Chapter 97 — Guests from the Royal Capital

The instant that nameless woman appeared at Viroday's side, Gao Yang sensed something was wrong. He had been moving through this world in human form for several months now, and before that he had spent many years observing the land as a satellite spirit; he could safely say he had seen every strange and outlandish race this continent had to offer. Yet he had never seen anyone shaped like this: bearing a set of human features, dressed in human clothes, but in truth semi-transparent light from head to toe—a form that looked less like a person than some kind of elemental being...

But elemental beings did not look like that either!

Gao Song's first reaction was that he had encountered a rare creature—perhaps even an SSR. But a moment later he noticed that everyone around him was perfectly calm, as if they had not noticed the short-haired woman's peculiar appearance at all. If it were only a mage like Hedy, calm because she had witnessed all manner of bizarre magical phenomena, that would be one thing; yet even Amber—someone who could spot an egg an extra size too large and gleefully natter about it for ages—was equally composed and even had the leisure to analyze someone's aesthetic merits... That meant there was a serious problem.

There was only one explanation: to everyone but him, the short-haired woman looked perfectly normal.

So Gao Yang decided to suppress his immense astonishment and curiosity for the time being. He forced his expression under control and shifted his attention to Viroday's appearance—and he had to admit, apart from the deathly expressionless figure beside her glowing all over like a holographic projection, Viroday was indeed the most eye-catching presence on the scene. Though in pure beauty she was not vastly superior to Hedy, that almost inhuman aura was something not everyone possessed.

Rumour had it that this "Saint Princess" had displayed astonishing gifts from childhood; besides overpowering ordinary people in magic and martial skill, she also possessed an incredible spiritual gift inclined toward the holy light. The very first time she stepped into the Church of Radiance, even the bronze bells in the main bell tower were struck by holy light and rang of their own accord three times—one of the reasons she ultimately renounced her right of succession and converted to the Church of the Shining Stars.

Perhaps ninety percent of that was hearsay, but Gao Yang believed that even hearsay had its causes.

The two parties exchanged brief pleasantries on the dock—nothing beyond "Your Grace has worked hard opening up this wilderness," "remember the spirit of heroes," "how is the King's health," "I have long heard of you, forgive my poor manners," and "when do we eat" (that last from Amber)—and in the course of these pleasantries the two sides introduced themselves briefly.

From Viroday, Gao Yang learned the name of the priestess beside her: an ordinary name, Sandy, but no ordinary status. She was a high priestess of the Blazing Radiance Church, equal in rank to Viroday, but since she held no office within the church and had been promoted only recently, she was for the time being travelling with the party in the capacity of Viroday's assistant.

The man in clerical dress, wearing the insignia of the Royal Knights, was the deputy commander of the First Royal Knights, directly under Francis II, by name Cohen Loren, holding the title of count. The surname alone told him that this man was closely connected to Silas Loren, Duke of the Eastern Marches; indeed, this deputy commander was a member of the Loren family—a distant cousin of Silas Loren—but many years ago he had voluntarily renounced his standing in the family and instead accepted a special patent from Francis II, becoming one of the crown's court nobles.

On this journey, the deputy commander's duty was to protect Viroday.

When the pleasantries were done, Gao Yang sent Hedy to arrange rest for the hundred skilled workers now disembarking from the ships, while he himself, with Amber and Rebecca, accompanied Viroday and her two companions toward the central tent, the two knights guarding their flanks.

The soldiers who had come off the ships followed as well, but Viroday soon stopped and addressed the middle-aged man beside her: "Sir Cohen, please let the soldiers go and rest."

The middle-aged man hesitated briefly, and Viroday gave a slight shake of her head: "On the lands of the Founding Duke, I do not think I need worry about my safety—and don't you think it rather impolite to trail after Duke Cecil with so many soldiers in tow?"

Only then did the middle-aged man nod and wave the soldiers away, though he himself remained at the princess's side.

Protecting Viroday—that was the task Francis II had given him when they set out.

Along the way, Gao Yang briefly described the situation at the camp, and sure enough, Viroday soon asked of her own accord about the blood-red skeletons south of the Whitewater River.

"Those enormous skeletons... are they the mutant monsters you mentioned, the ones that only appear during a demon tide?" Viroday asked, looking into Gao Song's eyes with a serious tone.

"The very same—products of that great calamity seven hundred years ago. I went to the royal capital months ago to warn you of them," Gao Yang replied. "They came again a few days ago, but this time we held them off. What I want to say is this: this batch wandered out of the Gondor Wastes, and on those monsters we found fragments of standard-issue weapons from the Gondor era."

Viroday's step faltered slightly, and her tone shifted: "The Gondor Wastes?! Are you certain?"

"Absolutely certain."

"Impossible!" Cohen, the deputy commander of the Royal Knights, at once exclaimed under his breath, brow furrowed. "To get from the Gondor Wastes to here, they would have to cross a belt of plains and the Dark Mountains, and before that the Great Wall stands in the way—how could those monsters... has something gone wrong with the Great Wall?!"

As he spoke he could not help looking toward the Dark Mountains, as though he could not restrain himself from going over the mountains that very moment to confirm. Seeing this, Gao Yang shook his head: "The Wall still stands—cross the mountains and you can still see it—but I can assure you, it has begun to decline... It is decaying faster than we estimated in those days."

Cohen's breathing grew heavy; the gravity of the situation had once again exceeded his imagination. He drew two deep breaths to steady himself: "The sentinel nodes on the Great Wall have always been monitored by the Silver Empire. In all these centuries the elves have never once spoken of the Wall weakening..."

"The elves... the elves are a race worthy of trust—at least those who worked alongside us in those years were," Gao Cen said, darting a quick glance at Amber, who stood nearby with her mind wandering the heavens, and swiftly exempting this disgrace to elfkind in his thoughts. "Only seven hundred years have passed—not even enough for the elves to replace a single generation—so I believe they would not deceive the nations of the continent on this matter. But one thing we must bear in mind... this is the northern edge of the continent, while the Silver Empire lies at the southernmost end, with the vast Gondor Wastes between us. Even with the Silver Empire's strength, monitoring the sentinel towers here would suffer severe delays in information."

Cohen's brows drew tight. Of course he knew this, but having the elves of the Silver Empire monitor the entire Great Wall was a choice made with no alternative: when the Gondor Empire collapsed in those years, only the ancestral magic the elves commanded could raise that miraculous protective barrier; other nations and races could at best supply materials and labour. Thus the "high-magic technical portion" of the Great Wall ran entirely on the ancient elven magical system—and that magical technology... only the elves could master.