Chapter 114: Chapter 114
In the shadows, Jino rotated his arm, his face twisted into a grim smile like a malicious demon:
"The 22nd one, quite a number, huh? Last year, I didn't kill as many exemplar-level targets as I did tonight. It's a shame you're much weaker than your boss..." Get full chapters from Nov3lFɪre.ɴet
Jino glanced at the freshly slain Druid clutched in his hand.
Although he was also a level 20 professional, Jino took less than half a minute from initiating to executing.
He couldn't even allow this espionage leader to send a warning to his subordinates.
"Tsk tsk, still tainted by abyssal forces, this bunch of long-eared creatures really fear any blame landing on themselves, huh."
"003, I'll trouble you to extract information from this guy."
In the shadows at the corner of the Imperial Palace wall, a mass of ink-like liquid spurted out like a fountain.
A Secret Guard dressed in night attire stepped out.
"Lord Jino, they're terrifying, one more formidable than the next. Watching them from the shadow plane made me afraid to step in."
Jino just wanted to spit.
Afraid to take action?
When you kicked that level 18 Druid out of the shadow plane, he hadn't even snapped back to reality.
"One good scare per foot, one level eighteen per kick," right?
Where did you learn that Louis trait?
Alright, now it's even hard to criticize that brat Louis.
After all, Rein was saved by that kid too.
It's quite a debt of gratitude.
Now, it's not even appropriate to ask Her Highness Olivia for overtime pay.
Luckily, these spies arrived at the perfect time.
Tonight, he eliminated 22 spies from the Abyssal Church and the Supreme Forest, all exemplars of high quality.
It seems Beatrice on that side won't be stingy with rewards.
Just thinking about his son's mess with the Charming Street beauty makes his face even darker.
Especially considering he needs to redeem that boy's beauty and, once she's home, worry about the housing situation for his eldest son and his other half.
Damn, the housing prices in Tino City are so high, even thinking about it makes his forehead twitch.
Under the Emperor's foot, it's too safe, attracting numerous commerce guilds to set their headquarters in Tino City.
If it were normal times, Jino's salary wouldn't trouble him with housing concerns.
But now he is at the legendary breakthrough!
This journey requires a massive resource consumption, and although the royal family covers most of it, it's a considerably large number.
His savings from the first half of his life have basically all gone into it.
Plus, his youngest son has already been born.
You need money for milk.
You need resources to lay the foundation.
Future educational expenses can't be ignored, right?
What about the housing problem?
The custom-made carriage?
The equipment a professional needs?
Don't we have to account for each one?
If not for bumping into so many monetary issues, why would he covet Her Highness Olivia's piggy bank?
Disgraceful! What a disgrace!
Jino's face showed a subtle expression.
The one closest to him, who could be considered wealthy, isn't there still another one?
"See what can be traded with that boy, but I've promised that boy a full disclosure; backing out now to charge more seems not quite right."
"Is there something valuable from that boy I can exchange for Gold Coins, but something I don't need immediately?"
Involuntarily, Jino recalled the family secret skill he'd half-tricked, half-coerced from Marquis York.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
That kid's skilled with the sling, and the lightning throw technique would be an irresistible temptation for him.
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Jino's face.
Instead of wishing for the Second Princess's yet unopened independent treasury, why not seek out a true wealthy patron and see if there's an opportunity to earn some money?
Nearby, 003 who had just finished reading the residual information from the espionage leader's brain, looked at Captain Jino smiling wildly, not like a good person, couldn't help but mutter:
"Which unlucky sod has Jino set his sights on now?"
Only Jino hadn't pondered a question.
The possibility of getting Gold Coins from [Sin of Greed] is likely lower than his chance of asking for a third child next year.
Because… that's greed indeed!
[Location: Prince's Mansion · Bedroom]
Louis finally finished reading the diary.
He finally understood a point: that all these forces on the Star Continent are a bunch of old Silver Coins.
Such schemes within schemes are just like a sow with a bra, one set after another.
Especially learning he was nearly plotted against with high-level abyssal magic, cold sweat drenched him.
He constantly shouted "this world's heroes are like carp crossing the river," but that doesn't mean he wants to emulate Great Love Celestial Venerable and have Bai Ningbing clear hundreds of years of experience bars with a single stroke.
However, he didn't quite understand why such high-level abyssal curse magic had no effect on him.
He could only interpret it as, when Beatrice detected something wrong, she set up arrangements on his side in the brief time following the diary update.
This diary refresh altered the IF line of future diaries once again.
The original outcome of "raising the battle flag and declaring war on the world" changed as well.
This time, under Louis's guidance, Ense achieved strategic cooperation with the neighboring Tunisian Republic.
The two sides linked markets and began to jointly initiate counterattacks against the Supreme Forest, Am Empire, and other forces.
In the process, Louis transformed into Mayer the merchant, leading an industrial revolution from the bottom up.
[King of Fury] Wraith and his tribe didn't even have time to confront Louis before being crushed by Tunisia's industrial revolution.
It was the tide of the era that destroyed the King of Fury's legion.
With the legion's fury gone, facing him ready for battle, nothing could be anything but shattered.
Moreover, he rose to be a guest among the upper echelons of Tunisia as Mayer Morgan Rockefeller.
In the 25th year after Louis's rebirth.
The Master of the Dungeon, Demon King Helmer, led his army of monsters to launch a counterattack on the Star Continent.
Nearly half of the continent's nations were dragged into this war.
Ultimately, this war unleashed an ancient disaster deep beneath the Enoak Desert.
The Supreme Forest and Dragon Empire fell into bitter battles.
During this period, on the northern coast of the Fallen Star Sea in the Ense Empire, traces of demons walking amongst humans were discovered.
After several investigations, it was found that the Pirate Islands in the central Fallen Star Sea had become breeding grounds for demons.
The Star Continent, caught in the flames of war, was left with little room to resist, ultimately watching the demon and dungeon monsters expand without ability to fight back.
So, on a certain day in the 27th year after rebirth, united under the Ense Empire and Tunisian Republic, they could not stop the apocalypse army.
Ultimately, to combat the abyss, he still initiated the Curse Binding Legion on this timeline.
The immortal legion successfully slew Demon King Helmer and the Abyssal Demon Army and re-banished the ancient disaster released beneath the desert back underground.
Fortunately, this time he at least managed to save Beatrice.
But what gave him headaches was that the little swan, head maid, and his dumb Iron Guard all perished, forcing him to transform them into curse spirits.
In this grand-scale war, Louis noticed a special character repeatedly mentioned by his future self.
Libra Saintess Grace.
In this timeline, Grace organized the Salvation Army and began firefighting across the continent.
Even assisting Louis in killing Demon King Helmer and repelling the Abyssal Legion, achieving an improbable reversal.
Louis's initial reaction to seeing Grace was "Damn, why's that white-haired red-eyed stinky saintess back again."
And started suspecting this chick again wants to tear him apart.
But the diary quickly proved that he wasn't Tueyk the Villain; without special reason, Grace wouldn't come for him and could even turn into his ally.
Honestly, he felt a headache.
He was consciously avoiding Grace.
After slightly "bullying" Grace regarding a matter of crawling to save his father, he didn't want further entanglement with her.
Not that he hated her, but the sheer concentration of God of Glory's blessing around this future saintess was too intense.
Even being close made Louis feel like approaching a blazing furnace.
But now it seems, maybe nurturing Grace ahead of time is beneficial to that future battle?
Just as he was contemplating this, William knocked at the door:
"Your Highness, Lord Beatrice invites you to the Imperial Palace."