Chapter 4

~20 min read 3,860 words

West District of the Demon Capital, the temple on Menggui Street.

A Shadow Priest in a black robe and a gorgeously dressed man sat side by side on the bench in the main hall of the chapel.

Believers coming and going in the temple hall frequently cast gazes at the gorgeously dressed man, only because that handsome appearance like a sculpture was truly unusual.

In Hell, this appearance usually only appears on Succubi or the Blood Clan.

And considering the Shadow Priest's rejection of Succubi, the man's identity seems self-evident, leaving only one possibility.

"How has he been lately?"

"So-so... how can an 'orphan' be? Can the respected Mr. Luo Ke Sai not imagine? That place is a place for cultivating Demon Kings."

"I know, the teaching there is very strict—"

"It's not just strict; most of the students studying there are high-tier demons with prominent identities like you. As a 'pure-blooded' human, he not only has to learn knowledge there but also has to be careful not to become prey for other demons."

Sensing the displeasure and condemnation in that tone, Luo Ke Sai Kelin's expression was slightly at a loss, but he still instinctively wanted to excuse his irresponsibility.

"To tell the truth... I didn't think he would embark on this path; actually, I recommended him more to become a member of the clergy serving the Demon God like Tifani..."

Feeling the murderous intent in the gaze on the side, Luo Ke Sai couldn't help but shiver his neck, and wisely stopped his words.

Although he is a Vampire Duke, he has no confidence in front of this Shadow Priest.

It has nothing to do with strength and status.

It is mainly because this elderly human Shadow Priest is the foster father of his late lover, in other words, his father-in-law.

Not only that.

After his lover died of an incurable stubborn illness, he also shamelessly begged this "father-in-law" to take in the crystallization of him and his lover—that is, Luo Yan.

Even in Hell, an illegitimate child is an inglorious thing, especially an illegitimate child born to a member of the clergy.

However, he actually had no choice.

Born in a famous family like Kelin, even a Vampire Duke has many times when he cannot help himself.

The elders and patriarchs of the family would not agree to him accepting an illegitimate child to dilute the noble blood of the Kelin family; no one in Hell is more obsessed with bloodline than the Blood Clan.

And shortly after Tifani passed away, Luo Ke Sai was forced to marry the eldest daughter of a collateral family under his father's instruction, and now he has a son and a daughter.

"Becoming a member of the clergy... hehe, the Demon God's temple is almost becoming a harem for you guys to raise illegitimate children!"

Jiefu Li sighed; although he looked down on this guy from the bottom of his heart, he didn't want to be too harsh... after all, this was meaningless.

He had already said everything that should be said eighteen years ago, and really didn't want to repeat it.

Pausing for a moment, the elderly Shadow Priest spoke slowly.

"Luo Yan... he is a very hardworking child; he has his own ideas and is very opinionated, and even this name was chosen by himself. Since you have decided not to involve him in the affairs of the Kelin family, I hope you can act according to your words, do what you say, and don't interfere with his development again."

"I know, I know."

Luo Ke Sai smiled weakly, looking at the statue in front of the temple, his eyes full of both fatigue and pride.

"To tell the truth... I was also quite surprised; he is even more hardworking and outstanding than I imagined. Although he has no magic talent, in a place like the Demon King Academy, his written test scores are actually full marks in all subjects, and for two consecutive years... maybe he is more suitable than me to be the next patriarch."

Although vampires are immortal, the patriarch cannot be held forever.

Every century, the patriarch will pass the Prince title symbolizing the status of the patriarch to the next patriarch, and he himself will enter the glorious Council of Elders.

However, because of such a system, the patriarch actually has no real power in the first fifty years, and basically co-governs with the Council of Elders in the last fifty years.

And a patriarch like him might be a pawn of the Council of Elders for a whole century... until his child becomes the next patriarch, and because of the weakness of the previous generation, he passively becomes a powerful Vampire Prince.

Looking at this indecisive man, Jiefu Li said calmly.

"I remind you again, you said you wouldn't involve him in the disputes of the Kelin family."

At this time, a bat flew in from the main gate of the temple and landed accurately beside the bench.

Looking at the copper tube on the bat's foot, Jiefu Li reached out to take it, and while taking out the letter, stuffed a ticket into it as a reward for delivering the letter.

Watching the bat flapping its wings and flying away, Jiefu Li unfolded the letter in his hand and saw the end, a smile appeared on his face, and then he handed it to Luo Ke Sai who was sitting beside him.

"Your son's letter, I want to read it to you... but it's better for you to read it yourself."

Luo Ke Sai, who took the letter, carefully unfolded the letter.

When he read that Luo Yan had obtained the appreciation of a Demigod Lich because he volunteered to be a Demon King, and was recommended to the Cabinet for an important task, he couldn't help but stand up... although he soon sat back down.

"He actually chose to be a Demon King?!"

This child... has more guts than his father.

Thinking of this, Luo Ke Sai couldn't help but feel ashamed, but also couldn't help but feel proud of him.

Jiefu Li nodded, a smile appearing on his face.

"As you can see, he is even more outstanding than we imagined... even without the support of you and your family."

"I... I don't know what to say." Holding the envelope, Luo Ke Sai lowered his head in shame.

Jiefu Li said gently.

"You don't have to say anything; we can just support him silently behind his back."

Luo Ke Sai was silent for a long time, then suddenly gritted his teeth and took off the ring on his index finger.

"Please pass it on to him for me."

Although this ring is not a very powerful magic prop, it is made of expensive mithril and blood diamonds, and selling it for five or six million Hell silver coins is no pressure.

As the next patriarch, although he doesn't worry about food and clothing, he can't squeeze out too much pocket money.

On the one hand, his father is watching very closely, and on the other hand, his current wife whom he married openly is also watching.

The little money he can squeeze out every month is almost all sent to the temple here.

Jiefu Li reached out and pushed the ring back, looking at Luo Ke Sai and shaking his head.

"The appearance of the Kelin family's ring on the hand of an eighteen-year-old child, I think this is not a good idea for you or him; not only can you not help him, but it may also have the opposite effect, letting people with bad intentions target him."

"But—"

Jiefu Li stopped the Vampire Duke Luo Sai Ke who still wanted to say something, and continued in a steady tone.

"The money you sent him every month, I didn't give it all to him... of course, I didn't donate it to the temple either, but saved most of it for him. Now, that account has about two million. Now he is 18 years old, and is about to go to the Demon King territory to take office, I think it is time to use this money."

Luo Ke Sai's face showed astonishment, and then turned into excitement.

He didn't expect that this father-in-law had actually done so many things for himself!

"Thank you..."

Looking at the Vampire Duke who thanked him sincerely, Jiefu Li just smiled faintly and cast his gaze at the Demon God statue in front of the temple.

"You're welcome."

"He is not just your child."

He is also my grandson.

The next day.

At 6:00 sharp, the purple crystal dome above the Demon Capital was lit on time, sprinkling soft moonlight on the sleeping city.

For the demons of Hell, the rising of the "moon" means the beginning of a new day.

However, what woke Luo Yan from his dream was not the moonlight on the corner of the table, but the knocking on the door.

"Luo Yan, are you up? The graduation ceremony is about to start in a while, and I want to go to the cafeteria first; do you want to go together?"

It was Yi Ge's voice.

As one of the few friends Luo Yan had in Class 2, Grade 3, the two would occasionally go to class together.

Shaking his dizzy brain, Luo Yan lifted his body from the floor.

"Wait a minute, I'll be right—never mind, I can't finish it here for a while, you go first, I'll be there later."

Looking at the messy room, Luo Yan, who was halfway through speaking, suddenly changed his words.

Yi Ge at the door was surprised, but didn't think much about it.

"Okay, then I'll go first."

Listening to the footsteps gradually moving away from the door, Luo Yan breathed a sigh of relief and began to get up to tidy up the messy room.

He studied the "old countryman's diary" until late last night and didn't expect to fall asleep on the floor.

However, thanks to this, he finished reading the whole book from beginning to end.

In general, this diary is quite interesting, and it belongs to the level that if he takes it back to his hometown and submits it to a website called Qidian, he might be able to sign a contract! Even the title of this book, he thought of it, let's call it "This Other World Is Too Real"! Maybe it can rush to the monthly ticket list? The only thing worth complaining about is that this diary is really like a diary. Most of its content is Aisaike IV standing from the perspective of a modern person, complaining about the backward productivity and production system of the other world.

For example, noble ladies and wives don't take baths, the stench of foxes in the banquet hall can smoke people, for example, the toilets in the palace don't have flush toilets, and you have to guard against assassins hiding at the bottom of the tower when going to the toilet... one of his older brothers seems to have been killed by an assassin using supernatural power like this.

For another example, there are no light bulbs, no smartphones, no surfing the Internet, etc... in short, they are all trivial things in life.

Of course, this guy is not all complaining.

In order to solve these problems, he also did some things that a transmigrator should do.

For example, transforming the drainage and water supply system of the capital of the Kingdom of En, for example, building drainage ditches and public bathhouses, for example, improving papermaking, for example, inventing printing presses—even steam engines and fertilizers were sorted out by him.

Luo Yan is not sure if, given another ten or twenty years, this guy will set off an industrial revolution with supernatural characteristics in the other world.

In short, if the content in the diary is true, then this guy can't be called "incompetent" at all.

And the stigma of "Incompetent King" is indeed more like a slander and framing by the vested interest group whose cheese was moved.

Although the diary didn't mention what happened after this series of reforms, "A History of the Aosi Empire" records that Aisaike IV was stripped of his church membership by Saint Xisi's oracle because he blasphemed the gods.

Immediately after, the Aisaike IV group, which was abandoned by everyone, was immediately crusaded by the Aosi Empire.

Although those reform achievements were basically preserved, the Aisaike dynasty was wiped out in the flames of war, leaving only a few words of conclusion by the victors.

The current Kingdom of En is already the third dynasty, and all kinds of past events about Aisaike IV are already history of a thousand years ago...

To be honest, Luo Yan is full of doubts about this period of history.

According to Principal Headmaster Aiwen's statement, Aisaike IV was suspected of possessing power comparable to gods at his peak.

With the strength of individual strength and the strength of the overall national power, how could the Aisaike dynasty be abolished by an oracle? And, what exactly did this guy do to blaspheme the gods? Or what exactly did he do to cause the gods' fear?

However, it is a pity that the diary didn't mention these contents that Luo Yan is truly curious about, only writing that someone had sorted out the steam engine and then it came to an abrupt end.

Even until the end of the diary, Aisaike IV only mentioned in passing that he was really not suitable for practicing magic, and the repulsion of the elements wandering between heaven and earth was as if he had greeted their biological mother, and he was destined to be a Bronze in this life.

Clearly.

Until the diary was finished, Aisaike IV only had Bronze-tier strength, and was completely relying on mortal power to obtain the worship of mortals.

As for obtaining power comparable to gods, that was many years after he completed a series of reforms to the Kingdom of En, I don't know how many years later.

To be honest, Luo Yan doesn't care about any steam engine at all; that thing is not a rarity for people who have received 9 years of compulsory education.

In contrast, he naturally wants to know more about how Aisaike IV later broke through the bottleneck of Bronze-tier and finally stood on the shoulders of gods...

But it is a pity that he didn't write the part he is most curious about! I don't know if Aisaike IV wrote it in other diaries, or if this memory has been completely erased in the long river of history.

"It seems that for some reason, Aisaike IV finally didn't publish his diary... Is it because he didn't want to, or couldn't? Or... is there another intention?"

Luo Yan glanced at the translation written by Professor Headmaster Aiwen next to him.

Saying that the cow's head doesn't match the horse's mouth is too hurtful; anyway, the punctuation marks were guessed correctly, and it is quite useful to simply treat it as the cultivation experience of a Demigod Lich.

Let's keep it for now.

If he is lucky enough to cultivate to the Demigod or Grandmaster level.

With the mood of holding Buddha's feet temporarily, he opened both books at the same time, preparing to compare the translation and ponder carefully.

However, when he saw the first line of Aisaike IV's diary, his whole person was instantly stunned on the spot.

【December 12, 77th year of the Aosi calendar, my two older brothers were killed by assassins sent by each other, and my father was so angry that he vomited blood on the front line and died without treatment. Lying on the bed of the Duchess, I inexplicably became the King of the Kingdom of En, and my servants felt that the kingdom was finished, and coincidentally, I thought so too.】

【24 years have passed since I came to this world. I never thought such an outrageous thing would happen to me. Compared to running a huge kingdom, I prefer to do what a transmigrator should do, such as flirting with the Duchess who covets me, such as researching perfume and soap to cover up the stench...】

【Forget it, worrying is useless, but if I mess up one day, at least I have to let people know that the destruction of the Kingdom of En is not because it has a king with overflowing peach blossom luck, but because everyone here has problems, all kinds of problems... So I decided to start writing a diary.

【Ah... because it would be very troublesome if these natives understood, I'd better write in my mother tongue for now. In this way, when I decide to publish this diary one day in the future, it will be convenient for me to refine the details, hehehe.】

"... Chinese characters?"

Wait—

The so-called cipher is actually Chinese?!

Luo Yan, who came back to his senses, stood up abruptly, and the chair behind him smashed to the ground with a bang.

"Holy shit—!"

Fellow countryman?!

——