Chapter 243: How Can One Govern Well While Surrounded by This Bunch of Vermin?

A Heretic Arthur is about to descend upon the Council of Sages?

Upon hearing this news, the entire upper echelon was jolted awake in the middle of the night, and quite a few even scrambled to change their trousers.

Then, a group of British gentlemen, disregarding all decorum, rushed posthaste to the headquarters in Greenwich.

"Why would such a thing happen?"

One council member wiped cold sweat frantically with a handkerchief.

"It seems that the White Princess uttered that person's true name, which attracted attention."

One council member said in an uncertain tone.

"My God! How could such a terrifying thing happen?"

A lady said, covering her cheeks.

Although they all loved the Arthurian Legend and were very proactive in trying to associate themselves with King Arthur and so on.

But one thing that was well known was that Great Britain, when it came to not acting like humans, had always been quite inhuman.

Calome is located in Ireland, and that King Arthur's actual territory was, in fact, Ireland.

But what Great Britain did to Ireland—could they, this group of mystics among the nobility, the royal family, and the like, not be aware of it?

The fact that King Arthur did not go to Ireland first, but instead came to cause them trouble, proved this point.

Was He here for revenge? Or something else?

"How is it? Have you contacted the Black Prince?"

A young council member asked somewhat anxiously; in his view, Heretic gods were nothing more than prey for Godslayers.

As long as they could contact the Black Prince, everything would be fine.

"No, no one has the means to contact that King."

"Then what should we do?"

In an instant, that council member panicked; Godslayers were walking natural disasters, but it was as if Heretic gods were not also walking natural disasters.

To magicians like them, who were beneath the gods, there was no difference between the two.

"There is only one strategy for now, and that is to swear allegiance to the King!"

Accompanied by an elegant and confident voice, the upper echelon of the Council of Sages looked toward the conference room door.

There, Alice, wearing a knit dress, a white coat over it, and culottes with black long boots, was greeting them elegantly with a slight bow.

"Good day, sages."

"Lady Alice!"

"It is truly wonderful that you could come in person."

A group of old men and women revealed expressions of relief.

At this moment, Alice walked to the conference table, sat down, and said.

"The Black Prince is a man who enjoys playing with schemes; to him, the only meaning of the Council of Sages' existence is to bring him enough amusement."

"And to take revenge on us, to see our expressions of regret."

Of course, none of the above were the real reasons; there was no hatred that could not be set aside in the face of true interests.

Moreover, the Black Prince could at most be said to have conflicts with Alice and the others, and it had not reached the point of life-and-death enmity.

The real reason was that Alice had realized one thing: in this current era, there were too many Godslayers.

If her calculations were correct, there were already as many as six Godslayers existing in the world.

And whenever the number of Godslayers became too high, a Savior would appear to cleanse the earth, slay all the Demon Kings, and save the world.

And this Savior was the Last King.

Combining the intelligence and artifacts collected by the Council of Sages over so many years, it was determined that the last time the Last King appeared was 1,500 years ago.

And the Arthurian Legend was the mythological tale born with him as the prototype.

A hero who wielded the Holy Sword and slew the ferocious Demon King.

No one knew the identity of the Last King, but the probability that he was Arthur was extremely high.

So... why would they want to be loyal to a King who would be killed sooner or later?

As for the Last King, it was speculated that after the Last King killed the Godslayers, he would depart.

In other words, in the world of the future, there would be no more Godslayers.

Was there any news better than this?

With the Supreme Emperor above their heads gone, the world would be theirs.

Before that, what did a little bit of humiliation matter?

The world would eventually belong to them.

"As for now, if I am not mistaken, that heterodox prince should be at the Royal Factory watching us make fools of ourselves."

Alice made a harmless joke.

But upon hearing her voice, the upper echelon of the council could not laugh; they only felt the atmosphere was unusually heavy.

The Council of Sages sounded impressive, even capable of contending with the Royal Factory led by the Black Prince, and their reputation had been blown up to the heavens.

But to put it bluntly, this was just a way for the Black Prince to pass the time.

To the Black Prince, the Council of Sages was nothing more than a toy that could be crushed with one foot.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot to tell you."

Seeming to feel that such stimulation was not enough, Alice added deliberately at this time.

"From what I saw, that summoned Lancelot is no weaker than an ordinary Heretic god."

What did that mean? One person wasn't enough, so they were coming in a group?

Generally speaking, the upper limit of a summoning-type Authority was at the level of a Subordinate God; perhaps they were stronger than a Divine Beast, but they absolutely could not reach the level of a Heretic god.

Even after the Black Prince defeated the Mermaid Queen and made her his familiar, while she was strong, she did not reach the level of a Heretic god.

And what is King Arthur most famous for? Naturally, it is the Round Table knights.

In other words, it is highly likely that King Arthur could summon thirteen knights at once.

If everyone was just afraid before, now their faces have turned green.

Fight? Fight my foot, better to surrender.

They suddenly felt that the traditional etiquette of France might not be without its merits.

Upon hearing such terrifying news, the current chairman of the Council of Sages, James Hake, looked around at everyone and said in a deep voice.

"So... does anyone have any thoughts now?"

"..."

The group expressed their opinion with silence.

Seeing this scene, James Hake signaled to Alice with his eyes.

The latter nodded in understanding, then smiled and said.

"Well, the King descending upon the Council of Sages is not necessarily a bad thing; perhaps the other party just wants the intelligence that our Council of Sages has collected, who knows?"

The intelligence researched by the Council of Sages is mostly about the authorities of those Heretic gods and Godslayers, assigning titles to those Godslayers, naming their authorities, researching their personalities, and so on.

Who is to say that King Arthur didn't come to find our Council of Sages precisely for this intelligence?

But isn't that possibility even more terrifying?

James Hake was also given a big fright by Alice's somewhat terrifying joke, but on the surface, he still maintained a mature and steady appearance.

Although his feet under the table were still trembling, he still said with full dignity.

"Your Highness, the most urgent matter now is to decide who to send to welcome that King..."

"Isn't that easy to decide?"

Alice smiled easily.

"Wouldn't sending a princess of the royal family be enough..."

Before she could finish speaking, Alice froze, looking around at the gazes that had fallen upon her.

"Prince Charles, I remember your youngest daughter just came of age this year, right?"

"You are absolutely correct, but she is already divorced."

"Oh? When did Isa get married?"

"The night before last, to a damn bartender."

Alice blinked, then looked around, and asked with a strange expression.

"Are all your daughters married?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

The group nodded hurriedly, but then shook their heads frantically.

"No, no."

Alice suddenly laughed, laughed out of anger, and said.

"Ladies and gentlemen, do you think I would believe such a reason?"

She felt she had already done her best, and had almost arranged everything.

But as a result, this group of vermin wouldn't even offer a single daughter?

How can one govern Great Britain with this group of vermin?

And is this really a bad thing? Who knows, if something were to happen and some prince's heir were left behind, that would be a good thing.

Feeling the subtle gazes around her that dared not look her in the eye, Alice smiled at the people who were silent one by one.

"I will remember you all..."

Her eyes revealed this meaning.

Alice knew very well that if she continued to speak, they would only shirk responsibility in various ways and shift the blame onto her.

Until she "volunteered" to take on this duty.

Rather than being volunteered, it would be better to be decent about it, though settling scores later is a certainty... —

England, Cornwall.

An art museum located in the countryside.

In this unremarkable rural art museum, all kinds of cultural relics are displayed.

The Rosetta Stone, statues from the Parthenon, Apollo sculptures, Van Gogh's paintings, and mountains of books, among others.

The elderly in the village often joke that this art museum is a fake that copies the British Museum.

However, in reality, the items inside are the true originals.

The source of all this comes from the Black Prince, Alexander Gascoigne.

He took all the exhibits from the British Museum in two minutes and thirty seconds and placed them all in his stronghold, this art museum in the Cornwall countryside.

And when the members are free, he would take out the basic Magical Books from among them, compare them with some antique artifacts, and popularize the origins of magicians and Mythology to new members.

This day was no exception; the Black Prince was wearing a simple white shirt and trousers, popularizing knowledge to his subordinates.

The origins of the members of the Royal Factory are very complex, mainly consisting of people who knew of the existence of Magic but did not understand it well, and at the same time were hostile to the traditional Elite magician groups of the nobility.

That is to say, the so-called wild path; before he succeeded in becoming a Godslayer, he was also such a wild path.

He also knew how hateful those nobles who monopolized Magic were, and he was very happy to popularize basic common sense to these illiterates in the magic world.

Although he could let others do it for him, he preferred to see this as the duty of a leader.

However, halfway through the popularization and literacy campaign, the Black Prince's subordinate, the Great Knight nicknamed Ice Man, walked in with a dark face.

"Alec, there is an important matter to discuss."

"You all may study on your own for a while."

Alec, who was giving a lecture in the tiered classroom, put down his textbook, clapped the chalk dust off his hands, and walked out.

"What has happened?"

Ice Man, who was waiting in the corridor, said with a gloomy expression.

"The Council of Sages is prepared to burn bridges; they would rather pledge loyalty to a Heretic god than seek help from you."

"Oh?"

Alec widened his eyes, even revealing a look of joy.

"Is this that detestable woman's decision?"

Ice Man said through gritted teeth.

"No, it seems to be their collective decision; Alice the White Princess merely laid out the intelligence."

"Interesting? The leaking of this news seems a bit coincidental."

Alec rubbed his face and said.

He had been locked in a struggle of wits with that woman for over a decade; no one understood the nasty nature of that wretched woman better than he did.

That woman loved nothing more than using intelligence to manipulate others into making decisions, and yet, he could not get his hands into the upper echelons of the Council of Sages.

This had caused him to be played by that woman several times in the past.

He had even lost a condition to that woman; as long as the Council of Sages nominally remained loyal to him, he could not take action.

"However, the name King Arthur does sound a bit familiar?"

Alec recalled carefully, only then managing to fish the information out from his memory.

"Has that God Ancestor's wish been realized?"

Not long after he became a Godslayer, he spent a very long time searching for the Holy Grail.

Because it was his father's pursuit of the Holy Grail that led to the tragedy of his childhood.

But when he truly found the Holy Grail, he discovered it was merely a large-scale magic container, and even the news about the Holy Grail had been released by that God Ancestor.

He found it meaningless, destroyed the harmful thing that was the Holy Grail, and walked away.

Of course, only a very small number of people knew that he had truly found the Holy Grail, and the current goal of the Royal Factory was still to help him seek the Holy Grail.

However, it was precisely because of this that he also learned the true reason why Guinevere, that God Ancestor, created the Holy Grail.

To awaken the Last King.

As a Godslayer, he naturally had an inexplicable curiosity about the Last King and wanted to witness the power of the Last King.

The word "retreat" did not exist in a Godslayer's dictionary.

For a Godslayer, every act of god-slaying is a Miracle of the weak overcoming the strong.

In terms of stats and Authority, any Heretic god is stronger than a Godslayer.

After killing the first Heretic god, a Godslayer becomes stronger, possessing a god-level body, Spell Power, and Authority.

But from then on, they only gain more Authority.

And now, the number of Godslayers is a bit high, and on top of that, he is also very curious about who that strongest Savior really is.

So, in the end, he did not kill that God Ancestor, nor did he completely destroy her Magic Holy Grail, letting her prepare as she pleased.

All for the sake of catching a glimpse of the Last King's true form.

Of course, if possible, he also wanted to slay that Last King and plunder his Authority.

Will he win?

He will win.

No matter how strong the Last King is, how much stronger can he be?

Every Godslayer firmly believes that they will kill every Heretic god they encounter.

If one lacked even this much confidence, how could one even talk about becoming a Godslayer?

(End of chapter)