After Luke returned, the girls were already continuing their badminton matches in the backyard.
Lux, who was sitting in the audience area, saw him and asked curiously, "What did Aunt talk to you about?"
Luke casually replied, "Nothing much. She just said she was going to the northern border, and told me to keep an eye on you so you don't cause trouble."
Lux turned her face to the side, her eyes looking at him suspiciously. "Really? Is that how Aunt sees me? You're the one who causes trouble, aren't you?"
Luke chuckled. "Neither of us is much better than the other."
"Bull, I..." Lux very much disagreed with that statement, but she could not think of a reason to refute it for the moment.
In the end, after trying to organize her words for a long while, she still could not say anything, so she could only shift her gaze toward the court and change her focus.
Luke sat down in a chair and looked over as well, watching Kahina and Sona playing badminton, both of them dripping with fragrant sweat and brimming with energy.
He could not help sighing inwardly. When young, beautiful girls moved around, they were simply as lovely as a painting.
After a while, Lux suddenly remembered something and asked, "What is Aunt going to the northern border for?"
Luke replied, "Some tribes came to make trouble. She's going over there to hold the line."
Lux glanced at him. "Why are you making war sound so shallow?"
Luke shrugged. "Isn't that basically what it is?"
In this world, there was never true peace at any time. Demacia might look bright and beautiful on the surface, but in truth, whether internally or externally, its troubles had never been few.
Even though Demacia had proven its strength again and again, there were always enemies with a death wish coming to invade. It was not only Noxus and the barbarian tribes of the Freljord.
Demacia, settled on this rich and fertile land, was like a soft fruit that everyone wanted to squeeze.
In the end, Luke summarized the reason.
Demacia was certainly not weak. As a nation with seven hundred years of history, it possessed more than enough deep foundations.
But why were there always foreign enemies invading?
Ultimately, Demacia had never achieved true reform in any meaningful sense.
Even after seven hundred years, it still looked much the same as it had seven hundred years ago, clinging to outdated ideals. It was like many families that went from their peak toward decline, intoxicated by the glory of the past.
Since ancient times, Demacians had revered justice, honor, and duty, taking near-fanatical pride in their own traditions and foundations. However, despite upholding these noble principles, over the past few centuries, self-righteous Demacia had become more and more isolated from the world, turning into a synonym for isolationism.
Defending their homeland was something carved into the bones of every Demacian. Facts proved that they had indeed done this very well.
When foreign enemies invaded, Demacia would absolutely not allow them to continue offending its honor.
However, Demacia, despite holding the sword of justice, did not understand how to make its enemies learn a lesson written in blood.
It was like a wolf entering a sheep pen. The owner fired a shot into the wolf's leg, leaving a bullet hole, and the wolf slunk away.
The owner merely watched the wolf leave.
After some time, when the wound on the wolf's leg healed, it began thinking of the fragrant sheep pen again.
This repeated endlessly. Every time was a challenge stopped just short of the limit, and given enough time, the wolf would always manage to bite off a few mouthfuls of meat.
When the wolf grew old, it told the young wolf, "Don't be afraid. That foolish human has a gun but doesn't know how to use it. Just go."
When the man grew old, he told his son, "Never forget why we built the sheep pen in the first place. We must protect every sheep. When the wolf comes, use this gun and drive it back."
Then he passed away.
The son picked up the gun and walked the same old road as his father.
The instruction manual for the gun was clearly right there, but his son's son, and his son's son's son, never thought to look at it, let alone improve it.
The descendants of wolves were endless, and the descendants of humans were endless. The two sides confronted each other endlessly through the long river of time.
As time passed, the wolves grew stronger and stronger.
The humans also grew more numerous, but the wolf was still a beast of prey, while the hearts of humans became restless.
Some people began coveting the sheep pen, always thinking of plucking more wool from their own sheep. Once they had plucked enough wool, they began coveting the sheep themselves.
Luke naturally felt that if things continued like this, it definitely would not work.
A gun was something meant to be aimed at the head. If holding it in your hand was not enough to intimidate, then fire it.
If one shot did not kill, then chase after the target and fire another.
His thoughts drifted farther and farther. Sitting in the chair, Luke could not help yawning as drowsiness welled up.
"I'm going to take a nap."
He stood up and slowly walked toward the front courtyard.
The weather today was very nice, and the sunlight did not scorch the skin. He lay down on the rocking chair and adjusted himself into a comfortable position.
But he did not intend to fall asleep right away. Instead, he first silently said in his heart, "Check in."
Congratulations, host. You have obtained Basic Skill Upgrade Card x1.
Congratulations, host. You have obtained Training Card, Three Days.
Today's check-in rewards were very ordinary, though getting a Basic Skill Upgrade Card was still pretty nice.
Without hesitation, Luke directly used this Basic Skill Upgrade Card on Conqueror.
This skill could truly be called a divine skill.
It could be used no matter when, so he definitely had to max it out as soon as possible.
Basic Skill Card used successfully. Conqueror has been upgraded to LV4.
Although it was currently only a mere LV4, it would obviously bring Luke an even greater improvement in bed.
With a wonderful mood, Luke prepared to sleep.
However, before he could fall asleep, two people rode over from outside. They were dressed in the Research Institute's attire. It was the siblings, Maylee and Korsen.
"Your Highness, the institute asked us to call you over to the Research Institute."
Hearing this, Luke sat up and yawned.
It seemed there had been some new progress at the Research Institute.
So he had Yurna prepare the carriage. After briefly tidying himself up, he set out directly.
Time passed.
Lux, who had watched badminton in the backyard for a while, also personally went onto the court and played many more rounds. They continued playing until it was almost noon.
Only then did the girls decide to take a break, so they all returned to the living room. After sweating quite a bit that morning, their bodies now felt hot.
So they rested while eating ice cream.
Lux suddenly thought of something. "Isn't that guy's comic almost updated to the finale?"
Kahina shook her head. "I don't know."
"We can just go look."
Lux immediately stood up. Carrying her anticipation with her, she went upstairs with Kahina, then sneakily slipped into Luke's room.
After entering, they saw that the room had been tidied very neatly by Yurna, so anything inside was clear at a glance.
Sure enough, they found the final draft pages on the desk.
"The ending is definitely going to be wonderful. I hope the hero and Carly live happily ever after."
Lux impatiently opened the draft pages, her eyes sparkling.
During this time, the Hero vs. Dragon comic had naturally continued updating, and the author was still Luke.
As a devoted fan, Miss Crownguard had followed it to the end without missing a single chapter.
And now, the story was about to reach its finale.
Carrying her expectation for a wonderful ending, Lux flipped through the pages one by one and quickly immersed herself in the story.
However, when she reached the halfway point, she felt that the direction of the plot seemed to be getting a little off.
Why was the hero's party becoming more and more disadvantaged?
Lux's heart grew uneasy. She turned to the next page, and after seeing the contents, her eyes immediately widened in disbelief.
Kahina also clearly saw the archer girl who had taken a fatal blow for the hero, buying him the final chance to counterattack.
In other words, after the old mage's death, she was Lux's favorite character.
Kahina glanced at Lux's face, pale, dazed, and with killing intent flickering to life in those beautiful eyes.
At this moment, even Kahina did not quite dare to speak.
By noon, Luke returned in a carriage, in an especially good mood. There had been new progress in the Research Institute's work.
The train's speed and track issues had both seen good improvements.
Wenward and the others were developing things at truly rapid speed. Better still, they were steady about it. Every time, they had to perform repeated experiments and confirm there were no mistakes before continuing to the next step.
After testing, the current train could already carry sufficiently heavy cargo and operate.
If things continued like this, it probably would not be long before trains appeared in Demacia.
The carriage slowly stopped outside the courtyard gate.
Luke got off the carriage and entered the courtyard. Surprisingly, there was no one in the front courtyard, and it was completely quiet.
So he walked toward the main house.
In the living room, the girls were reading, playing chess, playing music, each doing their own thing. The atmosphere was very harmonious. However, Luke still immediately sensed a strange quietness within that atmosphere.
After glancing around, Luke did not see the little blonde's figure, so he could not help asking curiously, "Where is Lux? What is she doing?"
Hearing this, Kahina looked up. She hesitated several times, but still answered honestly, "She said she went to sharpen a knife."
Luke froze for a moment. "What is she sharpening a knife for?"
Kahina continued, "She said she was going to come over later and knife Your Highness."
Luke was bewildered. "???"
He could not help asking, "Why is she going to knife me?"
"Just now, we went to your bedroom and saw that the character she liked most was drawn dead by Your Highness." Kahina first gave a simple explanation, then said with a serious and worried face, "So Your Highness should hurry and go hide. The look in Lux's eyes when she said she wanted to knife you did not seem fake."
Luke was speechless.
He had no choice but to take those words seriously.
Because the odds of being knifed by the little blonde were very low, but they were definitely not zero.
So without any hesitation, he planned to flee.
Like the wind, he prepared to go to the Crownguard residence, Lady Augatha's mansion, to avoid the storm.
At this moment, only that great deity could protect him.
However, just as he reached the courtyard gate, a murderous figure blocked his path.
Lux stared at Luke with those big eyes full of anger, and in her hand, she was clearly holding her staff. "Didn't you promise me you wouldn't draw her dead?"
Seeing that there was no way out, Luke argued with a serious face, "This is not called death. It is called ascension. Although the character you liked died, she elevated the entire story and made even more people remember her. So in truth, she did not die. She is accompanying us in another form."
Watching Lux advance step by step, killing intent running wild and her face fierce, Luke also retreated step by step.
Hearing this, a beautiful cold smile immediately bloomed on Lux's face. "Fine. Then you can ascend too!"
The next second, she lunged directly at him, revealing her teeth, which had been sharpened until they were incomparably sharp.
The second after that, a pig-slaughtering scream rang throughout the entire courtyard, extremely loud and clear.
And yet that scream seemed to have nothing to do with the harmonious atmosphere in the living room. The girls continued doing their own things.
Although Luke now knew a hardening technique, Lux clearly was not an easy target anymore either.
She actually knew to add a layer of magic to her teeth. Who knew who she had learned that spell from, but it came with an armor-piercing effect.
So those sharp, pretty teeth naturally carried magic penetration.
When that bite landed solidly on Luke's arm, it hurt like hell.
No wonder this girl had specifically gone home. So it had been to get her staff!
Afterward, under Miss Crownguard's "knife" threat, Luke had no choice but to change the ending into a happy ending.
Only then was Miss Crownguard fully satisfied.
The perfect happy ending suited her taste very well. During lunch, she happily showed off by eating several large bowls of rice.
The day passed leisurely.
Night arrived as promised.
As the sky gradually darkened, at the capital prison, Sylas was escorted back into his cell by two guards, ending an exhausting day and finally welcoming the time when he could rest.
However, after so much time had passed, he was no longer so exhausted by this sort of thing that he was half dead.
Even now, he still retained some strength. It was only that a slight hunger came from his stomach.
Before long, footsteps came from outside. Immediately afterward, the cell door was opened, and torchlight shone inside.
However, the ones Sylas had waited for were not the meal deliverers.
They were several Mageseekers. Even though they wore masks, that still did not prevent Sylas from finding them familiar.
The one leading them was still Eldred.
On both sides of him followed two Mageseekers who also wore golden masks. Their bearing was extraordinary, and they were clearly his deputies.
One was burly, with a long iron staff planted in his hand. Just looking at him, it was clear his strength was extraordinary.
The other was thinner, looked younger, had long hair, and was a woman.
Sylas was not unfamiliar with this person. In fact, he was extremely familiar with her.
Her name was Wisteria.
Back then, she had been the one to personally arrest him.
They had once been close friends who could talk about anything. They had been the two most outstanding mages working for the Mageseekers at the time.
In private, they had once discussed the wonders of magic. Now, however, they were already strangers walking different roads.
To tell the truth, seeing her again surprised Sylas greatly.
After the guards opened the cell door, they withdrew.
Several Mageseekers walked in. Two of them pulled Sylas up from the ground and restrained him.
Eldred slowly took out the components of a specially made syringe and began assembling them.
Not the slightest emotion could be seen in his calm eyes.
And the restrained Sylas was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
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