"I will," Colin replied.
Upon hearing this, Connie's lips curved slightly wider as she cheerfully said,
"Until next time, Sir Colin."
"Until next time..."
Clang.
At that moment, the restaurant door suddenly burst open and Hayden strode in.
He offered Colin and his companion a bow in apology.
Then, with a grave expression, he turned to Connie and quickly said,
"Princess Connie, to ensure your safety, please return to the Palace with me immediately."
"Has something happened?" Connie looked at Hayden, and without hesitation, she stood up while asking with curiosity.
"Do you remember what His Majesty mentioned this morning..."
Their conversation could be heard trailing off behind him.
Colin, leading the way, did not listen any further but swiftly led Renee out.
The two horses they had chosen were already waiting outside the restaurant.
He had also pre-arranged the necessary fodder for the journey, which he stored in his Storage Ring.
This was initially planned so that they could set off directly after dining with Connie.
Now, it helped them save some time.
One horse was black; the other, a mix of brown and white.
Colin mounted the black horse.
Renee, carrying her sister Demi, climbed onto the other horse... Riding was not a challenge for her, with skills near those of a Great Knight.
Giddy up!
Clip-clop clip-clop—
Hooves kicked up, and the trio of Colin hurried towards the nearest city gate.
At this time, the Sky was dusted with light snow.
On the streets, the number of patrolling Guards seemed to have increased for some reason, and there were hardly any ordinary passers-by. The few that were seen were mostly undergoing questioning by the Guards.
"Officer, I was just out to buy groceries..."
"Temporary martial law, hurry home and stay there!"
People undergoing questioning with frightened expressions and Guards in black uniforms with tense and solemn faces were seen everywhere.
Colin let out a breath of warm air, which instantly condensed into white mist in the cold air.
They too were subjected to an inspection by the Guards,
fortunately, the pass provided by Connie spared them much trouble.
In this manner, they moved unobstructed through the streets, and after crossing two more, they would be able to leave the city.
But at that moment...
The brown and white horse that Renee was riding suddenly let out a cry, and then fell hard to the ground.
Whoosh.
In a split second, Renee held Demi and leaped down, safely landing on the ground.
Before Colin could even ask,
the black horse he was on also let out a cry, reared up on its hind legs, and then collapsed to the ground.
Colin dismounted and frowned at the two prostrate horses.
...
Inside the Palace.
In a luxurious palace hall.
Wearing a crown, Wild stood anxiously at the doorway, with Hayden beside him, expressionless.
The snowfall had become heavier without warning.
The snowflakes scattered down, landing on the pristine rooftops, the meticulously tended grass outside the door, and also on Wild and Hayden.
Soon, a thin layer of white accumulated on their heads and shoulders.
Even Wild's golden crown did not escape, receiving a touch of white as well.
A little while later,
the grand doors of the palace slowly opened.
A graceful woman Knight emerged.
"Your Majesty Wild, the lords have concluded their experiment; you may enter now."
She led Wild and Hayden down a long corridor to the outside of a reception room.
The woman Knight knocked lightly twice on the door and then stepped aside to wait.
A long time passed, yet no response came from within the room.
But the woman Knight did not knock again; she quietly continued to wait.
This was the rule set by the lords.
"The knock must have been heard by Lords Ivan and Anthony... Perhaps they are still conducting experiments. Your Majesty, please wait a moment longer," the woman Knight said to Wild in a soft voice.
Wild's face was expressionless, revealing no emotion.
While Haydn stood by with barely contained anger in his eyes.
With the Great Knight's physical condition, he could faintly hear the soft conversation coming from the house—they were clearly not conducting experiments!
"... So I surmise he's just a local wizard, perhaps even a half-trained Wandering Wizard.
But he has an old Audric Crystal on him, he must have gotten lucky and received some wizard's inheritance... I think it's quite possible it's an Official Wizard's inheritance."
"Are you interested?"
Ivan raised an eyebrow slightly, "Are you willing to share a portion with me?"
Anthony smiled slightly and said,
"He's at least an Advanced Wizard Apprentice, two people working together are more likely to succeed."
"Besides, old friend—"
"You're not unaware that I gave up on advancing long ago, just wanting to enjoy the remainder of my life. In fact, if I hadn't taken a fancy to his maiden, I wouldn't have bothered at all."
After saying this, Anthony added with a laugh,
"How about this, you can take the majority of the Magic Stone, but the two maids by his side have to be mine."
Ivan pondered for a moment and then asked,
"Let me take another look at the Trojan Reconnaissance Bracelet's detection results."
Anthony cheerfully took off the bracelet and handed it to Ivan.
He wasn't worried about anything, he and Ivan had known each other for decades, and the Trojan Reconnaissance Bracelet bore his mark.
Ivan reached out and took the bracelet.
The Trojan Reconnaissance Bracelet was entirely brown, made of some unknown beast leather, with an inconspicuous white crystal embedded in the middle.
He activated his Magic Power.
Buzz—
The detailed detection results appeared on his retina.
After reading and checking in detail.
He handed the bracelet back to Anthony, smiling as he said,
"It's a deal."
"It's a deal," Anthony laughed.
Having agreed to these terms, they then turned and called out to the outside,
"Come in."
Wild entered in a hurry.
"Your Highness, Wild."
"Lord Ivan, Lord Anthony," Wild greeted calmly and then got straight to the point.
"This morning, the patrol guard discovered that over five hundred civilians had died in Chaniuka City's East District last night, including men and women, old and young."
Ivan and Anthony slightly tightened their relaxed expressions upon hearing this.
Wild continued to recount,
"At the same time, no other deaths occurred last night in the south, north, and west districts, except for an old woman who accidentally froze to death."
"And this time the deceased in the East District were different from the previous ones."
"Previously, the deceased had died from heart punctures. But this time, the causes of death varied, and the marks on their bodies were also significantly different from before... but most had incomplete bodies, and nearly all of the dead had their eyeballs missing."
"Is there any other information?" Ivan asked, his expression growing solemn.
Yesterday, when Wild had Haydn relay this news to them, they hadn't taken it seriously.
From Haydn's description, they surmised that it was most likely a common demon contamination event.
After all, the Yili Kingdom had poor Magic Power, unlikely to house any strong Demon Beasts or other strange phenomena… There shouldn't be so many odd occurrences.
But unexpectedly, the situation had worsened so much overnight.
"Further information… the victims were mostly concentrated in the Mist-blue Street area."
"More information…" Wild paused, then said, "Perhaps the two lords need to see the scene for themselves."
Ivan nodded, stepping aside with Anthony to talk in whispered tones.
"We can't delay this matter any longer, Anthony," Ivan said softly to Anthony.
"I know," Anthony nodded in agreement, then said, "We should go now without delay."
"But what about that little local Wandering Wizard..." Ivan hesitated to ask.
He was somewhat reluctant to let the pigeon they had in hand fly away.
"Don't worry, they won't get too far anytime soon." Anthony confidently smiled, then added mysteriously,
"Perhaps he'll even return to the Palace on his own initiative."
After these words, his tone shifted as he said gravely,
"The fact that so many people died overnight can't be underestimated."
"I understand," Ivan nodded, "We'll carry the important items with us first when we go to the site…
You know, the usual drill."
"Mm," Anthony nodded.
If they could handle the crisis, it would be fine, but if they couldn't… then they could only pray for the Yili Kingdom.
After all, they were there to make offerings, not to give up their lives.
Then, the group hurriedly traveled by carriage towards the East District of Chaniuka City.