324 The Power of Premium

Many things, after the truths were revealed, were actually simple.

The reason why people turned their back from Holy Light Religion was that someone has taken one step ahead of them, by stirring up all of the minions of Holy Light Religion against them.

However, towards this point, nobody thought that it was possible.

In the strategic layout of the Holy Light Religion, this motley crew, which the Holy Light Religion regarded as ants, actually played an important role—to share the damage and reduce the loss for the Bloodlust Holy Knight. The Bloodlust Holy Knight was the foundation of Holy Light Religion, meaning that even losing just one would be painful. In order to let this motley crew of Brettonia to be ready when the time came, to become good cannon fodder, the Holy Light Religion operation was actually quite rapid. Early in the morning, they have made contact with the leaders of the several core forces. By bullying or inducement, or other various means, they bundled them with the church’s chariot. Gradually, it spread to the periphery. Within a short period of three days, they have made contact with the forces of the several hundred thousand armies, a very high efficiency, which was rare even by the church standard.

However, someone was faster than the church elites. That same evening, he began to take action. In his words, "In turbulent times, taking people in should be done as early as possible."

In fact, anyone understood that the decision for the future of Brettonia, to a large extent, was in the hand of those motley crew that occupied the various regions in Brettonia. As long as they obtained their support, the winning side would already be decided. However, no matter how fast the action of the church was, after all, it was still limited by the behavior of an organization; the concrete implementation must pass through a procedure. But Wang Lu, as soon as he thought of something, he could immediately do it, who could restrain him? The degree of freedom was completely not on the same level.

Of course, merely seizing the initiative was not enough. Compared to the number one church in the continent, Aya and Dragon City, no matter what, was seen as in the precarious situation, and thus not worth relying on. In other words, why should other people take the risk together with you?

Towards this problem, even Aya has no mature plan. What she could do was to show her own zeal, hoping that it could trigger resonance in the Bretton Dragon bloodline. And to a certain extent, she did a good job. After listening to Aya’s speech, almost all of them were immediately filled with excitement. However, this was certainly not enough. In doing things, those who became the leader of the various forces must not be emotional. Rationally thinking about the balance of interest was what they should be best at.

However, for Wang Lu, solving this problem was too simple.

"Isn’t the key to take people away is to give them the premium? If we raised the offer from Holy Light Religion by several times, no one would not be tempted."

That night, Wang Lu applied his theory in taking people away.

—

Wang Lu’s magnificent appearance immediately aroused other people’s vigilance, because his smiling face was not unfamiliar to them. In the daytime battle, Wang Lu with a single strike managed to block the palm attack from Faceless One. Moreover, he successfully pushed back the other party, demonstrating his immeasurably deep strength! The most important thing was, after Faceless One was killed, Wang Lu rose to the sky and, under the full view of countless public eyes, reached out and hugged Aya, displaying an extremely intimate relationship.

"Don’t be nervous, I have no malice for you two." Wang Lu stretched out his arm and said, "In fact, I am here to be a lobbyist."

"A lobbyist?"

"To persuade you to join the Knight King. Just now, her majesty the Knight King made her voice so loud in her speech. Therefore, you must have heard that she wants to rebuild the country and restore the unity. However, in the beginning of this undertaking, there are many things that need to be done. The opponent is that colossus of Holy Light Religion, therefore, we need all parties to join forces. For this, we have set out very favorable conditions, it could even be said that it’s a not to miss chance."

Upon hearing that Wang Lu didn’t hide anything but just go straight to the point, the great knight and the magician looked at each other and, instead of busily asking the conditions from the opposite party, asked, "Who exactly are you?"

Wang Lu said, "Me… you can treat me as the Knight King’s agent. Unless she expressly opposed, otherwise, my voice is the same as her."

With how prideful the Knight King is, how could she let other people speak for her?

Wang Lu said with a smile, "Because we are of the same family, why should we differentiate ourselves?"

"The same family?" The great knight and the magician stared with eyes opened wide. That majestic new Knight King actually has… However, given what they had seen before, which was the intimacy of Wang Lu and Aya, it did actually have some weight!

"Specialty from Nine Regions, crystal images. It can record images. The key is that, the recorded content could not be fabricated or tampered with. This is something you guys should already know well about."

Both of them nodded.

Then Wang Lu retrieved the images from the crystals. Immediately, the two of them were surprised and staggered back.

The image showed Aya in a plain dress, cooking in front of the stove. Some showed the picture of her taking a nap by half lying on the dining table. She looked relaxed and comfortable, as if defenseless. The last one, but also the one with the strongest impact, showed Aya carefully spoon-feeding Wang Lu with a chicken soup, looking very intimate.

They naturally didn’t know that these were props deliberately shot by Wang Lu for rainy days before they departed to the Western Continent. The last image was, in fact, taken when Wang Lu was cooperating with Aya to develop a new dish. However, for those who didn’t know the inside story, the deterrent effect was really unmatched.

Seeing that the two people were dumbfounded, Wang Lu laughed. "Are these photos of the new Knight King enough to explain the problem?"

"... Very well, for now, we believe your identity."

"So, what does the Knight King want with us?" The great knight earnestly asked, "Does she want us to pledge allegiance and submit to her?"

"Pledge allegiance and submit? The Knight King never pursues those. Don’t forget that the Knights of the Round Table, which symbolized equality and freedom, was the invention of the Knight King." Wang Lu shook his head. "What the Knight King wants is to unify and empower Brettonia, not to sit on the throne and suppress the whole land. What she needs is an alliance, an alliance that is joined by all forces, each equal to another, without differentiating between strong and weak, to unanimously fight against foreign enemies."

"An alliance that is equal, without differentiating between strong and weak?"

Wang Lu said, "It’s like the eastern city-states—by joining forces to form a parliament to command the overall situation. The forces are represented as parliament members, which together discuss and make major strategic decisions. Each city has a high degree of autonomy. There is no absolute ruler in the alliance, and the interest of all parties will be fully respected. For you guys, these should be extremely generous conditions right?"

"Of course!" The magician’s voice slightly trembled. "But why?"

"Why would you ask something that you already know the answer to? Of course it’s because your value at this point is at its highest." Wang Lu very calmly said, "Whether Knight King or the Holy Light Religion, all want to enlist your support. For this, the Knight King is willing to show her generosity. Of course, don’t think that this is due to our lack of confidence. Don’t forget that the Knight King has the Caliburn, the royal power proof in Brettonia, but also a tool that is blessed with ‘triumphing in every battle’. I don’t need to tell you that more than one hundred years ago, the Knight King, armed with Caliburn, created a miracle. Compared to the previous king’s situation, this time’s difficult situation is actually nothing."

"That’s… true…"

Seeing that the two people were already somewhat moved, Wang Lu immediately followed with, "Incidentally, the Knight King has already been working together with the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals of Nine Regions; you should understand this if you follow the recent events on the east."

"The Union of Ten Thousand Immortals of Nine Regions?"

"Don’t be surprised, the exchange between east and west has been increasingly frequent and the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals also need an ally in this land. In fact, I am the representative of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals, sent here to the Knight King’s side to help her rebuild her home country."

"So that’s why…"

"In addition, we have already obtained the support from Meteorite Mercenary Corps, Falling Goose City, Silverstone Fortress and other forces. Coupled with the available soldier of Dragon City Guards, the forces have already begun to take shape."

"Is this true?" The great knight’s eyes were shining and his voice trembled.

It was not until this time that he was really shocked. Meteorite Mercenary Corps, Falling Goose City, and Silverstone Fortress were all first class forces in Brettonia. Have they really joined Dragon City?

"If you don’t believe me, you can ask them yourself. In short, are you in or are you out? This is now or never."

After a moment of silence, the great knight’s eyes shone and said with a sinking sound, "If her majesty the Knight King really has such intentions, then I, on behalf of Riddle City, can pledge that we are willing to join the alliance. I hope we can work together to build a beautiful and powerful country."

After a long time, the magician also nodded. "Then, I will go beyond that. After having seen your sincerity, on behalf of Blue Tile City, we will not let her majesty the Knight King be disappointed."

Wang Lu said with a smile, "Great. As for the specifics, please return back to your respective city and report you city master. By the way, the Holy Light Religion at this time doesn’t know that we have made an alliance, so I hope that at the appointed time, you guys can cooperate…"

—

And just a moment later, at another camp outside Dragon City. The head tent of the Meteorite Mercenary Corps, welcomed in an uninvited guest.

"Mr. Commander, do you know about Dragon City?"

…

"Yes, Riddle City and Blue Tile City have joined the alliance, the next is on you."

…

"Mm, at the moment, the Holy Light Religion doesn’t know about all this, so I’ll need your help later."

A moment later, the head of Silverstone Fortress, General Vaka, also heard a similar story.

"General, do you know about Dragon City?"

…

"That’s right, Meteorite Mercenary Corps, Riddle City, and Blue Tile City have joined the alliance, so we are just waiting for your decision!"

…

"Yes, next we need your cooperation, the Holy Light Religion doesn’t know about our talk yet."

...

That same night, a lot of similar scenes happened. Wang Lu worked tirelessly to talk with more than fifty parties outside Dragon City all night long and won the support from a large number of independent force through generous conditions. When five days later, the Bloodlust Holy Knight expeditionary force appeared outside Dragon City, they were unaware that the wild dogs have become the hidden minions of the hungry wolf.

And they, themselves, would be buried in the belly of the wolf.