Chapter 18 The Wolf and the Tide

When Hao Ren arrived at Rudolph III's special reception room, he saw two people in the room besides the king. One was Grand Duke Loen, and the other was the mysterious woman, An, who stood like a shadow behind Rudolph III, her whole body shrouded in darkness.

The atmosphere in the room seemed a bit strange—strange, rather than oppressive or anything else.

"You were looking for me?" Hao Ren sat down in his seat, looking at Rudolph III with curiosity.

The king nodded, "Some news has come from the southern front. You might... be interested."

"News from the south?" Hao Ren was taken aback. He was about to say what connection the war front of such a native kingdom could have with him, but in an instant, he vaguely guessed something. "Wait, is there a clue about the person I'm looking for?"

Instead of answering immediately, the king seemed to bring up an unrelated matter: "Recently, a force composed of a massive number of magical beasts and sub-races has suddenly risen in the south, called the 'Beast Tide.' They initially appeared on the floating islands outside the kingdom's southern border, and then flew across the Carnos Sea by unknown means. After landing in the southern forest, they advanced all the way north. You should already know that a powerful Chaos Storm has erupted in the southern continent, but the Beast Tide was not only not annihilated by the Chaos, but also absorbed almost all surviving sub-race tribes in the Black Forest. A few days ago, they finally arrived at the Black Crow Fortress on the border and fought a battle with the Chaos Fangs on the Great Wilderness—as a result, the Black Crow Fortress was saved, and the kingdom's southern gateway was stabilized with the help of this Beast Tide."

Hao Ren blinked, "So this Beast Tide..."

Grand Duke Loen nodded, "Their leader is a mysterious figure called 'Head Wolf,' presumably a woman, with wolf-like features, who seems very similar to the 'ancient person' you described."

Hao Ren was a little curious, "Is that all the information?"

Rudolph III spread his hands helplessly, "With the storm approaching, the border between Order and Chaos is currently affected by primordial magical energy, and information transmission is very slow. The limited magic network resources are basically allocated to front-line battle reports. The news about 'Head Wolf' has just arrived—if that Beast Tide hadn't been so shocking, this information would have been delayed even further."

"Head Wolf and Beast Tide..." Hao Ren was already in a state of shock. He couldn't help but mutter, "That girl can play it so big... You really can't just let go when raising huskies."

Rudolph III didn't hear clearly, "What did you say?"

"Ahem, nothing. I'm quite interested in that Head Wolf. Nine times out of ten, it's the person I'm looking for," Hao Ren quickly changed the subject. "I just didn't expect her to run to a remote island overseas for no reason... I want to set off immediately to the south to confirm."

Rudolph III and Grand Duke Loen exchanged glances upon hearing this, and His Majesty the King showed a pensive expression.

"What? You're still not letting me go?" Hao Ren seemed to have expected this situation, and his expression was quite calm. "I've helped you with everything I can, and I've left you the Source Blood, which you can use to help other kingdoms ignite the Sunscorched Towers. I think your biggest problem has already been solved. Besides... I'm not even from your country, am I?"

"Of course you can leave. The Taros royal family wouldn't be unreasonable," Rudolph III shook his head immediately. "The kingdom already owes you a great favor, so naturally, we won't make excessive demands. But if you want to go to the southern border, I hope you can take someone with you—it's no trouble for you."

"Who?"

"An," Rudolph III said, and as soon as he finished speaking, the tall, thin woman who had been silently standing behind him came to Hao Ren like a ghost. Even Hao Ren couldn't see her movements clearly, as if she had teleported. "I hope you can take her with you."

Hao Ren looked at this ghostly "king's secret agent" with some surprise. He had originally thought that the old king would let Veronica go with him—after all, that knight princess was a general, and it would be normal for her to go to the border front line in this situation. He didn't expect that he would be escorting a secret agent who, in theory, shouldn't leave the king's side.

"Isn't she your secret agent? Why leave the royal capital at this critical time?"

"She has a mission," Rudolph III didn't mind explaining more to Hao Ren, the "ancient guardian." "You may not know, but in that 'Beast Tide' in the south, there is actually a group of investigators from the Holy See. The reports say that they seemed to have encountered an accident while crossing the Carnos Sea, and were only sheltered by Head Wolf, becoming members of the Beast Tide. I hope you can take An to meet them. After that, An will know what to do."

Hao Ren was stunned, "The Holy See? People from the Theocracy?"

"That's right," Rudolph III smiled. "Speaking of which, you should also be a member of the Holy See—every temple is a stronghold of the Holy See in the secular world. Although ordinary people also hold positions in them, the warrior leaders and high-ranking priests of the temples have always been members of the Holy See. That group of Holy See investigators in distress are your compatriots... although they are compatriots from a thousand years later."

Hao Ren was a little embarrassed at the time: of course, he knew what Rudolph III was talking about. The common knowledge about the Holy See and various temples was well known in the secular continent, and he knew that there was even a very large temple on the plains outside White City. However, a month ago, there was internal turmoil in the Theocracy, and the Holy See warriors were completely evacuated from various secular countries. The monks and knights in the temples also left, and that temple was now temporarily closed.

This also avoided the trouble of him, a fake "Temple Guardian," dealing with those genuine Holy See people.

But now it seemed that trouble could only be delayed, not avoided: he would eventually meet those people from the Theocracy in the south.

However, the awkward expression only lasted for a moment, and Hao Ren quickly calmed down: he didn't mind contacting the Holy See people, because he knew it was only a matter of time. Even in his original plan, he had the idea of going to the Holy See to observe.

He should be able to find answers there about the origin of Chaos and the evil giant, Lorkmaeton.

Rudolph III, however, read other information from the change in Hao Ren's expression, "You plan to return to the Holy See? Well... yes, now that the Holy See is undergoing changes, you should go back."

Hao Ren just laughed it off and didn't answer the question directly.

He'd wait until he got to the south.

The journey from White City to the southern border was a long one, and it also involved crossing many mountains and forests. Rudolph III had originally planned to arrange an airship for Hao Ren and An, along with a large group of escorting knights and miscellaneous soldiers. But at this time, Hao Ren finally learned the whereabouts of his own husky and was eager to find his dog, so he felt that this arrangement was too troublesome—although the airship was a flying unit, its speed was just so-so, not as good as him driving his own divine artifact, the Big Dipper, setting a direction and starting the charge mode.

Therefore, after frankly saying that he had a better way to travel, he politely declined His Majesty the King's kindness and then left the secret room with An. He was going to go back and pack his things immediately and try to set off today.

After Hao Ren left, only Rudolph III and Grand Duke Loen remained in the secret room.

"Is it really good to let An leave like this?" After a moment of silence, Grand Duke Loen looked into Rudolph III's eyes and said, "She has served the royal family for three centuries. From the day the late king built the city on the Great Plains, she has been the protector of this country. Now that she is suddenly leaving, it will cause us a lot of trouble."

"She is not a Tarosian," Rudolph III leaned back in his chair, and in that instant, he seemed to have aged twenty years. "You and I both know that she doesn't even belong to humans. No one knows her real name, and no one knows her race or origin. She has a secret, and she may have chosen to stay in this land because of this secret, but now that she has decided to leave, it may also be because of this secret."

Grand Duke Loen was silent, and after a long time, he shook his head, "Uncontrollable factors."

"More and more things are uncontrollable," His Majesty the King sighed. "This world is undergoing unprecedented changes, which no previous monarch has ever faced. In this situation, we cannot act according to common sense."

"Just because of this, you choose to let An do as she pleases? This doesn't seem like your previous style."

"What if I don't let her? You don't understand An," Rudolph III shook his head with a smile. "Lord Loen, An is not just an inner court knight and secret agent. She is much more powerful than you think. If she wants to leave, no one in Taros can stop her—in fact, we should be grateful that she at least chose to discuss it with me."

"What about the guardian?" Grand Duke Loen frowned. "Now that Chaos is rampant, as long as the guardian stays in White City, we have an extra barrier. But if he leaves..."

"I received secret letters from the Witch Queen and the Desert King, just this morning," Rudolph III interrupted Grand Duke Loen, the expression on the king's face was quite serious. "The information they can transmit is very little, only a few sentences, but they mentioned the beam of light that was observed in the direction of Taros in the night sky a few days ago, and the abnormalities in the Sunscorched Towers of various countries—the essence of that 'explosion' a few days ago is probably beyond what you and I can imagine. I'm sure that 'Hao Ren' is definitely not a member of the Holy See, let alone an ancient guardian."

Grand Duke Loen's poker face finally changed, "Then who is he..."

"I have no way of guessing, but I know that the smartest thing to do is not to stand in his way."