Chapter 429 - 30: The Bell Tolls
Chapter 429: Chapter 30: The Bell Tolls
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, several years have passed again.
This is the 42nd year since Lynch arrived in Feiyan City.
At this time, Feiyan City has undergone earth-shaking changes compared to when Lynch first arrived.
First is the scale of the town.
During the Greywell period, this city underwent three expansions from inside out, building three layers of city walls, each time expanding by several times more than before.
After Erwin took over the city, the expansion did not stop; instead, it continued to push outward for two more layers. At this moment, the city walls of Feiyan City have reached five layers, and the city is divided into five zones according to these layers.
The fixed population has exceeded one million, and counting the traveling merchants and adventurers mingling here, the resident population has reached as high as two million.
Currently, the urban construction of Feiyan City has ceased to expand outward; mainly because such a population scale has reached the governing limit of this era, and if the population continues to grow upward, the city can no longer be effectively managed.
To alleviate the pressure on Feiyan City, Lynch built two new cities within his Witch Domain, namely the former Karina’s White Water Port and the capital taken over from the Dark Moon Church, renamed by Lynch as Moon City.
The rapid development of these two cities sees each having a resident population of hundreds of thousands, and they are approaching a million scale.
Including other towns within the Witch Domain, territories under the management of various nobles, etc., the population within Lynch’s Witch Domain has reached seven to eight million, which is considered quite a sizable Witch Domain anywhere.
With a substantial population base, a substantial number of Transcendent individuals can be contributed.
The number of each Transcendent power under Lynch’s Witch Domain has exceeded three-digit figures, where high-level powers like Wizard Tower and Light Church have even surpassed four digits, already ranking as a sizable Wizard Power.
And the substantial base of Transcendents has also spawned quite a number of high-level Transcendents.
After more than 40 years of development, the Wizard Level Transcendents under Lynch’s Witch Domain have reached three digits, and all the seven initial apprentices who followed Lynch have without exception been promoted to Wizard Level.
Of course, their promotion was largely due to Lynch using resources to forcibly push them up as a model project, but what Lynch’s resources could do was only to bring them to Wizard Level, and the subsequent cultivation could only rely on their own talent and effort.
Among them, Alya was undoubtedly the best performer; she seemed to be born solely for the Wizard’s Road as a girl with no desires, with no other aspects in life besides cultivation.
Her promotion speed was the fastest among all apprentices and has currently reached the level of Mid-level Wizard. If she continues at this pace, Lynch thinks her potential for promotion to a High-level Wizard or even Second Tier in the future should be no problem.
As time passes day by day, Lynch’s Witch Domain is also incessantly developing, creating an era that belongs to him on this land.
…
Light Church, Light Chapel.
“Dong! Dong! Dong!”
The morning sun rises, the morning bell rings, and a new day arrives.
Alya opened her eyes, washed and dressed neatly, then walked out of the resting courtyard, routinely crossing the corridor towards the chapel.
“Good day, Saintess.”
The Light Knight at the courtyard gate bowed in salute to her.
Alya nodded slightly in acknowledgment, then proceeded forward.
However, after walking just a few steps, she seemed to sense something, suddenly stopping her steps, turning to look at the few Light Knights.
These were a few young Light Knights, dressed in bright Light Armor, scattering golden radiance under the sunlight, looking exceptionally majestic and heroic.
However, Alya was somewhat puzzled: “Why is it you?”
One Light Knight stepped forward to explain: “Knight Commander is ill, so he arranged for us to serve you.”
The Knight Commander mentioned was Hasrant, a Guard Knight from the Light Church who had been guarding Alya for decades like no other.
“Ill?”
Alya questioned in confusion: “Have you seen the Priest?”
The Light Knight nodded: “Already seen, the Priest instructed that he needs some rest…”
The Knight hesitated a bit.
Hasrant’s situation wasn’t as simple as just needing some rest.
He was too old.
Despite being a Light Knight, despite being a Great Knight, he couldn’t escape the cycle of life and death; his life force was almost depleted.
But before the Light Knight could continue, Alya nodded and said: “Okay, I understand.”
The Light Knight looked at her expression, and seeing her calm face without any abnormality—perhaps the Saintess was already accustomed to this—he didn’t continue to elaborate further.
Alya continued towards the chapel to start her new day.
Time flies, and a few more days have passed.
Morning.
Alya pushed open the door and stepped outside. The guards nearby were still a few young knights.
She wondered: “Is Hasrant not better yet?”
Decades of time, even if it were a stone by her side, one couldn’t help but get accustomed, let alone a living person. Although these young knights also performed their duties responsibly in recent days, Alya still felt various discomforts.
The young knight frowned, hesitated for a while before saying: “The Knight Commander’s condition is not very good.”
Alya asked: “Is it a severe illness?”
The young knight shook his head: “It’s not due to illness, it’s simply that time has come.”
“The Priest diagnosed him, the bishop also visited, and it’s indeed that his life force has reached its limit, the Knight Commander may not be able to serve you in the future, Saintess.”
Alya was taken aback for a moment.
Only then did she suddenly realize that Hasrant was different from her; he was merely a human, and human life is very short.
For her, decades are just a segment in her long life, but for a human, it could be a lifetime.
After a brief silence, she nodded and said: “I will go check on him.”
After so much cultivation, Alya herself also had a certain amount of power, being a Mid-level Wizard specializing in Life Science, she believed she had the capacity to extend Hasrant’s life.
If she couldn’t extend it… the circle of life and death is a fate that no one can evade, and if the time has come, then acceptance is the only choice.
After all, isn’t it nothing too serious?
With such thoughts, Alya interrupted her morning prayer today and headed to Hasrant’s residence together with the knights.
However, just halfway through, suddenly
“Dong! Dong! Dong!”
A sudden bell toll reverberated, its deep and low tone naturally exuding a mournful atmosphere.
Hearing this sound, Alya’s calm heart suddenly quivered.