novelhk Chapter 286 The Disappearing Princess
Chapter 286 The Disappearing Princess
Claire is missing.
When Lilith called Nora back and asked her to bring people to monitor and control Claire, Claire had disappeared.
The position of palace guard is very important in itself, but that does not prevent it from being a sinecure most of the time.
As long as Claire wanted to be lazy, nothing would happen even if she drank tea and danced every day.
Besides, it is impossible for Claire to lead people to patrol the palace personally. She has already fulfilled her duties by assigning tasks every day, arranging the personnel on duty and the weapons and equipment of the palace guards.
So even though Claire had been missing for a while, the guards of the palace were still carrying out their tasks according to the plan left by Claire, and did not notice that their immediate superior was missing.
Anyway, this group of guards consisting of nobles and Augustine had long been accustomed to being lax, and they all thought that Claire was just out socializing again, and no one noticed this fact at all.
Even Augustine was in chaos over Claire's disappearance. After all, Claire controlled most of Augustine's power.
Lilith met with several representatives of the Augustine family, including eldest brother Cliff, while Nora carefully observed the expressions of these Augustines beside Lilith.
After the interview was over, Nora shook her head and sighed, “I can’t tell.”
This actually gave Lilith some kind of answer. Some people in the Augustine family might know that Claire was missing, but could Lilith directly track down the royal family with this reason?
Not to mention that Lilith couldn't explain how the information that Claire was the mole who killed Augustine III came from, Lilith now couldn't directly take action on the source of the legitimacy of her throne.
"Could it be possible that she was abducted by some force?" Lilith still had a bit of unrealistic fantasy in her heart, that her best friend might have been forced into some conspiracy and was in danger.
Nora shook her head.
Lilith's mood was very complicated. Ever since she traveled to this world, Claire had always been her solid helper and ally. Although Lilith had always kept a certain distance and suspicion from Claire after becoming queen, Lilith had never thought that it was Claire who killed Augustine III and caused the chaos.
Of course, Lilith couldn't tell the truth openly. At least she had to wait for news from the North to arrive through normal channels.
It is impossible that Claire ran away after hearing the news, unless Claire had some information channel that Lilith didn't know, which was faster than the communication machine, and she learned in advance that the Lantern Dream had completely turned to the North, and that the Governor of the North would specifically inquire about this matter, and she told Lilith about it through communication.
And from various clues, Claire had actually been missing for a long time. She even arranged many means before her disappearance to maintain the illusion that she was still in the palace.
There is no doubt that Claire left on her own for unknown reasons.
Lilith quickly took control of the somewhat chaotic situation and began to control the scope of public opinion. Internally, she directly claimed that Claire was missing and hoped that the nobles would actively provide clues. Lilith decided to temporarily pretend that she knew nothing.
At least we have to find Claire first.
At this time, Claire was hiding in the shadow of the royal capital. It was impossible for her to completely surrender to the demon clan without paying a price. In the future, Claire's communication with the demon clan would become more and more frequent. In order to completely eliminate the possibility of being discovered, Claire chose to leave the palace.
This was also the result of Claire's repeated weighing after the information from the demons arrived.
Staying in the palace would restrict one's actions and increase the risk of exposure.
Lantern Dream hadn't contacted Claire for a long time, and the previous contact was already intended to completely side with the North. Although it was unknown to what extent Lantern Dream and the North had cooperated, Claire instinctively sensed the danger, and simply took advantage of the opportunity given by the demons to completely move into the shadows.
After receiving the information that Her Majesty the Queen had performed a miracle at the event today, Claire snorted coldly. She didn't expect that her best friend had been playing the pig and eating the tiger. She really underestimated her.
But it doesn’t matter, as long as the demons launch an attack, everything will be fine.
So what are the demons doing at this time?
The demon king Antipas is hosting a banquet in his palace in the eternal frozen land with guests from another continent.
"It is thanks to our guests from Avar that the research is progressing so smoothly."
The guest, Altaïr from the Avar Kingdom, was sitting uncomfortably, responding to the demons' praise while socializing.
He had never expected that the first group to gather all the materials for casting super-level magic would be the demons. But when this group of demons gathered all the materials for casting super-level magic, Altaïr felt inexplicably worried.
Not only did the demons gather all the materials and hire Oris, a high-level professional from the Avar Kingdom, they had even agreed to Altaïr's request to give the Avar Kingdom a piece of land after the war began, and even promised a landing site as long as they could take it.
But the demons also have conditions. They added strange flesh and blood to the materials for casting super-level magic.
Even Altaïr and Oris, the high-level professional in charge of performing super-level magic, had to admit that the Demon King Antipas was an absolute genius, a rare talent even among humans. Not only did he reach the threshold of super-level magic in a short period of time and achieve a breakthrough, he even incorporated the demon specialties, that is, strange flesh and blood, into the super-level magic.
Originally, Altaïr wanted to refuse. Super-level magic was so sophisticated and complex that adding one more material would likely cause the entire casting process to collapse. However, the demons gave too much, and this was the first breakthrough on this continent. The news from the Avar Kingdom was that all the needs of the demon king would be met.
Moreover, after experiments, it was found that those strange flesh and blood not only would not cause any fatal impact on super-level magic, but would increase the range and power of super-level magic.
However, all of this is still an experiment and has not been put into practice yet. No one knows what will happen when this flesh and blood is integrated into the super-level magic.
At least neither Altaïr nor that Oris knew.
Compared to Altaïr's nervousness, Oris was much more relaxed. He was very interested in the twisted flesh and blood. Unfortunately, the Demon Lord had very strict control in this regard. Oris tried some tricks but failed to get the flesh and blood.
After all, Oris himself is a scholar-type professional, and he is quite specialized. He is a high-level professional who is specialized in performing super-level magic.
"Your Majesty, we are about to begin performing super-level magic, but before that I have a question that I'm not sure if I should ask you."
Antipas listened to Oris's question with a smile on his face and said, "Since we are already half allies, there is nothing to say. If you have any questions, Lord Oris can just ask directly."
Oris nodded and asked, "I heard that the North is probably the Demon King's greatest enemy. Why didn't you cast the super-level magic directly on the North this time, but instead sent it to Capet's East?"
After hearing this, Antipas smiled bitterly and asked, "You are a human, so you may not understand how harsh the North has been on us demons. We demons are not even allowed to enter the North to do normal business. Under such strict defense, even if we use super-level magic, we can only attack the other side's border."
"The North is vast and sparsely populated, but the governor has under his command giant steel beasts that can travel a thousand miles a day. Our super-level magic will not kill many people, but will allow the enemy to quickly gather and start a counterattack."
It's not that Antipas had not thought about using super-level magic to fight the North to the death, but super-level magic is not very flexible, and it consumes a lot of energy, and the effect is unknown. Not to mention how effective it would be on the North, Antipas doesn't want to fight a life-and-death battle with the terrifying North now, and he believes that the North doesn't want to do that either.
Then, the proposal of the princess in the capital of Capet is worthy of reference. All tactics should be changed. As long as the tactics of the demons can succeed, they can work together with the North and Anjou to divide Capet.
War is the continuation of politics, and politics can be used to exchange interests. By then, the demons will get the rich territory of the East, the North will recover the lost land outside Duanxue Territory, and Anjou will get the southwest border. As for the crazy princess? She can stay and be a puppet to help the demons better control the human areas.
After all, the princess only wanted to sit in that position, and being a puppet didn’t matter to her. As she herself said, she was a very useful banner, the banner of Augustine orthodoxy.