The Princess's Speech

Walking at the very front of the army was a young girl clad in gleaming golden armor. The feminine knight armor did nothing to hide her perfect, slender figure. She possessed a beauty that could be called exquisite, with skin as white, smooth, and tender as ivory. Her neck was as snow-white and gracefully long as a swan's, and her brilliant golden hair shone dazzlingly under the sun. All these beautiful features converged on the girl, giving her a heroic and spirited aura, yet also a touch of noble elegance, as if she were an immortal being.

"And that confused look, like an abandoned little animal! Tsk tsk! A classic tragic princess!"

Punk wasn't the type to be paralyzed by the sight of a beautiful woman. He wasn't captivated by the nation-ruining, people-destroying beauty of the young knight. Under the System's analysis, he discovered that although the girl possessed a trace of battle qi, she was actually only a Level 1 Apprentice Level knight. Seeing that she couldn't utilize that sliver of battle qi to help bear the heavy knight armor that was already making her sweat profusely, Punk deduced that this small amount of battle qi cultivation was likely forcibly induced by medicine. For this girl, who completely lacked the qualifications to become a professional, it probably only served to strengthen her body.

"Alright, this fits the 'fragile, distressed princess' template even better! Wait? Distressed princess? Could that group of 'special forces' who died in the Forest of Undead have been chasing her?"

The sharp Punk almost immediately thought of the miserably deceased skeletons in the Forest of Undead!

Just as Punk was about to activate his magic eyeball to get a closer look, he suddenly noticed a figure in a green robe appear in his vision. It was a formal mage—Mage Menesif!

Punk quickly dispelled the magic eyeball. At the same time, he felt many similar magical fluctuations around him instantly dissipate the moment Menesif appeared. Clearly, no one dared to provoke a powerful formal mage!

As the strongest individual in Konola City and also the lord of this region, Mage Menesif's acceptance of such a group of soldiers into the city undoubtedly signaled the formation of an alliance. The purpose of an alliance's emergence was naturally to jointly deal with the war.

As expected, just as dusk arrived, and after the little sun "Mira" had just set, with the big sun "Chikasa" still lingering on the horizon, "Lord" Menesif issued a summons to every professional. The summons was written high in the air using green life element energy, easily visible to everyone in the city.

Punk arrived at the plaza rather late. By this time, most of the professionals within Konola City had gathered in the plaza. Among them, spellcasters clearly formed a small group on the left side of the plaza, while combatants also formed a small group on the right side, with a clear dividing path in the middle.

The dancing girls from the Church of Harvest were long gone from the plaza stage. In their place was the spirited young knight, earnestly and resolutely proclaiming something in a serious voice! Mage Menesif stood quietly behind the girl, his gaze stern and his lips sealed.

Most of the warriors in the audience wore leather armor reinforced with metal and carried rudimentary weapons. They exposed their muscular chests and arms, crisscrossed with scars and adorned with tattoos. While striking their armor with their weapons, they roared loudly, the entire area exuding a heroic aura of fiery passion.

The mages presented a stark contrast to the warriors. Mage after mage, whether young or old, invariably hid more than half of their faces within the hoods of their mage robes. All the spellcasters quietly held their staffs, their eyes either calm and undisturbed, deeply somber, or hollow and cold, but never impulsive or passionate, as they looked towards the girl passionately delivering her speech on stage!

Punk arrived at just the right moment; the girl's speech had just begun.

As Punk had expected, the girl wanted to gain the help of these professionals. One must know, despite their small numbers—only two to three hundred people, and most of them at the apprentice level—they possessed unimaginable strength. They were undoubtedly more powerful than a hundred thousand city guards; this statement was not an exaggeration. Punk was confident he could single-handedly fight an army composed of ordinary people. Even if these armies were numerous, as long as they were still in the age of cold weapons, killing them all would only be a matter of time. This was because, with the attack power of cold weapons, even attacking from all 360 degrees without blind spots wouldn't break even a single layer of Mage Armor. Moreover, the speed at which these attacks consumed energy couldn't compare to the magic recovery speed of a Journeyman Mage. For Journeyman Mages, their offensive methods couldn't be defended against by ordinary people's iron armor and steel plating. Therefore, in war, professionals were the main combat force for killing enemies. The role of ordinary soldiers, besides being cannon fodder, was more about protecting civilians from the slaughter of enemy ordinary soldiers.

In conclusion, winning over professionals was definitely more important than winning over ordinary armies. Any lord knew this, and the beautiful girl was no exception. However, her speech to win over the professionals made Punk suspect that this princess might have read too many knight novels!

"Brave warriors, I am the Seventh Princess of the Kingdom of Kamos—Nasya. Kamos."

Her Highness the Princess announced her identity in a youthful, beautiful, yet persuasive voice. The warriors below roared even louder, but Punk keenly detected a slight tremor in the Princess's voice.

"I have come to announce a piece of unfortunate news: my father—Nikai III. Kamos—has been cruelly murdered by my brother, the Third Prince—William. Kamos!"

"Too rushed!"

Punk mentally evaluated the delivery. News delivery needed to be released bit by bit to stir people's hearts. Releasing all the news at once like the Princess would only leave the audience stunned!

Indeed, even the warriors who were only staring at the beauty fell silent upon hearing such "explosive" news. In this era of underdeveloped information exchange, internal affairs of the kingdom were often slow and vague. Before Nasya's arrival, the Kingdom of Kamos maintained an impression of peace and stability in people's minds. Now, the beautiful princess had dropped a bombshell as soon as she appeared, leaving even many mages somewhat stunned.

Although the Princess noticed that the atmosphere below was not the state of righteous indignation and burning anger she had imagined, she stiffly continued:

"The evil Prince William not only killed my father but also intends to defect to the brutal Minoe Imperial Kingdom, plunging the people into dire straits. Furthermore, he intends to marry me off to Grand Duke Minoe, who has a penchant for abusing young girls, as a gift. Now, my warriors, are you willing to follow me to fight against evil and help protect me and our country?"

"Willing, willing, willing!"

Under the Princess's pitifully charming speech, the warriors loudly expressed their "hot-headedness" and "zero IQ." Punk estimated that these "big baboons" hadn't paid attention to anything Nasya said earlier. Many of them were probably just lustful fools who only heard a few words like "together, together" from the Princess's red lips, or they were brainwashed by knight novels, thinking they were the protagonists about to "rescue" the princess and reach the pinnacle of their lives. These warriors, of humble origins, blindly believing in muscle, and brainwashed since childhood by the so-called "chivalric spirit," sold themselves completely without any thought.

Compared to the fervent enthusiasm and overwhelming excitement of the warriors on the right, the mages on the left were in a completely opposite state!

With no benefits, no guarantee of victory, and not even clear knowledge of the truth, this princess who appeared out of nowhere expected the "brave warriors" she had met for less than ten minutes to charge into battle for her? To brave fire and water? ... Was she dreaming? Even those "hot-blooded big baboons" would start calculating gains and losses after their initial fervor subsided! Not to mention the mages, who were calm to the point of being cold from beginning to end and believed in profit above all else!