In the afternoon, after lunch, Sulia changed out of her skirt and silk stockings high heels and into a dashing knight's shirt and trousers, along with the armor sent by the Emperor.
This was a finely crafted silver armor, custom-made to fit a female knight's figure, predominantly silver with some gold and black decorations. On Sulia's left shoulder hung Ryan's family crest. Both the shoulder and chest armor were engraved and attached with many golden scriptures. Once Sulia donned this armor, a fiery energy and supreme power enveloped her, shielding her layer by layer. She could feel the immense power contained within the armor.
The knight picked up the sword of Lyonnesse and began to practice her swordsmanship, a habit she had formed over the past decade, dedicating at least two to three hours each day to training.
Her swordsmanship emphasized slashing and stabbing. Her wrist strength was slightly weaker compared to an average man, so her technique compensated for her lack of strength. This was also why Sulia had forsaken the use of a shield.
Ryan and the Lady of the Lake did not disturb Sulia's practice. They sat behind the windows on the second floor of the tower, watching Sulia practice and chatting intermittently.
Ryan's skills were too powerful; his combat techniques and swordsmanship were not suitable for practicing with the knight. Ryan's techniques were aimed at killing opponents directly. Practicing with Sulia was out of the question; if he accidentally hurt her, he would be heartbroken for a long time.
"Very impressive, Sulia has become the champion of the Knight's Tournament. Francois must have put a lot of effort into her. Her swordsmanship was tailor-made by Francois, and her talent is also quite remarkable. Although she's only at the legendary beginner level, her actual performance is even stronger," the Lady of the Lake sat next to Ryan, her tone slightly odd, "My champion? You must be pleased, such a beautiful flower has been plucked by you."
"Yes, I am very grateful for your favor, Lilith," Ryan stared at the Lady of the Lake, suspecting she might be plotting something.
"As for Sulia, you need not worry. I like her too. She's gentle, generous, and considerate, a good match for you," the Lady of the Lake noticed what Ryan was worried about and shook her head, "I keep my word, now that she has married you, she is your wife, don't overthink it."
"…So what are you trying to say, my lady?" Ryan's expression eased slightly, he had always been worried that the Lady of the Lake might use Sulia to cause trouble, but having spent a long time with her, he understood some of her preferences.
"Well... I really like that set of platinum jewelry..." the Lady of the Lake sneakily clung to Ryan's arm, "Could you perhaps..."
"That was given to Sulia by my father." Ryan's forehead creased as he immediately pulled away.
"But you have a set of those too..." the Lady of the Lake continued to cling to Ryan's arm, quietly complaining.
"That was my father's gift to Sulia, she decides who to give it to, not me, I have always respected my wife very much." Ryan continued grumbling, "If you really want it, you might ask Sulia, I think she wouldn't refuse you."
Knowing she wouldn't get through to Ryan, the Lady of the Lake gave up her plans, straightened her skirt, sat down on the sofa chair, kicked off her high heels, and curled her legs clad in black velvet stockings under her long skirt, revealing only her silky feet, complaining, "I should have gotten all nine sets, I'm only asking for one."
"If it were up to you, you might not get even one," Ryan thought to himself but kept it to himself.
"If you want it, just ask Sulia, all those items are father's dowry, the ownership is with Sulia, not with me," Ryan relaxed into the sofa chair, and to avoid the Lady of the Lake's relentless pursuit, he changed the topic, "Lord Targarys went to meet Olien and Alaril in the Kingswood, I wonder how it went."
"The results? It's better than nothing," the Lady of the Lake clung to Ryan's arm, leaning on his shoulder, kissed his cheek, and let her silky blonde hair slide over his shoulder, "Hundreds of years ago, when he was not yet the Phoenix King, Fennubar had already reached Aisolorn and met with Olien. Fennubar strongly advocated for Esley and Asur to reunite, or at least to open up trade and communication, but Olien and Alaril always refused, and it ended with nothing... It probably has to do with the Godhunter Kurnous."
"The Godhunter Kurnous?"
"K
urnous is one of the elven god-kings, there are three god-kings of elves: the Phoenix Lord Asuyan, the God of Blood Hands Kayne, and the Godhunter Kurnous. Asuyan is the god-king of Asur, Kayne is the god-king of Duruzi, Kurnous is the god-king of Esley, both Olien and Alaril are incarnations of Kurnous on earth, Kurnous and Esha are husband and wife, Esha is my mother," the Lady of the Lake casually mentioned, "Kurnous is theoretically my father, but I once split some of my divine power with him to bless a high elven prince, the Shadow King Aris, I granted Aris my Bow of the Moon, and Kurnous bestowed upon him powerful hunting skills and blessings."
"Kurnous does not want the wood elves and high elves to merge; he just wants to close the doors and be his own god-king, therefore only Esha's chosen, the Eternal High Queen of Elves 'Brilliant Light' Elerali and the wood elves maintain minimal communication." The Lady of the Lake's soft parts squeezed against Ryan's arm lightly pressing and bouncing, "So don't hold out hope for Targarys, being able to ally with Alaralos, along with the female prophet Lifer is already great."
"Alright."
After an hour of training, Sulia gained some control over the power of the sword of Lyonnesse and the performance of her armor. The knight attempted to use her battle skills and immediately unleashed a very powerful force, accidentally cutting down many of the Lady of the Lake's herbs, and had to stop midway to apologize to the Lady of the Lake, who smiled and forgave her.
When evening came, the three of them moved to the study room, where they played a game of military chess for a while. The Lady of the Lake also provided Sulia with marriage and fertility guidance, teaching her how to conceive healthy babies with Ryan until it was about time to sleep, and then the Lady of the Lake left the room with a strange smile, giving space to the newlyweds.
Newlyweds always have endless things to talk about and do, and for several days, Sulia felt particularly embarrassed that the Lady of the Lake always played a "relay race" with her, usually with the knight responsible for the first half, and after a halftime break, the Lady of the Lake would take over for the second half.
Sulia was a devout follower of the Lady of the Lake, and despite feeling very shy and somewhat guilty towards Ryan, the knight found this time to be the happiest days of her life, with both her beloved husband and revered goddess by her side, doubling her joy.
Actually, having the three of them together wasn't so bad, the knight thought to herself more than once.
But would the lady agree?
...
Meanwhile, in the Old World, the forest of Aisolorn.
"Thud~ Thud~ Thud~ Thud~" A high elf army marched neatly through the forest.
The towering ancient trees covered the entire sky, with only shades of green and singing birds visible, deer darting between the forest floor, occasionally, one could see fish joyfully wagging their tails in a clear spring, massive guiding stones imbued with rich magic energy, the path through the woods was narrow and the distance ahead nearly invisible, the high elf army could only move forward slowly under the leadership of Alaralos and Lifer.
"Lord Targarys, I have a very strange feeling, here in this place, the winds of magic have severely shifted, which might explain why this forest was once so favored by the first Eternal Queen, and why many elf kin never want to leave," Horus, the magus swordsman Zoltan, said to the Supreme Archmage Targarys at his side, "But I still feel... uneasy."
Targarys's face remained expressionless as he felt the winds of magic.
Ordinarily, the Great Maelstrom constructs the magic network, and before Caledor the Dragon-Tamer established the Great Maelstrom, all casters in the world used the Winds of Chaos for casting spells. After the establishment of the Great Maelstrom, the magic of the casters was weakened; they could only use the winds of magic filtered and harmonized by the Great Maelstrom to cast spells.
The chaos demons were weakened; they could not easily enter the material world, but the power and magic of mortals were also weakened.
In Aisolorn, however, Targarys felt a different kind of magic wind.
Another magic network? A magic network constructed by the forest itself?
This wind of magic was purer and more vibrant with life. The Supreme Archmage, upon trying to connect, immediately understood that the wood elves did not rely on the Great Maelstrom magic network
for casting, but on an independent magic network established by the Era Oak themselves.
Too independent, these kin are really too independent, the Supreme Archmage's face remained expressionless, but his heart tightened, his assurance of persuading the wood elves decreased further.
Seeing Targarys silent, Horus the magus swordsman did not dare to question or challenge the Supreme Archmage, his admiration and reverence for Targarys made it unlikely for Zoltan to probe further, the magus swordsman had to focus his attention inside the lush forest.
At that moment, Zoltan noticed something odd.
The further they walked into the forest, the more they saw not a lusher deep forest and a prosperous wood elf settlement, but rather yellowed dead trees, barren land not growing an inch, and widespread signs of corruption, the ground was burning, the forest spirits were crying, amidst the continuous drizzle, Zoltan only saw decline and death, the magus swordsman was shocked, instinctively asking, "What... What's going on?!"
Brave Alaralos, holding a long spear and carrying a large bow on his back, leading a small group of wood elf forest guards and cavalry for Targarys and his army, heard Zoltan's words and simply answered, "This is Anmeil, the Land of Decay."
"The Land of Decay?" Targarys also noticed this anomaly.
"Yes, the Land of Decay, Lord Targarys, Esley has ten territories, from Winfort, we must pass through the Land of Decay and the Starlight Furnace to reach the Kingswood," Alaralos sadly looked at the forest succumbing to despair and corruption, he pulled out an arrow, directly shooting a bulging pustule from a dead giant tree.
The pustule fell from the giant tree, its wrinkled outer skin pierced by the arrow, spewing out yellow pus, revealing a creature resembling both a human and a beast. Seeing the figures of the people, it let out a piercing scream, the creature covered in fur and rotting skin charged directly towards them.
"Whoosh~" Alaralos fired another arrow, the arrow imbued with the power of starfire hit the creature's throat, the creature wailed and fell, immediately rotting into a puddle of pus.
"What is this?" Targarys frowned deeply.
"Mutated beastmen, products of the forest spirit infected by deep corruption," Alaralos shook his head in pain, "Hundreds of years ago, the sacred beast king of the beastmen, 'Shadow Fiend' Mogul attacked the Aisolorn forest and corrupted one of the three ancient treants, Kodile, the wood elves struggled to kill Mogul in Anmeil, but after Mogul's death, his foul blood and filthy soul almost corrupted half of Anmeil, the once prosperous Anmeil can now only gradually wither in despair, each year, the number of mad treants and dead trees increases, and our war with the beastmen continues forever."
Alaralos left out the most critical information, that Mogul could resurrect indefinitely.
"Is there no way to purify it?" Targarys knew the severity of chaos corruption, he crouched down, inspecting the traces of severe corruption in the soil, "Some grand spell or ritual ceremony of sorts?"
"There's no way, no way at all," the female prophet Lifer was equally sad, "Queen Alaril has searched for many methods, all to no avail, Mogul is a terrifying being blessed by a dark god, the corruption he left is extremely difficult to clear, Queen Alaril once planned to devour Mogul in a desperate situation, to merge with him to stop the corruption, fortunately, she was stopped by the combined lords."
"…So what do you do now?" Targarys shook his head, the souls of elves are a delicacy for the chaos dark gods, beastmen are the children of chaos, driven by the will of chaos, their actions are all to satisfy the desires of the dark gods.
The high elf army felt uncomfortable with the severe corruption and withering decay, the hundreds-strong troop quickened their pace.
"Corruption spreads, no one is spared, therefore every territory of Esley sends out its own army, we almost have to clear the beastmen tribes here every year, the endless war causes us pain, it's also a race against time, if we cannot continuously eliminate the corruption and reproduction brought by the beastmen, then one day, the corruption of Anmeil will spread throughout Aisolorn," Alaralos said to Targarys, "Supreme Archmage, may I ask..."
"Hmm?" Targarys knew Alaralos had something to say.
"Can you... ask Lilith if she... has a way?" Alaralos's eyes lit up, "Can you convey Esley
's plea for help and invite her to visit the Kingswood as a guest? We would welcome her with open arms."
"I don't know, but since Kurnous's incarnation Queen Alaril doesn't have many methods." Targarys didn't want to continue on this topic, the Supreme Archmage signaled the troops to continue moving forward, "I think Lilith might not have a way either, you should seek help from the Phoenix Lord (Asuyan) or Esha."
"Oh, oh, alright," Alaralos, seeing Targarys reluctant to relent, was quite disappointed, ever since that day he met Lilith, Alaralos had been distracted, constantly thinking about her.
After walking a bit further, the ground vibrated, a series of howling sounds one after another, evil calls echoed through the inner forest, filled with foul horn sounds rising in Anmeil.
"It's the beastmen! Beastmen warbands!" the female prophet Lifer was the first to sense the warning, she shouted loudly, "Prepare for battle! Soldiers of Esley!"
"Prepare for battle! Asur!"
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