Chapter 234: The King of the Aren

There were some other things in the second half of the letter.

The Queen of Fury was by no means a fool. By inferring from the King of Violence's comment that she could use the alliance actively, she immediately understood what the king proposed or what kind of advice he offered.

"The King of Pride and the King of Envy are at war. Because of this, they won't be able to concern themselves with what's going on in the south," said Gardimundi.

Kirtimuka opened her eyes wide after grasping the true meaning of their conversation in the end.

"Are you going to join hands with the Mammon family and attack the King of Gluttony?"

The queen did not answer. She thought of the alliance for defense, not for an attack.

Gardimundi said again, "The King of Lust did not intervene in the war between the King of Pride and the King of Envy. It's highly likely that he would remain an onlooker this time again. The current turmoil could be an opportunity for us, too."

Her analysis made sense. The King of Violence's dragon legion itself was a threat to the King of Gluttony. If the Mammon troops and the queen's army were marching into his territory from the south and the west respectively, the King of Gluttony had no choice but to divide his army into three.

The queen could devise such a plan because the power of the House of Mammon was much more mighty than she thought. Although her plan was quite up in the air, she could win the war if she made the decision to act.

But that would be the first strike on her part. In other words, the Queen of Fury would start a war, something she had never thought of.

Of course, it was not the first time the queen conceived of such a plan. Although she didn't reveal it to anybody else, she considered it many times from the moment she thought about forming an alliance with the Mammon family. Besides, some of the heads of her eight clans secretly asked her to take the lead in the attack.

"Your Majesty took the lead in every battle because you wanted to minimize the damage on both sides."

Gardimundi approached the queen and knelt on the floor to talk to her at her eye level.

"It's not different. It's based on the same logic. It is clear that if you save the King of Gluttony, you will bring about a great disaster someday. At a time when the north is in turmoil, we have to stabilize the south. If you succeed, the King of Pride won't dare to invade the south even if he beat the King of Envy and took everything from him."

The queen closed her eyes. She knew what Gardimundi was talking about. Her point was reasonable and attractive.

But this would mean the start of a war. She could not make the decision to start a war by exchanging a few words with her close aides, nor she should not.

"Gardimundi."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Please ask the master of the Mammon family for a secret meeting. I want the meeting in 15 days. It would be nice if I meet him at the same place as the last one."

There was no excitement or thrill on her face anymore. Gardimundi felt heartbroken about it but nodded. Politely bowing to her, Gardimundi stood up. She threw herself out of the window and flew away.

"Kirtimuka."

Kirtimuka flinched at her calling. The queen caught her breath again. She recalled her eight clans who were on standby all the time, preparing for a possible war with the King of Pride because of the turbulence he brought about.

The queen said with a sigh, "Please summon the heads of the eight clans."

She didn't make the decision yet. She had to hear their opinions first.

Kirtimuka left the room. The Queen of Fury looked down at the clothes she stopped sewing and closed her eyes instead of holding the needle. She tried to regain her composure in the darkness.

***

"Now, calm down and listen. It would be a lot of fun if you can guess who the woman this first card symbolizes."

After telling them gently, Yustia removed the hand that was covering the card. On the card was a picture of a knight standing with his back in the twilight.

"These cards that symbolize..."

Yustia drew several cards in succession and laid them out on the desk. She presented three cards again.

"Oh my God! It's been a while since I saw this kind of card."

Catalina and Kaiwan looked tense. In particular, Catalina, who thought of 'shadow' in the knight standing with his back in the twilight, gulped because she thought it was her card.

Yustia said, "Let me give it to you straight instead of beating around the bush like the fortune-teller who thinks of it as his own monopoly. The owner of this card was born under the star of a pushover. Besides, she is under the protection of a drunken dragon. Nobody could deny it's a useless pushover. There was one among Mammon's 12 Spirits who was born with this fate."

"Are you referring to Elune?" Kaiwan immediately asked.

Catalina covered her face with both hands, about to cry.

Yustia giggled at her and continued, "That's not necessarily bad. The one who is protected by the drunk dragon is unlikely to die, even though she will suffer from distress and sadness. I would say she is very resistant to bad luck."

"Is it good for her?" Catalina asked with her ears drooping. She seemed to ask Yustia why she was teasing her.

Yustia chuckled once more and explained about the rest of the cards.

"This woman is showing her faithful love to the prince more than anyone else. If you can guess who she is, you had better be nice to her."

Having said that, Yustia glanced at Yong-ho, and Catalina flapped her tail.

"Here is the second card. Queen."

Everyone's eyes focused on Kaiwan when the woman on the card was standing with a whip.

Kaiwan thought the woman on the card was her, but she was embarrassed because of the straightforward description of her figure.

"Oh my..."

"Why?"

Kaiwan asked hurriedly because Yustia's expression was not bright.

Shaking her head violently, Yustia said, grinning at her, "I don't know who she is, but she has a crush on our prince. She is deeply loving him. She pretends to be arrogant and lofty, but she is like a very dedicated and obedient angel to the prince."

Everyone turned their eyes at Kaiwan again. She blushed.

"Oh, that's not true!" She retorted.

They responded with a gentle smile when she tried in vain to deny it.

At last, she pinched Yong-ho's waist for help.

"Now, then let's look at the third card lastly. I see this one on the card resembling our prince."

Catalina and Kaiwan, who were suffering from embarrassment, looked at the card sharply.

Even Yong-ho looked at the third card, pretty much tense this time. He could not figure out who the one on the card was.

Yustia quickly flipped the card over and placed new cards from the stack of cards in succession. She immediately interpreted without having them wait for her reply.

"It's a pure virgin. Huh huh, this girl is also born with the star of a pushover. She is also protected by a drunken dragon, but she seems to be a good friend of the first woman. In other words, the two sympathize with each other."

Catalina blinked, and Kaiwan looked at Yong-ho. However, Yong-ho was tilting his head.

Even if this woman matches the keywords of a virgin and a pushover, he could not figure out who she was.

"She is just a possibility at this point. As I said at the beginning, it is impossible to make absolute prophecy in a world where there are so many possibilities."

Yustia cleared all the cards at once then leaned her skinny figure against the back of her chair. She turned to Yong-ho and said, "I'm tired because I am talking too much after a long time. Prince, can I stop here and see you later?"

Yong-ho obtained the power of patience with her formal recognition. Since Lucia was still too weak to take over the Grand Library, he did not have much more to do here.

"Take good rest then."

"Thank you, prince."

Ophelia and Tigrius showed interest in the library's collections, but they could do it some other day. The two left the library with regret, not to mention Eligos and Skull.

Yong-ho, who looked around the library once more, was about to turn when Yustia whispered to him, "No one can predict when the storm will blow. But I don't think it's good for you to put off making Gusion your subordinate spirit too long. The Mammon family needs more power to confront the storm."

Yong-ho nodded. After bowing to her politely, he left the main library.

It wasn't just because of Yustia's advice. For the past one month and 45 days, he always stayed in the arena except when he attacked the dungeons of the King of Gluttony.

It was time for him to keep the promise he had made to Scathach.

The night had passed and the morning drew on.

He headed to the arena and faced Gusion.

***

Time passed fairly everywhere.

When the sun set and rose, another day began for everyone as always.

A war was going on in the north. The forces of the King of Pride and the King of Envy were engaged in a fierce battle every day. Outsiders criticized this battle as a boring protracted war to avoid the final showdown, which was undeniable.

Only

However, from the standpoint of those involved in the fighting, it was never a boring protracted war. When the fighting began, people died and got injured. It was true that the forces of the King of Pride won a series of battles, but that did not mean they had no casualties. A considerable number of dungeon spirits of the King of Pride were killed in action.

It was definitely the same day as always. However, when the confrontation in the morning was over, the King of Pride issued a new order. Like he did 15 days ago, the king advanced some of his troops to attack the dungeons belonging to the King of Envy.

Fighting broke out both inside and outside the dungeons. The fighting was so fierce that they wanted to behead those who ridiculed the war as a protracted confrontation. Although both sides sent only a fifteenth of their total forces, that was the only military strength that those directly engaged in the fighting could turn to. Each of their lives was at stake.

Yaksini, one of the dungeon spirits, barely breathed, falling on the ground. Covered with blood, sweat, and tears, she could not see anything before her eyes. Shouts and screams coming from everywhere deafened her ears.

Yaksini was from the clan of Yaksha, one of the eight clans under the command of the Queen of Fury. Just like her clan was treated so in the north, she was a slave.

She foamed at the mouth. She found it hard even to breathe now. She felt extreme pain in her left arm then she had no feeling in it soon. Only the pain she felt when her bones and flesh were crushed tormented her.

Screaming was continuing everywhere. Yaksini felt a strange silence amid the miserable screaming and angry shouting. Maybe this was the peculiar sensation she felt at the moment of death.