Chapter 197: The Marshal's Retarded Fan
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After saying goodbye to the bishop, Ophra left the room. She was very graceful. Hao Ren searched his mind, and he finally remembered who this Marshal Ophra was.
Aside from the Church, which was influential but non-interfering, there were the three most powerful persons in the Kingdom of Holletta: the first was Mhoren, the incumbent king; the other two were his right hand men—Prince Hoffman, the chief public officer; and Marshal Ophra, also known as the Iron General, the best fighter in the kingdom.
That's right. The young lady who just left, she was the best fighter in the kingdom, theoretically.
Hao Ren had intel about the ruling class of the kingdom through various channels. He also knew about Marshal Ophra. But, he never thought that the powerful figure was a woman, and two years his junior. When he heard "the best fighter in the Kingdom", he was expecting to see a herculean, eight-feet villain—just like Y'zaks, better yet, with octopus tattoos on his arms.
He was a little stunned. Half a day had flown by before he came to his senses and accepted the fact that the one who had just left the room was one of the most powerful people in the Kingdom. The general of all the knights in the kingdom, and at the same time, not just young, but also a beautiful lady. Apart from her military-style demeanour, there was no way people could tell she was the best fighter.
"Behave... She's a VIP." Lily stuck her tongue out in astonishment. She glanced at Becky, then said, "Looks like you admire her quite a lot."
Becky nodded her head like she was on vibration mode. Even Hao Ren, who was standing nearby could feel her pride.
Hao Ren wanted to know more about Marshal Ophra. But, it looked like it was not the right time. Bishop Gelton was being left in the cold. He looked at the thin and feeble old man who could return to his creator anytime. "That's all we wanted to brief you about..."
The old man slowly nodded. His voice was weaker than before. "Thank you. The intel was timely and critical. Tomorrow, I'll send an ascetic to check out the landslide you mentioned in the mountains. Meanwhile, you might want to spend the night in town. I guess you guys are tired."
Hao Ren nodded. However, he had something else to say. "What about the rock monsters? Will they come into the town? We saw some monsters in the east of the trail. It seemed like they were going to the steppe. You may want to look out for them."
"The knights of the church and kingdom will handle that." The bishop waved. He did not find the need to share the information with them. After all, these mercenaries had just arrived, and Hao Ren knew that as well. So,he kept all his questions to himself. Meanwhile, something crossed Vivian's mind. "We're going to The Beinz Blood Lake. We may need to get a pass from you."
"The Holy Lake?" The bishop looked up at them, his face was full of wrinkles. "Ahh, you're mercenaries looking for the Orb of the Holy Synod. Are you sure you're still going?"
Hao Ren suddenly tensed up. "Is there anything wrong? Is it locked down?"
"No. Not yet." The bishop shook his head. "But, the situation near the Holy Lake isn't stable. Many mercenaries have returned. After the incident this afternoon, nobody knows what will happen there. It's not a good idea to go there now."
Something the bishop did not say and found inconvenient to mention: the missing of the Orb occurred two months prior. A lot happened within those two months. The situation near the Beinz Blood Lake had worsened, various unusual phenomena, which arose had overwhelmed the knights from the church as well as the kingdom. The Orb was now just one of the many problems. Searching for the Orb was...simply not their priority.
As a pious believer, he could not say it out with his own mouth.
Nangong Wuyue stepped forward. "We know it's risky. But, we've got to go there anyhow—we're searching for someone."
"Someone?" The bishop looked up.
"Let me explain..." Since it had come to this, Hao Ren thought he may as well tell the bishop about the mysterious woman. "...that she is. She may have been here about two days ago."
"I have no idea who you're talking about but, I can give you the pass." The bishop pulled out a form from a stack of documents on the table. He put down two official stamps on the pre-filled form and said, "May the goddess bless you and be with you."
They took the pass and left the bishop's room. The serious man,who led them there earlier was still standing outside, seemingly waiting for them. "I'll bring you lot to the knights' station. You can rest there."
For the past two months, mercenaries from all over the Kingdom had flocked to the town. All hotels and homestays had been fully booked, and many mercenaries had to stay at the two knights station.
Lily was always in her insanely happy-go-lucky mode. She had been wiggling around Hao Ren since they came out from the church. "The old man seems to be a nice guy. I thought the bishop would be an old-fashioned kind of person."
"Ahem..." Hao Ren coughed. But, it seemed like the black-robed monk did not respond. "It appears that the woman hasn't come to Leyton at all."
"How could she go to the Blood Lake without passing through Leyton?" Vivian looked at Becky.
"It's possible." Becky could not understand why they were so interested in the mysterious traveller, which they had not even met. Nonetheless, she still replied in all seriousness. "There's a route from the danger zone directly going through the twisted woodlands. It's safer to enter the Blood Lake region through the official route and the church watchhouse just outside the town. Most people take this route, which has regular patrol and clean-up, plus are tons of alarms on both sides of the road. Other routes through the twisted woodlands aren't safe—you could be attacked by beasts.
"Let's hope for the best." Hao Ren sincerely said a prayer for the otherworldly visitor, but he was not sure if he should have prayed in the name of Raven 12345. It was the biggest irony as a genuine "saint" himself: ordinary believers could pray with faith and be in peace irrespective of whether God listened or not. At least, they could do it without fear; but, Hao Ren himself who always had conversations with a god, did not really enjoy being honest. He was nervous with the sheer mention of the goddess' name because the goddess was no more normal than the husky...
Y'zaks stayed silent during the whole time in the church. Perhaps, he was not comfortable with the atmosphere inside. He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally got out. "Tell me...why would the marshal of a kingdom come to this place?"
The beautiful picture of Marshal Ophra kept appearing in Hao Ren's mind. Attractive women always had the ability to impart lasting impressions in a person's mind, especially a woman like her who possessed so many incredible qualities. But, Hao Ren was already a man of experience. He did not have any wishful thinking towards Marshal Ophra. All he thought about was how the positions and titles behind this woman looked at odds with her. "Perhaps, she's investigating the missing Orb incident... It's been a fuss. Anyway, I did not expect the marshal of this kingdom to be a woman."
"I knew you were discriminatory against women!" The admiration Becky had for Marshal Ophra was out of this world. She jumped to her feet. "What's wrong with young women? Are you having problems with age or gender? Let me tell ya, women fighters are just as awesome. I'm a fine example of that. And who the hell told you Marshal Ophra's young? She's at least a few hundred years old..."
"A few hundred years old?!" Hao Ren was stunned. "She's not human?"
"Marshal Ophra's a descendent of the ancient seed." Becky stared at Hao Ren. "The Northern Empire must be damn ignorant to have such a weirdo like you."
"Ancient seed! Whoa...ancient seed." Hao Ren laughed slyly. "It's fine, it's fine. You're her admirer!"
"Of course I am." Becky's eyes were almost gleaming with a green glow. "There are no female mercenaries who don't admire her. She's a legendary female fighter. It's said that she was the hero who successfully suppressed a few revolts at the border a few hundred years ago. Since she came into being, she has been the sword instructor of the Holletta Royalty. How awesome is that, right?"
Hao Ren did not know a thing. He was just shrewly laughing.
It was impossible to communicate with Becky under such circumstances.