When the plot-skips players into the game world

The Minister of Commerce suddenly turned himself in—

This caught the Supervisory Bureau by surprise.

But they quickly discovered traces of speech magic control.

And there were only a few who could control Minister Drost... To be safe, they kept the Minister of Commerce locked up in the basement, the same one where President Lohar had been held.

Regardless, this was not something that their newly second energy level junior inspectors could handle...

So they just left it aside for now.

After being locked up in the basement, Drost regained his free will.

At this moment, he was unexpectedly calm because he knew for certain someone would come to save him. Even if the Avalonians didn't come, the Star Antimony or the Noble Red would.

So he simply opened his eyes and stared into the darkness ahead, falling into deep thought.

So that's it, Meg is dying...

That's why she's so rushed. Suddenly capturing President Lohar and the Vice President... Now, the merchants have already started to panic. His own capture might further aggravate this panic.

Before this, because she understood nothing, Meg chose to ignore it all and focused on teaching students at the school.

Unless the Arbitration Hall requested her to do something, or Queen Sofia personally commanded her, she would just leave everything to the Arbitration Hall. There were those who asked her why, and Meg privately said, "I don't want to mess anything up because of me, so I choose only to do the right thing, and I have the ability to do the right thing well."

—Contrary to her frank and careless demeanor, Meg was unexpectedly meticulous in her thoughts.

A long time ago, the Arbitration Hall was a completely top-tier power institution. They were the Round Table Hall within the Round Table Hall, essentially made up of the Founding Families. Together, they were nominally equal to the King.

Later on, many of the Founding Families gradually left the Arbitration Hall. To fill the vacancies, some top ministers were added... It was at that time that "Minister of Commerce" could also join the Arbitration Hall.

But then an incident occurred that directly resulted in ministers being prohibited from joining the Arbitration Hall and the Supervisory Court. Those already part of the Arbitration Hall and Supervisory Court were also prohibited from inheriting family businesses.

Now, those who can join the Arbitration Hall are all geniuses who reached the fourth energy level before the age of forty and whose souls are basically intact, with the potential to advance to the fifth energy level.

All of them are blessed by the Silver-Crowned Dragon and might give birth to a new fifth energy level at any time. Normally, they are isolated from the world and only responsible for helping the King or Queen adjudicate the highest affairs—such as executing a minister, dismantling a department, waging war, or executing or dethroning a royal member. Find more to read at empire

This is Avalon's true foundation.

From this perspective, Avalon could be said to be a theocracy indirectly ruled by the Silver-Crowned Dragon.

However, according to the Drost Family records, during Avalon's first hundred plus years of founding, the Silver-Crowned Dragon actually appeared quite frequently. Manifesting once or twice, maybe three times a year, often consulting the Arbitration Hall of that time, issuing some commands and blessings.

But afterward, He appeared less and less... And because He rarely appeared, the original Founding Families thought they had done something wrong, so they gradually left the Arbitration Hall.

In the last hundred years, He hasn't appeared even once. Although He still reliably responds to prayers, He no longer manifests in the Material Realm.

Perhaps He's tired of it, or maybe He's disappointed, Minister Drost thought.

After all, Avalon is no longer the knightly nation it was at the time of its founding.

They just wear armor and call themselves Knights. But how are they any different from the nobility of other countries?

But actually, according to Drost's thinking, it's not so much that Avalon has changed too little.

It's that other nations have changed more.

The Star Antimony people have invented machine guns, united Demon Scholars and Alchemists, and are developing their "Star Antimony-style Alchemy," with technology advancing day by day; the Dwarves, pressured by the Elves into the Northern Mountains, have invented aircraft and mining machines, living together with the wise Northern Giants, establishing numerous clusters.

The Goblins have built Troll Plantations on the southern continent, selling a large number of domesticated Trolls as cheap labor to other countries. They are highly sought-after commodities.

Trolls have lifespans comparable to humans, with sharp fangs, low intelligence, lazy and ignorant. But they are extremely tall with abundant physical strength and incredible force, also skilled in rituals and curses... Whether as guards, labor, or as Cursing Sorcerers and Ritualists, they have sufficient value.

Trolls trained in pioneering work possessed tremendous capability; they boasted an odd regenerative ability, could withstand most poisons except fire and acid, which were the only things that could halt their regeneration. Thorns, bladed weapons, bullets - none had any effect on them.

With these trolls, the Iris Kingdom had reclaimed a vast expanse of land in the south. The return of a large amount of goods significantly increased export trade volumes.

Today, goblin merchant ships have connected commodities from all over the world. Even the lizardfolk of the desert, who had been unchanging, were altering their way of life, opening schools, and teaching all students equally. Recently, the elves of the Holy Nation were even preparing to teach other races advanced divine art.

——Everyone was changing, except for Avalon, which remained unmoved.

Objectively speaking, it couldn't be said that they hadn't changed at all... at least many who inherited the Knight's mantle couldn't fit into the armor passed down from their fathers or grandfathers. They would request the craftsmen to alter and hollow out the armor for weight reduction and better ventilation.

Even now, Avalon still wouldn't allow any race other than humans and elves to set foot on their land, let alone allowing goblins to do business there.

This outdated rule had left the Avalonians far behind. The goblin merchant ships, carrying large shipments from the east and south, couldn't dock at Avalon and were forced to turn to Star Antimony, the Holy Nation, and Iris.

As a result, Avalonians had to pay a premium to buy the same goods from these humans, which they considered a tradition.

It was precisely because Minister Drost was the Minister of Commerce that he understood these matters.

Before The Noble Red Society contacted him, he was indeed a dedicated servant of Avalon——his dedication made him see so many hidden dangers and crises. He believed that Avalon had reached the point where it should end.

Even though Queen Sofia was enlightened enough, given that Avalonians hadn't encountered other races for centuries, considering public opinion and reaction, considering the opposition of the Knights, she still had not granted trade rights to other races.

If not even Sofia's renown could make it happen, if not even her enlightenment wanted change, was there any hope for the future of Avalon?

Minister Drost thought there was none.

It would be better to sell Avalon for a good price now, while it was still perceived as a threat in the eyes of others——the Gryphon Legion was still the strongest air force on this continent, and Meg was among the very top of powerhouses. Together, these two factors made even the Star Antimony people wary of them. But conversely, the Star Antimony people would pay a sufficient price for this intelligence.

Although Minister Drost had never been to Star Antimony, he already owned four estates there and a Viscounty. He was granted a hereditary Viscount title by this generation's King, actual land truly belonging to him, where he could even recruit his own personal guards!

These were the things he had acquired in exchange for selling Avalon's intelligence.

Because the highest ranks of power in Avalon belonged to the Path of Authority sworn to the Queen, their spies could never reach the highest levels. Due to this, neither the Star Antimony nor the Irisflower People were aware of Avalon's true state.

After all, the gryphons were indeed a formidable threat... with intelligence surpassing that of humans, strength close to the fifth energy level, capable of merging into the wind, moving rapidly in silence, and a lifespan as long as that of elves. With the gryphons' friendship, Avalon would be hard to defend against, should they choose to attack other nations.

Then there was Meg.

And now, Meg was dying?

If he sold this piece of information to the Star Antimony people... how much money could he make?

Minister Drost narrowed his eyes.

He suddenly had a premonition——a foreboding of Avalon's imminent collapse.

While most Avalonians could not foresee Meg's death, if the Star Antimony were to be prepared in advance... then, it would be a blitz. The Avalonians wouldn't be able to resist and would be overwhelmed directly.

Conversely, if he could not report such vital information as Meg's impending death, then he, as a spy, would lose his value.

In other words, Minister Drost now faced a moment of decision.

Should he help Avalon or Star Antimony?

"Heh..."

He let out a laugh.

Was there really a choice to be made?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

He no longer had a choice.