Tribios hesitated for a moment before finally deciding to come clean. In her past life, she had often seen plots in anime and movies where characters withheld crucial information, leading to misunderstandings and unnecessary trouble. She found such scenarios frustrating; why not just be honest and work together to solve the problem?
Sighing, Tribios said, "I think I've found the Demon Lord..."
Olivia froze, startled. "But you've been here the whole time! When did you find her?"
Jay frowned slightly, as if realizing something. "Wait... could it be...?"
Tribios sighed again. "Yes, that's exactly it. The Demon Lord is you, Olivia Benitez."
Olivia was stunned, her expression incredulous. She pointed at herself with a trembling finger. "Who? Me?"
Tribios nodded. "Three hundred years from now, one of the few pieces of information I know is that the Demon Lord's name is Benitez."
"Huh?" Olivia blinked in surprise. "So that's why you were so shocked by the name I made up earlier, Little Trib. But why did you stop me from changing my name then...?"
Jay, still frowning deeply, replied, "Because it's pointless. A name is just a name. If you truly are the Demon Lord, Olivia, no matter what you call yourself, the outcome won't change."
After a pause, Jay continued, "But this doesn't make sense. How could Olivia possibly become a world-destroying Demon Lord?"
It was no exaggeration to say that Jay considered Olivia the kindest ruler in the world. Just look at the other monarchs—waging endless wars, causing untold suffering. In contrast, the Grand Duchy of Augustus flourished in peace and prosperity.
Jay suddenly called out sharply, his voice icy, "Half, are you here? What's your take on this?"
Half materialized instantly, his expression comically aggrieved. "You're not suspecting me, are you?"
Could it be possible? Jay wondered. Had Half secretly schemed to possess Olivia's body and become the Demon Lord?
But honestly, that seemed unlikely. Just look at Half's usual behavior—that goofy dog couldn't possibly be capable of such scheming!
Half raised his paw and swore, "I swear, I would never do anything to harm Olivia!"
Olivia chuckled. "Sigh, Little Trib, you must be mistaken. How could I possibly become the Demon Lord? I'm perfectly content just staying peacefully in the Grand Duchy of Augustus, with all of you. I have no ambition to rule or destroy the world!"
"That's exactly the problem!" Tribios exclaimed, her voice laced with frustration. "Of course I know what kind of person you are. But what if other nations form an Allied Forces and attack the Grand Duchy of Augustus?"
Olivia countered, "But we haven't done anything wrong! Why would anyone attack us?"
As they talked, Tribios suddenly realized something. Had the Grand Duchy of Augustus really done nothing wrong? No, of course not! They had done plenty!
To solve its financial problems, Tribios sold timber, paper, art, and alcohol, bringing immense wealth to the Grand Duchy of Augustus. To address its population issues, she recruited people from the Kingdom of Ukel, raided prisoner camps, and liberated slaves.
All these actions were optimal choices for the nation's development and carried no inherent wrong. The only problem was that the Grand Duchy of Augustus was a nation without nobles! Here, commoners could eat their fill simply by working hard!
The mere existence of such a nation posed a tremendous threat to all other existing countries!
If things had remained as before, when the Grand Duchy of Augustus was extremely weak, who would care if it lacked nobles? No one would pay attention. But the problem was that this nation had now developed and grown powerful!
In just one day, it had defeated the mighty Kingdom of Ukel and forced it to sign a series of unequal treaties.
It was easy to predict that once the Grand Duchy of Augustus's existence became widely known, any commoner with even a shred of intelligence would, seeking a better life, find a way to leave their original country and come here.
No, this matter had already completely touched upon the core interests of other nations. Any royal family or noble with even a shred of sense would never allow their people to learn about it. Therefore, the best course of action was to slander the Grand Duchy of Augustus before its benefits could spread.
What was the most effective way to slander it?
The answer was obvious: portray it as a brutally cruel nation ruled by a Demon Lord.
This wasn't merely a clash between nations, but a collision of fundamentally incompatible systems. It was like fire and water—they could never coexist peacefully. Unless a new class of nobles could be hastily created within the Grand Duchy of Augustus, but Olivia would never agree to that. After all, the nation had risen from its origins as a slave society to its current state.
Tribios murmured to herself, "Does this mean that my existence accelerated the Grand Duchy's development, leading Olivia to become the Demon Lord?"
But her original intention had simply been to improve the lives of the common people in that nation. Was there anything wrong with that?
Jay had clearly reached the same conclusion. He suddenly said, "No, Tribios, this has nothing to do with you. Even without your involvement, Olivia would eventually have gone to other nations to rescue those slaves and bring them back here."
"Without you, this operation wouldn't have been so simple and smooth. It would have resulted in far more conflict and casualties, and the Grand Duchy of Augustus would have been exposed to the world."
"On the contrary, it's because of your presence that we've gained more opportunities and choices."
Indeed, from the beginning, the Four Dukes of the Kingdom of Ukel had assumed that the Grand Duchy of Augustus was capturing people to use as slaves due to a domestic labor shortage. Just moments ago, the Fat Duke's request to tour the Grand Duchy had been denied by Tribios, so the Kingdom of Ukel remained unaware of the actual situation within the Grand Duchy.
"Is that so..." Tribios murmured, her head still lowered. Jay's words offered her a small measure of comfort, but the more pressing question now was: what should she do next?
Should she alter Olivia's fate and prevent her from becoming the Demon Lord? If so, how could she do it? And would such an intervention constitute a grave disruption of history?
Or should she simply do nothing, passively awaiting events to unfold until the Demon Lord and Hero's predestined ending, as Tribios knew it, came to pass?
Half turned to Tribios and said, "Whatever you're thinking, you mustn't do anything that drastically disrupts the timeline! It would have extremely severe consequences!"
He remembered saying something similar when Tribios first revealed her origins from the future. Tribios couldn't help but ask, "So, what exactly are these 'extremely severe consequences' that would result from forcibly altering the timeline?"
"Well..." Half paused, then said, "I... don't know exactly, but they're definitely extremely severe!"
The three humans and one dog fell into silence. After a while, Olivia said, "It'll be okay. Let's take things one step at a time. We'll find a way, right?"
Jay added, "I'll have all our caravans on high alert, making sure they don't reveal even a hint about the Grand Duchy of Augustus. As for the Kingdom of Ukel, we're the victors in this war, giving us diplomatic leverage. We can completely reject any requests to enter the Grand Duchy. They don't know our location yet, and without using the Century Gate, they'll have no way to find us on their own."
"We should stall as long as possible," Olivia had said. "Just like I said, there's always a way!"
Tribios murmured softly, "Is there... really a way?"
Tribios was already contemplating her options. In the history she knew, five of the Seven Heroes had died in their battle against the Demon Lord. If she intervened, could she help eliminate the Seven Heroes while ensuring the Demon Lord's survival? It seemed possible.
Time drifted by. By nightfall, Tribios was still pondering this question. Lying in bed, she gazed up at the starless night sky and the pale moon. Suddenly, she frowned slightly. Was it her imagination, or did the moon seem... larger than before?
No, it wasn't her imagination. In the blink of an eye, Tribios found herself no longer in her bedroom but standing in an endless sea of white flowers.
Tribios quickly rose to her feet, bracing herself with her right hand on the ground. As her palm brushed against the white flowers, she could clearly feel their soft texture and detect a faint, refreshing fragrance reminiscent of mint—cool, crisp, and subtly sweet.
"Don't be alarmed, foreign god. I mean you no harm," a gentle female voice murmured in Tribios's ear.
Looking up, she saw a silver-haired young girl standing about ten meters away, amid the sea of flowers. The girl's eyes were closed, and she wore an elaborate, ornate white gown adorned with countless floral ornaments on her head, chest, and waist. Barefoot, she stood in the flower sea.
Tribios's expression turned wary. She cautiously opened a Century Gate beside herself, confirming her ability to leave at any moment, before finally addressing the figure. "Who are you?"
"Such a wondrous authority," the unknown girl murmured in awe before answering, "I am Artemis, the Moon Goddess. You are currently within a dream realm I created. I simply wish to speak with you."
Artemis? Tribios pondered. One of the Twelve True Gods, like the God of War, the God of Life, and the God of Death.
However, in the timeline three hundred years from now, the Moon God's followers were exceedingly rare, barely outnumbering those of the Death God. At least, Cipher had never encountered a single Moon God devotee.
Given the current situation—if she was indeed in a dream realm, as the goddess claimed—Tribios glanced at the Century Gate beside her. She could sense that her own bedroom lay just beyond the gate, meaning this dream couldn't truly confine her; she could leave whenever she chose.
With this assurance, she felt no anxiety. Tribios crossed her arms and asked, "What do you want to talk about?"
Artemis replied softly, "I don't know how you came to this world, but fortunately, you harbor no malice toward it."
After all, the world was finite, and the number of gods was fixed, like a small village where everyone knew each other. Now, an ancient god no one had ever seen before had suddenly appeared out of thin air, making it highly likely she was an "outsider."
Artemis said, "I sensed a faint tremor in the once-stable timeline. Following that tremor, I finally found you. You might be planning, or perhaps already attempting, something that could severely disrupt the timeline. Please, don't do it. The consequences would be catastrophic."
Tribios frowned involuntarily. She had merely been brainstorming possibilities in her mind, yet she had been located and confronted?
Tribios asked, "So you all keep warning about dire consequences, but what exactly are these consequences?"
To her surprise, Artemis wasn't a riddler. She actually gave a straight answer: "The battle between the Demon Lord and the Hero is a critical temporal nexus for this world. If altered, the minimum impact would be the disappearance of two powerful nations that were destined to rise in the future."
Tribios blurted out, "You mean the Dragon Ember Empire and the All Nations Alliance?"
Artemis shook her head. "I don't know what will happen three centuries from now, nor do I know the names of those nations. But they're likely the ones you mentioned."
After a pause, she continued, "A more severe consequence would likely be an invasion by the Outer Gods, resulting in a cataclysmic disaster for this world."
As she spoke, Artemis explained that the world they currently inhabited was a tiny "bubble" floating in a vast, black "sea," with the Material Plane at its core.
Above the Material Plane lay the two great Elemental Planes of Fire and Air, followed by the Astral Plane, and then the Divine Realm. These planes could be understood as layers of protective membranes enveloping the core.
Beyond the Divine Realm lay the "Outermost Plane"—that boundless black sea—where countless Outer Gods lurked. Like predators in the deep sea, they constantly roamed, seeking prey.
Earlier, we mentioned the "air wall" encountered at an altitude of 9,000 meters above the Material Plane. Beyond this air wall lay the Outermost Plane.