“So let me get this straight, you want us to work as your army? Are we lowly mercenaries for you to call upon?”

“Hey, I didn’t say that, it’s more of a symbiotic exchange don’t you think? You will get your holy relic when the mission is complete. I helped you with your sword already, I think that should be enough to prove that I’m an ally.”

“I’ll be the judge of that, it is true that you have helped us in the past but…”

“What, you still don’t trust me? Well, I can’t do anything about that part but one thing is clear, you need this aegis and I have it, so do we have a deal or not?”

Lucius looked at Zhang Dong with a scoffing gaze. It was clear that the knight commander didn’t want to take on this mission but also couldn’t refuse it. His whole purpose for being here was to get the holy relics and this was a chance to get them. Zhang Dong wasn’t sure but he was expecting Lucius to be rewarded handsomely if he returned home with the divine items. Perhaps the sword had already been moved to the magical kingdom as he couldn’t feel its presence anywhere. However, it also could be inside this sword monument as he couldn’t peer through it.

“Lord Lucius, Lord Dong has been an honorable ally, I think we can trust him on this matter.”

“Hmph… very well.”

“Haha, I knew you’d see it my way but don’t worry, my forces and my other allies will do the bulk of the fighting, you will just act as a distraction to spread out their forces, it should be an easy task to perform for your warriors. However, we don’t need to rush things yet I still have to talk with my allies so this could take some time. Don’t worry, your relic is in a safe location.”

He wasn’t quite sure what his plan for the future would be just yet. The Heavenly Crane Sect still needed to give him an answer to his call and what the Emerald Phoenix Empire would do was still up in the air. For all he knew, they could decide to go into a more defensive battle and bunker up in the lands they already captured.

This would probably be a better solution when going up against forces they didn’t have much information on. His army of robotic angels was going around the less-defended cities and slowly liberating everyone that was still alive there. This did give the Heavenly Crane Sect some incentive to make a move as it would look bad on their side if someone else was doing the liberating.

“At a safe location? What will happen to the relic if something happens to you?”

“Don’t worry about it as long as my sect is in place, someone will know the location to your treasure”

“Hm… You leave me no choice but remember this, if you betray our trust and fail to relinquish the treasure…”

“Haha, don’t worry I don’t want to have you guys as enemies, have a little trust in people, otherwise you might get some hemorrhoids.”

“H… hemorrhoids?”

“Yeah, How will you find a good woman if you got those Lucius?”

Zhang Dong could see Lucius getting red in the face and the other golden knights being taken aback by what he had said. It was strange for them to see someone talking to their glorious leader in such a way without any reservation even more when the topic was his behind.

‘Hm… does he really have hemorrhoids? Their reaction is a bit strange.’

The soldiers were whispering to each other as if Zhang Dong had discovered a secret that their commander was trying to hide.

“Wait, do you actually have hemorrhoids? If you need some help, I could make you some ointment, it should get rid of them within a few days if you apply it directly or I could make a pill but that one would have to be inserted a bit further in.”

“... Further in…”

“Yeah, it’s not that big so you shouldn’t feel a thing, I gave it to my grandfather and it worked wonders, he was like a new man!”

“S… stop spouting nonsense!”

Finally, Lucius had enough of it and even went for his sword. The other knights backed off as if he hit a nerve. Zhang Dong knew that it was probably better to distance himself from this group but even he had trouble in holding his laughter in.

“Well, I have some things to do, I’ll get back to you after I have everything figured out…How about you show me out, Argus?”

“Y-yes, that might be a good idea, please follow me.”

While flying away he could see Lucius waking up from being stunlocked by the conversation and shaking his fist at him in anger. Luckily some of the golden knights managed to hold him back before he could embarrass himself even more.

“Hey Argus, I’ll send you over that ointment, give my regards to Lucius.”

“Maybe that’s not such a good idea…”

The old man gave out a cough while flying through the air. Just as fast as he arrived at the white palace, he was already leaving. This was enough to get an idea about the defenses that this place had as well as the other six remaining palaces that were mostly empty. They had some servants and silver knights here and there but no leaders.

‘I should probably get everything sorted out before they decide to call for backup. If the Emerald Phoenix Emperor and the Cerulean Empress are gone, even if their King appears it shouldn’t be an issue anymore.’

His power continued to grow while his enemies remained stagnant. If this continued he didn’t see a way of losing this scenario, that is if the Overseer didn’t get involved. That was always the dark horse in this situation and something he was trying to avoid. The contact with his brother was nonexistent. He had no idea what would happen after everything was over, perhaps his brother would be the actual end boss of everything and for that occasion, he also needed to prepare.

“Lord Dong, are you busy? I still have to return that book that you lent me, why don’t you join me in my tower first?”

“You have your own tower?”

“Yes, it might not look like it but I’m part of this circle of wizards that is renowned in our country.”

“Sure, lead the way, I have a moment.”

While he could just teleport away, it wasn’t bad to know Argus a bit better. The man was a magician that was on the level of a nascent soul master. In contrast to the knights that wore magical armor, he was actually capable of producing powerful spells without the use of any outside sources. It was strange that he wasn’t given proper respect by those knights as they treated him more like a lackey.

It was something that he was very much interested in. Argus looked like a combination of some fantasy wizards from some books he read in his youth. A white beard, gray robe, and a large pointy hat were just a few things that made him look like a generic magician from fictitious worlds.

He also seemed to have a whole magical tower that was not part of the white castle nor any of the other ones around the massive sword. Instead, his residence was in what looked to be a guard tower, one of six that were built on top of the second circular wall. This made him believe that five other wizards would be joining them in the future if things got rough. Perhaps even one more if perhaps their leader had his own grand wizard.

“So this is your tower? I can feel quite the concentration of mana around it and also inside of it as well…”

“Lord Dong, I was meaning to ask you, where did you pick up the arcane arts, you are the only person in this vast Empire that seems to be knowledgeable about our field of studies.”

“Ah, well… let’s say that I’ve journeyed beyond these lands just like you and learned a thing or two there.”

“To lands beyond? Could you have come to our kingdom?”

“No, it was another one, perhaps after everything is over, I’ll tell you the story of my travel.”

“I’ll be sure to remind you of that.”

Argus smiled as he was quite intrigued by this fact. Luckily he understood that Zhang Dong was still a neutral ally and it would take more for him to relinquish his secrets. The two were working on that art as they had traded some books. Zhang Dong offered Argus some knowledge about spirit summoning as he was actually something similar. He received some basic magical knowledge in return which he could compare to the books he absorbed in the other world.

The magical system was almost identical but there were some subtle differences. It was clear that at a base point, the two world’s magic was very similar. They all probably had the same origin point but when spreading out, they became different and the focus varied. In the case of Argus, he was more capable of producing attacking spells that caused immediate damage and didn’t have much knowledge about summoned spirits which in their kingdom was more of a side job.

“This has been quite the read, I have even managed to perform a summoning act to conjure up a spirit, it’s truly interesting and quite different from a familiar!”

“Oh, it’s a fire spirit, not bad.”

The two arrived at the magical tower. At first, it seemed that it didn’t have any entrance door but with a wave of his hand, Argus produced a large door that swung open. To Zhang Dong’s keen eye, the illusion that was placed there was easy to discover but other cultivators would probably have trouble identifying the spot with their lack of knowledge of mana. Inside they moved to a large open space surrounded by floating books and a flaming spirit that looked like a lion.

“Hoh, it seems to like you…”

“I was always good with cats and dogs.”

The flaming lion jumped forth only to get petted by Zhang Dong’s arm. Anyone would get third-degree burns when attempting something like this but his body which had been refined into a treasure in itself, would take any damage from such flames. The lion rolled over to its belly as it was petted which was quite a surprising sight to Argus who decided to cancel the summon.

“You do have a lot of interesting books are you proposing another trade?”

“You know me too well, Lord Dong.”

Both of the men smiled at each other, they both had their own agenda but at this moment the only thing they wanted was more knowledge. Zhang Dong started producing copies of the books he ingrained in his brain while Argus allowed the flying texts to rest inside of some bookshelves that suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. It was time to take in some knowledge and perhaps become even better at using magic.