The Royal Summoner Association, an institution that has existed since the first day of the kingdom's establishment, is considered the highest honor for almost every summoner to enter. Charlotte once aspired to become a member of the association, but now, the atmosphere of the association has shattered her beautiful fantasy.

The appearance of mechanical monsters has brought a sense of crisis, but the summoners of the association have instead harbored ulterior motives.

They try to send off those they dislike to high-risk cities where mechanical monsters roam, embezzle the monster eggs allocated to summoners and make substitutions, and there are even those who, during such a critical period, indulge in drunkenness and neglect the intelligence that is sent to them, ignoring it.

The reason all this could be witnessed was thanks to the efforts of the headscarf.

He seemed to know the structure of the Royal Summoner Association and the royal capital inside out, leading a few people to easily evade the sight of association members.

"These are simple poaching techniques; monsters have much better insight than humans."

The headscarf leaned against the wall, unusually restraining his typically careless tone. He was clearly shocked by the scenes he had just seen, except for Ethan, whose face remained unchanged. For the imperial people, these scenarios were far too familiar. Compared to the actions during Julius's tenure as Pope, these could only be described as minor in comparison.

"Since the new president of the Royal Summoner Association took office, the association has become like this."

Scout Rowena had gathered the information. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"The new president?"

"Ignatius Votigan, the summoners call him 'Black Steel'. He is rumored to be a mixed-blood of human and dragon. There is a portrait of him in the association, I stole it."

As she spoke, the space in front of Rowena twisted together, and a scroll of the portrait slowly fell into Ethan's hands.

The portrait depicted a tall, dark-skinned man with prominent dragon features. His forearms were covered with black scales, and his cheeks had crack-like scars, emitting a faint dark red light. His eyes were sharp, and an adult black dragon crouched behind him as a background.

Charlotte carefully examined the man in the painting, her gaze unconsciously shifting between Black Steel and Ethan.

She always felt that the man on the scroll seemed more like the world destroyer mentioned by the ancient tree. Compared to him, Ethan appeared less imposing. She found that Ethan was easy to talk to, and it was hard to imagine how destiny might lure someone like him to become the culprit of world destruction.

"According to the kingdom's law, humans and monsters can intermarry. Many high-level monsters, upon reaching a certain stage, gain the ability to transform." Rowena added as an explanation, "Black Steel is such a product. His father was a black dragon. Mixed-bloods of humans and dragons are extremely rare, and each one of them is a natural dragon affinity."

"So, President Black Steel is a summoner specialized in dragon monsters."

"Ten years ago, the contest was the least suspenseful one. Black Steel won with overwhelming superiority, and then he joined the Royal Summoner Association. It took him less than two years to become the president, but there must be some trickery involved."

Rowena smelled a scent of conspiracy, "The former president retired under the pretext of illness before his term was up, and strongly recommended Black Steel as the new president. He repeatedly assured the royal family that Black Steel would bring unprecedented prosperity to the kingdom."

"I've heard of this guy; people say he is the strongest summoner."

The headscarf shifted his gaze away from the man on the scroll with some guilt. He originally wanted to make a few harsh comments to demean Black Steel, but in the end, under those sharp eyes, he mumbled, "Over the years, the trend among summoners to chase after dragons is because of him."

The appearance of Black Steel ended the countless years-long debate over the "strongest summoner."

Since the champions of each contest wouldn't engage in open duels in the public eye, it left plenty of room for debate among the kingdom's battle enthusiasts. Until Black Steel won the championship title in a way that left no suspense, even those who disliked him could only label him as cheating by relying on dragons. No one questioned the value of the "strongest" title.

From the current situation of the Royal Summoners, it seems that during Black Steel's presidency, the kingdom didn't become more prosperous but instead began to decay from within, looking as if it might collapse at any moment.

Can the summoners truly withstand the calamity brought upon by the mechanical monsters?

Charlotte had her doubts.

But on the other hand, she was curious about the information-gathering ability of the purple bat, "How do you know all this? Only someone who has been in the Royal Summoner Association for many years should know these inside details, right?"

"Good question!"

Rowena became spirited suddenly, also giving Ethan and Lindong a provocative glance—life needs more compliments to motivate people to work harder, even intelligence experts are no exception.

Ethan and Lindong had never expressed amazement at her outstanding intelligence abilities, their expressions remaining calm as if it were a trivial matter.

"Since you sincerely asked, I'll mercifully tell you!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the space in front of her twisted again, and a bottle filled with dark green liquid fell into Charlotte's hand.