Although Becky talked a lot about the marshal along the way, Hao Ren was not interested in it. In his opinion, it had nothing to do with his mission, and he did not think he would have anything to do with a heroine from a different world.
But whether he was interested or not, he knew a lot about the legendary general, Ophra.
Speaking of the general, it was necessary to first mention the so-called "Ancients", which was a new term that Hao Ren heard tonight. Because he could not find an excuse to ask about the Ancients, he could only roughly infer about the race based on Becky's description. The Ancients seemed to be a special race similar to humans, and they lived with humans most of the time. They were rare, distributed all over the world, and had no cultural system of their own. It could be said that they were a race that had completely assimilated and coexisted with humans. The biggest difference between the Ancients and ordinary humans was that they had a long lifespan and excellent combat ability. They were far better than ordinary people in all aspects, from body to spirit. Many Ancients had become heroes in history, and Ophra was just one of them. She was the most famous one in the past few hundred years.
Other than that, Hao Ren had no idea about the origin of the name Ancients and why they had all these characteristics.
Marshal Ophra was the most active descendant of the Ancients in the past few hundred years. She first became active hundreds of years ago, when the King of Holletta was the famous "Iron Hand King" Geddon III. When Geddon III was crowned king, the Kingdom of Holletta was experiencing a crisis of change and turmoil. The oldest kingdom on the continent welcomed the impact of modern alchemy and new academic trends. The new folk alchemy workshop development and production model challenged the old royal magic research institute. More and more advanced technologies began to be created by the people instead of controlled by the royal magic team. This led to the opposition between the nobles and the new citizens, and at the same time, the opposition between the new nobles and the conservative nobles among the nobles. Such a situation was inevitable in the face of large-scale social progress in a feudal dynasty that was too old and huge to avoid. At the same time, the new small countries around the Kingdom of Holletta quickly adopted a variety of new technologies and social forms. They left the old and bloated kingdom behind in a very short period of time, at least in terms of technology.
The Kingdom of Holletta was not as gentle as it was now (at least on the surface). At that time, Holletta retained the nature of the continent's most powerful and old hegemon, and had many enemies around it. So after the coronation of Geddon III, the kingdom faced the biggest crisis in history: the old ruling class in the country was splitting, social order was gradually getting out of control of the royal family, and the old-fashioned royal advisers were at a loss in the face of new social problems. At least, there were at least a dozen of new technological countries around the kingdom ready to flatten the kingdom.
That was when Ophra appeared.
There were many versions of the legend. The story of how a new king and an ancient civilian got to know each other and how they became firm comrades was always a favorite topic among historians and playwrights. As a die-hard fan of Marshal Ophra and a standard gossip girl, Becky admired the playwrights' version: Geddon III, in his prime, was touring his kingdom, looking for a solution to the turbulent situation in the country. He traveled to the eastern part of the kingdom and was ambushed by a long-planned assassination.
At that time, Marshal Ophra, who was still an ordinary adventurer (back then, adventurers and single mercenaries were not as distinct as they are now), stepped forward and fought side by side with Geddon III, saving the fate of the entire kingdom.
The ambitious young king and the young female knight, who was waiting to be recognized by a wise ruler, had an encounter of fate. From then on, they walked side by side, cutting their way through the turbulent times of the kingdom. Geddon III stood his ground against the opinions of the masses, and under the pressure of the old nobles, he conferred the title of the young female knight, who did not have a noble bloodline, as a new noble, and handed over his kingdom's sword to his confidante. One of them was talented and bold, and the other was skilled in military strategy. Thus, they calmed all the crises in the kingdom, resolved the internal conflicts, established a new ruling order, and suppressed all the hostile forces around them.
From that day on, the famous Iron General of the Kingdom of Holletta began to protect the land. It had been 435 years since then.
Any qualified playwrights knew that something else had happened: Geddon III and Ophra started dating from the first episode, and they were still not together even after reaching level 40. The story ended with Geddon III holding Ophra's hand as he lay on his sickbed. "My reign should come to an end in two days. You must see my son being crowned king..."
Becky told the story with sparkling eyes. Hao Ren felt that the last paragraph was probably written by some stupid writer. It might have been widely circulated among the circle of unmarried female mercenaries, but if you dared to talk about it in court, you would be guilty of breaking the law first and asking questions later.
In short, Hao Ren knew about the glorious deeds of Marshal Ophra. He knew that she was the most legendary heroine in the country. As a descendant of the Ancients, Ophra had been the Marshal of the kingdom for more than 400 years. During this period, she had gone through several ups and downs and more than a dozen succession of kings. She was still the first military officer of Holletta and the martial arts teacher of every crown prince. This was incredible to Hao Ren. It was hard for him to imagine how such a fierce person could be so loyal to a dynasty for 400 years. It was also hard to imagine how the royal family of Holletta could maintain absolute trust in Ophra after more than a dozen succession of kings. Perhaps this heroine did have some sort of relationship with the talented and bold Iron Fist King.
Everyone had witnessed the dispute between the marshal and the bishop today. It seemed that they had a disagreement about the Orb of the Holy Synod and some matters related to religious interpretation. Unfortunately, Hao Ren did not know how to find out the reason for the dispute at the moment.
They rested in Leyton for the night and set out for the Beinz Blood Lake early the next morning.
The martial law in the town was still in place. The energy stored in the underground facilities of the church and the church mages stationed here were enough to ensure that the protective shield over the town could be maintained for a long time. No one knew how long this martial law would last. Hao Ren was very concerned about the troublesome rock monsters. He did not know if the local knights could solve this problem, but the bishop seemed to be very confident. He had probably informed the higher-ups of the changes in the area through the church channels. Soon, the huge national machinery and religious power would be activated. It was better to trust the ability of the big shots to deal with the crisis.
Ordinary horses were easily affected by the magic around the Beinz Blood Lake and became easily frightened and irritable. So Hao Ren and the others left the rented horses in the town. There was also a horse transfer point in the town for mercenaries, so they did not have to worry about the animals. They set foot on the main road from the exit on the west side of the town. They could only walk for a long time. Fortunately, they were quite close to their destination, so it was not too far.
"The Gnarled Grove is right in front of us." Becky was still at the front of the team. She pointed to the magenta in the distance and reminded them loudly, "Stay alert. Try not to use magic when you go in. If you encounter a magical beast, finish the battle as soon as possible. Most of the monsters in there are very sensitive to magic. It's easy to gather in a large group."
"Got it." Hao Ren replied. Lily and Vivian had been in shapeshifting mode since they left the town. It was necessary to be vigilant as they were about to enter the dangerous zone where magical beasts roamed. Vivian's bat was hovering more than 100 meters above the team, monitoring the road ahead. Lily sniffed to make sure there was no suspicious smell nearby. Nangong Wuyue looked at Becky who was leading the way. She remembered seeing two groups of wounded mercenaries retreating from the direction of the forest when they left the town in the morning. "You didn't have to follow us. You could have just brought us to Leyton and completed the task."
"Are you trying to say that it's dangerous ahead?" Becky, of course, knew what Nangong Wuyue meant. She had also seen the other mercenaries who had just retreated from the Beinz Blood Lake. "I've asked. They just encountered ordinary magical beasts and suffered a little. The situation around the Blood Lake is not as bad as the bishop said. And I always keep my word. I said I would bring you to the lake, and I will definitely bring you to the lake. I still want to try my luck and see if I can find any treasures along the way. "
Hao Ren smiled and decided to bring the honest lady a tablet the next time he came. After all, Raven 12345 would reimburse him for it.
After entering the Gnarled Grove, Hao Ren immediately felt the atmosphere was different.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
