Chapter 192: Guesses and Shocks

After confirming that the members of that adventure team had all left, George said to Mr. Val beside him: “I still need to trouble you with the next matters! In the next few days, you can freely select the best soldiers in the Territory; you must keep an eye on those people here.”

“George, you don’t think there’s something wrong with those guys, do you!” Knight Val’s answer seemed slightly hesitant. It seemed he trusted his own judgment very much; if there were problems, he wouldn’t have brought those few before George. So, although he didn’t show dissatisfaction with George’s actions, he also seemed very puzzled.

“No, regarding those few themselves, there is basically no problem. But the information they brought may not be entirely correct.” George immediately explained his view, “Think about it, with their strength, the enemies they dealt with shouldn’t have exceeded the Black Lead Rank! To be safe, it would be best if they were just barely reaching Black Lead. After all, according to them, they were dealing with a Necromancer inside their own position. No matter how you look at it, although those few have ideals and firm wills, they aren’t people who don’t know how to adapt; they wouldn’t do something like sending themselves to their deaths in vain.”

Knight Val immediately seemed to think of something, stood up, and said: “If we follow this logic, they wanted to clean up a Priest who happened to meet with the Necromancer while solving that Necromancer. Then, given their strength, that Priest should at most be barely at the Black Lead Rank. After all, Necromancers are strongly countered by the Priests of my Lord, and they are also somewhat powerless against the Paladins of the Lord of Justice. But the Priests of the Lord of Conspiracy do not have such obvious defects in this regard.”

George then continued to speculate based on his previous point: “Most importantly, they said that after completing the mission in Shallow Water City, they came straight here by boat. If their team coming here is complete, that means those few didn’t suffer any too serious injuries, and there were no casualties in the previous battle. Then their enemy was likely just a Necromancer who had just entered Black Lead and hadn’t truly stabilized their Rank. Plus a Priest of the Lord of Conspiracy at the Red Iron Rank and their guards.”

“If that Priest’s guards were greater in number and better in quality, it’s very likely they were just dealing with two Spellcasters at the peak of Red Iron or even high Red Iron.” The Prophet Laurel Botfish on the side also raised his own point here. As a fellow Spellcaster, his understanding of Mages was even above that of George and Knight Val. Although Necromancy and the Divination School are opposing schools, his statement still had some guarantee.

After both of them initially accepted his point, George then raised this question: “Then, Knight Val, what do you think are the chances that those guys would entrust an important letter dealing with our Bolerum Territory to fellows of that strength!”

“You’re saying that letter is likely fake?” Knight Val said that first, then immediately switched to: “But that’s not right either! Who could guarantee that the news in that letter would definitely be delivered to our Bolerum Territory. More importantly, is it worth sacrificing two Spellcasters of at least Red Iron Rank for this.”

“That is why I don’t doubt the authenticity of the information, but I can’t trust its accuracy.” Saying this, George rubbed his chin and organized his words, “Hmm! I was wondering if that Priest used this letter to recruit troops. For example, a certain Necromancer who once committed crimes in Shallow Water City might have been his target this time.”

“That is indeed a possibility. That means this matter is probably really serious. Since the other side has started contacting foreign aid everywhere, this is quite rare given the style of the Church of the Lord of Conspiracy. Unless this is a joint operation between them and other forces.” Knight Val was indeed knowledgeable and experienced; he immediately made a relatively accurate judgment based on his experience.

Knight Val’s words indeed made the previously messy puzzle reveal a corner in the mist. George continued his thread of conversation: “According to the news obtained before. The Church of the Lord of Conspiracy in the Kingdom of Lucia has been performing quite actively recently. And we have been constantly destroying the Kingdom of Lucia’s arrangements by coincidence during this time! Especially those two big fish caught after the Barbarians invaded the south a while ago. Since the merits established allowed our Territory to expand, one can imagine how big a piece of meat our Duchy of Nohan bit off from the Kingdom of Lucia.”

“If the Kingdom of Lucia is supporting them from behind, then the high-end combat forces we continuously killed a while ago, and the spiritual Church organizations of the Goblin thief groups. It is also possible that the Church of the Lord of Shadow and the God of Slaughter, who are also active in the Kingdom of Lucia and belong to the Evil Camp, are involved.” Saying this, even Knight Val couldn’t help but frown. Even with his strength, the cooperation of these three groups was a very troublesome matter.

It seemed like he had forgotten something important before; George seemed to suddenly grasp something and asked: “Speaking of which, Knight Val, have you ever thought about whether those few White Dragons you killed before might also bring us some trouble.”

Hearing this, Knight Val tilted his head and thought for a while, then gave a relatively certain answer: “In theory, no. Judging by the behavioral habits of the White Dragon group, there is no possibility of avenging their compatriots; they are definitely happily dividing the deceased’s original property right now! Plus, those few White Dragons were killed while attacking Brandenburg, an important fortress of our Duchy of Nohan. So from the perspective of the entire Chromatic Dragon group, they lack an excuse for revenge, which will greatly increase the risk of them taking action. After all, the Metallic Dragons are also constantly watching those brutal guys!”

But just then, Laurel Botfish on the side interjected: “Isolde, I think you missed a point. If those few Evil Gods propose to join hands with the God of Chromatic Dragons. Added to the previous matter of the White Dragons, the other side still has quite a good reason to intervene.”

“That aspect indeed had that possibility at the time; after all, if there is an opportunity, the God of Chromatic Dragons will absolutely not let go of such an action. Plus, this time the other side is not entirely without a reason, although such a reason is fundamentally invalid, but for a Deity, it appears less important.” Knight Val’s next words were not so certain either.

All Evil Dragons held respect for Tiamat, and Green Dragons and Blue Dragons were even more able to gladly and willingly admit her supreme sovereign status over them. It was said that even Good Dragons respected her in their hearts, although on the surface they tried their best to avoid mentioning, or even thinking of, the name of this Queen.

Tiamat only cared about how to spread her evil doctrines, how to defeat the so-called “good people,” and how to increase the population of Evil Dragons. The death of nearly ten White Dragons in battle like before, including one extremely rare ancient Legendary White Dragon, would indeed provoke her rage.

White Dragons were the smallest and least intelligent among all Dragon types; most White Dragons were just beast-like predators. Their expressions revealed that they were fierce but simple-minded, not as shrewd as other Dragons.

This caused most of these creatures to not live long enough to become Legends. Although they were the weakest in strength, relatively speaking, their reproductive ability was also the strongest. But among the Legendary creatures of the Dragon species, the number of White Dragons was the smallest. To have such a rare Easter egg poked through by Knight Val, the hatred he attracted was definitely huge.

“If a Deity is really participating in this, I’m afraid it won’t just be attacks targeting our Territory’s high-level officials and looting targeting the outer Manors. They might even want to destroy Morbihan Port or even Poitou City.” As he spoke, the clothes on George’s back stuck directly to his body.

George had also heard that Tiamat’s favorite little entertainment was to completely raze a village, city, or country, or even a large area of the world, to the ground. This kind of behavior could be said to be extremely destructive to a Territory. Scorching Dragon Breath could burn the earth, making farmland unable to grow crops for more than ten years.

Although the earth itself had its own recovery mechanism, clearing such trauma also required time. Such time was enough for the rulers in the Territory and their families to completely decline.

“This aspect is still just speculation; that Highness may not necessarily participate in it. Of course, even if she participates, it is not so easy for us to discover.” Laurel Botfish comforted. But the last sentence seemed to show that as a Prophet, his confidence in this area was somewhat lacking! But thinking that the other party was a Deity, George was relieved.

In legends, Tiamat was an evildoer in the shadows; her existence could often be sensed on a spiritual level, but no one could discover her on a visual level. So even if one knew in advance that she was participating, finding any clues was not an easy task.

Knight Val still had the demeanor of a general: “Actually, you can rest assured in this regard. Even if the God of Chromatic Dragons issues a conscription order, not many Dragons will really respond to this call. Plus, the cause being the White Dragon clan’s own weak strength and lack of strategy, those who come will basically be some Dragonborn. Of course, not only orthodox Dragonborn, but also Kobolds, Sorcerers who have awakened Chromatic Dragon bloodlines, certain Dragon beasts, and other believers of the God of Chromatic Dragons.”

Hearing this, George seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: “If they are orthodox Dragonborn, then we just need to tighten inspection and prevention work. If they want to sneak into towns or Manors, they will probably have to use magic. But if they bypass the main roads and stay in the wild for a long time, discovering them won’t be that easy.”

Broadly speaking, Dragonborn were creatures with Dragon blood but were not recognized as Dragons by Dragons, covering a wide range. Some of them, if they did not activate their abilities, were usually similar to ordinary Humans or other creatures.

But orthodox Dragonborn looked like humanoid Dragons. Their whole bodies were covered in thick skin with long scales, but they had no tails. They were tall and burly, often 6.5 feet tall and weighing over 300 pounds. These guys had strong hands and feet; each hand shaped like a claw had three fingers and one thumb.

The head features of orthodox Dragonborn included a short, thick snout, a strong forehead, and unique folds covering the cheeks and ears. Behind the forehead grew a cluster of scales of varying lengths, shaped like horns, looking like thick, heavy hair. Their eyes were different shades of red or gold.

These orthodox Dragonborn were also called Dragonborn because of their appearance. Precisely because their appearance was too distinct, the possibility of sneaking into the city was really not high. On the contrary, other hard-to-identify Dragon-blood creatures gave people a feeling of being hard to guard against. But Dragonborn were born for battle; they were a race composed of wandering Mercenaries, warriors, and explorers. Even if they launched a surprise attack in the wild, with the cooperation of insiders who mixed into the city beforehand, it would still be a big trouble.

As for why it was unlikely for Dragons to come here, there was a quite important reason and basis. Although Tiamat always insisted on finding ways to expand the power and influence of Evil Dragons in the world, especially when she and her Evil Dragon followers found themselves involved in territorial disputes with Good Dragons. But Tiamat also tirelessly pursued more respect, worship, and offerings from her followers.

Although most Evil Dragons worshiped Tiamat, almost no Dragon set up a small shrine or altar for Tiamat in their own lair, because they did not want Tiamat’s greedy eyes to always be fixed on the treasures in their lairs. Of course, they used separate huge dark caves as Temples, and occasionally offered treasures and sacrifices as offerings.

It was this kind of relationship between the two, being close yet distant, that made the number of Chromatic Dragons that the God of Chromatic Dragons, Tiamat, could truly mobilize in the Prime Material Plane countable on one’s fingers.

If Tiamat really wanted to mobilize those few Dragons to participate in the attack on the Bolerum Territory, she would really have to consider whether she could withstand such a loss. Deities who had existed for so many years were all extremely cunning; basically, they would not do such a brainless thing.

It seemed like a heavy stone had been lifted from his chest, and George began to speak fluently about his arrangements: “Although the possibility of a Dragon attacking the city is not high, we still need to be prepared to respond. The Alchemy weapons specifically targeting Dragons must be prepared quickly; I don’t know if we can make it in time.”

“I will take responsibility for arranging this aspect; I just don’t know if those old contacts from before can still be reached.” Unexpectedly, Laurel Botfish immediately took over this task. Although this did not match George’s initial expectation, there was no problem.

“Then I will trouble you with this aspect, Master Botfish.” After expressing gratitude to Laurel Botfish, George turned his head and said, “Knight Val, in a moment I plan to communicate with Knight Baptiste—to arrange Rangers for large-scale patrols in the coming period. I hope to be able to discover potential enemies as early as possible!”

Knight Val shrugged to indicate his agreement: “No matter what, this counts as a method! I have no objection in this regard.”

After discovering that he had obtained a result similar to what he expected, George then raised his previous point: “Also, there is the matter just mentioned. We must send people to keep an eye on those few Adventurers. This is not doubting them but protecting them. If they had agreed to stay in your home earlier, that would have been best. But even now, we cannot give up our efforts.”

“You’re saying they are in danger?” Knight Val asked in disbelief.

George scratched his hair and stated his reason: “If those rats in the dark are organized, in order not to alert the enemy, those few Adventurers are temporarily safe. But who knows if the Priest they killed before left any marks on them for revenge. Among the members of the Church of the Lord of Conspiracy sent here, if there are some hotheaded lunatics, then there will be big trouble. Moreover, others took such a big risk to deliver news to our Bolerum Territory. Reasonably and emotionally, we don’t want to watch the other party have an accident in the Territory.”

Knight Val nodded to indicate his approval: “If you say so, I will make arrangements. After all, we are in the city; even secret protection shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Suddenly, George lowered his voice and said: “If it really cannot be done, then try to protect the lives of that Priest and that Paladin! Compared to others, if something happens to these two, the trouble will be even greater.”

Clearly, when saying these words, George’s confidence was probably quite insufficient! It was as if he had done something wrong. From this point of view, he still had a long way to go to become a qualified politician.

“That’s unlikely! I think if those guys really have a big move against our Bolerum Territory. Wouldn’t expending strength to launch such an attack beforehand be too stupid?” For George’s previous words, Knight Val clearly felt somewhat astonished. After all, if they really did that, the enemy in the dark would be too stupid.

George laughed it off and said: “This is just an arrangement just in case. It is not specifically targeted.”

As for how many people believed this sentence, that was another matter. But judging by Knight Val’s suspicious gaze, he clearly did not believe George’s final comforting statement.

The reason for focusing on protecting these two was because they had organizations behind them. Although if something really happened, the Bolerum Territory wouldn’t necessarily be blamed by the other party. At the same time, it could add a few targets for the two Churches.

But whether it was the Sun God Church or the Church of the Lord of Justice, the hatred between them and those Evil Camp Churches had lasted for thousands of years. Adding this much wasn’t much, and lacking this much wasn’t little. George naturally didn’t need to add fuel to the fire. On the contrary, if he could ultimately save the two, he could improve relations with the two Churches. Future possible cooperation would also proceed more smoothly.

At the same time, both of them had Noble identities, and one of them was an Heir of a certain Territory. If they really died in the Bolerum Territory, George would probably have to spend a lot of time arguing with their families.

Not long after, that Adventurer team returned to the “Flying Fish House” and entered the suite they had booked. Lino Ebertz was the first to complain: “What do you mean, besides Knight Val, who is a high-end Legend who has reached the Gold Rank. There are also at least 2 Masters of the Bronze Rank, and over 10 Paragons of the Black Lead Rank. As for the Red Iron Rank, although not a hundred, there are dozens. Does he really think these strong people are cauliflowers? If this Territory really had such powerful strength, how could it still be just a Viscount’s Territory.”

“Although it looks a bit shocking, this is not entirely impossible.” Alamil immediately refuted after closing the door, “This is the Duchy of Nohan, known as having the number one army on the Western Continent; their North Wind Knight Group even has a battle record of taking down a Floating City. If the number of Knight families in the Territory is sufficient and the luck of these generations is good, it might really be possible.”

“Taking down a Floating City, how is that possible? That is the highest achievement of the previous civilization’s Magic Empire; there are less than 6 left on the entire Western Continent, and they are all in the Moonlit City-States.” Lino Ebert clearly did not believe Alamil’s statement just now; although she didn’t shout loudly, she still made everyone in the room look at her with strange eyes.

“In fact, there used to be seven; at that time, one belonged to the Arcane Society. About 200 years ago, a quite large-scale conflict occurred between the Arcane Society and the Duchy of Nohan. The battle lasted for nearly two years, and after that, the seven Floating Cities were reduced to six. When you were learning magic, couldn’t you pay attention to other aspects?” Fral Ursin suddenly had an impulse to bang his head on the ground.

Green Beren, who had rarely spoken, suddenly said: “And the Lord who talked to us just now is definitely already at the Red Iron Rank. And in terms of strength, he should be above you, Ebertz.”

Lino Ebert exclaimed: “This is simply incredible, he is just a child.”

“But they have Knight inheritance; I know a Knight. He really wanted to come to the Duchy of Nohan. According to him, here in the Knight families with inheritance, if all Heirs cannot enter the Red Iron Rank before the age of fourteen. That is a sign of being behind others, and some families even have plans to cultivate new Heirs.” Alamil said with some emotion.

“Alright, let’s not talk about so many things that have nothing to do with us now. Now we have to think carefully, if those evil ones really prepare to make a move, what role can we play by staying here. And whether we should stay and fight side by side with them.” Uncle Mario could be said to have the final word.

After that, the room fell into unprecedented silence. Everyone was making their own calculations in their hearts.