Chapter 97: Those From the Royal Capital Are All Guests

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

When the nameless woman appeared beside Veronica, Gawain realized that the situation wasn’t right… He had been living in this world as a human for a few months. He had also observed this continent as a satellite spirit for eons. He could say that he had seen all sorts of strange and bizarre races on this continent, but he had never seen someone who had such an appearance: she had the facial features of a human and was wearing human clothes, but her entire body was translucent and glowing. Instead of saying this creature was a human, it should more likely be viewed as a certain kind of elemental being…

But elemental beings weren’t supposed to look like this either!

Gawain’s first reaction was that he had witnessed a rare being, and it might even be an SSR¹. But he immediately realized that the surrounding people were all very calm. It was as if they didn’t notice the short-haired woman’s abnormal appearance. It was fine for Heidi to be calm because she had seen all sorts of strange and magical phenomena, but even Amber, who would be extremely excited to see a slightly bigger egg, was actually composed as well. She even had the time to analyze the esthetics of the person… It would mean that this was a big problem.

There was only one explanation for this. Apart from him, everyone thought that this short-haired woman was normal.

As such Gawain decided to suppress the massive astonishment and curiosity in his heart for now and forcefully straightened his expression. He then shifted his attention to Veronica’s face. He had to admit that apart from the glowing hologram with facial nerve paralysis, Veronica was indeed the next most dazzling existence here. She might not be overly outstanding as compared to Heidi in terms of looks, but she had an extraordinary aura that few possessed.

It was rumored that the ‘Saint Princess’ had exhibited astounding talent since a young age. In terms of magic and martial skills, she was superior to normal people while also possessing unbelievable spiritual talent that was inclined towards the Holy Light. When she first walked into the Church of the Holy Light, even the main bell tower’s bronze bell had sounded three times after getting struck by holy light. This was also why she had ultimately given up her royal inheritance and converted to the Church of the Holy Light.

Although 90% of all these were rumors, Gawain believed that there must be a reason for such rumors to appear.

Members from both sides were exchanging conventional greetings at the docks. The content of the conversation was basically ‘Duke has worked hard on the development of the land’, ‘We will remember your heroic spirit’, ‘The King is healthy’, ‘It’s an honor to meet you at last’, ‘When is it time to eat’, and all sorts of useless talk (the last statement was made by Amber). During the conventional greetings, both sides had also made a brief introduction.

Gawain found out from Veronica that the priestess beside her had a very simple name, Sandy, but she had an extraordinary status. She was the Church of the Holy Light’s high-ranked priestess, and in terms of rank, she was on an even footing with Veronica. Because Sandy had yet to receive any position from the church and because she was promoted very quickly, she had been assigned to assist Veronica in her group, nominally.

As for the man wearing civilian clothes with the emblem of the royal knights, he was Francis II’s direct subordinate, the Vice Commander of the 1st Order of Knights. His name was Cohen Loland, and he had the noble rank of Count. Just from his family name, one would be able to know that he was closely related to the Duke of the East, Silas Loland. In fact, this vice commander was indeed a member of the Loland Clan. He was Silas Loland’s distant younger cousin, and many years back, he had voluntarily given up his status in the clan. He had then accepted the special title conferred by Francis II and became an inner royal-court noble of the royal clan.

On this trip, this vice commander of the knights had the responsibility to ensure Veronica’s safety.

After exchanging conventional greetings, Gawain asked Heidi to arrange for the 100 skilled workers to disembark the ship and to rest. He led Amber and Rebecca to accompany Veronica and the others to the central main tent with two knights at the sides.

The soldiers on the ship had also followed along, and Veronica quickly stopped before she instructed the middle-aged man beside her, “Sir Cohen, please ask the soldiers to rest.”

The middle-aged man hesitated while Veronica immediately shook her head lightly “We are on the pioneering Duke’s territory. I don’t think I need to worry about my safety… Furthermore, don’t you think that it would also be very rude for so many soldiers to follow behind Duke Cecil?”

The middle-aged man finally nodded and waved his hand to dismiss the soldiers, but he continued to follow the princess.

Protection of Veronica was the mission that Francis II had given him before departure.

Along the way, Gawain gave a simple explanation of the camp’s situation. Subsequently, as expected, Veronica took the initiative and asked about the blood-colored skeletons at the southern bank of the White River.

“Those giant skeletons… are the ones you mentioned? Those aberration monsters that would only appear during the Dark Wave?” Veronica looked at Gawain’s eyes and asked in a serious tone.

“That’s right. They are the products of the great disaster that happened seven hundred years ago. I already informed you at the royal capital a few months ago.” Gawain then said, “They arrived a few days ago, but this time we managed to stop them. What I want to say is that this group of monsters wandered out from the Gondor Wasteland… On these monsters, we found shards of weapons that belonged to the era of the Gondor Empire.”

Veronica paused a little and asked with a slightly changed tone, “Gondor Wasteland?! Are you sure?”

“Absolutely sure.”

“That is impossible!” The vice commander of the 1st Order of Knights, Cohen, immediately frowned and exclaimed, “In order to reach this place from the Gondor Wasteland, they would need to traverse across the plains and the Dark Range. Furthermore, before traveling across those places, there was the Great Barrier. How were those monsters… Could it be that there is a problem with the Great Barrier?!”

While speaking, Cohen involuntarily looked toward the Dark Range’s direction. It felt as though he was unable to hold back and wanted to go over to the mountain to verify the functioning of the Great Barrier. Gawain shook his head in response and said, “The barrier is still intact, and you will be able to see it once you go over the mountain. But I am very certain that the barrier has started to deteriorate… It is aging at a speed faster than we predicted back then.”

Cohen’s breaths got heavy as the severity of the situation had exceeded his imagination again. He took two deep breaths to compose himself. “The sentinel towers at the Great Barrier have always been monitored by the Silver Empire. The elves have never mentioned the problem of the barrier deteriorating for the past hundreds of years…”

“The elves… are a race that can be trusted. At least, the same group that worked together with us back then could be,” Gawain spoke and swiftly took a glance at Amber who was daydreaming, quickly excluding this disgrace of the elves. “It has been merely seven hundred years, and to the elves, it isn’t even a generation. Therefore, I believe that there wouldn’t be a problem with them deceiving the continent and the various nations. But there is something we have to know… This is the extreme north of the continent, while the Silver Empire is at the extreme south of the continent. There is the vast Gondor Wasteland in between. Even with the power of the Silver Empire, if they’re monitoring the sentinel towers over here, there should be a serious delay on information.”

Cohen’s brows locked tightly. He naturally knew this was a fact, and there was no other choice but to allow the Silver Empire’s elves to have full authority on the monitoring of the entire Great Barrier. After the Gondor Empire collapsed, only the elves’ ancestral magic could construct this barrier that could be referred to as a miracle. The other nations and races had offered everything they could and were only able to supply some resources and labor. The Great Barrier’s ‘superior magic-technology portion’ was completely operated by the elves’ ancient magic system. Furthermore, such magic technology… could only be controlled by the elves.

It wasn’t because the Silver Empire had monopolized this technology. Apart from the elves, the other races’ brain composition was unable to handle the elves’ magic model. Those arrogant pointy-eared people were born with special awareness and thinking ability. Their spellcasting process was complex yet precise, making it look as though human magic was a sham version of elven magic…

Of course, human magic had their own advantage too: abundance. The cost was low, and the power was massive. Apart from the occasional appearance of people like Heidi who couldn’t aim or Rebecca who could only use Fireball, the other aspects were fine.

In short, due to the restrictions during the construction of the Great Barrier, the sentinel towers were all being monitored by the Silver Empire for the last 700 years. As Gawain had mentioned, the limitations were inevitable: it was hard for the elves, who were at the south side of the continent, to receive timely information about problems with the sentinel towers situated far to the north.

“I might have converted to the Holy Light and might never meddle in the nation’s affairs, but the Church of the Holy Light taught us to have a merciful and benevolent heart,” said Veronica, suddenly breaking the silence. “After I return, I will report on the situation in this place to my father and suggest for him to send envoys to contact the elves.”

Immediately after, she looked around with concern. “If the Great Barrier is really going to fall, this place will be the first to bear the brunt. How is it possible for these weak and frail people to survive…? Duke Cecil, I do not question your bravery, but for the sake of the citizens here, would you reconsider changing to another place…”

“Many thanks for the concern, but I do not have such thoughts as of now.” Gawain smiled and looked at Veronica. “I have already verified the situation of the Great Barrier, and there shouldn’t be another mishap within a short period of time. The actual risk of the Great Barrier collapsing completely is close to zero. Besides, if the Great Barrier really collapses… is there any difference in hiding in other places on the continent?”

“I am very curious. How did all of you manage to stop these monsters?” Cohen couldn’t help but ask with curiosity. “From the aura of these skeletons, I can feel how powerful they must have been when they were alive. But the military power of this territory…”

Gawain chuckled before replying, “It was mostly luck. The monsters were unfortunate enough to encounter a cliff’s collapse, and because we discovered them a few days before they approached the camp, we were able to make preparations. As for the rest… just treat it as an old man’s wisdom and strength.”

Veronica and Cohen were speechless.

Standing behind Gawain, Amber started to whisper something to Rebecca, “See, I always said your ancestor had the ability to anger someone to death with his words.”

Rebecca had a pure face as she commented, “Is it wrong to speak the truth?”

Amber: “…This shameless style must be a clan tradition.”

Rebecca: “You are rude!”

Gawain was a little awkward as he listened to the minor commotion behind him… The two young ladies thought they had suppressed their voices properly, but in fact, everyone present could hear the commotion clearly. It was fine for Rebecca as she was always an honest person with a low emotional quotient, but the shrewd Amber was obviously looking for a beating. But if Gawain was to do so on such an occasion, it would be rather inappropriate…

It was fortunate that Veronica didn’t really mind the chatter of the two young girls by the side. After she heard Gawain’s decision to remain in this place, she revealed an expression as though she had already expected it and responded, “I respect your decision, but there is something I wish for you to know… If the situation in the south worsens, I’m afraid that the kingdom won’t be able to offer additional assistance.”

Gawain might have known from the start that he wouldn’t be able to obtain anymore support from the royal clan after seeing the Anzu Kingdom’s current system, and this was rather fitting for his aspirations. However, he could also hear another hidden meaning behind Veronica’s tone and couldn’t help but ask, “Is there something wrong?”

“The eastern borders.” Cohen spoke with a grave tone, “Our kingdom and the Typhon Empire… There probably isn’t any method to alleviate the tension between us.”

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