Chapter 91: The Army Sets Out! (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

"Strange, a year has clearly passed, so why have I returned to the state I was in the first time I came here?"

In the hall, Brown-Nose spread his hands, looking at his body in confusion.

The clothes on his body had turned back into that tattered hemp garment from before, and even his physique had reverted; the height he had gained over the year had shrunk back down.

Crackle, pop.

At this moment, three raging torches suddenly appeared in the hall, followed by the successive arrivals of Xia Mingyu, Tamerlane, and Hagek Kesi.

After bowing and greeting His Highness, Tamerlane seemed to notice something unusual and walked quickly toward Brown-Nose.

"You've only practiced the breathing technique for one day, and you're already about to qualify as a Knight Apprentice?"

Tamerlane leaned down, carefully examined Brown-Nose's body, and exclaimed in wonder.

Once these words were spoken, even the heroic face of Hagek Kesi beside them was covered in shock.

Because he had started fighting and killing in the arena at the age of six, and it had still taken him a full year to qualify as a Fighter Apprentice.

Although this was partly because he was too young at the time, regardless, reaching this level of cultivation in a single day was enough to demonstrate Brown-Nose's high talent.

"Truly, one cannot judge a book by its cover; His Highness's choices will never be wrong," Hagek Kesi sighed in his heart, his respect for His Highness deepening by a few degrees.

Xia Mingyu's reaction was quite calm; after all, he had achieved the profession of True Illusionist in a single day himself.

"Well done, Brown-Nose. I admit I misjudged you. I mistakenly thought you were a fool just because it took you a whole night to learn the breathing technique. You will surely become an excellent knight in the future."

Tamerlane patted the boy on the shoulder, encouraging him earnestly.

Although the boy's rapid progress was largely due to the breathing technique *Son of the Sun*, which was said to have been divinely inspired by the God of Sun and Justice.

But regardless, reaching this level of cultivation in a day undoubtedly qualified him as a super genius, only a little bit worse than him—he had taken an hour to successfully qualify.

"Hehe..."

Hearing Tamerlane's words, the boy, who had originally wanted to explain that he had practiced for a full year, scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.

Afterward, he looked toward the calm black-haired young man not far away, his eyes suddenly sparkling.

"Your Highness, can you pat my head again?"

Like last time, the boy knelt on both knees, walked toward Xia Mingyu using his knees as feet, and wrapped his arms tightly around his legs.

"Alright, but you must stand up, and don't do this again in the future."

After Xia Mingyu lifted him from the ground, he patted his short, crimson hair.

"Do you want to eat something else?"

"Yes!"

A moment later, the boy, having eaten until his belly was round at the long table, was taken away by Tamerlane.

He decided to give Brown-Nose another special training session tonight, striving to let Brown-Nose successfully qualify as a Knight Apprentice.

The night passed in silence, and the magnificent palace gradually became transparent.

"Your Highness, Master, I will definitely see you again!"

At the moment of parting, Brown-Nose shed tears of reluctance, to the point that both Xia Mingyu and Tamerlane couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing.

A big boy, seeing them every night, why cry like this?

Early morning.

The first ray of morning light quietly spilled over, dyeing the castle's towering turrets in a layer of faint gold.

When Xia Mingyu had just woken from his sleep, he saw that on the training ground below the window, more than two thousand soldiers were standing in uniform, holding spears straight and silent.

Most of them wore heavy leather armor, their shoulders tense, their eyes looking straight ahead, and even the air revealed a sense of solemn killing intent.

Knock, knock.

At this moment, the door to the room was gently knocked.

Xia Mingyu changed his clothes, and after opening the door, he saw Berg waiting quietly outside.

His state at this moment was different from usual; his face was pale, his eyes, usually sharp like an eagle's, were now covered in bloodshot veins, and he even had faint dark circles under his eyes.

Furthermore, there was a faint, somewhat pungent smell of blood on his body.

"Your Highness, Viscount Hughes has already assembled the army, waiting only for you to board the carriage to set out and crusade against the Night Shadow Territory, so he entrusted me to bring you over."

Berg bowed respectfully.

Last night, he had spent the entire night practicing on the most heinous criminals who had survived the previous great purge alongside the castle's interrogator, and now he couldn't wait to set out and use those methods on his enemies.

"Let's go."

Xia Mingyu snapped his fingers, summoning a breeze to sweep away the smell of blood from Berg's body, and then followed him away with satisfaction.

At the edge of the training ground, a luxurious carriage was parked; its body was smooth as a mirror, carved with several patterns flashing with faint light.

The roof of the carriage was covered with soft purple velvet curtains, the edges embroidered with intricate silver thread trim.

And what was eye-catching was that it was not horses pulling the carriage, but a giant black wolf with a shoulder height of over two meters and a body length of about five meters.

At this moment, this giant wolf was lazily lying on the ground basking in the sun, but the moment it saw Xia Mingyu walking over, it immediately wagged its tail, stuck out its tongue, and leaned over, affectionately licking his palm.

"Hmm, the texture is great."

Xia Mingyu stroked the wolf's head, which was almost bigger than his own, and sighed secretly in his heart.

With such a great texture, if it were made into a wolf-skin coat, there would be plenty of people willing to buy it for over a hundred thousand on Blue Star.

At the same time, on the high platform in front of the army, Kalen was wearing black armor, holding a black sword, his cloak rustling in the morning wind.

His gaze swept over the neatly lined-up soldiers below like a hawk, and upon seeing that Xia Mingyu had already boarded the carriage, he began the mobilization.

"My soldiers, I will soon set out on war with you. I cannot guarantee that you will all survive, but I am certain that I will fight alongside you until the very last moment," Kalen said in a deep voice.

"This crusade against the Night Shadow Territory is by no means an invasion, nor is it my honor alone."

"I know that many of you come from the Night Shadow Territory, your families were starved to death, and that stupid, greedy lord even taxed the very air you breathe!"

"Do you not want revenge? And the local soldiers, if we lose this war, do you also want to pay a breathing tax?"

Kalen's voice was loud and powerful, echoing across the training ground.

The next moment, the eyes of all the soldiers became fierce.

Breathing tax? What a joke!

If they were made to pay such an outrageous tax, it would be better to die sooner and be done with it!

"Tell me, do you want to pay a breathing tax?" Kalen questioned.

"No!"

"Then what should you do?"

"Kill, kill, kill!"

The passionate shouts of the soldiers almost lifted the entire training ground.

"All troops, move out!" Kalen drew his long sword and pointed it at the sky.

Tramp, tramp, tramp.

The next moment, the army, led by the leading knights, marched forward.

And Kalen also mounted a sturdy black horse, gradually walking to the very front of the army.

He had originally wanted to drive the carriage for His Highness himself, but felt it was too conspicuous and easy to attract fire, so he simply replaced the horses with the Black Abyss Wolf to pull the carriage itself.

He had full confidence in this "dog's" ability to serve His Highness.

In the sofa of the carriage cabin.

Xia Mingyu and Lise sat face to face, the atmosphere somewhat awkward for a moment.

Although the two often read books together in the library, this was the first time they had been squeezed into a small, enclosed space.

"Your Highness, thank you," Lise broke the silence first, looking at the handsome black-haired young man in front of her and saying softly.

"Thank me for what?" Xia Mingyu looked puzzled.

"At the ceremony the day before yesterday, everyone avoided me in fear, only you, on the contrary, held my hand when I left, and you also punished the Viscount of Night Shadow at that time," Lise said calmly.

She often practiced magic with His Highness, so she could vaguely guess that the wine glass tipping over should have been His Highness's masterpiece.

"Because you are indeed very beautiful, that is why I did so," Xia Mingyu said with a hint of playfulness, hoping to see the girl's embarrassed look.

After all, men, who could refuse the charm of teasing a cute girl?

However, unexpectedly, the silver-haired girl in front of him did not blush from her snow-white neck to the tips of her ears as she usually did; instead, she nodded slightly and calmly, expressing her gratitude like a lady.

Xia Mingyu: "???"

This isn't right!

"Your Highness, what is wrong?"

Noticing the shock on Xia Mingyu's face, Lise asked with concern.

"Nothing, it's just that you seem to have suddenly become much calmer, and I'm not quite used to it for a moment," Xia Mingyu steadied himself and explained.

Hearing this, the girl's lips pursed slightly, and a trace of distress flashed in her gray-white pupils.

"Your Highness, if you like my previous shy look, I can try my best to do it, but it might not be very real, please forgive me..." Lise hesitated.

"Forget it, forget it!" Before she could finish, Xia Mingyu interrupted quickly.

"I just like being with you, not simply because I like your shy look," he said subconsciously.

No, wait!

As soon as the words left his mouth, Xia Mingyu immediately realized that this sentence was a bit too ambiguous and did not fit the relationship between the two.

He wanted to clarify, but didn't know how to explain it; it seemed it would only make things worse.

So, under his nervous gaze, the silver-haired girl in front of him turned her head slightly, her slender fingers tucking the stray hair behind her ear, and a faint blush spread from her snow-white cheeks to the tips of her ears.

Under the soft morning light filtering through the carriage window, Lise's face was as beautiful and moving as transparent jade.

Inexplicably, Xia Mingyu actually felt a hint of charm from this scene.

"Lise, you seem to have suddenly grown up overnight," Xia Mingyu sighed after a long silence.

"Because in the past, I was always inferior because of my different-colored eyes, and I just wanted to get through every day in a daze."

"But that day, my father's actions told me that I, like my younger brother, came into this world because of love."

"My mother also loved me; she was a maid by origin and always dreamed of giving birth to a boy to inherit my father's title, but she gave birth to a baby girl with different-colored eyes that everyone avoided. Even so, until she died of illness, the last wish she left for my father was still to take good care of me."

"Therefore, I have decided to live well from now on, cherishing each day as a heaven-sent gift, so as not to waste their love."

Speaking of this, the corners of Lise's mouth curled up slightly, and a brilliant smile appeared on her doll-like, exquisite face.

"Your Highness, you can understand this feeling, right? After all, you must have also come into this world because of love."

Xia Mingyu: "."

I'm an orphan, so I'm really sorry for you.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 92 =====