Chapter 1582: It’s Our Turn to Work
When vassals pledge allegiance to their lords, there is indeed a swearing-in ceremony to prevent betrayal. This oath has been refined many times throughout history, with hundreds of vows that would fill several meters of paper if written down.
The oath is certified by magic or divine spells, and the oath-taker cannot violate their vows. If they forcibly act against their vow, the most severe consequence could be immediate death.
Among these vows, a crucial rule is that vassals are not allowed to harm the lord or their relatives. This prevents vassals from using family members to threaten the lord, participating in succession disputes, or being involved in assassination plots from external forces targeting family members.
The Seven Gods Priest and the Archmage are both advisory courtiers who have sworn allegiance to the Duke. It is very difficult for them to break their oaths, meaning the silver-haired girl has nothing to fear from them, as they absolutely cannot attack her.
“Did you forget something? I can attack you. We’ve even fought before,” I said.
“Oh, and you too. The assassins sent by Reya. Since you’re here to kill me, you naturally wouldn’t be my father’s vassals. But if I die, Reya can never be saved. You had better think carefully,” the silver-haired girl said, turning around warily to look at us.
She seemed convinced that we were assassins sent by the Princess to kill her. This bias was difficult to explain away with mere words.
The silver-haired girl’s gaze wasn’t on me, but on Karina. More specifically, it was on her hands and the Rune Sword, the Great Wolf Killer. It was the sword that had killed the Wolf King of the Fenrir Legion, a bane to werewolves.
As for me, in the silver-haired girl’s eyes, I was merely a defeated opponent she had chased before, not a threat worth considering. Therefore, she paid me no mind.
Furthermore, after observing the entire battle that had just unfolded, it was easy to see that Karina was the strongest individual among us. With the sword in hand, she was even stronger than the old man who hadn’t fully obtained the power of the Seven Gods Priest. She was the one who needed to be most vigilant about.
“You don’t seriously think I’d bully you with this sword, do you? Don’t worry, I won’t use it. Go ahead and try,” Karina said with a smile, tossing the Great Wolf Killer towards the Seven Gods Priest.
The silver-haired girl didn’t even dare to snatch the Great Wolf Killer. As the Rune Sword spun past her head, she quickly retreated to the side, appearing uncomfortable just being near the sword.
The old man caught the Great Wolf Killer, looking at us with some surprise. He hadn’t expected us to hand over the National Stabilizing Artifact so decisively. Although it was a cooperative plan with safeguards, they were still quite worried that Karina might abscond with the Rune Sword.
After all, the National Stabilizing Artifact was too important. If the Rune Sword were lost, the Hesse Duchy would become a laughingstock of the Holy Roman Empire. Even if it were recovered through safeguards, those who had arranged this cooperation would still be held accountable.
The silver-haired girl looked at both sides with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty, asking in disbelief, “You really aren’t using the Great Wolf Killer?”
“We’ve already said we don’t intend to kill you. As long as you’re willing to provide the serum, we’ll let you go immediately. We won’t meddle in your family’s affairs,” Karina stated.
Our only goal now was to save the Princess. We had no desire to get involved in the affairs of the Hesse Duchy. That’s why Karina had so readily returned the Great Wolf Killer. Another reason was that the sword was too powerful; it could easily injure or even kill the silver-haired girl by accident.
“Indeed, we feel the same. As long as you leave the serum and promise not to harm Miss Reya, we won’t make things difficult for you,” the Archmage and the Seven Gods Priest also voiced their agreement. No one wanted to get entangled in the Duke’s family affairs.
“I refuse! I must make her feel the same pain I do!” the silver-haired girl shouted. It seemed the negotiation had failed.
“Then we apologize,” the old man said, holding the Great Wolf Killer horizontally. Although he couldn’t attack the silver-haired girl, holding the Great Wolf Killer while standing on the road didn’t count as attacking her. However, the suppressive aura emanating from the Great Wolf Killer was enough to prevent the werewolf from passing through.
The silver-haired girl didn’t plan to provoke them either. If she initiated an attack, her vassals would be allowed to defend themselves according to the contract. Thus, she could only try to break through us.
Suddenly, her eyes turned red, her entire body’s magic power surged, and her expression became ferocious. This was the Berserk spell. It was originally just a support spell for humans, capable of increasing some strength and pain resistance.
Later, it was adopted by werewolves to control their rage and induce transformation. It was so practical that it became a mandatory support spell for almost all werewolves.
In an instant, white fur sprouted all over the girl’s body, two pointed wolf ears grew on her head, and a large wolf tail emerged from her backside.
As her body continued to grow stronger and larger, her maid outfit ripped apart. A massive and ferocious white wolf appeared in the corridor. Even though the corridor was wide enough for two carriages to pass, the white wolf occupied more than half of the space.
It seemed there was no avoiding a fight. I said to Via, “You don’t need to participate in the upcoming battle. Stay back.”
“Yes, Sister,” Via obediently retreated. It wasn’t because her strength was insufficient, but because the enemy in this battle was not friendly to her.
Werewolves and vampires have an ancient feud. A significant reason for this is that both races can spread special viruses by biting others to increase their numbers. However, these viruses are fatal to each other.
Both werewolves and vampires possess immortality, making them difficult to kill by normal means. But if they inject the virus into each other’s bodies, their immortality will be destroyed, and both the werewolf and the vampire will die on the spot.
I didn’t want Via to be at risk, nor did I want to kill the silver-haired girl. So, I had to ask Via to step back.
“Roar!!!” the white wolf finished transforming and immediately let out a furious roar, spewing a mass of ice infused with an extremely cold blizzard from its mouth. This ice mass was composed of the most violent cold magic.
Karina was about to raise her hand to devour the icy mist, wanting to test her new ability, when I directly charged into the blizzard.
Upon contact with the cold wind, I felt no chill. The werewolf’s heart had granted the Guardian Deity excellent resistance to cold. And Grandma’s eyes helped me see everything clearly in the snowstorm, as well as discern the composition of the ice mass.
With a push of my hands, I directly braced myself against the ice mass. “It’s just a big snowball, isn’t it? Watch me push it back!”
As I met the ice mass, the white giant wolf simultaneously leaped, jumping onto the wall and pouncing at me from the side. It intended to bite me to death once I was frozen by the ice mass.
However, what it didn’t expect was that I actually pushed the ice mass back, and in its direction! The white wolf crashed into its own ice mass and was instantly frozen stiff, falling before me.
