Yu Deng stared at the parchment and read half of the speech before falling into deep thought. "Something doesn't seem quite right."
This speech… Would the residents of a Western-style magical continent actually understand it?!
Song Shiyu was standing right beside Yu Deng and had clearly heard the lines he had just read. He glanced at the fish-headed player, silently expressing his doubts about the Windlamp Guild's publicity department.
After speaking, Yu Deng belatedly remembered that he still needed to keep his cover intact. He tried to make the confusion on his face even more obvious. After thinking for a few seconds, he naturally handed the parchment to the space between the dragon and the merfolk.
"You two take a look, too. See if you can understand it." Yu Deng lifted his chin slightly and gave them a soft command. "Reading it made my head feel all dizzy."
Perhaps it was the instance's balancing mechanism, but even the native inhabitants of this magical instance could understand the words. Of course, they could only understand what the text said.
The dragon, who worshipped strength, fell into deep thought after reading it. He commented, "Sorry, I didn't really understand much of it, but it feels like there's some truth to it. Oh, and the part at the end where it insults that old geezer is pretty good."
"These are theories I've never heard of before, but they bear some resemblance to the way the merfolk council governs the ocean." After reading it, the merfolk leader furrowed his brows and pondered as well. "These theories will need to be studied carefully by them."
Yu Deng blinked. "Oh…" So neither of the two leaders had really understood it either?
The dragon had already shrunk to a little over two meters tall. He turned away from the speech and gently rested his dragon head on top of Yu Deng's head. "Little Princess, this writing is far too complicated. But we can discuss it together."
As he spoke, the dragon discreetly spread his wings, hoping to enclose Yu Deng in his embrace and keep others from seeing him.
The merfolk saw right through the dragon's intentions. With a derisive laugh, he grabbed Yu Deng by the wrist and pulled him a little closer to his side, openly putting the dragon down in comparison.
"Little Princess, the dragon race has a very simplistic way of governing. They hardly need to use their brains at all. You should come discuss it with me instead."
The dragon was furious. "…" Fuck.
"?" The little princess was bewilderedly pulled from both sides. In the end, he was simply squeezed between them, pressed snugly against both fantasy races.
Not far away, Song Shiyu watched as those two fantasy races once again took the opportunity to get close to the little princess. He approached with his longsword in hand and drew Yu Deng's attention by speaking up.
"Your Highness the Princess, may I have a look as well?"
"Sure, have a look." Yu Deng handed the parchment to his knight.
Song Shiyu accepted it with an outwardly calm expression, but deliberately let his tail show, allowing it to hang beside Yu Deng's hand in an attempt to attract his attention.
The trick worked perfectly. Without thinking, Yu Deng caught the fluffy fox tail and began absentmindedly rubbing and kneading it. He didn't even notice when one of the tails curled around his wrist.
The two fantasy races, who had nothing but scales: "…" Tch. So what if you have fur?
Song Shiyu acted as though he couldn't see the fantasy races' fury. His gaze remained fixed on Yu Deng. "This speech really isn't suitable. The ordinary people here won't be able to understand it."
Excellent. Everyone's assessment was remarkably consistent.
Yu Deng handed the parchment back to the fish-headed player and said regretfully, "It doesn't pass. None of us can understand it."
"…All right. I'm sorry, Your Highness the Princess. It seems my writing skills are the problem." The fish-headed player was devastated. He muttered to himself in a daze, "That's strange. My superior was always very satisfied with my work before."
The female player who had requested an alliance alongside him leaned over and skimmed the speech. "…Bro, if the NPCs read this, wouldn't they overthrow the feudal system overnight? The Princess is supposed to become the new king!"
"Oh! You're right!" The fish-headed player suddenly saw the light. The instance's mutation must have affected his brain and messed up his judgment.
A crowd gathered around the speech, revising and editing it until they finally managed to make it somewhat suitable for the magical continent's setting.
Meanwhile, not far away, the little princess was surrounded by three leaders, trying to keep all of them equally happy amid the chaos.
"Baby, you want to drive Charles off the throne and become the new king, don't you?" The merfolk was perceptive enough to have already figured out Yu Deng's intentions. He paid no attention to the noisy humans chattering around them. The only person he cared about was his beloved Princess.
The merfolk's way of addressing the little princess earned him furious glares from the others, and they nearly came to blows. Fortunately, Yu Deng managed to stop them in time. The three troublesome men sat around him, glaring at everyone else with displeasure.
If the little princess didn't dislike fighting, these males who couldn't stand one another probably wouldn't have been able to sit peacefully together like this.
Yu Deng held back his restless quest targets and blinked at the merfolk. "You figured it out? I really don't want Charles to be king anymore. He's a bad person—a really, really bad person. He's… he's a scoundrel!"
Thinking about the things the king had done, the little princess's limited vocabulary of insults had gained a new word.
"But it might be a little difficult… After all, Charles has been king for such a long, long time."
This could practically be considered an outright rebellion. Truthfully, Yu Deng wasn't very confident about it either. He tugged at his skirt and looked up at his quest targets.
"Ulysses, Oriel, will you support me?"
The merfolk bowed his head. "Of course. My heart beats for Your Highness the Princess. Naturally, I will support every decision you make."
The dragon was equally eager to declare his allegiance. "I will always support the Little Princess. I will become Deng Deng's most loyal supporter!"
Song Shiyu said nothing, but his gaze silently conveyed his stance as well.
"Your Highness the Princess, I support you too!" The magic mirror, hanging from Yu Deng's waist as a decorative accessory for his skirt, couldn't resist loudly proclaiming its loyalty. "I'm more loyal than any of them!"
Yu Deng looked at them and curved his eyes into a smile.
Heh heh. He didn't feel so nervous anymore. With such powerful fantasy races supporting him, overthrowing that wicked king would surely be a piece of cake!
…
After a brief rest, Yu Deng issued an order summoning the people in the name of the little princess of the Kingdom of Sturitt.
He then took the speech and headed with the group of players to the most prosperous area of the human kingdom—the central town on the outskirts of the castle palace.
Of course, the town had already entered the second phase of the instance. Calling it prosperous was no longer appropriate. It was now a place of chaos and disorder.
The journey to the town was anything but peaceful. In fact, it was fraught with danger at every turn.
Almost all the resident NPCs had been consumed by dark emotions and were in an extremely volatile state. Fights broke out everywhere. The soldiers were completely unable to stop them, because they, too, had lost control.
Magical lights flashed all around them. Within just half a day, the once-neat streets had become chaotic, and some buildings had even been reduced to rubble. The air was thick with the smell of dust and blood.
As they made their way through the streets, the players who fell behind were attacked and beaten up several times, screaming in protest. Even though this temporary team was extremely powerful in combat, several players had still sustained injuries of varying degrees.
In such an environment, Yu Deng couldn't help feeling a little downhearted.
After they arrived in town, Yu Deng lifted his skirt and stepped down from the carriage. The moment he got out, he saw two blood-covered children rushing toward him from the end of the road.
Their eyes were completely filled with black pupils, with no whites visible at all. Their canine teeth were sharp, and tear tracks streaked their faces as they shouted unintelligible sentences. They looked genuinely horrifying, and the nearby players instinctively jumped aside to avoid them.
The slow-to-react little princess was a few beats too late. By the time he noticed them, the two children had already rushed right up to him.
Yu Deng lowered his eyes and watched them for a few seconds before reaching out. With some effort, he managed to hold both of them still.
"Don't run around, okay?" Yu Deng gently patted the two children's heads.
He clearly hadn't used his scepter to heal them, yet the children really did stop. They called out softly and uneasily, "Your Highness the Princess," and their eyes grew clearer.
"Go home. There are lots of bad people outside."
The two children nodded and ran off. Yu Deng watched them leave before slowly straightening up. His skirt and palms were stained with dirty blood, yet this did nothing to diminish his beauty. Instead, it lent him an air of compassion, making him look even more exquisite and gentle.
Song Shiyu gazed at Yu Deng, his eyes as deep and tranquil as a pool of water softening considerably.
The players, meanwhile, watched the Princess in a daze, their feelings complicated. Something stirred within them as they witnessed the scene, and for the first time, they deeply understood how different the Princess was from them.
If this instance truly required the purest existence, then… the Little Princess was undoubtedly the only candidate.
Yu Deng remained silent for a few seconds before turning his head. "Let's go."
At that moment, Yu Deng had completely become the leader of this temporary player team. Even though some players still believed he was an NPC, that didn't stop them from choosing to follow the Princess's orders.
In silence, they arrived at the town's central square, their fighting spirit restored after their complicated emotions had settled.
Several players rubbed their hands together excitedly. "Are we giving the speech here?"
"Probably, but this town can't accommodate every NPC, can it? What if the residents in other areas can't hear the Princess speak?"
"Right. If we're going to make the transfer of power legitimate, we need more residents to witness it."
Yu Deng was thinking about the same problem. He knitted his brows and tried his best to calculate how many people the town could accommodate.
The dragon raised a claw and suggested, "How about I get the other dragons to bring all the humans from the other places here?"
The merfolk thought for a moment. "If the Little Princess needs it, I can control the seawater to flood the land and wash them over here."
"…??" Yu Deng froze for two seconds before hurriedly stopping them. "N-no, that's not necessary!"
That was far too crude and heavy-handed! The residents might not even survive the journey! And their relationship with the fantasy races could become even worse!
"Actually, Your Highness the Princess could use a magic scroll to connect this location's images to other places, allowing the residents elsewhere to see everything as well." Song Shiyu recalled the information and memories associated with his identity in the instance. "However, Your Highness's supporters would need to serve as the anchor points for the connection."
That was certainly an option. It was basically the equivalent of a livestream, wasn't it? But they needed supporters?
Yu Deng scratched his cheek in confusion. What other supporters did he have? Whether these players supported him or not was one thing, but they couldn't run very fast. Oh! Could he send out his little animals instead?
A flash of inspiration struck Yu Deng, and he came up with a good idea.
He randomly chose an empty house, quickly tapped his contract compendium, and summoned all the little animals he had collected in the previous instances in one go.
The small house immediately became crowded. The three-headed hound, whom he hadn't seen in days, enthusiastically rubbed its dog heads against him. This made Little Yellow, the tiger-leopard beast, furious with jealousy. It fought to get Yu Deng to play with it instead.
"Shh, I don't have time to play with everyone right now. I need your help." Yu Deng looked at the extraordinary animals. "I need you to help connect the magic arrays. Can you do that?"
The little animals nodded frantically. After each rubbing against Yu Deng, they set off with their magic stones.
Besides his little animals, the giant animals that had mutated in this instance, along with some NPCs from the dragon and merfolk races, also volunteered to help connect the magic arrays.
In a corner of the square, Little Pang caught a glimpse of a bat ball and a crow flashing past. Understanding dawned on him. Those were the little animals from the vampire instance. So the Little Princess really was that young vampire master!
Time passed minute by minute. The sky grew darker, and a fine drizzle began to fall. As time went on, more and more people gathered in the town.
Although these NPCs had lost control, they hadn't disobeyed the Princess's orders. One after another, they responded to the summons and made their way to the town. Before long, Yu Deng's little animals had all reached their assigned positions, and the Queen also arrived with a group of guards.
"Eh? Queen Audrey, you've come too." Yu Deng tilted his head. "Is something happening at the castle?"
"No, nothing. I simply heard what you intend to do next. My good child, you are brave and capable." The Queen gazed at him affectionately. "But please be careful. He has always been very good at hiding his true nature. The people have hardly ever known about these things."
The Queen spoke solemnly. "May the Holy Light protect you."
"Okay. Thank you. I'll keep that in mind." Yu Deng thanked the Queen and clenched his fists nervously.
Excellent. Everything was ready. He was going to rebel!
…
In the center of the square stood a structure resembling an altar. Several fantasy-race leaders escorted the little princess, Yu Deng, up onto it before taking their positions behind him.
The summoned residents temporarily managed to restrain their emotions. They all looked up at the Princess in unison and fell silent, waiting for the Little Princess to speak.
Standing high above them, Yu Deng lowered his eyes to gaze at the vast crowd. He took several deep breaths before addressing everyone.
"I am the Princess of the Kingdom of Sturitt. There are a few things I would like to tell everyone here. As you can all see, this continent has fallen into chaos. Beauty and happiness have disappeared, and the land has been plunged into a painful darkness. One of the chief culprits responsible for all this is our king, Charles! He is a villain burdened with countless sins!"
Yu Deng did his best to suppress his nervousness as he delivered his speech with deliberate emphasis and rhythm.
He made it halfway through before becoming so nervous that he forgot his lines. But stopping to consult the script halfway through would look a little strange, so he had no choice but to improvise based on his hazy recollection.
Fortunately, the people trusted the Princess deeply. They listened to everything he said and learned what the king had done: harming his own people, hunting down nonhuman races, and spreading dark emotions… all to satisfy his own selfish desires.
Magic carried Yu Deng's voice to every corner of the town. The people of the human kingdom soon learned about the king's misdeeds, and an uproar broke out.
This was completely different from the king's usual public image!
In the square, those players were truly a bunch of troublemakers. While the Little Princess delivered his speech, they disguised themselves as ordinary people and mingled with the crowd, handing out small leaflets at random. Not only did they expose King Charles's crimes, they also went all out spreading rumors and smearing his reputation.
The increasingly agitated crowd grew angrier and angrier, until their outrage finally erupted into a series of shouts.
"Charles is a despicable coward! Get out of Sturitt! Charles doesn't deserve the throne!"
The shouts grew louder and louder.
Finally, a mass of nauseating black mist suddenly appeared in the square. A human figure took shape within it.
It was none other than King Charles, who had been missing without a trace.
Charles had never imagined that even his people, already consumed by corruption, would want him driven out of the kingdom. Furious, he appeared and pointed at Yu Deng on the altar, cursing him angrily.
"I am the king! How can you, a princess, slander your own king?!"
The dragon immediately spewed flames, while the merfolk raised a surge of water, backing Yu Deng up.
"But I'm only stating the bad things you've done. How is that slander?" Yu Deng kept his pretty little face stern. Although he was nervous, he still straightened his back. "Besides, the people of Sturitt no longer recognize you as their king."
"Impossible!! I have given everything for Sturitt! I'm leading the kingdom back to glory! How could I possibly not have their recognition?!"
The king looked down at the densely packed crowd. "How dare you commoners pass judgment on your king?!"
The king's authority stood above everyone else's. The crowd immediately fell silent, trembling with involuntary fear, yet they still couldn't suppress their anger.
Yu Deng gripped his scepter and looked the king straight in the eye. "I think they'd rather recognize me instead."
The players mingling among the crowd immediately shouted their agreement. "That's right! We support Your Highness the Princess becoming the new king!!"
Human emotions were contagious. Like sparks spreading across a prairie, more and more people began voicing their support for the Princess. As for the fantasy races, there was no need to mention them—they supported the Princess even more enthusiastically than the humans themselves.
"..."
This was undoubtedly an overwhelming victory. The king's authority was destined to belong to the Princess.
Amid the increasingly clear and thunderous cries of support, the power possessed by King Charles began to be drawn out of him. It transformed into countless tiny points of light that swirled and drifted through the air. Eventually, the glowing specks formed a new, magnificent crown, which gently settled on Yu Deng's head.
Charles's eyes were bloodshot. Black mist swirled around his bloated body, and waves of dark, malicious emotions radiated from him, causing the surrounding residents to stiffen.
"Impossible… I'm the king…!" he roared in vain.
The mutation power Charles had absorbed surged toward Yu Deng all at once, attempting to swallow him whole.
"But the crown is with me now." Yu Deng blinked. He seemed to instinctively understand how to use the king's authority without anyone teaching him. He swung his scepter, bringing the incoming power to a halt in midair.
"This is my kingdom. You have nothing to do with it anymore. Hmm, then now…"
The crown weighed heavily on Yu Deng's head, making it feel as though his head had grown heavy. He pretended to adjust it nonchalantly, then raised his head to look at the king and spoke softly.
"As king, I hereby banish you."