Chapter 00208: Shadows Under Royal Power
# Shadows Under Royal Power
Chapter 208
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 208 Shadows Under Royal Power
Li Chengxi, this Demon God, still had a very vague understanding of the world within the game.
This was mainly because most of the map was covered in a fog of war, and a follower had to walk through it to be considered as having explored the map.
Therefore, Li Chengxi currently only knew what the Leon Territory and a small surrounding area looked like.
Even though Viola would send out scouts to the vicinity after rescuing Count Fran, it was still limited to that nearby area.
He had no idea what was further beyond.
So, he had once said to Audel, "Is there something like a world map for me to look at?"
At the time, Li Chengxi had just said it casually.
After all, judging from the societal productivity in the game, it was probably not much better than the Medieval Times.
A complete and detailed world map was basically a dream.
Perhaps they even still believed the world was flat.
After Audel heard this, she didn't mention it for a long time, and Li Chengxi himself had forgotten about it.
This piece of parchment seemed to have been enchanted with magic.
When rolled up, it was about the length of a cola bottle, but upon untying the ribbon and unfurling it, one would discover it was expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
When fully spread out, it could easily cover the entire cashier counter.
Audel pointed to a triangular area at the top of the map and said:
"This is our Avarus Demon Kingdom. Our nation borders four other nations, and it is these four nations that are currently invading us."
This map was also far from being very detailed; it couldn't compare to modern maps.
Many places only roughly depicted the terrain, and there were no things like contour lines or a scale bar.
The entire landmass on the map looked like an egg that had been diagonally split into two halves of different sizes.
The smaller piece was isolated overseas, while the larger part was divided among seven Demon King Kingdoms.
"Isn't it a bit too small?"
Although there was no scale bar indicated, comparing the size of the already explored Leon Territory on the game map with the size of the Leon Territory on this map, he found that this map was much smaller.
"We hadn't paid attention to this problem before, but ever since seeing the globe in your room, I have a bold guess. Beyond the continent we live on, there must be other landmasses. Otherwise, according to the science channel on television, such a small place cannot form a planet sufficient to sustain an atmosphere and water."
My goodness, what have you been watching on TV?
Weren't you obsessed with special effects shows every day?
Perhaps due to the sensitivity of a researcher, Audel was very interested in the knowledge from the science channel, and she learned extremely quickly.
"It's just that due to transportation issues, we cannot confirm if there are other continents. As for the ocean, we can currently only sail in coastal waters and are unable to travel to more distant places."
Li Chengxi looked at the map and pointed to a spot marked with a red cross, asking:
"What is this?"
"That would have to start with a suspicion of mine."
Audel first made a spellcasting gesture, and a faint ripple spread through the air.
"This is a soundproof barrier. This matter is of great importance, so I must be careful."
When she said be careful, she actually just didn't want Lei Lei to hear.
The moment Audel arrived, she sensed Lei Lei's detection talismans between the shelves.
Then she continued:
"The four Demon King Kingdoms currently invading our nation are very strange. They originally held grudges against each other, and of course, the same goes for our nation."
"Could it be because they saw the Avarus Demon Kingdom growing strong, so they joined forces to invade?"
"Our nation's power has not grown by leaps and bounds to the extent of putting pressure on the four surrounding nations. Our development has always been very gradual."
If that's the case, suddenly joining forces to invade is indeed a bit strange.
"The most incomprehensible thing is, before the invasion, we received no intelligence about the key officials or even the Demon Kings of the four nations being in contact. Otherwise, we definitely would have made preparations in advance. I specifically asked Viola, and she said the armies of the Coalition of Four Nations mobilized suddenly. At that time, our intelligence personnel thought the four nations dispatching troops simultaneously might mean a war was brewing, but they never expected them to actually join forces and launch a surprise attack on our nation. It's also very suspicious that the border fortresses fell in less than two days; it remains a mystery to this day. Our army could only respond hastily, completely unprepared, and the capital was captured in less than half a month."
Hearing this, Li Chengxi had a strange thought:
"Listening to you, it seems like someone was behind the scenes, contacting the four nations and making them attack the Avarus Demon Kingdom?"
"That's very incredible. I can't imagine who would have such great power and prestige to unite four nations that hold grudges against each other, but this is also the most reasonable explanation at present."
To coordinate two nations with mutual enmity to dispatch troops together, there are far too many things that need to be contacted and adjusted, requiring a massive amount of communication.
And this massive amount of communication, without the aid of modern communication technology, would certainly cause very obvious movements, yet the Avarus Demon Kingdom received no word of it.
This matter was indeed very strange.
"Also, there's another matter of concern."
Audel pointed to the Osweya Demon Kingdom in the bottom-left corner of the landmass:
"This Demon King Kingdom is an ally of our nation. It did not participate in the invasion, but it holds grudges against the Coalition of Four Nations. It is clearly a perfect opportunity to wage war while the enemy's army is away from home, yet it has taken no action at all, not even condemning the four nations for their very unreasonable act of suddenly attacking without a declaration of war."
"Since they have grudges, isn't the Osweya Demon Kingdom afraid that after the four nations annex the Avarus Demon Kingdom, they'll turn around and deal with them?"
"This is also something I don't understand."
Between nations, there are no eternal enemies, nor eternal friends, only interests.
Even if the four nations used flowery words to persuade the Osweya Demon Kingdom to stand down, the Osweya Demon Kingdom isn't blind or stupid.
There's no reason they wouldn't see through something so simple.
"Viola's assassination attempt some time ago also concerns me."
Audel mentioned another suspicious point:
"For the four nations, capturing Viola alive is more important than killing her."
Li Chengxi pondered for a moment:
"It's so they can annex the Avarus Demon Kingdom with a legitimate reason, right?"
In any case, to the nobles and commoners of the Avarus Demon Kingdom, the Coalition of Four Nations were invaders.
Although the era in the game was far from having developed a sense of national consciousness, the old cliché of patriotism for one's homeland appeared very early on.
The Avalus Royal Family had neither oppressed the common folk nor suppressed the nobles.
All social classes were still quite supportive of the royal family, so of course they wouldn't be willing to easily submit to the invaders.
But if they captured Viola and had her marry a noble or prince from their own nation, they would have a legitimate claim.
After all, the male heirs of the royal family were all dead, and Viola was highest in the line of succession.
"Of course, I am also one of the targets, but I am a high-ranking mage. It's not so easy to capture me or force me to do anything. So, for the Coalition of Four Nations, Viola being alive is more important than her being dead. Therefore, it's unlikely they would directly send assassins; it doesn't align with their interests."
"Perhaps, it was the person behind the scenes who united the four nations?"
"That's the only possibility."
(End of this chapter)