[Vol. 5] Chapter 72: Hidden Face

Prakaka felt that he had been incredibly unlucky recently.

Originally, life in the Courage City was quite enjoyable—listening to some tunes, occasionally doing simple tasks, catching a few petty thieves, and although he couldn’t often appear in public, it was the most comfortable period he’d had since he was forced to join the “Eternal Throne” over a century ago and become one of the so-called immortals.

Unfortunately, the newly appointed Queen of the Human United Kingdom was a hands-on ruler and very adept at delegating tasks. Anything of value was to be used to its full potential, and even this legendary level individual couldn’t escape the same fate.

There was no way around it. Since his big boss, Miss Violet, had instructed him to stay in the Courage City and obediently follow Queen Lilya’s orders before she left, Mr. Mouse had to comply with the new boss’s commands.

Moreover, to be fair, although he did have a tendency to stir up trouble, the Queen’s treatment of Prakaka was still quite decent. Aside from criminal activities or theft, most other matters were overlooked, and she would try to fulfill his requests as much as possible.

Thus, this sixth seat of the Eternal Throne was genuinely working here with sincerity.

The fate of a worker, naturally, is to be constantly busy. Recently, Her Majesty the Queen had assigned it another task. She mentioned that something seemed off in the Holy Empire and asked it to investigate and report back once it figured out what was going on.

When the boss gives an order, the subordinate must run until their legs give out. Though Prakaka was frustrated, it had no choice but to traverse mountains and cross borders at the fastest pace, arriving in the Holy Empire.

Fortunately, since the Holy Empire is under the Goddess Church’s domain, there was no racial discrimination, and even a rat-person like Prakaka could freely roam the city without issue. The experience was quite different from life in the Human United Kingdom, which wasn’t too boring.

However, as the saying goes, “when one is well-fed, they think of lewd desires.” While Mr. Prakaka had no such desires, being in a foreign land without the Queen’s supervision made its hands itch to do something.

In fact, during its earlier days working with the Eternal Throne, Prakaka had visited the Holy Empire several times. Since it was involved in shady activities like theft and murder, it had attracted the attention of the Knights Templars and had several run-ins, even suffering some losses.

Though now reformed and unable to seek revenge, seeing certain Knights Templars still made Prakaka itch to play tricks on them.

Indeed, it was just its specialty in sleight of hand.

Just after arriving in one of the major western cities of the Holy Empire, Sacred Star City, it ran into an old rival.

The three major Divine Bloodlines of the Holy Empire might seem indistinguishable from ordinary people to most. However, as someone who has faced the leader of this family, the Bright Light Saintess. He was always beaten to a pulp, Prakaka was very familiar with the distinctive traits of this lineage.

Unlike the other two Divine Bloodlines, which have human origins, Summerfield’s ability to wield the highly coveted 【Crownless Crown】 of the three great Light Artifacts comes from their rare status as a hybrid of the Lightborn Tribe and Divine Bloodline.

As a result, members of this family not only have a slightly longer average lifespan than other Divine Bloodlines, but also display some unique traits of the Lightborn Tribe.

For instance—pale blue eyes like gemstones.

So, when Prakaka encountered this person on the street, even though he was dressed in plain clothes and merely affected to wear a Four-Winged Holy Emblem, Prakaka instantly recognized him as a true member of the Summerfield family.

What intrigued Prakaka even more was that this Divine Bloodline individual was also concealing an item that faintly emitted a demonic aura.

The rat people have a natural ability called [Treasure Sense]. Although not particularly useful in combat, this ability, when combined with their expertise in theft, could be highly effective.

As a rare top-tier expert who had witnessed legends in his clan once in a century, Prakaka had naturally perfected this innate ability. No matter how well the item was concealed, it couldn’t escape his detection.

Prakaka, having been assigned by Her Majesty the Queen to investigate the demonic outbreak in the eastern Holy Empire and the rumors of the Saintess disappearing with an artifact during battle, couldn’t ignore the presence of a demonic item on a member of the Summerfield family. As one of the top echelons of the Holy Empire and with previous grudges, this was something he had to address.

Thus, Prakaka skillfully used his divine ability to significantly reduce his presence, combined with an invisibility cloak, to deliberately brush past the Summerfield scion on the street and steal the item from him. He managed to escape before the scion noticed the theft.

After committing such an act, Prakaka couldn’t afford to stay in Sacred Star City any longer. Given the unpredictable and mysterious methods of those divine scoundrels, there was a risk they might have the ability to track stolen items.

Therefore, he promptly left the city, ventured deeper into the Holy Empire’s territory, and only then took the time to examine the stolen item—a small wooden sculpture.

The sculpture had wings, four arms, a goat’s head, and each arm held a gem with eyes growing from it, exuding a bewitching and sinister aura.

Prakaka recognized the sculpture immediately—it was the Corruption King, one of the Four Demon Lords of the Demon Realm.

Demons, while depicted by the Holy Empire and the Goddess Church as malevolent and terrifying, are ultimately just a race from another world. They are not inherently benevolent or merciful, but as long as interests align, negotiation or even cooperation is possible. They are simply a unique type of creature.

At the pinnacle of this hierarchy are the Four Demon Lords, each ruling over a region of the Demon Realm:

【Chaos】: The Chaos King is a nomad with unpredictable behavior and no subordinates. However, its individual strength is unrivaled among the Four Lords, having secured the top position solely through personal power.

【Slaughter】: The Slaughter King is warlike and bloodthirsty, constantly craving battle and war. Its countless demonic armies relentlessly invade other realms, and demons appearing in the mortal world are often its subordinates.

【Corruption】: The Corruption King is a master of subterfuge, skilled in mental manipulation and spreading ideas. It can easily undermine the foundations of an entire nation with a mere gesture. Although rarely seen on the battlefield, it is as fearsome as the Slaughter King.

【Defilement】: The Defilement King is inherently vile, spreading plagues and poisons, and creating twisted and deformed flesh. It is the antithesis of pure light and the most reviled by the Goddess Church. Its presence is met with the harshest and most determined “purification.”

The Four Demon Lords are the most powerful beings in the Demon Realm, embodiments of four fundamental concepts. It is said that they could even rival the gods of ancient times. However, due to the world’s strong rejection, they cannot enter this realm in their true forms and can only send over a portion of their power or artifacts imbued with their will.

For instance, this sculpture is clearly an artifact imbued with a part of the Corruption King’s power. It is known as a “demonic artifact” by the Goddess Church, but to demons and their worshippers, it is considered a sacred object.

Of course, Prakaka does not care much about these details. It is merely curious about where that young man from the Sumerfield family acquired such an item and why he would carry something that is considered “extremely blasphemous” to the Goddess Church.

It seems improbable that even the Sumerfield family’s demigods have been secretly corrupted by the Corruption King. If that were the case, the Holy Empire would have long since crumbled under demon invasion and could not remain strong to this day.

Nevertheless, since Prakaka has obtained it, it certainly won’t return it obediently. It plans to head to the western capital and then proceed to the eastern region for further investigation. This artifact might prove useful at some point.

Even if the investigation yields no valuable results, handing this clearly valuable item over to a certain queen could still be considered a satisfactory outcome.

However, bad luck soon followed Prakaka.