Monster Girl Development Master

Page 43

This made Bishop Charles very uneasy, uneasy about what he would suffer next. Although theoretically, as a bishop of the Church of War, a third-level bloodline user who had developed his bloodline to its fullest potential, even if he failed to assassinate the Countess, he would at most be exiled and imprisoned for breeding, not to mention that this was something Count Cross himself requested.

But he was very uneasy, always feeling that great danger was approaching from the shadows, threatening his life which was still a long way off.

He picked up the quill pen from the ink bottle, and the tip, which had been soaking for too long, dripped thick ink onto the blank paper, quickly spreading out. Looking at the large ink stain, Charles suddenly felt a little weak.

"Charles."

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Wall strode in: "There's been some movement at Glorious Manor. The priestess from the Church of Vengeance has brought them into Glorious Manor with her men. Also, they're looking to buy a medicinal herb called Sunshine Honey Flower."

Charles sighed as he looked at the blackened white paper, then put the quill back in the inkwell and looked at his old friend: "Wall, just tell me, I don't want to think about it anymore."

Wall looked at the exhausted Charles with sympathy, paused for a moment, and then said, "I remember there are some Sunshine Honey Flowers in the warehouse. Maybe we can do this business."

Charles rubbed his temples, his face growing increasingly weary: "Are you suggesting we surrender?"

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Charles. He’s Earl Cross’s son, and it looks like he’ll be the next Earl of Leon,” Wall said earnestly. “And we still have leverage. He can’t have made plate armor just for business in Leon. And can he control us? Can he control the war churches in other territories? He needs us too.”

Charles's mind stirred slightly, but he still hesitated: "But we assassinated his mother..."

“So it didn’t work out?” Wall’s voice was quick and tempting. “And it’s even better this way. We can use this as a reason to talk directly to Mrs. Leah. She’s a shrewd businesswoman and she won’t refuse such a lucrative opportunity.”

"You mean...we should go and beg Lady Lydia, and then tell her about that person?" Charles understood his old friend's hidden meaning, but hesitated greatly.

"Do you think we can't guess if we don't tell them? Would we really dare to lay a hand on Lady Leah without that person's permission?" Wall continued.

Charles's straight back slumped slightly, and a helpless sigh escaped his lips: "Fine..."

Ga! Ga!

A raven flew through the window and landed in front of Charles, tilting its head.

The author says:

Author's note: Please vote for me! o(￣┰￣*)ゞ

Chapter 99: Surrender (2710 words)

On a bright and sunny morning, Lady Lydia was studying the potion used for Johnson's third awakening in her room when the door was suddenly pushed open and Lydia walked in: "Madam, the Sunflower has been found, but it was sent by Bishop Charles of the Church of War. They said they don't need any payment, they just want to see you and apologize."

"People from the Church of War?"

Lady Lia frowned slightly. As the victim of the assassination attempt, she naturally disliked the Church of War, especially since the Church of War had also targeted Zhuang Sen. However, while Sunflower Honey, a material, wasn't particularly rare, it wasn't commonly used either. As a result, it was unavailable around Starry Night City, and it would take at least a week to procure it from elsewhere.

After much deliberation, Lady Lydia decided to meet with them: "First, send someone to invite Bishop Rosa and Johnson to the reception room, then bring Bishop Charles over. I want to see what he has to say. Oh, and have someone accept the items and check them. If they refuse, then forget it."

Lydia respectfully noted it down and turned to leave the room.

After some time, Bishop Rosa, who had been staying at Radiant Manor, arrived first, followed by Johnson, who was being pestered by Dantalian, Nia, Hana, and Mira, and led by Lydia to the reception room.

Lady Lia, who was having a pleasant conversation with Bishop Rosa, looked at Zhuang Sen, who was covered in women, and a strange thought arose in her mind. Her eyebrows furrowed and she said, "Zhuang Sen, don't be rude in front of His Holiness the Bishop."

Johnson shrugged, put Nia down from his arms, and released Mira and Hanna's hands. Dantalian also regretfully let go of Johnson's shoulder. Only then did the group find seats and sit down, looking a bit more presentable.

Bishop Rosa, who was being used as a pawn, maintained a kind smile and didn't say much. After all, it was best for her, who was at most half a mother-in-law, not to interfere in matters between mother and son.

Once Zhuang Sen and the others were seated, a maid's voice came from outside the door: "Madam, the Sunshine Honey Flowers have been stored in the warehouse separately, and the tests showed no problems."

"Have someone escort Bishop Charles to the reception room," Lady Lydia commanded sternly. The maid acknowledged and turned to go about her work.

Not long after, Bishop Charles, looking exhausted and dejected, entered the drawing room filled with people, led by a maid. His face, which looked decades older, made Bishop Rosa raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"Lady Leah, Chosen of Johnson, Bishop Rosa, and ladies and gentlemen, greetings." Charles was not surprised by Bishop Rosa's appearance. Without a bloodline member who had also awakened three times, how could Lady Leah possibly receive him?

“I’m not good at this, Bishop Charles.” Lady Leah’s attitude was unfriendly, her displeasure almost written on her face. “Just say what you have to say, or do you want to start fighting?”

“I am no match for Bishop Rosa, and I have come to apologize to you and ask for your and the Chosen of the Lord.” Bishop Charles bent his knees and knelt down on the ground. His tone and actions showed his utmost sincerity. However, apart from Hannah, who looked surprised and shaken, everyone else looked indifferent and mocking.

Zhuang Sen sneered, "At this time? Are you kidding me? If it were just Thorn Manor, I wouldn't mind, but since you dared to lay a hand on my mother, then prepare to die."

Charles felt a bitter taste in his mouth. Normally, if a mere sixteen-year-old dared to speak to him like that, even if he was the son of an earl, he would be beaten to a pulp. But now... he could only hope that Bishop Rosa would not immediately lash out.

So he quickly said, "I've come to inform you all who is trying to harm Lady Lia—I think you all know very well that our Church of War alone would never dare to do such a thing."

That's true. Zhuang Sen held Dantalian's hand, temporarily putting aside his thoughts of pursuing her, and decided to see what Charles would say. It wasn't that he couldn't let him die a quick death.

Lady Leah then spoke up: "Stop beating around the bush, just tell me, who gave you this courage?"

Charles paused for a second, then gave a name that everyone present was very familiar with: "The Faraw family, madam, it is the Faraw family that wants to cooperate with us."

This sounds utterly absurd. Why would the Falao family target Leah Falao? For Zhuang Sen's plate armor? But Zhuang Sen has a strong cooperative relationship with the Falao Merchant Guild. On the contrary, without Lady Leah, the relationship between the Falao Merchant Guild and Zhuang Sen isn't as close.

However, none of the intelligent people present intended to reprimand Charles.

Because this news sounds absurd, but it is actually quite possible.

Lady Leah said calmly, "Why?"

Charles immediately replied, "Because your son is too outstanding, madam. You know, if Johnson is chosen to become the next earl, their fate will likely be..."

"So we decided to strike first, even if it meant destroying all our interests in the territory of Leon. I was wondering why Cross was so slow to react; it turns out my dear brothers and sisters made the offer."

Lady Lydia spoke calmly and without any inflection, but her words revealed an undisguised hostility and anger, as well as a deep sense of grievance that only Johnson and Lydia could hear.

Charles maintained a facade of tension, helplessness, exhaustion, and frustration, but inwardly he felt a surge of excitement—he had passed the test! Lady Lydia had actually believed him!

"But do you have any evidence?"

The calm voice extinguished Charles's excitement like ice water, making his heart as gloomy as his outward appearance. However, he maintained his pretense and slowly reached into his pocket: "I have their cooperation letter. I think you, Mrs. Leah, can tell whether it's real or fake."

This was obviously fake, forged by Earl Close, but Charles had no choice at the moment. The letter from Earl Close left him with no option but to continue hiding the truth.

Lydia took the letter Charles was holding up, carefully opened and examined it. After confirming there was no danger, she handed it to Mrs. Lydia. As soon as Mrs. Lydia saw the familiar handwriting, she believed most of it. After reading the whole letter, she believed it ninety percent of the time.

“Lilith, my dear sister, you still love to use such despicable means, and you are still so willful and reckless. You are even willing to give up the grain market to kill me. No wonder you are so tempted.”

Charles was sweating profusely, which was quite fitting for his current situation.

Fortunately, he soon heard a heavenly voice: "Alright, it seems you were right, this letter is indeed genuine..."

Charles was overjoyed, but he knew he couldn't just get away like that, so he continued to listen. Sure enough, Mrs. Lydia changed the subject: "But that's not enough to get your forgiveness."

Charles kowtowed to Mrs. Lydia without hesitation, almost breaking the floor in the process: "I am willing to compensate you for all your losses, and at the same time, I will open all sales channels and raw material channels for the Chosen of Johnson. I can also use the church's connections to ensure that the Chosen of Johnson's products are quickly sold throughout the country and even to other countries. We only need 20% of all the profits to maintain basic operations and management. In addition, if you are willing to return Nils to the church, we can open all the knowledge, treasures and even manpower of our church to you!"

Charles's long speech was indeed very sincere. Opening up all sales and raw material channels essentially turned the Red Horse Temple into a distributor for Johnson. It's easy to give away channels, but difficult to get them back. Moreover, he even wanted to include other territories, essentially using the entire Church of War to vouch for Johnson and promote him—this was even more effective than the Falao Merchant Guild—specifically in the area of ​​weaponry.

This doesn't even include compensation for all losses, access to knowledge, treasures, and other conditions. All he asked for was 20% of the profits and the originally designated next successor, Nils—to put it more vividly, even Li Zhongshu might not dare to sign such a treaty.

Lady Leah was somewhat tempted; her guilt towards Johnson had already made her less extreme.

But Zhuang Sen spoke first: "One-tenth, and all those attackers must die."

One percent means the War Church would have to pay out of its own pocket to help Johnson sell his goods, and all the attackers would have to die. It's like selling off the last heir. Even Gorbachev wouldn't dare agree to such a condition.

Charles's throat tightened, and he said with difficulty, "Niels, is it really impossible to talk?"

Zhuang Sen shook his head: "I can spare them for now, but they will all die eventually."

The resolute tone made Charles feel bitter. His already gloomy face scrunched up and swayed with a stiff twitch of his neck.

"As you wish, Zhuang Sen is divinely chosen."

Zhuang Sen looked at Charles, his desire to eliminate him completely rising—this boy is so tolerant, he must not be allowed to live!

Chapter 100: The Angel Without Rank, Awakening Three Times

Inside the exquisite, transparent glass bottle, a golden liquid, as radiant as sunlight, tinted the morning light, casting a sublime and sacred glow into Zhuang Sen's dark eyes, inspiring a sense of awe and reverence.

Lady Leah and Johnson ultimately let Charles go, but Johnson only spared him temporarily. With his third awakening approaching, he needed to keep a low profile for a while, and once he was done, he could unleash his killing spree.

The golden potion in his hand was the very potion Lady Lia had concocted for the third awakening of the Unranked Angel, a process that took her three days and three nights. Indeed, Lady Lia's potion-making skills hadn't deteriorated; she succeeded on her first try.

Zhuang Sen uncorked the bottle, and a scent like a mountain breeze under the warm summer sun filled the air, which eased the tension among Lady Lia, Dantalian, and the others who had gathered to witness Zhuang Sen's advancement. Although they all believed that Zhuang Sen wouldn't lie, they couldn't help but worry about him, after all, achieving three awakenings in less than four months was unprecedented.

Zhuang Sen shook the potion in his hand slightly, then swallowed the golden sunlight that surged like ocean waves.

A pleasant warmth then emerged, and Zhuang Sen felt as if he were soaking in a hot spring, his whole body warm and comfortable. Moreover, he could clearly feel his body undergoing significant changes, becoming stronger, more resilient, and more agile. His previously childlike angel wings could now completely envelop his entire body... At the same time, new abilities and brand-new prompts appeared.

[The bloodline of the rankless angel has been developed to the middle level, and the Complete Book of Angels has been obtained*1]

The bloodline of the rankless angel has matured. After developing the bloodline to 100%, it can be evolved into the bloodline of other angel species by consuming items.

[The bloodline of the Angel without rank has matured, and its core abilities have been identified. These core abilities are permanently retained and can still be used after switching bloodlines.]

The three system notifications were more explosive than the last, and Zhuang Sen became so engrossed in the system panel, checking the new changes, that he didn't even notice the shift in the gazes of the onlookers.

Because of his wings, his shirt was torn, revealing his muscular upper body. But what was even more attractive was his milky white and smooth skin, which came from his angelic bloodline. His skin even had individual holy lights shimmering on it, making him look holy and innocent.

—It makes one want to defile it.

Mira closed the book she hadn't even turned a page of, her scarlet eyes greedily licking at Zhuang Sen's exposed skin; Lydia stood behind Lady Lia, the headless knight panting heavily beneath his helmet, needing no breath; Ange stood beside the most tolerant Nia, while Harpy, who loved shimmering shadows, drooled over the glowing Zhuang Sen; Nia proudly puffed out her chest and held her head high, happy that her man was so popular; Hannah unconsciously moved closer to Zhuang Sen's light, her sun-loving nature instinctively drawing her towards it; however, the sunflower yearning for light was bound by a huge demonic shadow, and Dantalian, arriving late but arriving early, dribbled past her and took down Zhuang Sen first.

Lady Lia watched the women displaying their unique talents, and her excited mood suddenly turned into a bit of irritation. She clenched her handkerchief, opened her mouth but didn't know what to say, and could only watch with a sullen expression as Zhuang Sen's head was pressed into Dantalian's increasingly broad chest as she grew larger.

"Congratulations, Zhuang Sen."

Dantalian hugged Zhuang Sen with delight, feeling the faint warmth emanating from him. Her voice grew softer and sweeter, as if she wanted to wrap Zhuang Sen in honey.

Zhuang Sen savored the moment before pulling his head out of the valley: "Thank you, but you and Nia will be here soon too. Hopefully, the materials you need then won't be as troublesome as they were this time."

"Then darling, you should try a little harder~" Nia chuckled and hugged Zhuang Sen's thigh, saying ambiguously, "Give him a little more, and he'll reach the third awakening faster, right?"

“Lady Nia is absolutely right,” Mira said calmly, adopting the demeanor of a learned scholar. “As long as Lord Johnson provides us with more of his essence, we will naturally become stronger.”

Anjie chimed in, "Everyone's right! So, I recently got my hands on a batch of really useful special potions. Want to try them out tonight, brother?"

Lydia shifted her foot, the clanging of her plate armor making a loud noise, causing her to quickly regain her composed and solemn posture. The female knight lacked Ange's thick skin and dared not attack Zhuang Sen, the young master, let alone in front of Lady Liya. However, the burning gaze emanating from beneath her helmet was so obvious that it could not be ignored.

Even Hana, who didn't quite understand what the "sisters" were saying, moved closer to Zhuang Sen and cast timid, expectant glances at him.

Seeing his wives surrounding him from all sides like wolves and tigers, Zhuang Sen could only busy himself with kissing, hugging, and lifting them high, once again turning into a human dump truck, fully loaded.

Then, they finally got down to business.

During this time, Zhuang Sen and his group weren't idle. For example, Dantalian took over some of the high-level affairs of the Church of Vengeance, Nia was researching her [Dwarven Runes], Scholar Mira went to draw blood from Zhuang Sen's wives every day, Hana cleared a small plot of land in the manor to try to supply Zhuang Sen with fresh fruit every day, and Ange was in charge of turning the anti-Zhuang Sen alliance into Zhuang Sen's dogs... I mean, Zhuang Sen's support group.

"So, Anjie, things aren't going well on your end?"

Using Dantalian, who was holding his right arm, as cover, Zhuang Sen secretly pinched Nia's pert buttocks, which he was holding. The bouncy feel was really great.

Anjie pouted helplessly: "It was going very smoothly at first. They even handed over a lot of benefits as a promise. I didn't expect that after many bastards went back to their own territories, they would just pretend to be dead."

At this point, Anjie was also very angry. It wasn't that she hadn't made mistakes before, but to mistake someone seven or eight times in a row was a bit too embarrassing.

Zhuang Sen was also somewhat surprised, though he did acknowledge An Jie's abilities: "So what do you plan to do? Kill them?"

Although Zhuang Sen no longer needs to target his own brothers and sisters, having completed his third awakening, his position as heir is unshakeable. Killing them would be less advantageous than directly killing Count Cross, that cheap old man. But occasionally targeting them can be seen as staying true to his original intentions.

Anjie shook her head: "That's not necessary. What I mean is, how about we go see what's wrong with those guys? I've already planned the route. With our physical condition, we can finish it in two days at most, and the return trip will only take half a day."

"Two and a half days is indeed not a long time..."

Zhuang Sen pondered whether he should go with An Jie to see those abnormal "traitors" and find out the reason.

"Anyway, Zhuang Sen, you've already completed three awakenings. There's no one stronger than you in the entire Leon Territory. Even if there's a trap, it just saves us the trouble of investigating."

"Hmm..." Zhuang Sen was somewhat tempted.

"It's really good, and it also allows us to showcase Lord Zhuang Sen's strength after his third awakening. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages."

Mira spoke slowly and deliberately, drawing a questioning look from Ange. Mira was actually speaking up for her? Something was definitely wrong!

Sure enough, Mira then added, "But it's too dangerous for Lord Zhuang Sen and Ange to go alone. I'll go with them too."

Anjie:?

Get out!

Don't disturb my time with Zhuang Sen! You stinky bat!

Despite her inner rage, Ange said sweetly, "Miss Mira, isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to be out and about during the day?"

Mira laughed triumphantly, transformed into a little bat, and flew to Zhuang Sen's collar: "During the day, I can hide under Zhuang Sen's clothes like this, so I don't have to worry about the sunlight, and I can even help Zhuang Sen pass the time!"

Anjie had no way to refute it and gritted her teeth.

Most of the others watched the two's open and covert struggle and shook their heads slightly, revealing helpless smiles, as if looking at two silly children. Only Lady Lia, who couldn't fit into the circle, felt increasingly marginalized.

Finally, Zhuang Sen made a decision: "Okay, let's do it this way."

The author says:

Author's Note: 100 chapters! Hooray! Time to move the plot forward, a little more eroticism later. And as usual, I'm asking for monthly votes, please help this kid out, waaaaah!