Low-level Demonization

"Lord Byron, it has been a long time."

"Is that not Bishop Lola? Were you satisfied with the gifts I sent a few days ago?"

When the video connection was re-established, it had been transferred to the ruler of Moonrise City, Byron Stuart.

As soon as he spoke, Byron revealed the unmistakable face of a corrupt official.

With a fawning expression, he inquired about the large chests of gold coins delivered to Lola’s residence just days prior.

"Set that matter aside for now. I have something to notify you of."

Lola displayed the Papal Decree in her hand.

"His Holiness has personally issued this Papal Decree, ordering Moonrise City to assemble ships capable of carrying one hundred thousand people within a single day. They are to set sail for the demon island immediately, without delay."

"Huh?"

Byron blanked for a moment, clearly not processing the words. But when his gaze shifted to the Papal Decree in Lola’s hand, his face suddenly stiffened.

"This... this, I simply cannot do this, Your Excellency!"

"Even a Papal Decree cannot make it so? Are you planning to use that excuse with the Pope himself?"

Byron immediately waved his hands in terror.

"No, no, no! I absolutely did not mean that! I only meant that I truly cannot do it! Although Moonrise City is under the name of my Stuart family, we are not the only family that owns ships!"

Lola’s voice remained firm.

"Regardless of which family it is, order them to contribute their ships immediately. If they have any questions, they can explain themselves personally to His Holiness."

"I... but, they will not listen to me!"

Byron’s face turned deathly pale as he stared at the glowing Papal Decree before his eyes.

He knew that if he did not comply, he would inevitably be held accountable by the Pope. The Stuart family might barely survive, but he, Byron, would certainly be executed.

"It does not matter. Byron Stuart, I now officially appoint you as the Mobilization Officer, granting you the power of life and death."

"Heavenly Punishment Knight Kevin, who is closest to you, will immediately deploy troops to assist you. Anyone who defies the order will be deemed a traitor to the human race. Anyone who obstructs will be treated as a member of the demon race. All ships will be compensated based on the price of their losses after they return."

"The losses incurred by the requisitioning of the ships will be directly borne by the Holy Church."

"For those in difficulty, you will issue a rental fee in advance. Subsequent compensation will be distributed uniformly in the future."

"Now that I have explained everything, you should have no more worries. If you refuse again, I can only suspect you of..."

Lola intentionally trailed off, narrowing her eyes with a look that was thirty percent doubt and seventy percent threat as she looked Byron up and down.

"I can do it! I will certainly do it!!"

Seeing Lola’s expression, Byron cowered instantly. He was merely the lord of a medium-sized family.

Furthermore, most of his power was divided among the elders. Although he was the family head, the actual authority he could exercise was very limited.

However, with this Papal Decree, he had essentially become a local tyrant who could kill or spare anyone at will.

Not to mention the other elders in his family, even the heads of other families would have to bow their heads before this Papal Decree.

Doing this would, at the very least, increase his prestige and intimidate the other elders.

After all... at a time like this, not everyone could establish a connection with Bishop Lola.

Moreover, if he did not comply, he would surely be sent to the burning stake to be burned alive.

This was a Papal Decree!

It was even more powerful than a normal Divine Oracle from the Pope; it could be considered the Pope’s highest command.

"Very well. This Papal Decree will be sent to you immediately. The knights dispatched to Moonrise City will arrive within a day at the latest. At that time, a Guardian Knight will assist you in finalizing this matter."

"I shall certainly give my utmost effort."

At this point, he no longer had a choice.

Despite his lingering reluctance, he had no choice but to completely side with the Saintess because of this single Papal Decree.

If he did not execute this Papal Decree, he would be openly challenging the Holy Church—an act as futile as a mantis trying to stop a carriage. The consequences were self-evident.

But if he did execute it, he would be permanently labeled as part of the 'Saintess's faction.'

At the thought of this, Byron’s face turned pale, and a bitter smile touched the corners of his mouth.

Did this count as getting a ticket onto a pirate ship?

He looked at the Papal Decree being printed.

The format of a Papal Decree was simple, generally signed by a few people.

The first was naturally the Pope. Since it was the Pope’s order, his name was written at the top.

Then came the second person, the messenger, which was Bishop Lola.

Then it came down to him, so his name was written in the third column.

This meant that he now possessed the authority to act in accordance with the Papal Decree!

With a click, the video connection was cut.

Byron did not dare to delay for a second. He quickly replicated the Papal Decree and handed it to his subordinates.

"Quickly, distribute this Papal Decree to the estates of every family within the territory of Moonrise City. Do not overlook a single family."

"By tomorrow morning, I want to see a fleet capable of holding one hundred thousand people. Move!!"

The power of a Papal Decree was undeniable. Although most nobles currently looked down on the Saintess of the Moon, no one dared to underestimate the Pope or the massive entity that was the Holy Church.

Things went unexpectedly smoothly. In almost half a night, the ships had been gathered.

Although the maritime industry in Moonrise City was not exceptionally developed, it was still one of the two major coastal cities in the Kingdom of the Moon.

No matter how small the docks were, assembling a fleet for a mere hundred thousand people was still quite easy.

Even though Byron was a lord without much actual power, he had instantly become an absolute ruler with the support of the Papal Decree.

No one dared to disobey.

The night passed in a flash. Byron, who had not slept for half the night, finally heard a piece of news that set his mind at ease as the morning sun rose.

"My Lord, the ships have been gathered!"

"Excellent! Quick! Send this news to Brilliant City immediately!"

"Yes!"

"Phew... I’ve finally kept my head on my shoulders."

...

Lola naturally had no idea how relieved Byron was to be alive.

Because at this moment, Lola and Ligeia were standing in the morgue.

"Is this what you wanted me to see?"

Ligeia glanced at Lola in surprise, her eyes filled with confusion.

Just a moment ago, Lola had said she would explain why the city was suddenly under martial law, and then she had brought her here.

This was just a morgue, and the body before them was just a human corpse.

Why come here all of a sudden?

Could this corpse... explain anything?

"Lady Ligeia, you will understand if you look at his eyes yourself."

"His eyes?"

Ligeia’s brow furrowed as she stepped toward the corpse.

The body was already cold, having clearly been dead for more than a dozen hours.

However, the skin of the corpse still retained a hint of vitality, lacking the typical pallor of a dead body.

Frowning slightly, Ligeia reached out and pried open the corpse’s eyelids. To a biologist, a corpse was merely research material; she felt no fear at all.

But when she pulled back the eyelids and saw that there were no pupils—that the entire eyeball was nothing but pitch-black—she could not help but gasp.

"Low-level demonization?"

"Yes. As expected of Lady Ligeia, your insight is precise. Indeed... this is a corpse that has undergone low-level demonization."

"Isn't low-level demonization only transmissible through blood? How could it appear in Brilliant City?"

Ligeia looked up at Lola in shock and suspicion, but Lola could only shake her head helplessly.

"As far as I know, he suddenly appeared in Moon Square. It seems he was placed in the square after being infected."

"How many people did he injure?"

At the mention of 'Moon Square,' Ligeia’s expression turned grim.

Moon Square was a place with heavy foot traffic.

And while this low-level demonization would not turn a person completely into a demon, it would spread rapidly through the blood.

They would then become mindless walking corpses that continuously attacked others.

Biologists across the continent were currently researching why this happened.

However, it was difficult to reach an accurate conclusion because there were too few research subjects.

Such beings were immediately burned upon discovery; no one was willing to leave such a time bomb in their country.

Therefore, even brilliant biologists found it difficult to find a suitable corpse for dissection.

"Three people. Fortunately, Knight Hilda was at Moon Square at the time and killed him on the spot."

Ligeia nodded slightly, her brow tightly knit. After a long silence, she spoke:

"From what I know, the incubation period for low-level demonization is not long."

"The primary infector has an incubation period of three to five days, but the secondary infector’s incubation period is only a few minutes."

"Have you investigated this person’s background?"

"We did. He was a person reported missing six days ago. The report was filed four days ago. He suddenly appeared in Moon Square yesterday at noon and then turned."

Ligeia pondered for a moment and nodded.

"It seems someone intentionally released him. Was it a test?"

"We cannot rule out that possibility. With Her Highness away, it would be troublesome if someone maliciously incited civil unrest."

Lola spoke helplessly.

At this moment, Brilliant City was in a state of weakness rarely seen in its thousand-year history.

It was so weak that a mere army of ten thousand knights could crush it.

In a city of a million people, there were only ten thousand ordinary soldiers and fewer than two thousand knight guards.

If a civil uprising occurred, it wouldn't take much; more than a hundred thousand people would be very difficult to handle.

Although knights were stronger than ordinary people, they still felt pain when hit and died when stabbed.

Everyone only had one life. Once a civil uprising was ignited, that small force would not be enough to suppress it.

Most importantly, if military force were truly used for suppression, the situation would become disastrous!

"Inciting civil unrest? I think it’s more likely the other side will use this to make a move. It seems you’ll be busy lately."

Ligeia glanced at the corpse and shook her head helplessly.

The current situation was clearly bad, but Ligeia could not focus her attention here.

Though she cared for all living things, she knew how to prioritize.

The most critical issue right now was that Luo Li herself was not in Brilliant City.

As long as she was there... even if this person stood right there, even if there were no knights behind her, these million people would not fall into chaos.

The prestige of the Saintess of the Moon was countless times higher than that of a mere king or a mere saintess.

This was the advantage of being both the Saintess and the Queen.

Furthermore, even if she stayed here to help Lola solve this problem, if Luo Li could not return, things would only get worse.

Therefore, although Ligeia wanted to help solve this issue, she ultimately chose to resolve the problem on Luo Li’s end first.

"Lola, I’m sorry. I cannot help you much with this. I need to focus on the other side now."

"Yes, I know."

Lola nodded, looked at Ligeia again, and slowly bowed her head.

"I leave Her Highness in your hands."

"Don't worry. As long as I am alive, I won't let anything happen to her."

Ligeia gave her promise, then suddenly seemed to remember something and turned back to Lola.

"Where is that Augus?"

"Augus?"

Lola blinked, pushing up her gold-rimmed glasses.

"Her Highness wrote a letter to him as well, didn't she... I won't ask more. He went to the refugees after the incident yesterday. You should be able to find him there."

"Good. I’ll be going then."

Ligeia did not waste words.

With Lola’s intelligence, it was impossible for her not to guess that Augus had a letter as well, and Ligeia had no intention of hiding it.

But Luo Li had said that every letter had to be delivered personally.

The Pope’s letter could be handled via video call, but the remaining two letters naturally had to be delivered to the individuals themselves.

Lola watched Ligeia’s departing back in silence, praying in her heart that her Highness would return safely.

At the same time, she couldn't help but look back at the corpse lying on the table, her heart full of helplessness.

Staring at the sun rising in the east outside the window, she couldn't help but murmur:

"Your Highness, please come back soon. The Kingdom of the Moon cannot survive without you."

...

Once Ligeia left Brilliant City, she no longer needed to hide her identity, especially regarding the Pope’s letter.

After all, the Papal Decree had already been issued; there was no longer any need for secrecy.

Leaving the gates, Ligeia flew directly toward the refugee camp to the east.

Before she even arrived, she could see many laborers from a distance, working with bare chests under the morning sun, hauling stones.

They were building a new city.

Ligeia knew about this because a portion of the refugees did not want to return to the northeast. Therefore, Luo Li had decided to build a city for the refugees here. Of course, it could not be built on the same scale as Brilliant City.

However, the distance between the two cities was quite close, less than five kilometers apart.

It was essentially a subsidiary city.

Upon arriving at the refugee city, she saw that the urban construction did not follow the standards of a primary city; there were no high walls.

The first things being built were houses.

Many of these houses were simple wooden structures, though some were made of stone.

Ligeia found Augus easily after asking someone for directions.

At the same time... she also found Yuna.

"Lady Ligeia?"

When Augus and Yuna stood before the door with weary bodies and saw Ligeia, they both looked surprised.

Yuna’s first thought was that Her Highness had returned, and she instinctively asked:

"Has Her Highness returned?"

Augus’s reaction was entirely different from Yuna’s.

"Has something happened at the front? Does Her Highness have any instructions?"