Chapter 97: Guests from the Royal Capital

The moment that nameless woman appeared beside Veronica, Gawain immediately sensed something was off. He had been living in this world for several months now, and before that, he had observed the land for years in the form of a satellite spirit. He had seen all sorts of strange races across this continent, but never anyone like her: human facial features, dressed in human clothes, yet her entire body shimmered with a translucent light. She looked less like a person and more like some kind of elemental being…

But elemental creatures didn’t look like that either!

Gawain’s first thought was that he was witnessing a rare creature—maybe even an SSR-level entity. Yet, as he glanced around, everyone else seemed completely unfazed, as if they hadn’t noticed anything unusual about the short-haired woman’s appearance. If someone like Hetty, a seasoned mage familiar with all sorts of magical oddities, remained calm, that would be understandable. But even Amber—who would get excited over a giant egg and chatter endlessly—was perfectly composed, even taking the time to critique others’ aesthetics. That was a serious red flag.

The only logical conclusion was that, except for him, everyone else saw that short-haired woman as perfectly normal.

Suppressing his shock and curiosity, Gawain forced a neutral expression and shifted his attention back to Veronica. Honestly, aside from the glowing, hologram-like woman with the poker face beside her, Veronica was the most striking figure present. While her beauty wasn’t drastically superior to Hetty’s, she carried an almost otherworldly aura that few could match.

Rumor had it that this “Saint Princess” had shown extraordinary talent from a young age. Not only did she surpass ordinary people in magic and combat skills, but she also possessed an incredible spiritual affinity toward the Holy Light. When she first entered the Great Cathedral of the Holy Light, even the great bell atop the main tower rang out three times on its own, struck by the radiance of the Light. This event was one of the reasons she ultimately renounced her claim to the throne and devoted herself to the Church.

Though most of these stories were likely exaggerated, Gawain believed there had to be some truth behind them.

The two parties exchanged brief pleasantries on the dock—phrases like “Duke, thank you for your hard work in reclaiming the land,” “Remember the spirit of heroes,” “How is the king’s health?” “A pleasure to meet you,” and “When’s dinner?” (the last one was Amber’s contribution). During the greetings, they also introduced themselves.

From Veronica, Gawain learned the name of the priestess beside her: Sandy. A common name, but an uncommon position—she was a high-ranking priestess of the Holy Light Church, equal in rank to Veronica but without any official church duties yet. She traveled with Veronica under the pretense of assistance.

The man in civilian attire, wearing the insignia of the Royal Knights, was Sir Kohn Loren, vice commander of the Royal First Knight Order, directly under Francis II. He held the title of count. From his surname, it was clear he was closely related to Silas Loren, Duke of the Eastern Territories. In fact, Kohn was a distant cousin of Silas but had long ago voluntarily relinquished his family status to accept a special appointment from Francis II, becoming part of the royal court nobility.

His role on this mission was to protect Veronica’s safety.

After the greetings, Gawain instructed Hetty to arrange rest for the hundred technicians disembarking from the ship, while he accompanied Amber and Rebecca to escort Veronica toward the central command tent, flanked by the two knights.

The soldiers who had come off the ship followed, but Veronica soon stopped and instructed the middle-aged man beside her, “Sir Kohn, please have the soldiers rest.”

Kohn hesitated briefly, but Veronica shook her head gently. “On the territory of the founding duke, I don’t believe my safety is in question. Besides, don’t you think it’s rather impolite to have so many soldiers trailing behind Duke Cecil?”

Kohn nodded and dismissed the soldiers, though he himself stayed close to the princess.

Protecting Veronica was the task Francis II had entrusted to him at departure.

As they walked, Gawain gave a brief update on the camp’s situation. Unsurprisingly, Veronica soon asked about the blood-red skeletons on the southern bank of the Whitewater River.

“Those massive skeletons… are they the aberrant monsters you mentioned, the kind that only appear during the magical tides?” Veronica asked seriously, locking eyes with Gawain.

“Yes, they’re the remnants of the great catastrophe seven hundred years ago. I warned you about them in the royal capital a few months back,” Gawain replied. “They came again a few days ago, but this time we managed to hold them off. What’s more, these creatures wandered out from the ruins of Gondor. We even found fragments of standard-issue weapons from the Gondor era on them.”

Veronica’s steps faltered slightly, her tone shifting. “The ruins of Gondor?! Are you certain?”

“Absolutely.”

“That’s impossible!” Kohn, the vice commander of the Royal Knights, frowned and whispered in alarm. “To get here from the Gondor ruins, they’d have to cross the Strip Plains and the Dark Mountains, and before that, the Magnificent Wall stands in the way. How could those monsters…? Could the Magnificent Wall have failed!?”

He instinctively glanced toward the Dark Mountains, as if itching to go check for himself. Gawain shook his head. “The wall is still there. You can see it beyond the mountains. But I can confirm it’s already deteriorating… it’s aging faster than we expected.”

Kohn’s breathing grew heavy. The severity of the situation exceeded his imagination. He took a deep breath to steady himself. “The sentry nodes on the Magnificent Wall have always been monitored by the Silver Empire. The elves have never reported any weakening of the barrier in all these centuries…”

“Elves…” Gawain said, glancing quickly at Amber, who was lost in thought nearby, mentally excluding this ‘disgrace of the elves’ from consideration. “Elves are a trustworthy race—at least the ones who worked with us back then were. It’s only been seven hundred years, which for elves isn’t even a full generation. I believe they wouldn’t deceive the nations of the continent on such a matter. But one thing we must understand: this is the northern edge of the continent, while the Silver Empire lies far to the south, separated by the vast Gondor wastelands. Even with their power, monitoring the sentry towers here inevitably involves significant information delays.”

Kohn frowned deeply. He knew this well, but having the elves of the Silver Empire fully monitor the Magnificent Wall was a necessity. After the collapse of the Gondor Empire, only the ancestral magic possessed by the elves could maintain this miraculous protective barrier. Other nations and races could at best provide materials and labor. The “high magic” technology of the Magnificent Wall was entirely based on the elves’ ancient magic system, which only they could master.

It wasn’t a matter of the Silver Empire monopolizing the technology; rather, no other race’s brain structure could comprehend the elves’ spell models. Those pointy-eared beings had innate special perception and cognitive abilities. Their casting process was complex and precise. Human magic, by comparison, was a low-budget knockoff…

Of course, human magic had its advantages: it was abundant and reliable. Low cost, high power, and aside from occasional oddballs like Hetty who couldn’t hit a target or Rebecca who only knew fireballs, it was generally effective.

In short, due to the infrastructure of the Magnificent Wall, all sentry towers had been monitored by the Silver Empire for seven centuries. The limitation Gawain mentioned was unavoidable: the elves in the south had difficulty receiving timely information about the northern sentry towers.

“I have renounced the throne and no longer meddle in kingdom affairs, but the doctrine of the Holy Light teaches us to uphold mercy and compassion,” Veronica suddenly broke the silence. “When I return, I will report the situation here to my father, and advise him to immediately send envoys to contact the elves.”

She looked around with concern. “If the Magnificent Wall truly falls, this place will be the first to suffer. How could these fragile people possibly survive… Duke Cecil, I do not doubt your courage, but for the sake of the people here, have you considered relocating?”

“Thank you for your concern, but I have no such plans for now,” Gawain smiled at Veronica. “I’ve confirmed the wall’s condition. It won’t fail again anytime soon, and the risk of total collapse is nearly zero. Besides, if the Magnificent Wall does fall… where else on this continent could we hide?”

“I’m curious—how exactly did you manage to hold off those monsters?” Kohn asked, unable to hide his interest. “From the aura left on those skeletons, I can sense how powerful they once were, and the military strength of this territory…”

Gawain chuckled. “Mostly luck. Those monsters were unlucky enough to encounter a landslide, and our people spotted them days before they reached the camp. We were prepared. The rest… you can chalk up to the wisdom and strength of an old man.”

Veronica and Kohn exchanged a look.

Behind Gawain, Amber and Rebecca whispered to each other.

“See? I told you your ancestor’s words could be infuriating.”

Rebecca, innocent-faced, replied, “Is it really wrong to be honest?”

Amber smirked, “That shameless style must be a family tradition.”

Rebecca shot back, “How rude!”

Gawain felt a bit awkward listening to their low chatter. The two girls thought they were speaking quietly enough, but everyone present could hear them. Rebecca was straightforward and easily provoked, which was understandable, but Amber was cunning and clearly provoking on purpose. Yet, this wasn’t the right occasion to reprimand her…

Fortunately, Veronica seemed unbothered by the girls’ whispers. After hearing Gawain’s decision to stay, she merely showed a knowing expression and quietly said, “I respect your choice, but there is one thing you should know—if the situation in the south worsens, the kingdom may have little capacity to provide support.”

From the start, Gawain had known that under the current system of the Ansu Kingdom, he wouldn’t receive much royal backing, which suited him just fine. But from Veronica’s tone, he sensed another layer of meaning and couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”

“The eastern border,” Kohn said gravely. “With the Typhon Empire… I’m afraid there’s no room left for reconciliation.”

(End of chapter)