Chapter 301

"Do you know how many letters accusing you and requests to meet with me I've received these past two days? Seventeen! Exactly seventeen. I suspect half of Huicheng wants you dead."

The torrential rain continued to pound Huicheng, and while the entire city seemed to have slipped into temporary hibernation, some still had no choice but to work overtime.

Inside the "mirror," Dainya's eyes were bloodshot (her war exhaustion hadn't healed, and now she was forced to work overtime), slamming a thick stack of "complaint letters" onto the table.

"Thud!" The papers landed on the table and even bounced slightly—clearly, there were a lot of them.

The Princess pouted, lightning gathering in her pupils, as if mirroring the storm outside, building more power.

Li En fell silent. When he first answered the call, his mood had been good—how had it turned from clear skies to a downpour so suddenly?

He noticed that the Princess's gaze wasn't fixed on him; it kept drifting, occasionally glancing behind him.

"Spend two mana points! Fiestrian self-destructs! Kill your 'Continental Hero' Lex Thorne! Hehe, my master's dead again!" Lana laughed happily—her senior Hero and "master" was dead once more.

"No, no, my Lex is dead again!! This is the tenth time today!" Hela, who apparently adored her chess set centered on Lex, was said to have very weak strength.

Li En turned around and saw Hela, who had been playing merrily with Lana, had paused their game since Dainya's communication began—and the "Elder Princess" had raised her voice considerably.

Li En fell silent, lowering his head to look at the chess piece he'd been fiddling with and the board setup.

He roughly understood where this nameless resentment came from.

His sister was working overtime until she dropped, burdened with crushing responsibilities—forced to bear pressure and make decisions, and even just handling battle aftermath meant endless overtime.

His sister, by contrast, was carefree and happy; Lex had finally done something right—the crippling blow to "The Xiao " had relieved Hela of much psychological pressure. In a sense, the sisters had "reconciled" with Lex.

Regardless of good or bad, their parents' era was over; the children had to walk their own paths.

Everyone understood the logic, but Li En noticed Dainya had even whispered "Big Sister Hela" once—their relationship had eased somewhat, yet when he was working overtime and saw his sister playing wildly, the pressure spiked instantly.

"I'm talking to you—what are you staring at? Maybe I should just follow their advice and exile you to some small town outside the city as village chief."

"No, no—if I leave the city, I'll be dead before I even get there."

Li En immediately softened, pouring out a stream of flattery, then said, "Under the leadership of our wise and beautiful Princess, we shall be invincible"—by then, the girl's face was flushed, utterly flustered.

What started as serious business had turned into Hong a little girl—Li En felt a bit helpless.

"Li En, stop wasting time, come play already." Just as things were wrapping up, Hela's voice suddenly called out from behind.

Alright, now the girl before him was pouting again.

Li En sighed, forcing a serious expression, and shifted to real business—when a girl's emotions were high, don't push back; find something she takes seriously to redirect her focus.

Did it work? At least for Dainya, who had strong responsibility, it worked.

Using a Divine-Enchanted race like the Minor Mirror Sprite as a messenger meant she was a Chosen of the Gods—but even she wouldn't casually deploy such a strategic resource without cause.

"Looks like the pressure's manageable? No word from the great nobles or the Grand Church?" Li En said.

"The great nobles won't offend me now—everyone knows you're backed by me. And the Grand Church? They're just slacking off."

The Grand Church answers to the Great Deities, but their interests aren't identical. Devout priests may represent divine will, but the Church remains merely a mortal organization.

If Dainya were truly under pressure so severe she had to compromise, she wouldn't be communicating from so far away—she'd summon Li En directly to handle it.

The only force truly capable of interfering here is the Grand Church—but most of its members want to survive this crisis; if the Kingdom falls, their dioceses vanish too.

Some of the "shadowy hands" behind this, even if they wanted to act, knew the tide had turned—pushing back now would only make them the target, inviting public disgrace.

"Looks like losing the slaves has badly damaged the slave market—someone's panicking," Li En said.

"But the panic isn't from high enough up." Dainya in the screen took a sip of water—the expected backlash had come, but the pressure was indeed insufficient.

Someone had to be held accountable for these "slave dealings"—their livelihoods were destroyed, so they panicked. But the big bosses behind them didn't want to clash with Princess Dainya, who was currently riding high, over "such a small matter."