Chapter 407: World Conquest For Dummies

“What do you say we head over to your kingdom and negotiate?” Rael offered flatly.

“Negotiate?” Theo tilted his head, his brows furrowed. “How are we to negotiate with someone who holds no political authority?”

While they had a point, Rael also had something he was curious about.

“What brought you to the Hollow Kingdom? You mentioned being desperate, so I—”

“Marriage.”

“…”

Rael felt as if his life had flashed before his eyes, but thankfully, he wasn’t on the receiving end of the marriage. Still…

“Marriage of convenience?”

“Indeed.” Theo nodded slowly. “The Kingdom of Aurenthia and the Hollow Kingdom have had a peace treaty for the last 40 years. However, roughly a decade ago, a fight broke out. Because of that fight, our peace treaty is now at a standstill, and at the rate at which everything was going, we were sure the treaty would soon be broken.”

“I figured that all out on my own, by the way,” Ivan chimed in confidently.

“You seduced my sister,” Theo said coldly. “She was the one who told you. Since you are not an official of the Hollow Kingdom, I will have your head in a moment.”

“Do that later. I’m curious,” Rael interjected. “So you want to marry to make sure the peace treaty stays?”

“That’s correct,” Theo replied. “If I get my sister to marry the crown prince of the Hollow Kingdom, then we won’t have to worry about war breaking out.”

Hmm… He wants to stop the war from ever happening, I see, Rael thought.

However, it was clear Aurenthia was on the losing side. They didn’t tell him the full story, but what Theo did tell seemed false.

Yes, they wanted to stop the war, but it wasn’t for the peace treaty.

Theo seems to be a prince, and he wouldn’t recklessly follow a nobody unless the matter was urgent. So whatever’s going on in Aurenthia is not as simple as he makes it out to be.

But this also gave Rael the perfect opportunity to test out the effect of his new stat.

You can read surface-level thoughts of any Grade 6 or lower being within 50 meters.

He focused on Theo, and a moment later, his thoughts were transmitted into Rael’s mind.

[…This person’s too dangerous.]

[A shop that can sell anything…]

[Maybe I could buy a key and free my soldiers…?]

Soldiers…

“Tell me, your end goal wouldn’t happen to be starting a war, would it?” Rael asked coldly.

Theo’s brows twitched. “What are you talking about?”

“I am willing to hear you out. However, I want you to be truthful with me,” Rael replied. “You may think I am nothing more than a merchant, but my connections can very well save your kingdom.”

It was a shitty coincidence that Ivan had scammed them, so it was fair that they didn’t trust him.

But Rael had one thing Ivan didn’t, and that was The Infinite Shelf Dimensional Shop, which already made him more credible than Ivan.

Theo simply remained silent, as if he couldn’t bring himself to trust Rael.

That was when Ivan suddenly spoke up.

“We’re not affiliated with any kingdom just yet, so you might be able to bribe us with a few billion Trell. We would act as your humble servants then.”

Rael’s brows twitched.

This guy is way too shameless.

“That’s enough.” Theo raised his hands with a sigh. “I am not allowed to speak of personal matters related to our two kingdoms. At least, not to absolute strangers. I appreciate your attempt to help, but I will have to pass.”

He turned toward the boutique. “May we use this facility to rest?”

“Sure, I’ll let everyone who buys something from the shop stay here,” Rael replied magnanimously, turning to the remainder of the envoys. “By everyone, I mean everyone. So go cough up money if you want a roof over your head. I don’t run a charity.”

With that, the envoys went up to his Dimensional Shop and each bought an item. Of course, since Rael was such a kind person, he wasn’t going to charge them that much when they finally wanted to leave.

Rael coughed, putting those thoughts aside as he took a few steps back. Coincidentally, Ivan did the same, stopping right beside Rael before speaking.

“Do you think we could milk all the money they have?” Ivan mused.

“We?” Rael tilted his head, turning to Ivan. “There’s no ‘we’ in this. There’s only me. You’re not getting anything.”

“Huh? But I was the one who brought them here,” Ivan complained with a frown. “You wouldn’t have a business open if they weren’t here!”

“I don’t see where that’s my problem.” Rael shrugged. “You brought them here, I took them off your hands. You would’ve started a war if you had walked into the city with unannounced envoys. But let me guess, you were planning to extort both sides, weren’t you?”

“Heh, well, I can’t say I like you, but you’re not wrong,” Ivan replied, picking his nose. “I respect business, but that just means you’re my enemy now.”

He tried to flick his booger at Rael, but Rael vanished and reappeared behind him before he could.

In the blink of an eye, he grabbed the back of Ivan’s head and slammed him down onto a nearby rock, knocking him out in an instant.

-53%! Critical Hit!

Rael let go of the bloodied Ivan, then turned toward the envoys who weren’t paying any attention to him.

However, he wouldn’t put behind the things he had observed.

Aurenthia was clearly planning something big, and it didn’t relate to peace. In fact, it was the opposite.

He was very certain they wanted war, and because of that, Rael got a pretty neat idea.

To become the Hollow King’s successor, I might need to be recognized by the already existing rulers. If a war breaks out… it might last longer than I’d wish.

He had the Dimensional Shop, and with it, he had the biggest resource leverage in the entire continent.

Someone wanted food? Sure, they could buy some.

They wanted an army? They could buy some constructs.

So if he established his own individual force and pushed it across the entire continent…

Why don’t I just become the ruler of all these kingdoms instead?

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