Chapter 450: The Stranded Princess

As a hub of frequent human traffic, the port hosts many small restaurants and taverns serving sailors, dockworkers, fishermen, and travelers.

Directly across from Harland Shipyard is one such eatery, open early to serve simple, affordable breakfasts: bread, butter, jam, ham, eggs, sausages, tea, or wine.

The setting is crude but full of life.

At a table in the eatery, Anna mechanically chewed butter-coated bread while staring intently at the door.

At that moment, a figure appeared there.

The girl's eyes lit up; she immediately set down her bread.

The figure walked straight to the table, sat down, picked up a sliced loaf from the tray, shoved it into his mouth, swallowed it in a few bites, then smiled and said, "Relax, it's done."

"Found your sister?"

"Not yet, but your sister did come to Harland Shipyard to buy a vessel—she just didn't have enough money and left to raise funds, leaving no contact address."

"Then what do we do? If we don't find her soon, the bad people will find us too." Anna was young but sharp, sensing the danger.

"You don't need to worry," Gao De smiled faintly.

"Because I've signed a letter of intent with Harland Shipyard's owner to purchase the yard and have him retract all information regarding the sale of the shipyard or its vessels."

"So even if the bad people know your sister intended to buy a ship, they'll never come to Harland Shipyard."

"I also told the shipyard owner that if your sister returns to buy a vessel, he should direct her to the Palm Tree Inn to meet Miss Anna." Gao De smiled.

"When she hears my name, my sister will come—we just need to wait for her at the inn!" Anna exclaimed excitedly.

"Exactly," Gao De rubbed Anna's head, still bouncing with joy, "and we won't have to wait long."

After all, Harland had already laid the groundwork: "Hurry, other buyers won't let the ships sit idle."

With the vessel's price so favorable and Harland offering terms perfectly suited to Aisha's desires, she would raise the funds as quickly as possible and return before it was too late.

After shoving every last piece of bread into his stomach to fill his morning gut and downing a large cup of tea, Gao De picked up the girl and left the eatery.

"Brother, where are we going now?" Anna asked.

"The library." Gao De said.

"Oh~ right, brother, why are you buying Harland Shipyard?" Anna asked curiously.

"Because what I plan to do requires it badly," Gao De answered honestly.

The girl in his arms looked up, staring straight at Gao De, her eyes sparkling.

With her limited experience, she understood the enormous sum required to purchase even a small, failing shipyard.

Even a small, failing one.

"Not really—I'm still figuring out how to raise the money," Gao De chuckled.

In Gao De's past life, most cities had large public libraries.

Their collections often numbered tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of volumes, covering every field of human knowledge—from ancient historical texts and classic literature to modern art albums—all freely accessible.

But in this world, that was utterly unimaginable.

Knowledge was expensive—a universal truth—and acquiring it demanded an exorbitant price.

For many commoners, books were nearly equivalent to luxuries: costly yet "useless."

This made every library in the world private, with all books treated as the owner's most precious assets.

Some private libraries were like secret treasuries, open only to a select few.

Others operated like potion shops or general stores—a business—where people paid hefty fees to enter and browse precious books.

Lagos City had three such libraries.

Gao De sought the Lagos Library, operated by the city government.

It was the largest of the three, with the greatest number of volumes and the broadest range of subjects.

The Lagos Library stood beside a spacious square in the city center, surrounded by ancient buildings and streets.

Gao De entered the library's main door into a spacious hall, its floor paved with smooth marble, walls adorned with exquisite paintings.

In the center stood a grand spiral staircase, its handrail carved from ornate oak, ancient and elegant.

Ascending the stairs led to the library's various reading rooms.

Inside, tall bookshelves stood in neat rows, filled with countless volumes, each carefully preserved, emitting a faint scent of paper.

A female attendant approached and handed Gao De a thick stack of detailed parchment catalogues.

Here, reading was charged per book or volume—you had to first consult the catalogues to identify the books you wanted; staff would then deliver them.

The catalogues were organized by subject.

Gao De quickly flipped to the geography section, scanned the book titles rapidly, and soon found what he needed.

The attendant led Gao De to the front desk and handed his selected books to the old man there.

The old man flipped through a large ledger behind the counter, then looked up and said, "Sir, you've selected four books: *The Royal Transitions of the Duchy of Xidian*, *The Noble Ranks and Royal Secrets of the Duchy of Xidian*, *Geography and Culture of the Duchy of Ofuga*, and *Geography and Culture of the Duchy of Xidian*. All are available for loan."

"These four books are from the second-floor collection. Per regulations, borrowing fees are five silver dragons per book—four books total, so two Jin Quehua coins. You may read them freely on either the first or second floor, for as long as you remain in the library."

Even with preparation, Gao De felt an urge to curse.

Four books—just reading them, not even taking them home, only within the library—and they charged him two Jin Quehua coins for one viewing.

In purchasing power, that equaled a year's tuition in his past life's compulsory education.

Cursing inwardly, he still calmly handed over two Jin Quehua coins.

"Second floor."

"Very good, sir, please follow me."

"This is complimentary," the attendant led Gao De to a seat in the second-floor reading area and placed a pot of black tea before him, then warned, "Sir, you must not copy, annotate, or damage the books—violations require double the original price in compensation."

Soon after, another staff member delivered the four books Gao De had chosen.

Gao De opened them with a glare, vowing to get his money's worth.

Gao De had guessed Aisha might arrive soon—but he never expected it to be this early, this sudden.

That night, Anna had just finished her bath; Gao De was drying her hair with a towel, gently rubbing her head as it bounced with joy.

"Don't move—dry your hair first, or you'll catch a chill," he said, scrubbing her small head with the towel.

"Hehe," came a muffled laugh from beneath the towel.

Suddenly, Gao De froze mid-motion.

At some point, a woman had appeared beside the bed.

She was wrapped in a long robe, hood drawn low, face hidden in shadow, indistinguishable.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Anna asked, puzzled by his stillness.

Gao De didn't know who she was, how she'd slipped into their room, or her origins—but he knew he must stay calm.

He kept one hand shielding Anna, still wrapped in the towel, behind him—protecting her from seeing the intruder, and hiding her face from the stranger.

With wary eyes fixed on the woman, his other hand prepared to cast a spell.

The woman stared at Gao De deeply, then spoke: "Anna, it's me."

In the next instant, Anna shrieked, "Wah!"—her joy bursting through the towel.

She yanked the cloth off her head.

The towel fluttered through the air.

"Sister!" Anna dashed forward and threw herself into the woman's arms.

The woman caught her helplessly; her hood slipped back, revealing a beautiful face Gao De recognized instantly.

"Aisha?" Gao De asked, staring at the woman.

She was stunning—a cascade of golden curls catching the lamplight in golden glimmers.

Her nose was high, her eyes golden, her features radiating mature grace.

After a slight hesitation, the woman, still holding Anna with one arm, nodded.

"Invisibility spell?" Gao De asked.

He meant how she'd appeared so suddenly.

Aisha nodded again.

That meant she was at least a second-circle mage.

Because *Invisibility* was a second-circle illusion spell—it rendered a creature invisible until the spell ended; clothing and carried items remained hidden if kept on the body; attacking or casting a spell broke the effect immediately.

It was this spell that had just allowed Aisha to perform a "disappearing act."

A simple second-circle illusion spell might have been pierced by Gao De's third-circle Mandora Eye's truth-sight.

But under normal circumstances, Gao De would never activate the Mandora Eye.

"Who are you?" Aisha asked.

"Gao De, Sea Sentinel Mage. I met Anna on the airship from Doen to Lagos. She asked me to help find you."

"Sister, brother's a good person! I snuck onto the airship, and that lady on board tried to grab me—but brother…" Anna chattered excitedly, giving a brief account of the past few days.

After hearing Anna's story, Aisha stared at Gao De as if he were a monster. After a long silence, she said incredulously, "You—a Sea Sentinel Mage—actually agreed to help a five-year-old girl?"

It sounded absurd.

Anyone else encountering Anna on the airship would have handed her over to staff immediately.

Even if they felt pity and didn't expose her then, they'd have turned her over to local authorities after landing—not risk unknown dangers by keeping her close, let alone helping her find you.

"Why not? She asked me for help. I could help, and I wanted to—so I said yes, even though she's just a little girl."

"You really are a good person," Aisha paused, then sincerely praised.

"Don't hand out 'good person' cards—I don't consider myself one," Gao De shook his head, "and besides, 'good person' isn't even a compliment."

Aisha didn't understand why "good person" wasn't a compliment, but since he disliked it, she didn't say it again.

"And then you used just Anna's drawing to track down Harland Shipyard—and even planned to buy it?"

"The first part is correct, the second is not," Gao De corrected seriously. "I want to buy the Harand Shipyard because I have a personal need for it."

"How did you do it?" Amy asked curiously.

"It's not complicated," Gao De briefly explained his approach and reasoning.

"You are truly a wise person," Amy sighed again.

"Flattery," Gao De replied humbly.

"In any case, I thank you, Master Gao De, for taking care of my sister these past days," Amy said, placing Anna on the bed, then lifting the hem of her robe and kneeling slightly in a proper noble bow.

Gao De accepted it calmly.

"Are you taking Anna away?" he asked next.

"Of course," Amy replied after a brief pause.

"Where do you plan to take Anna? According to Anna, there are enemies constantly tracking you," Gao De added.

"Originally, I planned to buy a ship and escape them by sea," Amy said after a moment of silence.

"If I'm not mistaken, you still have no clear destination, Princess Amy."

Amy's face changed; she instinctively hugged Anna tighter and stepped back, watching Gao De with full wariness.

"If I were your enemy, you would have walked straight into a trap the moment you entered this room—hidden men would have already seized you," Gao De said calmly, undisturbed by her reaction.

Amy froze slightly, thought it over, and realized it was indeed true; only then did she relax.

"How did you know? Did Anna tell you?"

"No, Anna didn't tell Brother!" Before Gao De could answer, Anna immediately raised her hand to prove her innocence.

"Right, Brother, how did you know?" After clearing herself, the girl couldn't help her curiosity; she stared wide-eyed at Gao De.

Gao De smiled slightly and slowly laid out his reasoning.

After noticing Anna's unusual knowledge and talent, he had indeed guessed her background was more than merely "well-off," and had suspected her origins.

But he could never have randomly linked Anna's identity to the recently fallen Duchy of Sidian mentioned on the hand-copied parchment, nor imagined she was a "runaway princess."

When had this suspicion first arisen?

Actually, last night, when he met the "enemy" searching for Amy at the inn's front desk.

He noticed one very distinctive trait: the man's ears were unlike the common rounded shape—they were unusually long, with slightly curved tips.

During a geography lecture at the Serais Academy, the instructor had mentioned this briefly.

The Duchy of Oufu had rolling hills, deep valleys, and vast forests that once sheltered an elf race in ancient times.

Though no elves remained there now, the people of Oufu still bore long, curved ears like those of elves—likely due to some elf bloodline.

This was a clear physical marker distinguishing Oufu natives from other peoples—a dead giveaway.

Therefore, that "enemy" was unquestionably from the Duchy of Oufu.

With this clue, Gao De naturally connected it to the report on the parchment at the front desk: Oufu had destroyed Sidian.

Only someone of noble birth from Sidian would warrant such relentless pursuit all the way to the Jin Quehua Dynasty, especially given Anna's unusual traits—she was almost certainly from a noble Sidian family.

"But that only proves we're nobles—how can you be certain we're royal?"

"Under the current evidence, I cannot confirm your exact identity," Gao De nodded, then continued.

"So today, I borrowed books from the Lages Library about Sidian and Oufu."

"In the book 'Sidian Noble Ranks and Royal Secrets,' I found an interesting detail: the Sidian royal family, during weaning, would smear silver spoons with Sidian lavender honey—a fragrant, rich honey that helped weaned infants eat better."

"But Sidian lavender has a unique, long-lasting scent, so this habit left a distinctive fragrance on the infants' right thumb and index finger—their fingers used to hold the spoon."

"Of course, as they grew older and no longer needed this method to encourage eating, the scent gradually faded until it vanished completely."

"But—" Gao De looked down at Anna. She was listening intently, utterly focused; when she noticed his gaze, she immediately beamed a sweet smile at him.

Gao De smiled back, then concluded: "Anna is only five years old."

(End of Chapter)