The Lake Goddess Witch Morgiana, the First Chosen of the Lake Nymphs, was her spokesperson in the mortal world. In a way, she was more powerful than the king. The dukes could disobey the king's orders, but when the Lake Goddess Witch came out to mediate, most of the dukes would obey her.
However, the Chosen of the Lake Goddess did not appear in front of people often. Her whereabouts were usually unpredictable. Sometimes she would guide the knights on the path of the Holy Grail, and sometimes she would do the same job as the prophets. In the name of the Lady of the Lake, she would guide people from the chaos in their hearts to the light, and lead people to avoid the terrible future.
However, these were not her most important job. The most important job of the Lake Goddess Witch was to search for children with magical talent and bring them back to the Lake Goddess. After that, these children would be guided to the kingdom of the Lake Goddess. The girls would be trained as prophets of the Lake Goddess to return to the mortal world, and the boys would disappear forever.
This actually involved a very dark secret. After visiting the Divine Kingdom of the Lake Nymphs, Ryan had already understood the whereabouts of these boys. The Lake Nymphs had a long-term trade agreement with the wood elves living in the forest, and the goods were these boys.
Although he had guessed the truth, Laing did not have any objections. Untrained children with magical talent were simply the guides of the Chaos Demons when they grew up. It would be a disaster to keep these guides. Moreover, the Lake Goddess did give these families a chance. Before a certain age, if these families could send their children to other spellcasters' organizations or simply to the Royal Wizard Academy of the Empire for training, the Lake Goddess would not stop them.
Compared to what the Tribunal did (all psionicists were either sacrificed to the Emperor or killed, and one of them was chosen from 10 to the Nth power for training), the Lake Goddess was already very kind.
So, what did the Witch of the Lake Goddess want from him? Laing immediately went to greet her.
In the small wine castle of the Jean Vineyard, Laing saw Morgiana. She was thinking about something. When she saw Laing, she smiled and said, "The Lady asked me to bring you something. It's the Lady's Champion. You don't have to refuse, just accept it."
"Uh... Okay!" Laing could only obey, but when the Baron confirmed what the Lake Goddess Witch had sent, the Baron was surprised, and then … happy.
The witch sent him 2000 crowns, five sets of knight equipment, 15 sets of furniture, 15 kilograms of wheat flour and 30 pairs of stockings.
The stockings produced by the Fairy Lake were all handmade by the Lake God's prophets using the fur of unicorns. These were truly high-end goods. Whether it was the elasticity or the touch, they were the best. Laing repeatedly thanked him. He was not modest and accepted all of them.
But … Why did the lady give me this? Could it be that my preferences have been … Yes, it seems that Veronica and I … She often looked at me, Laing thought bitterly.
"Laing Makado, your fate is shrouded in a terrifying fog. I can't see your future clearly, but the Lady believes that you are the kingdom's last hope. So, I have something to tell you." Morgiana looked at Laing with her green eyes. She looked rather similar to the Fairy of the Lake, but her facial features were more defined and she lacked the gentle beauty of the Fairy of the Lake.
"I will listen." Laing gestured for Morgiana to sit on the sofa on the second floor of the wine castle and sat opposite her.
As the champion of the Chosen of the Lake, he had the right to do so.
"Black, the black shadow is coveting this land. I see it. I see the World Tree crying. Chaos is corrupting this land. Our fate is like a candle in the wind, wavering." Morgiana muttered to herself. It didn't seem like she was talking to Laing at all. Her voice was filled with pessimism.
Laing frowned. He wondered if the person in front of him was really the Lady of the Lake.
"I don't understand what you mean, Your Highness Morgiana," Laing said in a low voice.
"… I have been troubled by a dark prophecy, but that's not what I want to talk about." Morgiana shook her head in pain. She then said, "I foresee that the Knight's War in the summer will be full of danger, and I saw your figure in the prophecy. Be careful, Lady of the Lake. Be careful."
"I understand. Please be careful, Your Highness Morgiana." Laing hesitated for a moment and said, "If you are really troubled, I may be able to help you."
"I don't need your help. I can control myself." As Laing expected, Morgiana flatly rejected Laing's kindness. To help her against the prophecy, Laing would definitely enter her mind. It was normal for her to refuse.
"I have other things to take care of. Please go ahead, Your Highness Laing." Morgiana did not stay for long. She sat down and said a few words. Then she left with the Lake Prophets. Nobody knew what she was going to do.
She had always been so mysterious.
Thinking of this, Laing called Emilia.
The little maid in a white maid uniform walked over. "Mr. Laing?"
"Emilia, I have something to tell you. I have already talked to Duke François. You can go to Vanford Academy and study with Miss Suria in the future!" Laing arranged.
"Huh? Mr. Laing, are you abandoning me? "Emilia's face turned pale.
"No, Helenhilde is only one or two hours away from here. It will only take about fifteen minutes to ride a pegasus. You can go to school there and come back here on weekends." Laing smiled and shook his head. "I don't think it is necessary for you to spend your time as a maid at your age. Go and study with Miss Suria. It will benefit you in the future."
"..." Emilia was moved.
It was not that the girl did not receive a proper education. She had to stop her studies because of some accidents. From the bottom of her heart, Emilia was still very willing to study. "Let's make it clear in advance, Mr. Laing. I will always be your maid."
"I know, I know. Don't worry, this will always be your home." Laing gave his promise. The little maid would report to the female knight in three days and then enter the academy as the recommendation of the female knight.
After sending Emilia away, the baron stood alone in front of the window and looked at his territory.
What happened today had made him realize that Brittany's productivity and war potential were very low under the classical political system of serfs and nobles.
The serfs lacked hope, they could not rise except in war, and they did not farm for their own sake, so they often formed the view that they would do whatever the Lord Knight told them to do, and that they would only exert sixty or seventy percent of their strength, and would never exert more than that.
Laing was already good. His tax rate was the same as Duke Vanford's, which was tithes. Therefore, the serfs in his territory were already relatively hardworking. It was hard to imagine what the serfs in other dukes' territories were like.
He still did not have the ability to challenge this system that had lasted for hundreds of years. He had just entered this country and had to establish a firm foothold first.
First, he had to build the infrastructure and stabilize the territory's environment. Then, Laing could write to Teresa and Veronica and invite them to come and help him. Laing was not sure if Teresa would be willing, but he believed that Veronica would come and help him. He also had a promise with her. After all, he had not had a woman by his side for several months. Laing was starting to miss the witch.
The baron sat in his office in the winery, dealing with various official affairs.
The knight's war in the summer was imminent. According to tradition, the Knight King's kingdom recruited soldiers on Midsummer every year. Laing's territory had a serious shortage of soldiers. This was not like the ancient Celestial Empire, where they could not be paid without paying. This was Laing's territory. He had to make up for the number of soldiers to ensure the safety of his territory.
His territory had around 1,000 households. With the recent migration of a few free people, there should be around 8,000 people in his territory. Therefore, Laing planned to recruit an army of 300 people.
The afternoon sun shone through the window on Laing's body. The baron was working diligently, just like his brother Gilman. Laing's ability to deal with internal affairs was also excellent. The geno prototype could multitask at the same time.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
"Come in!"
"Master! This is afternoon tea. " Dark Elf Olica walked in with refreshments and milk. Her long black silky hair was tied up with a white headscarf, and she wore a black-and-white maid outfit that gave her a "three-dimensional" feel. Her long legs were covered in white stockings and black leather boots.
"Olica? Come and sit next to me. " Laing signaled the dark elf maid to sit next to him. Olica sat next to Laing and said, "Master?"
"I have something to ask you." Laing told Olica about Morgiana. He frowned and said, "Under what circumstances do you think a Sacred spellcaster would be troubled by a dark prophecy?"
Before the dark elf's soul was damaged, she was a powerful spellcaster. She could provide Laing with plenty of advice.
"There are only two possibilities. The first possibility is that someone more powerful than her cursed her. The second possibility is that she tried to predict her own future and saw the end of her death." The dark elf thought for a while and told Laing her speculation. "Morgiana is the first Chosen of the Lady of the Lake. Even if she was cursed, the Lady of the Lake would not ignore it. So, the only possibility is that Morgiana predicted her own future."
"Future?" Laing immediately thought of his mission.
At the end, all things would wither.
Thinking of this, Laing was even more confused. Since the first Chosen of the Lake Goddess could predict the end, there was no reason why the Lady of the Lake could not do the same.
No, it was because she was a god that she could not predict. The greater the target of the prophecy, the greater the price to pay. Therefore, the Lady of the Lake could not predict the future of the entire world, nor could she predict her own future. Just to predict the future of the Knight King Kingdom, she almost exhausted her divine power.
So, did the Lady of the Lake know about Morgiana's situation?
It looked like he had to find a chance to ask her in private. There were many opportunities like this. The Lady of the Lake liked to come to Laing's place to see what her champion was doing. The man and the god often talked, so it was not difficult to find this opportunity.
In the state of working hard, time flew by quickly.
One day in late May, Brittany, deep in the Chalon Forest, in a mine.
Four King's Royal Guards in golden armor were carefully guarding every movement nearby. They monitored any movement outside. Any creature that appeared in their field of vision was killed on the spot.
Meanwhile, in the damp and deep mine, the Supreme Emperor and Leon stood facing each other. Golden light radiated from the Lord of Humans' body as endless power flowed into Leon's body. Any normal psionic would explode on the spot if they were injected with such power.
But Laing was fine. On the contrary, the geno prototype was trying hard to control its own power. The huge golden energy was converted by the gray knight body into the purest subspace energy.
The father and son were rebuilding the body of a fallen original.
This long process took a few days. Today, King and Laing completed the transformation of the fallen original.
The fallen original had already become a demon. It had lost its actual body. It had become a kind of energy. Laing wanted to reverse this process. He wanted to reverse his brother from this process. His soul and his spirit would be restored to how they were before they fell.
During this process, Laing could feel countless emotions.
Madness, bloodlust, depravity, sadness, hatred, and unwillingness.
The ceremony was over. A naked, bald man was lying on the stone floor. He was about 2.4 meters tall.
"It is done," King calmly said. "Probably in a while, Angelo will wake up."
"He seems to hate you, Father." Leon said softly, "I can feel his feelings. He feels that you've been unfair to him. You've shamed him so much that he'll never be able to recover."
"When I found him, I found out that he was already a badly damaged original." The human leader's face was like ice. "An original that had been seriously corrupted and depraved."
"What do you mean?" Laing was confused.
"When I found Angelo on that planet, I found out that he was no longer my son." Emperor frowned. He seemed to be contemplating if he should tell Ryan about this. But when he saw his beloved son's curious eyes, his father decided to tell the truth. "When we met, I noticed the changes in him. His teeth were completely replaced by metal, and there were all kinds of cables inserted into the back of his head. His entire brain had been implanted with a vicious device called 'Butcher's Nail'."
"The Butcher's Nail?"
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