"Your highness, I am afraid this might not be a simple one-time occurrence," Liam explained. He spoke as if it really pained him to see all the people getting hurt.
The King as well heard him out patiently and did not interrupt or shut him up. This was how he knew that he was going on the right track.
And after listening to everything he had to say, the King finally spoke up. "You are right. This is indeed not a one-time occurrence, but rest assured."
"Our Kingdom along with the divine temple's help is dealing with these horrendous demons. You have nothing to worry about."
"Thank you, your highness. We are all very grateful for your assistance." Liam quickly revealed a happy expression, but he still looked a bit reluctant.
"Your highness… that…"
"What? Speak up."
"As a Duke serving under your highness, I really wish to help with this issue as well. Is there anything I can personally do to mitigate this problem?" Liam sincerely asked.
But the other party did not look convinced. "I am impressed with your dedication. However, there is no need for you to worry about that."
Damn it. This guy is really stubborn for someone who looks naive.
It was abundantly clear to Liam that no matter how much he buttered the King up, he was not going to give up the goods.
He now had no other choice but to greet him again and leave. However, Liam had another idea. Where flattery did not work… perhaps the reverse worked?
"Please forgive me, your highness. I did not mean to pry for the royal secrets. If your highness says that you have this matter handled, I have complete and utter faith in your words. But…"
"What but?"
"Your highness… how should I say this?" Liam purposefully beat around the bush.
"What? Speak up!" A small frown appeared on the delicate King's face.
"Your highness… I heard some noblemen discussing how…"
"How? Just spit it out!"
"Your highness… please forgive me. This is just what I heard. Some noblemen in the tavern I visited yesterday were questioning the moves of his highness."
"This is also how I came to know about the demon attacks."
The trap was now laid and Liam hesitantly looked up to see if the mouse took the bait or not.
And just like he thought… the King was visibly angry!
He gritted his teeth, somehow looking even more beautiful when angry and mumbled. "What else did you hear?"
"Ummm… Please forgive me, your highness. I actually did not hear anything after that. I was not able to rest idly when those people were bad-mouthing and questioning your capabilities."
"So I strictly warned them and left the establishment in anger. Please forgive me. In hindsight, perhaps I should have stayed back and gathered more information about their whereabouts."
Liam shamelessly spun a whole web of lies and luckily for him, the other party was very gullible.
"Hmmm. It's fine. It looks like I need to remind everyone about some things."
Seeing that the King was absent-mindedly looking somewhere else no longer talking to him, Liam slowly turned around and pretended to leave.
However, just as he was about to leave the chamber, the call that he expected arrived.
"Wait a second."
"Your highness?"
"You said that you wanted to help, right?"
"Yes, your highness. It would be an honor to serve you."
"Mmm. Since you are a Duke of our Kingdom and you also seem capable, perhaps there would be no harm in assigning you to the task as well."
"In this way, if one of you failed, the other person will at least succeed."
"Yes, your highness. I will try my best to not let you down."
"Alright. Enough talking. Let me explain what you need to do briefly. Just like the enchantress, the recent activity of dark mages in our midst has increased."
"I want you to locate one of the camps and bring me back some hints so that we can find out what they are up to."
[Ding. New Quest available]
[Ding. Kingdom Quest - Retrieve the remains of dark mages]
[Ding. Reward - Trust of the King]
'Oh, so this bastard still doesn't trust me?' Liam smirked but he quickly accepted the quest. He once again turned to leave but instead, he stopped.
Dark mages?
Remains?
Don't I already have it?
He quickly stuck his hand into the inventory and took out one single black pearl. This was the same black pearl he had gotten after raiding the few dark mage conclaves.
He had a few more of these inside his inventory but he didn't take out all the pearls and only picked out one.
After all, he still hadn't gotten them inspected and he did not want to lose something valuable.
But this single pearl was enough to baffle the young King.
"You already have this? How! Explain yourself!"
"Yes, your highness. In one of my many adventures, I came across a group of people who were sacrificing small children."
"Of course, as soon as I saw that, I barged in and rescued those children. This pearl is something I obtained from the people in black cloaks who had fought with me."
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
"Bravo! Bravo! Don't keep my earlier words in mind. You are indeed someone who has done tremendous service to this Kingdom."
"You are more than capable of assisting me in this holy mission and perhaps with your help, our Kingdom might just be completely saved."
[Ding. Quest completed]
[Ding. You have gained 50,000 experience points]
[Ding. You have earned the trust of the King]
Liam looked at all the notifications and chuckled inwardly. This had to be his fastest quest completion rate. He was glad that everything was working in his favor.
But the next part was the most crucial one. Was it possible for him to get the same questline Kouske got?
If he was not wrong, that should be the main questline that led right to the necromancy inheritance.
However, it was impossible for two people to get the same inheritance quest. At least something like that had never happened in his previous timeline.
But perhaps there was a first time for everything?
This was exactly why he was also standing here and trying to curry this girlish King's favor using all sorts of tactics and everything was working in his favor so far.
Liam nervously waited for the final verdict and the King as well opened his mouth. "Hmmm. Let me think about this. We have to strategically move in order to cover all possibilities."
"I sent the other hero to face the Necromancer's hideout in the borders of our Kingdom and the Thunderbolt Kingdom."
"But… lately… there are also movements in the west. Perhaps you should investigate the village in the far south where several people have been inexplicably falling sick lately."
Bingo! Liam clenched his fists in excitement. Here it was finally!
[Ding. New Quest available]
[Ding. Kingdom Quest - Investigate the village Jekuja and find out why the inhabitants are falling sick.]
[Ding. Reward - Permission from the King to set up your estate]
[Ding. Do you wish to accept the quest? Y/N]
Liam quickly accepted the quest and then bowed and walked out of the King's chambers. He looked like an extremely excited servant who couldn't wait to fulfill his master's orders.
But in reality, Liam couldn't care less about the quest that he had actually received. Instead, he was more interested in the other quest the King had mentioned.
"Hmmm… Borders of Gresh and Thunderbolt is it… that clue is more than enough for me…"
His only concern was whether Kouske got to it or not. If he had already gotten to it, then there would be nothing he could do about it.
But if he had still not gotten to it… then perhaps…
Liam grinned. The chances for this to happen was quite high. Borders of the Kingdoms were usually 50 to 60 zones.
And too inheritance quests were difficult.
So if it was someone who liked to play it safe, they would only attempt it at 55 or 60.
Considering all this, maybe Kouske was grinding in the nether realm invasion missions just to level up fast?
Now that Liam had that small hint about the quest Kouske received, he was easily able to connect many dots and get an overall understanding.
There was an extremely high possibility that he had not gotten to the quest yet.
This was now officially a race. Whoever reaches 50 first would grab the inheritance!
Liam quickly opened the leaderboard and saw that Kouske was only at 34 while Liam was already at 40.
However, he couldn't be careless just because he had this small head start because every level above 40 required a lot of experience points.
So there was quite a bit of work left to be done.
"I should thank Shen Yue. This is all because of her luck and her unique quest." He chuckled and then left the royal castle.
It was time to head back to the nether realm and grind there until he hit Level 50.
Meanwhile… not long after he left the castle grounds…
The young King stood up. He looked around and made sure that no one was present, not even the personal royal guard.
The King then removed the crown that looked unnecessarily big and heavy and tossed it aside like it was a trinket.
Immediately long cascading auburn hair fell down to the waist, dancing and twirling around. He or rather she then flopped onto the couch unceremoniously.
She took a cloth nearby and rubbed her face, removing all the makeup that was smeared on.
When all the layers were completely removed, underneath everything, there was a face that could topple nations and drive men crazy.
And if Liam was there to see this person, he would have definitely been surprised because the woman bore a striking resemblance to the enchantress whom he had just killed.
In fact, the woman in front of him was several times even more seductive than the enchantress.. However, instead of the raw sexual allure, there was playful innocence and kindness.
