Chapter 213: Returning to Tranquility

When Ryan was found on the battlefield, almost everyone thought he was dead.

The Lady's chosen champion was covered in dozens of wounds, many of which would have been fatal for even the strongest Grail Knight. Worse still, his entire body was filled with the filthy energy of chaos, making all knights dare not approach.

It was a pyrrhic victory, with the battlefield strewn with the bodies of chaos demons, chaos warriors, and Bretonnian knights.

"Ryan!" The lady knight dismounted from her pegasus, having spotted Ryan lying on the ground from afar.

Without a second thought, clad in full knightly plate armor, she rushed towards where Ryan lay.

"Oh no, she'll kill herself doing that!" exclaimed some knights.

But the ducal daughter, as if deaf to their warnings, ran towards Ryan undeterred, even as the chaos energy threatened to take her life the next second.

Someone was faster.

Morgianna appeared beside Ryan in a flash of white light, chanting spells to purify the chaos energy from his body. Seeing Sulia rushing over, the Lady of the Lake's brow furrowed, ready to scold the lady knight for her recklessness.

"No! Ryan, you can't do this to me; you promised to watch me win at the knight's tournament!" Ignoring the strong chaos corruption, Sulia extended her arms, the bright armor on her arms immediately blackened by the chaos energy.

She didn't care.

Cradling Ryan's body gently, her voice trembled with panic and fear: "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Ryan, my father and I were too late."

Tears fell on Ryan's face, the usually poised and elegant ducal daughter was crying. Morgianna, seeing this, couldn't bring herself to scold her and instead softly said, "He still has a heartbeat."

"Cough, cough, cough." Lying on the ground, Ryan suddenly coughed violently, his chest wound so severe that his beating heart was visible. The chosen champion's face, twisted in pain and weakness, barely managed a smile: "Did we win?"

"Yes, we won." Sulia hugged Ryan tighter, her tears turning to laughter: "That's wonderful."

"It's incredible, you defeated the great demon of chaos!" Lancel, covered in blood, approached, admiring and amazed: "You've stolen the spoils of war from François and me, Ryan. Well done."

Duke François of Winfort also appeared, his unicorn sword covered in the blood of Nurglings. Leading the knightly army on behalf of King Richard, who stayed behind in the palace, François arrived on the battlefield a bit late. By then, the filth demon army had summoned numerous plague drones and Plaguebearer demons, halting the advance of the knightly army.

"Good, I can finally rest." Ryan's gaunt face broke into a ghastly smile before he fell unconscious.

"Ryan!!!" Sulia screamed.

"Rest assured, my daughter. Ryan is the Lady's chosen champion; he's not so easy to kill." François checked Ryan's injuries and, finding his vital signs strong, reassured Sulia with a pat on the shoulder. Before he could say more, at Morgianna's command, several Lake Seers approached, their beautiful faces pale from overusing their magic. They dressed Ryan's wounds, and then Morgianna's cold voice followed: "Immediately take Ryan to the Grail Cathedral for treatment!"

"Yes!" the Lake Seers responded.

"I'm going too!" The lady knight approached Morgianna, her dazzling golden curls swaying with her movement.

"...Follow." Morgianna seemed not too fond of conversing with the ducal daughter. She looked over the assembled knightly army and shouted: "In the name of the Lady, another victory! Praise the Lady!"

"Victory! Victory! Victory!" Deafening cheers erupted, humanity once again winning against evil.

"Thank the Lady's chosen champion—Ryan Mackay! It was he who defeated the great demon of chaos, he who decided the outcome of this war." Morgianna continued: "Under the Lady's glory, what should we do?"

"Ryan! Ryan! Ryan!" Thousands of knights and their squires chanted.

"Give him glory!"

"For the Lady! For Britannia! Bestow upon him glory!"

"Ryan! Ryan! Ryan!"

Knights far and wide shouted Ryan's name, his moment of supreme glory.

Meanwhile, in Couronne, the Church of the Merciful Goddess.

The archbishop who fled back to the headquarters of the Church of the Merciful Goddess locked herself in a secret room, intending to transcribe the formula for a cure for malaria.

After writing a few lines, she suddenly sensed another presence in the room. Instinctively reaching for her staff, she demanded: "Who's there?!"

"Stay~ right there." A ball of purple-black energy struck the archbishop's back, sending the Merciful Goddess's archbishop tumbling across the smoothly paved floor of the secret chamber.

"Soul Drain!" A figure in a black robe appeared behind her, a staff burning with blue flames hitting the archbishop again. Purple threads bound the middle-aged beauty, draining her magic and her last resistance, dissipating into nothingness.

"So simple." A withered hand grasped the parchment with the cure formula, but the paper was now blank. Struggling, the archbishop asked: "Who are you? What are you?"

"Pleased to introduce myself, I am Arkhan, 'the Black' Arkhan, the Lich King, the most loyal servant of my master."

"Was it all your doing? Finding the cure formula, bringing the filth army?"

"So simple," said Arkhan, exhaling. His polite speech and elegant demeanor contrasted starkly with his decaying corpse, an unsettling sight.

Then, both the black-robed figure and the archbishop vanished from the chamber.

...

When Ryan awoke again, it was two days later.

Opening his eyes, he found himself in the suite of the Grail Cathedral where he had stayed before.

Piled high with thick down quilts and blankets, and propped up by two feather pillows, the early spring sunlight shone on his face. Outside, flowers in the courtyard bloomed, birds sang, and weak sunlight filtered through the window, somewhat dazzling.

Ryan judged it was either morning or afternoon based on the ambient temperature, leaning towards the latter.

The fierce battle with the great demon was still vivid in his mind, the pain in his chest and limbs not illusory. Wrapped in thick bandages, beneath which he felt both searing pain and a cooling sensation, likely from an ointment applied to his wounds.

His sword, warhammer, and damaged armor were placed on a distant table. The psionic precision-engineered power armor was broken, but that was no issue for Ryan, who could repair it by infusing it with substantial psionic energy.

This was Ryan's first encounter with a great demon of chaos. Although he ultimately couldn't kill the demon due to exhaustion, achieving this much was enough. At only twenty-six years old, even the original body needed time to grow.

"Uh~" Any attempt to move brought tearing pain from his chest, his organs aching terribly. Thirsty, Ryan tried several times to get up but eventually gave up

: "Is anyone there?"

"You're awake?" Light, chaotic footsteps approached from one side of the suite. Morgianna, along with two Lake Seers, appeared. Her face was as cold as ever, but seeing Ryan awake, she seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"You, leave us." Morgianna instructed the Lake Seers.

"Yes." The Lake Seers left.

"Could I have some water?" Ryan asked with a wry smile. "I'm a bit... incapacitated."

Morgianna, dressed in a silk chiffon gown and wearing a golden crown adorned with gems, floated towards Ryan, handing him a cup of water: "It's incredible."

Unable to reach for the cup, Ryan watched as Morgianna, without a word, helped him drink.

After coughing several times, Ryan asked curiously, "Incredible?"

"When you were brought back to the Grail Cathedral, you were in a deep coma. I was very confident in my magic, but... almost no healing magic worked on you. Instead, it was your own body that did the work." Morgianna placed the cup on a small table by the bed and sat down. Her eyes, a strange shade of blue, stared at Ryan with an unusual emotion: "You recovered from near death in just a few hours, and after only two days, you regained consciousness. It looks like you'll be able to walk in about ten days."

"The injuries you sustained would have kept even a Grail Knight on the brink of death for days, requiring months of bedrest before walking again... truly incredible."

"Oh, that's good news. I'll have to share this with my friends." Ryan's face was pale and haggard, his smile forced and ugly, as if no different from crying.

"Almost every Grail Knight and dignitary in Couronne has visited you during your coma, bringing many gifts, which I've had stored in the warehouse." Morgianna suggested Ryan lie down, then continued, "Besides, Lady Sulia visited you for three hours, and a Miss Emilia, claiming to be your maid, even asked to stay with you. I had her removed."

"Ah... she is indeed my maid." Ryan said awkwardly. "You didn't have to chase her away..."

"Your maid or not, is the Grail Cathedral a place she can come and go as she pleases?" Morgianna cut him off bluntly.

So that's why I don't like staying here! Ryan thought, sighing in resignation. Morgianna was right; the Grail Cathedral wasn't a place for unrestricted access. With the Lady of the Lake in residence and several Grail Knights stationed nearby, aside from the Lady of the Lake Cathedral in Carcassonne, which housed the majority of the Grail Knight Order, this was likely the third safest place in Bretonnia.

The safest place was Ryan's own domain, unknown to all but himself.

"Rest here for now. After the knight's tournament, we'll head south together." Morgianna briefly explained, "Regarding your reward, the kingdom's high council is still discussing, but most dukes favor honor and tangible material rewards. You were only knighted last spring, so being promoted to earl now... might be too soon. A first-class Grand Cross is already certain, and you can choose a few items from the church's treasury. There will also be a gold reward."

Knowing he couldn't be promoted disappointed Ryan, but he understood that being knighted only last year made his rapid rise extraordinary. Normally, advancing in rank required generations of effort, with many noble titles unchanged for centuries.

Ryan reminded himself to be patient. There would be more opportunities for battle; having been recognized for major contributions twice in a row meant he was close to the earldom.

Besides, combating chaos was a duty, a guarantee for survival, not a means to seek rewards.

Morgianna seemed to have nothing else to say. She leaned against the bedhead, chatting casually with Ryan.

"Is the knight's tournament still going on?" Ryan asked, looking at the setting sun, feeling somewhat desolate.

"Yes, it will proceed as usual. People need this tournament to heal the wounds of war. Since you banished the great demon so quickly, the war's losses won't be too great. After discussing with Richard, we decided to continue with the tournament as planned." Morgianna glanced at Ryan, her tone suddenly filled with unspoken meaning: "Worried about Lady Sulia?"

"You'll be presenting her award." Ryan didn't directly answer.

"Yes, she swore she would bring back the trophy for you." Morgianna's smile was ice-cold: "If she can do it, then let her."

Ryan wondered if Morgianna disliked Sulia.

Strange, what conflict could there be between a ducal daughter and the Lady of the Lake? Sulia was also the legitimate daughter of Grail Knight François. Why did Morgianna seem to dismiss Sulia?

At that moment, a slight disturbance in a quiet corner of the suite caught their attention. The severely injured Ryan didn't react, but Morgianna immediately sensed someone else in the room.

An intruder!

Morgianna stood up, her face turning ashen as she demanded: "Who's there?"

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