Chapter 173

PHA – Chapter 173 – Etoria in Danger

Prince Etoria was the Rhine Kingdom’s second prince. Because the eldest prince had given up the idea of inheriting the throne long ago, the second prince was the most promising successor candidate. Moreover, based on online evaluations, Prince Etoria did not disappoint the people’s expectations. Not only was he an exceptional talent in the field of magic, but he also had excellent leadership capabilities. When he was young, he had even offered his father, the current Rhine King, some useful suggestions.

If Alice took the online evaluations at face value, Prince Etoria didn’t seem like a bad person at all. On the contrary, he was both flawless inside and outside.

Yet, despite having everything in his life going his way, Prince Etoria was trying to seek partnership with the demons?

Holding such doubts in her mind, Alice came to find Frosette again and voiced her confusion.

“You mean Prince Etoria? He is indeed seeking partnership with us,” Frosette said. Alice was the Demon King, so Frosette did not hesitate to reveal what she knew after hearing Alice’s question. “We were originally planning on conveying this message to the Four Heavenly Kings and then let the Four Heavenly Kings report this matter to you, Lord Demon King.”

“What’s the content of the partnership?” Alice asked with a frown, a bad feeling surfacing in her mind. Going by conventional thinking, there was an 80% chance that Prince Etoria was seeking partnership with the demons to…

“Once the demon realm initiates war with the human realm, he is willing to side with us and help us conquer the human realm,” Frosette answered.

Sure enough, Frosette had validated Alice’s conjecture.

“In exchange, he wants us to help him secure the position of Rhine King and stay out of the Rhine Kingdom’s territory once we conquer the human realm.”

“What a standard act of a traitor… Even the content of his suggestion is so mundane. Can’t he come up with something new?” Alice uttered a complaint. Then, she asked, “Is he so confident that we’ll keep our promise? Is he not afraid that we’ll occupy the Rhine Kingdom after conquering the human realm?”

“I’m not sure where he obtained the information, but he found out that you, Lord Demon King, are sensible and well-spoken like the Third Demon King. So, he is willing to bet on his chances,” Frosette said, summarizing the conversation she and the other demon spies had with Prince Etoria. “In addition, Etoria has been continuously training his abilities. He probably believes that since we revere strength, so long as he is strong himself, he will also have the right to speak among us.”

“He sure has a lot of ideas…” Alice muttered while massaging her forehead. However, she had to admit that Etoria’s idea wasn’t completely impossible. After all, it was a fact that the demon race revered the strong. Even the Hero was respected to a certain degree among the demon race. Though, no matter how much the demons respected the Hero, it did not change the fact that they stood on opposite sides. So, the demons would still try to kill the Hero if given the opportunity.

However, while Etoria was doing his best to prevent the demons from going back on their word, Alice couldn’t help but be curious about the demons’ response to this situation.

“What about our side? What if Etoria goes back on his word after inheriting the throne?”

“Etoria has also given a solution for this problem,” Frosette answered with a smile. “He will deliberately leave some evidence proving his collusion with us. If he goes back on his promise after becoming king, we can publicize this information and instantly turn him from a king to a traitor.”

“What a bold move… If he really does that, won’t he be living under our threat for the rest of his life?” Alice said, shaking her head in confusion. “Moreover, if we only avoid occupying the Rhine Kingdom after conquering the human realm, won’t others suspect that he is a traitor?”

“Etoria is very skilled at politics, and he has used his political influence to enlist the help of one of the Rhine Kingdom’s royal magicians. That magician is even capable of casting taboos by himself. Of the taboos the magician knows, there is one called Residue Elimination, and it can erase all recorded evidence after a certain period,” Frosette explained. “In other words, the magician can erase all text, image, and video evidence Etoria gives us after a certain period. With that magician’s current abilities, he can make the evidence disappear as soon as one year after casting Residue Elimination.”

“In other words, once we receive evidence of Etoria’s betrayal, we can only use it to control him for one year. After one year, all of the evidence will disappear,” Alice said, nodding. That was one more strange taboo she had learned about. “Within this one year, he will help us conquer the human realm. Then, once we conquer the human realm, we will lose the evidence of his betrayal. Meanwhile, once we conquer the human realm, even if we leave the Rhine Kingdom alone, it will be no threat to us. At that time, should we choose to go back on our word, we won’t even need any evidence of his betrayal to break the Rhine Kingdom’s internal stability.”

“That is the general gist of the situation,” Frosette said. “Meanwhile, should we choose to honor our word and leave the Rhine Kingdom alone, Etoria has also thought of a way to avoid attracting suspicion to himself. His plan is for us to send an army to attack the Rhine Kingdom. Then, he will resist us using the many powerhouses he has gathered under him, creating the illusion that he is doing his best to put up a fight. Not only will this erase any suspicion directed toward him, but he can also use this opportunity to raise his reputation.”

“He wants to put up an act?” Alice couldn’t help but chuckle when she heard about Etoria’s plan. However, she suddenly recalled the act she had put on outside the Elven Forest, and she realized that she didn’t seem to have any qualifications to make fun of Etoria’s idea. “But I still don’t quite understand. With Etoria’s current status and reputation in the Rhine Kingdom, he is almost certain to become the next king. Why would he ask us for help?”

“This is something I’m not too sure about. Etoria has never elaborated on this part, and we have never bothered to ask,” Frosette said, shaking her head. Then, she looked at Alice and asked, “What are your thoughts on this matter, Lord Demon King? Should we agree to Etoria’s partnership proposal?”

“Etoria…”

After pondering for a moment, Alice recalled that the Conference of Kings would be held next week. According to Hatter, the various kings would always bring their successors to the conference with them to develop their political awareness.

In other words, if nothing unexpected happened, Etoria should also appear in the Conference of Kings next week.

“Tell him that we are still considering his suggestion and have him wait patiently,” Alice said after giving the matter some thought. Then, with her lips curling up slightly, she said, “I need to investigate this situation personally.”