Lawrence looks out the window, deep in thought, his face reflecting complex emotions.

  "Sky Petal, what are their levels?"

  It takes her a few seconds to respond because Serene Will and Coldness Divine are currently in the hunting grounds leveling up, but knowing their levels from previous days, if she had to guess...

  "Serene Will, level 690. Coldness Divine, level 674. As for me, you can see for yourself, level 681."

  Coldness Divine has strived hard to match the level of a human and a plant that acquired wisdom. The dragon race is known for leveling up slower than any other, and although it gains benefits from this, she cannot help but feel inferior.

  "Hm… It’s not enough… To make an enemy of that woman…"

  "Are you talking about Eminent Greed?"

  Lawrence nods. The original plan was to wait for Stoic Compass to bring the building materials with the money Lawrence obtained from the auction house, then wait some time before dealing with Eminent Greed. But after learning the information about the partners of the Unquenchable Fire Brothel, he has to change his image of that fox girl.

  "That woman is above level 700, for a merchant to reach that level means she is talented, that she has proven her Way. I don’t feel she has sacrificed her Way just to level up forcibly, otherwise, I would be able to see through her."

  Externally, he might be at a lower level than her, but his compressed level allows him to see through hunters who significantly surpass him in level. If he was unable to see through Eminent Greed, it means level 700 is not her limit.

  "You all need to be at level 699 if we are to confront that woman. I will try to avoid the worst-case scenario, but given the warning from Ephemeral Principle, my attempts will likely be in vain."

  Only then does Lawrence turn around and look Sky Petal directly in the eyes.

  "She will be your trial by fire. If you achieve victory, you'll be one step away from challenging the partners of the Unquenchable Fire Brothel."

  Although he won't allow them to do so unless they reach level 700, but it’s unnecessary to say it out loud. Knowing these women, the more restrictions he imposes, the less they'll want to obey him.

  Sky Petal nods, sharing his thought. "If you want to divert their attention, I think it's time to focus on the Inferior Plane."

  He looks at her silently for a few seconds, then averts his gaze as he thinks.

  "Yes, you're right. I will do that. A war isn’t fought in a few days."

  Sooner or later he had to do it. He waited long enough for the Will of Nature or the clone of that damn qilin to act, but there has been no response since then. It’s to the point of wondering if he’s being overly paranoid.

  "Let the others know my thoughts. I'm willing to skip the next auction if it means success."

  "Though we'll be short on budget again…"

  Sky Petal scratches her cheek, she along with Stoic Compass are the two bottomless pits of this group. The worst part is that she is aware of this.

  "That's just my resolve, I don't want to be in the red either." Lawrence sighs, nothing is free in this life. "I'll talk with Demontre Sagul and find a way for Violet Twilight auction house to handle everything. There are some item owners who owe me."

  He gave them an alternative payment option for those who couldn't pay for the medicinal pills and the deadline is at the next auction. Lawrence isn’t afraid they won't pay him, he fears his reputation might be damaged by not receiving them personally.

  He gets ready to leave, when he remembers something.

  "Sky Petal, have you discovered anything about that Prescribed Dream?"

  Because an unknown woman disappeared, Lawrence had to take the blame. He doesn’t know what connection they saw between her and him, but since in the sub-space he acted as a user of sacred magic, he greeted everyone, even the dogs and cats. Any conversation with that woman named Prescribed Dream could have led to this outcome.

  Unfortunately, Sky Petal shakes her head, "Nothing, the plants of the Unquenchable Fire Brothel did not respond to my question."

  "What does that mean?"

  "It means they know nothing about that woman or it's information I'm not supposed to know."

  For Sky Petal, the answer the plants gave her is quite strange, as some of them said they had already answered that question. Although she wanted to delve into this, the plants stopped talking to her. Pushing further would only complicate matters.

  "It must be the former, a woman at level 300 shouldn’t be causing you trouble. Maybe she didn't attract the plants' attention and with how forgetful they are, this happened."

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Sky Petal agrees, though it's odd that a woman with an extraordinary innate ability didn’t cause a commotion and avoided the plants' attention, there’s no other answer but that.

  It would be impossible for a high-level woman to work in that place.

  +++

  Queen Reminiscent Euphony walks briskly, her face showing seriousness and concern. She soon arrives at her destination and before opening the door, she takes a deep breath.

  When the door opens, she sees a man with his back to her, looking out the window. He turns around and upon seeing her, his gaze shifts to her belly. The next second, a smile appears on his face.

  "What’s the baby’s name?"

  Reminiscent Euphony snaps back to her senses and closes the door behind her.

  "Lion."

  "A boy, huh? Nice name."

  "Thank you."

  This is a private room where very important business discussions for the kingdom take place. She hesitated whether to invite him here or to the throne room, but if she chose the latter, she would have to yield the throne to this man. The problem isn't yielding her seat, the problem is that she's unsure if this man would accept it. She’s still not sure what Ranker Lawrence is after.

  As his name comes up, she hesitates before asking. "How should I address you?"

  Lawrence knows what she means, but he’s not the type of man to act hastily.

  "Lawrence... But if we win, you can address me by that other name."

  Queen Reminiscent Euphony's eyes widen, unable to apply the usual courtesies at this moment, because the implication of Lawrence's words brings her a bad omen, she doesn’t want to hear what this man has to say.

  He notices her look and sits down in front of her, proceeding to say the words that this woman is reluctant to ask.

  "I want you to declare war on the Rising Sun Kingdom."

  "Why?!"

  She has enough courage to address Lawrence without hiding her resentment, a quality he doesn’t dislike. He respects this queen for that.

  Queen Reminiscent Euphony continues saying: "It's true that the Rising Sun Kingdom is the current major threat to the Sky Blue Mountain Kingdom, but we haven’t completely subdued the Dajhir Kingdom yet. A single mistake will cause their rebellion!"

  The Dajhir Kingdom did not act alone, the Rising Sun Kingdom supported them behind the scenes. This isn't a rumor, they acquired solid information about this. There were secret treaties between the two kingdoms, but they all collapsed once the Dajhir Kingdom lost the war. There is even information that external kingdoms wanted to join in the sharing of the cake, but their investment was much smaller compared to that of the main investor, the Rising Sun Kingdom.

  "That’s why you need to do it. Because after the victory, all the opposition will be silenced. Leaving them alone is just avoiding the problem."

  While the Dajhir Kingdom is to the southwest of the Sky Blue Mountain Kingdom, the Rising Sun Kingdom is to the northwest. A single agreement between them, and the Dajhir Kingdom would want its independence, but this time not through violence, but through protests, through the discontent of the people.

  When that happens, suppressing them will only earn the Sky Blue Mountain Kingdom the title of tyrant. Giving enough excuse to the outer kingdoms to finish the job.

  Reminiscent Euphony shivers at the consequences of this new war, she intertwines her fingers, and looks down as she speaks.

  "They consider us pawns of the Fafnir Kingdom, they believe they helped us because of the dragon that resides in our kingdom. Everyone is afraid, knowing that dragons discriminate against humans and fearing that once the situation stabilizes, the dragons will take control."

  She still doesn’t know that the dragon she speak of, Celestial Firmament, is dead. But Lawrence has no intention of clarifying the misunderstanding.

  "They will not act in this war."

  She immediately gets angry upon hearing this. "Are you sending us to die?"

  "Of course not." He sighs and then shakes his head. "In the previous war, we had no choice, that’s why we turned to the Fafnir Kingdom. But much has changed since then. To be honest... this was the original plan."

  "What--?"

  Queen Reminiscent Euphony stops talking when she notices the arrival of a new guest. From the corner of the room, where there was no one before, a woman appears.

  Lawrence smiles and crosses his legs arrogantly.

  "She was the original plan."