34. Planning.

"That's because someone doesn't want us to remember them."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Jarvis. Don't you find it strange that so many healers lost their lives at the exact same period the dungeon illness began to spread within the kingdom?"

"I'm confused, young master. Wasn't it the illness that killed most of the healers in the city?"

"It was the demons," Lilith replied and then added. "With the kingdom's attention focused on the war against the western kingdom, no one would suspect the demons slowly taking out the healers."

Jarvis mulled over what Lilith said. He was able to understand the point she made but he still didn't understand something.

"I understand what you mean, but how? How are the demons able to make so many people forget the names of not one but two deities?" Jarvis directed his question at Orion.

"They have to be using a demonic artifact for that. It must have been an artifact given to them by their gods to weaken ours, in order to make it easier for the demons to invade the Kingdom."

Hearing this, Jarvis rubbed his forehead as he could feel a headache coming on.

It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since Orion explained what the illness plaguing the kingdom was called and how it came to spread throughout the kingdom as well.

Now, it seemed they didn't only have to worry about the nobles causing a revolt or the upcoming war with the Western kingdom, but they also had to be wary of demons invading the kingdom as well as the demonic gods the demons worshiped.

'It's a good thing I'm not an old man yet. I doubt the heart of an old man could handle everything I've heard so far,' Jarvis said in his thoughts before turning towards Orion.

"Young master, if what you're saying is the truth, is there a way we can find this artifact?"

"There should be a way. I believe the artifact will be kept in a place where it would be difficult for us to find. The demons are smart, they would probably leave some spies to monitor the artifact."

"If there are demonic spies in the city, wouldn't it be difficult for us to fish them out? Moreover, they would probably be really strong as well."

"You are right about the demon spies being difficult to differentiate from humans, but I doubt the demons in the city will be stronger than a first-order mage."

"Why would you say that?" Lilith asked.

"In a way, demons are just like we humans. No demon in a position of power would want to carry out a meager task like spying on a group of weak species like us. They would rather order their subordinates into doing it for them."

"Okay, but is there really no way for us to find these spies and the artifact?" Jarvis asked and everyone remained silent as they thought about a way to find both the spies and the artifact.

"I think we can force them out of their hiding place if I cast an illusion spell," Lilith came up with a suggestion.

Lilith's suggestion piqued Orion's interest and so he asked. "An illusion spell? What do you have in mind?"

"I can cast a spell to create a false demonic heart core in a secluded spot where they would then be ambushed."

Unlike the beast core and mana core which were present in magical beasts and cultivators respectively, a demonic heart core was highly coveted in the demon realm, especially if it belonged to a member of a demonic royal family.

Demon heart cores belonging to the royal families were capable of empowering even the weakest demons in the demon realm, moreover, the stronger the demonic bloodline, the stronger the demon heart core.

Lilith hoped she could create an illusion of a really strong demon heart core which would be used to attract a lot of demons.

Orion smiled knowing it was a really good plan. "Very well, we will discuss more about this later. So Jarvis, tell me, what are the things you said you noticed about the bandits?" Orion asked as he decided to take a seat on the stone bench in the courtyard.

He patted two spots beside him for both Lilith and Jarvis and the two of them nodded their heads in understanding before sitting beside him; with Jarvis seated on Orion's left while Lilith sat on his right.

After watching Lilith take her seat on his right, Orion placed his hand over Lilith's hand before lacing his fingers with hers, causing his beautiful maid to blush deeply at the knowledge that Jarvis could see what Orion was doing.

Meanwhile, Jarvis wasn't bothered by this. Anyone who had seen the crimson-haired maid with her master would easily know that Lilith was deeply in love with her master, from how she blushed a lot whenever she was standing beside him or simply just talking to him.

Moreover, it wasn't unusual to see kings sleeping with their maids as concubines.

"The capital has been completely overrun by bandits," Jarvis began to explain. "They call themselves the Red Vipers and they've taken control of the city gate, the Eastern gate, and the Western gate."

In the Hearthstone kingdom, there were five cities. Out of these five cities, the King's castle was located in the capital city and the capital had three different gates through which anyone could enter or leave the city.

"Merchants and traders have been forced to pay taxes to these bandits," Jarvis continued to explain. "The bandits are also extorting protection money from the merchants, and now, we are no longer receiving any goods from the Eastern kingdom."

All of the guilds built in the city and the kingdom at large were because of the Eastern kingdom, but since the bandits had killed the branch leaders of the adventurer's guild and merchant guild, the Eastern kingdom had decided to stop conducting business with the Southern kingdom.

This caused a huge detriment to the Hearthstone kingdom because the Southern kingdom had been heavily reliant on the Eastern kingdom for their survival for years.