Transcendent Dawn

Autumn.

The world is golden, a cavalry team slowly travels across the Golden Plains.

“The king’s territory was once prosperous, but after successive wars, it is now completely barren…”

The Messiah looks at the abandoned farmland by the roadside, feeling stifled.

She now understands that the potential of a fiefdom can only be measured by population, food, and steel.

However, at this point in time, the royal territory is in such a state, which is a massive blow to her.

“The citizens in the royal territory have had a hard time these past few years… Firstly, they had to confront the chaos in the Capital. Just when things had somewhat stabilized, the rule of the false king was overthrown.”

Su Lu shakes his head, coming to his territory as a lord.

“Hm?”

To his surprise, the situation here is quite decent. Besides several buildings that were obviously reconstructed, there is still some sign of life.

Inside the manor of the lord.

“Master…”

Upon sighting the convoy, Ham rides his horse over to inspect. Spotting Su Lu, he immediately dismounts to greet him joyfully, “You have finally returned!”

“Didn’t I told you to evacuate?”

Su Lu places a hand on his forehead.

“This is your hereditary territory after all…” Ham awkwardly scratches his head. “Moreover… apart from the period when the Duke of the North Territory had announced a fierce manhunt, forcing me to hide, everything else has been fine.”

He excitedly tells Su Lu. “Master, there are two other people you weren’t expecting in the manor as well.”

“Oh?”

Su Lu smiles and moves beside the carriage behind him, “Your Majesty, how about we rest in my territory tonight?”

“Very well!”

The Messiah raises the curtain, looking at the Free Territory that, though desolate, was already far better than other places. For a moment, she appears to be lost.

She had once visited this territory. Comparing its current state with her memory, she was grateful that it still retained some energy.

Upon arriving at the manor, the moment she walked through the main entrance, two young men came forward, one thin and the other tall and sturdy. They were Ruff and Yoen.

“Master!”

Guilt forms on their faces, seemingly apologizing for their previous departure without bidding farewell. It would be difficult to guess that they had turned into undercover spies.

“You two?”

Su Lu gives them a blank stare: “Well… It’s good that you’re back. This territory will eventually be inherited by Ham. Any objections?”

“No, your decision is very correct, Master!”

After a glance with each other, Yoen and Ruff immediately shake their heads.

“Very good. Prepare bread and clean water. Our convoy will rest here for the night.”

As the local lord, Su Lu naturally issues commands.

“Yes, Master!”

The two of them reply promptly and exit.

As night falls.

“This is… truly dull…”

Su Lu yawns, exiting Ruff’s Mental Secret Realm.

Unquestionably, this guy already leans towards the Grand Duke of the Black Castle. In Ruff’s heart, Su Lu even sensed a deep resentment.

Because he was not bestowed the territory, resentment was birthed?

This discovery made Su Lu amused for a moment.

But all sorts of people exist in the world, he had no interest in meddling with his affairs.

On the contrary, having these two ‘undercovered spies’ around, saves him a lot of trouble.

After some thought he removed any trace of his previous visit, and further hypnotized Ruff and Yoen to forget about this incident. He finally planted a curse inside their minds before departing.

“I…”

In the darkness, Ruff, lying flat down, breaks out in a cold sweat, struggling incessantly.

In his dream, he saw a peculiar humanoid figure.

The figure wore a silver-white mask, calmly descending a flight of stairs, instilling a strong sense of danger.

Though he tried to escape, he could not.

Suddenly, he woke up with a start, scanning his surroundings: “It was just a dream!”

Ruff breathes heavily, gingerly gets out of bed and leaves his room.

Like a thief, he familiarly sneaks out of the manor, runs to a distant grove, and throws out an object: “Go… bring this information to the Duke!”

A green squirrel appears from the tree branches, grabs the paper ball Ruff threw out, and promptly disappears.

On his way back, Ruff becomes alert: “Who’s there?”

“It’s me!”

Yoen walks out from another direction, appearing not the least bit embarrassed.

“It’s you…”

Ruff opens his mouth, originally intending to inquire about the nightmare, but he held back.

He feels that if he reveals to Yoen, he feels guilty about betraying his master to the point of having nightmares. It would be an utter humiliation!

This is precisely why, he lost his last chance at redemption.

“The strength of everyone here has been assessed. There is only one team of a hundred men, mainly knights loyal to the queen. Shaker and the Duke of the Western Region, while Silver Eye is leading the troops to catch up…”

Yoen says in a muted voice.

“Ham is really easy to deceive. As expected of a fool.”

Ruff scoffs.

“Because of you, I lost a friend.” Yoen tightens his fist, his face turns slightly red.

“But we will gain more, as long as the plan is successfully implemented… We will always stand on the winning side.” Ruff says, “This is a principle I realized during gambling.”

“Let’s go, we should not arouse suspicion.”

Yoen pauses for a moment before replying.

The next day, it is sunny.

The whole of Dragon City appears in front of Su Lu and his party. The streets are festooned with colorful decorations and evident repairs have been carried out.

“Welcome back, Your Majesty!”

A nobleman in a purple robe awaits at the entrance: “I am Henry Robert, the Public Security Officer of the Capital assigned by the Grand Duke of the Black Castle. It is an honor to serve you!”

Henry bows respectfully.

The Messiah, on the other hand, snorts coldly: “Alright, bring me to meet this ‘Right Honorable Prime Minister’.”

Her voice carries a note of mockery.

The position of Security Chief of the Capital can only be appointed by the King or Prime Minister. From her perspective, this is a condition proposed by the Grand Duke of the Black Castle—to become the Prime Minister of the Kingdom!

Objectively speaking, the price is not high and within her acceptable range. However, the attitude is quite displeasing.

‘Messiah is still bound by cognitive biases… Because at this juncture, there is no advantage to Black Castle Duke in opposing her… A true politician should not be striving to topple and tarnish the true ruler, instead, they should be maximizing the use of their power…’

‘It’s a pity… Immon can hardly be considered a normal person.’

Su Lu silently remarks in his heart.

“Of course, the Prime Minister is awaiting your presence in the palace…”

Henry bows deeply once again.

“Let’s go.”

The Messiah leads the way.

Many knights guard her, all in bright armor, full of pride.

Some of them are Wandering Knights, others were originally members of the royal knights. They consecutively swore allegiance to the queen, placing their bets on Messiah in this chaotic era.

At this point, the bet they placed earlier was about to reap a rich reward!

Once everyone enters the city, Su Lu looks back abruptly.

He realizes that the gates of Dragon City are slowly closing, giving off an ominous feeling.