Chapter 1174: Section 1175: Lloyd’s Sigh
This was a kingdom of steel and machinery.
A metallic man dressed in a black-and-white uniform with a Sheriff’s leather hat stepped out of a towering building.
The metallic man was exceedingly handsome, yet his skin had the color and texture of steel, reflecting a metallic luster under the sunshine.
As soon as the metallic man stepped out of the building, he looked up. A flash of red light passed through his eyes, and a beeping sound came to his ears, “Alert received, the third princess of the Ocalleg royal family has disappeared from the secret chamber of the royal court. All Sheriffs who receive this alert, please commence the search immediately, alert level, national high alert.”
“Sheriff Number 31, alert received.”
“There is also a verbal message from the royal family, if you encounter the third princess, don’t reply to anything she says, and do not anger her.”
“Understood.”
After receiving the alert, the metallic man, also known as Sheriff Number 31, immediately accessed the memory database in his mind, searching for information about the third princess.
The only piece of information he could find was a somewhat yellowed photograph, which depicted a little girl in a pink dress smiling innocently while hugging a small dog.
The handwriting below the photo read: “Third Princess of Ocalleg Royal Family, Tasya. Danger level, cataclysmic.”
Sheriff Number 31’s brain short-circuited for a moment. The last cataclysm that the Heart Kingdom faced seemed to be the super earthquake that almost destroyed the Royal City ten years ago.
And now, the harmless-looking Princess Tasya was named cataclysmic?
Doubt flitted through Sheriff Number 31’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared. As a mechanical doll, he was endowed with very few emotional templates.
Sheriff Number 31 looked around and noticed that the sky was already crisscrossed with figures in Sheriff uniforms. Clearly, the message had spread throughout the entire Royal City.
After some thought, Sheriff Number 31 dashed towards a less crowded area—towards Central Park.
His speed was astonishing, like the wind coupled with lightning, and he quickly arrived at Central Park. However, the surroundings were filled with mechanical dolls and residents of the principality—there was no sign of the third princess.
At that moment, a tube popped out from beneath Sheriff Number 31’s boot, activating the core energy within his body, releasing a large volume of airflow, which he rode smoothly into the sky.
High above, Sheriff Number 31’s head turned in a complete 360-degree circle.
All the surrounding scenery was drawn into his gaze.
Nothing was amiss, except for a man wearing a strange cloak by the small lake at the edge of the park. From this person, he sensed no citizen information.
Presumably, it was a foreigner who had smuggled himself into the Heart Kingdom.
Under normal circumstances, Sheriff Number 31 would have immediately approached to punish and detain the smuggler, but with a bigger case at hand, minor cases like punishing smugglers would be deprioritized.
Still, the man was a nuisance. Sheriff Number 31 took a careful look at the man, intending to record his approximate information for a follow-up investigation later.
He observed the cloak-clad man holding an oil painting brush, painting by the lakeside.
From high above, the painting appeared to be the azure blue lake in front of him, including the steel buildings of the Heart Kingdom beyond the lake.
“A painter? Hmm, the danger level can be lowered further.” Sheriff Number 31 adjusted the danger level and case priority in his mind before turning away to fly to another part of the sky.
After Sheriff Number 31 flew away, the man painting by the lake looked up and let out a chuckle.
“Mister in the cloak, why are you laughing?” At that moment, from the shadows of a small grove on the lakeshore, emerged a girl holding a small puppy, wearing a bright blue flouncy dress. Her skin was porcelain white and translucent, with youthful moisture and smoothness, her cheeks a faint pink with a few freckles, looking innocent and adorable.
Without looking at the girl or speaking, the man painting simply curled a beautiful arc with his lips.
Because of the hood, the girl couldn’t see the man’s face, only his lips curved into what seemed to be a smile.
The girl pursed her lips, lowering her head to tell the puppy, “The big brother in the cloak is ignoring me. I’m angry!”
The puppy let out a groggy bark in response.
“Do you think I’m angry too?”
The puppy continued to humor her with another bark.
The girl, hands on her hips, shouted at the man painting, “If you keep ignoring me, I’ll get angry! And when I get angry, lightning will strike you down, you know!”
As the girl’s voice fell, what had been clear skies above the lakeshore suddenly gathered a cluster of dark clouds, with what looked like Lightning Serpents writhing within.
However, the clouds did not seem to favor the girl and no lightning fell; instead, the clouds simply drifted away.
The girl said, feeling wronged, “I’m really angry this time, and a great wind will blow you away!”
No sooner had she spoken than a breeze blew by the lake, although it wasn’t strong, only managing to blow the man’s hood down. It was only then that the girl could see the face of the man painting.
It was an exceptionally handsome youth, his lips curled in a smile, seemingly indifferent to his surroundings, indulging himself in his painting.
“Hey, look at me for a second!”
Getting no response, the girl stepped forward, by the youth’s side, meaning to give him a shove.
But as she came to his side, the girl was captivated by his painting.
If Sheriff Number 31 were here, he would see that the peaceful, beautiful lake scene he had observed earlier did not match reality. Although the youth truly painted the lakeshore and the buildings of the Royal City beyond it, the scene in the painting was far from tranquil.
The azure sky had turned pitch black and blood red, and countless winged demons poured out of a vortex in the sky.
And a terrifying Demon God was descending from the vortex.
Beneath the whirlpool was the Royal City of the Heart Kingdom as it is known today. But the city depicted in the painting lacked any sense of peace or beauty; it was full of warfare and bloodshed, with the land itself cracked open in vast fissures, magma bursting from the crevasses and engulfing the entire Royal City.
The girl beheld this sight and could not help but cover her mouth in shock, “What are you painting… Why is it like this?”
This time, the youth did not remain silent but turned back to the girl with a smile on his face, “Don’t you like the scene in the painting?”
The girl nodded dully, “I don’t like it.”
“But do you know how the scene in the painting came to be?”
“How did it come to be?”
The youth curled his lips, a mysterious light flashing in his narrow eyes, speaking in a playful tone with deliberate pacing, “It’s… because… of… you~”
“Me? How could it possibly be me?” The girl shook her head and started backing away, not knowing why, but she suddenly felt that the youth in front of her was somewhat terrifying.
“When mortals possess a powerful artifact, that’s the outcome they get,” the youth said with a grin, “Do you need me to remind you? The earthquake at the Royal City of the Heart Kingdom ten years ago.”
The girl’s pupils contracted sharply as she shook her head violently, “What are you talking about, I don’t know!”
The youth squinted his eyes, “Of course, how could the young and ignorant Princess Tasya remember what she did? However, after that incident, you were confined to a secret room, unable to leave. You should remember that.”
The youth turned around and slowly took out a paintbrush from his case.
Holding the paintbrush, he quickly made a few strokes at the end of the paper, then he admired the scene he had created in the painting…
“The descent of a Demon God, that’s what I like the least,” the youth seemed to remember something, a trace of nostalgia in his eyes. After a while, he turned his head back to look at the girl, or more accurately, Princess Tasya who had fled from the Heart Kingdom’s royal family of Ocalleg.
“To prevent the Demon God from descending upon this world, do you know what the best method is?”
A frisson of panic swept through Tasya’s eyes as she slowly backed away.
“That is, to find a way to eliminate the source of it all before anything happens.” The youth lifted the corners of his lips into a beautiful smile, putting away his painting tools, and took measured steps toward Tasya.
Shaking her head, Tasya pleaded, “No… don’t.”
Suddenly, Tasya seemed to have an idea, “Do you, do you think I’m cute?”
The youth gave an ambiguous smile, “Cute indeed.”
“Right! I’m so cute I could melt a heart!” Tasya also burst into laughter, as though she was the sunshine after rain, trying to show off from behind her.
But after a short while, as the youth kept approaching, Tasya’s smile abruptly vanished, and she froze.
“You, you, you how could you…” Tasya pointed at the youth, seeming unable to believe her eyes.
“My heart isn’t melted, does that feel strange to you?” the youth slowly approached, “I have been here for fifteen years, studying you.”
Tasya was just fifteen years old now, which meant that the youth had been by her side since her birth.
“After all, when dealing with a Mysterious Object, one must be cautious. From my observations, ‘it’ must be controlled by your emotions, right? Now do you understand? You cannot control your own emotions, but I can control yours,” the youth shrugged his shoulders, “Your emotional fluctuations are insufficient to melt my heart. So, goodbye.”
With a gentle wave of his hand, Tasya’s head slowly slid off her neck, and blood gushed forth.
The fresh blood sprayed onto the paper, and the scene of the Demon God’s descent, previously depicted, was replaced by a vivid red, until just a hollow, monochromatic bloodstain remained on the paper, with the image of the Demon God’s descent nowhere to be seen.
Looking at Tasya’s severed head, the youth sighed, reaching into her mouth.
Suddenly, he pulled a jawbone glistening with a faint golden light from her mouth.
A gleam appeared in the youth’s eyes, and the information about the jawbone revealed itself to his mind.
‘Chloe’s Regret: Any word spoken with emotion will come true immediately upon utterance. Note: Only negative effects can be realized.’
This information had been deduced by the youth over the years, but the name of the Mysterious Object was new to him.
“Chloe’s Regret, with an effect potent enough to influence the timeline of a Demon God, albeit an ordinary one. It should reach that level, right?” The youth pocketed the jawbone, planning to return to the Origin World for further appraisal.
However, just as he was about to leave, the canvas bag on his back began to move.
A painting flew out of nowhere, slowly unfolding by itself.
The painting depicted an expanse of void, but within the darkness, a faint yellow flame gradually appeared.
“Oh? So Night has finally taken that step,” the youth mused with a touch of emotion, “I wonder if, according to the Book of Kael, it will be possible to stop the shadow of the Demon God…”
“The Book of Kael is said to be on the same level as Augustine’s Twinborn Mirror, one of the Mysterious Objects. It should be correct.”
As he spoke, the youth lightly flicked the pale yellow flame on the painting, “Go.”
As his words fell, the flame on the painting vanished.
After ensuring everything was in order, the youth picked up his painting supplies, tore open a Void Gate, and disappeared.
The ground was left with nothing but a decimated corpse, a shattered head, a clueless little puppy, and a painting stained red with blood…
Latter on, The sheriff began investigating the death of Princess Tasya, but no suspect was found. The only clue discovered was a signature in the corner of the paper—
Feng.