Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 358 Black Mist
In early November of the 49th year of the Golden Calendar, the border area, which had been in turmoil for several months, seemed to have ushered in a rare tranquility.

The dark clouds that had lingered in the East Territory due to the Star Shattering War for a long time finally dissipated. Since the end of last month, Prince Michaela went to the city of Kilem in person, and the Marquis Julius, the defender of the East Territory, returned to the South Territory with all the officials of the garrison under the pretext of returning to the capital to report on his work, the direction of the wind in the entire Gaileid suddenly became clear.

On November 3, the eldest prince of Carlia, Latan, visited Summerset Island. The Lord of Sunfire City, Earl Oren, suddenly announced that his cousin, Baron Audley, had colluded with the pagans and killed him immediately. Later, he entrusted the position of Lord of the City to his eldest son, Oga, on the grounds of being seriously ill.

At the succession ceremony of the new city lord, Oga announced his allegiance to Kalia and regarded himself as a subject of the royal family. He changed the name of Riyan City to Red Lion City, dismissed most of his private army, and incorporated the elite among them into Latan's personal guard, named "Red Lion Knights".

On the 5th, the body of Lady Agnes, the widow of the Lord of Ionia, was found by villagers near the Third Church of Marica a week after she disappeared.

The man traveled light, with less than ten personal guards around him, all of whom died nearby. All of their bodies were pierced by several bone arrows and covered with knife marks, and all of their belongings were robbed. It was suspected that they were attacked by a bandit gang or a subhuman tribe.

The golden hero "Spear of the Sacred Tree" Finlay, who was ordered to investigate the case, claimed that a large number of property deeds and various documents in Ionia and nearby city-states were found on Lady Agnes, as well as a secret letter from the former Marquis Julius, the guardian of the East.

In the letter, the Marquis asked Lady Agnes to meet him in the south. Lady Agnes had been a widow for many years, and Marquis Julius also lost his wife early in life, so he promised to remarry Lady Agnes as his principal wife.

However, after this incident, the two were separated by life and death. In addition, many local nobles in the eastern region around Ionia claimed that the land under Lady Agnes' name was seized by trickery and Julius abused his power to cover it up. All matters were argued endlessly and finally reported to several demigods for judgment.

Of course, the judgment result did not come out so quickly, but anyone with a discerning eye knew that the Northern Gelide order centered on Chillem and Ionia had been destroyed, and the layout laid by the Golden Dynasty through continuous infiltration and division over the past ten years had completely failed.

On the 6th, Viscount Blaise, the garrison commander of the Faros Fortress, claimed that he was seriously injured in the battle of Star Shattering. He led his 3,000 guards back to the capital with the remains of dozens of large star beasts, one for commendation and the other for rest.

However, within half a day after the Faros garrison moved south, the Faros Fortress was burned down by hundreds of flying dragons with dragon flames.

The ancient dragon quasi-king Lucia Sanx ordered the construction of more than 20 sword monuments in the ruins of the fortress. Half of them were engraved with the deeds of the dragons in the Dragon Tomb in the Forbidden War and the Dragon Tree War, and the other half were engraved with the whole story of the Shattered Star War, and the names of 50,000 dead soldiers were attached.

On the tenth day, "Black Sword" Malicus visited Lucia at the newly completed sword monument. The two talked until late at night, and no one knew what they talked about.

But no matter what, the pitch-black sword monument that rose from the ground had already put an end to this war that had been brewing for a thousand years, and the vast East Land that the former war king Ge Fulei had conquered without a fight had since become a new land where the ancient dragons and Kalia each occupied one side.

"What are you thinking about?" Lani lay sideways with her head resting on her folded arms, her big eyes staring intently at Lucia's profile, as if she wanted to see a few dragon scales beneath her skin.

Lucia flipped through the information on the table, which she had read countless times. She looked up at the little fox snoring an inch away and suddenly asked, "Do you think she has changed in recent days?"

"Ah?" Lani was just asking out of boredom. After hearing this, she turned her gaze to Shirley and blinked in confusion, "It seems... there is no change? At most, you have gained a little weight recently."

Lucia stared at the little fox's increasingly round belly and said thoughtfully, "I heard Carter Pella say that she was born in Noklongen and all her secrets were buried there. After the war, I wanted to communicate with her, but most of the time she was like what you see, with an attitude of eating and waiting to die without any intelligence."

"Until yesterday when I went to see Malycus, she insisted on going with me. Nothing happened along the way, but I suddenly realized that Malycus seemed to be very afraid of her."

"You mean the 'Black Sword'?" Lani's eyes widened. "Would he be afraid of such a little thing?"

"It's not the fear on a psychological level, but the original power in his body seems to rise and fall with Shirley's breathing, rising and falling - you know, with my current spiritual perception, it's impossible to be wrong." "Then why don't you ask him?"

"Someone is watching us. Or rather, it may not be a human," he looked up at the sky, "After this battle, even if there is no other existence to help cover up, it will no longer be possible for him to spy on my thoughts as easily as before. That's why it is more dangerous now than before."

Lani was stunned for a moment and murmured, "It's too early."

"Yes, it's too early. If it weren't for the situation, our actions in Gaileed would have come too early. We should have waited a few more years, at least until I found out about Fam Azra's treason."

"But the situation is in the hands of others. If you hadn't seized this opportunity, the Everqueen's century-long planning would have been lost in one day."

Lani sighed in fear and said, "Three hundred thousand mortal soldiers, six demigods from three great dynasties, and a vast East Continent with fertile land. If we lose this battle, the consequences will be almost as serious as the forbidden war a thousand years ago."

Lucia nodded and said, "So we must win this battle, even if the winner has to work much harder than the loser. Gaileed must be under our control, just like your mother's recent letters - the events in the western region also came too early. She regained power and swept away the domestic decline. The internal situation in Carlia has been clarified since then, but the external situation will become more difficult. Despite this, these things must be done."

"You didn't let Marenia and Michaela go back just to avoid the aftermath of this incident?"

"Not only that, this is exactly what I was thinking about just now." Lucia frowned and threw down the latest intelligence in her hand. "Don't you think that the capital has been too dull in the past half month?"

Half of the elite members of the Scorching Sun Legion defected to Michaela, the East Border Garrison and the Faros Garrison were expelled, Dragon Moon separated from Gaileid, and the Full Moon Queen of the West returned to launch a large-scale purge. Any of these events would have caused a huge wave on Rodel's side in the past, but now it was like throwing a stone into a deep pool. There was silence for a long time, and no sound of the stone falling into the water was heard.

So what's at the bottom of this pond?
"Is it that thing? No, the time is far from right now. I just met Malikus, the death rune is intact, and Lani is by my side. Marica has no motive to push that matter forward right away."

Read more latest popular novels at 6.9*shuba!

"Could it be that the North Territory leaked some secret information that only Rodel knew? It's even more impossible. If that were the case, the Eternal Palace should have taken action long ago. It's impossible that Ful didn't know anything. Now they seem to be tied up by something and don't even care about the North Territory."

Lucia cast her eyes towards the huge map hanging in the room. She had just gained a foothold in the East, but Asia Altar and the Arctic Ice Field were suddenly covered by black fog, and no one could see clearly what had happened.

"No matter what, you can't go back now!" Lani suddenly reminded her seriously, "Just like the reason why you kept Michaela and the others, if you go back, it will be far more dangerous than if they did. I absolutely don't agree!"

"Don't worry," Lucia smiled gently, reaching out to touch her dark red hair, "That place is definitely not my next battlefield. Going back there will only make some people even crazier, which will not help."

"Then let's wait a little longer. Rodel is so powerful that no one can cover up everything. Just wait a little longer, and there will be news."

"Well, wait a minute—"

Lucia took out the letter as instructed, wrote down the addressee, Aleto, then crossed it out, took a new piece of paper, and wrote a new line.

"To His Excellency, Viscount Chapolili, the Court of the Kings"

(End of this chapter)