In the conference room of Diya Valley, Bishop Adela, who arrived late until the meeting was about to end, brought a shocking news that shocked all the necromancers: The Holy Knights and the Magic Academy joined forces to eliminate a necromancer who had been hiding in the capital.

  The reason why the necromancers were shocked was because they all knew who that necromancer was.

  Aiden Master looked at Marquis with a hint of anger in his eyes and voice: "Inham, what's going on? You should have been told before you left that it's best not to involve Sandru." The man who was on the brink of death just a few days ago now looked refreshed, as if he had just woken up from a long sleep and taken a hot bath. Even his lost arm had been reattached, looking like new. Such things might be considered magical myths elsewhere, but in Deya Valley, they were nothing out of the ordinary. This place was home to top-notch white mages and masters of corpse manipulation who had reached the pinnacle of human body research. The key was that this place had an abundance of high-level magic items and tools, things that might be worth a fortune elsewhere but were readily available here. Reattaching a member's arm was a trivial matter, a welfare benefit that came with being a member.

  Marquis shook his head and replied faintly: "Sorry, I don't know about this. Once things are over at Ronis', I'll be back, everyone knows that."

  The oldest of the necromancers spoke up. He coughed violently several times before turning to Marquis and saying, "Ah, Inham... We all appreciate your plan to kill Ronis... Cough, cough..." He said a few words, then fell into another fit of violent coughing. His wrinkled face turned bright red with each cough.

  Everyone else remained silent, quietly waiting for the old man who seemed to be about to cough up his lungs at any moment to speak. The only sound left in the hall was the coughing.

  His face turned beet red, and only after he had coughed himself into a sickly pallor did he finally get a chance to catch his breath. He took a few deep breaths, then slowly finished what he was saying: "We all appreciate you very much, but this matter is really a bit inappropriate. Please don't mind Master Eden's rudeness, because there are some things that you young people still don't quite understand."

  "But, Master Santel. I really had no idea about this matter at all." The Marquis's expression was slightly awkward, and anyone could sense from his demeanor and tone that he was indeed innocent. "I didn't think Duke Mlak would know about Mr. Sandru's affairs, let alone lead troops to attack Mr. Sandru."

  A lich warlock slowly said, "If there's anyone on this continent that we don't want to provoke, it would be the two former deputy guild leaders. They made an agreement with us when they left the guild not to interfere with each other. But if Sandru really dies because of us, Eirlys will definitely not ignore it."

  "Please forgive my ignorance. Honorable seniors, everyone present here is the top magician on the mainland, even if that other deputy guild leader won't ignore us..." The young Archbishop Adra's smile was charming and confident as he looked at the necromancers in front of him. "What can you do to us again?"

  "Aiden Master replied calmly: 'All I can say is that if Aegnairon wants to kill me, then I'll just wait quietly for him to come and do it.'"

  "You're exaggerating." Adela covered her mouth, smiling at him. "You are after all one of the ten most powerful magicians on the continent."

  "But Aegirnail is the continent's top assassin, and he used to be one of us, so he knows us very well. Mages also need to eat, sleep, and their spirits can also slacken. I don't want to carefully check every bite of bread for a poisonous insect with over a dozen curses on it, nor do I want to spend half a day checking every chair for deadly traps before sitting down, and I especially don't want to be afraid of never waking up again every night before sleep." Master Aiden looked at Adela calmly. "If you don't believe me, you can announce to the outside world that it was actually you who led people to kill Sandru. That would make things much easier for us."

  "Oh, so he's that formidable, huh." Adela still smiled. Her smile seemed to have a slightly girlish and shy flavor to it. "Looks like we should pray that the other respected former proxy chairman, Mr. Sandro, can narrowly escape death."

  "That might be even more troublesome." Another necromancer sighed. "Eggraine just kills people, but Sandru starts fires... who knows what he'll do next?"

  "Please, everyone, be at ease." The marquis, who had not spoken again until now, stood up. His expression and voice were calm and collected, without a hint of panic or worry. "Whether Mr. Sandru is dead or alive, whoever goes to investigate, it will absolutely not fall on our heads. It was just a very simple political conspiracy."

  "Is that possible?" Master Aidan sneered. "Others may not know, but those two are clearly aware that we have been trying to deal with Ronis all along. As long as they catch someone who colludes with you, such as the Duke, and ask him a few questions, everything will be revealed. I believe that there is no one who can hide from their questioning."

  "No one is in league with me, and no one will ever know that I'm the one who manipulated this. No matter who comes to reason it out, they'll never place the blame on us, so please rest assured. I guarantee it." The Marquis's calm and peaceful voice and expression, filled with confidence, left Master Aiden unable to refute him further.

  "Hehe, what a reassuring tone." Bishop Adra gave the Marquis a charming smile.

  "I didn't know these two seniors had such charisma. Now I finally understand." The marquis also smiled, with a similarly charming smile, and a hint of sudden realization in it. "From now on, I will be more careful and pay more attention to these two seniors."

  "Since the respected Inham can guarantee it, it seems we were overthinking." A well-maintained, plump white Death Spirit Master nodded. "However, to ensure against any unexpected events, I suggest that we temporarily put aside matters regarding the Ainfast Empire and refrain from interfering with anything there, let's wait and see how things develop first."

  "Hehe, right, it seems to have nothing to do with us."

  "That's right. Just don't go over there for now. Let's talk about it once everything is clear."

  "But, calm down and think carefully, I feel a bit strange again......" Master Aidan shook his head indifferently. "Do you guys really think Sandru will be besieged to death?"

  "I don't quite believe it either..." The old Death Spirit Master bent over, coughing and wheezing, forcing the words out of his body. With great effort, he straightened up and looked at Adela. "Did you see it with your own eyes?"

  "Master Sant, I didn't see it with my own eyes." Bishop Adra bowed his head respectfully to the old man who loved to cough. "However, according to the report from the Magic Academy, there were over a thousand people present at the scene of the siege. The First Swordsman of the Einfast Empire led five hundred members of the Holy Knights, and almost every single person from the Magic Academy, even the janitors, participated in the siege to avenge Bishop Ronis. And all these over one thousand people witnessed with their own eyes the death of that necromancer who exploded together with the manipulated corpse."

  "Self-destruction... such a heroic act doesn't quite fit the style of the respected Sandru." Master Aiden glanced calmly at the other several necromancers. Two of them smiled and nodded in agreement.

  "Yes, he must have played some trick. The Ghost King's cloak is in his hands, and he is a magician who has practiced the true meditation of magic. Wearing the Ghost King's cloak, I think not to mention one thousand magicians, even ten thousand can't deal with him."

  "Oh? Will the Ghost King's cloak have such a great effect after wearing it?" The marquis asked in surprise.

  "It must be someone who has practiced real meditation to bring out the maximum effect of that thing. But real meditation... haha, even if you ask me to practice it, I don't dare to."

  Adela smiled and asked: "What? Is that meditation technique difficult? I've only heard of it..."

  "You young people don't understand. How many mountain peaks in the Shadow Mountains have been blown up because of those who dared to explore the pinnacle of necromancy and self-destructed during meditation? That's why our meditation rooms are all carved out inside the mountains now. Hehe."

  "But the records in that book should indeed be of great benefit to the study of necromancy. Over the years, only the former Deputy Director Sandru and the respected teacher Sant have been able to practice it successfully, and they have both become the strongest necromancers after Akiba."

  "Success? Cough, cough... I only just started and had to stop. It's all because Sandru has a high innate talent, good luck, and practiced for a short while." Mr. Santel struggled to shake his head. "And the thing I regret most in this life is practicing that book..." His coughing grew louder and more labored, his entire body convulsed, and his hunched figure shrunk into a ball on the chair.

  Marquis looked at the painful look of Shantai teacher and sighed: "It seems that Mr. Sandru took out the book of true fantasy and the ghost king's cloak from Diya Valley, maybe it was correct."

  The plump and pale necromancer also let out a sigh: "Sigh. I was thinking of finding an opportunity to catch that woman who ate the World Tree's leaf for research purposes. But looking at it now, it's better to give up on this dangerous plan, lest we get caught by Sandru who might be waiting there. Hehe. After all, there is still one intact World Tree's leaf waiting for us."

  "Yes, it's better not to go."

  "I thought I was bringing explosive news, but it seems that under your wise analysis and discussion, it has become so ordinary." Adela laughed a bit awkwardly. "What important matters did you all discuss at the meeting before I arrived?"

  "First of all, everyone appreciated Inham's judgment and planning ability for completing such a difficult task on his own. These past few days have delayed everyone's schedule, and now that things are almost settled, it's unlikely there will be any progress in the short term. Members with matters to attend to should also return to handle their respective affairs. Therefore, Inham was nominated to take on the role of acting chairman, responsible for making decisions on how to handle various matters when everyone couldn't convene a meeting. Do you have any objections?"

  "Of course I have an opinion." Adela laughed brightly. "How can you not let me have the chance to cast a sacred vote for him? Hehe."

  "Aiden Master snorted coldly. 'I personally have always had reservations about this decision.'"

  A dead spirit master chuckled and said, "Respected Aiden, what's the point of this little fame? Can't you let a young person with more energy handle these trivial matters?"

  "What's left is to settle the guild matters afterwards. Actually, our main problem now is about that man who disappeared with the World Tree Leaf. Anyway, Ronis has already put out a wanted notice for him, and now there are tens of thousands of people searching for this 5,000 gold coin man. We just need to wait for these helpers to find him, chase and kill him, make some noise, and then we can easily go and retrieve the World Tree Leaf, and get rid of that man at the same time. But before that, it's only a matter of asking the radical Vedina lady to rest for a while. Anyway, she has all the time in the world, haha."

  "This time's operation was successful, but the blame still landed on our heads. The church side still needs you two to handle it a bit, don't let things get too big. As for those countries or organizations that most actively want to follow Ronis and rise up against Deyagawa Valley, just casually replace their leaders as if playing a small game of entertainment, it's quite interesting."

  "Cedro's old beastman city seems to have some atmosphere, but for our noble group's power and influence, it is still a blank slate. In the future, everyone has the opportunity to put Cedro's ears or something in."

  "And finally, there's the matter of the killer who slew Eisrei. If anyone has time, go investigate it. First figure out what kind of person it is, then we can discuss how to deal with it." The death mage who had been explaining things to Bishop Adra stood up and stretched his waist. "Alright, that's all for now. I should be heading back too."

  The other necromancers also stood up. "Alright, hopefully next time we gather around this elegant conference table, the centerpiece will be that skull worth 5,000 gold coins and the loveliest World Tree leaf."

  "Respected Chairman Inham, thank you for your hard work. Hehe."

  "Don't worry, I won't disappoint your hopes." The marquis bowed and smiled. "I will definitely give everyone some surprises."

  "Hahahaha. Indeed, a reassuring young man. I can almost smell the intoxicating aroma of the World Tree's leaves."