Outside the carriage, a middle-aged man wearing court robes walked over and said respectfully, “We’re about to reach our destination; we should be able to arrive within one day. When that time comes, you will be able to have a good rest.”
“I hope that’s the case,” the gentle voice once again sounded out.
Time continued to pass, and the carriage continued onwards.
After a while, the carriage stopped next to a river, and a person slowly walked out.
It was a woman who was in her early twenties; she wore an ornate palace dress and looked incredibly serious.
She had golden hair and delicate looks, as well as a pair of unique-looking, blue eyes.
She slowly got down from the carriage, looking incredibly elegant, and walked to the side.
The middle-aged man from before was currently giving orders to other people, who were hurrying about. Hearing those footsteps, he turned and saw the young woman getting out of the carriage.
“Your Highness Mary…”
Looking at the young woman, the middle-aged man hurriedly bowed, looking very respectful, “Why have you come out? We have not finished preparing lunch yet, and you can continue to wait in the carriage.”
“No need,” Mary smiled as she said softly, “After staying in the carriage for so long, I’ve become sick of staying inside. We’re quite close to the Arlan family’s territory by now, so there should be no danger.”
“But just in case, Your Highness…” the middle-aged man tried to persuade her.
“It’s fine,” Mary said as she shook her head, “Moreover, from that information we received, those despicable Beastmen have been cleared out within the Arlan family’s territory.
“Moreover, the one who cleared them out is the one we are going to give a title to, the soon-to-be Viscount Aktor Hatim.”
She spoke softly, and seemed quite interested.
“This…” The middle-aged man shook his head as he realised something, “Is Your Highness still thinking about that?”
“That’s right.”
Mary nodded as she said, “A person who has awakened his bloodline, becoming a Warlock comparable to a Second Ring Sorcerer; this is truly curious. Moreover, he is from the Hatim family…”
Speaking to there, she said in interest, “Mister Orimo, what kind of bloodline do you think Sir Aktor has awakened? Do you think… it might be the Hatim family’s rumoured Divine Bloodline?”
“This…”
Hearing Mary’s words, Orimo fell silent for a moment before shaking his head, “I’m not sure.
“Awakening a Divine Bloodline is much more difficult than other bloodlines. Moreover, the Hatim family’s Fire God has long since disappeared and does not even have any worshippers left…”
“However…”
Speaking to there, he looked a bit hesitant, “For him to awaken Second Ring strength as soon as he awakened, this bloodline’s power is quite great. It might really be a Divine Bloodline. Because of privacy reasons, Viscount Siriv did not give detailed information about his nephew.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Mary said as she shook her head, “Putting aside whether or not it is a Divine Bloodline, just the fact that he is a Second Ring Warlock means that we need to take him seriously and try to rope him in.
“Moreover, given how young he is, we might be able to establish further connections with him, don’t you think…”
Standing there, Mary laughed.
Within the Kalo Kingdom, Mary was very famous.
From a young age, this daughter of the Kalo King had demonstrated extraordinary talent. Even though she did not have the talent to become a Life Knight or a Priest, she had great talent in other areas. No matter what she did, she would be able to do so perfectly, receiving great trust from the royal family.
This time, this Princess had been sent here to confer the title of Viscount on Aktor Hatim.
Ordinary Viscounts naturally did not require a Princess like Mary to go out personally.
However, this time was different.
After all, the person being given the title was a Second Ring Warlock with a powerful bloodline.
Moreover, he was from the Malido Kingdom’s Hatim family.
In order to gain the support of the royal family, Siriv had actively leaked some of Chen Heng’s information.
Of course, he had done this after consulting with Chen Heng.
Both of them felt that the identity of a Second Ring Warlock would be able to bring them greater benefits.
After this news was discovered, the Kalo royal family was shocked.
A Second Ring Warlock was no weak force.
Perhaps it would not be a big deal to powerful kingdoms, but for a weak kingdom like the Kalo Kingdom, a Second Ring Warlock was a force to be reckoned with.
In the entire Kalo Kingdom, there were only a few Second Ring Sorcerers and Warlocks, split across different regions.
And now, a new Second Ring Warlock had appeared, and one with a prestigious bloodline.
Even though Warlocks’ power relied on their bloodlines, as their bloodlines naturally became stronger, their strength would also increase.
This was different to other professions that required active study and training.
Moreover, given Chen Heng’s age, even if he did not do anything, he would still have the potential to rise to the Third Ring.
Even if that did not happen, he would still be among the strongest in the Second Ring.
This was enough for the royal family to pay great attention to him.
As such, Mary had come out.
Her task this time was to inspect Chen Heng.
At the end of the day, they were definitely going to give Chen Heng a title.
It was just that how to give him the title, as well as how much territory and where the territory should be, would have to be discussed.
This was Mary’s purpose in coming here.
The royal family wanted to use her to come into contact with him and work out his personality and attitude before making a decision.
That was why she had come here.
Standing there, Orimo thought for a moment before telling Mary some of the things that he knew.
However, strictly speaking, he did not know that much either.
After all, given that there was fighting everywhere, it was difficult to scout information.
To be able to send Princess Mary here was already the limit for the royal family.
As such, most of what Orimo said were things that Mary already knew.
Despite this, Mary did not mind and continued to earnestly listen.
“I heard that in order to help his uncle, Viscount Siriv, this Warlock cleared out all of the Beastmen in the surroundings,” Mary said in interest as she looked at Orimo, “What do you think of that?”
“Err…”
Hearing Mary’s words, Orimo lowered his head and thought for a moment before saying uncertainly, “He seems to be quite decisive, and he has a good relationship with Viscount Siriv? He also seems to be someone who is willing to help others.”
Mary nodded and said, “What else?”
“I can’t think of anything else,” Orimo gave a bitter smile as he said, “I don’t know much, so I can’t make any further guesses.”
“Indeed, that’s true,” Mary smiled as she did not continue to make things difficult for him, and said softly, “That is why we’re here, to interact with him and figure out what kind of person he is… as well as if he poses a threat to us.”
Her expression was still calm and did not change.
By the side, Orimo opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he soon paused.
In the distance, horses’ hooves could be heard, as well as orderly footsteps.
Hearing those sounds, Orimo looked over and felt stunned.
In the distance, there were figures heading over.
“It looks like there are people coming to receive us,” Mary said with a smile on her face.
Ahead, there was a group of dozens of people, with the two people in the lead looking like Knights.
Compared to the other soldiers, the two Knights looked much more extraordinary, and their leather armor was also much more exquisite.
After arriving before Mary and Orimo, they got off their horses.
“Excuse me, are you Sir Orimo?” one of the tall Knights asked as he looked at Orimo.
As for Mary, they had directly ignored her.
After all, they had not heard that Princess Mary would be coming here.
Thus, they did not realize that this woman was actually a Princess.
However, Mary was not too surprised, nor did she mind.
After all, she was here to secretly observe Chen Heng.
The identity she was using here was not Princess Mary but another identity.
Even though Princess Mary was quite famous within the Kalo Kingdom, there were very few people who had actually seen her before.
After all, in this age, women rarely went out, especially on official business.
As such, although many people knew Mary’s name, they did not know what she looked like; they only knew that she was very beautiful.
This included Siriv.
As a Viscount, he rarely left his territory and had never met Princess Mary before.
As such, Mary was able to hide herself and secretly observe the Warlock Aktor Hatim.
Orimo quickly came to his senses and turned as he smiled, and he strode towards the two Knights.
“After last time, it has been a long time since I’ve come here,” Orimo said, “I remember last time I came, there seemed to have been many flowers here; now, they’re all gone.”
“It’s because it’s the wrong season,” Siriv said with a slight smile, “You’ll have to wait some time to see those flowers again.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Following this, the two of them began to happily chat.
After a while, they got to the main subject.
“Where is that sir?” Orimo suddenly asked, with a look of curiosity, “Is he out clearing Beastmen again?”
Before coming here, he had investigated some information.
For example, the fact that Siriv’s nephew had been clearing out Beastmen within the Arlan family’s territory.
It was because of Chen Heng’s help that the Arlan family had been able to restore their territory so quickly.
Since Chen Heng was not here, Orimo naturally assumed that this was what he was doing.
After all, from what he had observed during this journey, Sir Aktor had done quite well.
Currently, within the Arlan family’s territory, it was incredibly peaceful, which was quite rare.
The law and order in the territory had been quite good, and they did not see any Beastmen on the way.
Given the current Kalo Kingdom, this was a miracle.
As the Wastelands’ Beastmen invaded, let alone ordinary nobles’ territories, even the royal family’s territories had Beastmen.
This was something that they could not do much about.
After all, even though the large groups of Beastmen were easy to find and get rid of, the lone Beastmen were much harder to get rid of and even find.
Those Beastmen were used to poor environments, and they were not as finicky as ordinary humans.
If an ordinary person was left in the wilderness, they would most likely become a meal for wild beasts.
However, if it was an Orc, they would be able to do quite well in the same situation.
Compared to normal humans, they had many advantages that wild beasts had, and they were much better at surviving.
Wanting to get rid of such existences was incredibly difficult.
No one could be sure if there were Beastmen hiding in various forests, and this was so even within the royal family’s territory.
However, this was not the case in the Arlan family’s territory.
It was as if there were no Beastmen here at all.
Orimo felt great admiration, and he understood that this was not something that he could obtain just by feeling admiration.
Not everyone had the ability to have a Second Ring Warlock roam about and clear out Beastmen.
At the very least, he did not have the ability to do so.
In fact, even if he did have a Second Ring Warlock under his command, he would not be willing to send him out to do such a thing.
From how other people saw it, this kind of thing was a bit humiliating.
The royal family also had Second Ring existences, but doing such things were far beneath them.
This was why they were so surprised when they found out about the situation in the Arlan family’s territory.
“No, he’s still in my manor; he’s just not here,” Siriv said as he smiled, “If you want to meet him, I can bring you there.”
“I’ll be troubling you then,” Orimo did not refuse and nodded as he smiled.
Following this, Siriv led the group onwards.
Mary continued on with them, but Siriv did not know her identity and only glanced at her before disregarding her.
Soon, they arrived at a sparse training ground, where there were many men doing training.
They were wearing simple clothing and were drenched with sweat; it seemed like they had been training for a while.
At the front of everyone was a young man. Compared to the others, he looked quite unique—even though his clothes were not extremely elegant or luxurious, he gave off a much neater and cleaner feeling.
