Chapter 157: Viscount Carl's Request

The next day.

The news of the death of the First Prince of the Kingdom of Elno at the Karachia border spread rapidly. While the death of the First Prince was beneficial to the Second Prince in his quest to inherit the throne, it simultaneously brought him immense trouble.

Both the body of the First Prince and the Holy Spear had now fallen into the hands of the enemy country. As the new king of Elno, he was required to make a decision that would satisfy the citizenry; otherwise, it would be difficult to convince the lords of the various regions.

However, the monster riot was becoming increasingly severe, and the domestic situation within the Kingdom of Elno was already somewhat chaotic. Furthermore, those powerful individuals who had gathered the fragments of divinity were secretly absorbing the power of the fragments to develop and expand their own factions.

If a war were to be launched at this time, the lords of the various regions might not necessarily lend their full support, and there was a high probability that the thousand-year foundation of the Kingdom of Elno would be destroyed in a single stroke.

As a sworn enemy of the Kingdom of Elno, the Kingdom of Karachia had no intention of letting the incident rest. Instead, it sought to intensify the conflict between the two sides, actually going so far as to parade the corpse of the First Prince through the streets of the royal capital to make a public spectacle of it.

They were demonstrating the might of their military to the citizens: even one as noble as the First Prince could not illegally set foot in the Kingdom of Karachia by so much as half a step! At the same time, this action greatly boosted the morale of the army, as the First Prince had indeed slain many of their soldiers.

Although Karachia constantly provoked the Kingdom of Elno, it had not yet initiated a war on its own initiative. Instead, it sent envoys to contact the Kingdom of Houston located to the northeast of the Kingdom of Elno.

As long as the Kingdom of Elno launched a war, allied forces might join in when the time came. In this way, after annihilating the Kingdom of Elno, they could peacefully coexist with their neighboring country, the Kingdom of Houston, for a period of time and properly develop.

Though the Kingdom of Elno and the Kingdom of Houston enjoyed good relations, such sentiments were false before national interests. The moment an opportunity arose, the other party would never give up the fight for the territory of the Kingdom of Elno.

On that very day, the Second Prince held his coronation ceremony and subsequently dispatched diplomatic envoys to the Kingdom of Karachia. He even had the envoys invite the Elven race, who resided in the relatively neutral territory between the two nations, to accompany them.

It appeared that the Second Prince temporarily had no intention of starting a war, but rather intended to resort to diplomatic negotiations to stall for time.

Yet, no sooner had the envoys left the royal capital than fresh news arrived from the front lines.

Leoties, the commander of the Royal Knights and a fifth-tier Dragon Knight, had actually charged into the enemy royal capital and snatched back the body of the First Prince.

During this process, Leoties killed many civilians in the royal capital of Karachia, and quite a few nobles were killed or injured in the melee.

The royal capital of Karachia was brimming with formidable masters, and after being ambushed, they quickly launched a counterattack.

Fortunately, although Leoties was severely wounded and on the verge of death after being surrounded, his mount, a black dragon, managed to rely on its aerial advantage to carry him and the body of the First Prince away from the pursuit of numerous powerhouses, and his current whereabouts remained unknown.

When the news reached the homeland, Leoties was hailed as a hero by the citizens.

Ordinary citizens would not overthink such matters. To them, this most direct form of retaliatory behavior was what excited them and made their blood boil, causing nationalistic sentiment to soar instantly. Many people had already begun clamoring to dispatch troops to the Kingdom of Karachia to welcome the hero home, arguing that they must not chill the heart of a hero.

The new king, Max, was utterly speechless. He swore never to reuse nobles and powerhouses of commoner origin like Leoties again; while their strength was formidable, their political awareness was far too weak, and they were utterly blind to the international situation.

In stark contrast to the citizens of the royal capital far away in the clouds, Black Stone City at this moment was plunged into a tense and anxious atmosphere.

War rarely harmed the citizens of the royal capital; those who suffered most were the border cities and places lacking sufficient military force to protect the safety of their residents.

Some citizens had already begun planning to leave Black Stone City, and the adventurers in the city immediately grew busy, accepting numerous escort missions. The wilderness outside was likewise unsafe, as the strength of the monsters continued to grow.

As for Chu Yun slaying a member of the Royal Knights, the matter was temporarily shelved due to Leoties's foolish actions and Nelson's negotiations. By this time, the Royal Knights had also set off on their return journey to the royal capital.

Their mission was to protect the royal family and the royal capital, not to fight at the borders.

The departure of the Royal Knights made the hearts of many citizens even more uneasy. Those who traveled fast and carried little luggage chose to follow closely behind the knights to seek refuge in the imperial capital.

The shadow of war loomed over the sky above Black Stone City, and the atmosphere within the city grew noticeably heavier.

The citizens here did not feel sorrow or anger over the death of the First Prince; having witnessed him firsthand, most held little favorable sentiment toward him, simply resenting the fact that the First Prince had brought these troubles upon them.

Those who suffered in war were always the common people at the bottom of society. By comparison, a powerhouse like Chu Yun was much more relaxed and carefree.

Although he was a member of the Mages' Guild, he was not an active-duty official and enjoyed immense freedom. Even if a war broke out, he had no obligation to sacrifice his life on the battlefield.

At that moment, he was invited to visit the estate of Viscount Carl. Accompanying him was his neighbor, Selena, who shared a very good relationship with Laysa and had also participated in the design of the flight wings. Moreover, she had the backing of her grandfather, Nelson, within the patent office and the Mages' Guild.

This trip to Viscount Carl's estate was precisely for the matter of the flight wings, and flight wings were, after all, a formidable weapon of war!

Chu Yun was not particularly obsessed with money at present, but no one dislikes having more money; the less one seemed to care about it, the wealthier they usually tended to be.

"You're finally here, hurry and come in." Laysa took Selena's hand and said to Chu Yun.

Chu Yun was not entirely unfamiliar with Viscount Carl's estate. Following Laysa into the study where Hardy had once stayed, a pale-faced vampire viscount was waiting for them inside.

Having completed the flight wings, Laysa had already returned to Viscount Carl's estate. Having lived through the Hardy incident, Viscount Carl seemed to have changed somewhat, appearing noticeably less ruthless and tyrannical than before.

"Chu Yun, it's a pleasure to see you." Viscount Carl was quite courteous toward Chu Yun, this young genius mage.

Chu Yun returned the courtesy and took a seat that had been prepared in advance, and the group quickly got down to business.

"The situation in the kingdom has grown somewhat severe, and war could erupt at any moment."

"I won't waste words; the production of flight wings brooks no delay. Not long ago, I already had people gather materials for the flight wings with all our might, but compared to the soldiers of the army, it is still not enough." Viscount Carl tapped on the table and said.

"Weren't the flight wings supposed to be supplied primarily to members of the Mages' Guild? Are they now going to be used as military weaponry?" Chu Yun did not care much about who used the standard flight wings, but this seemed somewhat different from their previous plan.

Selena explained: "The Mages' Guild will produce flight wings for itself, but the ones from Viscount Carl are a simplified version produced under a separate license."

Laysa added: "The simplified flight wings are actually just your original design supplemented with simple steering switches and lifting magic arrays that ordinary people can operate. The cost can be reduced by eighty percent, yet they can be sold for half the price of normal flight wings."

The control of the simplified flight wings relied entirely on manual operation, with only the updrafts being artificially assisted through spells. The manufacturing difficulty was much lower, allowing for mass production.

"Such matters don't really matter to me; you didn't need to go out of your way to ask for my opinion," Chu Yun said somewhat perplexedly.

Viscount Carl glanced at Laysa, then looked at Chu Yun with a somewhat troubled expression: "This is the front line, and it is not suitable for producing flight wings here."

"As a noble of the kingdom, I cannot leave at this time, so I hope you can protect Laysa and travel together to the imperial capital, where the flight wings will be manufactured. As the designer of the flight wings, you can also offer some suggestions at that time to improve the simplified version—after all, these simplified flight wings make greater use of what you call... physical knowledge?"

"As compensation, I will grant you an additional ten percent of the profits. You must know, this time we have secured an order from the kingdom's army; the quantity is enormous, and the profits will be extremely high."