To be honest, Rod's proposal still carried a certain amount of risk.
After all, the premise of successfully founding a nation rested on the mercy of people like Sirzechs.
But the saying still stood.
If you win, it's the high life. If you lose, you go back to grinding for survival.
Rod had nothing to lose either way, while for Katerea, death was waiting for her whichever path she chose, so she might as well pick the one with the higher chance of success. If it worked, then everyone would be happy. If it failed, then at least she would die with some dignity.
Katerea understood that as well.
"But… are you sure they'd only tolerate one nation being established?"
"That's my guess."
"..."
"But if I were one of the current Maous, there's no way I'd tolerate three Old Maou factions all founding nations side by side and all calling themselves the rightful orthodox line. I already told you before: in today's Underworld, support for Sirzechs and Ajuka is extremely high. Asmodeus is somewhere in the middle. Only Serafall's support is the lowest."
From everything Rod knew,
Sirzechs was the strongest, ruled with benevolence, and was very good at winning people over.
Ajuka was the brains of the group, and the inventor of the Evil Pieces.
Asmodeus was the Underworld's military strategist, and her strategic policies could directly shape the overall war structure of the Underworld.
Taken as a whole, Serafall didn't possess any particularly outstanding ability compared to those three Maous. Her strength wasn't weak, but that was all.
And among the four Maous, her personality was also the strangest. Many nobles were dissatisfied with her, but unfortunately, the entire Underworld couldn't find another female devil stronger than her.
"So you understand what I mean, right?"
Rod looked straight into Katerea's eyes.
"I…"
She was left speechless.
"Or do you have some other feelings toward the other two?"
"No."
Katerea denied that immediately.
The only reason she had allied herself with Shalba and Creuserey was because their interests happened to align.
"Then what are you hesitating for? Teammates exist to be sold out, don't they?"
Katerea raised her eyes and looked at Rod in shock.
What exactly had this man gone through in life to be able to say something so shameless with a straight face?
"Then what exactly should I do?"
Katerea asked with obvious "difficulty."
The truth was, she didn't want to sell out her teammates, but clearly, launching a surprise attack during the Three Factions conference was no longer a wise move.
So, "reluctantly," she could only press him for the rest of the plan.
"If I withdraw now, they'll definitely grow suspicious. And without me, the whole operation will be disrupted."
"I've got two ideas."
Rod said, "One, you trade places with Shalba, who's in charge of mobilizing things in the Underworld. If you don't personally take part in the battle, then Sirzechs and the others naturally won't target you. Two, you follow the original plan, but once the battle begins, you suddenly turn on them and attack Creuserey's army."
Katerea fell into thought after hearing both options.
"Which one do you recommend more?"
"Personally, I'd recommend the second. You can farm a huge wave of goodwill right in front of the leaders of the Three Factions, and that'll push your chances of successfully founding a nation to basically eighty or ninety percent."
"Just remember, when you turn on your old allies, be fast, precise, and ruthless. Whether you kill them or not isn't the key. What matters is making sure everyone can see that you went all out."
"Oh, and don't use the Infinite Dragon God's power either. If you get injured a bit, the goodwill boost will come even faster and hit even harder."
Katerea was stunned after hearing all that.
She had never imagined it could be played like this.
She genuinely wanted to know how a human like Rod had so many underhanded ideas.
This was way too devious.
Still, now that she had already boarded this pirate ship, there was no reason to jump into the sea halfway through.
If she wanted to secure the throne of Leviathan, then she had no choice but to turn her hand against her former comrades.
Sorry, Shalba, Creuserey. Compared to conquering the world, she wanted her throne more, and she definitely didn't want to die.
Seeing that the mission was already halfway done, Rod put away the little blackboard.
Katerea was still uneasy, but at this point there was no reason left to retreat.
To drive away the tension and irritation in her heart, she changed the subject and began chatting with Rod instead, even pouring each of them a glass of wine.
What she had said earlier had actually been true.
She really was interested in Rod.
To put it simply, in all her years, she had never met a man as interesting as him.
There were only three types of people she had really dealt with.
The first was Serafall, the thief she regarded as her enemy.
The second was her subordinates, who groveled before her.
And the last was Shalba and Creuserey, the two heirs who, like her, carried the pure bloodline of the orthodox Maous.
Someone like Rod, strong, interesting to talk to, and knowledgeable, gave Katerea a kind of freshness she had almost never experienced before.
Rod naturally welcomed that.
Earlier, he had already been thinking that if he couldn't persuade her, he would just directly make a move instead. Now that he had succeeded in turning her, and since he was also very interested in Katerea himself, taking this opportunity to get to know her more deeply wasn't a problem at all.
With alcohol helping things along, the two quickly opened up.
Katerea told Rod about her past. Back then, she too had participated in the war between the Old Maous and the new generation of Maous, only to lose in the end.
As the heir at the time, she had firmly believed that Serafall and the others were traitors of the Underworld, despicable thieves.
And to this day, she still believed the same thing.
But with reality stronger than pride, she could only abandon her original path.
She didn't care about conquering the world. What she cared about was her rightful throne.
Rod didn't offer any opinion. He simply played along.
As the conversation went on, whether because Katerea couldn't actually hold her liquor or because the air in the room had grown too warm, the deep V at her chest somehow became even deeper, and the way she looked at Rod gradually stopped looking quite right.
Katerea: （·V·）
Just as Rod was checking the system map and wondering whether he should teleport back soon, he suddenly felt someone move closer.
Then he saw Katerea suddenly sit down on his lap.
"?"
"..."
Katerea looked down into Rod's eyes, her own gaze full of aggression.
"?"
Rod was a little dumbfounded.
But he quickly understood what this woman wanted.
"Katerea, what are you trying to do? This is an office. Calm down."
Rod's expression was extremely serious, but very soon his voice became a little muffled from the compression of a certain object.
"And how exactly am I supposed to stay calm right now? You wrecked my plan, interfered with my life, and…"
Halfway through her sentence, Katerea suddenly felt something strange.
Two hands were slipping inward along her lower back and beneath her waist, and on top of that, there was a certain unmistakable change in Rod's body. A deeply seductive smile instantly appeared on her face.
"I think the one who needs to calm down right now is you."
"My hands suddenly lost control. That was absolutely not my own intention!"
"..."
Katerea froze for a moment after hearing that.
Even at a time like this, this man was still refusing to admit anything.
Thinking that, Katerea pressed herself down hard,
and Rod nearly cried out on the spot,
"I can't breathe."
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