Chapter 1053: Autumn Scenery
Late autumn.
The green layer of coating covering the tall, uneven mountain ranges had withdrawn and was replaced by a dress of crimson. Rhode sauntered across the field of red maple leaves, his footsteps resounding in the cracking of the dried leaves. In a single glance, he was surrounded by complete redness. Even though the vast prairie that grew over the land was about to step down from the main stage, the scattered maple leaves were as though stage curtains stopping the perfect actors from exiting. The curtains waited quietly for the actors to return to the stage for another magnificent performance. This was the cycle of the world. From beginning to end, the rhythm never changed.
The aromatic scent of chestnut wafted in the air. Its fragrance left one salivating.
“Everything will eventually grow and mature, Your Majesty Rhode.”
Strolling in the maple forest alongside Rhode, Lydia raised her head and gazed at the beautiful, mesmerizing scenery. A gentle breeze wafted across the forest, silently sweeping leaves off the branches. In an instant, the forest before their eyes was as though experiencing a ‘rainstorm and violent winds’. All around them were red maple leaves twirling and drifting in the wind, before landing on the ground gently. Time was as though a dream turning into reality, covering up everything in this world.
“I once thought that these children would not be able to survive this autumn. After all, what we faced earlier was anything but great with the howling winds, torrential rains, untimely hails, and intense heat. But it all seems like everything has its laws of nature. These pitiful and adorable little fellas survived the devastating storms and once again showed us the mature side of them. A little sapling begins growing from spring, gradually experiencing the summer heat and feeling the cleansing of the autumn winds. Finally, it has to face the harsh test of winter. But I believe that it will get through the winter safely.”
Lydia said, turning around with a smile and gazing at Rhode who wasn’t far behind.
“Your Majesty Rhode, thanks to your help this time, the young, fragile saplings are able to grow and mature gradually. This isn’t a simple task; you’re perfect to be a gardener.”
“You’re welcome, Your Highness Lydia. Besides, I don’t find it troublesome at all. After all, fiddling with the motherland’s flowers is also one of my hobbies.”
Rhode replied and spread his arms apart. He lifted his head and followed Lydia’s gaze toward the azure sky above. It was late autumn, the harvesting season, be it for the Void Territory or Munn Kingdom. Although the boundless sky of stars in the Void Territory gave a unique flavor to the late autumn scenery, Rhode had to admit that Lydia was truly a master of enjoyment: gazing at the falling red leaves, listening to the sound of clear water flowing down the creek, and admiring the boundless, golden wheat field from above was enough to give one a pleasing sense of comfort. Even Rhode had to admit that this was the first time he discovered that admiring the scenery could make him relax so much. Of course, the roasted chestnuts were also delicious; green and pure from any contamination and whatnot… There were still some benefits to being a transmigrator, wasn’t it?
Of course, Rhode wasn’t being modest. In fact, fiddling with the flowers of the motherland was indeed one of his favorite hobbies.
But it was a pity that he had no intention of becoming a gardener. With his personality, it would be bad if he accidentally committed some mistakes in principles…
“But I still have to thank you; Her Majesty Lilian looks so much better now. She became more confident and understands what she has to do. Perhaps…” Lydia turned around and looked towards the north in the distance, before letting out a subtle sigh. “… Serene will be glad to see Lilian doing well.”
Serene wasn’t doing great. Back then, after she was gravely injured by Chaos’s trap, she rushed to Casabianca before her wounds were healed and fought against Boulder using all her strength. At that point in time, she was basically at death’s door. If it weren’t for the fact that she was one of the archangels, perhaps now, Lilian could only recite poetry at her tombstone…
“Besides, it was also thanks to you, Your Majesty, that my operations in the Light Mainland were successful.”
Lydia said, switching the topic and turning around with a grin. She gazed at Rhode wittily and proudly. Rhode realized the meaning behind her words and the corners of his lips perked up. His eyes glinted with an undetectable smile.
It could also be said that after Casabianca was destroyed, only Lydia was left to shoulder this responsibility. Even though Sonia was closer to Lilian in person, her ident.i.ty was more like a secretary and nanny. On the other hand, Lydia was the only true, worthy person who grasped the entire situation. As of now, she was slowly annexing and reshaping the various regions and forces of the Light Mainland using the strength of the Munn Kingdom as well as the anti-parliament forces. It could also be said that right now, she held the highest authority in the entire Light Mainland, her power and prestige as the archangel reaching an unprecedented peak. But it was a pity that even though she seemed impressive, it wasn’t able to change the fact that the forces in the Light Mainland were weakening drastically. Even though most battle angels were in her control and this core strength didn’t suffer tragically in the previous calamity, apart from this, there wasn’t any good news as there was only one archangel with battle strength left. The initial three archangels were already at a disadvantage in numbers going up against four of the legendary generals. Now that there was only one archangel, Lydia was at a disadvantage in all aspects. With Lydia alone, it was impossible for her to take on the four legendary generals. Meanwhile, Serene wouldn’t be recovering her battle strength anytime soon, which left Lydia with a hard time.
One thing fortunate for her was that the ma.s.sacre in Casabianca baffled the ambitious people who tried to take advantage of the crisis for personal gains. Initially, these people couldn’t wait to announce their objectives of establis.h.i.+ng an independent country to fulfill their desires. However, every single one of them shut their mouths completely after the war in Casabianca happened as they were afraid that Rhode would eradicate them by sending magic wars.h.i.+ps for a spin above their new city. The parliament failed to resist the magic wars.h.i.+ps using the devils, so how was it possible that those people could defend against Rhode?
Taking Rhode’s original world for comparison, the current Void Territory was as though a strong military country with nuclear weapons, while Casabianca was as though the Hiros.h.i.+ma and Nagasaki that were bombed during World War II. The power of nuclear deterrence wasn’t about how strong they were, but if they dared to drop them. And now, Rhode had clearly announced to the world that no matter if one was willing or forced, implicated or wronged, as long as one resisted the rule of the Creator Dragons, one would be killed. There would be no trials or wrongful execution. He would rather kill 99 innocent people than to let that one person off. That was the professionalism of the Void Territory.
Under such ‘nuclear deterrence’, those ambitious people were scared witless as they went around begging for help to express their respect for the Light Dragon, surging forward like an endless river and overflowing like the Yellow River, unable to be stopped…
What made things better was Rhode’s ident.i.ty. Even though anyone would be afraid of a huge ma.s.sacre or the demon king’s b.l.o.o.d.y cruelty, Lydia neither attacked nor partic.i.p.ated in it, which allowed her to maintain a good reputation and image. As a result, it made working with her less pressurizing. If it were Rhode… those people would surely stay away from him as far as possible. But Rhode wasn’t mindful at all as having others fearing him was better than them belittling him. He looked forward to the day when everyone in the continent was fearful of the Void Territory’s threat as this would prove how powerful he was. On the contrary, who would even be afraid of a remote place like Barce that survived on their people being whistle blowers?
“I’m sure you didn’t invite me here to only admire the view, right, Your Highness Lydia?”
Upon hearing Lydia’s words, Rhode asked, returning to the main topic. Previously, after Lydia visited Lilian, she invited Rhode to the Golden City to admire the captivating scenery of autumn. Of course, Rhode didn’t mind despite knowing that she definitely had an ulterior motive. He also didn’t want to be a workaholic like Ion and wasn’t interested in dominating a country. Judging from the description of the Void Territory as a ‘territory’, it clearly showed his att.i.tude toward this. Therefore, he didn’t refuse Lydia’s invitation and came here to admire the scenery.
He had to admit that the view was indeed magnificent. The chestnuts were delicious too.
But that was the end of it. It was time to talk business.
Upon sensing the meaning behind his words, Lydia chuckled and extended her arm. Along with her movement, the fallen leaves and dust above the stone table and chairs glided off the surface cleanly. Then, a maid silently carried a tray with piping hot red tea, placing them on the table respectfully. Rhode took the opposite seat from Lydia, narrowing his eyes at her.
“Your Majesty, take a look at this vast, golden wheat field. Even though it faced disasters, it continues to welcome the harvest season. But even so, we need to be careful. After all, apart from the often changing weather, poisonous bugs and wild animals are also eyeing the crops. They can’t wait to taste and gorge on them to ensure they can get through winter. This is the natural behavior of all living creatures, isn’t it?”
“Of course, that is why we need to take precautionary measures. The livestock that the farmers raised painstakingly aren’t meant to be fed to the pack of wolves and a faithful sheepdog is the guarantee of a shepherd’s life…” Rhode said and came to a pause. Then, he gazed at the chuckling Lydia who, upon sensing his gaze, crossed her arms and squinted.
“That’s right, Your Majesty. But of course, the pack of sly wolves will not launch their attacks on a herd of sheep. Instead, they will hide in the shadow patiently, stare at the sheep that was left out of the herd, and pounce altogether… In the darkness, they are more capable than anyone else because they are the most outstanding hunters.”
“Oh?”
Rhode twitched his brows. However, he wasn’t too surprised because he was used to Lydia always going off topic to express her standpoint and transmit information.
“What you meant is…”
“According to intelligence, it seems like the Country of Darkness intends to attack you.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Rhode’s expression remained unchanged, but in his mind he had just cursed Ion’s 18 generations of ancestors. It seemed like the Dark Dragon just couldn’t stand idly by. Rhode sent Erin back to apply some eye drops for Ion, but now, he actually came to find trouble with Rhode before the eye drop was applied? However, what rea.s.sured Rhode was that judging from Lydia’s tone, the Dark Dragon seemed to have decided to play dirty and not start an open war, which was an advantage for Rhode. After all, if they were to clash openly, Rhode was concerned that he might not be able to manage the situation. But now, since the Dark Dragon was playing dirty…
What a joke. Players were best at using dirty tricks in BOSS fights.
“Thanks for your reminder, Your Highness. It seems like I need to prepare gifts for my possible uninvited guests.”
These weren’t just polite words. In fact, it was an extremely challenging process to gather intelligence from the Country of Darkness, not even with a G.o.dlike person like Alice on his side. This was because the dragon soul protection over the Country of Darkness was extraordinarily powerful, which made it tough for Alice to investigate. Besides, he would rather not have the information since he was unsure if it was accurate. On the other hand, it was much easier to gather information in the Country of Light as everyone was human and planting spies was more painless. In the Country of Darkness, undead creatures roamed the streets, which made it an exceedingly dangerous task to become a spy there. Despite that, Rhode didn’t know how Lydia was capable enough to lay out an intelligence web in the Country of Darkness. But he wasn’t worried that Lydia would lie to him. Based on his understanding of her, the information would be highly accurate since she revealed it to him personally.
“But it is hard for me to imagine which sheep those wild animals with their tails tucked and hiding the shadows are interested in. I’m looking forward to it; maybe they will realize that the sheep was actually a wolf underneath that clothing?”
“I’m not too sure about that, Your Majesty.”
Upon hearing Rhode’s words, Lydia let out a chuckle. Then, she lifted the cup of tea and sipped the delicious and fragrant red tea. She narrowed her eyes proudly, gazing slyly and meaningfully at the man opposite her.
“But… Your Majesty, I’m pretty sure they have their ways as wolves attract one another. Although I know you love domesticating animals, you have to be careful to not get bitten on your hand, okay? That will be really painful.”
“…”
This time, Rhode didn’t answer immediately to Lydia’s caution. Instead, he knitted his brows and pondered deeply for the meaning behind her words. It was apparent that the Country of Darkness was coming for him this time. Besides, according to Lydia, their target seemed to be an undead creature too. Currently, Rhode had three undead creatures on his side. s.h.i.+ra was definitely impossible and he wasn’t even sure if the Country of Darkness knew about her existence. What about Sara? No, the possibility wasn’t high. This Corpse Slave had been staying in the core region all day to monitor the territory and never interacted with outsiders. Besides, security measures in the core region were so strict that even the four legendary generals had to take the consequences. The only one left was…
Angelina?
Rhode was taken aback at this thought, but he had to admit that the chances were high. Angelina had strong desires for power and was a vampire. Even though Rhode trusted her to a certain degree, he forbade her from establis.h.i.+ng her own family. After all, vampires didn’t have a great reputation and their breeding method wasn’t suitable to be used in places of humans. Moreover, regardless of her contributions, Rhode knew that she was somewhat dissatisfied with his decision. In his reputation chart, Angelina was only on the ‘Respect’ level toward him. She was his first card spirit with such a low level of affection toward him. If the Country of Darkness was aiming for her… Yes… she might be a problem.
But it was a pity that Ion didn’t seem aware that Rhode and Angelina had signed a contract. This time, Rhode was sure that Ion would return with nothing. At this thought, Rhode felt rea.s.sured.
“Don’t worry, if the wolves don’t change their ways, I don’t mind teaching them a lesson.”
Rhode said, lifting his head and gazing at Lydia.
“Thank you, Your Highness Lydia. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have known about this.”
“Huhuhu, you flatter me, Your Majesty Rhode. I’m sure you’re aware of everything that is happening in the Void Territory, right?”
Lydia laughed at Rhode’s grat.i.tude. Then, she looked at him and winked playfully.
“Alright then, Your Majesty… since I have given you such interesting intelligence, don’t you think you should return the favor?”
“What you meant is…”
Rhode was slightly surprised. Upon observing his expression, Lydia revealed a cunning smile. She lifted a finger to her lips and made a pondering expression. After a few moments, as though making up her mind, she said with a smile.
“It is really simple, Your Majesty Rhode. I’m not asking for too much, so… how about a kiss?”
“This…”
Rhode was dumbfounded.