Destroyer of Ice and Fire

"Stingham, do you remember anything? If you're really the Green Dragon Prince, remembering anything about the Doa Royal Palace will be helpful to us."

Ayrin's group dressed themselves as the wind department arcane masters and followed behind the big group.

"Martial Soul Village is up ahead, the place where we will be meeting with our contact. Stingham, do you really not remember anything?" Ayrin looked at the village on the hill not far away and asked Stingham.

"I remember something, I seem to have a father." Stingham answered.

"......"

That answer made the surrounding wind department arcane masters almost trip.

What kind of idiotic answer is that?

"I guess your father must be itching to choke you to death." Rinloran spoke with a dark expression.

"That seems to be the case. I think I also have an older brother, but he was killed." Stingham spoke with uncertainty.

"Is it because he's as idiotic as you are? Then why are you still alive?" Rinloran's expression worsened. He felt that Stingham was too lazy to think and just spouted nonsense.

"There seems to be an evil woman who could not bear to kill me. Despite saying she would kill me, she threw me into a sewer and let me go." Stingham did not notice Rinloran's expression and spoke with a bitter expression.

"You call her evil woman when she saved your life?"

"She threw you into a sewer even though she saved you?"

The group almost fainted from Stingham's nonsensical anecdote. They felt that they were becoming idiots just from listening to him.

"I seem to be a little familiar with the place of contact."

As Stingham looked at the Martial Soul Village getting closer, he mumbled to himself, "There should be an armless stone statue inside."

"Armless stone statue?"

Ayrin and Rinloran felt that Stingham was making up nonsense again. However, a few wind department arcane masters were shocked, "You mean the Martial Soul Statue?"

Ayrin and Rinloran looked at each other in confusion, "What's that?"

"It's a statue at the center of the Martial Soul Village." The wind department arcane master Funenyin, who was made to escape stark naked by Stingham's demonic foxvines and received the 'white butt' comment from Ayrin, spoke up, "There was once a powerful close-range combat master in the Martial Soul Village during the Era of the War with Dragons. Many of his disciples became heroes who resisted against the Evil Dragon Army. In order to commemorate their achievements, Martial Soul Village sculpted statues of them after the war ended. The poses of some statues were signature combat skills they used. However, during the chaotic Magus Era, some arcane masters began a fight to snatch these statues in order to research the combat skills. In the end, almost all statues were broken. Only a single statue with two broken arms and one broken leg remains."

"What a pity. That's such a waste. If those statues were still around, I might be able to learn some powerful close-range combat skills!" Ayrin shouted in regret.

"That's not the point here! Haven't you learned enough!?" Meraly stared at Ayrin in frustration, "The point is, if Stingham had never been here, why would he feel familiar about this place and also know about the armless stone statue inside?"

"Oh, right!" Ayrin realized a little late. "Stingham, did you really come from the Kingdom of Doa?"

"Let's meet with our contact first. This idiot is getting more suspicious. The closer he gets to the Doa Royal Palace, the higher the chance his memory will awaken."

Rinloran hastened his pace. The group quickly entered Martial Soul Village.

Both the Kingdom of Eiche and the Kingdom of Doa had vast territories and a sparse distribution of population. Apart from the dense population of the major cities, other villages and territories had a low population. A large number of high level arcane masters entering Martial Soul Village quickly caused a wave of panic.

However, Ayrin's team was not concerned. The wind department arcane masters clearly had a local accent. The greater the suspicion that some mysterious House or organization was making a move, the smaller the chance people would realize that the Holy Dawn Academy team was mixed within them.

According to the designated contact point, Ayrin's group directly entered the only cultivation hall in the village.

The cultivation hall was small, about the size of four to five rooms and a yard of a few dozen square meters. The yard was full of weeds. It seemed hardly anyone came here to take lessons.

Hearing the knocking sound, someone immediately walked out. Seeing the identity of that person, Ayrin and Stingham called out in surprise, "Charlotte?"

The contact appearing before them was actually Charlotte!

"Charlotte! Why are you here?"

Ayrin immediately became excited. He neglected the surroundings and rushed up to hold Charlotte's hands.

Poof!

Charlotte's face immediately turned red, just like an apple during harvest.

"This is Ayrin's girlfriend? The goddess of the Divine Shield Academy, Charlotte?" Meraly realized the situation and turned her gaze towards Charlotte's chest.

She really seems bigger......

Meraly immediately became frustrated.

At that moment, Stingham turned around, tapped her shoulder and spoke in a serious tone, "Yeah, flat-chest, how about that? I didn't lie to you. Charlotte is really much bigger than you!"

"I'm going to kill you!"

Meraly immediately rampaged. She unsheathed her Golden Holy Sword and chased after Stingham in the yard.

"Ahem......"

A few coughs could be heard inside the cultivation hall. An old man holding a cane walked out.

Meraly and Stingham did not notice the old man as they were running around. However, the moment Rinloran and Ferguillo saw him, their pupils unconsciously contracted.

The old man clearly looked feeble. His body had completely deteriorated, but his hands were pitch black. The hands seemed to reflect a metallic hue as if they had become metal claws.

The old man must possess some sort of special forbidden skill.

"This is Grandmaster Yi."

Seeing the old man walk out, Charlotte withdrew her hands from Ayrin with a blush, then explained, "He is a good friend of Professor Plum from your Holy Dawn Academy. After the Maelstrom Team appeared, Teacher Liszt and the others were worried that the Maelstrom Team would come after me first, so they secretly sent me here. Later on, since you were coming to the Kingdom of Doa, I coincidentally became your contact."

"Professor Plum's friend, Grandmaster Yi?"

Ayrin looked at the old man, then at the surroundings. He immediately became excited, "Although this cultivation hall looks shabby and deserted, Grandmaster Yi must also be someone strong!"

"What a cute child! No wonder Charlotte fell for you!" The stern and stubborn-looking old man suddenly laughed slyly.

"Grandmaster Yi is the successor of the Metal Strengthening Style. The Metal Strengthening Style is the most powerful style amongst Dense Particle skills. It can turn the user's body into a heavy and dense fighting machine. They can break artifacts barehanded." Charlotte lowered her volume and whispered to Ayrin's group, "But Grandmaster Yi has a strange hobby, he loves to hear praises."

"Ah? He's so old yet still so immature, and he likes to hear praises?" Ayrin and Rinloran were dumbfounded.

"Why are you mixed amongst the wind department arcane masters of House Swashe and are even wearing their attire?" Grandmaster Yi interrupted.

"Grandmaster Yi, you're so knowledgeable. You even know a secluded House like House Swashe!"

"Yeah, I doubt there are many people in the entire Kingdom of Doa who are as knowledgeable as you."

They immediately started singing praises while explaining how they became friends with House Swashe.

"What a diligent child, you even got involved with House Swashe." Grandmaster Yi immediately became happy.

"Charlotte, we have arrived now. What's Teacher Liszt's arrangement for us?" Ayrin looked at Charlotte and asked.

He was probably the happiest to be able to do a mission together with Charlotte.

"What's wrong? You're not going to be a training maniac and ask Grandmaster Yi to teach you Metal Strengthening Style? I thought you praised him in order to learn his arcane skills immediately." Meraly went to the group after getting tired of hacking Stingham. She puffed up her chest and compared with Charlotte, then grumbled towards Ayrin with a defeated tone.

"The heavy particle style arcane skill costs too much arcane particles during battle. And look at that, your hands will also become ugly after training it," Ayrin whispered back.

"You're not foolish when it comes to training." Meraly was speechless.

"There is only one way to enter the Doa Royal Palace."

At that moment, Grandmaster Yi took the initiative to explain, "Only through the sewer."

"Sewer?"

Ayrin's group immediately looked at Stingham.

"That's right!" Grandmaster Yi knocked his cane, "Doa Royal Palace is heavily guarded. It's divided into the inner palace and outer palace. Even a Shadow Dance level arcane master cannot infiltrate into it. The only possible infiltration point is the sewer below the Royal Palace. Although Doa Royal Palace has also deployed heavy security down there, the majority of the buildings built during the Era of the War with Dragons had complex structures. Hence, it is possible to find a spot to infiltrate into the inner palace."

"The sewer beneath Doa Royal Palace is just like an underground kingdom. That's because the original sewer was the sewer system of the entire ancient Kingdom of Doa. It's enormous and some of the places can even let a big ship pass through. Also, due to the long history and complex structure, there are even powerful beasts and monsters lurking in some secluded areas. Meanwhile, Doa Royal Palace has also manually deployed some monsters in various places to strengthen its security. It's rumored that there are extremely scary beings down there, so it's very dangerous." Charlotte provided the details, "Grandmaster Yi has helped us to find a few sets of maps and picked out some relatively safe routes."

"The sewer system is so complicated? An underground kingdom? The present sewer of Doa Royal Palace is smaller than the sewer of the ancient Kingdom of Doa?"

"Are we really going through the sewer?"

"Did Stingham really drift out from the sewer...... Did water enter his head at a young age and made him an idiot?"

Ayrin and the rest looked at one another.