News of Grand Duke Hall's escape quickly spread throughout the player community, shocking most players—how could someone actually escape from the heavily guarded Valhalla!
But upon closer reflection, it dawned on me:
Valhalla may be prosperous, but it's essentially a beginner's village.
The number of players here is undoubtedly high, but as for their quality...
Aside from the occasional Middle Tier "powerful" player returning in triumph, it's difficult to gather even a few players above level 20.
After all, there are practically no players who are still wandering around the newbie village at level 20, except for purely casual players.
The resources, quest rewards, monster attributes, and so on here are insufficient to allow players to grow indefinitely.
As for the Adrian Imperial Guard, who were successfully incorporated by Ed, they were tasked with maintaining order in the Holy City during this period.
After all, the players who could join this organization were all extreme law-abiding members, and if they were present, they would never have allowed Hall to do something like a prison break.
Meanwhile, a small number of players were shocked by something else—
What? Hall was actually imprisoned in Valhalla?
These clueless guys only found out after asking around that Hall had been accidentally discovered by a small group of players and the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess Machine Spirit" almost half a year ago.
Hall was later divided into several equal parts, one of which was used as a guest at Ed's place.
Since what was obtained was not the complete Hall, there is no need for publicity.
Furthermore, since all players' attention was focused on a certain highly popular prince at the time, Hall, who was also a rare High Tier, only received a little attention.
And so, players continued to report Hall's exact location on the forums until the very last moment, when the last group of players witnessed Hall leading his horde of Blood Corpse into the territory of the Eternal Domain.
For players belonging to the Theocracy, rashly entering the Eternal Domain was tantamount to launching a war without warning. So after witnessing this scene, the players simply shared the message and then happily received their quest rewards.
As for the subsequent arrangements regarding Hall and the Eternal Domain, Ed has already made plans, but it's not yet time.
Everything in Valhalla finally settled down, while Ed received a rumor from the south of the continent...
Skeleton Alliance, a large sandcastle in the central region.
As soon as [ Ginseng Rooster ] logged on, he was dragged out of bed by the skeleton soldiers waiting beside him.
Colin still respected this Soul Returner's strategist, so the fact that he sent someone to do this immediately put [ Ginseng Rooster ] on high alert.
He tentatively asked:
"Is it Lord Colin who wants to see me?"
Then he saw the taciturn skeleton soldier nod.
really.
[ Ginseng Rooster ] mentally reviewed what he had done recently and felt that he hadn't offended anyone.
What he's been busy with lately is quite simple: helping Colin establish his first three initiatives since taking office.
Reorganizing the patrol frequency and team size is a matter of course; after all, Colin became the Bastion Lord by quickly arriving to provide reinforcements, so it's only natural to make the most of his strengths.
Assign fully armored infantry and heavy cavalry under the command of the [ Hard Armor ] Councilor to each fortress—this is to strengthen the defenses. After all, it's difficult to win a fixed match, and if the fortresses still fall so easily after Colin takes office, then Colin will eventually be crushed into pieces by the Warlord.
As for the final move, it was [ Ginseng Rooster ] who suggested that Colin establish a military oversight organization similar to the "military police."
Although Colin repeatedly stated that all skeletons were loyal to the Alliance, his own experience of contradicting his superior was still fresh in his mind. Colin did not want his Fortress Knights to be slow and inefficient, nor did he want them to be too ambitious and thus replicate his own path to promotion.
Therefore, [ Ginseng Rooster ] finally persuaded the newly appointed lord to select a portion of the ordinary skeletons and Soul Returner mercenaries to serve as military police in charge of supervising military discipline and combat.
These peaceful days have lasted for a while now.
It must be admitted that since Alfonso, who was Colin's counterpart, was transferred away with his entire team, the security level of Colin's jurisdiction has risen sharply.
In this situation, [ Ginseng Rooster ] would certainly not say, "The one who was your opponent has already been promoted and left." Whenever Colin asked about it, he would say that it was all thanks to Colin, the Bastion Lord, that the frequency of the enemy's harassment had decreased significantly.
Having repeated the lie so many times, Colin now felt quite smug, as if he were a born genius.
After reviewing his recent actions in his mind, [ the Ginseng Rooster ] suddenly wanted to retract his thought that he hadn't offended anyone...
The widespread use and promotion of Soul Returner has inevitably taken away some of the original positions of Skeleton People.
After the establishment of the "military police," some skeletons even changed their attitude towards [ the Ginseng Rooster ].
It's only because the skeletons around Colin are loyal enough, otherwise [ Ginseng Rooster ] might have thought the other party was going to kill him when he was pulled up.
He was soon taken by the skeletons to the top of the large sandcastle, where he met Colin, whose face was full of solemnity.
"My lord, I've arrived."
[ Ginseng Rooster ] bowed and then prepared to find a place to sit down, before earnestly asking the lord in the main seat:
Is there anything urgent that you need?
Colin looked at the [ Ginseng Rooster ] and remained silent.
After a long while, his entire skeleton suddenly relaxed, as if he had exhaled a breath of stale air, and then he said:
How do you feel about how well we've accomplished our tasks over this period?
[ The Ginseng Rooster ] paused for a moment, somewhat confused, but still said earnestly:
"Since you became the Bastion Lord, the entire territory is much safer than before."
"Externally, the imperialists haven't successfully launched an attack for some time; internally, the new regulations have improved military discipline."
As he spoke, [ the Ginseng Rooster ] became increasingly puzzled and asked:
"So, sir, what exactly happened?"
Colin looked somewhat disappointed upon hearing this, and finally managed to speak with some difficulty:
" The Alliance's defenses need to be tightened; the barriers we've painstakingly built... are about to be abandoned."
"What?"
[ Ginseng Rooster ] slammed his fist on the table and stood up abruptly, his face contorted with rage.
While half of that exaggerated expression was acted, the other half came from the heart.
Although [ the Ginseng Rooster ] is an inside man, he is truly dedicated and hardworking when it comes to his work.
Of course, those who are on your own side can coast along, but if an insider wants to climb higher, they have to do their job properly.
It can be said that although he was the mole, the help he gave Colin was never fake, and the effort he put in was also genuine.
So when [ Ginseng Rooster ] heard that the fortress composed of Sandcastle Number Fifteen was to be abandoned, he was genuinely furious.
"What do those big shots think of our efforts?!"