"Y-you are here?!" The Minister's face was horrified as he noticed Azekiel standing before him.
'How was it possible? There was no sound! How did he appear like a ghost? Did he hear what I said? How long had he been standing here?'
For a moment, his breathing halted as he observed the expressions of Azekiel, praying to gods that he didn't hear anything.
"Why do you always get so scared after seeing me? You act like you were doing something wrong? I just came here because I forgot something. You don't have to be that scared." Azekiel moved closer to the balcony.
It was only now that the Minister noticed that a coin was lying on the balcony.
"I dropped it here. I came here to take it back." Azekiel picked up the coin and kept it in his pocket.
Seeing his actions, the Minister couldn't believe his luck. Azekiel still didn't know what he did? He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Shall I accompany you to the exit, Your Majesty?"
"No need. I won't be leaving this Palace," Azekiel responded lazily.
"But... But what about the plan? What about the strategy?" The Minister asked in surprise.
"That one? That was just a lie. Don't worry about it. I made that fake strategy on the spot so you could tell it to Elijah," Azekiel explained.
Hearing the answer, the Minister's face turned pale. Azekiel knew everything?
He subconsciously took a step back and kept moving backward to gain enough distance to run.
Unfortunately, he noticed that the way was being blocked by the Old General and his soldiers.
"You seem to be going somewhere? What's the hurry?" Azekiel asked calmly. "You wanted to give me company. Why the hurry to leave then?"
"Y-your Majesty, I..." The man dropped to his knees before Azekiel. "I made a mistake! I-i didn't mean to! I was forced!"
"Don't plead. I'm not doing anything to you. In fact, you did well by telling him everything. In fact, that's what I wanted as well. I won't kill you, don't worry. You are very useful to me."
The Minister stood up and gazed at Azekiel in surprise. This guy wasn't going to kill him even after the betrayal? Just what kind of person was this guy?
"But my promise comes with a condition," Azekiel further stated. "You need to answer whatever I ask honestly."
"I will answer everything! Everything you ask!" With his life on the line, the Minister couldn't say no. He immediately agreed.
"Tell me what you know about this book? When you saw it, I noticed your expressions change for a brief second. You know something about it, don't you? Tell me everything."
The Minister was already of no use to Azekiel since he had already done the part by giving the fake information to Elijah. Still, there was one small use left. The man appeared to have some information about the book, which Azekiel needed at any cost.
"That book, I know about it. I-i have been working for King Elijah before. He gave me the description of this book and told me that he wanted it. He asked me to enter the Temple in the castle and retrieve it for him," the old man explained.
"But you couldn't do it since you neither had the key nor the strength." Azekiel finished the sentence of the man instead. "Am I right?"
The Minister affirmed. "I tried, but I couldn't retrieve it."
"Do you have any knowledge of Elijah having a similar book?" Azekiel inquired. "If he knew about the existence of this book, that does imply he either has the other book or has knowledge about these books."
"I met him once. At that time, he had a similar book in his hand." The Minister confirmed. "He always carries that book with him."
"That would certainly explain why he is waging this war." Azekiel turned to the soldiers in the distance. "He doesn't want the Empire. He wants the book, which he failed to get. And since he has an Empire of his own, he can't attack the guards or soldiers of this Palace to enter."
"The only way for him to get in is through a war. So that's the secret of King of Greed! The reason he stayed behind all this while."
With a small bit of information, Azekiel had managed to form a complete understanding of his enemy.
Even in his past, the King of Greed was the same. He had cleared the Second Floor a long time ago, but he hadn't cleared the third floor. Instead, he returned to the Second Floor and has stayed here since then.
No one knew why the King of Greed wasn't climbing the Tower like others. In the past life, the King of Greed couldn't take over this Empire. He had certainly waged a war on this Empire after a long time, but during that time, Michael was alive.
The King of Greed was defeated, and he finally moved on from this floor. Throughout those years, he didn't achieve anything significant.
However, in this timeline, Michael was dead, and Elijah wanted this book. Azekiel didn't know the secret of the two books, but he believed this had something to do with the Third Floor.
King of Greed was known to be a really greedy person. There was no way he was going to give up the chance of climbing the tower to stay on one floor. The only other reason could be that whatever these books helped him accomplish was something he was really eager for.
"Something that is better than climbing the Tower?" he muttered.
In the past timeline, there was nothing about these books, maybe because Elijah had failed to win his war. That was also why Azekiel didn't know anything about it. It was new for him this time. Moreover, he was on the other end of this battle instead of Michael.
Michael's Empire was his now. He also had a book that Michael had no idea about in his timeline.
Azekiel couldn't help but grab the book even more firmly.
"I suppose I should thank you for the information."
Azekiel grabbed the Minister by his throat and raised him in the air, making him hang off the balcony.
"Yo...u... promised." The old man struggled to speak. He had the promise of Azekiel. He couldn't believe Azekiel was breaking the promise.
"I promised I wouldn't kill you. And I intend to keep that promise." Azekiel smiled in response. "It would be the fall that will kill you, not me."
Hearing the devilish words of Azekiel, the man's face turned even paler. 'This... This guy…'
