No More Pain For This Villain.

Chapter 336  Need a army

"What's on your mind?" Alver asked.

"Hm, nothing. Just... just thinking about what we are to do going forward. I—" I felt a lump in my throat.

'You fine, princess?' Blaze questioned.

Yeah... I'm fine. It's just I feel a bit uneasy for some reason.

"Yeah, there's that too. I was going to ask you why you wanted Viceburg cut off from the empire. Was there any specific reason, or did you just want to expand the business?" Alver looked at me, seeming like he was asking a simple question, but deep down I knew he was testing my thought process.

"You'll understand soon, but for now, going forward, I want you to tell me how deep you are in the Royal Palace."

I knew for a fact that this guy had his people in there and had been using them for a long time. Keeping things like these from the eyes of the Royal Family or the Tribes of Reva was not an easy task. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Quite a few, actually," Alver replied, surprisingly candid. "I mostly want them to keep my business with the churches of Ellora a secret. I pay a lot for them to keep their mouths shut and hands out of these matters," he explained.

Oh, churches. I almost forgot that last time he was in Solstice, he was buying a church here.

"How many churches?" I asked, watching Alver get up and stand beside the map.

He parted his lips slightly and said, "Ren, you're trying to avoid the topic on your mind by asking me these questions, right?"

I felt a bit caught there.

Picking up the quill, he dragged the top of the map of Hestia Empire and drew a zigzag line. "Ninety-eight churches, from east to west till the border of No Man's Land. I only left the twenty-five churches near the capital of the Empire. Everything else is bought," he informed me, but I saw a bit of light gone from his eyes as he kept on going.

"Religion... how cheap is it to buy faith?" he asked. "All I had to do was throw some gold, and all these self-claimed messengers of the goddess began salivating like roadside mongrels. These people... how can they pledge their hearts to their emperor and their Goddess with such weak morals?" He seemed angry, disappointed, and happy at the same time.

I watched Alver, his emotions a chaotic but calm mix as he stared at the map. The room seemed to grow heavier with his words.

"You think faith should be unbuyable," I stated, more to myself than him.

He scoffed. "Faith? Faith is a commodity like any other. But it shouldn't be, should it? These people are supposed to stand for something greater than themselves. Instead, they're just another group I can manipulate with gold."

I remained silent, absorbing his frustration. He wasn't wrong. "There's nothing that cannot be bought in this world, dude."

And the silence fell upon us immediately. "Still, looks like you did a great job."

I'm still not over the fact that this guy was able to increase his influence this much and without anyone noticing.

"Well, it's mostly because of that horrendous idea of yours that you nonchalantly explained to me in the café," Alver picked up on that topic. "I'm still waiting for something like that to spill out of your mouth so I can profit off of it," he said.

"Anyways, from now on, I'll need a cut." I said it. I am not going to give ideas for free, at least.

Alver's eyes went deadpan as he stared at me.

"What? Don't tell me you thought I would be doing this for free?" I asked.

Alver sighed as he leaned on the table. "Quite the opposite, actually. I was sure that we are equal partners in this," he said.

"I already said that I am not going to participate in any illegal activities. I'm scared, dude," I added.

'Scared?' Blaze was more shocked at it. Of course, I'm not scared, but I don't want to play these games again.

"Oh, cut the crap, man!" But my words seemed to not go through to Alver. "Ain't no way I'm believing that you are scared of all these things."

I sighed, feeling the weight of Alver's disbelief. "Look, it's not about being scared in the usual sense. It's about the consequences. The people you manipulate, the power you grab, it all comes back around."

I am sure that with my luck, it'll all come to bite me back.

Alver frowned, crossing his arms. "So what do you propose? Walk away from everything we've built? Let someone else take over and ruin it all?"

When did I say that?

"No," I said firmly. "But there are ways to use that influence for something more... sustainable. Something that won't come crashing down."

"And what would that be?" Alver asked, skepticism evident in his voice.

"Army. Build an army." I put it in the easiest way I thought was possible.

S I L E N C E

Alver froze. I saw his face change from surprise to disgust, ending on one that screamed happiness. "Haha! I knew it!"

Knew what? I looked at him as he kept hollering, laughing like crazy.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Haha," he calmed down after laughing for a straight minute, "I knew that this wasn't the end of your tactics. I knew there was more to it than I could think of." He was excited.

He actually seems on board with this plan.

'And why do you need an army, princess? To guard you?' Blaze asked.

Guard me... kind of, I guess, but more for something else. We'd need a place that is not under the control of anyone but us.

"How do you plan on doing that, though? Building an army, I mean." Alver asked.

"Well, it's time to make use of those guilds and orphanages that you have." I said silently as I saw Alver's smile twist into something I would call sinister.

Who is this guy?