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Elsewhere—far to the north—a certain young Demon Lord stood before the imposing entrance of a building resembling a governmental administrative hall.

Leohart had been informed by his older sister last night that Bokue intended to visit again today, likely around the same time as yesterday, so his schedule was actually quite tight this morning.

Thus, promptly at eight o'clock sharp, Leohart arrived at the Cardinal Institute, located within the neutral zone of the northern Underworld.

He hadn't even supervised the excavation personally—he'd left everything to his subordinates.

For Leohart, this was hardly his first time dealing with the Institute.

The Cardinal Institute, supposedly the governing body of the northern territories, functioned similarly to the civil service system of a certain empire from the previous century. Regardless of who controlled the north, this bureaucratic entity remained unchanged and constant.

If someone were to interview members of the Cardinal Institute, asking which faction they supported, their answer would be simple: whoever wins.

Looking at the entire northern territory right now, there was no doubt the Current Demon Lord Faction held the highest odds of victory.

In simpler terms, it wasn't "we support you, thus you'll win," but rather "because you're going to win, that's why we support you."

Leohart understood this perfectly, so he had never placed even the slightest trust in the Cardinal Institute.

Yet, since the Institute still controlled a significant portion of the northern territory's resources, he couldn't afford to disregard their existence outright.

It was somewhat akin to the relationship between the British Prime Minister and the Cabinet Secretary—if the Prime Minister absolutely insisted on something, even the Cabinet Secretary had to quietly comply.

But at the same time, the Prime Minister couldn't entirely dismiss the Cabinet Secretary's importance. Pushing them too far might prompt them to discreetly utilize their powers behind the scenes to sabotage your efforts.

❁❁❁❁

"If possible, I'd really rather not be here..." Leohart sighed softly under the blazing morning sun, eyeing the majestic architecture before him with mild irritation before stepping decisively inside.

Following a route he'd traversed numerous times before, he climbed the stairs to the second floor, and strode down the long corridor until he finally arrived before the conference room.

This was it.

Without bothering to knock, Leohart gripped the door handle and pushed open the door—

Creak—

However, the scene that greeted him was not what he'd expected.

The vast meeting room, usually occupied by Cardinal Institute elders gathered around the long table, was empty and silent. Not a single lamp was lit. In the shadows across the table stood one vaguely familiar male figure.

Thanks to his sharp demonic vision, Leohart immediately recognized the figure and furrowed his brow slightly.

"...Admirath? What's going on here? Didn't I clearly state on the phone yesterday that I needed to speak with Lord Madonis today?"

As he spoke, he stepped into the room, reaching over to flick on the light switch.

Click.

With a slight sound, bright lights flooded the conference room, fully illuminating the figure standing opposite him—indeed, it was Admirath.

As usual, Admirath wore an absurdly flamboyant outfit—a deeply plunging neckline intentionally revealing his sculpted chest and defined abs.

The moment Admirath saw Leohart, he immediately dropped to one knee.

"My deepest apologies, Your Majesty."

"I didn't come here to hear apologies—I asked what exactly is going on." Leohart's frown deepened sharply.

Leohart himself was a warrior by background, and he knew Admirath was too. And as warriors, the top priority for attire was ease and efficiency for battle. What the hell was this ridiculous getup Admirath wore supposed to accomplish?

But then again, it wasn't really Leohart's concern—Admirath was from the Cardinal Institute, not one of his own soldiers. And right now, there were more pressing matters.

"Your Majesty, the truth is, regarding your request for an audience, I already relayed it to Lord Madonis last night. But currently, Lord Madonis is personally leading the Cardinal Institute's entire membership to hasten preparations for the final decisive battle—"

"So he's not here, is that it?" Leohart's voice grew notably colder.

True, he couldn't completely ignore the Cardinal Institute. Yet, after all, he was currently the most powerful figure of the entire northern Underworld—the leader of the Current Demon Lord Faction.

If not for remnants of the defeated Old Demon King Faction stubbornly holding out, he could already call himself the king of this northern region.

They even dared to ignore the Demon Lord himself? Was the Cardinal Institute planning to just call it quits completely?

"Absolutely not, Your Majesty. Please don't misunderstand; that wasn't Lord Madonis's intention at all." Seeing Leohart's rapidly darkening expression, Admirath hurriedly lowered his head further.

"The final battle's preparations are indeed critical, but Lord Madonis intended absolutely no disrespect. So, he planned to speak with you today via remote communication."

"Remote communication?" The furrow between Leohart's brows didn't ease.

If he understood this correctly, wasn't "remote communication" essentially just... a phone call?

So why couldn't he have simply taken the call from his own castle?

"In any case, perhaps Lord Madonis himself should explain this directly to you, Your Majesty."

Efficiently demonstrating the skilled bureaucrat's time-honored tactic of swiftly deflecting responsibility, Admirath quickly produced a remote control from his pocket and pressed a button.

Beep.

Following a small electronic chime, a white flash projected a three-dimensional holographic figure onto the conference table before them.

Immediately afterward, a raspy, elderly voice came clearly from the hologram.

"My sincerest apologies, Lord Leohart. With the final battle imminent, ensuring the preparations are completed properly demands our personal presence on-site. Thus, I'm forced to communicate with Your Majesty this way today... bzz—zz..."

Suddenly, as if experiencing unexpected signal interference, the previously stable holographic image flickered erratically, and even the audio briefly distorted.

"Personally present for preparations?"

Leohart resisted the sudden, powerful urge to draw his greatsword and smash it directly into the smug holographic face in front of him.

These decrepit old fossils found it tiring just to walk a few steps on a normal day, and now they wanted to personally supervise preparations at the battle site?

Not getting in the way would already be considered miraculous.

"Forget it. I'll get straight to the point, just like I said over the phone yesterday." Leohart shook his head slightly, letting go of his irritation and continuing.

"In this decisive battle, our Current Demon Lord Faction essentially has victory within our grasp. After securing authority over the northern region, regarding the governance of the Old Capital... I intend to transfer it to someone else."

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