Chapter 524: Princess Fleur
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Who’s there?”
It was not just Ziwei but also the recently distressed princess who were on their guard.
There were only the princess and Ziwei in the horse carriage, so Ziwei pulled the curtain to one side and looked around. At this point, the entire convoy stopped, and the heavily clad knights gulped a mouthful of cold air, staring at the sky before them in utter astonishment.
They were faced with a few strangely dressed men who were standing in mid-air, blocking the path of the carriage.
“They can stand in mid-air. Only the powerful Sky Knights have such an ability!”
“Sky Knights, they must be Sky Knights, and there are six of them. Who sent them? Our Kingdom of Seeden only have four Sky Knights in total, and they’re all the supreme Captains of their regiments.”
“No matter who they are, prepare for battle at once. Even if they’re Sky Knights, we must preserve the Royal Knights’ glory!”
These heavily clad knights were filled with dread. The six Sky Knights induced in them an incomparable level of shock. These were powerful individuals second only to Holy Knights.
Although they were frightened, these heavily clad knights still guarded the carriage, and no one withdrew.
Ziwei who peered through the curtain was wearing an unpleasant expression. She could not figure out which kingdom would have the capability to dispatch six Sky Knights just to intercept Her Highness the princess?
This was too absurd a notion, and even Ziwei could not believe this.
“Your Highness, I’ll try talking to the six powerful Sky Knights first, and ask them their origins.”
With that, Ziwei leaped from the carriage suddenly, and a vivid green light surged up around her body like a halo. This was a rather mainstream cultivation method in the Seely Dimension – fighting spirit!
Ziwei was a Great Knight. If she had advanced further, she would become a Sky Knight, and able to walk on air. Ziwei was also the head guard of the royal family. With her escorting the princess, it should be a piece of cake yet, they had unexpectedly encountered these six mysterious Sky Knights in their journey. Even a Great Knight like her could only bow her proud head.
“Honorable Sir Sky Knights, may I ask what instructions you have for stopping us?”
Ziwei’s manner was humble. Faced with six Sky Knights, there was nothing for her to be arrogant about. It should be known that in the Kingdom of Seeden, a Sky Knight would serve as Captain for a regiment.
The travelers in the sky were Merlin and Saturn and the rest. This group of six had just arrived in the Seely Dimension, eager to learn about the actual circ.u.mstances of this dimension.
Before their eyes was a princess of a kingdom. Naturally, they were the best candidates in terms of understanding the Seely Dimension.
Saturn eyed Merlin, and a rare smile tugged at his mouth. “Wizard Merlin, I’ll have to trouble you now to use your Darkness spell and quieten these people for a moment.”
Merlin nodded then raised one arm, following which the entire area seemed to darken. Darkness descended instantly and shrouded the entire convoy, and everyone within was caught in a boundless illusion.
“It’s done. They’re in the illusion. We can ask them anytime we like.”
Merlin led Saturn and the rest into the darkness. With one light wave of his hand, Her Highness the princess leaped from the carriage like a puppet. Together with Ziwei, she came before Merlin and the rest.
“Wake up!”
Merlin softly commanded both of them. There was a snap in both their minds, like a clap of thunder, and the boundless illusion vanished instantly. Both of them recovered their senses rapidly.
“What happened to us earlier?”
The princess looked at the surrounding sweep of darkness. Her heavily clad knights had descended into a dream and were unable to hear her at all.
Ziwei, on the other hand, appeared much calmer. She pulled the princess close to her and said in a low voice, “Your Highness, there’s no need for panic. These are the Sky Knights.”
However, as Ziwei looked around at the darkness, she knew that not even Sky Knights were able to achieve such a peculiar effect. All at once, she did not know how to handle the situation.
Saturn stared at the princess and said coldly, “Your Highness, I’ve said that we’ll be able to fulfill your wish. Are you really willing to pay any price?”
The princess was rather stunned before she remembered her causal words, saying that she was willing to pay any price if only the heavens would allow her Kingdom of Seeden to produce a Holy Knight.
Could these people really be Holy Knights?
“Are you Holy Knights?”
The princess asked somewhat incredulously.
Saturn smiled in response. Of course, they knew about the Holy Knights of the Seely Dimension. Most Sky Knights were equivalent to Seventh-level Wizards, the most ordinary kind of Seventh-level Wizards.
As for Holy Knights, that was a huge step forward. Strictly speaking, Holy Knights themselves were merely on par with average Ninth-level Spell Casters. However, the most important rite of becoming a Holy Knight was that one must tame a giant dragon.
In the Seely Dimension, there were grand creatures called giant dragons. In fact, these giant dragons were similar in some ways to Spell Casters, able to spit fireb.a.l.l.s and frost and the like. Nonetheless, these were not spells but the dragons’ natural abilities.
A giant dragon had extraordinary strength and an immense body. One giant dragon could easily wreck a st.u.r.dy city, so these dragons were considered creatures of the legends.
A few Sky Knights, who were at their peak, had wished to become Holy Knights. Other than having immense strength themselves, most importantly, they had to tame a giant dragon and ride the creature, containing terrifying powers of devastation as it soared across the horizon.
Based on their capacity for destruction alone, Holy Knights had reached the peak of Ninth-level Spell Casters who had fused a few types of Spell Models together.
The strongest Holy Knight in the history of the Seely Dimension was the Seely King who founded the great Seely Empire a thousand years ago. He was a Holy Knight whose powers reached unimaginable heights. The records of Arcane City even clearly indicated that the Seely King’s powers were comparable to a Great Wizard.
Nonetheless, this was the sole contender of the Seely Dimension who was on par with Great Wizards. Moreover, if a civilization wished to step beyond their dimension and venture into the Void Zone, they must produce Great Legends.
Although the Seely Dimension had a Holy Knight who was comparable to a Great Wizard, they were unable to transcend their dimension and become a formidable civilization.
After the Seely King had pa.s.sed away, very few Holy Knights appeared. Even when they did, they could generally only reach the level of Ninth-level Spell Casters at their peak, unable to compare to Great Wizards.
Merlin and the rest were each able to easily kill most Ninth-level Spell Casters. If they resorted to their hidden trumps, they were even comparable to peak Ninth-level Spell Casters who had begun to fuse spells.
Therefore, it was not too far off to say that Merlin’s group of six were Holy Knights.
“Whether or not we’re Holy Knights isn’t important. What’s important is that we can help you resist the Holy Knights’ threat! You won’t have to marry some other king.”
Saturn’s words spurred the princess’ rush of excitement. She eyed Merlin and the rest, then bit her lips and asked cautiously, “What do you want to do?”
“Just tell us everything you know.”
“It’s that easy?”
“That’s right, it’s that easy!”
Wizard Saturn laughed and the princess laughed as well. Thus, Wizard Saturn began his inquiries, and the princess began replying in full and systematic detail.
The Seely Dimension had a long history, especially a thousand years ago when the Seely Empire had united the entire Seely Dimension. That was their golden age.
However, the Seely Empire had fallen a thousand years ago, breaking up into countless tiny kingdoms. Every kingdom began fighting, leading to a confrontation between the larger kingdoms.
Holy Knights had always been rare in every kingdom, and some kingdoms had not even produced one because Holy Knights were the strongest forces. One Holy Knight was equivalent to a million troops.
Once a kingdom had given birth to a Holy Knight, that kingdom was able to become mighty in one leap. In the past decades, a strange situation had occurred. Among a few kingdoms, Holy Knights began to emerge.
The neighboring kingdom of the Kingdom of Seeden, for instance, which was the Kingdom of Seeway, had produced a Holy Knight. Other kingdoms had even produced two or three Holy Knights. Currently, the number of Holy Knights from all the kingdoms was higher than it was hundreds of years ago.
The Kingdom of Seeway had given birth to a Holy Knight and was already restless, even voicing an intention to make their move against the Kingdom of Seeden. The king, in order to protect the Kingdom of Seeden, at least for a few years, was thus prepared to send the prettiest princess of the royal family, Princess Fleur, to the seventy-year-old king of the Kingdom of Seeway.
As a result, Princess Fleur had escaped from the palace and was now brought back by Ziwei.
“That’s not right. This is unusual.”
When Saturn and the rest heard about this, they already felt that something was wrong. The main peculiarity was those Holy Knights.
In the past centuries, the number of Holy Knights was small, but in recent decades, their numbers had increased many times over. Furthermore, certain kingdoms were stirring impatiently. Clearly, there was a trend of kingdoms intending to wage war and conquer other kingdoms.
Merlin frowned as well. He carefully recalled the information from Arcane City, especially data regarding Holy Knights. In the Seely Dimension, Holy Knights enjoyed a high status. In fact, the most difficult part of becoming a Holy Knight was the taming of the giant dragon.
Holy Knights themselves were merely a stronger version of Sky Knights. Hence, it was not so easy to tame a giant dragon. Many powerful Sky Knights had tried to do so, only for a majority of them to end up as a tasty snack in the dragon’s mouth.
“What’s odd about this is the giant dragons.”
Merlin suddenly spoke. When Saturn and the rest looked at him, he continued saying in a low voice, “Sky Knights have to tame giant dragons to become Holy Knights. However, if someone was to capture these dragons and tame them in advance, then send them to the powerful Sky Knights, wouldn’t they be able to produce Holy Knights on a large scale?”
“Capture the giant dragons?”
Merlin’s words immediately cleared the mist before the eyes of Saturn, Rael, and the rest. They already vaguely understood what Merlin was implying. Besides Spell Casters, only the Rock Tribe who were hiding in the Seely Dimension would be able to easily capture giant dragons.
“Only by locating a Holy Knight can we learn whether the Rock Tribe is behind this.”
Saturn and the rest had come to investigate the Rock Tribe’s schemes in the Seely Dimension. To their surprise, they already had an investigative direction as soon as they arrived. If everything went smoothly, they would soon get to the bottom of the Rock Tribe’s plans, and return to present their report.