Chapter Nineteen: Moonlight Like Water (Five)

Chapter Nineteen: Moonlight Like Water (Five)

Once she had gold coins in hand, Miss Windsor became remarkably bold. First, she paid a high price to take over the three-story flat-roofed building behind the boutique. Then she enclosed both buildings and the little alley between them, which was over two meters wide, within a wall and renovated everything. She connected the newly purchased three-story building to the two storefronts in front, more than doubling the shop's operating area in one stroke. At Lorist's suggestion, she also added a T-shaped runway in the back and hired several stunning beauties as models. Whenever they had nothing else to do, they would strut down the runway and show off the newly released clothing lines.

When the former Garrison Captain, who had sneaked back into the Windsor Family's old territory to gather information a month earlier, returned, he brought back dozens of people. Most of them were servants and guards who had once worked at Windsor Castle. After the new lord arrived, these old retainers of the Windsor Family had been thrown out for security reasons and left wandering outside. When they heard that Miss Windsor and the young master were in Molent City and willing to take them in, they followed him there.

Among the newly arrived old retainers was a father and son who were both tanners and shoemakers. They had always been the Windsor Family's exclusive shoemakers. Their arrival delighted Lorist. Before long, the Windsor Women's Boutique launched a line of high heels, and it quickly swept through all of Molent City. Although many merchants imitated the boutique's products, the wealthy and nobles recognized only the tiny Mermaid Trademark of the Windsor boutique. In Ancient Elvish, Windsor meant mermaid. The Windsor Family's emblem depicted a mermaid wielding a trident in battle.

Nowadays, whenever the nobles and wealthy of Molent City held parties, it was considered humiliating if the women of their households did not have several sets of Windsor boutique gowns and princess dresses to change into. One merchant guild president's daughter had even changed outfits seventeen times and high heels seven times during a banquet, turning the appreciation feast her father had hosted into a fashion show for the Windsor boutique.

Miss Windsor now deeply understood what it meant for wealth to come rolling in. She left the boutique to Susie and handed the clothing workshop over to Rina. With these two tireless maids handling things, Miss Windsor began turning her attention toward the family's old territory.

Rina's father, Knight Som, had arrived in Molent City more than a month ago, bringing Rina's mother and two younger brothers with him. However, his injuries had not yet healed, and he needed to recuperate for a while before recovering his full strength.

Lorist greatly admired this taciturn, burly man. Sometimes, he even wickedly wondered whether Rina was really his biological daughter. Their personalities were completely different, making it hard to believe that this loyal and steady man could have such a mischievous and troublesome daughter. Still, Rina looked very much like her mother, though her mother was gentle and kind. Unlike the girl, she did not have such a sharp tongue or refuse to let up once she had gained the upper hand.

While the Windsor Family's loyal former Garrison Captain brought back the family's old retainers, he also brought news from the old territory. Under the new lord's ruthless exactions, the old territory was filled with misery, and the people longed for the days when the Windsor Family had ruled. Moreover, the scattered former guardsmen and soldiers of the family army had taken to banditry one after another. The old territory was engulfed in turmoil, with chaos everywhere.

This was actually a very common phenomenon in Galintea. After obtaining a new territory, a new lord would often adopt harsh policies to squeeze its residents. One reason was to recover the cost he had paid, and the other was to establish his authority over the new territory's inhabitants. When the residents could endure no more and prepared to revolt, he would send in the army to suppress them and kill those loyal to the former lord. After killing a few to frighten the rest, the remaining residents could only submit. Then the new lord would gradually loosen his rule and implement policies to appease the people and stabilize the territory. Within a few years, the residents would naturally forget the former lord and become utterly devoted to the new one.

Lorist believed that this was the perfect time to infiltrate the old territory and organize a resistance army, and that the opportunity could not be missed. Knight Som nodded in agreement. Miss Windsor immediately decided that after attending her eighteenth-birthday Coming-of-Age Ceremony, Knight Som would take a team of more than ten people back to the old territory and establish the Windsor Family's resistance army. Their initial tasks would be to set up several hidden, secure camps, gather the soldiers and guards who were still loyal to the family, and establish a spy network to monitor the territory. Once the preliminary preparations were complete, Miss Windsor would organize armed personnel and equipment in Molent City and send them to the old territory to support Knight Som in launching attacks against the new lord.

The Coming-of-Age Ceremony was a traditional noble rite in Galintea. It was both a celebration of a child coming of age and a way for elders to express their hopes for the younger generation's future. Usually, a respected elder would bestow a sword upon a man or place a floral crown on a grown woman while offering a few words of blessing. Afterward, a banquet would be held for everyone to celebrate.

However, the arrangements for Miss Windsor's eighteenth-birthday Coming-of-Age Ceremony were very simple, and there were not many people present. Knight Som's wife placed a white Floral Crown on the big-eyed girl, sprinkled her with Holy Water, then clasped her hands and prayed that the girl's life would be carefree, that she would find a beloved partner, and that she would become an honored mother and virtuous wife.

After the Coming-of-Age Ceremony came the succession ceremony for the head of the Windsor Family. All the Windsor Family's old retainers stepped forward one by one to bow to the girl seated above them with the Floral Crown on her head, declaring that they would faithfully fulfill their duties for the Windsor Family's glory and revival. Even Madam Winsor, whose black cloak concealed her increasingly plump figure, led the curious young master to the girl and offered a slight bow.

After everyone had finished paying their respects, the girl who had just become the family head stood up and summoned the former Garrison Captain named Hurd to kneel before her. She drew her sword and laid it across his shoulders. "When the Windsor Family's glory had fallen into the dust, it was you, brave guardian, who never forgot your duty. You brought protection to the weak and hope to the desperate. To honor a warrior and reward loyalty, I, Windsor Bilinna, the eleventh head of the Windsor Family, appoint Warrior Hurd as the Windsor Family's Guardian Knight."

The girl tapped Hurd's shoulders twice with the flat of her sword.

Knight Som stepped forward several paces and shouted, "Knight Hurd, are you willing to become the final barrier protecting Mermaid Castle?"

"I am!"

"Knight Hurd, are you willing to fight to the death beneath the Mermaid Banner?"

"I am!"

"Knight Hurd, are you willing to charge fearlessly at the sound of the Mermaid Horn?"

"I am!"

"Knight Hurd, are you willing to devote your entire life to the glory of the Mermaid Emblem and remain faithful until death?"

"I am!" Knight Hurd answered louder and louder, trembling with excitement.

"Then welcome to our ranks, my brother!" Knight Som strode forward, helped Knight Hurd up from the ground, and embraced him tightly.

Everyone present began to applaud, and the applause merged into a single wave.

As an invited observer, Lorist had sat quietly to one side and watched the entire ceremony. Yet the scene before him seemed to stir memories hidden deep in his heart—the memories of Little Locke, the body's original owner. It seemed that when Little Locke was young, the Norton Family had held a similar ceremony to elevate someone to family knight. It had been just as solemn and heroic, though more people had attended and the atmosphere had been livelier.

After the ceremony, Lorist, the girl who had just become the head of the Windsor Family and was still wearing her Floral Crown, Knight Som, who was about to lead the team away, and the newly appointed Knight Hurd sat together to make the final arrangements. Miss Windsor had already decided to establish the Windsor Chamber of Commerce, which would purchase weapons and equipment and recruit Silver Rank mercenaries under the chamber's name. She rejected Knight Hurd's request to return to the old territory with Knight Som and organize the resistance army.

Miss Windsor believed that Knight Hurd's most urgent task was to master the high-tier Wood Attribute Battle Qi Manual the family had bestowed upon him. She had spent a huge sum to acquire it specifically as a gift for Knight Hurd at the ceremony appointing him as a family knight. The former Garrison Captain was a Black Iron Three-Star warrior with the Wood Attribute. With this high-tier Wood Attribute Battle Qi Manual, he could advance to Silver Rank in less than half a year.

However, Knight Hurd was eager to repay his lord and serve with all his heart. In the end, Miss Windsor agreed to let Knight Hurd take charge of transporting weapons and equipment and receiving personnel.

Lorist kept warning Knight Som that after reaching the old territory, his first priority was not to recruit members for the resistance and expand his forces. Instead, he needed to select camps and hidden shelters, establish a spy network, and gather intelligence on the new lord. He absolutely must not impulsively attack the new lord's castle or army. In the beginning, everything had to focus on self-preservation.

Knight Som nodded with amusement. Miss Windsor's boyfriend was quite interesting. Had he forgotten that he had already repeated these instructions three times? Still, Knight Som thanked Lorist and said that he would certainly remember the advice when he left.

Night had fallen deep, but Lorist still did not quite want to sleep. Perhaps the Windsor Family's knight-promotion ceremony that evening had moved him. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have held a deep misunderstanding of nobles. Perhaps he had been influenced too much by his previous life. He had always believed that nobles were all hypocritical, delicate, affected people, just like the caricatures in the comics of his former world. To him, nobles were vampires clinging to the people and bloated parasites stuffing themselves fat. But the memories deep in his heart told him that not all nobles were as he had imagined. There were plenty who were loyal, brave, just, and disciplined. They were every bit as devoted to their duties and every bit as passionate and heroic.

The room door was quietly pushed open. The girl wearing the Floral Crown and a white silk nightgown slipped inside. She first looked toward the bed and, finding no one there, wrinkled her pretty nose and muttered softly, "Where did that rascal run off to..."

Lorist chuckled. The girl jumped in fright, then turned and saw him standing by the window. She said crossly, "Why aren't you asleep in the middle of the night? What are you trying to do?"

Lorist was speechless... He pointed at himself, then at the room, and finally at the girl. His meaning was clear: This was his room. Why had she come running in at this hour?

The girl was like a breeze, flinging herself into Lorist's arms in an instant. She hooked both arms around his neck and breathed softly against him. "I was so happy tonight that I couldn't sleep no matter what. Locke, thank you. Without you, I wouldn't be who I am today. You gave me hope, and you gave me a tomorrow..."

The girl closed her eyes and took the initiative to offer him a sweet kiss.

Lorist responded passionately.

As they kissed, their emotions gradually grew heated, and Lorist realized that he was starting to lose control.

The girl suddenly shoved Lorist away, her cheeks flushed red. "Locke, I want to dance. I want to dance for you."

Barefoot, the girl danced gracefully across the dark-red wooden floor in the pure silver moonlight, like a Moon Elf from legend offering her most devout prayer to the Silver Moon Mother Goddess. Her white nightgown was like a white flower of the night slowly blooming in the still darkness, quietly releasing its fragrance.

After completing the final dance move, the girl froze in the silver moonlight, perfectly still, like an exquisite statue.

Lorist raised both thumbs.

The girl's face slowly reddened again. She gradually lifted her hands and gently loosened the ribbons at her shoulders. Her white nightgown quietly drifted to the floor...

Her body, smooth and lustrous like fine jade, appeared before Lorist just like that, and his breathing grew heavy...

The girl spoke in a trembling voice. "Lo-Locke, do you think I'm beautiful?"

Lorist turned into a wolf...

That night, the moonlight flowed like water...

Heh heh, this really was a very old-fashioned love story...