Aftermath and Encounter with an Enemy

### Chapter 66: Aftermath and Encounter with an Enemy

Baroque left Padaya City, leaving behind chaos. The three royal guards who pursued him were severely injured. Fortunately, being sky-level warriors, they didn't end up as paralyzed as Baroque almost did.

King Korek, despite wishing the Audrian people dead, had to grit his teeth and treat the three guards. The sewer gas explosion confused everyone—Soren Continent's environment was akin to Earth's Middle Ages, even more backward in its semi-feudal, semi-slave society. Apart from the impressive magic and battle energy, everything else was primitive and ignorant. They couldn't understand the relationship between sewer gas and explosions.

Thus, neither the three royal guards nor King Korek and other informed individuals suspected the mysterious person to be Baroque. They unanimously believed it was an assassin from the Samoya Empire who, after assassinating Prince Alvin, triggered a terrifying top-tier magic scroll, destroying a street in Padaya City. Fortunately, old Zachary from the Magic Academy detected the magic warning in the sewer in time, activated the defense array, and contained the explosion's range to one street, preventing a greater disaster. Even so, nearly a thousand civilians died. The city guard's assault on the palace caused similar casualties.

Only Celine knew the real culprit behind all this disaster, but she chose to remain silent, not mentioning it to anyone. She was just worried about Baroque… that explosion severely injured three powerful sky knights, could Baroque be alright?…

Padaya City had a population of less than a hundred thousand, and so many deaths and destruction were immeasurable. King Korek was almost about to explode in anger. But soon he had no time to care, as the late-arriving Audrian Empire envoy finally caught up with Prince Alvin's footsteps and arrived in Padaya City!

This delegation, led by Count Bedon of Audria, consisted of over a hundred people. Besides a hundred-strong guard unit of uniformed battle energy warriors and the count, the rest were all young, beautiful women, all of whom were Alvin's maids and part-time concubines.

Originally, it should have been a celebratory scene, but when the delegation saw the prince's gray, lifeless face in the coffin, more than half of the women fainted on the spot. Count Bedon, though robust, trembled as if he had epilepsy, his face showing such a fierce expression that even King Korek was alarmed.

Count Bedon quickly regained his composure, coldly glanced at the three seriously injured guards standing before him, then elegantly requested a private room from King Korek and took the three guards in for a long conversation. Afterward, he instructed the guards and maids to carefully gather the prince's remains and left Padaya without staying another second, heading straight back to the Audrian Empire.

The three severely injured guards looked even paler as they borrowed horses from King Korek, mounted them, and followed the delegation. Everyone in the delegation was indifferent to them; even as their injuries worsened from the ride, no one paid them any attention—the prince's death had plunged the entire delegation into crisis. At this point, they were all as good as dead; even Count Bedon, a noble trusted by the emperor, couldn't escape.

But no one fled—they needed to report everything here to the emperor and let His Majesty decide the revenge on the damned southern swine. Perhaps the emperor might show some mercy and spare their families.

The Audrian envoy came and went in a hurry. Padaya seemed peaceful on the surface, but in reality, frantic preparations for war had begun. As one of Soren Continent's most powerful human empires, Audria would not let this slide. Whether for revenge on the Samoya Empire or to punish Paddington, a great war was inevitable. King Korek needed to prepare in advance. He even halted the execution of the city guard leaders who followed General Schomberg's rebellion, only issuing symbolic bounties for the early-departed Duke Lynd and General Schomberg, as well as the secretly escaped Marquis Delta, instead of pursuing them vigorously.

The border of the Paddington Kingdom was not peaceful; neighboring countries had their petty disputes, occasionally engaging in small-scale battles but kept under control. Now, Korek had to show goodwill towards these neighbors, even slightly lowering his stance to achieve short-term peace. Then he gathered all elite troops from the border, nearly twenty thousand, in Padaya City, personally leading and training them day and night. The townspeople were also conscripted to repair and reinforce the city walls, temporarily ignoring the destroyed street.

The entire kingdom fell into an atmosphere of unease, as if on the verge of collapse. Some unscrupulous merchants began hoarding food, causing significant chaos. It wasn't until the return of two old men that things gradually calmed down.

Dean Bartes of the Magic Academy and old Duke Jean returned to the city, dusty and tired, and immediately entered the academy's main library. Before entering a secret room, old Duke Jean solemnly told the arriving King Korek: "Your Majesty, please be patient. We will have results in a few days. We've heard about the recent events on our way back. Don't panic. If our wish comes true, even the mighty Audrian Empire will have to show us some respect. The situation hasn't collapsed yet…!"

The two old men entered the secret room, then Zachary and Celine personally sealed the door and stood guard outside, temporarily closing the library! All the academy's magic towers activated their arrays, layers of water-like shields enveloping the giant Ingall statue. Even ten sky knights attacking simultaneously with their strongest attacks couldn't breach this magical defense!

…...

Baroque cautiously retraced his steps, leaving Padaya's capital. To be safe, he didn't enter any towns along the way, camping in the wild.

The events in Padaya City seemed not to have affected other places. There was no sign of panic or large-scale conscription to resist an Audrian Empire invasion; people's lives continued as usual.

The capital hadn't sent troops to pursue the escaped beastman gladiators either. After a few days of caution, Baroque relaxed his worries. He even mockingly thought he had been overconfident, perhaps the lives of a few beastmen didn't matter to humans.

He traveled for over ten days, arriving outside Doron City. This city was the largest in western Paddington. Beyond it, a hundred miles away, was the Red River Valley territory of the Sela family. Originally planning to leave directly, he changed his mind and, using a mage's robe to cover his face, entered Doron City.

Doron City had a mid-level magic academy, the only one besides the high academy in Padaya. Because of the presence of mages, Baroque, even with his face covered, easily entered the city—the gate guards dared not uncover the robe of a respectable mage.

Finding a secluded street, Baroque changed out of the mage's robe, put on some old clothes, and smeared dirt on himself to look grimy. Then he walked into the crowd.

Human towns always had beastmen slaves, often used by nobles. Baroque, though handsome, didn't attract much attention. He asked a passing beastman for directions, then crossed a street and entered a blacksmith shop.

This blacksmith shop was the largest in Doron City, mainly handling large orders of military weapons and armor, but also crafting private weapons—though not enchanted ones. Baroque came here to forge suitable weapons for his people. He found the long swords and short spears used in the gladiator arena unsuitable for the strong beastmen; battle axes, capable of powerful slashes, were more fitting. When beastmen went berserk, even ordinary battle energy warriors had to retreat.

He spun a lie, claiming to follow his master's orders to order weapons. Generously, he paid five gold coins as a deposit, which delighted the blacksmith shop owner into personally serving Baroque, not caring he was merely a beastman slave.

"Your master wants a batch of these battle axes?" The blacksmith shop owner, hearing Baroque's detailed specifications for the weapons and ordering a hundred in one go, looked puzzled.

Baroque wanted the battle axes with four-foot-long handles, as thick as a baby's arm. The axe head was to resemble a twin-bladed battle axe but with longer, narrower blades. He specified using sturdy black iron ore, not ordinary iron.

Black iron was harder and much heavier than regular iron. The blacksmith owner estimated each axe would weigh over a hundred pounds. He muttered… ordinary people couldn't wield such weapons, only strong battle energy warriors… the owner suddenly looked up at Baroque, wondering if this beastman's master was equipping a hundred-strong team of battle energy warriors.

Such a number of battle energy warriors meant the master was no ordinary person—perhaps a high noble from the capital or the leader of a large mercenary group? The blacksmith owner kept speculating.

"How many days to complete? My master needs them urgently. If you can work faster, the master will pay extra," Baroque asked, not caring about the blacksmith's thoughts. He just wanted the weapons soon to catch up with his people. As for money… the late Prince Alvin left him a fortune, so spending some was necessary.

"Well…" This was a substantial order. Each axe cost fifty silver coins, and the blacksmith could profit twenty silver coins per axe. A hundred axes could bring a year's income. To rush, he could ask other blacksmiths for help, as the axes weren't technically demanding, skilled blacksmiths could handle them. The owner quickly estimated, "Three days. If we work day and night, three days to deliver. But the axes will be plain, without decorative carvings."

"No need for those, just ensure quality," Baroque replied, surprised at the quick turnaround, having expected at least ten days. He took out

 five more gold coins from his storage ring, pretending to fetch them from his pocket.

"Ten gold coins upfront. If the axes are ready in three days, my master will pay the balance and an extra two gold coins."

This was a generous patron. The blacksmith owner beamed, eyes squinting with joy, and agreed. He turned and shouted, making all the blacksmiths and apprentices in the shop stop their work and start forging the battle axes.

Money had immense appeal in any world. Baroque sighed inwardly, turning to leave. Suddenly, he froze, staring at someone entering the blacksmith shop.

It was Misa, one of Huda's men from Black Crow Town, an initial-level battle energy warrior. One of the culprits behind the massacre of his people!