The maid squad is too strong, what use is there for me, the Demon King?

It took Gray almost half an hour to eat this breakfast, which was definitely the longest breakfast he had ever had.

There has never been anyone like him before, but there may be others like him in the future.

Finally, the farce came to an end, and Gray finally got his wish and entered a slightly more serious segment—the war council.

The previously discussed decision to split the forces into six groups to attack the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild had some minor issues, since Leila, who was chosen as one of the six leaders, was not present at the time.

Now that Laila is back, Alpha has reiterated the battle plan and intends to refine it during this battle meeting.

After this operational meeting, we need to make preparations and begin the operation.

"Lyra, do you understand what you're doing?" Alpha asked the fanatical follower, even though she knew Lyra would never be distracted in anything related to the Shadow Court.

"Understood, Lord Alpha!"

Seeing Lyra's confident demeanor, Alpha felt reassured and asked the next question.

"The Golden Weasel Merchant Guild has multiple branches in the Kingdom of Olmec. Let's decide which six branches to attack first."

Gamma is the most qualified to speak on this matter, after all, she has been openly and secretly clashing with the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild.

Gamma identified six regions based on their importance, all of which were vital to the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild's economy, with the Royal Capital headquarters being the most difficult to conquer.

However, when deciding on the location for the attack, one cannot only consider the importance of the region to the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild; the location must also be convenient for carrying out the attack.

"First, reject the capital's proposal." Alpha spoke calmly, exuding the aura of a strong woman when she was in work mode, reflecting her title of "Big Sister".

Gamma knew that attacking the capital was unlikely, and she only pointed out the six most important places.

The capital city is not only the headquarters of the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild, but also the headquarters of the Holy Light Church. It is home to many powerful nobles and officials of the Olmec Kingdom. The capital city also has the Royal Guard, which is loyal to the royal family. The most elite force in the entire Olmec Kingdom, the Griffin Knights, has the largest number of personnel deployed there. Not to mention, there are also several famous high-level professionals stationed there.

This is considering the combat strength aspect. It would be very difficult to take action against the headquarters of the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild without alerting others, because the headquarters of the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild is located in the most prosperous part of the capital. In fact, it is precisely because the headquarters of the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild is located there that the area has become prosperous.

Moreover, it's not too far from the palace, so it's practically impossible to raid the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild headquarters without alerting anyone.

What if we ignore the issue of combat strength and let Gray handle everything?

That's far too high-profile. The Shadow Court's original intention was to eliminate the Demon Cult, and it's not wise to make enemies of so many forces at once.

Having taken this into account, the group decisively shifted their target.

As for Gray, he also didn't want to make a high-profile move in the capital, as it would definitely affect his plans to befriend Philippa.

Although the situation isn't much better now given humanity's hatred for demons, it's impossible to avoid incurring the hatred of the hero Philippa after causing trouble in the capital.

To resolve the issue of the Golden Weasel Chamber of Commerce headquarters, a more comprehensive approach is needed.

If the headquarters in the capital is too difficult to attack, then we should take down all the branches outside the headquarters. That would be enough to significantly reduce the power of the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild.

Then let the Grand Merchant Guild develop and replace the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild, and then slowly devour the headquarters.

The most troublesome aspect of the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild, the Demon Cult's money-grubbing and greedy faction, is its immense power. However, it's impossible for the entire guild to be composed entirely of cultists; there must be some merchants who are completely unaware of the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild's true nature, though their proportion is currently unclear.

Ultimately, six contiguous territories closest to their current location in Dawn Territory were selected, and each leader was assigned to lead a team to oversee a particular region.

We'll set off this afternoon, aiming for tomorrow night to launch a simultaneous blitzkrieg and swiftly eliminate these six branches.

—————————————————————

After resting for one night, they agreed to meet again very early the next day. While it was still dark, the three of them had already prepared everything and set off for the labyrinthine dungeon.

They clearly knew that a new dungeon was appearing and that the sooner the better, but they seemed to be underestimating how popular the labyrinth dungeon was.

They thought they had arrived quite early, but when they got to the labyrinthine dungeon, they saw waves of adventurers entering the dungeon.

"This..." Philippa was very doubtful whether she could still get anything if she went in now. With so many adventurers, if each of them carried one item, they could probably empty the dungeon of all its treasures.

Sophia said helplessly, "There must be people who rush here as soon as they hear the news of a new dungeon opening, hoping to seize the opportunity and grab the treasures. These people usually rush in without making much preparation, which is irresponsible to their own lives. Indeed, there are often people who disregard their own lives for the sake of getting rich."

Philippa didn't quite understand this.

Although she longed for the life of adventurers, she was, after all, a pampered princess who had been raised in luxury since childhood. She couldn't understand why these people would risk their lives for money.

Taric wasn't in a hurry, but seeing that the two women showed no sense of urgency, he didn't know what to say, so he just gently urged them on.

"Gentlemen, if we don't go in soon, the dungeon will really be emptied out!"

Philippa immediately became alert and quickly led the two of them toward the entrance to the labyrinthine underground city.

However, there were too many people, and the three members of the Brave Squad couldn't squeeze in for a while.

This is actually because... the entrance to the maze dungeon is too small.

It is merely a narrow stone cave, as if a small crack left unintentionally by nature. The opening of this cave is barely large enough to accommodate the body of an adult, and one must bend over and kneel to enter, or even crawl.

The three members of the brave team had no choice but to line up and follow the crowd, with more and more people pushing their way in from behind.

Sophia looked at the entrance, which was about the size of a dog hole, and felt nothing but disgust.

"We...we're supposed to crawl through this hole?"

Philippa's mood upon seeing the entrance wasn't much better than Philippa's: "Uh... it seems so."

But seeing Sophia's reluctant expression, he quickly comforted her, "It's okay, it's just crawling through a hole. Everyone's the same, there's nothing shameful about it."

Sophia still didn't want to crawl through the hole and asked, "Why can't we make the entrance bigger? Can't we open it with force or some powerful magic?"