Three days passed, and the group soon arrived at the outskirts of the Holy Capital.
"The area around this Holy Capital looks pretty decent, just like Radiant Emperor City back in the day. At least the surface work is done well."
Looking at the obviously improved security around them, Dorothy couldn't help but sigh.
Elashia nodded.
"That's right. After all, the Blood Clan's purpose in controlling the Holy Kingdom isn't to kill all humans, but to obtain a steady supply of human blood."
Recalling some of the background stories from the game, Elashia continued:
"Initially, the Blood Clan's various perverse actions sparked extremely fierce resistance, and facing threats in the north as well, the Blood Clan's manpower couldn't support effective control over such a vast country. So to ensure the Holy Kingdom's output exceeded input for them, they chose a policy of 'ruling humans with humans.'"
"And Holy Empress Evelyn, who regained real power under this policy, at least did some work to ease the conflicts between the Holy Kingdom's people and the Blood Clan."
Speaking of this, Elashia said seriously:
"However, she is after all the Blood Clan's spokesperson in the Holy Kingdom now, so the purpose of that surface work isn't for the Holy Kingdom's people at all, but to help the Blood Clan obtain large amounts of fresh blood in the Holy Kingdom."
"So surface work is ultimately just surface work. From our journey here, we can see—those things are ultimately just means to ease conflicts."
Dorothy nodded and joked with a smile:
"Sigh, compared to this, the old Elasian Emperor was actually pretty good."
"Although he was lazy and bad, at least he didn't want our blood."
Elashia nodded.
"That's right."
"No matter what, when our own people harm us, it's ultimately for profit, but when enemies harm us, they really want our lives."
...
Chatting as they went, the group soon reached the gates of the Holy Capital.
Seeing a merchant caravan of over a hundred people approaching them, the Blood Slave Army soldiers guarding the city gates immediately reacted.
"All personnel dismount for inspection!"
The captain of this Blood Slave Army unit walked to the front of the convoy, signaling it to stop.
"Stop first!"
Elashia used magic to transmit the command to the knights' ears.
The convoy slowly came to a halt.
The captain surveyed the convoy and loudly asked Dorothy at the front:
"Who's in charge here?"
Dorothy naturally replied:
"I... I am."
Suddenly remembering her current identity was supposed to be a nun, Dorothy restrained the self-address she liked to use when facing others.
The captain nodded and said:
"You might not know—the Holy Capital is currently in a state of emergency!"
"We've intercepted intelligence that fire bandits are about to launch an attack on the Holy Capital. Although the newspapers have said this is the enemy's bluffing behavior, we still need to strengthen screening of merchants entering the city!"
Dorothy nodded.
This person was quite decent.
He actually didn't ask them for money.
They had passed through quite a few checkpoints along the way.
Most of the Blood Slave soldiers guarding passes would demand money from them.
And along the way, they had basically been resolved using Elashia's mind control.
Seeing that squad captain had come alone, Dorothy said to Elashia without concern:
"Then let's just use the old method."
However, this time Elashia smiled and shook her head.
If she used mind control on this person, she would feel guilty to death.
"Old method? What are you talking about?"
Dorothy's unguarded words indeed aroused the gate guard captain's suspicion.
However, Elashia immediately dispelled the suspicion in his heart.
Elashia stepped forward, moved close to the captain, and whispered to him:
"Starlight will eventually pierce through blood light."
"Ah?" x2
Elashia's sudden words stunned both Dorothy and the guard captain.
However, before Dorothy, the guard captain quickly reacted.
Then, under Dorothy's shocked gaze, the guard captain stepped back and smiled loudly to the gate guards:
"No need to inspect them! They're a merchant caravan under my friend's banner!"
His subordinate soldiers, hearing the captain's order, didn't object at all and immediately cleared the way.
The guard captain waved at the group.
"Alright! You may pass!"
Thus, the group quickly entered the city...
"Little Shia, what was that about?"
Finally entering the Holy Capital, Dorothy, with infinite questions in her heart, curiously inquired about the cause of that scene.
Elashia smiled mysteriously and used magic transmission to explain Dorothy's confusion.
"Actually, that guard is a spy Northern Fire planted in the Holy Capital."
"His role is to coordinate from within when Northern Fire launches an attack on the Holy Capital."
Dorothy slowly nodded.
She seemed to understand.
Dorothy thought again and asked:
"Then... what does that phrase 'Starlight will eventually pierce through blood light' mean?"
Elashia smiled.
"That's the code for Northern Fire's intelligence network."
"It roughly means... 'We're going in for something very important.'"
Dorothy finally understood completely.
"Looking at it this way... it seems the Holy Court forces have been heavily infiltrated?"
Elashia nodded.
"After all, it's an organization without true faith."
"Whether the original Holy Kingdom or the Blood Clan, both were actually theocratic political systems."
"And the current Holy Kingdom..."
Elashia thought for a moment and said:
"To cater to Blood Clan rule and strengthen ideological control over the Holy Kingdom's people, the Holy Court merged many original doctrines with the Blood Clan's system."
"But... the effect is actually quite limited."
"Although both worship goddesses, the difference between the Blood Clan's doctrines and the Holy Kingdom's original teachings is actually enormous."
"And the new doctrines obviously carry a heavy color of serving the Holy Court's rule, so their credibility is... hard to describe."
Dorothy smiled and nodded.
"Looking at it this way... seems like Little Lena has quite a few advantages?"
Elashia smiled and nodded.
"That's right."
No matter what, the humans on the Holy Court side were basically all forced by circumstances to serve under Blood Clan rule, while those on Northern Fire's side were all warriors willing to risk everything to liberate the Holy Kingdom.
So the Holy Court had basically been infiltrated like a sieve by Northern Fire these past few years...
"Then... since we've entered the city district, where should we stay next?"
Looking at this bustling Holy Capital, then at the long procession behind them, Dorothy asked Elashia easily.
Elashia had made plans long ago.
"Follow me."
Elashia smiled as she led Dorothy and the hundred-plus knights behind them toward the city center.
She planned to directly buy a large inn to serve as their base of operations in the Holy Kingdom.
To ensure no problems arose, Elashia specifically chose an inn controlled by Northern Fire.
This way, not only would it solve the problem of lodging for the Elasian knights, but it would also save some funds!
Having the Elasian national treasury money controlled by her go to Ileina's Northern Fire organization... that was just moving money from left hand to right hand, ultimately still keeping the money in human hands!
Moreover... once the Holy Kingdom was liberated anyway, Elasia and the Iron Empire would invest large amounts of aid funding to help the Holy Kingdom's revival.
Elashia had already decided that when Northern Fire's people overcharged her a bit, she'd just consider it advance aid funding from Elasia to Ileina.