The Chancellor of the Cape Kingdom, Caudic, went to negotiate with the Demon King’s army at the Northern Border as promised. Of course, rather than negotiations, it was more akin to a surrender.
However, the Royal Capital was still in a jubilant celebration, as people believed that after this surrender, Caudic would bring peace between humans and the Demon Clan, an achievement that had not been realized for thousands of years. With the Chancellor of the Kingdom taking charge, everyone felt honored, especially as the bards hired by Caudic glorified him, portraying him as a figure of admiration, akin to the heroes of legendary epics.
The young Princess Claire and the current student council president of the Royal Academy, Caroline, also followed Caudic to the Northern Border.
Perhaps because Claire was eager to see Lena’s face layered with hope and pain, she detached herself from Caudic’s group midway and made a beeline for Graywhite Territory.
On a grand ship adorned with the royal double-headed lion emblem, Claire awoke early and gazed towards Graywhite Territory.
Initially, Claire was prepared to witness the ridicule of Lena’s territory, but upon looking at the harbor, which had undergone several expansions and hardly resembled what a viscount’s domain should have, she momentarily wondered if she had woken up improperly and needed to get some more sleep.
Caroline frowned beside her and indignantly said:
“Does a harbor need to be built that large? It must be that disgraceful noble Lena has conscripted the people to build this harbor, and it’s certainly just so the Lars Family can transport their plunder more quickly!”
Although Claire felt something was off, she nodded, “I heard this harbor was built with the help of Duke Lars, so it’s not surprising. After all, considering the timeline, Graywhite Territory should only be at the level of a wild campsite now; there shouldn’t be a harbor of this scale.”
In fact, the harbor on the Tears River was also partly funded by Viscount Jefferson downstream. As the territory developed, Graywhite needed more daily goods, leading to increased trade with Fasen Town.
Additionally, Lind had been fiddling with gunpowder and cement from a previous life, resulting in continuous small boats transporting alchemical materials back and forth between Graywhite and Fasen Town, causing the original harbor to become slightly overwhelmed.
Though Lind did not intend to modify the harbor as long as it could serve its purpose, the merchants of Fasen Town and Viscount Jefferson could no longer stand by and decided to fund an expansion for Graywhite.
There should have been numerous cargo ships on the Tears River, but since today was the Princess’s visit, the considerate Jefferson temporarily halted cargo transport for a day to clear the way for Her Highness, creating a misconception for Claire that Graywhite was naturally so desolate.
As the fleet slowly approached Graywhite Territory, Claire and Caroline finally noticed something peculiar—not only was Graywhite still essentially a small camp with tents scattered everywhere, but a significant number of grayish-white buildings had sprouted along the riverbank in such a short time.
“Damn that disgraceful noble! Does she not realize that rushing to build houses like that in such a short period would leave countless families torn apart?” Caroline said through clenched teeth. Such constructions could not be completed without using alchemical materials; it surely meant Lena was frantically conscripting the people. Otherwise, expensive alchemical materials were used, which Caroline believed were also taken from the impoverished citizens, resulting in the same outcome.
Naturally, those multi-story houses in the territory were not in abundance. It wasn’t until Claire and Caroline neared the shore that they saw that aside from these multi-story buildings, there were more simple small houses.
However, even these small houses were mostly stone-built and uniformly styled. Coupled with the grayish-white color tone and orderly layout, Claire inexplicably felt a sense of oppression.
As the fleet gradually came closer, Claire and Caroline also spotted the massive turning waterwheels. Having only seen them from a distance, they were unclear on what those waterwheels were for, but Caroline immediately remarked, “A waste of time!”
Claire nodded in agreement, but the immense waterwheels gave Claire a strange sense of unease. For some reason, watching those turning waterwheels made her feel an unsettling feeling.
These machines, which required no magic power, made Claire a bit scared, yet she couldn’t pinpoint what exactly she feared.
At this moment, Lind had been waiting at the harbor with Lena for a long time. Although Lena appeared very excited, Lind was extremely vigilant.
Claire Augustine, a hidden boss in the game, merely stood on the side of the female protagonist.
It can be said that without Claire, the female protagonist would have had no opportunity to meet the Fourth Prince, and Lena would not have fallen into such a plight.
However, as the most directly affected victim of Claire’s schemes, Lena was completely unaware of this reality. Even after being sold out, she still counted money for Claire and regarded her as a sister. Even Lena’s fantasy of reaching the Royal Capital to request the royal family’s assistance on her behalf primarily referred to Claire.
Watching Claire slowly descend from the ship, Lena, whose etiquette class had not actually passed, nearly rushed up to embrace her. However, Lind had anticipated this and reached out to stop Lena.
“Long time no see, Princess Claire.”
In response to Lena’s warm greeting, Claire returned a standard courteous response. However, seeing the unabashed smile on Lena’s face made Claire feel as unpleasant as if she had eaten sugar made from flies.
Most importantly, that smile did not reflect happiness for her arrival but rather genuine joy, which displeased Claire deeply.
This was different from the script she had envisioned! Lena should have been begging her like a desperate hope upon her arrival, seeking to persuade her to take her to the Royal Capital, only for Claire to ruthlessly refuse and completely shatter Lena’s last hope.
Why did it seem that Lena appeared to be quite happy waiting at the border?
Meanwhile, Caroline was observing her surroundings, trying to find evidence of Lena, this disgraceful noble, exploiting the common people.
It would be best to find a scene from the magical scroll to accomplish the task assigned by Chancellor Caudic, to expose the ugly state of the Northern Border before the Academy crowd.
While Claire acted deeply affectionate towards Lena, she secretly observed Lind, pondering what kind of magic power this man possessed to keep Lena lingering in the Northern Border.
Lind also noticed Claire’s gaze and started to feel wary. This individual was certainly no innocent white lotus. While he didn’t know why Claire had such deep-seated hostility towards Lena in the game, it was imperative that Lena, as the biggest patron and military strength of Graywhite Territory, remain unharmed.
Although Lena enthusiastically introduced both sides, Lind and Claire merely exchanged brief greetings before heading toward the reception embassy.
The walk was not long, but Claire increasingly felt a surge of anxiety.
Was Duke Lars’s affection for Lena at such an extent? Had he used all the treasured alchemical materials of the Lars Family to facilitate the construction of Lena’s territory?
In just a few months, Graywhite Territory had transformed from a barren land that had nothing into a viscount’s domain scale, likely even larger and more affluent.
Not to mention, Claire noticed that most of the residents she saw along the way wore shoes.
What does wearing shoes signify? Even in the Royal Capital, many in the surrounding suburbs could not afford them.
Ordinary families that could wear shoes would only choose to do so on holidays or during prayer events.
However, most of the shoes worn in Graywhite could not have been luxurious items like leather boots that ordinary people could not purchase; they were likely simple straw or cloth shoes, but that was still enough for Claire to sense something was amiss.
After all, people only consider covering their feet when their purchasing power is sufficient.
Moreover, the price of shoes isn’t cheap; in some noble territories, it is a crime for the poor or serfs to possess a single pair, as for nobles, under their heavy oppression, ordinary people could hardly afford them. If an ordinary person had a pair of shoes, then that person either concealed wealth without paying taxes or earned money through illegal activities, so arresting them would definitely be justified.
Though it was a crude gauge, it was indeed a very practical judgment standard for the nobles of the Cape Kingdom.
