Chapter 116: He Is Very Good at Dealing with Women

“Young Master, is this the Bal Empire?”

“Yes, we have already entered the territory of the Bal Empire, Lov.”

“I feel like it’s not as prosperous as our Papal State. The border here seems to be all villages, with no big cities.”

“That’s because a long time ago, many wars took place in this area. And… it wasn’t considered human territory.”

Crossing the mountain range, the view immediately opened up.

The Holy Train entered the territory of the Bal Empire.

The Bal Empire could be said to be the country of origin of the human civilization in the Western Continent.

Initially, its territory was not as large as it is now.

And during the Demon God War a thousand years ago, the first great battle between the human race and the Demon God’s army took place here.

After the human race’s tragic victory, the Hero and the Saintess pursued the victory, leading a large army to quickly cross the mountain range and slay the Demon Lord who had commanded the first great battle in Saint Olan.

That was the first Demon Lord to die at the hands of the human race, and he was a Demon Lord who directly commanded the entire demon race.

Because this Demon Lord was good at mental attacks in life.

So there was also a legend that after the Demon Lord died, his resentment had lingered on that land.

And after the founding of the Papal State, a great cathedral was built in Saint Olan, and thousands of clergy purified the souls of the dead and the Demon God’s resentment that had died here in the war, day and night.

That was the very beginning of the city of Saint Olan.

“By the way, Lov, I feel like your mental state is not very good today.”

Hall had felt that Lov was a bit strange since this morning.

Her biological clock was usually very regular.

“I had a nightmare last night, and I woke up a bit early this morning. It’s okay, Young Master. I’ll be fine after a little nap on the train.”

Lov leaned back in her seat.

This special train was fully equipped with all kinds of services, and there were only Christine’s entourage, Archbishop Malik, and the two of them.

Basically, you could eat whatever you wanted, all you had to do was ring the bell.

“Then you can rest like this. You can sleep on me too.”

“Hey, can I, Young Master?”

“Of course you can.”

Lov showed a very happy expression at Hall’s answer.

She leaned on Hall’s shoulder a little nervously.

Then she smiled.

This scene was seen by Maria.

She was very unhappy.

She was indignant.

This guy Hall was showing off his affection with his little maid in front of Lady Christine.

And he had even flirted with Lady Christine before they left.

Hehe, a three-minute-wonder scumbag.

Now that he can’t hide it, Lady Christine will surely lose interest in him.

And there are still many things to do on this trip to the Bal Empire.

Lady Christine is a girl who is determined to become a Saintess.

How could she be in love with Hall?

But just as she was about to turn her head to look at Christine, she found the blonde girl in the Saintess robe looking at Hall’s side.

She had a thoughtful expression.

“Lady Christine, are you very concerned about the situation over there with Hall?”

“Oh, I’m quite concerned… This Lov…”

Christine scooped a spoonful of white sugar and sprinkled it into her coffee.

“What’s wrong, Lady Christine? Is there something strange about this little maid?”

“There’s nothing strange, it’s just that it’s a bit strange to see her being so intimate with Hall.”

“Sigh…”

Hearing Christine say this, Lov was shaken.

But Christine said no more.

For the rest of the journey, she kept staring at Lov, looking at the young girl’s sleeping face.

She was deep in thought.

After a long journey, they arrived at the imperial capital of Bal at three in the afternoon.

As the original country of the human race in the Western Continent, the royal capital of the Bal Empire was just called the Imperial Capital.

It had not changed for thousands of years.

The train Parousia was on was the first to enter the station.

As soon as she got off the train, she received a message from her Prince.

The general meaning was to ask her if her trip to Saint Louis was happy and what she had experienced.

As for work and mission matters, they were rarely mentioned in the message.

Parousia didn’t care about the composition and weight of the Prince’s message.

Anyway, she was very happy to reply in the vampire’s secret code.

In the Bal Empire, although she didn’t know why, Parousia felt that it was very convenient to use the vampire’s secret code here.

Then Parousia thought for a moment that she seemed to have been slacking off and hadn’t done much.

“Uh…”

When reporting on her mission this time, she hesitated.

She didn’t know what to write.

She couldn’t write, she couldn’t speak.

After thinking for a long time, she felt it was just like that.

She felt she was just like that.

So Parousia said that regarding the matter of finding people and meeting the Red Queen, Mandosha Flower had already promised that it was in progress.

As for Christine’s matter, although it was not completed, she would not immediately return to the vampire race.

Now that Christine had come to the Bal Empire to do missionary work, she would surely hold blessing ceremonies in the imperial capital and several important cities.

At that time, all the believers would be blessed by God.

It was said that the royal family of the Bal Empire had not had the title of vampire prince for eight hundred years.

And this time, they had agreed very readily to let Prince Maria live in the imperial capital and other important cities for six months and enjoy the treatment of a prince.

This made Prince Maria a little happy.

She could finally not have to stay in the royal family so hard for six months.

At that time, she would observe from the side and would surely get first-hand information.

And there was also the unexpected harvest about William Russell.

She said that this man was Mandosha Flower’s informant to the cardinals, but in her opinion, this person was more like a double agent and was worthy of special attention.

Parousia became more and more excited as she wrote in her remote message to her Prince.

Although she hadn’t accomplished a single thing, the content and information she wrote were indeed quite a lot.

Ever since she had started writing about Hall, it was as if her thoughts were gushing out.

“Ah, you are truly my savior, William Russell.”

She felt for the first time that Hall was useful to her.

And at this very moment.

Someone tapped Parousia from behind.

“Alright, if you have something to say, report it next time. The Holy Train with Christine is about to enter the station.”

“Sigh…”

Parousia couldn’t turn her head and was pressed forward from behind.

But she confirmed that it was the voice of one of the five vampire princes, her direct superior—Vier Masara.

Half an hour later, Hall got off the train at the east station of the Bal Empire before Christine and Maria.

There were not many people here.

Only an old gentleman who looked like a diplomat was standing there, waving at them.

Beside the old gentleman was a character who looked quite important.

That cardinal in red, the only bishops in the Church who could wear red were cardinals.

The cardinal of the Bal Empire, his name in the game was Sigurd.

Unlike most cardinals who held civilian and political posts, Sigurd and the cardinal of the Cateline Empire were both quite powerful.

Sigurd’s swordsmanship talent was [S-], and his constitution was [A], completely on par with Ye Wangxue’s initial qualifications.

His level was as high as ninety.

In the game’s biography of this cardinal, he was born into a theological family in the Bal Empire.

But before he was pushed to become a cardinal, he had competed for one of the three [Throne of the Sword] positions in the Bal Empire.

Although there were usually tasks related to Sigurd in the game’s route, players would usually not have a conflict with Sigurd.

After all, in a situation where one was not an enemy of the Papal State, it was quite difficult to kill a cardinal, and the rewards were very few, and there would also be a long-lasting “killed” debuff.

Therefore, he was one of the politically weaker cardinals.

So, the person who had attacked the Bal Empire’s Saintess Candidate was an insider of the Church, which meant that this cardinal had already been excluded from the list of the next Pope’s election.

And the facts were also so.

In the game, for Sigurd to become the Pope, he had to meet the condition that all seven cardinals, except for the cardinal of the Cateline Kingdom, were dead.

“And you two are?”

“Hello, Cardinal Sigurd. I am William Russell, a specialist of the Black Knights. And this is Lov Russell, my cousin.”

Lov was dizzy today, so he didn’t let her continue to serve him, but told Lov to take good care of herself, so he used the cousin persona.

And Lov also bowed to this cardinal in red, imitating the appearance of a noble young lady.

“So you are Specialist William. I heard that you are now serving as Miss Christine’s guard?”

“Mm.”

Hall tried to guess Sigurd’s meaning.

Although this cardinal was Buddhist about the papacy in the plot, for his own Saintess Candidate to encounter such a thing, it was inevitable that anyone would be a little angry.

“Then you must be extra careful. For the protection of Saintess Candidate Christine, if you need it, we will also lend a hand. I heard that in Saint Olan, Saintess Candidate Ilora was also attacked and is currently recuperating, right?”

Hearing this, Hall looked at a position not far behind Sigurd.

Archbishop Otto, who was accompanying Ilora, was there.

The injured Ilora should be under the care of Archbishop Solan at the moment.

And remembering that Parousia had also briefly mentioned those who wanted to attack Christine when she was communicating with him last night, it seemed they were trying to intensify the conflict between Roan and the Salvation Church.

Then it was very likely that the other party or the force behind them had done a good deed.

In the game, besides the Kingdom of Cateline, the cardinal of the Bal Empire was very Buddhist.

The other five were not to be trifled with.

If the player chose the right route, they could even achieve “taming the tiger to swallow the wolf” in the plot.

However, if they fed the tiger too much, it would also be easy to get a bad end.

“Thank you, Cardinal Sigurd.”

Hall briefly expressed his gratitude.

Christine’s trip to Bal was indeed not very safe.

But Hall had also thought of one thing.

Since Christine was born in an orphanage in Bal in the game’s data card.

Then if he had had contact with Christine before, could he go over and investigate the situation?

There was a lot of text here in the game, and after collecting it all, it would be found that many secrets were hidden.

If he went to the ruins of the orphanage in the early stages of the game, it was fine.

In the late stages, there was a chance of encountering some super-high-level enemies of the Church, and it was also possible that the Church had directly sealed off the orphanage.

Considering that it was still the early stages of Christine’s route, although the game’s plot had been pushed forward a lot by him before, he shouldn’t encounter any super-high-level enemies.

Then, Christine, Maria, and Archbishop Malik also got off the Holy Train.

After a brief chat with Cardinal Sigurd.

Archbishop Malik and the old gentleman beside Cardinal Sigurd left.

And Hall also recognized that old gentleman as the Minister of Religion of the Bal Empire.

If the Church were to carry out some large-scale activities with the Bal Empire, they would need to report to and negotiate with the institution under his jurisdiction.

As for Hall, Christine, and the others, they first followed Sigurd in a special carriage and left the station.

Their residence in the imperial capital was the Sigurd Cathedral of the Bal Empire.

“This is quite a life.”

At dusk.

Hall was sitting on the balcony of the third floor of the Sigurd Cathedral.

Many of the buildings in the imperial capital of the Bal Empire were quite old.

At that time, the entire human race’s productivity was limited.

Except for religious and royal buildings, most were not very tall.

Therefore, the position he was in was a very good sightseeing spot.

Now Christine and Maria were discussing the route of this missionary tour in the Bal Empire with the other nuns and bishops under Sigurd.

He had nothing to do, so he stayed here to look at the scenery.

Lov, who had rested, would take care of his trivial matters.

So it was quite pleasant.

“Young Master, in that case, when are we going to Sunset City? I heard that Saintess Candidate Christine’s missionary trip to the Bal Empire will last for a month.”

Lov brought tea and snacks.

At this moment, she had also changed into an ascetic, traditional black and white nun’s habit, and her furrowed brows seemed a little worried.

“A month is a month. Let’s just treat it as a trip to the Bal Empire. The scenery in this country is better than in the Papal State.”

Hall did not show any particular hurry, and then said, “And I see that Christine’s missionary route will pass through the western border town of the Bal Empire, West Town. That should be the most dangerous place. The missionary work in the imperial capital has Cardinal Sigurd’s help, so it’s unlikely to be attacked.”

He had also analyzed the reason for Sigurd’s release of goodwill.

It was very likely that his own Saintess Candidate had had an accident, and he himself was relatively Buddhist.

The religious and theological family behind Sigurd would probably want to find another way, giving up the goal of Sigurd competing for the papacy, and instead build a good relationship with this popular Saintess Candidate, Christine.

So he said, “Actually, as long as Christine finishes her missionary work in West Town, we can find a reason to say goodbye. We only need to accompany her for half a month.”

“Oh, alright then, Young Master. By the way, what about that big-breasted noble young lady?”

Lov probed.

“I don’t know. She probably doesn’t want to see me again. That’s good.”

Hall didn’t care about Parousia.

At this moment, the cross pendant Christine had given him was also not glowing much.

The other party was not nearby, probably had already transferred to Sunset City to go back to her clan.

“Mm… then Young Master, let’s ensure Saintess Candidate Christine’s safety first.”

“Naturally.”

Hall took a sip of tea.

But he caught a glimpse of the Knight Captain who had been protecting Ilora appearing nearby.

Shouldn’t he be prioritizing Ilora’s safety?

And the other party was wearing plain clothes.

If it weren’t for the fact that he had an impression of this guy from the game, and that Parousia had been very concerned that day.

He probably wouldn’t have noticed the other party’s tracks at all.

At this moment, Hall stood up and began to observe the other party’s movements.

But Maria suddenly pushed open the glass door to the balcony and said.

“Baron Hall, in the evening, the royal family of the Bal Empire has invited Lady Christine to a court banquet. Please prepare to attend with Miss Lov.”

But Hall directly blurted out.

“Can I refuse?”

Hall wanted to refuse.

Mainly because this court banquet would be a pain in the ass.

The royal family of the Bal Empire was very problematic.

Their eldest princess was a scheming woman like a fox.

Although her legs were long, her figure was top-notch, and her character art was that of a naturally foxy woman, she was indeed very good at political maneuvering.

If she weren’t a woman, then the next throne of the Bal Empire would be hers.

In addition, there was a third prince who was very fond of showing off.

He was a narcissist who claimed to be so handsome that both gods and ghosts would be in awe of him.

He would step on any male of the same age he saw, and flirt with any female of the same age he saw.

In the game, if the player’s heroine came to the Bal Empire to attend a royal banquet and met this third prince, the other party would come up and hit on her very inappropriately.

And the player’s way of dealing with this overconfident prince was usually to “ignore” or “get rid of” him.

These two choices were actually a progressive relationship.

If you ignored the third prince, the third prince would resent you and make you have to get rid of him.

Hall could probably guess what would happen at the banquet.

In the game, when the player had the heroine recruit Hall and then met this third prince, the third prince would be jealous that he was more handsome than him.

At this time, it would trigger a near-death event.

The third prince would target Hall, feeling that the heroines ignored him because of Hall.

Anyway, it would be a lot of trouble if he went.

Hall refused.

But Maria emphasized, “Lady Christine hopes you can go because she has no accompanying Knight Captain on this trip. And now there’s a clown who insists on being Lady Christine’s guard.”

“Who is it?”

“The third prince of the Bal Empire. That guy’s reputation is even worse than yours used to be. He’s dreaming!”

Maria was very unhappy.

Why did everyone want to provoke her Lady Christine?

“Oh, alright then.”

Now he had to go.

A conflict was necessary.

Hall felt it was unavoidable, so it was better to resolve it early.

So he said, “How about this? You have Christine reply that as long as he can beat me, she’ll let him be Christine’s guard, and I’ll retire.”

The black-haired youth knew very well.

Even if he didn’t say so, Christine would reply this way.

She would definitely find trouble for him.

At night.

In the largest hotel in the imperial capital.

The banquet was not held in the imperial palace.

The reason was that the only members of the royal family attending this banquet were the eldest princess, the second prince, and the third prince of the Bal Empire.

The other more important figures were the arch-priest who was waiting at the station.

The rest were mostly local officials of the imperial capital of the Bal Empire and the bishops of several famous cathedrals in the country.

Because it was a meal with a relatively strong religious color, the specifications were not small, but the dishes were relatively light.

At the meal, the blonde third prince—Charles Bal—had already started to talk eloquently.

He said that the cultists had been very rampant recently, first attacking their Bal Empire’s Saintess Candidate, and then attacking the Saintess Candidate of Gregory.

And now, Christine was coming to their Bal Empire to do missionary work, and he should protect Christine’s safety.

To this, the eldest princess—Frida Bal—was silent the whole time, just eating.

And Frida, besides the necessary greetings, had almost only spoken to Hall.

Hall saw this and was a little nervous.

He was quite good at dealing with overconfident princes like Charles.

But Frida had clearly seen that Hall was the best target for an attack.

So he had to come out and take the bullet for Hall, saying that his cousin was rather shy and usually taciturn, and it would be bad if she offended the eldest princess by not speaking well.

“Oh, you mean Specialist William is very good at talking?”

Frida’s foxy purple pupils stared straight at Hall.

“Specialist William is quite good at dealing with women.”

Christine, who was chewing on washed lettuce on the side, suddenly blurted out this sentence.

“Is Saintess Christine very familiar with him? I heard that Specialist William has a mission from the Black Knights and met Saintess Candidate Christine on the way in Saint Olan.”

Frida’s eyes darted between Christine and Hall.

“We’ve known each other for quite a long time.”

Hall was trying to dispel Frida’s interest in him.

“Oh, then my third brother saying he wants to be Saintess Christine’s guard might have been a bit abrupt.”

“Imperial sister, what are you saying? Of course I should be the one to protect Saintess Candidate Christine! I am the future [Throne of the Sword] of the empire.”

Charles was very anxious.

He had actually chased after the Saintess Candidate of the Bal Empire before, but had not succeeded.

As a prince who often held parties, the only women he had played with were of the Saintess Candidate’s level.

If you told him in the game text that Saintess Candidates couldn’t be played with, he would tell you, “My father is the emperor of Bal, the Church is nothing.”

The war between the imperial power and religion was most obvious in the Bal Empire.

Tracing back to before the Demon God War, the human imperial power on the Western Continent had completely crushed religion.

If religion tried to participate in politics, it would be weakened by the emperor under various pretexts.

But after the Demon God War, the imperial power could no longer suppress religion.

The Church led its followers to establish the Papal State, and the new land that was opened up after the Demon God and the demons were repelled also eased the conflict between religion and the imperial power in the years of digesting these lands.

The situation had been stable for nearly a hundred years.

After losing the first war against the East, the conflict between the imperial power and religion in the Bal Empire had become sharp again.

And unlike the Kingdom of Cateline, where the empress was everything.

So even if Charles caused trouble, the emperor of Bal would not be too submissive to the Church.

He was not afraid.

“Third brother, you are being noisy. You still have to see Saintess Candidate Christine’s attitude in this matter. Are you going to force yourself to be her guard?”

Frida scolded.

Charles was stunned.

This narcissist was afraid of nothing, but he was very afraid of his older sister.

So he could only say resentfully, “But big sister, the position of guard goes to the strong. I think this Specialist William is only about twenty years old. If he can protect Saintess Candidate Christine from the fierce cultists.”

“Is Prince Charles only twelve?”

Maria said.

“But I consider myself second to none among my peers in swordsmanship. Does Specialist William dare to admit it?”

Charles was very arrogant.

Hall’s reaction was very plain.

Charles did have some skill, but not much.

His swordsmanship talent was only [A], and his constitution was [A].

His level growth was not low.

For an ordinary NPC, he was indeed very formidable.

But compared to him, there was a small gap.

“Me? I don’t know if I’m second to none in the world…”

Hall thought for a moment, after looking through the newspapers of the past ten years, about his various halos and topics in Saint Louis.

And then said.

“Anyway, it seems I’ve always been the one to win.”