Chapter 29 – The Princess's Speech

Marching at the forefront of the army was a young girl clad in bright golden armor. The feminine suit of plate mail couldn’t conceal her graceful and slender perfect figure. She possessed what could be called peerless beauty with ivory-like fair and smooth skin, a swan-like snow-white slender neck, and brilliant golden hair that shone dazzlingly under the sunlight. All these beautiful features converged upon the young girl, bringing an air of heroic vigor while maintaining a trace of noble elegance as if untouched by mortal affairs.

“And those confused eyes like an abandoned little animal, tsk tsk! A standard tragic princess”!

Punk wasn’t the type to be rooted to the spot at the sight of a beautiful woman. He hadn’t been enchanted by the Female Knight’s devastatingly beautiful appearance. Under the System’s analysis, he discovered that although the girl carried a faint trace of Battle Aura, she could only be considered an Apprentice Rank knight at best. Seeing how she completely failed to utilize that wisp of Battle Aura to help bear the heavy knight armor that already had her drenched in sweat, Punk speculated that even this minimal Battle Aura cultivation was likely forcibly stimulated through drugs. For this girl who completely lacked the aptitude to become a professional, it probably only served to strengthen her body.

“Well now, this fits the template of a delicate princess in distress even better! Wait? A princess in distress? Could that ‘special forces’ group that died in the Undead Forest have been pursuing her”!

The sharp-witted Punk almost immediately connected this to the tragically deceased skeletons in the Undead Forest!

Just as Punk was about to maneuver his magical eyeball closer for observation, he suddenly noticed a green-robed figure appearing in his field of vision—it was the official mage, Mainaixi!

Punk hastily dispersed his magical eyeball, simultaneously sensing numerous similar magical fluctuations in the surroundings that also vanished instantly upon Mainaixi’s appearance. Clearly, no one dared to provoke a powerful official mage!

Mainaixi, as a mage—both the strongest in Konola City and the Lord of this region—now, as the Lord, sheltering such a group of soldiers in the city undoubtedly signaled the formation of an alliance. And the purpose of such an alliance was naturally to jointly confront the war.

Sure enough, just as dusk fell, when the little sun “Mila” had just set and the great sun “Chikasa” still lingered on the horizon, the “Lord” Mainaixi issued a summons to every professional. The summons was directly written high in the sky using green life element energy, easily visible to everyone in the city.

——————Division Line————————

Punk arrived at the Plaza relatively late. By this time, most professionals in Konola City had gathered at the Plaza. Among them, spellcasters had clearly formed a small group standing on the left side of the Plaza, while combat professionals had gathered into another small group standing on the right side, with a distinctly separated pathway in between.

The Plaza stage no longer featured the dancing girls of the Harvest Church. Instead, the heroic Female Knight stood there, delivering a speech in a solemn and resolute voice! Mage Mainaixi stood quietly behind the girl, his gaze stern and silent!Most warriors below the stage wore leather armor reinforced with metal pieces, brandishing crude weapons while exposing their muscular, scar-covered, tattoo-adorned chests and arms. They beat their weapons against their armor and roared fiercely, filling the entire area with an aura of blazing courage and heroism.

In stark contrast, the mages—whether young or old—invariably hid most of their faces beneath the hoods of their Mage Robes. Every spellcaster stood quietly, staff in hand, gazing at the passionately speaking girl on the stage with eyes that were either calm as still water, deeply somber, or hollow and cold—devoid of any impulsive fervor.

Punk had arrived at just the right moment, as the girl’s speech had only just begun.

As Punk had anticipated, the girl sought the assistance of these professionals. Though their numbers were small—only two to three hundred, mostly at the Apprentice Rank—their power was beyond ordinary imagination. It was no exaggeration to say they possessed combat strength surpassing that of a hundred thousand City Defense Army soldiers. Punk himself was confident in single-handedly confronting an army of ordinary people. No matter how large such an army, as long as they relied on cold weapons, wiping them out would merely be a matter of time for someone of Punk’s caliber. Attacks with cold weapons couldn’t even break a single layer of a mage’s protective shield, even with 360-degree coverage, and the energy drain from such assaults couldn’t outpace a mage’s mana recovery rate. Meanwhile, the offensive capabilities of these professionals were impervious to the iron and steel armor of ordinary soldiers. Thus, in warfare, professionals were the primary force for inflicting casualties, while common soldiers served more as cannon fodder or to protect civilians from enemy troops.

Given this, winning over professionals was undoubtedly more crucial than rallying ordinary armies—a truth any Lord would recognize, and this beautiful girl was no exception. However, her speech to recruit these professionals made Punk wonder if Her Highness the Princess had read one too many knightly tales!

“Valiant warriors, I am the Seventh Princess of the Kamos Kingdom—Nasia Kamos.”

Her Highness the Princess announced her identity in a voice that was youthful and melodious yet carried conviction. The warriors below roared even louder, though Punk keenly detected a slight tremble in her tone.

“I come today to deliver tragic news: my Father—Nike III Kamos—has been brutally murdered by my brother, the Third Prince—William Kamos!”

“Too hasty!”

Punk internally critiqued the delivery. News should be revealed gradually to captivate the audience; dumping it all at once, as the Princess had done, would only leave them stunned!Sure enough, even those warriors who only had eyes for beautiful women fell into collective silence upon hearing such “explosive” news. In this era of underdeveloped information exchange, news within the Kingdom often traveled slowly and vaguely. Before Nasya’s arrival, the Kamos Kingdom had maintained an impression of peace and stability in people’s minds. Now, the beautiful princess had dropped a bombshell the moment she appeared, leaving even many mages momentarily stunned.

Although the princess noticed that the atmosphere below the stage differed from the furious, impassioned state she had imagined, she continued stiffly:

“The evil Prince William not only murdered my father, but he also plans to pledge allegiance to the brutal Minuoye Empire, plunging our people into dire suffering. Furthermore, he intends to marry me off to the Duke of Minuoye—a man with a penchant for torturing young girls—as a gift. Now, my brave warriors, will you join me in resisting this evil and help protect me and our Kingdom?”

“Willing! Willing! Willing!”

Under the princess’s pitiful speech, the warriors loudly expressed their “heated passion” and “zero intelligence.” Punk estimated that these “big baboons” hadn’t paid any attention to what Nasya had said earlier. Many of them were likely lustful fools who only heard a few phrases like “be with me, be with me” from the princess’s red lips, or hot-blooded boys brainwashed by knight novels who believed they were the legendary protagonists about to “rescue” the princess and ascend to the peak of life. These low-born warriors, blindly worshipping muscle and indoctrinated since childhood with so-called “chivalry,” sold themselves out completely without a second thought.

In stark contrast to the boiling blood and passionate emotions on the right side among the warriors, the mages on the left presented a completely opposite scenario!

Without any benefits, no guarantee of victory, and with the truth of the matter still unclear, this princess who had appeared out of nowhere—unheard of until now—expected these “brave warriors” she had met less than ten minutes ago to Charge into battle for her? Go through fire and water? …Was she dreaming? Even those “hot-blooded big baboons” would start weighing gains and losses once their hot-bloodedness subsided! Not to mention the mages, who were cold and calm from start to finish and believed in the supremacy of profit!

(End of Chapter)