The weather grew colder and colder as this winter began to unleash an unimaginable fury.
The departure of an entire kingdom had stripped away not only land, but also a massive amount of "energy."
This extraordinary winter froze not only most rivers across the mainland, but even sections of the ocean began turning to ice.
Around the newly built islet Anbaixiu had christened Silver Coin Island, vast stretches of the sea surface were frozen solid.
Harsh though the weather was, it did nothing to cool Anbaixiu's booming business.
This was especially true given that everyone lacked food this year—and Anbaixiu had just thoroughly fleeced the druids.
To smoothly release those overseas animals and plants back into their native habitats, the druids not only had to purchase the specimens themselves, but also buy the coordinates where they had been gathered from Anbaixiu.
"The map is yours. Taking the airship heading that way, or not? How about paying a little travel fee?"
Back and forth it went, and unable to afford gold coins, the druids had no choice but to settle their debts with grain.
The entire world might run short of food, but never the druids; their nature spells could spur dense forests into growth in an instant, leaving them never to worry about food shortages.
As a result, the druids owed Anbaixiu vast amounts of grain and had to work off their debts for him in the freezing cold.
Thus, all who lacked food flocked to him. Even with the seas frozen over, even across vast distances, they had to make the journey to Silver Coin Island for the grain so desperately needed this winter.
Teleportation arrays could transport people, but bulk grain trade could not be moved through arrays. Not every realm was as affluent as Ryan, capable of moving military rations directly by teleportation array.
Then, Anbaixiu's drow elf air transport route began aggressively advertising, prompting even the Alchemy Association to modify their production lines and deploy several airships to horn in on the business.
Anbaixiu turned no one away, even personally teaching them how to retrofit their cargo bays to insulate them from dark magic's influence.
However, the Alchemy Association's airship business still could not compete with the drow elf line. After all, the drow elf route offered additional services. Even though Catherine strictly forbade the drow elves from messing around aboard ship, the dark-skinned elves had no qualms about providing extracurricular services during cargo unloading to earn a little extra cash.
It was one of a kind in the world, and no matter how much the Alchemy Association wanted to compete, they stood no chance.
While the transport industry gained momentum, Anbaixiu was hardly idle either. Chipping through the ice, he embedded custom-made magical constructs one by one into the islet's foundation.
An undertaking on such a massive scale could never be hidden from view. Envoys from every kingdom came to inquire about the magical formation's function, to which Anbaixiu gave a uniform reply: preparations for Talos's wedding.
Once that pretext was brought to bear, no one could press the matter further.
After all, mortals were in no position to voice opinions on a deity's wedding.
Moreover, most people did not believe Anbaixiu was up to anything perilous.
Word of Anbaixiu's deeds had long spread far and wide; this lich had eyes only for money. He would not set a trap to draw every king together only to slaughter them with a grand spell. Doing so would completely ruin his business and leave him hunted by a coalition of realms for the rest of his days.
By normal logic, this magical formation likely had little to do with mortals.
And so, under the watchful gaze of the public, Anbaixiu expanded Silver Coin Island by several rings. By then, even a "muggle" with zero sensitivity to mana would notice something amiss upon stepping onto the island.
For the magic power here had reached a level where visible anomalies could be seen with the naked eye, and anyone casting spells here would find their effects amplified severalfold.
Yet this state of affairs lasted only a few days.
Once Anbaixiu finished installing the final multi-ton magical construct, the entire island returned to tranquil calm, with even all traces of the magic formations vanishing from sight.
By this time, only three days remained before the conference officially commenced.
The venue on Silver Coin Island prepared for the wedding had been fully constructed, and accommodations for guests from the various kingdoms had been properly arranged. This time, Anbaixiu indulged in a splash of luxury, paying a hefty sum to hire elves to oversee reception duties across the entire venue.
Those alluring, graceful elves were all skilled in both magic and martial arts; beyond delighting the eye, they were fully capable of handling security.
With Silvermoon High Court closed to outside communication these days, only Anbaixiu possessed the connections to gather so many elves to serve as hostesses.
The people of Ryan were closest in distance, yet they were the last to arrive.
Not many accompanied the Ryan Emperor. Excluding servants, there were only eight in total, but they carried immense weight—for all eight were legends.
Paladins and clerics of light were Ryan's standard composition, alongside a legendary-tier mage, a rarity among Ryan's legendary powerhouses.
A paladin like Ange Watson, who was not even a legend, was not qualified to come along and remained stationed at the border under the emperor's orders to guard against opportunistic orc assaults.
Surrounded by enemies on three sides, Ryan could still muster this many legends—truly living up to its status as the continent's strongest empire.
In contrast, only two legends accompanied the Orc King, completely incomparable to Ryan.
Wrapped in a thick robe and surrounded by tall, imposing paladins, the young emperor appeared quite frail. To onlookers, this Ryan Emperor was merely a figurehead, representing the lingering twilight of the Holy King's glorious deeds; people respected him for his bloodline rather than any personal competence.
The young emperor preferred people to see him that way, so even though he represented the continent's most powerful empire, he had maintained a low profile throughout.
After setting foot on Silver Coin Island, he retreated with his entourage into the detached villa prepared for Ryan, showing none of the dwarf king's eagerness to pay visits everywhere and enthusiastically display his vitality following "recovery from a prolonged illness."
And given Ryan's delicate relations with the other kingdoms, no one came to disturb this little villa for the time being.
The Ryan Emperor holed up in his room reading, while the remaining paladins stood guard outside.
To protect the emperor's safety, the paladins were assigned in pairs outside his door, ready at all times to handle any trouble.
Yet the two tasked with the watch in the first half of the night shared a rather awkward relationship.
Standing by the window was Alan Watson, the empire's youngest legendary paladin. Mixed though his reputation might be, Alan remained the youngest legend in imperial history. Thanks to the battle against the Githyanki, in which he displayed formidable aerial combat prowess, he had earned the title "Sword of the Angel."
Of course, many still considered Alan a traitor conspiring to fracture Ryan, whispering behind his back that he was the "Sword of the Fallen Angel," bound to fall like Zariel into a devil sooner or later.
Standing beside Alan, meanwhile, was the empire's oldest living legendary paladin: William Garrison, the Shield of the Empire.
The relationship between them was thoroughly awkward.
William Garrison was a monumental figure worthy of being called the empire's pillar after the death of the Silvermoon Knight; during the battle against the Githyanki, he had turned the tide to bring the emperor and the battered remnants of the army back safely.
The two could be said to have fought side by side in that battle, though they had never met face-to-face.
Later, William firmly stood by the emperor's side to help him stabilize the situation, whereas Alan had openly opposed the emperor at one point, nearly plunging Ryan into partition.
Facing this young man, William genuinely did not know what expression to wear.
With any other youngster, William needed only to put on a stern face, and the junior would wait in trembling dread for his lecture. But Alan was different; this young man was suffused through and through with powerful Holy Light.
Paladins practiced their tenets in exchange for the Lord of the Dawn's blessing. Did Alan's sheer might signify that he aligned even more closely with the Lord of the Dawn's teachings?
Once that seed of doubt took root, William could no longer pull rank or play the elder before Alan.
After all, to a paladin, faith superseded everything.
The two still had to stand like this for most of the night and could hardly remain completely silent. Just as the old man prepared to break the awkward silence, Alan spoke up first: "Lord Garrison, why do you think His Majesty had me accompany him? And even had me guard his safety?"
William was taken aback, not expecting Alan to proactively bring up such a sensitive question.
Was it a probe? Or was the lad subtly fishing for information with ulterior motives?
Yet Alan's eyes were clear. His was pure bewilderment, an innocent question devoid of scheming.
Trusting his own judgment, William said earnestly, "Alan, people grow. Both you and His Majesty are young men. However much you have changed over this past year or so, the same is true for His Majesty. That a young man made mistakes does not mean he cannot change. Lately, every single order His Majesty has issued has been sound—better even than many emperors in history.
"I believe His Majesty hopes you can reintegrate into Ryan. You are an indispensable pillar of the empire; you should not stand in opposition to it."
Alan could not help but ask, "And what of the past mistakes? Can we simply pretend they never happened? Lord Garrison, over these past years, tens of thousands in Ryan have perished due to extremist ideology, and the harm inflicted upon the outside world is beyond measure. We might choose to forget, but the orcs will charge at us screaming for blood debts to be repaid in blood, and so will the other races. His Majesty has never once mentioned how he intends to address this."
William frowned, not expecting Alan to speak on the orcs' behalf.
All William could do was remind him, "Alan, you are overthinking. This is not a matter for military commanders like us to consider. Besides, they are orcs, not people of Ryan."
Alan glanced at the gray-haired elder, sighing inwardly.
As expected, it was hard for the older generation to comprehend his stance.
When the Lord of the Dawn radiated His glory, He made no distinction between human and orc. Holy King Arthur's own mentor had been an orc.
Pity that few likely knew such secrets, and even if Alan spoke them aloud, no one would believe him.
He truly hoped to see His Majesty the Holy King again. Alan felt he was still too young and needed the Holy King's guidance.
With the lich staging such an enormous event, His Majesty the Holy King would surely make a public appearance. How grand a sensation would his arrival stir?
Alan could not help looking forward to it.
He hoped the Holy King would guide Ryan back onto the right path.
Chapter 507