"The army of the North eliminated Keith at sea?" Duke Lorenzo, who had just received the news from Sophia's side, was somewhat in disbelief. "How could the Mushroom Fortress dispatch troops to such a distant place to eliminate bugs that don't pose much of a threat to them yet? Could it be the Empire's—no, it shouldn't be—"
Before he finished speaking, Lorenzo negated this conjecture himself.
Although the United Kingdom's intelligence regarding the Empire was somewhat lagging, they weren't completely in the dark.
He also knew about the Empire's current large-scale eradication of fungal mats within their borders. Since that was the case, it was naturally impossible for them to go and create some Puchi Master army.
However, he still couldn't figure out why the Mushroom Fortress army would appear there.
Samuel, standing behind the Hero, said: "We guess they came out through the spatial rifts in the underground city. If taking the Tidal Sanctuary as the starting point, that battlefield isn't considered too far. It's just that—"
"It's just that it is very hard to imagine any faction utilizing such an unstable channel to transport an army." Lorenzo finished stating the perplexing point on Samuel's behalf.
As a Duke, he naturally couldn't be completely ignorant of the spatial rifts unique to the underground city. However, these rifts could not exist stably. Only an extremely small fraction of adventurers who didn't care whether they could return would risk crossing through. Any rational commander would never use them as an army channel.
As for a method to stably maintain spatial rifts, in Lorenzo's cognition, it did not exist.
Even at this moment, after a bout of discussion, they could only guess that the Mushroom Fortress chose this desperate all-or-nothing tactic in order to obtain something from Keith.
Sophia also recounted the matter of the Mist accelerating its advance. Priest Samuel even stated bluntly that the final enveloping range of the Mist this time might go even further than during the Human-Demon War.
Lorenzo nodded seriously, indicating that he would make preparations.
A Puchi, under the control of a servant, brought a fruit platter to the table. Sophia's gaze landed on the Puchi, tracking it until it left the room.
"The Kingdom... the existence of Puchis can already be seen everywhere, huh," Sophia suddenly sighed with emotion.
Lorenzo smiled: "Puchis are indeed too convenient, in all aspects—to be honest with you, when I learned that the Empire took the initiative to abandon the path of using Puchis, I truly breathed a huge sigh of relief. Relying on Puchis, not only can the Kingdom quickly recover from the losses of the war, but we will even become stronger. Coupled with you, Hero, it is not impossible for us to recapture the hinterlands of the continent in the future."
"Convenient enough... to be able to resurrect the dead?"
"What?" Lorenzo's expression immediately turned serious.
They indeed had resurrecting a certain person as a final resort, but that was strictly confidential.
He didn't understand what Sophia meant by resurrection at this moment. If the news of this matter had leaked, then it would be a huge problem.
Lorenzo immediately waved away the subordinates and servants beside him, and simultaneously activated the barrier in the room that isolated detection.
Only then did Sophia say: "Duke Lorenzo, I guess you still don't know that the Sword Saint Elwyn has already been resurrected, right?"
"What, Elwyn?!" Lorenzo wore an expression of 'what kind of joke are you making', then earnestly explained, "Your Excellency Sophia, I don't know how much you understand about resurrection, but one of the necessary conditions is using the corpse and bones of the deceased person themselves. Utilizing their connection to the soul, the deceased is pulled back and newly bestowed a suitable physical body. Yet Elwyn's corpse and bones—are currently still safely inside the most heavily guarded underground catacombs in Oath City."
"But I saw him."
Sophia completely recounted the scene of seeing the Sword Saint Puchi while fighting Keith, causing Lorenzo to fall into deep contemplation.
He had many questions in his mind.
First was the issue of resurrection. Let alone not using his corpse and bones, he was resurrected into a Puchi? What version of resurrection was this?
Unheard of!
Next, if the Sword Saint was truly resurrected, why didn't he contact them?
It could be said that Elwyn devoted his life to humanity before he died. It made no sense for him to turn a blind eye to the poorly-faring Kingdom after his resurrection.
Could there be some sort of restriction involved?
And the most crucial point was—
"Are you... certain it was a Puchi carrying four swords on its back?" Lorenzo confirmed once more.
"Have you seen it, Duke?"
Lorenzo nodded with some difficulty, but immediately added: "I'm not certain either, it might just be a similar appearance—"
"Let me go take a look, and we will naturally know if it is or not," Sophia said.
This matter wasn't just about the life and death of the Sword Saint alone; the implications involved could be massive.
Both publicly and privately, Lorenzo had to attach great importance to this matter.
Thus, the original itinerary of taking Sophia to Oath City was changed to heading to Duke St. Clair's mansion where Inanna was—that Puchi suspected of being the Sword Saint always stayed together with Inanna.
And before they set off, Lorenzo also notified Alama of this matter through a communication crystal, using the highest confidentiality level.
At the same time, Lin Jun, who was rummaging through the skill library wanting to give Little Black's head a separate enhancement, paused slightly and shifted his attention to Sophia's party.
Although he didn't know what they talked about in the soundproofed room, Lin Jun knew that the itinerary originally arranged by the Kingdom's side was to go to the capital, Oath City.
The current direction—the Mushroom Capital? Or the Duke's mansion?
Why the sudden change in destination?
Following this line of thought and recalling a bit, Lin Jun roughly guessed their target.
"Ding dong, ding dong, the great Fungal Lord is calling upon the Sword Saint."
"Boss?" The Sword Saint, who was currently discussing with the Dwarven Forge Master Marco, hoping the other party would forge several swords more suitable for Puchi tentacles to use, was startled. "What's the matter?"
"There is something over on Inanna's side that requires you to make a trip."
"Is it a dragon again?" Elwyn tried to politely decline. "If it's just a single one, relying on those two Element Lords shouldn't be a problem, right? I'm still here—"
"It's not a dragon, it's something even more fatal! You don't need to worry about this minor matter regarding your swords; Master Marco will help you get it done well."
To the side, Marco's eye twitched. He had originally wanted to push away the Sword Saint Puchi's commission and focus entirely on building the new model of the siege war golem.
Now that the Boss personally gave the order, he clearly had no way to decline.
"Fatal?" The Sword Saint was somewhat puzzled, but helping his niece Inanna was originally his duty, so there was nothing to decline.
It was just unknown why, at the end, the Boss gave a special extra instruction: "Right, after you go over, let the pink-haired girl rub and pet you first. She complained last time that you're always uncooperative. Cherish it well; after all, this—might be the last time—" Lin Jun's tone seemed slightly heavy.
"What do you mean 'the last time'? What kind of trouble has Inanna run into?" The Sword Saint was quite attentive to his niece's safety.
However, after this sentence, no matter how he asked, the Boss never responded again.
Confusion, anxiety, anger, happiness—on Duke Alama's face, they ultimately transformed into an expressionless look. He took a deep breath, pushed open the main hall doors, and his gaze fell on Inanna, who was currently delightfully rubbing and petting the Sword Saint Puchi.
(End of Chapter)
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