Jon looked toward the cherry-red lips whispering in his ear.
Lia sat on Jon’s shoulder, her slender legs swinging like delicate clouds as she dangled them playfully.
She spoke with an air of casual indifference.
“Egghead, you’re too cunning. Lili doesn’t believe you. Hand over the money and the command rights to us, and we’ll arrange things ourselves.”
“Hero, this…”
Rainer’s eyes widened.
These conditions were far too harsh.
Giving away money mattered little; he had already prepared himself to spend his way out of trouble.
However, the matter of command rights was far too dangerous—it touched his absolute bottom line.
Jon was honest, but he was no fool.
Seeing the situation, he immediately played along with Lia, darkening his expression to feign indignation.
“Lord Rainer, do you intend to obstruct the Anti-Demon Cause?”
Rainer looked up, staring fixedly at Jon.
In the end, he was unwilling to retreat any further.
Jon met his gaze without flinching.
One second.
Two seconds.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted outside the door.
The City Lord’s wife’s soothing reprimands were interlaced with a young man’s aggrieved cursing.
A few seconds later, a loud bang echoed as the wife failed to calm the intruder.
A sobbing young noble burst through the door and into the meeting hall.
He rushed toward Lord Rainer, grabbing his leg and wailing, “Father—!”
Rainer’s tense face collapsed instantly, replaced by a mixture of embarrassment and helplessness.
Feeling a bit short of breath and weary, he looked toward the Hero.
“Hero, please wait a moment. Allow me to deal with this little brat.”
“Uh, go ahead.”
Jon stared at the young man, momentarily stunned.
“Enough! What do you think you look like, crying like this? What happened now? Who bullied you? Are people laughing at you for failing to learn magic again? Have some self-respect. Stop always adding to my troubles…”
Rainer started with a stern tone, but his voice grew more helpless as he spoke, his attitude gradually softening.
Arthur looked miserable.
“Dad! I was sleeping soundly this morning when a madman in armor suddenly burst in. He stole our boat and even hung me from the mast to blow in the cold wind for ages! Look here, look closely. My face is all red from the wind!”
“What?”
Rainer flew into a rage.
“Who is so bold! Who dares steal my family’s boat? Do you know where he came from?”
“I don’t know…”
“Then what did he look like?”
“This…”
Arthur stared blankly at the ceiling, thinking seriously.
His entire being radiated an air of innocent, ignorant stupidity.
At that moment, Jon’s voice drifted over from behind him.
“Take a look. Does that person look similar to me?”
Arthur turned and caught sight of Jon, realization dawning on him instantly.
“Yes, yes, yes! He’s about your height, also has blond hair, a similar build, and those eyes, uh…”
Arthur suddenly froze.
He had spotted the Pupu Lady, Lia, on Jon’s shoulder.
‘My God…’ he murmured dazed, ‘is the kick from this potion still this strong…?’
“Someone, come here.”
Rainer rang a bell and looked coldly at Jon.
Dozens of well-equipped, bear-like guards marched in, surrounding the negotiation table until it was airtight.
These were Rainer’s personal loyalists, raised on his own resources.
The air suddenly froze.
Swords were drawn.
Only then did Arthur snap out of his daze.
He said in pleasant surprise, “Dad! Great! You’re going to get revenge for me, right? Hurry, throw that guy out! No! Hang him outside too!”
Rainer stared at Jon, his voice suppressing a simmering rage.
“Tie him up for me and hang him from the window outside.”
Armor clattered as the dozens of strong men moved immediately.
Arthur couldn’t help but laugh out loud, looking at Jon triumphantly… only to realize that the guards had walked right past Jon.
The next second, Arthur realized he was being hoisted up.
“???”
It wasn’t until he was tied tightly and hanging outside the window that Arthur realized what had happened.
He wanted to cry out and demand justice, but his mouth was stuffed shut.
Inside the room, surrounded by dozens of personal guards, Rainer slowly took a sip of Nightberry Wine.
He raised his head and squinted at Jon, his face obscured and blurred by the shadows.
“Hero, are you satisfied now?”
Just as Jon was about to speak, Lia beat him to it.
“Egghead, this is your family business. Don’t go pinning everything on my Jon.”
Her speech was slow, and she deliberately emphasized the words “family business.”
“Fine, fine, fine. It was my mistake.”
At this point, Rainer finally understood that with this Pupu present, he wouldn’t be able to gain even half an advantage in any scheme.
He could only compromise helplessly.
“Hero, I will call for donations within the city. I will donate first, followed by the nobles, and finally, the citizens will contribute a sum… consider it your funding for the demon crusade. Once you have it, please do not come looking for me again.”
“As for the city guard, they are at your disposal. You can do whatever you wish with them.”
“Alrighty, Egghead.”
Lia smiled and reached out her hand.
“Give us your donation first~”
The corner of Rainer’s mouth twitched in pain.
He could only instruct his wife to go to the Treasury to withdraw the funds.
Jon had originally intended to distribute the entire sum to the city guard to cover some of their back-pay, but Lia stopped him with a serious expression.
“Friend~ think about it. If they receive their back-pay, will they still be willing to work hard for irrelevant commoners?”
“It’s like when Friend buys honey water for Lili; Lili just wants to finish it immediately.”
“So, this can’t be back-pay. It has to be reward money. We need to set performance goals for the city guard: how much money for saving one commoner, and how much is deducted if a commoner dies due to poor protection along the way…”
Listening to Lia’s words, Jon fell into deep thought.
Many complicated points were cleared up, and an unprecedented way of thinking slowly unfolded before him.
He felt a sense of sudden, transparent enlightenment.
“I understand.”
He gently stroked Lia’s small head.
“Lili is so smart. You always know how to apply things. Unlike me, I can’t seem to figure anything out.”
“Because Friend is too kind. Kind people always find it difficult to understand the thoughts of bad people. If it were Friend, as long as you got your back-pay, you would definitely do your best based on your conscience. Naturally, you wouldn’t understand why others would slack off.”
Lia comforted him while rubbing comfortably against his palm.
Jon looked toward the surging river in the distance and suddenly sighed in a low voice.
“But I only realized today that in the affairs of this world, a good heart is far from enough. To be a good person, one must be badder than the bad, and more cunning than the treacherous.”
“That’s not right.”
Lia shook her head.
She tilted her small face up.
Though she was clearly exposing her own scars, she still spoke with the innocent air of someone telling another person’s story.
“Then, does Friend think… that Demon King Lia was bad enough, or cunning enough?”
Jon froze and then suddenly laughed, as if he had realized something, yet also as if he were even more confused.
Demon King Lia was a recognized sage.
Everyone in the army, including Yuna and even the elf Alida, dared not underestimate his wisdom—at most, they joked about his courage to “advance like the wind” when avoiding battle.
By his own strength alone, he had gathered the scattered demon tribes into a massive empire, confronting the main imperial forces head-on and even holding the upper hand for a time.
Internally, he had also allowed the demon race to show signs of prosperity.
And what Demon King Lia excelled at most was being badder and more cunning than any other demon.
Using interest as a lure and power as pressure, he forced the other demons onto the same warship.
Even those who hated him to the bone had no choice but to act according to his plans.
Such tactics were something Jon wouldn’t be able to learn even if he were given a lifetime—Jon was well aware of this.
Yet, such a clever Demon King had ultimately met an end where he was abandoned by everyone and his army collapsed like a falling mountain.
Once his invincible image was shattered, the demon race immediately fell apart, returning to their internal squabbles.
No matter how many brilliant schemes Demon King Lia produced, they ultimately lost their effectiveness.
He could only watch helplessly as he was betrayed, meeting his final downfall.
—
—Was a surge of hot blood enough?
—Was it enough to add the most meticulous schemes?
He always felt that he was still missing something from that ultimate answer, something most critical.
Jon looked up at the sky; the bright sun was silent.
He gazed at the river; the river was wordless.
On both banks, the disaster victims struggling to survive were like ants clinging to wood, climbing for their lives atop the temperamental water dragon.
The waves surged and the clouds shifted.
To where exactly did the end of this rushing, long river lead?
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Damn this is deep