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Most importantly, it was more cost-effective to sell the grain to the parliament on the spot than for the grain merchants to risk being caught and secretly transport the grain to the empire.
As for the extra wheat, it was put into the newly opened workshop and made into liquor and maltose to enrich the civilians' diet. Everyone was happy!
But sadness and joy are relative, and usually only transfer from one person's face to another!
The one who had to bear the pain for the people of the kingdom was naturally Monroe!
Looking at the skyrocketing food prices a few days ago, Monroe was still looking forward to the plan he had formulated to wipe out the entire kingdom, causing famine and chaos, and becoming the greatest contributor to the church's efforts to eliminate wizards and regain the kingdom!
However, heaven and hell were separated by a single second, and the wizards seemed to have endless food in their hands. They threw out hundreds of thousands of tons of food within a month, but there was still no sign of collapse. They even changed the workshop's three meals a day to four meals a day!
It seemed as if he was deliberately mocking the food war he had started...
Monroe's heart was full of confusion and puzzlement until Ivana brought back a magic daily report. Then he realized that wizards had been using magic to make bread!
When Monroe received this news, he was completely dumbfounded and almost thought that this was another false news released by the wizard.
After all, using magic to create food out of thin air sounds unreliable, but the goods that filled several trains could not be faked, and the huge amount of wheat released by the wizards earlier was also real. No matter how unwilling he was to believe it, he had to admit that the wizards might really have a way to use magic to create edible food.
It is said that the parliament is considering promoting this [bread making technique], and in the future any formal wizard will be able to learn it...
Monroe endured several days of endless anxiety and panic before finally waiting for the day when the communication crystal ball was fully charged.
Although he knew very well that he would be subjected to the most severe punishment, based on his most devout faith in the Lord, Monroe still started the communication without hesitation and recounted the whole story in detail.
The more Monroe spoke, the more excited he became, and in the end he tearfully denounced the wizard's insidiousness and cunningness, as well as the bread-making technique that had emerged out of nowhere.
To sum it up in one sentence - the enemy is very cunning and has cheats, it is really not our fault!
Staring at Monroe kneeling on the ground and crying, Pope Alvis felt so angry that he had no place to vent for a moment.
In order to realize Monroe's kingdom collapse plan, they mobilized countless manpower and exposed the kingdom's nobles who had just rebelled in advance.
Originally, this force could be used when the empire launched a large-scale war of conquest to incite rebellion in the western and northern borders of the kingdom, thus forming a pincer attack and making it impossible for those wizards to take care of both ends.
Now everything is ruined!
However, Alvis knew very well that the failure of this plan could not be entirely blamed on Monroe. After all, using magic to make bread was completely beyond common sense!
Not to mention Monroe, even Alvis still can't believe it's true!
But spies from both the City of Fire Oil and other parts of the kingdom brought back credible news.
Many people have seen with their own eyes the trains loaded with boxes of flour and bread pulling into various cities in the kingdom, and some have even spent money to buy a few pieces of the so-called magic bread. It is indeed very special, softer and more delicious than normal bread. If it can be paired with a dish of bean curd, it is a rare delicacy!
Taking this into consideration, Alvis did not easily explode his anger. It was definitely not a wise move to excessively punish an insider who was carrying out an undercover mission.
Alvis directly changed the subject and asked about other information, such as where the chief judge Joshua was being held.
"I haven't found the specific place yet, but I'm sure that Lord Joshua is tied up in the City of Fire Oil. This is because the parliament has placed most of its power here, and they would never dare to transfer the chief judge to other places..." Monroe hurriedly told all the information he had collected in the past few days.
There were several suspicious places in the Fire Oil City, and the defenses were very tight. He suspected that Joshua was imprisoned in one of them...
However, this little information alone was obviously not enough to satisfy Pope Alvis, and it could not make up for the blow of losing the kingdom's nobles, an important chess piece. Monroe gritted his teeth and decided to take another big gamble to prove his own worth!
"Your Holiness, I have discovered an important piece of information that I have not been able to confirm until now."
"Tell me about it." Alvis tried to show a little interest.
Monroe spoke eloquently. "In the past month, I have come into contact with more than a dozen wizards from the Council, and learned a lot about the deeds of the Magic Star from them!"
"A few years ago, he and another witch named Johnny took a boat from the harbor town to Yieta. After being evaluated by the council, he was only a three-ring wizard!"
"A three-ring wizard can kill thousands of elite guards and destroy half of a port city?" Alvis couldn't help but interrupt Monroe.
"According to rumors, he used a special powder that could cause explosions, and now those wizards are using this technology on airships." Monroe hurriedly explained.
Alvis nodded. He had indeed received information that the wizards' airships could project a large amount of "hellfire" from the bottom, which made sense.
"In addition, I also found out that the Magic Star only broke through to become a great wizard a year ago. Every wizard in the parliament is well aware of this. There is no mistake in their descriptions. It is definitely not made up!" Monroe said confidently.
In other words, the Magic Star is now just a four-ring great wizard. How could he possibly master magic that is so terrifying that it can wipe out a mountain in an instant and turn the area within a radius of dozens of kilometers into a doomsday scorched earth.
That must be a natural disaster!
It is possible that the wizards just guided and utilized this power. Otherwise, if a four-ring wizard could master such magic, the entire empire would have been flattened by the parliament long ago!
Chapter 463 Monroe: I’m really not an undercover agent sent by the wizard!
After Monroe's continuous explanation, Alvis nodded in approval. Such a powerful destructive force comparable to a natural disaster was something that even he himself could not do. It was impossible for a mere great wizard to release such powerful magic!
However, if it is a natural disaster, it doesn’t make sense.
Within the empire, common natural disasters can be roughly divided into earthquakes, thunderstorms, hurricanes, droughts, floods, and meteorite falls...
The first few obviously did not correspond, only the scene of the falling meteorite was barely similar, but he sent people to question the imperial soldiers who escaped back.
It was night time, so if there was a meteorite falling from the sky, it should have been visible very clearly!
"I suspect this might be caused by an underground volcanic eruption!" Monroe speculated.
In order to gather intelligence during this period of time, he read all the previous issues of Magic Daily and keenly noticed that a few months ago, the Magic Star had published a very important paper in it - [On the Causes of Earthquakes - The Impact of Continental Plates and Underground Magma Activities]!
Although Monroe didn't understand it at all, it mentioned a natural disaster called volcanic eruption.
It is said that due to the movement of the earth's crust, the magma in the abyss of hell flowed out along the cracks on the surface, causing a terrible disaster, which could turn an area of dozens of miles into a lava hell.
"It's very possible!" Alvis said thoughtfully.
In recent times, those wizards have clearly had the upper hand but have remained in hiding. This abnormal phenomenon really confused him.
If Monroe's guess is true, then it makes sense immediately. The other party is bluffing, thereby delaying time to create more weapons of war...
Thinking of this, Alvis felt it necessary to launch a tentative attack to determine the opponent's strength!
Seeing that the Pope agreed with his opinion, Monroe was deeply encouraged and soon revealed a second important piece of information, which was the loophole in the wizards' defense!
It has to be said that the parliament's method of deploying a large number of aerospace airships as eyes to monitor the entire kingdom is indeed very difficult. It is almost impossible to enter the country on a large scale without being discovered.
But there is one exception!
That is the death zone outside the kerosene city!
There were no guards staying in this area, and only a small number of airships would pass by from a distance. At night, with the help of the cover of darkness and divine magic, they could avoid the detection of wizards.
"But I heard that this death zone has radiation that even official wizards cannot resist, and it has not been completely dissipated even after several months." Pope Alvis said with a frown.
"This point is also discussed in the paper..." Monroe hurriedly explained that when a volcano erupts, a large amount of toxic gas will be emitted, which will accumulate in the sky to form a terrifying dust cloud, which can sometimes even last for months. This may be what wizards call radiation!
Of course, there are ways to deal with it. You need to wear a mask or goggles to cover your fragile eyes, and then use a wet cloth to cover your mouth and nose, etc...
Of course, if you go too deep or stay too long, even with protection, it will inevitably cause serious damage to your body.
As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest place, and Alvis naturally understands this truth.
The other party would never have thought that they would launch a surprise attack from this place!
"You did a good job, Monroe. Although there were some problems with the last plan, the blame cannot be entirely placed on you..." Alvis said soothingly, and praised Monroe's intelligence gathering and analysis capabilities, and asked him to continue to pay attention to the situation inside the kingdom.
The three-minute deadline soon arrived. After ending the communication, Alvis did not rush to issue orders, but turned to look at Saint Randall beside him.
"What do you think of Monroe's guess? How credible is it?"
"I don't think those wizards have the ability to cast such powerful magic." Saint Randall said firmly, but for such a major matter, even the slightest possibility needs to be considered, otherwise if a misjudgment is made, the consequences will be disastrous.
So after a pause, Randall continued to speak. "Hasn't Her Majesty the Saint faced this so-called nuclear explosion technique? She should know it best."
The fastest and most accurate way is naturally to ask!
Pope Alvis was silent for a while and did not respond.
"Or is Her Majesty the Saint not in the Holy City now?" Randall immediately realized this, and a look of dissatisfaction appeared on his face.
Alvis did not reveal such important news to himself at all, and let the incarnation of the Lord leave the protection of the holy city.
You have to know that the Lord has just changed the carrier of consciousness, so it is hard to say how much power he can exert...
"Her Majesty the Saint has her own plans, which are not something you and I can interfere with. We just need to do what we should do, that's enough!" Alvis's indifferent words stopped Randall from asking further questions, and he quickly made a decision.
"Give the order. Use the fastest divine power to send a message. Let Thesis, who is stationed at the border of the empire, lead the team to test whether those wizards are bluffing or not."
Randall opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but finally nodded. "I understand!"
……
On the other side, in the City of Kerosene, in the school headquarters of the Wizarding Academy, Monroe, who had terminated communications, walked out of the room tiredly.
Outside the door, Ivana was still leaning against the white wall like last time, watching the wind for Monroe, but her attention was focused on the Magic Daily in front of her. When she saw Monroe coming out, she put down the newspaper in her hand and asked whether there were any new orders from the Pope during this communication.
Monroe hesitated for a moment. In fact, he was somewhat dissatisfied with the recent performance of his partner Ivana. She actually began to study the experiments of those wizards and said that she wanted to replicate the free fall and pendulum experiments done by the magic star to see if they were true.
This is an extremely dangerous signal!
It is not fun to study the knowledge of wizards in depth. If you are not careful, it is easy to be confused by the taboo knowledge.
However, the relationship between him and Ivana was not that of a superior and a subordinate, and Monroe had no way to force the girl to give up these unrealistic ideas. Moreover, in the academy, he had to rely on Ivana's knowledge in the forbidden field to complete the annoying course assignments.
Monroe sighed secretly and finally decided to trust his partner. After all, she was recommended by Lord Gustav. She had sold grain to the parliament on her own initiative before and had indeed found out some useful information. He then briefly recounted what they had just discussed.
When Ivana heard Monroe say that the so-called nuclear explosion of the wizards was probably just the movement of underground magma causing a volcanic eruption, and that the magic star was probably just bluffing to buy more time to prepare for war, her face suddenly became very strange.
"What's wrong?" Monroe keenly noticed the change in the girl's expression, frowned and asked.
Ivana handed over the newspaper in her hand. "This is today's magic daily report, which was just delivered by the fairy a minute ago."
Monroe suppressed his uneasiness, took the Magic Daily and glanced at it.
Ivana also started to explain at this time. "Those wizards did not launch a large-scale counterattack for more than two months. They were trying to improve the nuclear explosion technique. Now it is said that it has been completed. The power has increased by about eight times compared to the past, and the radiation problem caused by the nuclear explosion technique has been eliminated..."
Monroe had just read the report in the Magic Daily about the magic star's improvements to nuclear explosion technology, and was shocked by Ivana's words.
How much? Eight times more powerful?!
Monroe's mind was confused, and then he couldn't help but speak out. "Ridiculous! This must be a rumor spread by those wizards to scare us..."
Although he had not witnessed the power of nuclear explosion with his own eyes, he could get a glimpse of it just by looking at the land of death created by its aftermath. It was definitely powerful enough to be unimaginable.
Now you tell me that its power can be increased eight times?!
"There is no need for them to lie, because the magic star who developed this technique is preparing to test it in public and eliminate the radiation problem in that land of death. The time... is tonight!" Ivana said solemnly.
There is no need for Parliament to tell a lie that will be exposed in a few hours!
Monroe's expression suddenly changed. Could it be that his guess was wrong? Could those wizards really cast magic that was horrible enough to destroy a city and a country?