Reincarnated as incubus: I didn't mean to seduce you!

Are these pendants valuable?

Without a doubt, they are precious.

Even to put it rather bluntly, Kael had always found it odd that such pendants, capable of producing most alchemy equipment and magical devices, exhibited the profound foundation of a great nation, which had invested immense amounts of time to build an entire alchemy industry chain from scratch.

And as for the gnomes...

It wasn't that the gnomes lacked the ability, but rather these profit-driven beings had not settled in the Orean Independent Kingdom and gradually become the rulers of the halflings before they had wandered between the major nations like a pack of stray dogs.

They had no nation of their own, just bands that would flock together whenever they saw a place with potential profits, pouncing like jackals onto the location of gold and treasures.

Yet it was such a group that, at the very start of the establishment of the Orean Independent Kingdom, managed to construct from nothing a spectacular architecture.

This certainly surprised Kael.

Now, the truth was out in the open.

As expected, the spectacular architecture of the Orean Independent Kingdom wasn't the work of the gnomes at all, but rather the result of the gnomes breaking into a historical echo dungeon somewhere and, after integrating it into the territory, dismantling and carrying off its contents.

Put simply, they were a group of assembly craftsmen.

If that's the case, then things just got interesting—Kael was never shy about anticipating the worst in others.

The reason why the gnomes were so hostile to the goblins wasn't really because they felt their business was being taken away by the goblins, but perhaps because they'd known all along that everything they had developed was essentially created by the goblins of old.

This would also explain why the products of the high-ranking goblins, who possessed fragments of heritage memories, were similar to those of the gnomes.

After all... All this data originated from the goblin empire, which had systematically established a system, and all of it came from a single nation. It's no wonder there was no competition or conflict—the underlying technological logic was entirely the same.

It's only now that the Yibel Federation has started to formally implement copyright laws; otherwise, if this had happened a few centuries earlier, the high-ranking goblins would surely have realized that the gnomes were using the same set of equipment as theirs.

Of course, that's still not the most important thing.

Even if the exterior components used with the Elf Furnace were so precious that they could be said to embody the practical crystallization of the goblin empire, compared to the Elemental Furnace itself, they're hardly worth mentioning.

After all, according to a certain goblin, that thing is the very creation that truly realized a part of the "Heavenly Ladder Plan" hypothesis and is the most likely product to allow Kael to break through the final barrier without harm.

The gnomes are indeed... buying the chest but returning the pearl!

"Does anyone know how to extract the functional core from it (Elemental Furnace)?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"He's in prison right now."

"You mean?"

"Yes, the one in Wandong City who has sufficient understanding of this is none other than a goblin, Dr. Zack."

Kael nodded in understanding.

He knew that Dr. Zack was a follower of the Prince of Lies, and even that he had been significantly influenced by the Prince of Lies.

Before the end of this war, he had immediately arranged for his capture and detention.

Now it seemed that not killing him on the spot was indeed the right decision.

Before long, once the victory celebration was over, the participating sides finally came together for the last negotiation.

In a large conference room in Wandong City, the upper echelons of multiple forces gathered.

The senior leaders of the Lancaster Territory from the Yibel Federation.

The main heads of the Holy Brianian Earth Mother Goddess Church/Dawn Lord Church.

The temporary responsible person of the Elf Ranger Corps from the Supreme Forest.

The leader of the Shadow Country Stealth Corps.

All of them were here for the final negotiation.

"Now, regarding the matter of joining the Lancaster Territory, does anyone have any objections?"

The first to raise hand was the responsible person from the Earth Mother Goddess Church, Archbishop Sipher:

"Kael, I regret to inform you that the supplicants cannot join your territory, independent of our will. Once they become supplicants, their lives and futures are linked with the deities.

Even if they die in the real world and have the right to step onto this continent once more, they will still be summoned away by their respective deities."

Kael nodded and then turned to look at the archbishop of the Losanda Church.

The archbishop of the Losanda Church confirmed with a nod as well.

Historical echo dungeons are an exceptionally special kind of dungeon.

Being slices of history cut out of the river of time by the world's will, these dungeons always faced an inevitable question—

If someone who lived in the dungeon hadn't died in the predetermined history and had survived to Kael's era, would there be two different selves from different time periods coexisting when the dungeon merged into the territory?

The answer, of course, is "No!"

If an ancient being had indeed survived and lived to the modern age, then as the dungeon merged, that life from the dungeon would become a memory, fusing into the mind of that ancient being of the current era.

This is the convergence of past and future.

No one can resist the conflict that occurs when different timelines merge.

To directly incorporate the beings of a historical echo dungeon into a territory, it must be ensured that "another self" of this era is unequivocally dead.

This is also why Archbishop Sipher and the supplicants from the Earth Mother Goddess Church cannot join Kael's forces.

After all...

Those supplicants continue to exist in the realm of their own deities in the form of souls.

The Elf Ranger Corps, on the other hand, showed evident resistance.

"Lord, most of us agree to join the territory. However, there is always that small portion of our people who wish to return home. Our suggestion is—

Those elves wishing to return will serve in Lancaster Territory for three years before choosing to leave."

Kael tapped the table and turned his head to Shadow Country: "And you? What are your thoughts?"

...The rest is not charged for...

Once a day, I need your

favorites, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, auto subscriptions! I want to squeeze you dry!

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