"..."
Faced with the girl's question, Blake remained silent. In fact, the moment he stepped into the room, he had already felt an unbridled surge of soul power—cold and menacing enough to render an ordinary person speechless. And now, he finally guessed the identity of the girl before him.
Triangular flags were the exclusive right of knights—a symbol that meant "the flag lives as long as the knight lives, and falls when the knight dies." Though Blake did not recognize the owner of this particular flag, the moment he saw it, he knew a Natural Knight was present. And the figure standing before him was not a man, but a woman. According to the intelligence Charlotte had gathered, only two generals were besieging the Orlt capital: Wind Messenger Karan and Puppeteer Sidvi. The girl before him was dressed bizarrely, but her features marked her as a pure human, with no elven blood whatsoever. Thus, Blake immediately confirmed her identity.
**Puppeteer Sidvi.**
Blake was slightly taken aback by this unexpected turn of events. He did not reach for the sword at his back—though military protocol usually required any outsider entering such a sensitive area to surrender their weapons, the soldiers who had escorted them here had not made such a demand. Earlier, Blake had assumed this was due to the lax discipline of the garrison. But now, seeing this strangely clad girl, he understood the true reason behind their oversight.
With a Natural Knight present, not even ten thousand fully armed rioters could hope to break in and leave alive.
"So it's you three?"
The girl raised an eyebrow and repeated her question. To be fair, her voice was quite pleasant—but paired with her odd attire and the cold, oppressive aura filling the room, it took on an eerie, unsettling quality. What's more, her question was completely out of the blue. If she had already sensed Blake's true identity and come to verify it, her demeanor did not show it. The impression Sidvi gave Blake right now was exactly the same as the look Ophelia would get when she was forced to do a task she hated—an air of mild impatience that she could not quite hide. Blake still remembered discussing with Charlotte once whether a soul construct could even have "off days." And now, that was precisely the vibe he got from this girl. To her, they were not targets worthy of attention, but rather a nuisance she had to deal with because of her duties. This was strange, though. Blake reviewed his "temporary identity" once more and could find no possible connection between a wandering merchant and a general. He had used a fake name, one that had never belonged to any noble family on this continent. So why had Sidvi gone out of her way to summon him here?
Puzzled as he was, Blake did not show any obvious signs of vigilance. After all, long before entering the room, he had sensed the possibility of facing a Natural Knight and had already told the sisters to suppress their soul power. Sidvi was still too young, and she lived in an era where Natural Knights were a rare commodity. From her current display, it was clear that the girl had never learned how to conceal her soul power.
This was hardly surprising. Only those who had reached the rank of knight could sense soul power acutely—and in this day and age, there were only a handful of knights in the entire continent. Everyone else was completely oblivious to it. But in Blake's time, knights had been a common sight. Precisely because of that, many knights had mastered the art of hiding their soul power. These were not swordsmanship techniques or secret skills—merely trivial tricks and loopholes. Thus, Blake was certain that Sidvi had never studied such methods. Otherwise, she would never allow her soul aura to radiate so openly. True, to ordinary people, this aura was nothing more than an intangible pressure. But only fellow knights could perceive the soul energy and aura contained within it. Yet here, in a remote mountain town where there was barely a soul to be seen, surrounded by reserve troops, who exactly was she trying to impress with her soul aura?
Still, a knight was a knight. Even with Blake's skill and expertise, suppressing his soul power only served to dampen its intensity, not erase it entirely. A quasi-Natural Knight like Sidvi, if she concentrated, would still be able to detect that their soul power was far from weak—though certainly not on the level of a full-fledged Natural Knight.
"I do not understand what you are asking," Blake replied quickly, putting on the confused expression an ordinary person would have. The two sisters remained silent, clinging tightly to the hem of his cloak and hiding behind him. Their way of speaking was far too peculiar; even if they suppressed their auras, their voices would immediately draw attention. So Blake had already instructed them to act like soft, timid, shy children in public. Judging by their performance so far, they were natural actresses.
As the saying went: women were born performers. How true that was.
"We are just ordinary civilians. What exactly do you want from us?"
At these words, the military officer in uniform twitched slightly, while Sidvi frowned, a strange look crossing her face.
Blake had no idea that Sidvi's presence here was purely coincidental. This military camp belonged to her legion. At a recent imperial council meeting, the Silver Princess Lindilot had specifically ordered all generals to ensure the safety of the occupied territories under their command and to avoid harassing the local population. Among the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, though all held equal rank, Sidvi was the one who obeyed Lindilot most faithfully. Thus, after the Silver Princess issued her order, Sidvi had taken it upon herself to tour the military camps in the occupied territories to inspect the situation. That was precisely why she had come here today. After all, there was still over a month left until the expiration of the Orlt ceasefire treaty, and her troops only needed to maintain local stability during this period.
But as luck would have it, no sooner had Sidvi arrived at the camp than a messenger from Luoxia Town showed up to report the arrival of the three strangers. When the officer in charge heard that they were wandering merchants fleeing the war, he had asked a few more questions out of curiosity. And that was where the trouble began. Though the messenger knew little about Blake and the girls—only that the old mayor had said they were refugees escaping the fighting, and that the young man was traveling with two small children—the people were masters of exaggeration and embellishment. Even without knowing the full story, the tale of a young man fleeing the war with two little girls was enough to stir sympathy. So the messenger had added all sorts of dramatic details to his account: how the young man had suffered such terrible misfortune, how brutal the occupying forces were, how he had lost everything and been forced to flee to this remote mountain town to seek refuge, and so on and so forth.
Of course, there was also a hint of resentment in his words. Though, following Lindilot's orders, the Sith army had not caused any major disturbances in the occupied territories, they were still occupiers—and in the hearts of the local people, there was inevitably some lingering resentment. Thus, the messenger had seized this opportunity to vent a little of that pent-up anger.
The messenger had merely been indulging in a bit of gossip—but Sidvi had happened to overhear him. Normally, for a Natural Knight like her, the deaths of a few people were not even worth a second thought. On the battlefield, this girl had killed tens of thousands of enemies. But the situation was different now. As soon as she heard the messenger's tale, Sidvi had immediately remembered the Silver Princess's instructions. And since the messenger had told the story with such vivid detail, as if it were the absolute truth, she had ordered Blake and the girls to be brought to her, intending to check if they had indeed been victimized by her troops. If her subordinates were responsible for their plight, then according to Lindilot's orders, Sidvi would have been duty-bound to take action.
That said, Sidvi was not exactly skilled at handling such matters. In fact, her method of inspecting the conduct of her troops in the occupied territories was straightforward to the point of rigidity: she would simply walk into a military camp and coldly ask the officer in charge if his men had been harassing the local population. Faced with such a terrifying, ruthless young girl, no officer would dare to incur her wrath by lying.
In other words, this Natural Knight was surprisingly naive when it came to matters outside of the battlefield.
Now, hearing Blake's confused retort, Sidvi bit her lower lip, a flicker of killing intent flashing in her eyes. By nature, she had no patience for explanations. She had summoned these people here simply because she wanted them to state their business—she had no desire to waste time answering their questions.
This is such a hassle. It would be easier to just kill them all!
The killing intent of a Natural Knight was no trivial matter. In an instant, a powerful, oppressive aura descended upon the entire room. The officer grunted in pain, barely able to keep his head bowed. Blake also gritted his teeth, while the two girls behind him screamed in fright and huddled even closer to him—though at least eighty percent of their reaction was pure acting.
But the moment she heard the girls' screams, the killing intent emanating from Sidvi suddenly dissipated. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
"Tell me where you come from," Sidvi said after a long pause, managing to spit out just five words.
"We are traveling merchants from Faris…" Blake replied, feigning hesitation as he lowered his head. Though he had no idea what Sidvi was getting at, he stuck to the cover story he had prepared. The two sisters remained silent, hiding behind him as instructed. Their way of speaking was far too distinctive; even if they suppressed their soul auras, their voices would immediately attract attention. So Blake had ordered them to play the part of timid, shy children in public. And judging by their performance so far, they were doing an excellent job.
As the saying goes: women are born actresses. How true that was.
When the officer in uniform heard Blake's reply, his expression flickered with unease. But Sidvi merely frowned, a strange look crossing her face.
Blake was completely unaware that Sidvi's presence here was a complete coincidence. This military camp belonged to her legion. At a recent imperial council meeting, the Silver Princess Lindilot had issued a specific order to all generals: they were to ensure the safety of the occupied territories under their command and refrain from harassing the local population. Among the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, all held equal rank, but Sidvi was the one who obeyed Lindilot most loyally. Thus, after receiving the Silver Princess's order, she had taken it upon herself to tour the military camps in the occupied territories to inspect the situation. That was why she had come here today. After all, there was still over a month until the expiration of the Orlt ceasefire treaty, and her troops only needed to maintain local stability during this period.
But as fate would have it, no sooner had Sidvi arrived at the camp than a messenger from Luoxia Town appeared to report the arrival of the three strangers. When the officer in charge heard that they were wandering merchants fleeing the war, he had asked a few more questions out of curiosity. And that was where the trouble started. Though the messenger knew little about Blake and the girls—only that the old mayor had said they were refugees escaping the fighting, and that the young man was traveling with two small children—the common people were masters of exaggeration and storytelling. Even without knowing the full truth, the tale of a young man fleeing the war with two little girls was enough to evoke sympathy. So the messenger had added all sorts of dramatic flourishes to his account: how the young man had suffered such terrible misfortune, how brutal the occupying forces were, how he had lost everything and been forced to flee to this remote mountain town to seek refuge, and so on and so forth.
Of course, there was also a hint of resentment in his words. Though, following Lindilot's orders, the Sith army had not caused any major disturbances in the occupied territories, they were still occupiers—and in the hearts of the local people, there was inevitably some lingering bitterness. Thus, the messenger had seized this opportunity to vent a little of that pent-up anger.
The messenger had merely been indulging in a bit of gossip—but Sidvi had happened to overhear him. Normally, for a Natural Knight like her, the deaths of a few people were not even worth a second thought. On the battlefield, this girl had killed tens of thousands of enemies. But the situation was different now. As soon as she heard the messenger's tale, Sidvi had immediately remembered the Silver Princess's instructions. And since the messenger had told the story with such vivid detail, as if it were the absolute truth, she had ordered Blake and the girls to be brought to her, intending to check if they had indeed been victimized by her troops. If her subordinates were responsible for their plight, then according to Lindilot's orders, Sidvi would have been duty-bound to take action.
That said, Sidvi was not exactly skilled at handling such matters. In fact, her method of inspecting the conduct of her troops in the occupied territories was straightforward to the point of rigidity: she would simply walk into a military camp and coldly ask the officer in charge if his men had been harassing the local population. Faced with such a terrifying, ruthless young girl, no officer would dare to incur her wrath by lying.
In other words, this Natural Knight was surprisingly naive when it came to matters outside of the battlefield.
Now, hearing Blake's confused retort, Sidvi bit her lower lip, a flicker of killing intent flashing in her eyes. By nature, she had no patience for explanations. She had summoned these people here simply because she wanted them to state their business—she had no desire to waste time answering their questions.
This is such a hassle. It would be easier to just kill them all!
The killing intent of a Natural Knight was no trivial matter. In an instant, a powerful, oppressive aura descended upon the entire room. The officer grunted in pain, barely able to keep his head bowed. Blake also gritted his teeth, while the two girls behind him screamed in fright and huddled even closer to him—though at least eighty percent of their reaction was pure acting.
But the moment she heard the girls' screams, the killing intent emanating from Sidvi suddenly dissipated. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
"Tell me where you come from," Sidvi said after a long pause, managing to spit out just five words.
"We are traveling merchants from Faris…" Blake replied, feigning hesitation as he lowered his head. Though he had no idea what Sidvi was getting at, he stuck to the cover story he had prepared. He went on to recount the fake identity and background he had made up, but as he spoke, he grew more and more confused. How could these people summon him here without even knowing where he was from? What was going on?
"Did you get attacked by the Sith Imperial Army?" Sidvi asked again after listening to Blake's story. This time, at least, she seemed to be getting to the point.
"Well…." Blake hesitated, looking up in surprise. He could not fathom why a Natural Knight—one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, no less—would be interested in such trivial matters. But then he thought about everything the Sith Empire had been doing in Orlt's territory lately, and a glimmer of understanding crossed his mind.
"It was nothing major, really…" Blake said, lowering his head and speaking haltingly. "We didn't actually encounter any real danger…"
Now that he had a vague idea of what Sidvi was after, Blake deliberately kept his answers vague and ambiguous. After all, he had only just entered Orlt's territory and was not familiar with the Sith Empire's military structure. Making up an elaborate lie to deceive her would be pointless—and if she decided to verify his story, it would only arouse her suspicions. So Blake opted for the classic tactic of ordinary people: downplay the incident and make it seem like nothing important had happened.
"So what exactly did happen?" Sidvi's temper was never mild, and she grew impatient at the young man's evasive answers.
"Well…" Blake opened his mouth, then hesitated, racking his brain for the information he had gathered along the way before speaking haltingly. "Actually, our relatives died in the Battle of Sohak… a cannonball hit our shop right in the middle of the fighting. Only the three of us survived by some miracle. Then… then the Sith army entered the city, and we ran away. I originally planned to return to our homeland, but the whole country is in chaos right now, and it's dangerous everywhere. We tried staying at an inn once, but the innkeeper tried to kidnap my family and sell them into slavery! We were lucky enough to escape in time. After that, we didn't dare go near any big cities anymore, so we found this remote mountain town, hoping to stay here for a while…"
Sidvi said nothing after hearing Blake's tale. The Battle of Sohak had nothing to do with her—it had been Karan the Wind Messenger's troops who had fought there. As for the innkeeper's attempted kidnapping, she could not have cared less. To Sidvi, such trivial matters were not worth her sympathy. Since the incident had not happened in her territory, it was none of her concern.
With that in mind, Sidvi let out a cold snort. She opened her mouth, intending to tell them to leave—but then she remembered Lindilot's words, and what came out of her mouth was something completely different.
"I have no further business with you."
"Then we shall take our leave," Blake said, bowing slightly. He took the two girls by the hand and turned to leave—but just then, a black shadow flashed past his cheek, blocking his path.
It was a long sword. The hilt was wrapped in a thick, black leather strap, which was connected to Sidvi's leather straitjacket at the other end. No one had seen how the girl had moved—her hands were still bound tightly behind her back by three thick black leather restraints, not an inch of movement.
"Don't go," Sidvi said.
"Miss, what is the meaning of this?" Blake asked, feigning surprise. He took a step back uneasily, pushing the two girls behind him. This time, he did not hesitate to wrap his hand around the hilt of his sword, adopting a guarded stance.
But Sidvi paid no attention to Blake's actions whatsoever. She simply tilted her head up in his direction and said, in a very stiff and awkward tone:
"You don't have a job right now. I order you to help out at the military camp."
"..."
"Pfft!"
Blake opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the two girls behind him stifled a small laugh. Their voices were so soft that only Blake could hear them.
But to Blake, their quiet giggles only made him want to roll his eyes. If he had been confused by this Natural Knight's actions before, he was completely baffled now. What on earth was this girl playing at? Did Natural Knights also have the responsibility of solving unemployment problems in occupied territories now?
"I must respectfully decline your offer, honored miss," Blake said after a moment's thought. Though he had no idea what this Natural Knight was thinking, he was committed to seeing his act through to the end. "I have two young children to take care of. I have no time for work. Besides… I have no desire to serve the Sith Imperial Army."
"Hmph!"
At these words, the officer's face turned ashen, and Sidvi let out another cold snort. She was never good at dealing with people; the fact that she had managed to hold a civil conversation with him for this long was already a minor miracle. Now that Blake had dared to refuse her order, she gritted her teeth in frustration. This is so annoying! They're just a bunch of civilians—why not just kill them? No, no… Lady Lindilot gave strict orders. I can't kill people arbitrarily. I can't kill outside of the battlefield. This isn't war…
"Get out!" Sidvi snarled, forcing down the anger boiling in her chest. With a sharp jerk of the leather strap, the sword that had blocked the door flew backward and slid smoothly into the scabbard behind her—again, without any visible movement on her part.
"..."
Blake narrowed his eyes as he watched this scene unfold, a flash of sharp insight flicking across his gaze before vanishing just as quickly. He immediately took the two girls by the hand and led them out of the room.
"Don't bother me with them anymore!" Sidvi snapped as the three of them left. She shot a glare at the ashen-faced officer, then turned and strode out of the cabin herself. Only then did the poor local officer finally manage to lift his head, wiping the cold sweat from his brow as he stared at the girl's retreating figure. He felt a surge of bitter resentment. By the Saints! You were the one who ordered them to be brought here, General! What does this have to do with me? Why are you taking your anger out on me…
"Why did we have to leave?" the sisters asked in unison as soon as they were out of the military camp, dropping their timid act completely. They stared at Blake with wide, curious eyes, unable to understand why he had let such a perfect opportunity slip away.
It was true that Sidvi was no weakling—in terms of combat ability, she was more than capable of going toe-to-toe with any one of them. But the situation right now was different. This was a reserve camp with very few soldiers; a Natural Knight's greatest power could not be fully unleashed here. What's more, Blake, Messiah, and Semira were all seasoned veterans of countless battles, having killed countless knights in their time. This kind of combat experience against fellow knights was something the young girl before them almost certainly lacked. With the element of surprise on their side, Messiah and Semira were certain that if they attacked, they could kill this Natural Knight in less than half an hour.
But Blake had stopped them—and the sisters were confused.
"Now is not the time to make a move," Blake said with a bitter smile, gently stroking their hair. "The Sith Empire must invade Wester. If a Natural Knight were to die at this moment, it would be bad for both them and my plans… I think you both understand that, for me, war is a necessity."
Blake paused, his eyes narrowing to slits.
"So she has to live."