Chapter 306 Too Careful Lord.

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After ten additional minutes, King Brave came to the great hall of demons, now his residence, and was welcomed by two silhouettes, one of which was none other than Zanac.

As for the other, she was a human woman with a wasp silhouette and short red hair barely reaching her shoulders.

This woman, whose eyes were sapphire blue, was the leader of the intelligence squad and also one of the few people has whom the king had absolute confidence.

"Head intelligence squad, get straight to the point; I have some painful tasks that can't be delayed." Brave immediately announced as soon as he entered the living room.

"Your Majesty, I recently learned from one of my subordinates that King Artaros had divided his troops to the forest of bloody mists. And when I inquired about these suspicious activities, I learned that King Artaros was looking for a divine artifact that is useful to increase the strength of his troops drastically." Miranda revealed this information with inflexible eyes.

"Huh? A divine artifact? Interestingly, this demon is as vicious and greedy as its demon nature. Finally, even if it's interesting, I don't have time to waste on such futile things. As long as this artifact is not too powerful to threaten my position as the second most powerful leader on our planet, it would not concern us." Even if Brave had sparkling eyes, his interest decreased after a brief reflection.

"Your majesty, I am not too sure; according to the men that King Artaros sent to accomplish this mission, I cannot be sure that the artifact in question is so simple."

Hearing this hypothesis from Miranda, Brave frowns.

"Tell me more."

"At your command, your majesty. King Artaros personally ordered one of his two most powerful generals to run this exploration mission. In addition to one of his head generals, he also ordered two of his divine generals with their elite squads to accompany the chief general and his troops. He also sent a million troops of demons from this planet. In all, he sent about two million men and three elite generals to accomplish this mission!" Miranda revealed while keeping her expression inexpressive.

But unlike her, Brave and Zanac had glimmers of surprises that could not be hidden in their eyes.

"Just to be sure, among one of his two chief generals, who is he sending?" Instead of Brave, it was Zanac who asked because of his curiosity.

"The second head general, Bragath, the one nicknamed the invincible demon!"

"What?! He almost sent half of his military force to accomplish this mission!" Zanac shouted these words slightly in the living room.

"You are right, General Zanac. Bragath alone has a power that rivals almost the three kings of our planet because of the unique and special characteristics of his divine domain. Coupled with the fact that he ordered his other two divine generals to accompany the chief general, I, therefore, came to the conclusion that the artifact he was looking for could not be so simple." Miranda gave her personal opinion in passing.

"My king?" Zanac no longer asked for more. He looked at Brave, waiting for the latter's decision, which always seemed to be in his thoughts

"... Something is suspicious in your report, head of intelligence. Why would Artaros take the trouble to order these men to take with them the useless soldiers of this kingdom? If he wanted this mission to take place in the greatest secrets, don't you find it strange that he ordered these weak and pathetic people to follow his men? Unless you try to hide other crucial information from me, Miranda?" Brave's suspicious tone thundered in the living room as he frowned deeply at Miranda.

The latter nervously gulped when she noticed Brave's suspicions.

"M-My lord, it's not that I'm trying to spit out information from you, but it's just that I haven't finished my report yet." She stammered urgently before Brave, who is ruthless and kills at the slightest suspicion, suspected her of anything.

"Better yet, since when have you had the audacity to question my orders? I thought I was clear by saying I didn't have much time in front of me?" Brave's suspicions climaxed as soon as he heard Miranda's justifications.

But strangely, he suddenly found his previous clamor, but despite everything, he could not hide his mistrust of Miranda. He instinctively spelled an invisible protective shield around his body just in case.

"M-My lord, I am faithful only to you. If you doubt my loyalty, you can always check the seed of loyalty that you planted in my heart core." Miranda immediately justifies herself by noticing her king's actions.

As a high-ranking divine mage who was no less weak than Zanac, she had naturally noticed the energies fluctuations around Brave, even if she did not know what he was preparing; coupled with the frown of Zanac, who had his hand on the wrist of his sword, Miranda instinctively understood the danger that presented itself in front of her.

"No need; I already checked this from the moment I walked through the front door of this room. But this loyalty seed is not an ultimate spell. It can be falsified by a mage more powerful than me. So I can't afford to be not suspicious of a subordinate who spends half of her time in enemy territory." He said as he sat on the sofa in front of him.

"Do you see, intelligence squad leader, the greatest danger that could harm a sovereign is not a powerful enemy but an enemy disguised as allies!"

"!" Miranda.

"Indeed, enemies disguised as allies are the most dangerous. And I sincerely hope that you will prove to me that I was wrong in suspecting you. Therefore, pay close attention to your comments. Otherwise, it would be a real shame to lose a subordinate as competent as you." He continued while tapping the table.

Seeing his actions, Zanac took a bottle of spiritual wine and an empty glass to serve him a drink.

During Zanac's service, the silence in the living room was more suffocating for Miranda than she felt like she constantly had a blade under her throat.

Just like this, after taking a little sip, Brave continued: "A subordinate of your caliber is an invaluable asset. So far, you have served me loyally for centuries. So I do not doubt your loyalty, but our enemies are mysterious; the more we face them, the more we realize our mistake of having underestimated them. Your loyalty to me, if I dare say so, is infallible. But what happens if our enemies force you to do something unfortunate by enslaving you with a spell of loyalty more powerful than mine? It will be a disaster, won't it?"

While pronouncing these words, these golden pupils did not leave those of Miranda's sapphire blues. Every action of Miranda, every change in her expression, however insignificant they may be, was calculated by Brave.

After another minute in silence, Brave sighed mysteriously.

"As I said, rather, this is only my hypothesis; prove me that I was wrong, Miranda." He closed his little warning speech, finally ordering her to continue her report.

"... At your commands, my lord." She says in a bland and expressionless tone.

Then she continued.

"As you suspected, I had the same suspicions as soon as I learned this. That's why I personally inquired by abandoning my mission to locate the princess's prison--

"What?! You abandoned the mission of locating the princess just for--

"Zanac, let her end her report." Brave stopped Zanac, who seemed out of him.

Following this, Miranda continued. "The reason was that King Artaros's actions were too suspicious to the point of becoming a larger problem. And by digging deep, I quickly discovered that it was worth it. The reason why King Artaros had sent half of his military force and one million demonic troops from this kingdom is due to a significant factor." She paused while frowning.

"It's because, other than him, the sovereign of our enemies was also in search of this artifact!"

Suddenly, Brave stopped drinking his spiritual wine, followed by his frown.

"Continue." He murmured.

"According to our information, this man, Alvine Dragnar, the lord of opposing camps, personally went to this forest with these three female subordinates, whose strength remains a complete mystery, and his three elite squads. In addition to that, he also brought the elite squad of the Queen of the Elves with him!" When Miranda ended her report, whether Brave or Zanac, neither said anything while they took time to digest what they had just learned.

"Haha, interesting. Not only Artaros, and now this bastard who divides his strength, no, I would even say that he dared to send 80% of his military force to explore this place." He said, suddenly swallowing the rest of the spiritual wine in his whiskey glass.

"Ah, Zanac, what to do in this kind of situation? I'm baffled there. On the one hand, we can take advantage of this situation to mobilize our men and those of the other two kings to inflict heavy losses during the absence of the elite troops of our enemies. But on the other hand, we can take advantage of this moment of imprudence on the part of this bastard to end up with him in the forest now that he has gone out in his hiding place." He said with erratic eyes guided by endless madness.

Upon hearing his king's question, Zanac remained momentarily silent before telling him about his strategy.

"My lord, even if you have a deep hatred against the sovereign enemies, I don't think it's necessary to attack him. Instead, let the subordinates of King Artaros take care of his case. After all, he is not the reckless type to go out without taking precautions. On top of that, as an emperor magus, he is not the real problem, but the three women accompanying him.

-I only met once, the demoness woman named Ashia, during our negotiations, but despite everything, I couldn't be sure to defeat her even if I gave everything. Her power is unfathomable and mysterious. In addition to that, she seemed to be able to control all affinities except deviant affinities. So if the other two are at the same level as her, I fear we can't do much against them without mobilizing at least two kings!

-In addition to that, if we interfere with the plans of King Artaros, knowing the arrogance of the latter, he would risk doing something thoughtless that you cannot tolerate.

-As a result, I think it is better to attack the kingdom of the elves during his absence and inflict significant losses on them! But on top of all, we can even take this opportunity to save the princess!"

Hearing Zanac's words, Brave also nodded.

"You are right." He answers briefly.

Following that, he looked at Miranda. "You can leave now, be careful not to be found by the enemy." He says.

"Your counsels are full of divine wisdom, my lord." She said, bowing slightly to Brave before leaving the room.

"Zanac, we're going to kill two birds with one stone!" From Miranda's departure, Brave announced these words with a smile up to his ears.

"??"

"Sigh, you don't seem to understand my words. This woman, Miranda, suspiciously acts as soon as she has failed her first rescue mission for my daughter. I don't know why, but my intuition no longer allows me to trust her. If she acts despite her will, then she will become a more awkward problem than anything; because of her identity as an intelligence squad leader."

"Then why did you let her go if you suspected her of being a double agent?"

"Sigh, as I had just said, it's nothing but intuition. I can't afford to lose such a competent subordinate because of simple intuition. I will take advantage of this situation to confirm my hypotheses and, at the same time, kill this bastard to end this boring war that has lasted too long.

-For this, I would need your help, my old friend. You will inform the king of the black elves, Elayja Holygarden, of the treacherous actions of King Artaros. Then, take this opportunity to inform him of the current weakness of enemy camps. During this time, I would personally take care of this bastard case." He said as he got up from the sofa and lightly tapped Zanac's left shoulder.

"My lord, do you intend to go personally to this forest? It's not that I underestimate your power, but the enemy is too dangerous. We can't afford to be reckless with--

"Don't worry; you know me enough to know that I'm not stupid enough to be imprudent. But on the other hand, even if you have all my confidence, a sovereign must not fully reveal his plans; I hope you understand me." He said, stopping Zanac in the middle of his sentence.

The latter had an ironic smile when he saw the psychotic prudence of his king. "I understand, your majesty."

He announced despite his curiosity to know more.

But knowing the prudence and mistrust of his lord, he did not want to know more for fear of being in the same case as Miranda.

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