Cthulhu Gonfalon

In the following few days, Leon actually had a good time. He secretly visited a few close acquaintances who were not affected during the coup back then. Even though the environment was the same and the people were different, everyone still welcomed his visit. Of course, there were inevitably some who welcomed him initially but wanted to report him to the king behind his back. And yet, how could that thought fool an expert from the top of the legendary realm? Leon did not kill them but instead cast a forgetting spell, making them forget everything about seeing him.

Of course, he was not a professional legendary magician. His spell was not perfect and was likely to cause some side effects such as headaches, lowered memory skills, and so on. Maybe they would forget too much. But those side effects were short-term, and forgetting some things did not seem to be a bad thing either. These were small matters compared to the action of betraying him. If these people had known the cause and effect of it, they would choose to forget over being slashed.

A few days later, the new batch of soldiers had finally gathered in the scout camp. After they were properly equipped, they departed under the leadership of Leon.

Coincidentally, the day they left the city was exactly the day Baron Keane finally finished arranging his troops and left for the capital city.

Before they left, Crick directed his (possibly final) matter for the Keane family.

Both the flags of Duchy of Thunder and Baron Keane were lowered on the castle’s flagpole. Then, the jellyfish flag of the church of Void Mask was hoisted up, followed by the former two flags. But they were both underneath the jellyfish flag. Machee, who was snooping from the balcony of the hotel, suddenly became angry. She broke a big chunk of the balcony railing with her palm.

But however furious she was, she didn’t dare do anything more.

The name of Void Mask was well-known. This was a God who had super strong battle skills and was not bound by clerical duties. Although the way he did things was unconventional, his wisdom and martial arts skills were effective among the many Gods. As a high-level priest of the Church of God of Aristocracy, Machee was well aware that her own Highness definitely didn’t dare to get involved with this fierce God. If she were to take the risk of agitating Void Mask and kill Anna Keane, who had obviously turned to this God, she might not even have to wait for Void Mask to kill her. Her own Highness would probably beat her ’till she was half dead, wrap her with wrapping paper, and send her off as a peace offering.

Without a doubt, the God of Aristocracy was one of the more important members of the Human God System. He was backed by a big tree. But Void Mask even dared to bombard Master of Mystery, and even caused the Master of Mystery to be at a disadvantage. Although the Human God System was strong, they could not deter Him at all. To say nothing of the others; what if he bombarded the “Country of Light” where Human Gods lived? Then what?

The God of Aristocracy would never take that risk!

Thinking this, her heart could not help but fill with powerlessness and defeat. Endless rage rose within her. If it were not for the training and upbringing that helped her suppress her anger, she might have growled.

“Seems like it is a no-go.” The female magician who was quite close to her looked at the jellyfish flag waving in the air and sighed deeply. “Let’s wrap up. We cannot afford to offend that one.”

Machee gritted her teeth as her body trembled. And yet, she could not tell them to “Just do it.”

After quite some time, she finally calmed down and waved her hand powerlessly. “Wrap up the team and let’s go. There is no point staying here anymore…”

The whole gang came aggressively but left depressed. They did not even see Crick.

Soon Crick, who was leading his troops on the road, got the news. He could not help but smile.

This was the only good news for today. He hoped that Anna would learn well and be a good territory leader.

That was the only thing he could do for her.

After, he remembered his own trip.

Without a doubt, this trip would have a 90% chance of ending in death. If exaggerating, it would be a 100% suicide mission. From the outside, there were Orc armies who were insanely strong, from the inside there was His Highness Grand Duke who secretly wanted to stab him. His teammates were a bunch of stubborn old-fashioned knights. There was a saying that said one should not be afraid of opponents as strong as Gods, but of teammates useless as pigs. And if his opponents were like Gods, his teammates useless like pigs, and the boss supporting him was plotting his death without any conscience? If he still didn’t f**king die, then he was not a normal traverser. He must be a traverser of novella protagonist.

“Come to think of it, that’s not impossible. First of all, Crick is more handsome than I was. That means it was self-attached plastic surgery. Then there is self-attached language, self-attached system, several self-attached loyal subordinates. When I lacked money, I could earn enough with a spin in the casino… it seems like I do have some qualities from a novella protagonist…”

He was talking to himself. As he raised his hand to touch the goatee that he had kept for some time, he could not help but feel much better.

“If I really am a novella protagonist, then surely I will not die at such a place. Instead, I might even get the chance to earn credits and reputation. Maybe after this war, my experience level will be high enough to become a legendary expert…

“No; maybe I will be heavily injured and run away during the war. Then I may discover a secret book and elixir left by some senior expert in a secret cave. And then I will be successfully trained after ten years of penance, and become invincible after exiting the cave and be able to suppress all sorts of enemies. In the end, I might even wed a fair, rich and pretty woman, become a CEO, and be at the top in my life…

“Maybe this body of mine actually hides the bloodline of a noble of light and a lord of the darkness, which will only be exposed at the brink of death. Then I will either transform into a destructive devil or twilight angel, with a scythe or a holy sword in my hand. I’ll kill kill kill all the way, not caring whether it is red bean paste or green bean paste, just killing them all until there is no more brightness and only darkness remains. In the end, there is only time left…

“Hmm… or maybe there is some hidden mystery in my system. I might suddenly get a system upgrade at the crucial moment I save up enough experience. Then, I could have task assistance and upgraded abilities. Hence with the help of the system, my abilities can advance rapidly. My name will stun the world and I’ll become invincible. Then I can rush all the way to the higher realm until I become a God…

“Or maybe I will just die in the war, and find that I have not completely vanished after dying. Instead, I might go back to the time when Crick was young, and get to refresh the system. This school of thought seems likely too. But it would seem like using my gold fingers as cheating. This storyline seems difficult to hold on to.”

He had constructed several possibilities in a go, each of them linked with some famous work of literature. Suddenly he felt that his future had opened and brightened up. He felt that the sky, water, wind, and his heart were clearer.

The only problem was… this was all fantastical thinking.

If he really was a novella protagonist, then why would the only one interested in him all these months be Amyveile, a servant? Even with Amyveile, they had not reached the final step.

Would the life of a novella protagonist be like this? Obviously not!

Moreover, novella protagonists either led bitter and vengeful lives before traversing or were incompetent fat nerds. Else they were some sort of soldier king or martial arts master. After traversing, they could either use their knowledge from earth to advance technology, start a plantation and build firearms; or they could promote themselves and make their martial arts skills into divine powers famous in the other world. They could even accumulate enough magic to defy the sky by just eating sweet potatoes.

But he was only an office worker before he traversed. He was not rich but definitely not poor. In his spare time, he made art online. He had earned quite a bit of fame from that, and his social status was not bad either. He was an art student and had basically no knowledge about the field of technology. He had only heard about martial arts. Even if he wanted to use his “gold fingers” to cheat, there was nothing he could work on.

Could people like this be a novella protagonist?

If that was true, ghosts were probably real as well!

He shook his head, he could not help but laugh.

“Forget it. I will play this by ear, then. Nevertheless, even crickets and ants cherish their lives very much. I guess I can say that I am standing in hell looking towards heaven. I am not even sure if I am using the right phrase…”

Crick mumbled to himself as he rode his tamed warhorse. He was moving forward slowly along the pathway, clustered amongst knights and soldiers.

Whether it was heaven or hell in front of them, he had no idea. All he could do was work hard for himself.

They went about forty miles that day; it was good marching speed. Just when the sun was about to set, they successfully found a camping place and got ready to rest as they waited for the second day of marching. There still had about fifteen days until the first of December, and there was usually no rain or snow during this season in the Duchy of Thunder. Supposedly, they could make it there in time.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Leon was leading the new soldiers of the scout camp. They traveled almost a 100 miles a day, as their steeds were a mixed breed of horses and demon beasts. At this speed, they only needed roughly ten days to reach the front lines.

At night when they camped, they were not as selective as Crick and his team. All scouts were experts in surviving the wild. Things like camping tents were not necessary for them. They merely found an open space, cleaned the ground up a little, and made a bonfire to cook some hot food. Then they took out blankets to wrap their bodies and went to sleep.

According to army rules, the captain did not need to hold night shifts. But since Leon knew someone was coming to look for him, how could he sleep well anyway? As an expert at the top of the legendary realm, it was not a problem for him to stop sleeping for a month or two. Given the current situation, of course, he wouldn’t sleep.

To respect army rules he did not insist on doing night shifts. But although he was wrapped in his blanket lying down next to the bonfire, he never slept. Instead, he was ready to fight at any time.

The sky was getting darker and the soldiers who held night shifts also changed duties. According to tradition, there were two night shifts each summer and three shifts in the winter. Yet no enemy came.

Based on his sense of the enemy’s speed, Leon was sure the opponent was near Eagle Wing City. He just did not know exactly when the opponent would make his move.

Usually, the Orcs had more advantage during the night, so it was possible that they would attack them. And yet, on his side was a group of thieves and rangers, who were good at night battles as well. So… would the opponent would work against the norm and come at them during the day?

He was secretly pondering, though in appearance he seemed to be in a deep sleep. Even his breathing was steady and long just like any other sleeping expert.

Not long after the soldiers did their final swap for the night shift, Leon, who was in deep sleep suddenly had an intuition. He felt a hint of concealed breathing.

The breathing was gradually closing in from the far-away bushes. It was fast but slight and did not make a bit of noise. Whether there was wind, or broken grass being stepped on, or even clothes rubbing together; all was silent.

Even the sound of a heartbeat and breathing hardly be heard at all.

If Leon weren’t strong, he might have lost his life before he even sensed a thing.

The owner of that breathing had obviously known the situation of this scout team. He ran directly towards Leon without any doubt. Before he reached him, Leon felt his fierce murderous intention like poking needles.

If he was really asleep, he would most likely have been awakened by the murderous intention. But at the same time, he would have been stabbed.

But, not only did he not fall asleep: he was ready.

With a shine of his sword, Leon jumped up and swung to block the poisonous needle that was coming for him. His figure shot out like an arrow leaving its bow, pouncing towards the empty space that seemed to have nothing in it at all.

“Take that, Orc assassin!”