Chapter 386 - 289: I Must Assemble the Troops Immediately

After a while, Rellana's emotions finally settled down somewhat.

She took a deep breath, picked up her helmet and held it in her arms, then walked to the door and clapped her hands.

Several attendants soon entered the room and quickly cleaned up the remains of the table.

Fortunately, the quality of this table and chairs was far from ordinary. The materials and workmanship were both first-rate, and there were no replacements available for the time being.

Luckily, Rellana had no need to handle any official business right now, so not having a table was not much of a problem.

Since Rellana had smashed the table to pieces, Messmer, who had originally been leaning against it, shifted back and leaned against the back of his chair.

Messmer's expression was also rather solemn now as he thought about everything he had just heard.

He had actually already heard about the events in the Lands Between from Miquella.

But even so, Messmer had listened seriously from beginning to end when Lucian recounted everything just now.

Hearing the same events from another source also allowed him to confirm whether there were any discrepancies in the information.

Unexpectedly, Messmer discovered that what Miquella had told him about the Lands Between was almost exactly the same as what Lucian had described. Everything was true.

Although some of the wording differed because the two accounts came from different people, the major events all lined up.

It seemed Miquella had not lied to him back then.

Lucian looked at the silent couple sitting across from him and felt somewhat helpless.

He had already guessed that Rellana would react this way when he started explaining everything, and now the atmosphere was indeed a little awkward.

Still, after learning all of this, Rellana had probably already made up her mind to return to the Lands Between.

Lucian was not in any hurry to urge her. It was better to wait until she had calmed down before bringing it up.

While waiting, Lucian turned his head toward Melina.

After the exchange of glances they had just had, the job of revealing this cruel truth had ultimately been pushed onto Lucian.

And when Melina met Lucian's slightly reproachful gaze, she very naturally turned her head away in silence.

She was not particularly good at dealing with situations like this, so it was better to leave it to the reliable Lucian.

A flash of blue light passed over Rellana's body.

It was the Carian Knights' sorcery, Calm.

After completely settling her emotions, Rellana sat back down in her chair and spoke to Lucian.

"I know what happened to Caria."

"Please, you must let me accompany you to the Lands Between."

Lucian nodded and agreed.

"All right."

"Then we can leave whenever you're ready."

This was exactly the result he had wanted, so naturally there was no reason for him to hesitate.

Rellana nodded, but she did not immediately get up to leave.

"Then please continue telling me what happened. I am also rather interested in what came afterward."

Up until now, the story of the Lands Between had more or less stopped at the Shattering.

In other words, it had stopped around the time before Lucian arrived.

Amid the chaos of the Shattering, the Academy's decision to close itself off had already covered most of Rennala's story.

Since there was no longer any need to worry about her sister's safety, Rellana wanted to understand clearly what had happened afterward as well.

Messmer also turned his head toward Lucian and silently waited to listen.

The story would soon reach Lucian and Melina's own experiences, and he still did not know those details very well either.

Lucian nodded and was just about to continue when Melina suddenly gave him a look.

Melina cleared her throat twice and took the initiative to speak.

"If Lucian tells those stories himself, it might sound a little too much like he is praising himself."

"So from here on, I will tell you about everything we experienced along the way."

——

As Melina recounted her journey with Lucian from beginning to end, Messmer's expression became increasingly strange.

There was no denying that Lucian's accomplishments in the Lands Between were truly astonishing.

It would not be an exaggeration to call his record of achievements spectacular.

One powerful demigod after another had fallen along the way, Great Runes had been claimed, and the territory of the Lands Between had been conquered bit by bit.

Even if some of his enemies had been somewhat weaker, his experiences could still be called a repeat of Godfrey's rise.

With strength like his, achieving such things might seem only natural...

But the problem was...

The thing that shocked Messmer now was this:

How had Lucian acquired such strength?!

When Messmer learned that Lucian had returned to the Lands Between as an unknown nobody who was so rusty that he was barely familiar with fighting, and had then fought his way to his current level of strength in less than two years, he silently covered his face with one hand.

Messmer stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, feeling as though his entire understanding of the world was about to collapse.

Was this even human?

No wonder Melina had been made to tell the story.

If Lucian had told it himself, Messmer would have had no way to believe any of it.

This was already beyond what the word "genius" could explain.

Anyone capable of reaching this level of strength was undoubtedly extraordinarily talented.

Messmer did not even remember how long it had taken him to reach his current level.

But he knew that, at his present level, advancing any further had already become extremely difficult.

He could spend decades or even centuries standing in the same place, barely managing to advance by even a little.

Yet Lucian's age was not even a fraction of the age of anyone else present.

And now Lucian's strength had actually surpassed his own, as if Lucian simply had no bottleneck capable of stopping him.

How exactly had he done it...?

Even if Lucian had Melina by his side and could convert runes into power, this rate of growth was still absurdly fast.

Even if he had spent every waking moment killing people and taking their runes, was this amount of time really enough?

Give Lucian another two years, and was he going to head into the stars and start slapping the Outer Gods around...?

Messmer suddenly did not dare continue thinking about it.

His brother-in-law seemed to be a little too ridiculous.

As for Rellana, although she was equally astonished by Lucian's achievements, that was not where her attention lay.

As the story continued to unfold, Rellana's expression toward Melina gradually became gentler.

Ever since she learned that Melina had been reborn through the power of her sister, Rellana found herself liking the girl more and more.

She even felt that Melina really did look somewhat similar to her sister's children.

After recounting everything they had experienced along the journey, Melina let out a long breath.

She still had a little selfish motive of her own.

She wanted her brother to understand just how exceptional Lucian was.

But judging from his expression now, it seemed she might have gone a little too far...

Rellana stood up and put her helmet back on.

"Now that the story is finished, we can leave."

Only then did Messmer come back to his senses.

He turned to Rellana and said,

"Take Caria's army with thee."

"On the one hand, they may aid thee in gathering thy people once more, and in rebuilding Caria anew."

"On the other hand… shouldst thou happen to cross paths with any old enemies against whom thou bearest a grudge, thou mayest settle such accounts then and there."

Lucian's expression became somewhat complicated when he heard this.

Although everything above the Altus Plateau was currently hostile territory, there were actually not many enemies left below the plateau.

The Carian royal family's two great enemies were the Academy of Raya Lucaria and the Cuckoo forces.

The Academy had already been brought under Lucian's control, while the Cuckoos had fled Liurnia.

If the Carian army came over now, they probably would not even be able to find anyone to take revenge on.

Fortunately, the Cuckoos were not completely dead yet. They had merely fled up to the Altus Plateau.

Since this was revenge for Caria, Lucian could simply hand the Cuckoos over to the Carian army when they eventually went up to the plateau, letting the Carian soldiers vent their anger.

That would certainly satisfy Rellana.

The Cuckoos were already nothing more than disposable trash that could be wiped out whenever he wanted. If eliminating them could also bring some political benefits, then all the better.

Hearing Messmer's suggestion, Rellana hesitated.

For a moment, she could not make up her mind.

If she wanted to rebuild the Carian royal family, having only herself would certainly not be enough.

Back then, it was not as though she had conquered everything simply by leading a group of Carian Knights.

There had also been countless ordinary soldiers fighting alongside them.

There were also Caria's allies: the trolls, the wolves, and the dragons. All of them had played major roles in the establishment of the Carian royal family.

Even if things were no longer what they had once been, and there were no major enemy forces standing against Caria anymore, rebuilding the kingdom would naturally require a great deal of manpower.

The problem was that Castle Ensis occupied a special geographical position. It was a crucial fortress connecting the roads leading into the Realm of Shadow.

Rellana thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

"No. Not for now."

"If I take all the soldiers stationed here with me, then Shadow Keep..."

Messmer lightly hooked a strand of Rellana's hair around his finger and said casually,

"That is quite all right."

"The soldiers of Shadow Keep shall take their place instead."

"They have had precious little to occupy them for a great while now. A little marching and moving about may do them some good."

"Besides… what enemies could the Land of Shadow possibly have left to trouble us now…?"

After the end of the crusade, the Hornsent had completely lost their ability to fight back. No matter what they did, they could never muster the courage to provoke Castle Ensis.

As for the other factions in the surrounding regions, they had already been living peacefully with them for a long time. There was no chance they would suddenly come looking for trouble.

Messmer paused, then suddenly remembered one troublesome fellow and continued.

"As for Miquella… that matter is of no concern."

"His powers are most unusual. Even were we to leave Caria's army behind, I doubt they would avail thee much against him."

"Besides, I shall henceforth seek out his whereabouts with mine own hands. We may as well regard it as a game of cat and mouse."

"So go forth, and take the Carian soldiers with thee."

"After all… that land is their homeland as well, is it not?"

After hearing Messmer's words, Rellana let out a soft sigh.

Their homeland...

That was something she owed the Carian soldiers.

At this point, Rellana no longer had any reason to refuse. She nodded and agreed.

Indeed, she had overlooked the soldiers' own thoughts. Her mind had been filled with nothing but herself.

The Carian royal family was not only her homeland. It was also the homeland of those soldiers, the place where their hearts belonged.

Back then, so many Carian soldiers had followed Rellana through one campaign after another, throwing themselves into a crusade that offered them no glory whatsoever.

They were all fiercely loyal subjects, which was why they had followed her there.

But after the crusade ended, those Carian soldiers had been abandoned here as well.

The plan to seal away the Realm of Shadow could not possibly have been revealed to them.

After all, even someone of Rellana's standing had only learned the truth ahead of time because she had personally entered the game and become involved in it.

And the main reason for that was because she was Rennala's younger sister.

For political reasons, Queen Marika could not simply seal Rellana away without giving her any warning.

If there was now a chance for them to return to Caria, there probably would not be a single soldier among them who would refuse.

Rellana nodded and headed toward the city gates.

"You are right. The soldiers really should return to their homeland."

"I brought them here in the past. Now, I should be the one to lead them home."

She had to assemble the troops immediately.

——

At her call, all of the Carian soldiers throughout Castle Ensis were mobilized.

After gathering outside Castle Ensis, the Carian army, still unaware of what was about to happen, began marching toward the Gravesite Plain in a grand procession.

Messmer's soldiers stationed near the bridge watched the Carian army pass before them, their faces filled with confusion and suspicion.

This kind of mobilization...

Was the crusade about to begin again?

Before long, everyone led the army along the main road and arrived at the place where they had been transported when they first entered the Realm of Shadow.

Looking at the completely empty gap between the cliffs, both Messmer and Rellana were puzzled.

Wasn't there supposed to be a way back?

Why couldn't they see anything?

Lucian offered no explanation.

He simply walked forward and approached the vicinity of the invisible passage.

The veil sealing away the Realm of Shadow had a physical presence. It really had completely divided and sealed off the central continent.

In Lucian's eyes, this layer of sealing around the Land of Shadow was like a material capable of contracting.

Although Miquella had pierced a hole through it, allowing the two spaces to connect and making teleportation between them possible, the properties of the seal caused the opening to close back up.

It did not leave behind any obvious passage.

So even though the passage truly existed, from the Land of Shadow's side, it looked as though the seal had simply "healed itself."

Within Mohgwyn Palace, Miquella had used a substitute body to anchor the passage, essentially turning it into a portal.

He had not been kind enough to build a return portal on the Land of Shadow's side, though.

Although the two spaces were connected now and the seal no longer served its function of isolating them, making teleportation possible, not everyone was capable of using Sites of Grace.

What Lucian needed to do now was find the passage on the Land of Shadow's side as well and anchor it in place.

Once that was done, the two anchor points could function like the two ends of a magical teleportation gate, allowing people to travel between them without obstruction.

Finding a spatial passage like this was certainly not an easy task.

It simply wasn't difficult for Lucian anymore.

Warm, blazing sunlight gradually appeared around Lucian.

The gentle flames slowly condensed and solidified.

The next moment, Lucian's head had already been replaced by a miniature sun filled with divine power.

Once the sun rose, Lucian borrowed its power, which could pierce through all darkness, and quickly located the ethereal spatial rift.

The Frenzied Flame extended from his left hand, instantly becoming the most convenient tool for the job.

Lucian aimed his left hand at empty space and suddenly clenched it.

Space immediately twisted, as though it had genuinely been seized in the palm of his hand.

With a forceful sweep of his hand, a deep rift appeared before everyone.

The surrounding space continuously attempted to restore itself.

At this point, Lucian could only locate the rift. He still could not conveniently move the passage itself, so he had no choice but to cut a huge chunk of rock from the cliff and place it in front of the rift.

Golden patterns resembling the sun were gradually carved into the enormous stone.

At last, the teleportation gate was complete.

Lucian released his grip.

Everything returned to normal, leaving behind only the glowing teleportation stone.

"There. The road is right here."