Pioneer Lord: Starting From Daily Intelligence

Anyway, after capturing Rapids Castle, Su Li was not in a hurry to confront Baron Grant for a life-and-death battle. He also needed to manage the current situation, draw in forces within Blue Mirror Territory as much as possible, and only after cutting off the opponent’s wings and external reinforcements, would he surround Rapids Castle with overwhelming advantage. In this world where divine power manifests everywhere, caution is necessary for long-term success. Otherwise, it’s unclear if the opponent will suddenly make a comeback. After all, what lies beneath Blue Mirror Lake is still a mystery to Su Li.

Those Green Ghost Cavalry might have to rely on the Mole Sect to deal with them. Before figuring out the enemy’s hidden moves, a sudden decisive battle is not in Hesse Territory’s interests.

Of course, even if the enemy has strong hidden moves, Su Li is absolutely confident he can level Blue Mirror Castle in one sweep. After all, the living soldiers cannot defeat the mighty Hesse army; even with divine power from Manan, they were pushed flat by Hesse’s military strength. A bunch of dead men would find it even harder to stir much trouble. Since they could die once, Su Li could ensure they die a second time.

However, under the current circumstances, Su Li saw no need to endure heavy casualties for a forced decisive battle. In just about a month, even if he stabilizes the situation and decides to battle a month later, he wouldn’t lose much profit. Anyway, he’s not in a rush; Hesse Territory has already broken the enemy’s border blockade and gained great war benefits. The more it progresses, the more he digests the fruits of victory, the higher the chances of winning the next battle, the smaller the losses.

So after Demster’s proposal, Su Li said, "I’ve approved your suggestion. I’m also giving you a task, and if you complete this task, I’ll have the Bishop’s Council grant your Mole Church a donation of 5000 Golden Crowns."

When Demster initially heard Su Li approve the establishment of Mole’s Holy Land, he barely squeezed out a pained ’comfort’ (after all, in the view of Mole Knights, Holy Land = location with many dead, meaning increased work volume), but the phrase ’giving you a task’ came like an ice spike, instantly shattering what little ’comfort’ he had.

"Another... Another task?!" Demster’s voice raised several octaves, with an almost despairing tremor, and his comical face twisted like an accountant owed eight hundred years of salary, "Lord! Look at my hands!"

He suddenly raised his iron-grey hands, almost drained of blood, though protected by gloves, his resentful tone suggested one could see the trembling fingers from overwork, "What have they recently touched? The mire of Heisen Castle mass graves! Sticky webs and shells from Crawling Spider’s nests! Those elves in the Valley of Memory, dust thicker than Empire tax ledgers accumulated over who knows how many years! Now! Now they also have to scavenge the rotting bones boiled in that stinky gutter full of leeches!"

Then he spun in place, his heavy armor grinding loudly, like performing a desperate tap dance: "My precious!" He pointed to the silent black donkey beside him, laden with horse armor and snorting loudly with sneezes, "It creaks even while walking! Ever since joining the Territory, it’s been us two tackling the toughest, most dangerous tasks, delving into the Seductive Demon Realm, dueling Slaughter Demon, battling the Spider God’s Chosen, and now waging war till heaven and earth quake against the Sea Dragon empowered by Manan’s divine force. Lord! Spare me, my old comrade and I wish to preserve our old bones."

"Do you know what I saw last night in its dream? It was dreaming about fixing dragon hooves on its own! Shows how fearful it is of massive creatures."

The surrounding generals struggled to suppress laughter, contorting their expressions bizarrely. Dorglin turned his head away, suspiciously shaking his shoulders. Even the always spirited Hilude’s mouth twitched slightly. Dietrich silently drew a Shalya tear symbol on his chest, seemingly praying for Demster’s battered spirit.

Su Li was equally amused and exasperated by Demster’s consistent neurosis and his morbid ’complaint session’.

Though difficult to understand why he would enter a donkey’s dream, why this foolish donkey dreamed of fixing dragon hooves, perhaps fixing hooves was its idea of pleasure? Thus it felt the need to fix dragon hooves too?

Still, Su Li controlled his urge to laugh, his mouth merely curling slightly upward, saying, "Alright, Demster, stop your endless and pungent complaints. This task isn’t like your previous ’enter Demon Realm’, ’dig pits’, ’collect trash’ jobs."

Upon hearing this, Demster paused his ’wails’, casting a suspicious blue gaze toward Su Li: "Not quite the same? You’re not sending me to excavate some ancient mass grave? Or clean a centuries-contaminated rat-infested underground tomb?" His tone rife with deep mistrust.

"Of course not." Su Li cleared his throat, speaking indifferently, "I want you to use your ’professional’ sense in the Death Domain, along with the influence of the soon-to-be-established Mole Holy Land, to investigate something for me."

"What is it?" Demster asked cautiously, suspecting nothing light would spring from the Lord’s lips.

"Find out what ’treasure’ Baron Grant has excavated beneath Blue Mirror Lake." Su Li’s gaze sharpened, "Especially those... Green Ghost Cavalry."

Demster was startled: "Ghost Cavalry? Lord, are you saying..."

"That’s right." Su Li nodded, "It’s the reported strongest trump card of Blue Mirror Territory, and feedback from various intelligence sources indicates there’s still a final unit of Green Ghost Cavalry at Blue Mirror Castle."

He paused, looking at Demster, "Your task is to uncover the details of that thing. Where does it originate? How large is it? What are its weaknesses? How much can Grant control? Is there anything more dangerous hidden below? Use your methods to interact with ’them’, or... with ’things’ that know the insider details."

Demster pondered briefly, though humorous at times, he’s very serious during official matters. Since joining Hesse Territory, every task Su Li assigned him was completed flawlessly without exception. Among these tasks, just as he mentioned, was sneaking a Bathed in Fire Rose from the Seductive Demon Realm, and dueling Khorne’s Chosen in front of countless spectators!

Each accomplishment sounded like legendary feats, enough to base an entire Knight novel upon his prototype. Many Empire minstrels relish discussing these exploits.

To be chosen by Mole, within absolute terms, Demster is a distinguished elite.

After serious contemplation, he laughed light-heartedly, "Certainly this task sounds rather simple, is Lord feeling magnanimous suddenly? Giving me such a leisurely task."

"Regarding the task you mentioned, I do have a rather excellent solution. That is the Divine Magic · Mole’s Word."

[Divine Magic · Mole’s Word — A deceased human soul appears before you and answers certain questions. You must have the body or a part of the body once possessed by the soul. The soul cannot lie and must answer but can choose how much information to provide. The soul’s knowledge is limited to what it knew in life. If asked a question with no known answer, it will say nothing since souls are only released from the Death Domain by Mole’s sanction; hence any corpse can only be a target of this spell once.]

"Using this divine magic, we can summon many Blue Mirror Territory Knight souls, even as our spearhead advances around Blue Mirror Lake, we can dredge bodies from the lake and inquire about the conditions below."

Inquire with "them"!

This matter was indeed quite eerie.

Just thinking about it sent chills down Su Li’s back, no wonder Mole Knights are all neurotic and abnormal with so much interaction with the supernatural. If one didn’t let loose to alleviate pressure, normal people would probably break.

Su Li immediately responded: "Then go ahead and ask, I don’t care how you accomplish it, I just want the results."

Su Li’s command was clear-cut, but Demster looked embarrassed, then spread his palms open, saying, "However, there’s a small problem currently?"

Su Li furrowed his brows, sensing bad omen that this Mole Divine Chosen Knight might stir things up! "What problem?"

"The problem is I don’t know this divine magic..."