Chapter 97 - Those From the Royal Capital Are All Guests (1/2)
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.”