The Duel Tournament of the Kingdom of Tianyue, also known as the Tian Yue Judgment, was said to have its dueling customs formed back when this land was still a primitive tribe.
Lai En had only learned of this from Nina’s mouth.
The Tian Yue Judgment allowed all citizens to register and participate, but they had to go through preliminary selections.
Those who came out of the preliminaries generally couldn’t achieve very good rankings.
After all, training a mage or knight of considerable strength required a very expensive cost, let alone someone talented in both.
Therefore, the main spectacle of the Tian Yue Judgment lay in the duels between the royal families.
Each royal noble would internally nominate one person to represent them in the duel.
“Nina, I have no choice but to send you.”
“Princess Consort Ailuo Wen, I’m afraid I’ll set the record for the fastest surrender.”
“Then what are we going to do!”
Ailuo Wen grew anxious as the day of the Duel Tournament drew nearer day by day.
“In theory, we could just spend money to hire a capable duelist… The problem is that no one is willing to offend the other Princess Consorts.”
Nina said helplessly.
The upper class of the Kingdom of Tianyue was a closed circle.
Not just the kingdom’s nobles, but even among adventurers, no one was willing to take this job.
“If worst comes to worst, I’ll go back and have my older brother give it a try.”
“He’s amazing at blacksmithing, and he’s sturdy too. He can eat eight pieces of black bread dipped in meat gravy in one sitting, and after that, he still downs two bowls of bean and smoked meat soup.”
“Princess Consort Ailuo Wen…”
Nina rubbed her head in frustration.
“If we do that, we’ll never be able to hold our heads up in the Inner Palace again.”
Have a blacksmith swing a hammer in a duel against knights?
That would probably make for a pretty good joke, just not suitable for a moment that required keeping up appearances.
“Can’t we just forfeit?!”
“Then you might as well have your older brother go. Otherwise… without Xinxiwusi even lifting a finger, the Inspector General will have you thrown into the dungeon.”
“Is it really that serious?!”
It was as if three dashed lines appeared above Ailuo Wen’s head.
“Such an important ceremony certainly cannot afford any mistakes. If we’re absent, we’ll probably be dealt with on charges of treason.”
“Do you think maybe the compensation we’re offering is too little?”
“Our compensation is a full fifty gold coins. That’s not a small amount. Many mid-level adventurers couldn’t earn that much in several years.”
After countless sighs, the two failed to reach a conclusion and decided to eat first.
Just then, the sound of urgent hoofbeats came from outside the courtyard.
“There seem to be a lot of people outside.”
Nina went to open the door. The moment she did, a terrifying pressure surged into the courtyard.
Nina even felt it hard to breathe.
“Alright, alright, stop scaring them. I don’t see any problems here. What forest witch? There’s no such thing.”
Saint Cecilia’s figure squeezed through from beside the door.
Standing in front of her was a man in a black ceremonial robe. He was the captain of the knights directly under the King.
A sash embroidered with a silver crescent moon hung diagonally across his shoulder and waist, proof of his identity.
“Saintess, my mission is not to investigate…”
If it weren’t for this Saintess accompanying him, he would have already cut down the two people in the courtyard by now.
Cecilia completely ignored him, merely curiously observing this small courtyard.
Meanwhile, Lai En in Ailuo Wen’s belly had long sensed the Knight Captain’s murderous intent.
The talent he awakened earlier from reading the poetry collection came in handy.
‘Poet’s Vision really is useful… I immediately noticed this person’s intent to kill, but knowing it doesn’t seem to help either.’
The other party’s level was at least twice Lai En’s.
‘If he actually made a move, I’m afraid my Reality Simulation would end in the next second.’
If an ordinary Knight Captain was this terrifying, then what about Xinxiwusi himself?
It was only then that Lai En realized the Kingdom of Tianyue dungeon wasn’t so easy to conquer.
Ailuo Wen walked out of the room with her belly protruding.
“And this is?”
“I am Cecil of the Tian Yue Knight Order. Princess Consort Ailuo Wen, you are now accused of involvement with the Forest Witch. I need to conduct a thorough search of your residence.”
Cecil didn’t even bother with an apology. The knights behind him swarmed in.
Facing this sudden scene, Ailuo Wen was simply dumbfounded.
Nina, standing beside her, bit her lip and stared hard at Cecil’s expressionless face.
She wanted to talk back, but in the face of such absolute power, any words would be feeble.
“Carrying a little baby~”
“Hey, don’t you all get too carried away either. It’d be bad if you bumped into her.”
Cecilia looked at the clumsy knights with some disdain and casually tossed a blessing onto Ailuo Wen.
“Thank you, this… um…”
“Just call me Cecilia.”
“Cecilia…?”
“Cecilia?!”
The first line was Ailuo Wen’s tentative voice.
The second line was Lai En’s almost incredulous inner monologue.
Lai En carefully studied the face of the woman who called herself Cecilia, and only then did he see the shadow of that young girl from back then in her somewhat weathered face.
This instantly reshaped Lai En’s worldview.
“Wait, System—”
“How did someone from the simulation end up in the real world?!”
[Sorry, this question is too difficult. I cannot answer it at the moment]
“Now of all times, you choose to play dumb?”
The System didn’t respond, leaving Lai En alone in utter chaos.
Lai En had no way to communicate with the outside world at this moment.
He could control a pen to write, but that method would easily be seen as some kind of occult sorcery, which wouldn’t be good.
Besides, even if he went up and said he was a Goblin Reincarnation, who would believe that?
Just then, Cecilia leaned close to Ailuo Wen’s ear and said:
“Don’t be afraid. I’ve heard about your situation. I’ll protect you both.”
“This… thank you so much. Even though we’ve never met before, you’re still willing to help us like this…”
Only then did Ailuo Wen understand that she had been wronged. She looked at Cecilia with tearful eyes.
Lai En still had some trust in Cecilia. She was a good person.
However, Nina didn’t think the same way. She was somewhat wary.
Cecilia didn’t mind at all and started chatting with Ailuo Wen.
“How many months along are you? I quite like children.”
“Almost four months.”
“Then the birth will be soon. By the way, have you picked a name yet?”
“Yes, I have. I’m going to call him Lai En. It means lion.”
“Hmm… Lai En, huh.”
Cecilia’s expression paused for a moment, then returned to normal.
After a while, the knights finished their search and reported the situation to Cecil, the Knight Captain.
“No abnormalities found at all? How strange…”
“I didn’t sense the Forest Witch’s presence either.”
Cecilia added.
Cecil’s face showed a very complicated expression. He was also at a loss with this Saintess.
“Since the Saintess says so, I can rest assured. However… if problems arise in the future, I take no responsibility.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I must remind you, although you are a distinguished guest, what’s happening now is our kingdom’s internal affair!”
The auras of the two clashed together.
It was as if the entire courtyard would turn into a terrifying battlefield in the next second.