Chapter 165 Kingdom

Hao Ren couldn't distinguish the complex heraldic emblems of the Kingdom of Taros, nor could he understand the connection between the cavalry's attire and their corresponding legions. He could only judge that this team came from the royal family based on the eagle emblems on the battle flags held by the knights. It seemed that the great impact caused by the disintegration ray had attracted the attention of the White City guards. Indeed, a disintegration ray directly erased the equivalent of half a town, and if such a commotion didn't attract the attention of the White City, then the sentries were truly blind.

However, these knights had arrived a bit too quickly—from the moment they saw the explosion at the Kant Estate to the knight order assembling and departing, and then arriving at the estate from White City, all of this required a certain amount of time. Hao Ren didn't know the quality of the Taros army, so he had no way of judging how long it would take them to complete their assembly and mobilization. He just instinctively felt that the team had arrived very quickly.

It was as if they had expected something to happen at the Kant Estate and had prepared in advance.

Led by several royal knights, the cavalry arrived at the small high ground in front of the Kant Estate. They pointed and gestured at the estate, which was now only half a ruin, clearly amazed. Then, some of the cavalry broke away from the team and outflanked the estate from both sides—the surviving servants of the Kant Estate were escaping along those small paths, and it seemed that the knight order didn't intend to let anyone leave this place.

And the main force of this unit headed straight towards Hao Ren.

They probably couldn't see Hao Ren yet, but when observing from a distance, it was easy to see that the ground turned into white sand started from the hall of the estate's main house. This was the starting point of the disintegration ray, and the investigation would naturally begin here.

Hao Ren watched the knights approaching him, thought for a moment, and then walked out proactively and carelessly. To prevent anyone from not seeing him, he even raised his spear and waved it vigorously a few times.

Sure enough, he immediately saw the knights in the front speeding up. In the blink of an eye, these fully armed iron cans came galloping towards him. The knights circled around Hao Ren a couple of times, seeming extremely surprised. Then, the leading knight reached out and took off his mask.

This was a tall, burly middle-aged man with striking red hair and a scar on his face that demonstrated his battle achievements. His appearance was imposing, and his stern eyes seemed to contain a raging fire. It was then that Hao Ren noticed that the man's breastplate was engraved with extremely complex enchanted patterns, and the cloak bore the golden eagle and sword markings. This level of equipment was probably more than just a cavalry captain.

The extremely imposing knight dismounted. He looked at Hao Ren in surprise: "Guardian?"

"Ah, that's me," Hao Ren said, looking at the big man in front of him, who seemed vaguely familiar but whose name he couldn't recall. "You are…"

"Gron, you should have met me," the tall knight replied in a thunderous voice. "The King's chief military advisor, General of White City, supreme commander of the Kingdom's Eagle Legion. Guardian, what exactly happened here?"

"In short, I was schemed against and ambushed by a guy who claimed to be a kingdom nobleman," Hao Ren shrugged and pushed Lamore forward. "Only left this one alive."

After saying that, he kept his mouth shut and waited for further developments. He knew that an interesting and delicate situation had arisen: he was a suddenly appearing "Ancient Guardian" with unearned prestige, respected in status, but without any foundation in this kingdom, and he might not necessarily gain the king's full trust. On the other hand—Earl Wiley, a rebellious element who had been lurking in the kingdom's upper echelons for many years, his identity seemed to be very well hidden. Until now, the nobles of Taros still regarded him as a rare young talent, a pillar of the country. He was a member of this country's intricate noble system, and although there were thousands upon thousands of such nobles, every noble was protected by their system.

In other words, deeply trusted by the king.

An ancient guardian and a kingdom nobleman met privately, and after a big explosion, the nobleman and his estate were reduced to ashes, the ancient guardian was unharmed, and he accused the nobleman of being a criminal. Under normal circumstances, it was self-evident who would be the first to be suspected.

But the general's reaction after hearing his words was somewhat subtle: Gron's expression seemed matter-of-fact. He had a moment of surprise before, but this surprise didn't seem to be because of Hao Ren's accusation, but rather because the way things had developed was somewhat unexpected. The general glanced at the half of the Kant Estate that had been turned into ruins: "I didn't expect it to develop to this point… Guardian, did you single-handedly eliminate all the heretics here?"

"Heretics?" Hao Ren frowned. He suddenly remembered that Lamore seemed to have mentioned something about a "cult." "They seemed to mention it, but to be honest, I'm still a bit confused… Judging by your reaction, did you already know about this Earl Wiley's situation?"

"I'm just a soldier. Others will explain some things to you clearly," Gron said, looking up in another direction. "Hmm, they're here."

Another team was rushing over from the direction of White City.

This team was larger, and there were also wizards in robes in the team. The leader was also a high-ranking knight in full top-level equipment. Hao Ren understood what was going on: they and the first batch of arriving cavalry should have been the entire team that set off together, but in order to save time, Gron led the light cavalry to arrive at the Kant Estate in advance, leaving the slower wizards who needed protection to arrive in the second batch.

Such a large-scale mixed force further proved that the events that had occurred at the Kant Estate were extraordinary.

The knights of the second team arrived in front of Hao Ren, but the leader surprised Hao Ren.

This was not a knight in full heavy armor, but a nobleman wearing chainmail and a surcoat: Duke Lunn.

Seeing this duke come before him, Hao Ren couldn't help but stroke his chin: "Seems like it's getting interesting."

Duke Lunn dismounted, as nimbly as a well-trained knight—the countries of the Korol world were mired in the quagmire of the Chaos Wars, so even the nobles of various countries must be skilled in both horsemanship and archery. Among the upper echelons of the kingdom, few people lacked any combat ability.

"Guardian…" This powerful minister of the kingdom still wore that frozen, rigid expression, as if he were wearing a stone mask, devoid of emotion. He sized Hao Ren up and down. "It seems you're really not with them."

"With them?" Hao Ren was wondering how this duke was going to speak to him, but he never expected that the first sentence would be this. "You mean these lunatics from the Kant family? Are you suspecting that I'm with them after all this?"

Duke Lunn nodded without changing his expression: "A stranger suddenly appeared beside Princess Veronica, and he made contact with the royal descendants as soon as he arrived, so I couldn't help but be suspicious. But just now, my informant planted in the Kant Estate sent back news confirming that you have nothing to do with them. On the contrary, you stand in opposition to them."

As he spoke, this poker-faced duke turned his gaze to the ruins of the estate, frowning slightly: "They have actually planted this level of power in the kingdom… I can't imagine what Taros would face if everything went according to their plans…"

Hao Ren finally understood something at this moment. He stared at the duke with wide eyes: "Wait, wait—so you're saying that you've been so wary of me ever since our first meeting because you thought I was also a 'heretic'?"

"Your appearance was too sensitive in timing, your background was like a fairy tale, and your words and deeds were suspicious in every way, and White City was shrouded in a cloud of uncertainty—Princess Veronica can trust you, but I cannot."

As he spoke, Duke Lunn finally turned his face: "Guardian, I know you want a more detailed explanation. Don't worry, you will naturally get all the answers after this. His Majesty is waiting for us back at the Golden Rose Palace."

Hao Ren nodded and looked up into the distance: the knights had already divided into several units and sealed off the entire Kant Estate. On every road, the golden eagle battle flags could be seen fluttering in the wind. And most of the surviving servants who had fled from the estate in all directions had been captured. These panicked people were driven together by the knights, looking just like livestock being herded. Seeing this scene, Hao Ren frowned: "These soldiers are quite energetic when dealing with ordinary people."

"There is no need to pity these 'ordinary people'," Duke Lunn said expressionlessly. "In places where these cultists gather, there will be no truly innocent ordinary people."

As if to confirm Duke Lunn's words, a team of servants being driven by the knights suddenly caused a commotion as they stumbled towards this side. There was actually a formal wizard among these servants. He summoned a cloud of poison and instantly knocked down the soldiers guarding him. Then, the other servants pulled out various weapons from under their clothes and frantically shouted as they pounced on the soldiers closest to them.

Everything happened in a flash. In the blink of an eye, three more soldiers were cut down, but the riot ended even faster: a beam of lightning shot from afar, splitting into several strands in mid-air and instantly killing those "servants."

Above the distant knight order, a silver-robed wizard floating in mid-air nodded slightly to Duke Lunn as a salute.

A high-ranking knight acting as commander stepped out of the ranks and reprimanded the soldiers a few times, and order was quickly restored. The kingdom soldiers continued to gather the survivors of the Kant Estate together, but this time, their movements were obviously more violent than before.

"These Annihilation believers…" Duke Lunn said coldly, "They do not deserve any humanity."