"Hmph, lucky you! That junk is working at less than 10% of its original power. Take it as a free toy!"
The man in white was stunned for a moment, but quickly regained his cool. He rushed out of the room without looking back.
" I thought he'd insist on taking back the Midas too. Didn't expect him to be so generous! Makes me feel a bit paiseh..."
Surprisingly, after the man in white left, Reider suddenly seemed to have a change of heart. He looked like he was thinking about whether to really keep his promise.
"Maybe we should just go along with him and help the monsters again? It's not like we haven't done it before! But if the Empire gets involved this time, the Cycle of Birth might really be in danger! Wonder what would happen to this world if souls can't be reborn? Sounds quite interesting when you think about it..."
Though these words were meant for the light mage waiting outside, to my ears they seemed to have a hidden meaning.
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Of course his subordinate didn't dare to comment freely, and could only stand respectfully at the door praising mindlessly.
"They mentioned the Cycle of Birth! That man in white is probably working with the monsters!" Cyra whispered excitedly in my ear.
"I know, but we still couldn't find out where Reed is," I replied, a bit distracted. To be honest, my mind was in a mess. I couldn't organize all the bits of information.
First, Emperor Reider's attitude showed he looked down on the "high-tech" and technology brought by the man in white. This was really unexpected!
Of course, he might just want to keep freeloading, but this approach seemed quite stupid. What good could come from offending the man in white? He's from a mysterious group with "high-tech". Though it's unclear how they got the mechanical bug technology, if this chance was given to other countries, they'd definitely jump at it without hesitation!
But is Emperor Reider really as shallow as he appears? At least he managed to overthrow the previous emperor, so I don't think he's that simple.
Second, he brought up helping the monsters again, which honestly made me a bit worried!
Since I already promised Galadra, I naturally don't want unexpected enemies getting involved. The Empire butting in will only make the situation worse.
Though Reider clearly refused the man in white at first, by the end it seemed he had some intention to get involved. I really can't guess what this guy is thinking. And will the man in white bring his mechanical bug army to join in too? Either way, it seems very troublesome!
"Does he still have something to do?" Adrian stared at the meeting room, looking confused.
The meeting was over, but Reider was still alone in there. He faced a wall as if waiting for something, refusing to leave.
"Your Majesty! Urgent report from the front lines - Commander Dennis from the Sebastian family was wounded in battle against Republic forces at Duera. But in the critical moment, a ten-winged angel suddenly swooped down from the sky and rescued him! The troops are in chaos now, unsure whether to treat it as desertion?"
An imperial soldier rushed over and whispered to the light mage guarding the door. After he left, the mage immediately relayed the message to Reider.
"A ten-winged angel, huh... I see," Reider pondered for a while, but didn't seem to have much reaction. Then he turned to give instructions.
"According to military law, desertion in battle is punishable by death. But you don't need to make a fuss about this. Strictly forbid the troops from discussing or spreading it, just let it be! It's not time to move against the Sebastian family yet. If I'm not mistaken, Dennis will probably return on his own in a few days. Of course, don't investigate further after it's over. As for the tunnel exit on the Republic's side, no need to guard it anymore. Retreat directly! But remember to seal the passage tightly when retreating, don't leave any openings for the Republic!"
"Huh? Your Majesty, we're retreating now? But we haven't..."
The reporting light mage was shocked that the emperor would give up so easily. Hadn't all those imperial soldiers died in vain then?
"But what? Is there something you don't understand about my orders? This isn't the capital, there are no annoying nobles running around trying to persuade me. Or do you want to end up like them?"
Reider impatiently waved his hand. The light mage trembled in fear and quickly changed his tune.
"I'll go pass on the orders right away..."
"Wait, how are the preparations for Midas going?"
Just as his subordinate was about to leave, Reider suddenly called out to stop him.
"Midas is fully prepared, ready for your inspection at any time!" The light mage immediately stopped and reported respectfully.
"Oh, then what are we waiting for? Raise the curtain now!"
Nodding with satisfaction, Reider waved his hand. But instead of leaving the meeting room, he sat back down in his chair.
"What curtain?"
I felt confused. But as soon as I spoke, I suddenly noticed the wall in front of Reider slowly rising up.
So the meeting room walls could move! We'd been sitting there the whole time and didn't notice this trick at all!
After the curtain rose, it revealed a much larger space behind. It turned out to be a huge warehouse on the first floor! The meeting room was an elevated viewing platform, with a full view of everything below us.
Earlier it was too dark inside, so we couldn't see anything through the crack under the giant door on the lower level. But now all the lights in the room were on, and the first thing that came into view was a huge mechanical head!
"Wah! A Gund-mmph!"
Cyra was so shocked she almost cried out, but luckily I reacted quickly and covered her mouth!
To be honest, we were quite lucky. In our invisible state, I could barely sense her location from the light element aura. If I hadn't stopped her in time, we definitely would've been exposed!
"If you dare shout again, I'll knock you out and throw you outside!" I warned Cyra sternly.
"Phew... but that's a Gundam! A mecha! The romance of men, you know!" Finally free from my grip, Cyra realized the situation and whispered to remind me. "Don't forget this is a magic world. I never thought we'd see a Gundam in a place like this, it's unbelievable!"
"The romance of men? What does this weird... metal head have to do with romance?"
Never mind whether I understood or not, Adrian definitely didn't. His confused voice immediately came from behind me, sounding a bit indignant.
"It has nothing to do with romance, don't listen to her nonsense! Besides, that thing can't possibly be a Gundam, it's not even close!"
I rolled my eyes in annoyance. It's not that I'm deliberately belittling it, but this mechanical head made by the Empire looked very crude. You could barely make out the outline of a head. Obviously either it was rushed overnight, or the Empire's craftsmanship was really poor.
"Hahaha! If we deploy Midas this time, do you think we can take out all those monsters and angels in one go?"
However, in Emperor Reider's eyes, this was his proudest creation. He seemed to like it more and more as he looked at it, and soon started laughing happily.
"Of course! Your Majesty is wise and mighty. The Ilandra Dominion Empire will last for thousands of years, and will surely unify the continent!"
The light mage guarding the door didn't dare slack off. He immediately started spouting flattery, which sounded quite familiar to my ears.
I certainly wasn't as optimistic as Reider about whether this giant Midas robot could really wipe out both monsters and angels at the same time. But don't judge it by its shoddy appearance - it did have quite a few equipment advantages.
After all, it was really big! First, it was at least 30-40 meters tall, which would definitely put huge psychological pressure on opponents. Second, since it was the Empire's own knockoff product, they'd set up many magic arrays on its surface. I could barely recognize some of the light attribute protection arrays, which could no doubt release very powerful high-level light magic. There might even be higher-level divine magic further up!
Unfortunately, because we were too far away, we could only see the upper body including the neck and shoulders. As for what other tricks the rest of the giant robot was equipped with, we really couldn't tell.
"The problem is Midas isn't fully completed yet. Wouldn't it be better to let the angels and monsters fight each other first, then we can reap the benefits?"
After finishing his flattery, the light mage thought for a moment and carefully offered a suggestion.