Speaking of which, Sheffield was holding Fat Little Dragon outside the Lord’s Mansion but saw no sign of Xiadam.
“Where is she?”
She looked left and right, only to find that Xiadam had already run to the end of the street, waving at her.
“Sheffield, I’m here! My arm’s cramped! Let’s get out of here quickly!”
Xiadam no longer had the murderous intent she showed when threatening the Kingdom’s Capital Knights, nor did she carry the aura of a top-tier mage who had just effortlessly killed a noble magician.
Her mind was entirely focused on how to escape.
“So you were just pretending earlier? I actually thought you were serious,” Sheffield muttered.
The two girls and the dragon then jogged away from the Ravini Border Fortress.
Back at the mansion’s courtyard, the red-haired young lady was still replaying the scene over and over in her mind.
No matter how much she analyzed it, she couldn’t find any excuse to clear her name.
It wasn’t a close defeat, nor a narrow victory — it was a complete crushing, an instant kill.
If you can’t win, you just can’t win. Being weak is being weak.
Me? A once-in-a-millennium magic genius?
Could it be that my Father King, Mother Queen, and Master all conspired together to deceive me?
What kind of magic does that Village Girl Mage use?
Why does she use a sword?
Why can the Village Girl Mage’s sword cut through her Master’s Phoenix Flame?
Why is the Village Girl Mage’s movement so fast? Why would a mage charge forward? Why does a mage need to learn swordplay?
Why can she both wield magic and master swordsmanship?
Could it be that the Village Girl Mage is the real once-in-a-millennium genius?
And I’m just a one-in-a-millennium blowhard?
Frustration, humiliation, and doubt crawled over her like ants.
They made her skin itch, clouded her mind, and made her question her own existence.
But in an instant…
The red-haired young lady’s gaze hardened, and the wavering expression on her face vanished like smoke.
Osiris noticed this subtle change and couldn’t help but show a trace of admiration.
Though this little girl was arrogantly overconfident, she had been lucky enough to encounter that man (though now he had become a woman).
In the past, every time someone sparred in swordplay with that man, they would gain a breakthrough or profound insight afterward.
That man had such a magical ability.
Even now, transformed into a young girl and a mage, it seemed that power to help others progress through sparring hadn’t disappeared.
“Sir Pioneer Knight, may I ask where she is traveling to?” The red-haired young lady became polite, lowering her voice to ask.
“If all goes as expected, she headed west,” Osiris answered.
“West? The Western Wasteland? That’s the vampire’s lair now!” The Knight Captain of the Capital exclaimed first.
“People travel to train. Naturally, they go where it’s dangerous,” Osiris sneered.
The red-haired young lady said nothing.
She stood up, walked to the back door of the courtyard, and knelt down to pick up the scattered ruby fragments from the ground.
The Kingdom’s Capital Knights exchanged glances, then hurried over to help.
After tidying up, they left the Lord’s Mansion without a trace.
“Father, could she really be…?” Lord Lavini whispered.
“Yes, no mistake. She’s the daughter of the Nineteenth King of the United Kingdom. Hailed as a once-in-a-millennium magic genius, the top disciple of the Court Mage, the most beloved little princess of the royal family — the Third Princess, Cardolian, Heart’s Sorrow,” Osiris said.
“How could the Third Princess be here?” Lord Lavini’s heart skipped a beat upon confirmation.
“She must have snuck out to play. The royal family has a genius magician who’s promoted everywhere, as if wanting the whole world to know. She’s probably spoiled rotten at home.”
“By the way, Father, there’s another message from the Royal Capital. What do you think?”
“Fake.”
“You think the ‘Tenth Evil Dragon’s Fall’ is fake? We even changed the era name for it.”
“The Nameless Hero wouldn’t fall that easily.”
After speaking, Osiris fell into deep thought, recalling the silver-haired elf who had been following them.
Could that elven girl be the Dragon King — the White Dragon, the leader of the Ten Evil Dragons?
“May the Nameless Hero bless us,” Osiris smiled softly.
If that’s the case, there’s even less reason to worry about Xiadam’s safety.
The news brought by the Royal Capital Knights was this:
The Ten Evil Dragons threatening the continent had been eliminated by the Kingdom and the Tower of Magic’s joint thirty-year research into Dragon-slaying Magic!
The traitorous Nameless Hero was also missing.
But without the White Dragon’s aid, a single rebellious knight posed little threat.
The continent’s first Wanted Criminal, with a bounty of one million.
Whoever kills the Nameless Hero will be rewarded with a fief.
The Central Royal Capital also announced that from the day of the Tenth Evil Dragon’s Fall onward,
the entire nation will adopt a new era name.
【Era of the Evil Dragons’ Fall 0001】.
After leaving the Ravini Border Fortress, Xiadam, Sheffield, and Fat Little Dragon headed west.
Their next destination:
She intended to visit the so-called 【True Human Empire】.
Even if she and White Dragon could no longer soar through the skies, that wouldn’t stop them from continuing to eliminate war.
Vampires, the Blood Clan, the parasitic races living on the Human Race.
The continent’s strongest and oldest human religious power, the Holy See, was originally founded to oppose the Blood Clan.
The professions of Priest and Cleric first appeared for this purpose.
Priests were meant to heal those infected by Undead Poison.
Clerics were special warriors designed specifically to combat vampires.
But as time progressed, the threat of the Blood Clan diminished.
Today, the Human Race’s greatest enemy was no longer the Blood Clan, and the roles of Priests and Clerics expanded far beyond vampire hunting.
However, as long as the Human Race exists, the Blood Clan can never be fully eradicated.
“Historically, symbiotic relationships between humans and the Blood Clan have occurred, but without exception, they involved one-sided cruel exploitation. Humans were raised like cattle and sheep, bred for blood.”
Xiadam recalled some unpleasant memories, frowning deeply as they traveled.
Although she considered herself very open-minded, with no racial prejudices, she still could not think of vampires as anything good.
They were terrifying creatures, entities so strange they could not even be called living beings.
Vampires could manipulate blood, yet their bodies lacked any organs that required fresh blood to function — no heart, no blood pump.
Their bodies were formed from a dense mass of blood.
The more blood gathered inside them, the stronger a vampire became — essentially a pure energy monster.
Yet they could simulate hearts, internal organs, and all the structures of a human body within themselves, perfectly disguising themselves as humans without flaw.
Only sunlight and Holy Light could reveal vampires’ true forms.
All this information seemed brief, but how many innocent lives had been lost? How many Heroes of the Human Race sacrificed?
This was the harsh lesson learned from the millennium-long struggle between humans and the Blood Clan.