A strange group of soldiers of unknown origin suddenly emerged from the thin mist.
They wore silver-white light armor decorated with green patterns and matching silver-white winged helmets. Almost all of them stood around two meters tall on average, and none carried the swords or other weapons commonly seen in ordinary armies. Instead, each wore a pair of specially crafted metal gauntlets. A faint glow shimmered across them, as though they concealed some profound secret.
Aivena stared wide-eyed at the soldiers emerging from the mist. The patterns on their armor and the overall style of their equipment were completely different from those of the soldiers of every nation she knew. Their average height of two meters also made them unlike any ordinary human army, which filled her with curiosity.
But the guards in the other two covered wagons felt far more than simple curiosity. At this distance, a sudden encounter made concealment pointless, and their previous experience being attacked by imperial soldiers had left them wary of any soldiers suddenly emerging from the Black Pine Forest. Thus, the instant both sides met, every personal guard placed a hand on the weapon at their waist. Even Charlemagne could not help activating several pieces of magic equipment he carried to bolster his confidence.
Yet the strange soldiers seemed not to notice the convoy before them at all. Faced with the convoy's guards, who were poised for battle, they merely kept their gazes fixed ahead and continued along the road expressionlessly.
"Everyone, stay calm," Hao Ren said, breaking the stalemate—or, strictly speaking, the one-sided stalemate among the convoy's guards. "These soldiers probably aren't real."
As he spoke, the strange soldiers had already reached the convoy and passed between the three covered wagons like phantoms.
"An illusion?" Aivena's eyes widened. "But they look exactly