Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 263 The Lord Who Did Not Attend

"Ding Ding-"

A Carolina civil servant rang the cup in his hand, and the others fell silent. This usually meant that the main character was about to appear, and Ron was about to have a friendly meeting and consultation with the Carolina lord.

But everyone present waited for a long time, but still did not see the Lord of Carolina.

"Ahem," the civil servant coughed lightly to hide his embarrassment, "Sir Ron, we just received news: Unfortunately, our lord suffered a relapse of his old illness today and is unable to attend the banquet - we are deeply sorry for this."

"But word has come from the Lord's mansion that she welcomes you to visit at any time in the next two weeks. During this time, she also sincerely invites you to tour the city-state. We will send someone to accompany you to ensure that you will not be treated inappropriately for your status in any place."

"As a lord, I came all the way here to visit her, but I couldn't meet her in person. I think this is an offense." Ron's face immediately darkened after hearing the civil servant's words, "Not to mention that I came here with sincerity this time, hoping that the two families can reconcile and eliminate misunderstandings."

"But your behavior seems to make it hard for people not to misunderstand, right?"

"Our army is now stationed outside the city-state. Do you want to be attacked again?!" Driver shouted while jumping up and down. Ron was not in a position to say this, but the goblin hunter had no scruples.

"Calm down, calm down!" Carolina's civil servant was a little flustered. He was best at talking, and this was the first time he had seen a guest who directly threatened to use force. "This, there is really nothing we can do. Our lord is indeed ill recently and cannot come out to receive you, but we are willing to make some compensation for this. What do you think..."

"In that case..." Ron pretended to be silent, "I heard that there are several capable and wise men in Carolina. If your lords cannot meet, I would like to find a day to visit them. What do you think?"

This was nothing. The civil servant immediately put on a smile and said, "Of course, of course, we will arrange everything. But who do you want to meet first?"

Ron reached behind him, and Sylvia and Seymour immediately handed over a list. There were not many people on the list, but all of them were celebrities in Carolina - the names that could be remembered by the two people who were slaves and apprentices at the time were naturally well-known celebrities.

The civil servant took it and looked at it, and was obviously relieved: it seemed that this Lord Ron had done some research before coming, but not much. Most of these so-called "celebrities" were just gimmicks and did not touch on Carolina's core interests.

For example, Henry Robertson who is here today, although he has repeatedly declared to the city-state that once his research is completed, it will greatly improve the problem of slave resource shortage, but until now there has been no result.

If he likes visiting so much, let him go.

Ron, Sylvia and the others exchanged glances and thought that it would be better not to get straight to the point at this moment, so they only selected two unrelated people and planned to meet them in the next few days.

"Although Mr. Ron does not mind your impoliteness, I still have to ask you a question."

When everyone dispersed and continued the banquet and socializing, the Carolina civil servant had just breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a tiefling walking towards him with a polite smile on his face.

"Who are you?" The civil servant was stunned. He remembered that there was such a person on the list of the other party's delegation, but he was ranked very low and was obviously not a core figure. But why did he come to find him?

"Chief of Intelligence, Quest," Tiefling raised his glass to the civil servant, seemingly having no intention of hiding his identity, "I worked as a spy in other city-states for more than ten years."

"I don't know if you still remember the previous Union Fisheries corruption case. I led that investigation."

“Oh oh oh——” When Quest began to introduce himself, the civil servants immediately uttered a series of exclamations, “It’s you! Mr. Quest, I’ve heard a lot about you!” “I’ve heard from my colleagues that it was because of your mediation that Carolina was able to be cleared of the charges. No, cleared, no…”

"It has clarified the flow of all the funds," Quest clinked glasses with the civil servant and corrected him, "That so-called 'corruption case' was a complete frame-up from the beginning, wasn't it?"

"After all, based on my investigation, every sum of money has a reasonable destination, and its traces can be traced."

"That's right!" The civil servant wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Even though it was a thing of the past, he really shouldn't have let it slip in such an occasion.

There was a flash of impatience in Quest's eyes. He did these things to help his former employer to get away with it. Carolina was just a button that had to be untied. But now that he had this handle in his hand, he didn't mind using it to get close to the civil servants here.

"I was just fulfilling my duty in that matter," Quest smiled. "It's the same now. My lord is a little dissatisfied with your attitude, so I have to come and ask about it."

"Just now in public, there are some things that you may not be able to say, but now... can you tell me why the ruler of Carolina did not attend this banquet?"

The tiefling stared at the gray-haired civil servant in front of him and said, "Privately speaking, I remember that your lord is just a puppet of a few big slave owners, right? Isn't it his job to attend banquets like this?"

"How can you say that!" The civil servant was furious when he heard this, and then he quickly pulled Quest aside and said in a low voice, "You are in that poor and remote place in Delusion Land, so I don't think you have as much information as the Alliance."

"This matter is actually closely related to your lord. After the peace talks, our previous lord was dissatisfied by many 'citizens' (slave owners), who believed that he gave you too much in return."

"But because he was still the most tolerable candidate, they allowed him to remain in that position until a replacement was found."

"Until an elf woman appeared."

The civil servant took a deep breath and said, "She is a powerful magician. As soon as she appeared, she convinced a small group of the most radical citizens to support her, and launched a 'persuasion' to the original lord to abdicate."

"A fierce conflict broke out between the two factions inside and outside the lord's mansion, and in the end the original lord and his followers were imprisoned. Therefore, the current lord has been replaced and turned into an elf!"

"But she seems to have been hurt a lot in the conflict, so she has been staying at home for the past month or two. But to be honest, I thought she would at least attend this banquet, but I didn't expect her to turn it down."

"Your place is really turbulent," Quest nodded with a sad look, "but people like you don't seem to be affected? Is her purge only targeting slave owners?"

"Oh, Mr. Quest, you - sorry, you are not 'one of us', so you may not be very clear about our duties," the civil servant smiled and drank the wine in the glass when talking about this matter, "We are civil servants, and we exist only to implement the will of the city-state and ensure its implementation."

"Whoever is in high office, why would they want to purge us if we are just carrying out their will? We are just humble public vessels, holding the fruits of their 'deliberate thinking'."

"But because of this," the civil servant suddenly frowned and looked at Quest, "Can you also tell me the truth so that we can be at ease? Is Mr. Ron really coming here just to show goodwill?"

"I've heard about some things in Delusion Land. Even goblins can eat at the table? My colleagues and I are worried that your arrival will trigger some changes and eventually lead to the 'collapse of order' in Carolina?"

(End of this chapter)