Idle game leads to another world.

Chapter 20 The Devil's Key
As the shouts and cries lingering in the valley faded away, the sun gradually moved westwards towards the horizon.

The soldiers entered the camp that originally belonged to the bandits and began to prepare to set up camp, planning to stay there for one night before returning.

The wounded had to be dealt with, the dead had to be burned, prisoners had to be captured, the spoils had to be searched for, it had to be confirmed whether any bandits had escaped, etc. By the time the whole process was completed, it was already dark.

Instead of walking on the mountain road at night with a large number of prisoners, it is better to just stay there for one night and go down the mountain tomorrow.

Viola found a relatively straight wooden stick and stuck it into the ground. She then took off the holy emblem from her neck and wrapped it around the stick to serve as a simple altar. She then knelt under the holy emblem and prayed.

Prayer is a very important thing, both for believers and for God.

So even though Viola didn't have time to wipe the blood off her hands and sword, she immediately found a place to pray when the time came.

Shelley approached from behind with a clipboard, and seeing Viola praying, he knelt behind her.

Neither of them spoke until half an hour later, when Viola opened her eyes and stood up.

“Has the statistics been completed?”

"Preliminary completion, Your Highness."

Looking down at the numbers on the file board, Shelley said:

"No one on our side was killed, and there are 55 wounded, of which 175 are seriously injured and have stabilized under your treatment. The enemy has 323 dead, 488 wounded, and 30 prisoners. About others took advantage of the chaos to escape, and Hill has led the team to chase them."

It is not easy for twenty or thirty people to survive in the wilderness without any cover, especially in the Spine of the World Mountains.

At night, not only do wild beasts roam around, but you can occasionally see traces of monsters, and they are obviously not vegetarians.

Theoretically, it doesn't matter whether we chase them or not, but in order to ensure that they don't threaten nearby villages, we still have to find them alive or dead.

"What about the spoils?"

"In the warehouse, we found 2300 rolls of cotton cloth, 82 cubic meters of glass, and 1000 boxes of spices. We also found gold coins and gems. There are also a large number of silver, copper, and iron coins. We don't have an exact number yet, but the estimated value is over gold coins."

Viola frowned when she heard this:
"It's not normal. This is too much."

The purchasing power of one gold coin is enough for an ordinary family of three to live a worry-free life for half a month. It is conceivable that this is a huge sum of money.

But the Leon territory is originally a poor and remote place. Although Lord Leon regards it as his lifeblood, in fact, even if you scrape the land to make sparks, you won’t get much profit.

A gang of bandits who make a living here and have never committed any major crimes before cannot be so rich.

And that guy named Roy is not normal either.

With swordsmanship that's good enough to beat the Royal Guards, he could find a lord to join and get a fairly respectable job. There was no need for him to become a bandit who would be in danger of losing his job.

Viola felt that this guy might be a secret agent of a certain country or force specially placed in the territory of Leon. The overly wealthy warehouse could also explain it. It was the people who gave him the funds to come here.

"How's Roy doing?"

"The military doctor gave him emergency treatment. He probably won't die, but he's still in a coma and is currently under strict surveillance."

"Once he regains consciousness, hand him over to Hill's team for interrogation. We must dig out everything he knows!"

The main reason why Viola came here to clear out the remaining bandits was that she felt that the Demon King was guiding her here.

In this case, she naturally thought that it was the guidance of the Demon King that allowed her to find Roy. She thought that there was a mine hidden in a place where she thought it was safe. Fortunately, she found it early.

This is all part of your Majesty’s plan!

Viola admired the Demon God's omniscience and wisdom so much that she would probably do it without hesitation even if he asked her to jump off a cliff.

As she was thinking about this, Viola noticed that Shelley was in a very low mood.

"What's on your mind?"

"Nothing, Your Highness, I just..."

After a moment's hesitation, she said:
"I just feel that even with the help of the Demon Lord, I still failed His Highness."

Viola knew that saying Roy was too strong and that it was normal for you to lose would have the opposite effect, so she patted Shelley on the shoulder:

"It is precisely because the Lord has bestowed upon you divine arts that you should continue to work hard in the days ahead to live up to the Lord's and my expectations."

The art of controlling subordinates is not to use PUA all day long, but to inspire the abilities of each subordinate. Viola obviously understands this principle.

"Yes! Your Highness! I will never let you and the Lord down again. Please allow me to continue my report."

"Well, go ahead."

"In addition to the treasures in the warehouse, we also found a large number of letters and notes in Roy's personal bedroom. However, the writing should be encrypted, and the court magicians are trying to decipher it. In addition, this was found in the secret compartment of the bedroom."

Shelley took out a small box from the bag on his back and handed it to Viola.

The latter opened it and saw a palm-sized key inside.

The key itself appears to be brass, but has a very odd shape.

The teeth of the key are thin and fragile, and as irregular and complex as a tree branch. There is a knob in the middle of the key handle, and when you turn it, the key will become a cross shape, which makes it even more complicated. It is hard to imagine how sophisticated the lock must be to fit this key.

At the bottom of the key ring is a brass eye-shaped structure. The terrifying and lifelike vertical single eye seems alive, staring at everyone who picks up the key.

As Viola checked the key, Shelley explained:
"When we were searching the room, the secret compartment suddenly opened by itself. I think this might be a guidance from the Lord."

"Yes, very likely. But what does this key mean?"

The guidance of the Devil God, Roy's identity, and the reason why he formed a bandit gang here. These clues were mixed in Viola's mind and could not be connected for the time being.

"Have the court magicians seen it?"

"I have seen it. They said that this key is very old, possibly dating back to the mythological era. And it has an extremely powerful spell attached to it. However, due to my limited ability, I cannot see anything more specific, and there is no book that records it."

The mythological age refers to the barbaric period beyond the earliest written historical records, when people's knowledge of the distant past was only based on some legends passed down orally.

When Viola heard Shelley's retelling, she suddenly thought that the time when the Demon King existed seemed to be a mythical era. Since then, He has become a legend until today.

So, the key might be related to the Demon King?

(End of this chapter)