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

After hearing what Ipsyron said, Beta also felt that there was little hope.

Lord Shadow might come to the Kingdom of Westphalia, but it's unlikely that Lord Shadow will actually come to the Kingdom of Westphalia.

Rather than hoping for that, it would be more practical to resolve the problems of the Kingdom of Westphalia as soon as possible and return to Olmec immediately.

Although it hadn't been more than a few days since Beta was separated from Lord Shadow, he was already so anxious that it felt like ants were crawling all over his body.

In order to get back as quickly as possible, Beta must make a swift journey to the Kingdom of Westphalia!

“I know that the Kingdom of Westphalia is currently plagued by frequent wars, similar to the previous situation in Saint-Tian, ​​right? We’ll need to hear more from Ipsilon, who has been stationed in Westphalia for quite some time now,” Beta immediately inquired about the current situation in the Kingdom of Westphalia.

Upon hearing this, Ipsyron's expression turned serious.

"We'll talk about this at the base."

Beta nodded and followed Ipsilon with his servants.

Beta and Ipsilon met at Moonshadow Territory in the Kingdom of Westphalia, a place named after Moonshadow Grass.

Moonshadow Grass is a magical material, and the kingdom of Westphalia, which prioritizes magic, names its territories after magical materials.

Moonshadow Territory of the Kingdom of Westphalia borders the Kingdom of Olmec and is a border territory of the Kingdom of Westphalia. Ipsyron came to Moonshadow Territory specifically to pick up Beta.

Ipsilon was originally in the most war-torn territory, but because the current situation in the Kingdom of Westphalia was too chaotic, and fearing that Beta would be drawn into the war and unable to find her to meet up for a while, she simply took the initiative to welcome Beta to meet up first.

The so-called stronghold is naturally the Grand Merchant Guild branch in Moonshadow Territory.

Compared to the Kingdom of Olmec, the Grand Merchant Guild does not have as much influence in the Kingdom of Westphalia.

In order to stop the war, the Grand Merchant Guild did not sell grain to any of the princes or nobles of the Kingdom of Westphalia. Instead, they sold grain to the common people of Westphalia at a fair price.

Such behavior aroused the dissatisfaction of the nobles of the Kingdom of Westphalia, but it did not have much prestige among the common people.

Even if grain is sold at a fair price and the country does not profit from the war, some ordinary people in the Kingdom of Westphalia still cannot afford to buy grain.

How about lowering the price even further?

Transporting grain from the Kingdom of Olmec to the Kingdom of Westphalia and selling it at cost price already yielded little profit; further price reductions would result in losses.

Gamma will not lower grain prices in the Kingdom of Westphalia until the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild collapses completely.

The Golden Weasel Merchant Guild remains the largest merchant guild. Its structure ensures that it can continue to operate normally even without the support of the greedy and avaricious cultists behind it, and it will not collapse in the short term.

However, this can only maintain the normal operation of the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild. By concentrating the power of the Grand Merchant Guild and the servants stationed in the Olmec Kingdom to suppress it, the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild can gradually decline and eventually collapse.

However, this is not something that can be accomplished overnight. In order to make the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild collapse as soon as possible, Gamma and Alpha have already started to take action, but it will still take some time for the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild to collapse.

Too much effort has already been spent suppressing the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild. The operation against the Golden Weasel Merchant Guild has reached a critical stage, and Gamma cannot invest any more resources into the Kingdom of Westphalia to drive down grain prices.

I can accept not making a profit, but I absolutely cannot suffer a loss!

In other words, the Kingdom of Westphalia could no longer obtain more support from the Grand Merchant Guild.

meeting room.

The meeting was attended by Ipsilon, Beta, and their accompanying attendants.

There weren't many servants on Ipsilon's side; they were only there to receive people. Ipsilon didn't bring too many servants, otherwise it would affect the initial arrangements that had already been made in the Kingdom of Westphalia.

"The situation in the Kingdom of Westphalia is not optimistic at present."

After the meeting began, Ipsyron immediately answered Beta's earlier question, sighing, "No, I should say the situation is quite bad."

Seeing Ipsyron's expression, Beta frowned slightly and continued to explain.

Ipsilon continued, "The war in the Kingdom of Westphalia was also caused by a rebellion, a conflict between the royal family and the rebels, but the situation is different from that in Saint-Tian."

Both are rebellions, but the circumstances are different.

Beta gently bit her pearly teeth.

“While both are rebellions, at least in the Kingdom of Saint Tian, ​​there is a conflict between the royal family and the rebels. However, the rebels in the Kingdom of Westphalia are not united; they are fighting independently, and each faction’s leader harbors ambitions to unify the Kingdom of Westphalia,” Ipsilon explained.

"The rebels are divided into several factions?"

If the rebels are divided into two or three factions, and each of them has the strength to rival the royal family, then it will indeed be very troublesome.

Beta was thinking about it, but what Ipsyron said next completely surprised her.

"The Kingdom of Westphalia has a policy of granting titles and territories to magicians of different surnames who possess high magical strength and achievements. To date, as many as eight kings have been granted titles."

The problem is that all eight princes have rebelled.

Beta retorted, "Seize the young master? All eight kings have rebelled. Surely none of the eight kings can be ruling independently?"

Ipsyron nodded helplessly: "You're right. Each king is a force, and each has the strength to rival the royal family."

Moreover, due to the chaos of war and the resulting suffering of the people, peasant uprisings frequently broke out in various places.

Because the uprisings were relatively scattered, lacked a leader, and did not cause much impact, peasant uprisings were not considered the tenth force...

Beta was completely baffled.

The emperor enfeoffed eight princes, all of whom rebelled. Each prince's power was comparable to that of the royal family, demonstrating just how weak the royal family's strength was.

How did the centralized power structure of the Kingdom of Westphalia come about? It's unimaginable how much power the royal family has delegated to the non-royal princes they've appointed.

In comparison, Saint-Ian has done a much better job. At least the rebels in Saint-Ian only gained power comparable to, or even surpassing, that of the Saint-Ian royal family because of the support of cultists.

Looking at Beta's expression, Ipsyron also felt deeply helpless: "I don't know how the royal family of the Kingdom of Westphalia could govern the country like this. Now it really seems so abstract..."

There is another big problem.

Behind the chaos of the Westphalia Kingdom, a trace of the Demonic Order was found, but no cultists were encountered. The only possible theory about the faction of the Demonic Order was that it belonged to the War and Conflict faction, which was deduced based on the fact that the Demon of War and Conflict, Tata, was fond of war.

It is currently speculated that cult members from war-torn and conflict-ridden factions may possess the ability to instigate conflict, but this cannot be confirmed, and we are working hard to locate these cult members.