Chapter 179

PHA – Chapter 179 – Prince Etoria Getting Targeted Even Before Making an Appearance

Although Ciel looked reluctant to help Alice, she still obediently did as she was told. She absolutely could not afford to let Alice expose her fetish to others.

It might be an inconvenience for Alice if she had her identity as the Hero exposed, but not only would this revelation not harm Alice’s reputation, but it would make her receive even more attention instead. She only had to shoulder the danger of getting assassinated by the demons. Moreover, if Alice really got assassinated, it definitely wouldn’t be a good thing for Ciel.

On the other hand, if Ciel had her fetish exposed, it would be instant social death for her. The effort she had put into befriending others would instantly go down the drain, and everyone around her would start looking at her strangely. Even if everyone did not openly look down on her, they would still try to distance themselves from her.

Faced with such a disadvantageous situation, Ciel had no choice but to follow Alice’s instructions. Though, while Ciel might not wish to admit it, the feeling of getting forced to do Alice’s bidding was also quite…stimulating.

Meanwhile, after getting Ciel to pass on her message, Alice returned to class with Luna. Even after Ciel sent the message home, it would still take some time before the catkins could give Alice a reply. After all, the catkins would need to carefully consider what benefits they would ask from the Gryffin Kingdom in exchange for letting the princess study their taboos. If they replied too quickly, it’d also make them seem desperate. That, in turn, might put them in a disadvantageous position during negotiations. So, even after coming up with an answer, they’d have to wait for an appropriate amount of time before responding.

The catkins were not fools. Alice might have told Ciel that the catkins could make whatever demands they wanted so long as they didn’t go too far. Still, the benefits that could be exchanged using the privilege to study the catkins’ taboos would undoubtedly be limited. If the catkins made an absurd demand, they might end up earning the Gryffin King’s displeasure. Hence, based on Alice’s estimates, the catkins would take at least a week before they gave her a reply.

However, Alice wasn’t in a hurry. She had asked about the Demon King’s Power when she last visited the Loli Goddess. Meanwhile, the answer she got was that the Demon King’s Power still hadn’t found a new host.

If even Filia could sense the Demon King’s Power’s presence, there was no way the Loli Goddess could not do the same. The instant the Demon King’s Power attached itself to a new host and began modifying the host’s body, the Loli Goddess would be able to perceive the aura it released.

Although the Loli Goddess couldn’t locate the Demon King’s Power with pinpoint accuracy, she could still narrow the range down to the scale of a city. Meanwhile, since the Loli Goddess had yet to sense the Demon King’s Power’s presence, it meant that the Demon King’s Power was still storing up its strength. Hence, Alice still had plenty of time to strengthen herself.

While waiting for the catkins to give her a reply, Alice resumed studying and waiting for the Conference of Kings to begin.

The Conference of Kings wouldn’t be held inside a specific country’s palace. Instead, it would take place in a secret location, as per tradition.

There had been one instance where the demons had launched an aerial bombardment when the Conference of Kings was held in a palace. Although the Hero of that time had been present at the conference and helped neutralize the taboo bomb used, the incident still sounded the alarm bells of the human kings. Hence, after this incident, the Conference of Kings would always be held in a randomly selected location outside the various kingdoms’ palaces.

Meanwhile, ever since the Conference of Kings started being held in unknown locations, aerial bombardments on palaces had also stopped happening. After all, the demons’ goal was merely to eliminate the humans’ leaders in one fell swoop. Since they couldn’t accomplish this goal anymore, there’d be no point in launching taboo bombs at palaces anymore. The only thing they would accomplish through doing so was creating civilian casualties.

If the demons began massacring harmless civilians, things would quickly devolve into a situation where the humans and demons launched taboo bombs at each other’s civilian population. Then, things would end with both sides causing irreparable damage to each other’s lands and civilian population.

What the demons wanted was the humans’ living environment, and what the humans wanted was to protect their territory. If they ended up devastating each other’s lands, they’d simply end up in a lose-lose situation. Hence, both sides had tacitly agreed not to recklessly use taboo bombs. At the very least, they wouldn’t use these weapons of mass destruction on harmless civilians.

…

“Where is the meeting being held?” Alice asked as she got into Luna’s black sedan for the first time in a long while. However, unlike before, Alice did not see the skill “Demon King’s Gaze” when she held the car’s handle with her right hand. Luna had probably felt that it was no longer necessary to conduct such large-scale surveillance now that she had already found the Hero.

“It’s in one of the conference rooms of Ramit Magic Network Co.’s office building,” Luna answered. As an intelligence officer and Alice’s personal maid, escort, and driver, Luna naturally had the authority to know about the Conference of Kings’ venue. Otherwise, she’d have no way to transport Alice there. “King Hatter has used a third party’s name to borrow one of the conference rooms there. So, besides the kings and a few people involved, nobody else knows that the Conference of Kings is being held there. The demons wouldn’t know about it, either.”

That’s hard to say.

Alice inwardly sighed. According to her knowledge, the Rhine Kingdom’s Second Prince Etoria had already shown his intentions to collaborate with the demons.

Originally, Alice thought she could let her guard down during the Conference of Kings. Now, though, because of Etoria’s suspected traitorous intentions, Alice couldn’t help but distrust even the kings. She also had to be even more careful in revealing her identity.

Although Luna could dive into a person’s thoughts and memories without the person realizing anything, the complexity of this ability was already on the level of taboos. Hence, Luna could, at most, use it against one person at a time. She also couldn’t use it too many times in a row, so it was unlikely that she could inspect everyone at the conference.

Fortunately, Alice had a clearly suspicious target. Right now, all she wanted to know was why Etoria felt that he couldn’t inherit the Rhine Kingdom’s throne.

“Do you know about Prince Etoria, Luna?”

After looking out the back seat’s window and pondering for some time, Alice decided to ask Luna about Prince Etoria.

“I do. He’s the Rhine Kingdom’s second prince and the most likely person to become the next king,” Luna said, nodding. “What’s wrong? Did he harass you? Do you need me to send him to the mental hospital for the rest of his life?”

“…That won’t be necessary,” Alice said, feeling a little speechless. She felt that her maid’s jealousy was worsening as the number of people she(Alice) came into contact with increased. It had gotten so bad that Luna was trying to use violence against anyone who tried to approach her(Alice) now. “I just need you to check his memories afterward. You should be able to dig out some important information.”

“Is that so? I understand.”