The sun blazed high in the sky.
In June, the enormous sun, like a fireball, seemed to go mad, relentlessly scorching the world. The air was unbearably hot, and the water in the river on the plain seemed about to boil.
Beside the river stood a majestic city—Blue Lion City, the capital of the Blue Lion Kingdom, grand and imposing like an ancient beast crouching on the earth. Inside the city, the buildings were arranged in an orderly manner, radiating outward with the central palace as the core.
Suddenly, the gate of the palace opened, and a team of galloping cavalry surged out of the city, causing pedestrians on the streets to scatter in avoidance.
Soon, the cavalry charged out of Blue Lion City, setting foot on the dusty road outside, stirring up a cloud of yellow dust. However, the cavalry pressed on regardless, maintaining their formation as they rushed into the distance.
...
An hour later.
Richard arrived at a remote hillside, about ten miles outside the city, and leaped off his horse. The cavalry behind him also dismounted, scattering in all directions to vaguely guard Richard and a burly man dressed in black.
The burly man in black held a box in his hands. He was the third steward of the "KGB" shop, though he had a more confidential role, such as being Richard's cultivated confidant.
In fact, the "KGB" and several other shops were either openly or covertly established and controlled by Richard. He wielded an influence far greater than his title as prince.
This was partly because he possessed abilities far beyond those of an ordinary prince, even surpassing the standards of this era. Further, he had never valued the title of prince, especially after an incident several years ago.
In his view, the title of prince was more a disguise and... a burden. If he could, he would have preferred to discard this identity and conduct himself without any restrictions. For instance, researching this world, and investigating the always-rumored... magic power.
Thinking about this, Richard glanced aside.
To the side, the wizard, who had been bound to the horse, was pale from the jouncing. After being untied by the dungeon guard captain and yanked off the horse, he could barely stand.
The guard captain couldn't care less. Knowing the wizard was a fraud, fear had vanished, leaving only anger. He dragged the wizard over with kicks and shoves and then smiled at Richard, "Your Highness, look..."
Richard ignored the guard captain and looked at the wizard, asking, "Where did you see the python you mentioned? Point it out to me."
"There..." The wizard raised his head and looked towards the distance, carefully observing for a moment before eventually pointing with his finger, "Under that tree. I was just passing by, and the python suddenly appeared, almost scaring me to death. But fortunately, it seemed uninterested in me and quickly left, letting me snatch back my life and its shed skin."
Richard nodded slightly and then turned his head to look at the guard captain. The guard captain waved his hand vigorously, and the accompanying dozen soldiers drew their weapons and quickly encircled forward.
Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters...
They quickly reached the place the wizard indicated, but there wasn't even a rabbit, let alone a large python.
The guard captain's gaze shifted towards the wizard with some displeasure. The wizard hunched his shoulders, fearing Richard would think he was lying, and hastened to explain, "Your... Your Highness, perhaps that python has gone elsewhere..."
Richard crouched down, his eyes falling on the ground. He peeled back the juvenile weeds, revealing a mark below as if scorched by flames, showing evidence of a flame-stricken python having passed through here.
Richard used his fingernail to scrape a little soil and brought it to his nose to sniff. It had a garlicky yellow phosphorus smell, intermingled with a peculiar odor of sulfur.
Richard stood up and turned to the guard captain, commanding, "Search ahead, paying attention to the ground and the trees. Snakes are ectothermic, disliking cold and favoring heat. If demonization hasn't altered this trait, then in such weather, it's likely hiding somewhere shaded, so be alert."
"Yes." The guard captain nodded emphatically and, without another word, conveyed Richard's order to the soldiers, instructing them to spread out and continue searching forward.
About a dozen minutes later, a report came back that traces of a python had been found in a dense thicket over two hundred meters ahead, but it was uncertain whether it was the one they were searching for.
Richard did not hesitate, hurrying over to a place a few dozen meters from the python, where the guard captain stopped him.
"Your Highness, be careful; the python is dangerous," the guard captain said. "Let's have someone test it first to see if it catches fire entirely?"
Richard shook his head, said expressionlessly, "No need."
While speaking, Richard's gaze was already fixed on the thicket tens of meters away. A brown, mottled python was nestled inside, its eyes closed as if dozing. The light danced around its surroundings, appearing slightly distorted.
Richard knew this was the refraction of light passing through different media.
There was only air around the python, so the cause of the refraction had only one explanation: the surrounding temperature was high, significantly higher than the air's average temperature. Considering the surrounding vegetation wasn't scorched, it wouldn't exceed the 200°C ignition point, likely ranging between tens of degrees to over a hundred degrees Celsius.
Ordinary pythons couldn't achieve this, so the answer was clear.
Richard spoke up to the guard captain, "Tell your men to prepare. No need to test, proceed directly with the capture. First, use bows and arrows to test its defenses. It's best to capture it alive after wounding it; if not... dead is also acceptable."
"Yes." The guard captain nodded and quickly left Richard's side to begin organizing. Shouts echoed as several soldiers, skilled in archery, soon picked up their bows.
The soldiers used bows resembling medieval English longbows, which, in Richard's view, were similar. Such bows typically reached about 1.5 meters, with some extending up to 2 meters, the bow's back made from a single bent wood, the material being yew wood, sturdy and elastic. The bowstrings were made from sheepskin or cow tendon tanned. These bows, due to their extended bow-back length, endowed arrows with immense power and an ultra-long range far surpassing modern counterparts, capable of shooting arrows over 350 meters away.
Ordinarily, they could penetrate leather armor at distances of 200 to 250 meters. Within 200 meters, they could pierce chain armor. Within 100 meters, they could penetrate plate armor. Within 50 meters, aside from shields and specially crafted armor, almost nothing could withstand their shots, making them virtually unstoppable.
At this time, the soldiers and the python were roughly 50 meters apart.
The four soldiers were veterans, showing distinctly uneven arm lengths due to years of archery training—a mark of experience. Grabbing their bows, they took bundles of 24 arrows from the quivers on their backs, stabbing them into the ground in front of them after untying them. Each arrow was nearly a meter long, allowing easy grabbing and effortless continuous shooting without bending over.
The four soldiers readied themselves, exchanged glances, took a deep breath, each grabbing an arrow to nock onto the longbow, and began aiming.
"Whooshing" sounds echoed consecutively as four meteoric arrows shot forth toward the python's position, but not one hit, the closest was still over a dozen centimeters away. After all, not all soldiers were dead-on marksmen, and on battlefields, hit rates were generally ensured by concentrated volleys.
Richard remained unfazed by this, continuing to watch.
The four soldiers, having failed once, quickly grabbed another arrow each, nocking them onto their longbows, this time taking a bit longer to aim before four more arrows whooshed out.
Having been startled, the python was just about to take action when four arrows fell, two hitting directly. One arrow struck its tail, while another pierced its body, causing crimson blood to flow swiftly.
"Hisssss!"
The python hissed, seemingly enraged, twisting violently, snapping two arrows with distinct cracks. Baring its mouth, it spat a big burst of sparks, advancing toward the group, intensifying the tense atmosphere and causing some soldiers to instinctively back away.
At this moment, the most excited was neither Richard nor the guard captain, but the wizard.
The wizard almost jumped up, grabbing the guard captain, exclaiming repeatedly, "Did you see that? Did you see that? What I said was true; there really is a fire-breathing python here, so His Highness can't kill me."
The guard captain was too tense to bother responding, with a swing of his arm knocking the wizard to the ground, drawing his longsword and using his imposing demeanor to calm his slightly panicked soldiers. He shouted loudly, "What are you afraid of? Keep shooting with the bows, and the rest prepare the nets to capture it alive!"
"Yes," the soldiers responded promptly, getting busy.