"What are you... saying?" Even Earl Quinn, who had been through countless storms in his life, was left completely dumbfounded by Andrea's sentence.

But what he was surprised of was not her mention of a "new King of Dawn," but that she was under orders of His Majesty Roland Wimbledon. These words carried a whole different meaning when said by different people.

Hawn had essentially suggested the same thing earlier, but the earl knew very well that the Quinn family alone had no way to rid Dawn of its current royalty. What Hawn meant by taking a stand was just an unrealistic fantasy.

However, now that the one speaking had the support of the King of Graycastle, those words carried more power.

"Just as you have thought." Probably due to the news of her mother's death, Andrea's tone was no longer as sharp. "His Majesty Roland doesn't want to have Appen Moya stay on the throne but nor does he wish for a destabilized kingdom. It's, therefore, necessary to support a new king with the backing of the populace to successfully control the situation as soon as possible.

After confirming that he didn't mishear her first sentence, the earl muttered, "But why me?"

"His Majesty doesn't have many people that he can trust in the Kingdom of Dawn, so he chose me at first. But I refused."

Just because of this?

Because the daughter refused, so the throne was thrown to her father. This kind of behavior was like that of a child's... But strangely, Horford did not think that this was a joke.

Although Appen had completely banned people from talking about the defeat at Hermes, it was impossible to block the flow of all the information related to the battle because too many n.o.bles had been involved with it. Horford knew very well that the enemy he encountered was not the church; it was Graycastle that took over the holy city. The 10,000-strong army was defeated in an instant, and many of those who had survived could not even describe what happened during the battle. They only saw flames continually falling from the heavens amidst the chaos. The thunder-like flashes of fire smashed into their ranks, reducing both common serfs and armored knights into piles of ashes.

If the news was anywhere near accurate, this meant that Graycastle's power had far exceeded the expectations of the n.o.bles. With such great discrepancy in military might, it would not be unreasonable for Graycastle to appoint new kings for neighboring countries anyhow they liked.

The only question left was why the King did not come himself.

"If the n.o.bles in the Kingdom of Dawn were willing to group their forces under a single banner and start a rebellion together, the Earl would have definitely chosen this option." Andrea seemed to have antic.i.p.ated that he would try to raise this question. "Simply said, right now, His Majesty Roland has more important enemies to deal with, so he does not have the time nor resources to try to integrate the Kingdom of Dawn into Graycastle in the next three or four years. After all, even though destroying the current ruling royalty was simple, restabilizing the country afterward would be a lengthy process."

"More important... enemies?"

"Yes, the demons." Andrea said slowly, "Otto Pa.s.si should have already mentioned that all the church's actions were due to the news of the Battle of Doomsday. That was just a small part of the mystery. The name of this war was called The Battle for Divine will and has lasted for nearly a thousand years."

After listening to his daughter's story, Earl Horford felt the cold sweat run down his back.

The Four Kingdoms, including the Kingdom of Dawn, was merely a corner of a continent? As of now, humanity had already suffered defeat in two consecutive wars and was unable to stop the advance of the demons, and a third defeat would lead to the extinction of humankind. Under such dire circ.u.mstances, Roland Wimbledon still dared to bear this heavy burden and go to battle with a mighty enemy to gain Divine Will.

How much will and courage would a man need to do this?

Just thinking about it was already enough to cause the Earl to forget to breathe for a couple of seconds.

"Why?" said the earl hurriedly. "How would this benefit him? Does he not fear the consequences of failing?"

"I don't know..." Andrea sighed and said, "This has been mentioned by Her Highness Tilly previously, but her speculation was even more puzzling."

"What did she say?"

"She said that he's not doing it for humanity, but for himself..." She hesitated and said, "It was as if he was looking for a new challenge, and we just happened to be the beneficiaries in this situation."

The earl did not answer, because he did not know what to say. He had seen many different n.o.bles, but none of them was anything like Roland Wimbledon. Eventually, he put this question aside and returned to the main topic. "What does he require of me? To fight for him?"

"No," Andrea shook her head. "Your only job would be to maintain the stability of the Kingdom of Dawn, and provide resources when needed. This includes manpower, raw ore and other kinds of resources. As for the specific amounts and types, His Majesty will later send someone to discuss with you in detail."

Horford was relieved to hear that there was a price to pay for Graycastle's support. If Roland wanted to support the Quinn family without asking for anything in return, he would certainly be suspicious of any conspiracies behind it. Of course, even if there was a conspiracy, with the current situation in Dawn, he could only bite the bullet and agree.

Feigning illness was only a delaying tactic to reach a balance between Appen and the other n.o.bles. If those n.o.bles turned out to be capable of overthrowing the Moya family, Quinn's family would undoubtedly be excluded from the ruling circle of the king's city due to them just remaining a spectator. That would actually have been the ideal result. If anyone wanted to overthrow the three big families, it would not be at all difficult to spread rumors about them still owning allegiances to the royal family.

This was a rare opportunity.

Not to mention the involvement of Andrea.

She might hate me, but she would never cause her family any harm.

As soon as he thought of this, Earl Horford immediately made a decision.

"Please inform His Majesty Wimbledon, that I'm willing to serve the King of Graycastle." He spoke in a serious manner. Although he was speaking to his daughter, she was now the king's messenger; hence the earl gave a slight bow according to the rules of the n.o.bles. "When would he like to take action? It would take at least two to three months to prepare for Graycastle's troops to infiltrate the city."

Even if Appen took away his power to run the patrol team, Horford was still confident about letting dozens or so Graycastle men into the city. After all, as the prime minister who had served two different kings, his still had a certain degree of influence within the city. The earl believed that those foreign n.o.bles who wanted to persuade him over to their side also realized this point.

According to the strength that Graycastle had demonstrated in the previous battle they fought with Dawn's troops, dozens of the Graycastle soldiers should be more than enough to take control of the city gate.

However, Andrea's following words went far beyond his expectations.

"Now that you've promised to our request, we will act immediately," she said lightly. "His Majesty Roland had emphasized that he did not want a political a.s.sa.s.sination, but rather a complete defeat of Appen Moya in front of the public. Not only does everyone need to witness the end of the Moya family, the greedy n.o.bles who had selfish intentions would also have to be convinced that any resistance is futile."

"What?" He did not believe what he had heard. "But how?"

"Do you know how I got here?" Andrea laid out her hands and said, "I came in from the main entrance. Those guards did try to stop me, but they couldn't do it."

Horford immediately realized that the friends she brought were the key. Barging into the earl's residence at the king's city was not an impossible feat, as this was not his home territory. But to do so without raising any alarms was quite astounding. This meant that the guards were most likely subdued within an instant.

There is no doubt that this was not Andrea's doing, as each of those guards was armed with a G.o.d's Stone of Retaliation.

"Wait till you meet them. All of your doubts would naturally vanquish by then." She continued and said, "So what the Quinn family needs to do right now is to cause a scene—the louder the noise, the better it is. Everyone in the Glowing City should have their attention on this so that Appen Moya will have no choice but to come out and face you in public."