Chapter 239
Chapter 239. Occupation, and the Strangeness of the Eden Kingdom
The next day, when the first light of dawn appeared, William was already standing on the high platform of the slave market. The place had been completely transformed. It was clean and orderly, and a faint fragrance of jasmine lingered in the air.
His fingertip moved across the dense names recorded in the register. His gaze swept over the trembling crowd below, and he directly selected the slaves with Sky Aptitude.
The steward reported softly from the side.
“Your Majesty, three among this batch were once blacksmiths of Reinhardt. It is said that they can forge enchanted arrows.”
William nodded.
“Mark them separately and send them to the arsenal workshop for trials.”
The midday sunlight passed through the stained glass windows of the administrative hall, casting mottled colors upon the memorials.
After he finished the selection and returned to the palace, William held a quill and wrote his annotations on the “Battle Report from the Reinhardt Front.”
“A breach must be torn open in the magic protective barrier within three days.”
The tip of his pen paused for a moment before he added another line.
“Find the clues to the entrance of the royal family’s Secret Realm.”
The order was quickly issued by the military department to the legions currently attacking Reinhardt.
At afternoon tea, the crisp sound of colliding armor rang out from the Royal Legion’s selection grounds.
William sat on the viewing platform and watched the noble children compete with lances. Suddenly, he raised his hand.
“Stop.”
He pointed at a young man who had fallen from his horse in the field.
“Whose child is that?”
An Attendant hurriedly replied, “He is the second son of Marquis Lesik. He was born with divine strength, but his horsemanship is somewhat lacking.”
William rose.
“Send him to the Vanguard Camp for training. Someone with great strength is suited to carrying a siege hammer.”
William looked toward Marquis Lesik beside him.
“You have raised a good son. His aptitude is quite decent.”
Overwhelmed by favor, Marquis Lesik hurriedly rose and bowed.
Time passed before anyone realized it. By the time night fell, William had already arranged placements for those noble sons from the afternoon. He took a sip of black tea, rubbed his aching temples, and looked through the secret reports sent by the Shadow Guard.
The words “Reinhardt royal family has entered an Intermediate Secret Realm” stabbed at his eyes. He slapped the secret report onto the table.
“Pass down the order. The location of the Secret Realm must be found. This time, they cannot be allowed to escape as theKadiya Kingdom did.”
The Attendant accepted the order and left.
At that moment, in the Reinhardt Royal Capital, the light of the magic protective barrier flickered between brightness and darkness like a candle guttering in the wind.
Three dukes stood atop the city wall and looked at the shadow of a red dragon sweeping past in the distance. One of them threw his sword onto the ground.
“The royal family has already fled. For whose sake are we defending an empty city?”
The other two looked at each other, then finally sighed. Below the city wall, the white flag of surrender slowly rose.
When William received the good news, the sky outside the window was already turning pale.
He looked at the gradually brightening dawn on the horizon. His fingertip circled the location of the Secret Realm on the map. According to the confessions of several dukes, the teleportation array’s node was actually inside the royal capital. A cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“What a fine move, hiding it in plain sight.”
While the Kroll Kingdom was intensely excavating the Secret Realm of the Reinhardt Kingdom, the border alarms of the Dragon Kingdom rang out like thunder. News of a fortress’s fall spread wildly through the magic communication network, wrapping around every lord’s heart like creeping vines.
The military banners of five Eden legions snapped above the fortress walls. The thorn emblem on their scarlet background gleamed coldly beneath the setting sun.
On the city walls, the soldiers of Dragon still maintained their postures of leaning on swords and gripping shields, yet they had long since stopped breathing.
Their eyelids were lightly closed, and the corners of their mouths even carried the looseness of shallow sleep, as though they had merely been placed under an eternal slumber spell.
The scout squad that had been sent out bypassed the Eden Kingdom’s legions and entered the fortress. An apothecary personally cut open a knight’s armor. The skin beneath his fingertips still held some lingering warmth, but the blood in the man’s veins had become like solidified amber, having lost all living flow.
“It is not poison, and it is not a curse.”
The accompanying Sky Mage crushed a detection crystal, and purple crystal dust fell softly onto the corpse.
“It is a Domain.”
His voice trembled.
“A Domain that can strip away the signs of life without leaving any trace. It is more concealed than death magic, and even more... strange.”
The scout squad’s report quickly returned to the royal capital. At that moment, inside the throne hall of the Dragon Kingdom’s king...
“Eden cannot even gather five Legendary Archmages. Where would they get a Domain-level powerhouse?”
A messenger suddenly crashed through the palace doors and knelt, holding up a shattered communication crystal.
“Your Majesty, the Eden legions are advancing in three routes. Each route has twenty thousand men. Wherever they pass, the cattle and sheep in the villages, and even the birds on the field ridges, all... lose their breath without a sound.”
The King of the Dragon Kingdom waved a hand and had him withdraw.
“I will ask the Ancestor for help.”
The gathered ministers and nobles said nothing more. Since someone taller had stepped forward, there was naturally no need to worry.
Very soon, an earth-yellow giant dragon flew out of the Dragon royal family’s Secret Realm. A figure stood upon the dragon’s back as it swiftly headed toward the border.
Half a day later, it reached the frontier. Following the tracks, it found the Eden Kingdom’s legions. Without another word, the dragon greeted them with dragon breath. In just a few short minutes, twenty thousand men were wiped clean from the earth.
The other two routes were quickly caught and destroyed as well. The Domain-level Dragon Knight did not hesitate. He drove the giant dragon toward the Eden Kingdom, preparing to finish off the Eden royal family and conveniently expand the Dragon Kingdom’s territory.
When the earth-yellow giant dragon crossed the Eden Kingdom’s border, the wild wind stirred by its wings flattened swaths of rice in the fields like an invisible giant hand smoothing out wrinkles.
On the dragon’s back, the elderly man, Greg, the Dragon Knight of the Dragon Kingdom, rested his hand on the ancient sword at his waist. The outline of the town gradually emerging below was reflected in his gray eyes.
Unlike the clamor at the border, the heartland of the Eden Kingdom was strangely quiet.
There was no cooking smoke, no barking dogs. Even the sound of wind passing through the streets and alleys carried a sense of stagnation.
Greg urged the giant dragon to descend. Around the tip of his nose lingered an aura so faint that it almost did not exist. It was not the decay of death, but... the emptiness left after magic power had been drawn away.
“What exactly happened here?” Greg murmured, his fingertip brushing over the giant dragon’s rough scales. “The magic power is as thin as the breath of a dying man.”
One day later, the giant dragon arrived above the Eden royal capital.
Inside the palace, there were pitifully few palace knights and maids, yet not a single member of the royal family could be seen.
Greg had the giant dragon land inside the palace, then stepped down. There was actually no magic power here at all. It was truly strange.
He casually grabbed a guard captain.
“Do you know what happened here?”
“N-No... it was not us...”
The guard captain’s voice was shattered and hoarse.
“A few months ago, His Majesty found an old man from somewhere. His Majesty even betrothed the princess to him. After he arrived, the royal capital slowly became like this.”
Greg suddenly sensed something. His gaze swept toward an inconspicuous blackwood box in a corner of the palace, its surface carved with twisted patterns.
He raised his hand. The instant the ancient sword left its sheath, a streak of earth-yellow sword energy cleaved down. The blackwood box shattered with a crack, and a vast surge of magic power poured out.
Greg did not look again at the guard captain collapsed limply on the ground. He turned the dragon’s head and began searching for those blackwood boxes. In his senses, they were good things. After all, the magic power inside them was far too abundant.
Just then, the communication crystal lit up. After it connected, a voice sounded.
“Grandfather,” the voice of the King of the Dragon Kingdom came from within the communication crystal, “as for Eden...”
“It is resolved.”
Greg looked downward, his voice calm.
“It was not the kingdom’s ambition. It was a fool inviting a wolf into his home.”