Yue Kou had just stepped out of the room when Nightingale appeared from behind.

"Who are Mrs. Rother and Xiaojie Kingfisher? What are their signature skills?"

Uh, that was indeed a difficult question to answer. Roland walked to the window, feigning admiration, but in reality, it was to prevent the other party from seeing his expression. "Just two women I met by chance. I'm not familiar with them, and I don't even know their real names. That's how interactions are among nobles—always wearing a mask of hypocrisy, mostly just acting for the occasion, and forgetting about each other after parting."

"But he said they missed you."

"Cough... well, they miss not me, but my gold royals, status, and power. After all, I was a prince back then. So, after being assigned to Border Town, they lost contact with me. If it were true longing, they wouldn't be so indifferent, right?"

Nightingale could only discern the truthfulness of words but couldn't directly judge the truth of the matter, so Roland decided to use the art of misleading, taking a roundabout route to dispel Nightingale's doubts. Besides, these messy affairs had nothing to do with him in the first place, so he felt no pressure at all. "As for signature skills... that's more complicated. Simply put, Yue Kou can please women with his hand techniques, just like his title, 'Magic Hand.' I used to know nothing about these things, so naturally, I was curious, but I don't need them now, do I?"

He turned to look at Nightingale, who, for some reason, suddenly looked away, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. "I... guess so."

Whew, that should be passing the test. Roland breathed a small sigh of relief in his heart. Although he could have asked Nightingale to wait outside from the beginning, firstly, it would hurt her trust, and secondly, it wouldn't be safe in case of accidents. After all, Sylvie was still inspecting the entire palace, and the list of jewels hadn't been found yet. It was better to be cautious at this time.

...

After dinner, Roland finally met the great explorer from the Fjords, Thunder.

He was wrapped up tightly, wearing a hood and a scarf around his neck. If Nightingale hadn't personally gone down to escort him and Margaret, the guards probably wouldn't have let him in with that attire.

After tiptoeing into the room, Thunder took off his coat and scarf, bowed to Roland, and said, "I've long heard of your great name from Margaret and Princess Tilly, Your Majesty Roland Wimbledon. Thank you for taking care of Lightning."

"I also want to thank you for taking care of Tilly," Roland said, looking him up and down with interest. "I heard she received a lot of help from you after moving to Sleeping Island."

Like Lightning, he had the golden-yellow short hair typical of the Fjords people, brown skin, a sturdy build, and a rather rough appearance. Thick sideburns and stubble connected, covering half of his cheeks and chin. When he spoke, his voice was full of energy, a clear sign of someone who had been sailing on the sea for many years, completely different from the light and silent image when he first entered the room.

"It was just a small effort. She helped my expedition even more. Without the assistance of witches, the limit of the current fleet's exploration would probably be the Shadow Islands," Thunder smiled. "Naturally, I wouldn't have been able to reach seas that I had never set foot on before, and witness the existence of the sea line with my own eyes."

"Sea line?" Roland asked curiously. "What's that?"

"A wall made of seawater, but one that ships can easily cross," Thunder described his experience in detail. "That's also why I came to see you."

Roland was completely stunned after hearing it. Seawater ignoring gravity, forming a height difference like stairs? And ships could sail vertically upwards, crossing as if on flat ground? It was simply unbelievable! A huge wave surged in his heart. If the person wasn't Thunder, the famous strongest explorer, he would have found it hard to believe this description.

This meant that the gravity here had been distorted, forming a unique gravitational field—but the principle of how gravity was formed was unclear in the first place, so Roland couldn't draw a conclusion for the moment. Thinking of the ubiquitous magic in this world, he could only guess that the formation of the sea line might be related to magic.

However, he vaguely felt that the answer might be far deeper than he imagined.

This world

At first glance, it was very similar to Earth, so he immediately brought in the set of theories he had learned as scientific enlightenment and guidance—this was not strange. If you opened your eyes and saw someone, or rather, carbon-based life, you could immediately make a rough judgment: the laws of matter here were basically the same as in the previous universe.

This was not metaphysics. The reason why life could exist could be traced back to the speed and direction of atomic spin, which was as precise as no machine in the world could compare. Any change in a constant would cause life to collapse, which was why there was the saying, "Life is a straight flush, and it's all gone with one shuffle."

He even speculated that perhaps the previous world also had magic, but it lacked a terminal like witches, so it had never been discovered.

"I heard that you can build steamboats that can move without sails, and they are faster than any sailing ship," Thunder continued after Roland digested the news. "Therefore, I would like to ask you to build me such a large ship, capable of sailing against the sea wind in the opposite direction. Money is not a problem. You can name your price."

After a long time, Roland finally said, "Gold royals are indeed not a problem for this kind of thing... Rest assured, I will price it according to cost and invest the best technology to build the sea ship."

"Your Majesty, no, you don't need to at all—"

"Listen carefully, it's no longer just your matter. Exploring the unknown of the world is no less significant than changing the fate of mankind," he interrupted. "I will fully support your exploration. The only requirement is that if there are any new discoveries, remember to tell me immediately."

The subsequent detailed discussions lasted for more than half an hour, but Roland found it difficult to calm down. Perhaps noticing this, Thunder got up to say goodbye after agreeing on a time for the next meeting. The prince remained sitting at the table, his brows furrowed, his mind fluctuating.

"What's wrong?" Nightingale asked worriedly. "Your complexion is not good."

"It's nothing..." Roland shook his head and sighed, "I just had some bad premonitions."

"What is it?"

"Do you know about elves?"

"Uh, you mean those small, glowing individuals in epic chronicles, the celestial beings that bring nourishment and revival to all things on earth?"

"No, I'm talking about a kind of creature with pointed ears, similar in shape to humans, elegant, agile, and long-lived, who generally like to live in forests."

Nightingale thought for a moment. "I've never heard of them."

"I also saw them in a story," Roland said slowly. "This fictional species originally had footprints all over the continent, but was gradually forced into the depths of the dense forest by the rising humans and was on the verge of extinction. Although they were intelligent, they were far inferior in number to the huge newcomers. Facing a human coalition army a hundred times their size, the elves had no power to fight back, and being trapped in remote mountains and fields caused them to become increasingly backward. Even their technology was surpassed by humans, and they eventually became pets... What did you think of?"

Without waiting for Nightingale to answer, he went on to say, "We are like elves now."

As a member of humanity, Roland had always overlooked this point. Only now did he realize it and feel a chill down his spine—compared to elves, humans were indeed a fertile race, but that didn't mean it would always be the most fertile of intelligent creatures. And now, humans were the true minority, at an absolute disadvantage in number, trapped by devils in a corner of the continent, knowing nothing about the outside world.

This was also why he was determined to fully support Thunder in exploring new seas. If he couldn't take a longer-term view, if he couldn't actively understand his own situation in the world, he could only be eliminated like the elves.

The two Battles of Divine Will had already consumed nearly a thousand years. He hoped everything was still in time, he thought. (.)