The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Chapter 573: The Biguslers Under Surveillance

There was also a noble district in the Imperial Capital.

However, unlike the clearly defined districts in the Royal Capital, the noble district in the Imperial Capital was simply the area surrounding the Imperial Palace, filled with high-class buildings.

The mansions of the nobles were built around the Imperial Palace, forming the noble district. Further out was the commercial district, then the commoner residential area, and finally the knight training grounds and military camps.

Beyond the military camps were the city walls of the Imperial Capital.

Therefore, unlike the clearly defined districts of the Royal Capital, the Imperial Capital had a circular, hierarchical structure. The closer to the city walls, the lower the social status, with the exception of the military camps. They were stationed near the city walls for the convenience of defending the city and deploying troops, and were usually surrounded by fortress-like walls, considered military strongholds. Apart from officially affiliated knights, no one was allowed to enter.

Under such circumstances, the Bigusler family naturally resided in the noble district near the center of the Imperial Capital, not far from the Imperial Palace.

After entering the noble district, Shien and his companions realized that there were gradually fewer people here. Most were patrolling knights and horse-drawn carriages, with few pedestrians.

But the security here was tight, with fully armed knights patrolling everywhere, and the knights were very vigilant. Even though Shien and his companions were only wearing cloaks that covered their faces, they still attracted many wary and suspicious gazes. They were even stopped by several knight squads, who asked them to remove their hoods and reveal their faces. The atmosphere was so tense and serious, as if the city was under a massive search, that those who didn’t know better might think they were arresting wanted criminals.

At first, Shien cooperated, but later, as the same situation repeated itself, he became annoyed.

So, Shien simply took Lasha and Lilith into stealth mode, activating the invisibility effect of [Inner Perception of Heaven’s Decree], transforming into undetectable figures in black, and shuttling through the alleys of the noble district.

Even so, Shien still encountered knight squads several times, as if they were searching for something, appearing everywhere. Even in the alleys, groups of knights would occasionally patrol with vigilance and seriousness, truly demonstrating tight security.

“What’s going on?”

At this point, Shien also realized something was wrong.

Such tight security was unusual.

If this were happening within the Imperial Palace, it would be understandable, but such tight security throughout the entire noble district? Shien wouldn’t believe this was the norm.

“Could it be…”

Shien’s eyes rolled, and he pondered, seemingly having thought of something.

However, Shien didn’t do anything, following the original plan and bringing Lasha and Lilith to the Bigusler residence.

However, upon arriving at the Bigusler residence, Shien noticed something was amiss again.

“Why are there so many people watching this place?”

In a shadowy area, Shien, holding Lasha and Lilith’s hands, looked ahead, his brow furrowed.

In a plaza ahead, a luxurious mansion stood tall.

The mansion wasn’t overly ornate, even decorated in a somewhat cold and rigid style, like a small white chalk castle, giving off a serious feeling.

At first glance, there seemed to be nothing strange about the mansion.

Unfortunately, Shien’s [Outer Awareness of Heaven’s Decree] wasn’t just for show.

His enhanced senses and various perception abilities told him that many eyes were watching the mansion from the surroundings.

Faint traces of magic power appeared around the Bigusler residence, but none were openly visible. Instead, they were hidden in the shadows, like Shien, as if observing something.

“These don’t seem like the Bigusler family’s guards, but rather secret troops secretly monitoring the Bigusler residence.”

Shien noticed this.

Lilith seemed to have noticed as well, her gaze shifting to Shien, as if asking if he wanted to take action.

Lasha didn’t seem to notice anything, but she remained calm and composed, quietly letting Shien hold her hand, neither making a fuss nor speaking, leaving everything to him.

Shien patted Lilith’s head, saying nothing and doing nothing.

Dealing with those secretly monitoring the residence wasn’t difficult, but Shien wanted to know what was happening that caused the Bigusler family to be monitored like this.

“Could something have happened?”

Shien suspected this.

In the Empire, Harvis and Rockto had enemies.

Namely, the Imperial Consort who had bewitched the current Emperor and held immense power – Mara.

According to Harvis, Mara had indirectly dealt with several of his siblings and had been trying to deal with him and his sister, Capeline.

Rockto, as Harvis’ supporter, was also one of the Imperial nobles who opposed Mara’s power.

Therefore, Mara definitely wouldn’t let Harvis, Rockto, and the others have an easy time.

Now, it had been half a month since Harvis and Rockto returned from the Kingdom. It was entirely possible that something had happened during this period, causing them to fall into trouble.

In other words…

“Are they in trouble now?”

Shien narrowed his eyes.

The reason Shien chose to cooperate with Harvis was because of his power and influence in the Empire.

With the support of this most influential prince in the Empire, it would be much easier for him to deal with Mara.

At least, he could learn about Mara’s whereabouts from the information provided by Harvis, preventing this mysterious Imperial Consort from escaping.

If it weren’t for this consideration, Shien could have directly descended upon the Imperial Capital with Airi and Lilith, starting a massacre, which would be much easier than anything else.

But if Harvis himself was in trouble and couldn’t provide him with assistance in this regard, then there was no reason for Shien to cooperate with this prince.

After all, in this cooperation, Harvis was the weaker party. Because he couldn’t deal with Mara himself, he wanted to seek Shien’s help, using his power to overthrow his foolish father and seize the Imperial throne.

For this, he even volunteered to help Shien deal with the Raifurut family. This was the prince’s pledge of allegiance.

But in the end, Harvis still let Wolram escape.

Therefore, if he couldn’t provide Shien with any assistance, then Shien naturally had no reason to help him usurp the throne and let him reap the benefits.

Of course, it wasn’t time to reach this conclusion yet.

Whether the other party was truly in trouble was still up for debate.

After thinking for a moment, Shien came up with a plan.

“Lilith,” Shien lowered his voice and said to Lilith, “You and Lasha hide here. I’ll go in and take a look first.”

Hearing this, Lilith blinked her big eyes, seemingly wanting to go in with Shien.

“It’s fine. I’ll just sneak in and check the situation. I might leave immediately after confirming the Bigusler family’s situation. In that case, there’s no need for us to go in.” Shien said, “So, you and Lasha wait for my news here. Don’t be discovered by those rats.”

Hearing Shien’s words, Lilith thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Lasha had no objections at all, remaining silent from beginning to end.

“Good girl.” Shien kissed Lilith’s small face, making her beam, then looked at Lasha and said, “Wait for my news.”

“Yes.” Lasha nodded expressionlessly.

Seeing the maid’s calmness, as if she were completely detached, indifferent to everything, Shien raised an eyebrow and suddenly kissed the maid’s delicate face.

The feeling was amazing.

Lasha seemed to be caught off guard and was stunned for a moment.

But by now, Shien had already vanished, no longer there.

“…”

Lasha remained silent.

Within her heart, ripples she might not even be aware of were forming.

…

Meanwhile, Shien, using his teleportation ability, directly entered the Bigusler residence.

He was still invisible, and no one noticed him.

At this moment, Shien appeared on a tree branch in a backyard garden.

He closed his eyes and focused his mind.

His perception ability from [Outer Awareness of Heaven’s Decree] spread out.

It instantly enveloped the entire Bigusler residence, relaying the situation inside to Shien.

Shien could sense that there seemed to be some commotion in the Bigusler residence. Besides the servants bustling about, there seemed to be an argument in a hall on the top floor of the mansion.

Shien sensed Rockto’s magic power, and also sensed another similar magic power source near Rockto, quite a strong one.

But Rockto’s current situation didn’t seem very good.

Because, besides the magic power reaction near him, there were several other magic power sources in the hall.

Those magic power sources were confronting Rockto, and each was quite strong. One of them was almost as strong as Rockto, surprising Shien.

“A second Legendary-level expert…?”

Shien almost immediately thought of something.

“It should be that person, right?”

In the Royal Capital of the Kingdom, there was only one famous Legendary-level expert, and that was Aldia.

Although there were definitely more than just Aldia in the Kingdom, the only Legendary-level expert serving the Kingdom and holding a position in the Royal Capital was Aldia.

In contrast, the Empire had another Legendary-level expert besides Rockto.

His fame wasn’t as great as Rockto’s, but he was also considered the second strongest knight in the Empire, and like Rockto, he was the head of a knight family, his status and position not much different from Rockto’s.

But why would that Legendary-level expert be here, confronting Rockto?

“It seems something really did happen here.”

Shien opened his eyes.

“Let’s go take a look.”

Shien made this decision.

In the next second, Shien vanished as if he had never been there.