[T/N: Change of plans—I'll still be around 😊 so releases will continue as normal 📚✨ More chapters coming soon!]
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The Seventh Prince, Ron André, was gradually rising.
This had become a widely accepted consensus.
Although in terms of personal power and affiliated interest groups, Ron still lagged far behind the first three princes, in certain aspects, he was uniquely unmatched.
Before this, among the three major churches of the Human Empire, the Church of the God of War had always held the greatest power and influence. This was because Emperor André III was a God of War's Chosen One, and successive emperors had all been followers of the God of War.
However, the stronger an organization became, the more internal issues it tended to develop. Diverging voices would emerge, and internal divisions became more likely.
If the Empire's upper echelon were divided into hawks, doves, and moderates, then within the Church of the God of War, all three factions existed—though the hawks clearly held the upper hand.
The Church of the Healing God, on the other hand, was firmly dove-aligned.
As for the Church of the Goddess of Harvest — Hervesta, due to its limited influence among the upper ranks, it rarely had a strong voice. Although it enjoyed a good reputation among the common people, it had long been sidelined by the other two churches, placing it barely in the moderate camp.
But after Ron became the Chosen of the Harvest Goddess, the situation began to shift.
Everyone knew that Emperor André III, the founder of the Human Empire, was a Chosen One of the God of War.
The royal cultivation technique, the 'Light Sword Codex', had been bestowed upon him by the God of War back then.
That was what enabled Emperor André III to stand alone against five legendary-tier orc warriors—killing three and severely injuring two in a battle of historic glory.
And now, Ron had also become a Chosen One.
He now had the full backing of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest — Hervesta.
Even if the church itself didn't possess strong political influence, the fact that one of the Empire's three great churches stood firmly behind a single individual was, in itself, a powerful force.
At the very least, even if another Chosen One were to appear within the other two churches, they could never achieve the same level of unified support as the Harvest Goddess's church.
This was entirely due to its long-standing weakness—forcing the church to unite as one and act under the singular will of the Archbishop.
So even though it seemed that Ron had yet to develop a personal power base, the convent directly under him—as the Acting Voice of the Goddess—was already a force that could not be underestimated.
However, what many people didn't know was that Archbishop Ulysses was actually quite troubled.
Because up to now, His Highness Ron had only transferred a portion of idle nuns to the City of Chaos to produce Element Cards. Beyond that, he showed no intention of utilizing the convent for any other purposes.
Although the members of the convent were called nuns, their abilities varied greatly.
Some were responsible for daily prayers and baptisms at various churches.
Others handled administration, coordination, intelligence gathering, and even combat.
Yet Ron had no intention of using any of those capabilities. He simply allowed the convent to continue its normal operations, occasionally using it to gather information.
While the outside world speculated endlessly about Ron's intentions, only the Archbishop knew—
His Highness Ron seemed genuinely uninterested in competing for the throne.
Or perhaps… he was simply biding his time?
But lying low didn't mean doing absolutely nothing behind the scenes!
Being this consistently low-profile inside and out—how was that any different from being a complete slacker?
Of course, others weren't the Archbishop. Naturally, they refused to believe Ron was a slacker.
They thought he could turn into a shark at any moment—unaware that even after turning over, he'd still just be a perfectly ordinary salted fish.
If not for completing the main quest and obtaining the system's newly introduced magical plants, Ron wouldn't even bother dealing with any of this.
After returning to the Royal Capital, Ron boarded the carriage arranged by Sylvie and headed to the Royal Capital Magic Academy to meet with the Dean of Studies.
Under the investigation of many interested parties, this news quickly landed on several desks.
People began speculating about Ron's next move.
However, the matter wasn't taken too seriously.
Element Cards were merely a small novelty. Even though their audience was steadily growing, they could never become a political weapon.
Most people regarded Professor Hicks' criticism of Element Cards as nothing more than a probing move against Ron.
It wasn't enough to truly harm him.
So when people learned that Ron had left the Royal Capital Magic Academy in the evening, they didn't expect any major reaction from the academy.
At most, out of respect for His Highness Ron, the academy might issue a statement saying Element Cards were not prohibited.
Or, at worst, have Professor Hicks issue a written apology.
The most severe possibility would be dismissing Professor Hicks.
But that was unlikely.
The academy wouldn't fire a sixth-tier mage over such a trivial matter—especially one proficient in the rare light element.
That same night, at Professor Hicks' home, he was chatting with his younger brother, who served as a bishop in the Church of the Healing God.
"His Highness Ron went to the academy this afternoon. It didn't affect you, did it?" his brother asked.
Hicks gave a reassuring look. "It's already past nine in the evening. If the academy intended to make me concede, they would've sent someone by now."
"From the looks of it, the academy probably just issued a verbal apology at most, and maybe asked me to return the confiscated Element Cards. That should settle things."
His brother shook his head. "I'm afraid it won't be that simple."
"His Highness Ron isn't someone to underestimate. Otherwise, he wouldn't have caused such a stir among so many factions when he first arrived in the Royal Capital."
Hicks clearly disagreed. "The military purge was bound to happen sooner or later. The Seventh Prince just happened to stumble into it and gave the military a legitimate excuse."
"That doesn't mean he has any real skill."
"Besides, he's been busy with that so-called magic battle arena lately. It doesn't look like anything serious."
"That kind of card game—what's it good for besides wasting time?"
Seeing his attitude, his brother didn't bother arguing further. Their goals were aligned anyway.
And behind them stood the Church of the Healing God and other forces.
"Tomorrow morning, others will begin speaking out in support of your views, helping ease the pressure," his brother analyzed.
"We'll gradually expand the influence toward the general public."
"Even if the academy issues a statement, once the public forms a first impression, it's easy to mislead them."
"The audience for magic duels is still limited. If we start from this angle and expand outward, we can shape public perception."
After exchanging their thoughts and confirming there were no major issues, the brother took his leave.
Meanwhile, after leaving the Royal Capital Magic Academy that evening, Ron brought Sylvie and Guy to Tansen City.
"How did your discussion with the academy go? Are they willing to make concessions?" Sylvie asked as she followed him.
She hadn't been present during the meeting with the Dean of Studies that afternoon, so she didn't know the details.
"You'll see the results tomorrow," Ron said with a faint smile, then shifted the topic. "For the next period of time, the two of you will have tasks here."
"I plan to purchase land around Tansen City to build factories and cultivate Chameleon Radish."
"Guy is already familiar with this. You'll handle local negotiations, land acquisition, and hiring workers."
"As for Sylvie, cultivating Chameleon Radish still requires nuns for now. The ones who didn't go to the City of Chaos due to distance can come here to Tansen City."
"Although it's still some distance from the western and northern regions, it's much closer than the City of Chaos."
"And this time, we won't need too many nuns. I already have some ideas that should allow ordinary people to take over this work later."
After assigning their tasks, Ron explained more about Tansen City and clarified his plans.
Once Guy and Sylvie left, a shadow rose from beneath Ron's feet, gradually forming into Yuna's mature figure.
"After you left, that sixth-tier assassin from the First Prince's side came to investigate," Yuna said lazily, sitting down and crossing her legs. "He was probably looking for clues about the spatial teleportation passage."
"But he didn't find anything. I scared him off in the end."
"Abilities like yours are way too tempting. It's easy to attract unwanted attention."
"If others hadn't yet figured out how it works, you'd probably have been stripped clean by now."
"A strategic-level ability like that—anyone would covet it."
Ron just smiled indifferently. "Even if I told the truth, they wouldn't believe it. No one else can use it anyway."
With his current status, not just anyone could make a move against him.
For truly powerful factions, spatial teleportation arrays weren't rare.
The only issue was that transporting living beings consumed a large amount of energy.
If Ron's method could reduce that cost, it would certainly be valuable.
But until they understood how his teleportation system worked—or whether it actually saved energy—no one would act rashly.
As for smaller factions eyeing it greedily, they simply lacked the strength to seize it.
Now that plants like Nether Orchid seed and Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemum were in Ron's hands, any faction that openly opposed him had to be prepared for retaliation.
So for now, all they could do was wage a war of public opinion—making moves on something as trivial as Element Cards.
If it weren't for concerns about delaying the main quest, Ron wouldn't even bother responding.
After his negotiation with the Dean of Studies that afternoon, Ron had already gotten the answer he wanted.
Tomorrow—
Everything would be revealed.