Jack and Grace were trapped inside Euphosine's dimensions for more than a week. During that time, Jack had no access to his Affairs Overview of his monarch system. Hence, several affairs had been neglected. Some were even the ones the investigative teams had investigated. They tried sending their findings to Jack but because Jack was trapped in another dimension, he couldn't receive their message. The deadline for those affairs arrived and they ended without a resolution.
However, during the two weeks Jack spent on the road on their way to the Council of Charites, he solved three affairs. The results of those three affairs were two perfect and one good, netting him 280,000 merits and 10 Ruling Powers.
When Euphosine's dimension was destroyed not long ago, there were three new affairs, but two were almost upon their deadline. It won't be enough time to send the investigator teams. So, he just randomly chose one answer from the multiple choices and ended up with one mediocre and one bad result. He earned 40,000 merits from the mediocre one and was deducted 30,000 merits from the bad one.
"Sh*t! A bad result can reduce my merit points?" Jack asked Peniel when that happened.
"Yeah. You make a bad judgment. you think people will thank you for that?" Peniel asked back.
Jack rubbed his forehead. In this case, probably it was best to not pick any of the choices if he was not sure. But after thinking about it, this might not be bad. He didn't think Master had the same system where he sent people to investigate these affairs. He bet Master relied on his own intellect to solve these affairs. If so, then Master's chance of scoring a bad result should be higher, which meant Master's rate at increasing the sovereign level should be slower than his.
For the last affair, Jack sent the information to the investigative teams.
The total 290,000 merit points he had received was able to push his sovereign level to level 12. He received another 10 Ruling Powers from that level-up. But most importantly, after reaching sovereign level 12, he could appoint his ninth royal agent. This was what he offered Eyrene.
Eyrene was puzzled by the offer. She didn't truly understand the concept. Jack and Peniel explained to her. After hearing this, she said, "It will be my honor. What better way to defend the country than by defending its sovereign?"
"Perfect!" Jack sent her the request then. She was not formally part of the kingdom faction yet, but apparently, as long as it was a human native and the person was within range, he could send the offer.
Eyrene accepted. Her data was now available on Jack's royal agent page. She turned out to be like Lindsey, a weapon user as well as a spell caster at the same time. She had both skill traits and spell traits.
She had seven skill traits. Spear, polearm, fist, dart, shield, form, and move. As for Spell traits, she had arcane, summon, enchant, offense, and boundary. Her affinities were ice, light, and wind.
She also had three talents. Ice Proficiency, Ice Domination, and Vigorous Body.
Ice Proficiency increased ice damage by 10%. It also improved her chance of learning ice spells and could learn ice spells with a requirement of twenty levels and above.
Ice Domination increased ice damage by another 10%. Aside from that, it increased the affected area of AOE ice spells by 20%. It also increased the range for ice spells by 30%, and her ice resistance was added by 50 points.
Vigorous Body added 10% to her HP, stamina, and mana. It also improved all her passive recoveries by 50%.
When Jack wanted to use the kingdom's coins to improve her gears, he saw that it was not needed. All her gears were unique grades.
As a level 84 mythical, she had many skills and spells. One of which attracted Jack's attention. She had Euphosine's ultimate spell, the Ice Nova.
'A top warrior from a divine faction was truly something else,' Jack stated in his mind. Eyrene was now the strongest among his royal agent. Stronger even than his companion, Arlcard.
As Jack was admiring Eyrene's stats, Kramer came to him. The native had heard Eyrene's request to join the Themisphere army. He was now kneeling before Jack and requested the same.
"Your Majesty, please let me join your army as well."
Jack turned to Kramer. He hesitated for a bit before asking, "Are you sure? It's not a safe life."
"I was an adventurer. I've no problem with risky life. All my comrades from my adventurer team are no more. I've no place to return to. If I can be of use to you, my benefactor. It will be my greatest honor."
Jack nodded. "All right. Go to Themisphere with Talia and the others then."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Jack said.
"But no more stunts like the one in the battle just now!" Jack warned. "You have to be more careful! Don't throw your life away like that!"
"I don't regret it, Your Majesty," Kramer replied. His expression was determined. "You are not only my savior. You have taught me a lot of things as well. Especially what you said about good will always win. I believe that as long as you are alive, you will win. Even against someone as powerful as Euphosine. That's why I'm willing to give my life to protect you, and I was right!"
Jack sighed. "Go report to Thereath after arriving. Find Commander Salem. I will put you under his wing."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Kramer exclaimed.
Kramer was just a special elite. His survival chance wasn't that good if a war broke out. So, Jack sent a message to Jeanny telling her to prepare another Pill of Growth for Kramer.
"You truly believe that is true? That Good always wins?" Freddie asked. He had come to Jack's side. "After being trapped for so long by that devil woman, my thought on that expression is that it's nothing but horseshit."
"Does it matter?" Jack replied. "I don't think it matters whether it's true or not. Our past world is filled with truth and untruth. No one even knows what is true anymore. The world is full of angry, bitter, and pessimistic people. Everyone just complains and throws negative comments without concern. Most speak their minds as if they are experts and simply want to feel superior. Most of the time without even caring whether their words hurt others.
"Fewer and fewer people believe in goodness. Fewer believe that good will win. That good can win. Many even glorify evil… Good will always win. It might be true. It might not. It doesn't matter. What matters is that I want to believe in goodness. I want to believe that it is true. I want to believe that good will always win.
"If it is not true, then I will fight to make it come true. That's the point. It's better than drowning myself in all those negative craps that filled so much of our old world. I believe if more people think positively rather than negatively, the better our world will be. We have been given a second chance in this new world. I want to fight so that this world is filled with more good than bad."
Freddie was silent after hearing Jack's speech. He let out a long sigh and said, "It seems like I have grown old. You have gone far from that little brat whom I sparred with. Let me know if you need aid in making that world come true. You have my fists."
