Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 493: Chapter 291: Hidden Undercurrents in Prosperity

Hill thought that those undead jumping around on the rooftops, wildly cheering, probably all followed from outside the city.

The conflict between the two countries, although not large in scale, must be interesting, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many undead scurrying around like monkeys.

The Boyle princess delegation still managed to get ahead.

The reason was obvious; they were being pulled by rather large beasts, lions.

The beautiful golden carriage of the Boyle princess was drawn by two all-gold male lions.

This must be a pride of lions, except for those two male lions, the rest were differently colored lionesses.

White and yellow lionesses mingled as they walked, their low growls startling the spectating commoners.

Following closely behind them was the Buxton delegation, though the knights were impressive and their mounts majestic.

However, their herd of unicorns, even being magical beasts, seemed hesitant in front of the mere animals that were lions.

Though following Boyle’s group by their masters’ commands, one could tell these unicorns were tense.

Hill thought it easy to guess how the fight started.

Buxton intended to reach Saral the fastest by relying on their speedily magical unicorns but faced obstruction when trying to overtake Boyle’s delegation.

Even though their mounts were magical beasts, their natural instincts prevented them from surpassing the lions, probably earning them quite some mockery.

And Boyle, the reason they dared to advance so leisurely, is because they had established an alliance with Saral right from the start.

Unexpected to them, the countries behind them were so impatient, even bringing out their magical beasts.

It should be noted that these magical beasts, at least the ones pulling the carriages, were intended as dowries to be left in Saral.

It was clear that Boyle brought just a flashy crowd of lions and didn’t bring out their country’s most prized petrifying lizards.

The Boyle magical beast herd was somewhat lacking, not luxurious enough—or perhaps, they secured their ride to Saral early and didn’t need to demean themselves so.

But upon seeing such rich dowries from neighboring countries, the people of Boyle were undoubtedly jealous.

So, relying on their lions, Boyle probably wasn’t polite to Buxton.

Of course, no matter how fiercely they fought, they probably calmed down upon seeing the herd of charging rhinoceroses.

Salabia was distinctly more ruthless; the white rhinoceros are among the strongest in their rhinoceros magical beast species, which they had brought along.

Though all were low-rank magical beasts, this kind of breedable and propagative magical beast race has been a subject of research by nations for tens of thousands of years.

Saral and Haifasar brought apparently nothing, while the initial Cortez, constantly striving to domesticate a six-legged horse capable of bearing heavy loads, now all belong to Saral.

They should have achieved some progress.

Naven Spencer showed considerable interest in grasslands, and his behavior of collecting grasses everywhere gave Hill some speculation.

The princess delegations, just by entering the city, had already provided a great spectacle, to the immense satisfaction of all bystanders.

Greenberg had not yet arrived, and although Dionysio sent people to join, he did not bring the princess.

The God of Nobility, even if reconciled with the Gods of Time and Space, would definitely not send a princess here.

As for Greenberg, as active as they were against Dionysio initially, they were equally tragic now.

The energy of the God of Nobility, besides working hard to rebuild back in the Divine Kingdom, was primarily spent on them.

Thus, the reason for Greenberg’s late arrival was not due to a lack of importance, but because they valued Saral too desperately as a lifesaver.

From the bits and pieces brought by other countries, Hill could discern just how much Greenberg brought and how vast their caravan was.

What Hill didn’t understand was why these princesses, being mages themselves or accompanied by apprentices and retainers, all capable of using Space Rings, still had so much luggage?

Previously, one could say they couldn’t afford it, but now, with Space Crystals widely available and as members of the Royal Family, each should have a ring as standard issue, right?

Hill’s mind was filled with confusion, which was easily resolved with William.

Such matters of not considering Space Rings as assets were naturally beyond Hill’s comprehension.

William was at the top of the tower in the King’s Palace, watching these delegations file by, with the Chancellor and Spencer by his side, and behind them stood a line of Saral members, all eager to marry a princess and strike it rich.

The Saral heritage was actually quite decent, and it was rare for someone to not even be promoted to Knight.

Otherwise, Edward’s mother, being a daughter of a Great Noble, wouldn’t be so sad and die so early after giving birth to such a frail prince.

So, the Saral Family was truly vast; as members of the Royal Family, as long as they could turn professional, they would definitely have a title, not needing to worry about primogeniture or secundogeniture; no matter what, they would at least have a title of Baron without land on them.

The result was that many Sarals were actually quite poor, so they were very willing to marry a princess with a rich dowry.

The truly powerful in Saral, like Belter and the likes, are now keeping their distance from Kexlote, fearing that a careless move might force them to marry a princess and bring her home.

They aspire to become the future king, but it involves marriage alliances with the great nobility of their own nation unless a princess is so exceptionally beautiful that she transcends all other powers.

So far, no woman of such divine beauty has appeared in the world; power remains the first eternal pursuit.

Even those kings who have lost their senses only act foolishly for their mistresses after securing their throne, not recklessly marrying without regard.

Edward was just foolish, overestimating himself, thinking he had already secured his position with the support of the Noble Church, and that was why he was so brazen.

Before that, he had performed quite well.

The Saral’s Foreign Minister was waiting in the square in front of the Royal Palace to welcome their arrival.

Incidentally, he arranged these visitors in the Reception House next to the Royal Palace.

Luckily, with Saral’s high standing now, the Foreign Minister simply forcefully organized according to the order of entrance to the Royal Capital, ushering these delegations into several separate courtyards of the Reception House.

”Are they trying to show off by bringing so many things?” asked a rather young Saral, leaning on the window and tiptoeing, unable to restrain his curiosity.

”You are from Saral; of course, you can have a few Space Rings if you want,” William said indifferently. ”Other countries would still need to find an alchemist to make them!”

”Apart from Saral, no other place could possibly have so many alchemists,” the Chancellor explained with a smile. ”These countries would rather go through the trouble of transporting the princesses’ dowries than provide them with Space Rings as part of their dowry.

After all, the precious Space Rings in their places are readily available in Saral to anyone with slight capability.”

”Will they resell the Space Rings?” asked a Saral in the middle, ”Do we need to limit the princesses’ purchase quantity?”

To these members of the Saral Royal Family, no matter how ample a princess’s dowry is, it doesn’t mean they are to be trusted.

”No need to worry,” William said unconcernedly. ”Once they marry into Saral, they become one of us, and must be given the status of a Royal Family member. Also, be mindful not to treat those princesses rudely just because their countries need Saral.”

”I do not want you to take advantage and then deny it.”

”Rest assured, Your Majesty! Who in Perast’s lessons doesn’t remember?” replied the young Saral. ”Nowadays, who dares to underestimate women!”

William almost couldn’t help laughing out loud.

Hill’s biography seems to be in everyone’s hands now.

Actually, there are many nobles worse than Perast, but none have been as lucky.

Despite being just a Grand Knight, he became eternally renowned.

Having a son like Hill is enough to constantly remind people of his short-sightedness.

Not to mention the third Countess, who is still active in Central City! Most people here have probably seen her elegant demeanor there.

But now, no one dares pursue her, thinking of that gruesomely deceased Earl and the unfortunate Duke Saral, even if the nobles are curious about her, they can only keep their distance.

Standing here, William is not just escorting these Sarals to meet their future wives; he is observing whether these countries genuinely seek a temporary submission or intend to play conspiratorial tricks.

William clearly understands that even if these nations may wait until he ascends the Divine Throne by invoking the Divine Fire, they definitely won’t wait until then to prepare.

Even Noah, who is fickle, has his own ulterior motives.

While still the King of Saral, William needed to prepare for Saral’s future.

He turned back to look at Spencer; Naven stood quietly at a distance, not intending to join the conversation.

After nearly breaking with his family, the people of the Saral Family saw him more as an attachment of William’s.

No longer considering Naven a contender for the throne.

Sometimes, William really wanted to act willfully; compared to these Sarals, whose minds might not be clear in the future, Naven would be such a good king!

At least, he wouldn’t have a foolish son like Edward.

Unfortunately, William looked forward, hoping that the Saral Family would marry more intelligent wives to ideally optimize their genes and not just consider looks.

”Naven,” William suddenly called out. ”Contact Dionysio and tell them not to treat the people from Greenberg too harshly. They should arrive a bit before the Elf Princess at least.”

”Yes! I’ll go right now,” Spencer snapped to attention; even if Greenberg brought many things, they shouldn’t be this slow as they hadn’t even finished passing through Boyle’s land.

William waved his hand to dismiss them, waiting for the other nations’ delegations to arrive before he would host the welcome dinner.

Before that, let these princesses wait!

Once he made his stance clear, these Sarals could confidently approach the princesses they wished to marry.

Every country brought at least two direct-line princesses, and there were quite a few princesses from side branches of Dukes as well, enough for these Sarals to choose from.