwhelming momentum. Their bodies had been modified, becoming half-human, half-snake when they attacked. The slithering snake-tail shadows on the wall were sinister and cold.

Instead of a killing blow, the demon generals all attacked in one direction.

The space in the fortress was limited. A snake tail smashed a hole in the iron wall, clearly intending to force Luka back into the encirclement outside.

Aman was about to join the attack, but for some reason, she felt a little uneasy.

The Dragon Clan was still in the remote city-states of the demon realm and couldn’t rush over in time. The other party shouldn’t be so fearless in the face of danger.

While she pondered, the situation changed.

A thick mist emerged from the air, instantly forming a bizarre magnetic field. The physically powerful demon generals were actually controlled, unable to advance an inch.

Aman and Alec both looked towards one spot at the same time.

The source of the mist was a man’s palm.

Encased in a black glove, Quill’s fingers were exceptionally long, but it seemed as if they weren’t made of flesh and blood.

When Alec looked closely with his demon eyes, he discovered that the gray mist was not a gas, but millions of threads.

The translucent threads, like light, easily pierced the demon generals’ solid armor.

“Ah!” In severe pain, one of the demon generals seemed about to fall to his knees but was forcibly pulled up by the threads.

Quill was high above, as if performing a puppet stage play.

Alec used a shielding spell to try to interrupt the incantation, and Aman was also trying to get closer, but she was enveloped by more of the radioactive gray mist.

Where the mist was thickest, it condensed into a small vortex. No one could see what was happening inside. During the standoff, sharp howls could be faintly heard from within.

Just as they were about to unleash a major attack together, the mist receded.

The four great demon generals were seen standing less than half a meter away, their hands hanging down, looking incredibly strange.

In the next second, the demon generals turned around in unison, each facing Alec. Their pupils were dilated, and their killing intent boiled.

Alec took a wary step back.

Aman had a bad feeling. “A Necromancer.”

Hadn’t this race gone extinct long ago?

Alec was still young and had only read about them in books.

The most powerful technique of a Necromancer was enslavement, the ability to enslave an enemy’s soul in a short time for reverse control.

The man who had seemed unremarkable was now leaking an incomparably dark aura.

After the shock, Alec said in a deep voice, “So what if he’s a Necromancer? There’s a limit to how many he can enslave.”

In the process of enslavement, countless had suffered backlash, otherwise this race would not have gone extinct.

Even the Demon King would need several rounds of battle to kill four high-ranking demon generals, let alone control them.

At least now he knew Luka’s trump card.

“Three thousand demon guards, eight hundred iron cavalry.”

Luka was still mechanically reporting the numbers.

Alec had already adjusted his strategy and was preparing to leave the fortress and have his army directly encircle and annihilate them, even if it caused a huge commotion and casualties.

Unfortunately, before he could move, he was blocked by the demon generals controlled by Quill.

“Five thousand demon guards, one thousand iron cavalry.”

“…Six thousand demon guards, one thousand two hundred iron cavalry, three hundred flying demon soldiers.”

The continuous counting made Alec frown.

He had gathered at most five thousand demon guards. Where did the flying soldiers come from?

His gaze casually swept past the window and immediately froze.

There really were flying soldiers in the sky!

The demon soldiers rooted on the other side of the river no longer had their blades aimed at the fortress, but in another direction, as if in a standoff with some other force.

He remembered that only the Fifth Princess Alicia had trained flying soldiers.

Aman also received news from outside at this time, saying that the Fifth Princess was leading three armies, encircling them to the west of the Vibe River.

“You already knew there was a trap here and teamed up with Alicia in advance?”

Luka: “I didn’t know.”

Even a prophet couldn’t predict things like that.

“Then you…”

Luka told the truth: “I have a persecution complex.”

So wherever he went, he would always make extra preparations. When he stopped at the border, he had already found a bodyguard.

He then said to Alec, “Although I don’t know what you used to persuade Prince Aman, over on my side, she’s the one who’s paying.”

He just casually made contact, and the two hit it off immediately.

For Alicia, there was the constant risk of being possessed by Princess Mary.

Across the entire demon realm, only he and Princess Mary were mortal enemies. She was counting on him and Princess Mary to kill each other.

“…” Alec nearly choked on a mouthful of blood.

He had never seen anyone with a persecution complex go to such lengths for a single trip!

Quill didn’t understand what they were surprised about at all.

When Luka went to the elf realm last time, he also pulled all sorts of strings, contacting the Saint and the Dragon Clan in advance, and even asked the Dragon Clan to find another friend to greet the Elf King with them.

It was just standard procedure.

Outside, the large armies held each other in check. Inside the fortress, Quill controlled the demon generals as puppets, and Aman dared not act rashly.

Luka slowly stretched his fingers.

“The first day I returned to the demon realm, it began with a duel with you.”

He said lightly, “Let it end where it began.”

Excerpt from Luka’s Diary:

Times have changed. Being a true young master has also become a high-risk profession.

Alec: …Look clearly, who’s the one in danger!

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