Chapter 66: Rhys Laval

Rhys Laval’s father died of illness when he was still a child . Due to his age at the time, he was handed over to his noble uncle to be raised since his father’s title of Baron could only be inherited when he came of age . His uncle was a typical and successful noble: while maintaining a decent façade, he was, in fact, shameless and corrupt . He lived by the aristocratic rules of the game while using various methods to win more benefits for himself .

For example, political marriage . The young Rhys Laval was engaged to a noblewoman and was brought to live in her castle; it was a dark period of time for him, after which the noblewoman died in what was said to be an accident .

In accordance with their marriage agreement, the noblewoman’s fortune was transferred to Rhys, or rather, his uncle . And as he grew older and older, the ‘accidents’ that happened around him became more frequent .

In the end, Rhys successfully came of age and inherited the Baron title, from then on, he began to distance himself from his uncle . But the fact that he lived under the shadow of his uncle couldn’t be denied, as there were clear problems with him managing his own territory .

He had already realized that there was a scheme within all of this . After all, his uncle’s men had managed his territory for so long that it wouldn’t be strange if he suddenly died in some freak accident . The fact that he was still alive right now could be attributed to the Royas invasion that drew his uncle’s attention .

Rhys had a similar personality to his uncle where they were both experts at taking advantage of the rules . This was a skill he was forced to hone for the sake of his survival as he had no one he could trust when he was young . He could only rely on the aristocratic inheritance laws to protect himself .

He had already gone through the darkest darkness, and thus desired the illuminating light, he had his own ideals . Which was why as soon as the news of the ‘Saintress of Salvation’ came out, he took this chance . Using his name as the lord of his territory, he took all the funds as well as his private army to join the march .

While he was in the military, all of his uncle’s schemes would be rendered useless, if he was able to use this opportunity well, he could even make his name be known widely and earn merits for himself .

As he looked up at the Saintress riding on her white horse, Rhys felt quite a lot of affection for her . After all, for him, the appearance of the Saintress was the same as the appearance of the light he desired . He felt as if he could feel the purity and beauty of the girl as he looked up at her .

“This girl carries the power to make others believe in her” Rhys sighed and muttered . For him who grew up without a single person he could trust, to be able to fully place his trust in another person was also a kind of happiness .

“There’s a small village up ahead, we should send some people to check it out and set up camp to rest” Rhys came up and suggested to Nala: “The situation at Colomier is urgent, but we also need to keep an eye on ourselves, otherwise the troops would not have the strength to fight when we arrive”

“Hm… Then let’s do as you said” Nala nodded . She didn’t really understand marching and commanding an army, but if she didn’t understand, she only needed to rely on someone else who did .

This man called Rhys seems trustworthy enough, let’s rely on him .

“Make sure not to bother the people of this place”

…

In a certain house within this village, a man with a plain, unassuming face abruptly opened his eyes with a fanatical look on his face . He frantically opened a drawer and dumped everything out, then ripped open the second compartment hidden under that to take out a book .

“The Lord is calling me” he muttered like a lunatic: “The Lord is calling me!!”

He gently lifted the book as if it was the most precious thing in the world, softly caressed it with his fingers before placing it down on the table .

The book was only as big as the palm of his hand with a life-like golden dragon depicted on the cover .

The man then carefully drew a dagger, cut open his palm with a dutiful and ritualistic look on his face before pressing down on the cover of the book .

His blood swiftly seeped out, causing the golden dragon to squirm, turning into thin golden tentacle threads that absorbed the red blood before plunging into the man’s hand .

…

Nala abruptly turned and looked straight up at the village ahead . Her intuitions were already sharp, but when combined with her [Respiratory Art], her senses could be considered to have reached the limit of this world . Just now, she sensed an evil and ominous presence flashing into existence within that village before it vanished again .

…

A hand covered in shimmering golden tattoos was now holding the book . The man still had the same plain face without any notable qualities, but he now carried a distinct aura, an extremely dangerous charm and charisma that could rouse both fear and attraction in a person’s heart .

The only entity in this world with this kind of aura was Negary, and this man was one of the pawns Negary had sent out during the past 7 years, the book was a communication tool that Negary had granted him .

The cover of the book was drawn using Soul’s blood . Ưhen he used his own blood to trigger it, he would be able to temporarily become the host for Soul’s blood, through which Negary could take control of his body and perform what was essentially a divine descent .

However, Soul’s blood wasn’t something that just anyone could host . After Negary’s descent, the man’s body would soon be unable to handle the Soul’s blood and become literally consumed by it . Not only did all of his pawns perfectly understand this fact, but they were completely willing to do it .

Their God would descend using their body, strip them away from their mortal coils while their souls became one with God, what a glorious thing this was .

Negary’s eyes seemed to be able to go through the wall and observe the reinforcement army .

〖 A group of rabbles 〗in just a few seconds, Negary had already given his verdict . This ‘army’ was simply a gathering of people from various forces under the lead of their so-called ‘Saintress of Salvation’ . While its morale might seem great, the management was chaotic, the staff members were too mixed, the troops clearly lacked uniform combat experience and various other issues .

If this ‘army’ actually arrived at Colomier, it would die in vain before it achieved anything that resembled ‘reinforcement’ .

〖 Then let’s train them first 〗Negary smirked as he walked towards the other side of the village with the book in his hand .

Besides summoning Negary, this book also had another use, which was to carry germs . The entire book was made from a unique material, each page contained a single type of germ or virus that could be activated via fresh blood . When used together with a certain set of knowledge, this book could create monsters for battle .

Negary left the village and walked up the side of a hill to see a number of tombstones on the other side . The dead people of the village would be buried here, and due to the war these past few years, everyone had been living in fear, combined with the aristocrat’s forced conscription and increased taxes, quite a few more people had died compared to before .

〖 Mature a bit faster, Nala 〗Negary turned to a certain page that depicted horrendous ugly monsters, their bodies were rotten, their eyes contained no emotions, essentially a group of soulless mobs .

“There are no traps in the village, I’ve already picked out a location for the army to set up camp and rest for the night” Rhys reported after scouting ahead .

“Hm . Everyone, keep up your guards! Organize personnel for the night watch among yourselves . I have a bad feeling” Nala dismounted, looked around and spoke solemnly .

As night silently fell, a rotten hand broke through the ground and a shadow had unknowingly draped over this village .