The Wizard: Starting by Scamming the Demon God

Page 107

Compared to Isaac's surprise, Angel's expression remained unchanged, as if she had known Philo's goal all along.

Isaac stared at Philo in surprise for a moment, then looked away and turned to Angel, asking curiously, "I'm still very confused. Why did you two get together? Was it love born from hatred?"

Isaac smelled gossip!

“No, I’m waiting for you here.” Angel’s expression remained calm.

"Wait for me?" Isaac was taken aback, somewhat confused.

“Yes, I knew you would come to this country. The Time Capsule is very important to me, so I had no choice.”

Although his expression remained calm, Isaac detected a hint of helplessness in Angel's words. "That's all?"

Of course, that's all. If she could, Angel wouldn't actually want to get involved with Isaac, that mad witch. He's a complete lunatic!

But there's no way around it; although Isaac is a madman, there's no denying that he's incredibly powerful!

She had seen the future, and to obtain the Time Page, she had no choice but to cooperate with Isaac…

Chapter 153 The Mysterious Kingdom of Etra

Although he still had some doubts about Angel's motives, Isaac didn't dwell on it too much. Instead, he leaned back in his chair, a slight smile playing on his lips: "So, does this mean we can cooperate amicably again this time?"

Although Isaac's words seemed to be directed at Philo and Angel, his gaze was mainly focused on the eldest princess, Philo, after all, she had a criminal record.

Philo understood what Isaac meant, but she had no other thoughts besides being annoyed, because under normal circumstances, she would definitely not be able to resist stabbing him in the back.

After all, as a mad witch of relatively pure blood, getting things for free is a common practice for them. If she could, she would never want to give away "her" Kaleidoscope Eye and Time Page.

Unfortunately, this is not an normal situation...

Isaac is very likely the only remaining mad witch from the old era in the current time, a madman who dared to directly seize power from the Outer Gods. He possesses both great strength and audacity, and most importantly, he is incredibly powerful. She is no match for Isaac.

Angel's raw strength is only average, but her time manipulation ability is extremely strange and difficult to deal with. Moreover, the witch kingdom behind her is very protective of its own, and its background is no worse than hers.

Things are different now; she can no longer scheme against the two of them like before.

“Of course, but if you wish to act alone, please do so.” Philo looked calmly at Isaac.

She wanted to take over the country on her own, provided, of course, that Isaac didn't interfere.

However, she did grow during this time. At least she gained some understanding of Isaac. Although Isaac was a mad witch from the old era, he was very modern in his ways. He was very similar to an arcane mage, following the principle of equivalent exchange.

Unlike her, who was a mad witch who only wanted to snatch whatever she saw, this guy, once he left the realm of the Outer Gods, was not only not a mad witch, but he was even more innocent than a legendary wizard!

So even without Isaac's help, she could get Isaac to stand by and do nothing by paying a certain amount of money.

However, compared to Isaac, Angel is not so easy to deal with. The enmity between them is quite deep, and if Isaac hadn't intervened, they probably would have fought.

Logically speaking, Philo should have tried her best to win over Isaac, instead of confronting him and pushing him away.

But as just mentioned, in the realm outside of Outer Gods, Isaac is a wizard very close to an arcane sorcerer. He acts with self-interest in mind, and as long as there are enough benefits, he will not care about such words.

And she happens to possess some things that are very important to Isaac...

really……

Isaac, leaning back in his chair, chuckled softly and looked at Philo, saying, "You jest. It is my honor to cooperate with the Princess. Now, Princess, please tell me about the situation in this country. I'm too lazy to ask the Outer God; it's too much trouble."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone raised their eyelids slightly. Even Philo, who had been certain that Isaac would cooperate, couldn't help but look at Isaac in surprise. This man was indeed the most insane mad witch!

Why ask an external god about such a trivial matter?!

However, although Philo and the others were surprised by this, they did not know that Isaac's actions were out of necessity. He had no effective channels for obtaining intelligence and only had a superficial understanding of the situation in the Kingdom of Etra.

Taking action here under these circumstances would be extremely dangerous!

You might end up falling into someone's trap without even realizing it. As the saying goes, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle." Intelligence is very important.

Besides, as the saying goes, a thief never leaves empty-handed. He wouldn't just be holding an evil god ritual; he'd definitely want something in return. What's wrong with making a deal at any time?

Philo gave Isaac a deep look before asking, "Before we talk about the situation here, how much do you know about this country?"

"Here is a timeline, an uprising is taking place."

"This place has a kaleidoscope of eyes, and uprisings happen every year."

Philo: "..."

Philo raised a hand to her forehead. Should she say these two were highly skilled and daring, or simply reckless? Did they dare to come knowing only this much?

“Okay, so you mean you don’t know anything? Then let me explain in detail.” After a pause, Philo looked at the two of them and asked, “First of all, guess the number of troops on both sides in this conflict?”

"The size of the army?" Isaac thought for a moment, then said, "Etra is just a small country, and one that experiences uprisings every year. Whether it's due to internal or external factors, its internal military strength shouldn't be too strong, probably only ten or twenty thousand in total?"

It wasn't that Isaac looked down on the Kingdom of Etra, but rather that although this world possessed supernatural powers, its army size was similar to that of his previous life in ancient times. After all, an army couldn't be made up entirely of ordinary people; it would certainly include some extraordinary individuals as management.

Therefore, the number of troops will not be very high; otherwise, it would be too expensive to maintain them.

The figure of one or two thousand is an overestimation by Isaac, including the cannon fodder slave troops and logistics troops who served as suicide squads; otherwise, it would be even less.

It's important to understand that Solomon, as a border noble, had to constantly guard against the Black Orcs in the wasteland. Their standing main combat legion only numbered a little over three thousand. A large portion of this money was used to support his eldest sister's magical studies, and another reason was that having more people would affect the population structure of the territory.

Although Etra was a kingdom, its overall area was only two or three times larger than that of present-day Solomon, and its army was not particularly large.

However, when faced with Isaac's guess, Philo shook his head and then said a number that left Isaac and Smith speechless.

Philo parted her lips slightly and said softly, "The combined number of the main fighting forces of the Kingdom of Etra and the rebel army is one million!"

"???" Isaac looked completely bewildered. "Young Master Duo?"

Angel, who was standing to the side, didn't react much when she heard the number, but after seeing Isaac's surprise, she also showed a slightly surprised expression. Is this a lot?

"Sir Smith, is a million-strong army an exaggeration for a country?" Angela wasn't the only one puzzled; Rona, behind Isaac, was also confused and couldn't help but whisper to Smith, who was equally surprised beside her.

"Hmm, that's quite an exaggeration..." Smith glanced at the bewildered Lorna, and for a moment he was troubled about how to explain the relevant knowledge to her, after all, Lorna was completely illiterate. However, after a simple idea, Smith said, "A million-strong army would spend at least one million gold coins every day!"

"That's outrageous!" Rona exclaimed in disbelief.

Isaac frowned, puzzled, and asked Philo, "Why are there so many? This doesn't make sense. With the size of Etra, it's impossible to support such a large army, and it's even questionable whether it has that many people. What's going on?"

Besides these two points, there is another point of doubt: Smith said, in order to make Lorna understand, that a million-strong main force could easily burn a million gold coins every day.

While an ordinary soldier might not spend a single gold coin a day, don't forget that the army also contains a large number of first and second-tier superhumans. According to normal organization, each 10,000-strong force should have at least one high-ranking knight.

One hundred high knights...

The Kingdom of Etra certainly doesn't have them, but the corresponding positions would require at least second-tier superhumans. These superhumans would cost a lot just for food, not to mention the weapons and armor they would need.

It's impossible for all one million to be infantry; there must be other types of troops as well. All things considered, one million gold coins a day would have to be spent sparingly. With that kind of money, there are many better things to do.

In this world where great power belongs to oneself, this million-strong main force, without the leadership of corresponding high-ranking knights, could be easily overrun by ten high-ranking knights in a short time!

The price-performance ratio is extremely low.

“Indeed, according to normal logic, the Kingdom of Itra cannot afford to support such a large army, and even if it could, it wouldn’t.” Philo nodded, agreeing with Isaac’s statement, then changed the subject and said, “However, the Kingdom of Itra has a treasure called the Tree of Life. This treasure can create a humanoid life form that does not need to eat or drink and does not get tired. The army of the Kingdom of Itra is composed of this life form.”

"There's such a thing?" Isaac was somewhat surprised, then fell into deep thought. "If that's the case, then it can indeed support such a large army... Isn't that actually your real goal?"

Isaac suddenly asked.

“I knew I couldn’t hide it from you. Yes, this is my target, but this thing is different from other treasures. It won’t be released for exchange, so I need to seize the entire Kingdom of Etra,” Philo said decisively.

Isaac gave Philo a deep look. He knew she hadn't said much more, such as why the people of the Etra Kingdom were using such a precious treasure so openly. Weren't they afraid that someone like Philo would try to steal it?

Although curious, Isaac didn't ask, because he knew Philo wouldn't tell. So he asked another question: "The Kingdom of Etra has prepared so many troops for this uprising, right? What kind of sacrificial rituals have you arranged?"

"Well... there are a lot." Philo spread her hands helplessly. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about it, but she simply couldn't finish explaining it all in a short time, and besides, she didn't know everything.

However, that sentence was enough for Isaac.

In this light, the uprising in the Kingdom of Etra seems to be similar to his previous guess. It was indeed providing a venue for rituals for other wizards. The difference is that the Kingdom of Etra did not want to become the venue, but had already become the venue for rituals!

And it looks like a high-end venue! The kind of place you wouldn't be worthy of knowing about unless you have some kind of status!

That's right. The rituals here should all be blood sacrifice rituals, which are explicitly prohibited by the Council of Truth and the major empires, so they can't be widely publicized.

"So what should we do here? Or rather, who is our opponent?" Isaac asked the more crucial question after a moment of contemplation.

Angel's eyes flickered slightly, and she hesitated for a moment before remaining silent. Although she had seen the future scenario in the original text and roughly knew what kind of war it would be, she only had a general understanding and certainly did not know as much about the details as Philodo.

"It's very simple. The Kingdom's army and the rebel army are facing off. Each side has 500,000 ready-made troops. The replenishment and expansion of the army will require us to collect resource points to recruit. The Kingdom's army and the rebel army each have 50 foreign aid slots. The border between the north and south is divided by the Itra Mountains. They fight freely. The final condition for victory is to break into the other side's headquarters."

"War mode?" Isaac nodded thoughtfully. In that case, he would have a slight advantage, since he had a 2,000-level second-tier Greatsword Demon, which was invincible on the battlefield!

but……

Isaac asked curiously, "The rebels also have fifty foreign aid slots. Are the resource vaults they can exchange for the same as ours?"

“Some are the same, some are not.” It wasn’t Philo who answered the question, but Angel who was standing next to him. “The treasury is divided into two parts. One is the basic part, which contains some basic resources, such as the Witch’s Token that you want to exchange for. The Kingdom Army and the Rebel Army each have a part here. The other is the core treasury, which can only be exchanged by the final winner. The Time Page I want and the Kaleidoscope Eye you want are in there.”

After saying that, Angel looked at Philo, "As for the secret treasure she wants... it's not in these two treasuries. It can only be obtained by sacrificing all of Etra's royal bloodline."

"All bloodlines?" Before Isaac could react, Philo frowned.

"You didn't know?" Isaac laughed, seeing Philo's surprised expression.

"Hmph!" Philo snorted unhappily at Isaac's gloating teasing, then looked at Angel to confirm the news.

“In the future, you did indeed sacrifice all the royal members of Etra in order to finally obtain that treasure,” Angel said.

"So, we won in the end? No high-level combat forces were involved in this war?" Isaac asked, somewhat surprised.

Although Isaac was confident, he was not entirely certain of victory. According to his intelligence, this war did not seem to restrict the participation of high-level combatants, and many items in the treasure vault were tempting to them, such as his target, the Kaleidoscope Eye, and Angel's target, the Time Page.

“There are no Tier 3 superhumans.” Philo picked up the conversation, revealing a disdainful expression. “Because the strongest in Itra is a Tier 4 Miracle Knight, and he is already at the end of his life. So he was worried that attracting too many Tier 3 powerhouses would be like inviting wolves into the house. Therefore, he made an agreement with various forces to allow only Tier 2 superhumans to enter.”

“I see.” Isaac nodded, then revealed an arrogant expression. “So, the three of us are just going to be killing indiscriminately?”

“That’s how it is.” For once, Philo reached a consensus with Isaac on this matter and revealed an arrogant smile.

After all, this is the fundamental reason why she wanted to work with Isaac.

Chapter 154 A Crazy Plan!

However, compared to Isaac and Philo's arrogance, Angel appeared much more composed.

She agreed with Isaac's statement; the three of them...

No, it should be said that Isaac is invincible in this battlefield where Tier 3 combat power is not absent. Although the two of them are also strong, they can only be considered as an extra.

Even so, only she and Isaac can successfully complete their goal. It won't be so easy for Philo to take over the kingdom, since once the war ends, the Kingdom of Etra and other forces with Tier 3 and above combat power will enter the fray!

It's even possible that they won't have to wait for the war to end; once the people of the Kingdom of Itra learn of Philo's plans, they might just step in directly!