Things Were Looking Up

When Count Ian awoke, he could already see the sun peeking out in the distance.

He struggled to his feet, the chainmail on his body seemingly mixed with the mud beneath him, making the movement difficult.

However, he was still a Second Order Profession User, and he only slightly braced his arms on the ground before lifting his body up.

When he got up, the first thing he did was look at the sky in the distance, which made him nervous, because Duke Theodore's message made it clear that he would fight the Prince of Antir at sunrise no matter what.

If it were now, Duke Theodore would probably have already finished the battle.

Even though many second-tier battles can last for ten or twenty minutes, Ian knew that between two knights who had almost no way out, it wouldn't actually take long.

The Prince of Antir had no reason to hide, for once the army pressed forward, his only chance was to kill Theodore, and now...

Did Theodore?

Count Ian sensed his territory with a sense of unease. Below him were many knight lords. He first noticed that his Order had not fallen, which was excellent news.

His rule over many lords was granted by the Duke Theodore, and if the Duke Theodore died, these lords would never again be his subordinates.

This means that Theodore is still alive, but we still don't know his exact condition. However, it's all good.

However, it's also possible that Theodore is still putting up a fierce fight and hasn't died, which is highly probable.

Count Ian got up from the ground, ignoring the mud on his body, and wondered if he could activate Territory Destroyer again at this moment.

Then he keenly sensed something was wrong; a territorial resonance was emanating from the land beneath his feet.

This made him frown deeply, countless thoughts racing through his mind, but he still couldn't understand what was going on.

"Could it be that I'm no longer in White Flower Territory?" A thought crossed his mind.

However, when he examined the Territory Resonance Territory Resonance closely, he did not feel any sense of familiarity with it.

Furthermore, in the subsequent analysis, he could also sense that this Territory Resonance was completely different from what he had obtained before.

He had never felt such a resonance before, which made him frown deeply.

Ian put aside his worries and stopped looking into that area. Instead, he began to observe his surroundings. He needed to prepare for the Territory Destroyer first, and deal with the rest later.

His assistant, the sorceress Maeve, was lying on her side in the mud; the horse that had carried her was long gone.

The murky water had almost seeped into Maeve's robes, Ian could see the discomfort written all over Maeve face.

And on the other side was the Territory Destroyer device. Ian looked in the direction he remembered; its silver-white exterior was now embedded in the mud.

Ian took two quick steps and walked up to the device of the Territory Destroyer. The marks on it made his heart sink.

Even though he had heard that this thing wasn't an extremely sophisticated device and wouldn't lose its function after being dropped a couple of times, the extra marks projected onto the device indicated that it was probably broken.

The knobs on the control panel looked as if they had been ripped open in an extremely rough manner, revealing inscriptions inside that emitted a faint blue light.

On the side of the device, in the area Lucy warned them to be careful of—the energy chamber—the charred marks had just covered the external interface.

The person seemed unaware that opening the energy chamber required a specific key and special technique, but they roughly slit open the interface and took the Energy Core directly away.

Even if Ian wasn't a mage, he would know by now that the device was out of power and most likely unusable.

Fran deliberately sabotaged the device to prevent Ian from activating it again.

Having lost all hope of activating the device, Ian could only take a deep breath and recall the moment he collapsed.

He raised his hand and touched his chest. He remembered that under the red light that enveloped the other person, he had suddenly fainted for some reason, without even having time to struggle.

As his hand explored, he quickly discovered a peculiar phenomenon: he could actually touch the skin of his chest.

He looked down and was taken aback by what he saw: a large hole had been torn in his chainmail.

"This is chainmail made of a special metal, and it was just like that..."

His chainmail, torn open, was covered in charred marks, and although the opening looked irregular, he could vaguely make out the shape of three fingers pressing on his chest.

He recalled that when he was attacked, he felt the person emitting red light place their hand on his chest, and then he immediately fell into a state of dizziness.

He didn't even feel the hand pressing on his chest, what it looked like, or whether it was wearing gloves. He had no idea. All he knew was that his consciousness sank almost instantly.

Then he remembered the words the man had said when he attacked him. Although they sounded somewhat familiar, he couldn't remember who had said them.

All I know is that this sounds like something someone I've only met a few times said, and their words are worth investigating.

"Protect the Earth Spirit?" he murmured.

He knew what was going on with the Earth Spirit. According to the records left by his family, he knew that this thing was simply a jinx.

It's better if it doesn't come into being. Once it does, you can only wait ten or twenty years for it to die naturally. Otherwise, any external force that causes its death will have extremely serious consequences.

Several knights also need to be assigned to protect the Earth Spirit, otherwise, with their small Earth Spirit, they would be unable to withstand the attacks of those Magic Creature. Those Magic Creature are so hungry that they don't care what race you are.

At this moment, Ian's expression was very solemn. He seemed to suddenly understand why Lucy wanted them to activate the Territory Destroyer, and a cold sweat broke out on his ears.

He knew that the Earth Spirit Lucy had her eye on was definitely not just an apprentice-level creature, the kind that required their knights to protect it.

Rather, it is First Order Earth Spirit that possesses a certain level of combat power and can evade attacks; only such Earth Spirit is worth Lucy making such a complex arrangement for.

If Lucy succeeds, then saying that the entire White Flower Territory will have to be abandoned would be an understatement.

Because if not handled properly, another Abyss Mouth could appear, but the Alliance will likely not allow that to happen.

However, after the incident, his ending was not so pleasant.

If he were to encounter the person who had caused him to faint again at this point, he would not feel anger, but rather gratitude.

And for some reason, he felt incredibly calm now, and seemed no longer worried about Duke Theodore's situation.

He seemed to have a vague feeling that Duke Theodore had won, and not just by a narrow margin, but by a huge advantage.

"Why is that?" He was a little confused, but then he sighed and began to pack his things.

He began to gather his belongings, looking at the Territory Destroyer lying on the ground, knowing that he now had no way out.

With the Territory Destroyer damaged to this extent, it's unlikely he'll be able to activate it anytime soon.

He also knew that Lucy definitely didn't know how to repair such a device. After all, if Lucy knew how, why didn't she just make one for him instead of using the Alliance's share?

He woke Maeve and had her wipe herself clean. Then, carrying Territory Destroyer, he and Maeve walked back to White Flower City. There was no other way; their horses had wandered off somewhere, so they had to walk back.

When the sun had risen halfway up the mountain, they returned to White Flower City White Flower City, where Finley was waiting for them at the city gate for some unknown reason.

When Finley saw the two return, he rushed to greet them.

"Count Ian, where have you all gone? I heard you went out last night, and you haven't returned yet. I was just thinking of sending people to look for you..."

Ian stared intently at Finley, his face filled with shock and joy, for he sensed a peculiar fluctuation emanating from Finley's body.

That kind of fluctuation was something only a lord of a territory could possess. Ian opened his mouth, but it took him a long time to speak.

"How did you become a lord? Wasn't it supposed to take more than a year?"

Finley replied with a smile.

"My lord, I became lord last night, when the moon was at its highest point."

"I was just about to deliver this message to you, but I couldn't find you anywhere, so I'm only able to tell you now."

"As for why, it's because I found the Territory Token a month ago. As you probably know, this matter cannot be publicized, which is why I didn't inform you in advance."

Finley generously explained that as long as he became lord now and clearly identified the people he served, no one would ever question his concealment of the Territory Token.

As for Fran's help, it's best to avoid mentioning it, since it's not important anyway.

Ian felt as if his brain had exploded; he finally understood the source of his strange premonition.

Finley becoming lord will definitely have a fatal weakening effect on that prince, although because it has only been a short time, it may only reduce the prince's power by a small margin.

But this advantage was enough for Theodore to kill his opponent.

At this moment, Ian felt grateful again to the person who had intercepted them; if it weren't for the other person's intervention, they wouldn't be in such a good situation now.

"By the way, is Mage Lucy in the city?" Ian thought of another question, one that also needed his attention.

"Master Lucy hasn't returned yet." Finley's answer surprised Ian.