Interlude on the Return Journey

Just as Ogesha had predicted, Lux, Garen, and Tiana spent a small reunion of a New Year in Silvermine City.

However, unlike Lux, who had a very leisurely time, Garen and Tiana usually stayed in the barracks. They only returned to Silvermine City when the New Year arrived—during winter, the northern border was on high alert because the people of Freljord to the north would often raid south due to hunger.

Although the towering Dragon Ridge Mountains were extremely difficult to cross, and a raiding party heading south might lose half its members during the crossing, the people of Freljord would still press on without food.

Moreover, from the sea to the west, some tribes would bypass the mountains when the sea level froze over, entering Demacian territory.

Therefore, to guard against these barbarians heading south, the Demacian army often assembled and stood guard in the northern territories during winter. Garen and Tiana, despite being members of the Crown Guard family, had a very tough time during this period.

In this situation, Lux, now free, took the "encouragement" of Karya to plan a more detailed investigation around Silvermine City.

Although this kind of running around was somewhat dangerous, considering Lux's stunning sword strike against Codora previously, and the fact that the nobility of Silvermine City were now all trembling and didn't even dare to hold banquets, Lux was simply too bored. In the end, they could only let Lux wander around.

Lux, once again disguised as a hunter's daughter, tried to retrace her previous steps. But what she and Karya never dreamed of was that in just over ten days, her previous great achievements had already spread throughout Silvermine City through countless mouths.

Demacians were very receptive to heroism, and Lux's performance when facing numerous nobles before was nothing short of stunning. Most importantly, for the common people, the little princess of the Crown Guard family opened up four precious knight positions and personally conducted interviews with her extensive agricultural knowledge.

Coupled with the fact that it was now the off-season for farming, and the common people, who already had few entertainment options, spontaneously adapted Lux's story into countless versions.

There were even bards composing music in the taverns of the inner city.

Good heavens, Lux was speechless on the spot!

Under these circumstances, even if her disguise was flawless, as a young girl from out of town, Lux still attracted more attention than she should have.

Or rather, almost any young girl from out of town accompanied by a grown man walking through the fields of Silvermine City would draw stares.

Lux didn't think much of it at first.

She just had to say she wasn't, right? Anyway, the curious commoners... hadn't seen her before.

But even after denying her identity, the commoners' conversations with her wouldn't stray from "Miss Luxanna."

And due to the widespread and distorted nature of the stories, Lux had to put on a curious expression and listen to stories that had been passed through countless hands and were completely unrecognizable.

I'm pretending not to be me, and I'm hearing about not-me from others—my story!

The key was that after sharing one outrageous story after another, they would nauseatingly praise Lux with their limited vocabulary, saying things like "this kid is great," "Luxanna is alright," and so on. The unique warmth and humor of the northern dialect always left Lux wide-eyed.

Under these circumstances, if she still wanted to maintain her disguise... this was undoubtedly a severe test of Lux's acting skills. She even felt that listening to this was more difficult than facing those nobles at a noble banquet without Karya's help.

In the end, Lux reluctantly gave up the idea of further investigation.

Forget it, I'll try somewhere else next time—I'm tired, let's go home, quickly.

Anyway, she was already twelve years old and had proven she could handle things on her own. She would have opportunities to leave the Imperial Capital eventually.

After the New Year, the ice and snow in Silvermine City had not yet melted when Lux had to embark on the road back to the Demacian Imperial Capital.

However, before returning, Lux had one last question.

What souvenirs to bring back.

Even though Lux believed her main gain was seeing the underlying contradictions beneath the surface of peace, from the perspective of nobility, the most important aspect of this trip should have been her first time acting independently and successfully fulfilling her family's expectations.

Under these circumstances, her souvenirs also carried a certain "trophy" attribute.

They needed to be carefully selected.

However, Lux was not very good at this.

And choosing gifts was also one of Karya's rare blind spots—after discovering that the all-knowing Karya needed an update, Lux could only helplessly turn to her guards for help.

Fortunately, after this period of getting along (plus many times of undercover visits), the guards were no longer too formal when facing Lux. Although they looked at each other in dismay when their young lady asked for help, under Lux's urging, they finally came up with a pile of bizarre suggestions.

From handicrafts to specialty foods, to hand-painted landscape paintings and new musical scores from bards, these suggestions from the guards left Lux dumbfounded.

Handicrafts were a bit cheap.

Specialty foods couldn't be taken back.

The bard's songs were all about her, which was too embarrassing.

After much thought, landscape paintings of Silvermine City seemed like a really good idea.

Anyway, with Karya's help, it wouldn't take much effort to make a printer.

Giving a thumbs-up to the guard who made this suggestion, Lux, with her sketchbook, ran all over Silvermine City and quickly prepared a large stack of sketches—all famous scenes of Silvermine City, all drawn by her own hand, perfect for giving as gifts.

In addition, regarding Ogesha, before Lux set off for Silvermine City, she had said she wanted to bring back a Northern Wind Flute.

Mom's gift was ready!

So, now only Sona's gift was left!

Lux considered whether to also give Sona a Northern Wind Flute, but when she thought about Sona currently being in the Illuminati's choir, where there were all sorts of instruments and even specialized instrument-making masters, she finally abandoned the idea.

What should she give?

And for this question, one of the guards offered his suggestion.

"How about, choosing a Northern Warhorse!"

A Northern Warhorse?

This suggestion surprised Lux.

"How did you come up with that?"

"I saw Mr. Dili's white horse—it was so magnificent, rarely seen even in the Imperial Capital," the guard said honestly. "So I thought about how the Northern Warhorses are quite famous..."

"Mr. Dili's horse cost a fortune," Lux said, shaking her head upon hearing this. "The Northern Warhorses are famous, but horses of that caliber are very rare!"

"But I remember seeing one when I was in Viros," the guard recalled. "It was a very similar white horse, ridden by a painter at the time... Speaking of which, he seemed to have stayed next door to our inn back then. A very handsome young man who could also play the harp..."

???

Stayed next door?

Talked about the harp?

A painter?

With these three conditions combined, Lux and Karya almost simultaneously thought of those annoying flies in the Demacian Imperial Capital who were eventually driven away by Kashina.

On the surface, Lux appeared calm and casually inquired about the young man's appearance.

According to the guard's description, except for the age not matching, he was identical to Dili.

Realizing there might be a problem, Lux began to inquire about Dili's family information.

Then, she learned of Gao Kan's existence—this one was considered a "promising youth" of Silvermine City, but Lux had never seen him there.

Lux had already been suspicious of Dili before, and now with the mystery of the white horse, she couldn't help but want to figure out the situation!

Could it be that Dili discovered she wasn't recuperating at the inn and chose to defect?

But unfortunately, at this very moment, Dili had been assigned a new task by Tiana, and his family had already left Silvermine City—the clue was broken.

With nothing to show for it, Lux reluctantly got into the carriage heading home.

As for a gift for Sona...

With Karya's help, Lux ultimately chose to cook herself, learning how to make an Ionian Traditional Pastry.

Although the flavor might be different due to the ingredients, she hoped Sona would like it!

And so, after handling everything, Lux and Kuren embarked on the road back to the Demacian Imperial Capital together.