Their world doesn't need gods.

Chapter 265 Erica’s efforts to maintain peace in the empire must not be in vain!

"Last night, dozens of nobles were assassinated in the capital. Although there is no clear evidence yet, these nobles are suspected to be closely related to the Annu Cult. In addition, there are many strongholds suspected to be Annu Cult members, which were cleared out by unknown forces..."

"Varied……"

Erica looked up in surprise and stared at Vivian who was sitting opposite her.

The movement is so smooth, it must be the work of [Yu Ming]!

"Is there any problem? Your Highness Erica."

Vivian asked as if nothing had happened while eating her snacks.

"This is your fault, isn't it?"

Erica tried hard to suppress the urge to explode and questioned the leisurely Vivian.

As Alfred's most powerful assassin, Vivian's hearing was excellent. She must have heard what the female knight had reported to her just now.

Erica is so convinced.

"Yes. After all, those idiots planned the attack on Illya and Arya some time ago."

Vivian replied without a trace of guilt.

"But why didn't you report it to me? You should at least let me know!"

"Excuse me, is this necessary? This matter has nothing to do with you, Your Highness Erica. It is simply a mission given to us by Lord Al. "

Vivian acted as if this matter had nothing to do with her, which made Erica furious.

(But you should at least say something... After all this trouble, what is the point of all my efforts during this period? Alfred, you bastard, I will definitely take revenge on you!)

Erica cursed in her heart.

During this period of time, she tried hard to negotiate with Charles and to gather forces willing to support her, in order to make her own strength appear to be equal to that of Charles, so as to adjust the balance of power within the palace.

However, due to the disturbance between Alfred and [Netherworld], the palace, which had just calmed down, would surely become tense again, and Duke Opold and others would surely make a big fuss about this matter...

For example, he proposed that the security of the imperial palace should be strengthened, and further deployed his own trusted troops into the palace.

Erica felt a pang in her stomach just imagining the trouble that would follow.

"Sister Silia, you will represent the palace at the Holy Fire Festival next month and attend the event held by Illya and Alia Academy, right?"

Erica asked, looking at Siliya who was sitting next to Vivian, looking a little overwhelmed.

The Holy Fire Festival is a festival established by the Empire to commemorate the first Queen Elizabeth I, who helped the nobles in the north of the Empire repel the undead who came south from the Hague Peninsula, thereby gaining the support and respect of the northern nobles.

For the empire, the Holy Fire Festival is like a small national day.

In previous years, the Empire had always sent members of the royal family to various well-known puppeteer academies in the country to participate in the activities held by the academies. In theory, this was to motivate the younger generation.

There are also certain requirements for the royal members who are sent out.

The more important an academy was considered, the more likely it was that members of the royal family with higher status in the palace would be sent to it.

Duke Opold and the nobles of his faction have always been hostile to the Elf Empire, so they have been trying to suppress the Illya Arya Academy in various ways in order to reduce the influence of the Elf Empire in the empire.

The one who was sent to Illya Arya this year was the seventh princess, Siliya, who had little presence in the royal family.

But Erica wanted to switch with her. On the one hand, Erica planned to take this opportunity to go to Illya to recruit some talents, and at the same time, go to Alfred in person and teach him a lesson.

"Yes……"

Siliya also guessed Erica's plan and replied with some disappointment.

Seeing her adorable appearance like an abandoned little animal, Erica couldn't bear to say such cruel words as "Let's swap" to deprive Siliya of the opportunity to see Alfred...

(Tsk, Sister Siliya, what’s wrong with your view of men? If the guy you like wasn’t that bastard Alfred, I would definitely help you with all my strength!)

Erica sighed heavily in her heart.

"This year, Sister Celia and I will go to Illya Alya together. Is that okay, Sister Violet?"

Erica looked at Violet and asked.

Currently, Violet is responsible for protecting Erica.

If Erica left the imperial capital, it would definitely cause Violet a lot of trouble.

"You don't need to ask for my opinion, Your Highness Erica. I will prepare a plan today. I also want to meet Lily to see how she is doing in Illya Arya recently."

Violet smiled like a silly older sister and readily agreed.

"Um, thank you Erica."

Siliya also smiled happily and thanked Erica.

"Because Sister Si Liya, you want to take this opportunity to meet that guy... Oh, really, that guy is clearly not worthy of you, Sister Si Liya..."

Erica said as her shoulders slumped as if she had given up.

However, her remarks disparaging Alfred caused Vivian's dissatisfaction.

"Because if Her Highness Erica dies, Lord Al will also be troubled. So we [Netherworld] will also prepare for Her Highness Erica's safety when she travels.

However, we are only responsible for protecting your life and safety, and we are not responsible for other aspects. So Your Highness Erica, you'd better be more careful, after all, sometimes your companions can be quite dangerous. "

Vivian said coldly.

Her words can also be interpreted as, be careful that our people from [Netherworld] will stab you in the back, Erica. Because Alfred has ordered, we will definitely not let you die, but we will definitely not let you feel good either.

These guys' loyalty and love for Alfred are still so fanatical and heavy.

On this level, Erica actually sympathized with Alfred for having to take care of the people in the Underworld.

"Don't worry about my safety. I hope you can protect Sister Siliya more than me. Unlike me, she is a loyal fan of your Lord Al. If anything happens to her, your most important Lord Al will surely feel sad, right?"

Erica put on a lovely smile and confronted Vivian without any hesitation.

Although many people misunderstand that Erica and Vivian have a good relationship, the actual situation is that the two of them quarrel like this almost every day.

As for the reasons for the quarrel, almost all of them were related to Alfred.

The other three people in the room could only smile bitterly when they saw Erica and Vivian like this.

"Oh, by the way, since you are planning to go to Illya, Sister Erica, just take me with you. That way, you can fulfill your promise to me."

Alice came closer to Erica and suggested in a coquettish tone.

"No. You were supposed to attend the celebration held by the First Puppet Master Academy in the Imperial Capital, right? If you followed me to Illya Arya to attend the Holy Fire Festival, there would definitely be a lot of trouble."

Erica refused without hesitation.

"Hey~ How can this be possible..."

"I promised you the reward. I'll talk about it when Al and the others come back from vacation. That guy will definitely participate in the Puppet Master Academy Competition in the first half of this year. I will help you two create opportunities for contact then."

Erica reluctantly proposed an alternative plan.

"Hehe~ I knew that Sister Erica, you are the best!"

Looking at the cheerful Alice, Erica was speechless.

(Why should I bother with that bastard Alfred's relationships, especially with women?!)

?◇?◇?◇?◇?

—Alfred—

While Erica was plotting revenge in the palace, Alfred, accompanied by Cheryl, Emilia, and Chloe, entered the Warner Fairy Forest next to Illya and Alia.

The purpose of the four people entering the forest was to explore the maze in the forest.

In order to investigate Tongsi's experience and the 'Black Saint' in the southern part of the empire, Alfred and his team needed a reliable and highly maneuverable means of transportation.

Alfred could also just spend money to build a special magic ship. But if we consider the route and the attacks by powerful aerial monsters, the efficiency of traveling by magic ship might not be as high as Emilia transforming into a giant dragon and flying with everyone.

There are other risks involved when the lovely Milia turns into a dragon.

Just letting the nobles of the empire know that Alfred has a powerful dragon by his side is enough reason for them to cause trouble for Alfred.

Sheryl remembered hearing from Roderick that there was an ancient magic spaceship left over from ancient times buried in the maze of the Warner Fairy Forest. The performance of that ship was extremely excellent.

And when Emilia entered the maze last time, she also felt that there might be something in the maze.

This time Alfred prepared the detection equipment and took the three of them to the maze to find the magic spaceship.

"Al~Al, I feel like there might be something underneath!"

After entering the depths of the maze, Emilia stamped her feet excitedly and said to Alfred.

Alfred took out a set of equipment that looked like what a deminer would use from his space ring, and placed a device equipped with a metal disc at the location Emilia mentioned for scanning.

Through the three-dimensional projection on Chloe's armor, the four people found that there was an extremely wide and huge space under their feet. Moreover, the space was square and did not look like a natural product at all.

It is a huge space artificially excavated by an ancient civilization, and its specific purpose is still unknown.

"This place is nearly two kilometers deep from where we are now. It doesn't look like there is a passage in this maze. How are we supposed to get down?"

Sheryl questioned.

Alfred and Emilia looked at each other.

"give it to me!"

Emilia puffed out her chest, patted her chest with her hand and said confidently.

Then she folded her hands and stretched them toward the ground beneath her feet.

White light burst out from Emilia's fingers, gathered into a beam and shot out directly.

After a few seconds of silence, Emilia showed a refreshed expression and touched her forehead with her arm.

"It has been opened with magic, so we can just jump in."

Emilia said to Sheryl, giving her a thumbs up.

"..."

Cheryl was speechless, not knowing what to say.

After Emilia finished speaking, she jumped into the bottomless cave first.

Chloe activated the armor on her body and slowly floated down to the depths of the cave.

At the entrance of the cave, Alfred and Cheryl were left staring at each other.

"Any questions?"

"How am I going to get down from this height?"

Cheryl couldn't fly, nor did she have any special equipment like Chloe. Even with magic, she couldn't safely descend more than two kilometers.

"I see. How about this?"

Alfred put his arm around Cheryl's waist and picked her up like a princess.

"Hey, what are you doing all of a sudden?"

Cheryl questioned Alfred angrily, glaring at him.

"Take you down. Otherwise, how should I carry you? Should I carry you on my back?"

"Ouch! If you carry me on your back, my chest will definitely rub against you. I don't want that! Even though it's embarrassing to carry me like a princess, let's just do it this way for now."

Cheryl complained a few words in dissatisfaction.

But Alfred looked at her regrettable bust and felt that he probably wouldn't feel anything even if her breasts pressed directly against his back.

"Hey, what does that look mean?"

"No, we went down too."

Talking to Cheryl about breast size was a huge minefield, so Alfred simply brushed it off.

He held Cheryl in his arms and jumped into the hole Emilia had blasted out with magic.

When they were about to reach the ground, Alfred used multiple magic spells to slow down, and finally landed slowly on the ground with Cheryl.

"Al, there's nothing here."

Emilia tried to use magic to illuminate the space around her.

But this place is so huge that the ball of light created by Emilia's magic cannot even reach the edge of the space.

The light seemed to be swallowed up by endless darkness and disappeared into the darkness in the distance.