Chapter 146: Churches' scheme

For the first time, a smile appeared on Ashley's face.

"That's where thing became interesting, Your Highness. After the assassination incident, a few Churches like Wisdom Church, Storm Church, Amber Church, Day and Night Church, and Truth Church took that as an opportunity to interfere and blamed the nobles and the royal factions for their cowardly act."

"Not only that, but they even told them that if they do something like that again, the Churches will interfere more fiercely and might do a large scale inquisition on the Nobles and Royal faction members. After that, Churches also made a big announcement saying that they are going to select one person as the rightful King from all the remaining children of King Edgar." She deliberated for a moment and then added.

"They said that only those who first complete the mission issued by the Churches will get the right to become the next monarch."

"What mission?" Rhea asked with a frown. From Ashley's earlier words, she clearly understood that the Churches had already started to infiltrate into their Kingdom and got extremely displeased.

'They want to make a puppet ruler.' Her eyes turned extremely colder.

"It was a mission to find out the root cause of unusual kidnappings, ghost appearances, and killings, Your Highness," Ashley said.

Meanwhile, Noel peeked at her half-exposed breast for a moment and soon asked while averting his gaze in embarrassment.

"H-How did you end up like this, My Lady?"

Silence appeared in the room. 

After five seconds, Ashley made a light cough and broke the silence with a solemn look on her face.

"After that incident, the Queen's personal attendants, the King's trusted aides, and the royal servants were captured by the Nobles and other royal faction numbers and were sold as slaves to the slave traders. I was one among the unfortunate slaves and was later sold to this fat man."

"What about soldiers and Royal Guards?" This time, Rhea asked in a hurry.

"They are Mystics, Your Highness. So, of course, the Royal Faction and Nobles won't sell them as slaves, because it will definitely damage their reputation." Ashley calmly explained.

"Does that mean our personal guards are still alive and well? Will they help me if I went to ask for their help?" Rhea muttered with a deep look on her face.

"They might have already joined the opposite factions. Although they were your personal guards, they only worked for money. It's better not to approach them now." Jessie interjected their conversation and said in a firm tone.

Meanwhile, Rhea nodded her head and agreed.

On the other hand, Titus picked up his small leather bag from the nearby chair and spoke.

"Let's do as our teacher said. We need to increase our personal strength and also improve our skills. We should utilize this time properly."

Saying so, he turned around and went towards the front corridor. This single-storied brick house had more than seven empty rooms. He soon chose the best room near the main hall, opened the door, and walked in.

Jessie and others also stopped their discussion and thought of focusing on increasing their own strength.

They soon chose the suitable rooms while giving Ashley some good clothes and took some rest.

Meanwhile, Ashley went to the bathroom and took a long bath. After that, she walked out while wearing Jessie's loose gown and went to take some in one of the vacant rooms.

The next day, she woke up early, borrowed some gold coins from Jessie, went to the nearby local shops, and started to buy necessary cooking utensils, vegetables, food materials like rice, wheat flour, etc., cleaning mob, and washing soap bars.

Not only that, but she also got some money for her own usage from Jessie and brought a few sets of new clothes.

Although her body was weak, she didn't face any problem doing regular housing works at all. So, she arranged the utensils and started to cook on the second day.

As for the kids, they also woke up earlier and started focusing on their training.

...

Around 11 A.M.

Charles slowly opened his eyes in his room and let out a loud yawn. During the past few days, he didn't take any good rest at all. So, he slept for more than 14 hours!

Blinking twice, he sat up, took out the silver pocket watch from his space ring, and checked the time. After that, he walked out of his room and went to the bathroom on the further corner of the building.

A few minutes later, he walked out of it in his normal linen cloth and went to the main hall. On the way, he also noticed that those kids were doing their training diligently and felt relieved.

Once he reached the main hall, he met Ashley, told her to bring him some food, and sat in front of the wooden table.

In two minutes, Ashley returned from the kitchen with a plate of mashed potatoes, a plate of fried salmon fillet with sliced lemons, and a cup of boiled vegetable soup and placed them on the wooden table.

After that, she went back to the chicken, returned with a glass of red wine, utensils, and napkin, and placed them near his plate.

Nodding his head, Charles picked the fork and started to eat before taking a sip of red wine.

After a few minutes, he finished the breakfast and washed his hand with the bowl of water, which Ashley placed on the table later.

Then, he turned around and started walking towards the front corridor. He walked past many rooms, reached the backyard, and soon zeroed his focus on a small room on the opposite side.

He soon arrived in front of it, opened the metal door and soon saw a staircase went downstairs.

Conjuring a ball of fire, he took a step forward, appeared near the staircase, and started to walk downstairs.

Within few seconds, he reached the floor, glanced around, and soon furrowed his brows as he saw broken woods and stone slabs all over the place.

A deep sigh leaked out of his mouth as he stored them inside his space ring one by one and throw them out in the yard.

After that, he asked the kids' help and started cleaning the basement for the next few hours.

Once the job was over, he sent off those kids and remained alone in the underground hall.

Before sending them away, he also told them that he would be in closed-door training and might only come out once a week. Although they became puzzled by his words, they didn't ask anything and moved out of the underground basement in a hurry.

Charles first took out a few fire torches from the nearby shelf and placed them in the room's corners before lighting them.

After that, he took out a green gem-like leaf, made a small mark on the wall, and placed it on the spot.

Then, he focused his attention on the link and made a short chant in English.

A moment later, his figure turned blurry and disappeared from there!

...