As the shouts outside died down, the Imperial Princess lifted the curtain and walked out without a second word.
Elon followed close behind. Shane instinctively lifted his foot to follow, but before he could even take a step, his peripheral vision caught Sern sitting on the ground, and he froze.
This was a problem. He couldn't go too far from this cat-eared girl.
He looked at Sern, who was staring back at him, her heterochromatic eyes clearly showing a hint of impatience.
Shane's brow furrowed. He wondered if he should summon a few skeletons to carry her, but before he could even raise his hand, Sern's body swayed. She bounced up from the ground and stood steadily on her feet.
Shane's eyelid twitched. To be able to stand up from the ground while bound like that—just what kind of physical constitution did she have?
Once Sern got up, she ignored Shane entirely. She cast a contemptuous glance at him, flicked her tail, and began hopping toward the exit of the tent.
When Sern reached the entrance, she looked at Shane standing there and urged, “Let's go.”
She seemed even more agile than Shane, who had no restraints whatsoever.
Shane didn't bother saying anything else and followed her out of the tent.
The scene outside was even more wretched than he had imagined.
Lena was kneeling on the ground. Her short black hair with straight bangs was a complete mess, her tight dark maid outfit was torn in several places, and a sharp blade had slashed a gash across her left shoulder, leaving charred edges.
Behind her stood several caravan hands, their expressions bleak, their clothes equally tattered, and their bodies covered in scorch marks and blood.
But Isha was not there.
The Imperial Princess was already crouching in front of Lena, pressing a hand onto her trembling shoulder to comfort her. “Take your time.”
Lena looked up, her eyes red, unable to suppress her emotions. “Your Highness... Miss Isha... she was taken.”
“We were ambushed on our way here.”
Though her emotions had broken down, she still tried her best to maintain her sanity to explain what had happened. “The leader of the other side seemed to be a warrior... with white hair, wearing silver-embroidered leather armor, and wielding a longsword. His movements were so fast I couldn't even see them clearly... I couldn't stop him.”
“His sword techniques released electric shocks. I was blown away after blocking only three strikes. Half of the caravan hands were knocked down, and all the goods were stolen. Miss Isha... Isha was personally taken away by that man...”
Shane had been listening quietly from the side, but when he heard that the goods had been stolen, his face darkened.
“The goods! All of them? Including the ones I commissioned Miss Val to purchase?”
His voice suddenly rose, startling Sern, who had been hopping along enthusiastically beside him. Her ears perked up with a whoosh.
Lena was also taken aback by his reaction, but she quickly nodded. “Yes. The wheat straw, the wheat straw you wanted, as well as the drip irrigation tools and the newly collected seeds... they're all gone.”
Shane felt his breath hitch. His mind flashed to his plans for laying out the straw checkerboards and the seedlings outside the oasis that had been buried by the yellow sand. He instantly felt a massive headache coming on.
Without this shipment of goods, the planting schedule would be delayed significantly, and everything they had built so far might even go to waste.
He took a deep breath, suppressing the rising irritation in his chest, and looked at Lena. “What is the other party's name? Did they leave a message?”
“He said...”
Lena recalled for a moment, then answered somewhat hesitantly, “His name is Rhine... Silver Blade Rhine.”
“Rhine?”
Elon, standing beside the Imperial Princess, raised an eyebrow upon hearing the name. He seemed to know of the man's background. “Rhine the Sword Singer. A heavy felon exiled to the Golden Sea ten years ago, once a ‘genius’ of the Empire. I thought he died a long time ago.”
He then looked at Lena and asked, “Anything else?”
“Yes.”
By now, Lena's emotions had stabilized somewhat, but she still felt a lingering fear when thinking of Rhine. “He said their camp is at Greystone Post. If we want to retrieve Isha and the goods, we must go there.”
“Greystone Post.”
The Imperial Princess softly muttered the place name, a complex light flashing in her eyes. She looked up at Elon, who happened to be looking back at her, their gazes meeting in midair.
As for Shane, he didn't notice the exchange of looks between the two. His mind was entirely consumed by one thought: the wheat straw was gone, which meant they couldn't lay the straw checkerboards. At this rate, the surrounding sand dunes would probably be reclaimed by the desert wind.
This made him far more anxious than the fact that Isha had been kidnapped, though he had no intention of saying it out loud.
The Imperial Princess stood up from Lena and looked at Elon beside her. “Instructor, if I'm not mistaken, had we not met Leynas back then, our group would probably be stationed there right now.”
“In other words, according to our original plan, if we had entered Greystone Post, we would have been ambushed.”
“It's possible.”
Elon agreed with her assessment, his tone deeper than usual. “If that's the case, they kidnapped Isha, stole the goods, and specifically demanded that Your Highness go to Greystone Post to retrieve them. It's clear they haven't given up.”
“So...”
He glanced at Lena on the ground, swept his gaze over Shane beside him, and finally let it rest back on the Imperial Princess. “My advice is that you'd better think this through carefully.”
Elon did not directly say “we shouldn't go,” as that would be too cruel in front of Lena, but his words were practically no different from a refusal.
In fact, Elon's reasoning was perfectly sound. If the Imperial Princess remained at Silver Sand Lake, she could easily defend herself by relying on the existing oasis and her guards.
But if they went to Greystone Post, which was one of the few human settlements in the Golden Sea, the surrounding terrain was complex, and the demographics were highly suspect. Going there would mean losing the initiative and becoming lambs to the slaughter.
The Imperial Princess clearly realized this as well, so she did not argue.
She lowered her head and stared at Lena, who was kneeling on the ground, biting her lip hard to keep herself from crying out loud. She remained silent for a long time.
Just then, Shane spoke up. “If you're worried about the trouble, then I'll go. Relying on my vast numbers of undead and the environmental advantages of the Golden Sea, I should be able to get Miss Val out.”
When he said this, Sern, who was standing beside him, looked at him with some surprise. She had never expected to hear the option of saving someone from the mouth of a necromancer.
Upon hearing Shane's words, the Imperial Princess smiled. It was the same smile she had shown the first time she met him.
She then squatted down once more, placing her hand on Lena's shoulder, and said in a gentle voice, “Don't worry, I will bring Isha back. After all, she is my friend—the friend of Alicia von Augustus.”
“So, don't worry. I will bring your Miss Isha back.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Hearing the Imperial Princess's promise, Lena finally let go of her bitten, pale lips as tears silently rolled down her cheeks.
Standing up once more, the Imperial Princess looked at Elon and Shane. “Alright, let's discuss what our next move should be.”
Rate on N.U.
