Chapter 1 When Hao Ren Arrived

When Hao Ren arrived at the west gate of the Golden Rose Palace, the Kant family's carriage had been waiting for a long time.

An unfamiliar coachman and two unfamiliar attendants appeared before him, ready to take him to an even more unfamiliar place—but fortunately, there was at least one person present whom he recognized, and that was Earl Willie standing in front of the carriage. This famous up-and-coming noble rarely put on airs and was quite cultivated. He had probably been waiting for half an hour, but when Hao Ren appeared, he still didn't seem to mind at all, and was even talking to a nearby palace guard with a smile. This kind of approachable attitude was rare among nobles.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Hao Ren explained as soon as he appeared, "I ran into Grand Duke Luen. That stern big shot seemed quite curious about me and asked me a lot of questions."

"It's nothing. Waiting for a great warrior from ancient times is worth any amount of time. Such opportunities are rare," Willie smiled gently, gesturing slightly for Hao Ren to get into the carriage. "Please, get in. The Kant family's manor is not far outside the city. We should arrive by noon."

The magnificent noble carriage slowly drove out of the spire gate of the Golden Rose Palace. As the carriage gradually accelerated, it quickly disappeared at the end of "King's Avenue." After the carriage's shadow was completely out of sight, the two guards standing at the palace gate exchanged glances.

The guard who had been talking to Willie nodded to his companion: "Go inform the Grand Duke. The 'Guardian' has left with Earl Willie. They are going to meet with others at the Kant family's manor outside the city."

The journey through White City was not worth dwelling on too much. The carriage traveled smoothly and quickly on the central avenue of White City. The scenery on both sides of the road flashed by. Hao Ren only saw one white building after another moving in his field of vision. Whether they were magnificent or shabby, brand new or dilapidated, they were all nearly identical in color: this clean color brought splendor and grandeur to the entire city, but it was inevitably tiresome upon closer inspection. Willie sat across from him in the carriage. This influential Earl, barely thirty years old, seemed full of pride in his country's capital. He pleasantly introduced the scenery along the way to Hao Ren—they left King's Avenue, passed through the Tulip District, sped past Knight Street and Blacksmith Street, and finally passed through the triple city gates of White City, and the view suddenly opened up.

Before Hao Ren felt that his lumbar vertebrae were about to be jolted out of place by the carriage, they finally arrived at the Kant family's manor in the suburbs.

Although the Kant family's territory was located in Chongshan Territory, they had sent family members to the royal capital for generations to serve the king directly, so their manor here was also well-managed.

The manor was surrounded by trees, located on the edge of a vibrant forest, with a small river running through the center of the manor. A water mill could be seen on the north side of the manor, while the south side was directly connected to a horse farm. Due to the ingenious layout, Hao Ren could only see some vague, magnificent buildings looming in the shadows of the trees from outside the manor, and it was impossible to judge the scale and extent of the property's construction from the outside.

The carriage drove directly in through the gate, winding around the forest path, and finally stopped in front of a magnificent mansion.

An old servant with a stooped back and sparse hair came forward to greet his master and honored guest. After Willie got out of the carriage, he personally reached out to help Hao Ren—this kind of help was certainly unnecessary, but it could be regarded as the most respectful etiquette of the host to the guest: "Guardian, welcome to Kant Manor. My advisors and some scholars who have just arrived from the family territory have been waiting for you for a long time."

Chongshan Territory was far from White City. Even by airship, it would take two days. Hao Ren had only arrived in this city yesterday, so those so-called "scholars who came from the family territory" were probably directly transported here by teleportation array: in the orderly and stable inland of the kingdom, teleportation arrays were still the fastest mode of transportation, but the price was so expensive that only the upper nobility could afford to use them. Several scholars had used the main family's teleportation array just to meet with the ancient guardian, which showed how much importance they attached to this meeting.

Hao Ren got out of the carriage with an indifferent expression befitting the identity of an "ancient guardian," and entered the mansion under Willie's lead.

In the main hall of the manor, he met those "experts and scholars" he had spoken of.

In the luxurious hall, a long table was placed, and more than a dozen people were already sitting beside the long table. The leader was an old man in a black robe with completely white hair and a beard that almost reached his chest. The old man looked at least seventy or eighty years old, but he was very energetic. Looking at the ruby ring on his hand and the golden runes on his black robe, he should be a senior spellcaster; sitting on either side of the old man were two middle-aged men in scholar robes. They looked gentle and refined and indeed had the temperament of scholars; those sitting further away were obviously people of lower status. Although they were also wearing robes, they were probably only here as recorders or assistants.

Only the old man in the black robe and the two middle-aged men were truly qualified to participate in this meeting.

Hao Ren raised his eyebrows after entering the room. He looked at the walls around the room and saw that each wall was painted with exquisite and grand murals. Most of the murals depicted scenes of knights fighting bravely, and scenes of glory descending from the sky and warriors being favored by gods and resurrected from the dead.

Willie noticed Hao Ren's gaze and a proud smile appeared on his face: "The Kant family has been in the military for generations. The best soldiers in the kingdom have been born in our bloodline. These murals mostly depict the stories of my ancestors. Of course, half of them are true and half are legends. We believe that the warriors of Chongshan Territory are protected by the Goddess of Creation. Whenever we bravely die on the battlefield, we will be immediately inspired by the gods and resurrected in another world."

Hao Ren nodded: "A family full of glory."

"Compared to you, I'm afraid it's nothing," Willie said half seriously and half jokingly. After Hao Ren sat down, he ordered the servants to serve tea and refreshments, and at the same time began to introduce them. "This is my advisor, and the Kant family's highly respected wizard and scholar, Scholar Lamor. Next to him is Mr. Handel, who specializes in ancient history, and this is..."

Willie introduced these highly respected experts and scholars one by one, and Hao Ren listened and nodded the whole time with the expression he had already memorized. Finally, Willie introduced this distinguished guest to everyone—although everyone present already knew his identity: "This is the 'Ancient Guardian' I mentioned to you, Hao Ren. He comes from a thousand years ago. In the Thousand-Year War, he guarded the Kasuun Temple until the last moment. After a thousand years of slumber, he was awakened from the temple by Her Royal Highness Veronica."

Hao Ren picked up the black tea in front of him and took a sip, his eyes sweeping across everyone in front of him: "There is no need for meaningless greetings. I am not from the same era as you, so chatting about everyday life is probably not going to work. Let's get straight to the point. I heard that you know a Werelobo, who appears in the northern mountains and forests? And this Werelobo looks very similar to the person I described?"

The old man in the black robe—Scholar Lamor—took out a few pieces of paper from his arms. The one on top was the Seeking Revelation that Hao Ren gave to Willie. Lily's bright smile was particularly striking on it. He let go of his hand, and the few pieces of paper floated steadily in front of Hao Ren under the support of magic: "The legend of the Werelobo is very old. Only the people of Chongshan Territory know these stories, and only those of us who are obsessed with ancient knowledge can tell it completely. You probably can't find out about it from other people. We found some ancient records in the family territory and copied some things from them. You can take a look."

Hao Ren spread out the few pieces of paper and found that the bottom two pieces of paper were the information provided by the Kant family. On one of the pieces of paper, he saw a vague image.

It was a portrait of a girl with wolf ears standing on the top of a mountain and looking down. Although it was not clear enough, Lily's outline could still be vaguely recognized.

"This is the only portrait we found. Two hundred years ago, the Werelobo appeared in front of the world for the last time. A wizard apprentice who got lost in the mountains was lucky enough to record the appearance of that hermit with a recording crystal. But that was already eight hundred years away from your era, so you may not be able to recognize her."

Hao Ren smiled and put the information aside: "Quite valuable things. So, do you have a way to find this Werelobo now?"

"That depends on how much more detailed information you can provide us," one scholar spread his hands. "The Werelobo doesn't communicate with outsiders. This 'outsider' even includes the Kant family. We can only be sure that she is still living in seclusion in the Chongshan Territory and the White Sand Valley area, but it is still difficult to find her whereabouts. Perhaps answering a few of our questions can make it easier for us to find her."

Hao Ren continued to smile: "Just ask."

"Then first," Lamor sat up straight, "Is this 'Werelobo' also one of the guards of the Kasuun Temple? Is she a Theocratic Order warrior like you?"

Hao Ren raised his eyebrows: "Does this question have anything to do with the whereabouts of the 'Werelobo'?"

"It's related," Lamor said without blinking, "We can narrow down the search area based on the answer to this question."

"She's not," Hao Ren shook his head, "She's not a guard of the Kasuun Temple."

Across the table, several scholars exchanged glances after hearing this answer, and finally everyone nodded.

Hao Ren noticed a glimmer of light in Lamor's eyes, as if he was happy with this answer.