Envoy from the Royal Capital

The scene changed.

It had been nearly a week since Ayanokouji arrived at the mansion. Roswaal and Ram hadn't returned since they entered the Sanctuary. This made Emilia and Rem a bit worried as they couldn't contact Roswaal now.

Even though it would take some time to calm the villagers, theoretically, it should only take one or two days. Emilia even thought that if Roswaal and the others didn't return in the next few days, she would have to go to the Sanctuary herself.

As for Ayanokouji, he was a bit curious. He learned from Rem that Ram and Roswaal hurriedly left the house in the middle of the night and took the villagers to the Sanctuary.

Although the village was severely damaged, with Roswaal's abilities, it wouldn't be difficult to build temporary housing, or as a landlord, it wouldn't be impossible to order some villagers into a room. Their arduous relocation method was a bit excessive.

And the sudden relocation in the middle of the night, as if there were no plans at all, was a temporary decision, making him a bit curious. Could it be that Roswaal suddenly received orders from someone—or specific instructions?

However, there was no evidence for this yet, and it had only been a few days, so he still needed to continue observing.

Early in the morning, Ayanokouji was reading in his room, studying historical information about witches. At this moment, he heard the sound of wheels turning outside, a carriage heading toward the mansion. Judging by the mode of transportation, it was clear that the visitor had a very prominent status.

At that moment, there was a light knock on the door, and then Emilia entered the room: "Ayanokouji, the royal envoy is here. Would you come with me to meet them?"

"Yes." Ayanokouji didn't hesitate and immediately nodded.

He certainly couldn't miss the opportunity to meet with the royal envoy. He could use this chance to learn about the kingdom.

The two of them came to the courtyard together, and they both got off the dragon carriage.

The first person was an old man who seemed to be over fifty years old. His hair and beard had turned white, but his body was very strong, and his movements were full of the grace of an old man.

The other person appeared to be a woman—in fact, he was a man who was far prettier and more delicate than an ordinary woman. He had animal ears on his head, indicating his non-human identity, and he wore a blue and white long dress, with a large bow tied at the back, looking like a blooming flower, and wore blue and white striped knee-high socks on his legs, appearing much more feminine.

"Hello, Emilia-sama, apologies for disturbing you. I am Felix, an envoy from the royal capital. You can just call me Felix, nyaaa."

Accompanied by an odd speaking habit, the person who called himself Felix looked like a cute kitten in every movement.

"I have long admired Felix's name!" Emilia immediately said respectfully after learning the other party's identity, then turned to Ayanokouji and introduced, "Felix Argyle, a leading healing magic user in the Kingdom of Lugnica, and the youngest successor of the highest title of Blue healer."

Ayanokouji was observing the other party closely. From Emilia's appearance, Felix undoubtedly had a certain status in the royal capital, and from his words, it was clear that Felix possessed very strong healing magic, indicating that he had great value for utilization.

He turned to the old man beside him, and their eyes met at that moment. Ayanokouji could feel that the other party's eyes were like an eagle staring at a wolf, appearing cautious. Judging from his body shape and posture, this person had clearly undergone very rigorous training, and he was undoubtedly a strong warrior.

This made Ayanokouji guess that the old man wasn't an ordinary butler but rather Wilhelm Van Astrea, known as the Sword Demon.

"Haha, that's just an alias!" Felix said with a smile, diverting his gaze and directing his playful look at Ayanokouji, "Who is this?"

"This is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, my supporter." Emilia immediately introduced.

"This is our first meeting; please give me your guidance." Ayanokouji replied.

"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka? I haven't heard of that noble name, nya." Felix looked at him with interest and sniffed him a few times.

"Please come in, Felix!" Emilia said enthusiastically.

The camera shifted, and Emilia and Ayanokouji led Felix to the living room. Rem and Frederica promptly prepared tea and snacks for them.

"Roswaal-sama isn't at the mansion?" Felix asked curiously.

"Roswaal is out on some business recently and might not be able to return for now." Ayanokouji said slowly.

"I see, nya." Felix nodded and continued, "There is a very important summons from the royal capital, asking all the throne candidates to go to the palace for a very important meeting."

"All the throne candidates meeting?" Emilia was slightly surprised upon hearing this, "Did something happen?"

"Sorry, I don't know, nyaaa. Maybe they are letting all the throne candidates hold a banquet together!" Felix stuck out his tongue, jokingly.

Ayanokouji was deep in thought. He knew that although the identities of the four throne candidates had been announced, the position of king hadn't officially started.

He guessed that this summons was most likely to officially start the throne struggle. After all, the Sage Association could only play an acting role in managing the kingdom, not the actual king, and it was very likely that unexpected situations would occur.

If this was the case, he had to pave the way for Emilia first.

"So I am ready to say goodbye, nyaaa." Felix said with a smile, standing up from his seat, "Thank you for your warm hospitality!"

"You're welcome, Felix." Ayanokouji also stood up and said, "But do you know the recent trends of the Witch Cult?"

"The Witch Cult?"

Felix's expression gradually became a bit serious, "The madmen from the Witch Cult are everywhere, and we haven't been able to find their whereabouts, but why are you suddenly asking about the Witch Cult?"

His eyes were full of disgust towards the Witch Cult. He had saved many people and sent people on their final journeys, so he had very serious views on life and death, and greatly despised the Witch Cult, who treated lives as trivial.

"Because the Witch Cult members infiltrated our territory a few days ago." Ayanokouji continued, "They targeted Emilia and prepared to attack the village and even destroy the forest barrier, releasing Demon Beasts to attack the village, causing very serious damage—but before they could act, we thwarted their plan."

Ayanokouji narrated all the events of destroying the barrier and using Meili's abilities to attract the Demon Beasts to the Witch Cult.

"The Witch Cult invaded the village?!" Felix's eyes widened in surprise, and the cat ears on his head stood high.

"Yes, their number exceeded a hundred, but under Emilia-sama's command, we managed to thwart their plan and eliminate the Sin Archbishop of Sloth." Ayanokouji said calmly.

Emilia's eyes widened in surprise. This action was essentially directed by Ayanokouji. She hadn't made any decisions, but he gave all the credit to her.

Not only that, she hadn't seen the Sin Archbishop of Sloth at all; she thought these people were just a group of ordinary believers.

Ayanokouji took out a Gospel: "After being verified by Betty, it was confirmed that this is the Gospel of the Sin Archbishop of Sloth, Petelgeuse. He should have been involved in the explosion of the fire magic stone and died."

"Did you really eliminate the Sin Archbishop of Sloth? This is indeed an incredible achievement!" A joyful smile appeared on Felix's face, "I will report this matter to the Sage Council later! The Sin Archbishop of Sloth is the most famous person in the Witch Cult!"

Seeing the smile on Felix's face, Ayanokouji squinted his eyes slightly. He only wanted to use Felix to give credit to Emilia for eliminating the Sin Archbishop of Sloth and then let Felix convey this information to the palace so that Emilia's influence in the kingdom could be enhanced.

"Then Felix will retire first!" Felix bowed deeply to Ayanokouji and Emilia, then left the mansion and returned to the dragon carriage. Following the movement of the dragon carriage, Felix and Wilhelm also left the mansion.

"What do you think of the person named Ayanokouji Kiyotaka?" Felix sat in the dragon carriage and asked Wilhelm, who was driving the dragon carriage.

"I don't know; I'm just a bit concerned about the boy's eyes." Wilhelm said slowly.

"Eyes?"

"Yes… The boy's eyes are different from others… When I look at him, it feels like looking into a black hole, just nothingness." Wilhelm said slowly, frowning slightly, "It's not the look a young man should have at all."

"Since even Wilhelm Van Astrea says this, it seems this boy is no ordinary person." Felix responded with a smile.

"How about you, Felix? Your intuition must be very sharp. Do you feel anything special about the boy named Ayanokouji Kiyotaka?" Wilhelm asked.

"I don't feel anything." Felix shook his head, "Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is the second person who makes me feel nothing."

"No matter what, I just hope he isn't an enemy of Crusch-sama."

The scene changed. After Felix left the mansion, Ayanokouji asked Emilia for more information about Felix. From her, he learned that Felix was the head knight of Crusch, another throne candidate.

Upon hearing this information, he began to think. He knew that Crusch was the one with the greatest chance of winning among the throne candidates. Ayanokouji was very curious about Crusch. If conditions allowed, he could choose to back Crusch or even directly join the opposing camp.

However, if that didn't work, Crusch would be one of his biggest obstacles and would need to be eliminated.

Felix's strength and abilities were unique. It would be even better if there was an opportunity to pull him into his camp and use him as a tool.

But this was all for later. Ayanokouji now needed to gather information about the other throne candidates as soon as possible, and this trip to the royal capital would be a very good opportunity.

"Although Roswaal isn't here, we should prepare for the summons to go to the royal capital first. I'll leave a letter for him. If he returns during this period, he should be able to read it." Said Ayanokouji.

"By the way, Emilia, why did you go to the Royal Capital last time?" He asked.

It was in the Royal Capital that he first met Emilia.

"Roswaal and I tried to lobby various nobles to win them over to our camp, but the results were unsatisfactory... After all, because of my identity..." Emilia lowered her head slightly.