System's POV

Chapter 1425: The Two Frenemies [Part 1]

For the sake of convenience, Forneus had morphed into his demi-human form, a red-scaled Dragonkin with blue eyes.

The ruckus they had orchestrated attracted Dantanian’s attention as planned, so there was no point antagonizing Mammon any further.

Besides, he was the one who started it. Logic would say he was the one in the wrong.

Of course, Forneus didn’t think so. This wasn’t his idea anyway. It was Thirteen’s.

In other words, he might look like the main culprit, but the true mastermind was the teenage boy. He was just the pawn sent to incite chaos in the port city.

And he had to admit... The method was dubious, but it quickly got them the result they wanted.

Dantanian glanced at his colleagues, who had finally calmed down. The round table they sat on was filled with delicious dishes, a testament of Mammon’s wealth, and prosperity.

"It’s been a few centuries since I saw you, Forneus," Mammon said after taking a sip of wine. "What woke you from hibernation?"

"I smelled Zaphiel’s stench all the way from the bottom of the ocean," Forneus replied. "That trash is as disgusting as always."

Dantanian couldn’t help but give Forneus a thumbs up in his heart. Judging by the way the Sea Serpent trash-talked Zaphiel, he wouldn’t be hard-pressed convincing him to team up against the Celestial.

Meanwhile, Mammon remained calm, swirling the wine on his glass.

"So you’ve heard about his actions, huh?" Mammon commented. "What do you plan to do about it? Stop him?"

"Good question." Forneus smirked. "But before I answer, I would like to know what you think, Dantanian. What’s your view on Zaphiel’s sudden move?"

"He needs to be stopped," Dantanian declared without hesitation. "I don’t know what he intends to do by opening Pandora’s Treasury, but nothing good will come out of it."

"Hah... you’re still so upright and ignorant, Dantanian," Mammon said before taking a sip of his wine.

Dantanian frowned. "What do you mean, Mammon? Are you on board Zaphiel’s wagon now?"

"Do you still not know this greedy pig’s stance?" Forneus snorted. "Mammon doesn’t care what Zaphiel does. He only cares if he can profit."

"Looks like you hadn’t become retarded after hibernating for hundreds of years," Mammon returned Forneus’ jab without batting an eye.

Frankly, Forneus knew better than anyone that Mammon was the most neutral party among the Fiends and Celestials.

The Fiends had done their best to stay away from the conflicts of humanity, as well as the other races in the continent.

The only one who was active among them was Mammon. In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration that the Fiend of Greed was the driving force that allowed many civilizations to grow.

He controlled the economy by using his gold as currency. And to uphold this status, he always kept trades fair and contracts upheld sincerely.

Mammon’s efforts didn’t fail him. Most fiends still had a negative reputation, but not him. People found him quite pleasing.

Just because he was scary didn’t mean he was bad. Money and gold weren’t the source of all evil.

It was Greed.

And the Greedy Fiend didn’t mind being called evil as long as he profited from it.

"So, you mean to say that you’re our enemy right now?" Dantanian asked. "You support the war because you profit from it by selling weapons and resources to Zaphiel?"

"Hah... what a sweet summer’s child," Mammon shook his head.

"He’s the youngest among us, so it can’t be helped," Forneus snorted.

"Huh?! Are you both dissing me now?" Dantanian blinked. "Also, we should be on the same side, Forneus! Why are you supporting Mammon?!"

"It just means you’re looking at things in black and white," Forneus replied. "This Greedy Pig is indeed supporting Zaphiel, but he’s not necessarily our enemy. If you pay the right price, he can provide us with up to date information about Zaphiel."

"Oh my, you should hibernate more often," Mammon looked at Forneus as if he was seeing him for the first time. "I didn’t know that sleeping can make even a Stupid Lizard smart."

The two exchanged wicked smiles, which made Dantanian wonder if Forneus and Mammon really get along or not.

"Anyway, what should we do about Zaphiel?" Dantanian asked Forneus, which he believed was on the same side as him.

"Hah... youngest, why are you so innocent?" Forneus facepalmed. "Didn’t you hear what I said? Our plans should be discussed away from that Greedy Pig’s ears. What will you do if he sells our information to Zaphiel? I repeat—Mammon swings where profit is to be made?"

"I hate to say this, but the Stupid Lizard is right." Mammon nodded. "You’re too innocent for your own good, Dantanian. You’re already several hundred years old. Why do you still act like a kid? Did your brain also stop growing along with your height?"

Getting dissed by the two Fiends made Dantanian feel wronged. At the very least, they were wrong about his height! He actually grew an inch after two hundred years!

"Anyway, just eat and leech off this Greedy Pig for a while," Forneus stated. "Also, I’ll use this one million gold coins to buy information about Zaphiel. Keep the change, Mammon."

The Immortal Fiend placed the pouch of gold on top of the table, which made Mammon’s lips twitch.

"How generous of you," Mammon said dryly. "You pay me with the money you extorted from me. Should I thank you?"

"Of course you should thank me." Forneus smirked. "After all, that’s technically my money right now."

Mammon clicked his tongue before snapping his fingers. The pouch disappeared from the table and appeared on his hand.

"Oi. This pouch is missing ten gold coins," Mammon glared at Forneus. "You dare say it’s a million to my face thinking that I can’t count?"

"Tsk!" Forneus clicked his tongue before tossing ten gold coins on the table. "Cheapskate."

Dantanian didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. The safe conclusion was that these two Fiends were actually frenemies.

They understood each other very well, which made him wonder if he was truly as innocent and ignorant as they claimed.