Knight Lords: Infinite Simulation and the Path of Light

Chapter 143 Past Events

"Serena, what brings you here all of a sudden? Didn't you say your mother needed to take care of something?"

Wearing a bathrobe, Haven sat on the sofa watching Serena devour her food. The little girl's eating speed was still excellent; even with her mouth full of food, she could still answer Haven's questions clearly.

“Mom said there was a source of pollution that I needed to deal with, but when I got there, it had already left. So I cleaned up the pollution it left behind and went back to find Mom.”

Seeing how easily the young girl spoke, Haven, who still didn't quite understand what Serena did for a living or who she served, couldn't help but ask curiously:
"So who is your mother? You're so powerful, your mother must be that legendary one. But then again, Serena, what level of strength do you have?"

Serena, with a piece of steak stuck on her fork, glanced blankly at her large, pale blue eyes. Clearly, Haven's question was beyond her ability to describe, and she froze on the spot for a moment.

It took him quite a while to answer:

"Yes, Serena is very powerful. She wasn't so good before. When you and Will came to Serena, she became weaker."

There's a magic circle here that limits Selena's abilities; if she enters, her powers will be halved. But now, with her mother's help, this place no longer affects Selena.

So, if that's the case, Mom is more powerful, but there's an even more powerful magic array outside that's keeping Mom out.

Listening to the girl's incoherent words, Haven scratched his head in confusion. After spending some time together, Haven realized that Serena was already quite good at speaking.

When they first met, Haven even thought Serena was a robot. But after he touched her while she was asleep and found that the touch was very realistic, he gave up his guess.

As they spent more time together, they gradually came to understand that Serena was more like a reclusive girl who rarely spoke to anyone, which resulted in her having very poor language skills.

This was also the time during which they traveled to the capital with Haven. Haven was such a chatterbox, talking non-stop every day, which helped improve the little girl's ability to express herself.

Back then, Haven asked Serena what she did when she had nothing to do before she met him.

The little girl said that on days when her mother didn't assign her any tasks, she would watch small animals by the river, on the grass, and on the edge of the cliff, because her mother wouldn't let her go to places where humans lived.

Hearing this description, Haven couldn't help but think of a pretty little girl in a witch's robe sitting quietly in the wilderness, waiting for her mother to call her. It was not only somewhat beautiful, but also sometimes made people feel a little heartbroken.

How long can you stay this time?

Haven didn't intend to explore what Serena and her mother did, and directly changed the subject.

"Hmm, it's been a long time. Mom said the pollution has spread, and Serena doesn't need to clean it up anymore. She also told Serena to stay here, saying something bad might happen, but she didn't say what it would be. She said as long as she stays with you, that's fine."

"Your mother still knows me?"

Somewhat surprised, Haven pointed to himself. In Haven's eyes, a mysterious and powerful person like Serena's mother must be one of the top beings in the world. It was quite interesting that such a being knew about little Karami.

"Hmm~ Mom says you are someone whose fate is intertwined with threads of destiny, and many things will begin with you."

"Yeah?!"

Hearing Serena's words, Haven touched his chin, looking thoughtful.

"Am I that amazing? I don't think so. But speaking of which, I do have some kind of cheat code. Tsk tsk, could this be a typical overpowered protagonist story?"

Kuban and his companion, sitting on the other side, looked at Haven and his companion with curiosity. The group had not yet recovered from the shock of Serena's sudden appearance.

"Lori, this, this, is the beautiful lady the powerful female mage you mentioned?"

Very curious, Cuban peeked at Lori and asked:
"Yes, that's Serena, she's super, super amazing."

"Is he even better than your older brother Haven?"

He-Man looked at Lori with a mischievous grin, wanting to see what Haven's little tagalong would say.

"Of course it's Sister Serena! You wouldn't believe it, Sister Serena was at Half Moon Lake that day..."

"Lori, do you have class tomorrow?"

After chatting with Serena for a while and confirming that his thighs were back and that he wasn't planning to leave anytime soon, Haven, who was already quite capable, felt even more capable.

"Ah! I have a magic rune alchemy class tomorrow."

"Huh? When did you choose this class? Isn't the rune class supposed to require a lot of concentration? What, you're not planning to become an alchemy master anymore, and instead you're going to become a rune scholar?"

"Hey, Haven, you don't care enough about Lori. Lori is much more capable than you think."

Hearing Cubant's words, Haven looked at his adopted younger brother with some curiosity, after all, in his memory, Lori was still that somewhat introverted tagalong.

"Really? Cuban, so just how powerful is he?"

Kubant recalled that when he took Lori to the alley behind the academy to buy magical materials, there was a roadside vendor playing a game similar to magic rune drawing. Lori, who was a little interested, tried it out. Unexpectedly, after a few simple attempts, Lori showed great talent in drawing magic runes.

In the end, to the boss's astonishment, he drew the last basic rune of the 'Shield of Oath'. Although it was just a basic rune that had just reached level one, it was still quite remarkable. After all, according to Lori, he had never drawn or learned this before. However, when his mother was still alive, she often taught him to draw.

"Well, let's just say he's a genius, a genius among geniuses. He's only been taking a magic rune class for a week, but he can already draw a complete base magic rune for a standard 'Shield of Oath' with an incredibly high success rate."

"Ha! Really? That amazing? I thought you read so many bard stories every day that you'd become a bard yourself. But becoming a rune master is much more lucrative than being a bard, since rune constructs are sold in rune crystals."

Lori, whose head was being patted by Haven, squinted his eyes proudly. After all, his wish had always been to help his older brother Haven. He had found that alchemy, which he loved most, was not so easy in the actual learning process, and he was a little discouraged. But by chance, he discovered that he had the talent to become a magic rune master.

As one of the most lucrative professions on the continent, the demand for rune masters will always exist as long as there is war. If I can become a rune master in the future, I can help Brother Haven make a lot of money. "Yes, I will work hard, Brother Haven, and I will earn lots and lots of money for you to spend."

Listening to Lori's heartfelt words, Haven nodded in satisfaction. This kid is quite good; his gratitude is well worth all the kindness he's shown him.

“Alright, I’ll wait for that day, future Master Lori. Then let’s go back to the Marquis’s mansion together after your class tomorrow and see what my mother wants to talk to me about.”

Cavendish Marquis's House

"Mom! Dear Mom! Beautiful Mom! I'm home."

A little guilty, Haven started shouting as soon as he stepped through the Marquis's gates, trying to let everyone in the manor know he was back. They knew what he'd done at the academy and felt he'd get a beating, so he was trying to make a scene, preferably with a lot of people around. That way, probably, maybe, perhaps...

"Havent, you naughty boy, you disobedient brat, just like your father who's obsessed with defeating the enemy, causing trouble every single day. By the Lady of Harvest, how have I been disciplining you all this time..."

Hearing his mother's voice, already grumbling, before anyone else had even come out of the yard, Haven shook his head helplessly. He knew that coming back would bring no good news.

Sure enough, Louise, dressed in a light blue dress, came out in a hurry, accompanied by her maid. Originally, it was thought that only Haven and Lori would come, but unexpectedly, Haven also brought back a very beautiful girl.

Louise, who originally wanted to immediately teach her unfilial son a lesson, had to change her tune and instantly transformed into a master of facial expression management, smiling as she looked at Serena, who was standing next to Haven and curiously looking around.

"Son, do you know who this young lady is? What's her name?"

Having secretly breathed a sigh of relief, Haven couldn't help but think to himself:
'That was close! Luckily I was smart enough to bring Serena back, otherwise I'd be facing a five-hit lightning whip right now.'

"Ah~ dear mother. This is the super powerful magician I told you about before, Serena, whom I met on my way to the capital."

Louise looked at the girl being so admired by her son and didn't find anything special about her. In fact, she felt like she was a harmless little white rabbit.

However, out of trust in her son and her own aristocratic upbringing, Louise still greeted Serena warmly. After all, putting aside the strength of the wallpaper, she was satisfied with Serena's outstanding appearance alone.

"Hello, Serena, when did you arrive? I've heard Haven mention you a few times before."

Suddenly, Louise warmly took her hand, and Serena, a little flustered, looked at Haven with a blank expression.

"Hehe~ This is my mom, and this is my maternal grandfather's house."

"Oh~ Hello, my name is Serena~"

After saying that, the little girl subtly withdrew her hand from Louise's. Seeing Serena's actions, she thought of what her son had said and didn't blame her.

"Alright, let's go inside and talk. Susan, prepare some food for Lori and Serena. Also, have the chef prepare extra dishes."

As for you, Haven, come with me first. I have something to tell you.

Seeing the aura emanating from his mother, Haven couldn't help but shrink back, and as he watched the two leave with the maid, he couldn't help but secretly stick out his tongue.

Upon entering the study and seeing his mother sitting at the desk, Haven hesitated about whether to confess and accept the consequences of his resistance. However, Louise didn't give Haven much time for his internal monologue.

"Sit down~ To be honest, you've been quite active lately, son."

Feeling his mother's scrutinizing gaze, Haven suddenly felt uneasy, as if he had a nail in his butt.

"Um... well... if I said I was forced into this, I don't know if you would believe me."

Seeing Haven's rapidly rolling eyes, Louise knew her son was about to start rambling and chose not to let Haven continue.

"No matter how you do those things, you have your reasons. I've been through it all, and I know that things won't end until the children in these regions have a clear winner. I won't stop you from doing this, since that's how it's always been. It's better this way than if you lead your soldiers to fight each other and cause more harm to the empire."

Hearing that his mother didn't seem to be pursuing the matter of his fight, Haven breathed a sigh of relief and then asked his mother curiously.

"Phew~ That scared me to death, I thought I was going to get beaten up today. So why did you call me back this time?"

Seeing Haven's pathetic state, Louise's barely suppressed anger surged up again. However, she then thought of Queen Catherine's sudden visit a few days ago and decided to calm down first, since there would be plenty of time to deal with this unfilial son later.

"Weren't you and Princess Alice attacked in a warehouse in the suburbs a while ago?"

Hearing that his mother had called him back because of this, Haven scratched his head in confusion.

"Yes, Alice insisted on taking me shopping on Queen Street. Later, we saw a shop with a rather strange name. What was it called again? Oh right! It was called 'Clark's Balance'."

"Tsk tsk, that's no good place at all. It's a really shady auction house. I've always heard about people selling themselves, but I never thought it would actually happen in the capital. I thought Solis was just trying to scare me."

Seeing her son getting carried away with his rambling, Louise quickly stopped him, interrupting him and saying:

"Alright, alright, I know everything you've said. Now I'm going to tell you some things about what happened thirty years ago. Now that you're in the capital, there are some things you need to know so that you won't be taken advantage of by malicious people in the future."

Seeing his mother's serious and earnest expression, Haven immediately stopped his rambling and transformed into a good boy, waiting to hear the story.

"The incident likely occurred in the year Glory 2134, in late autumn..."

　July, a new month, I hope for your continued support.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)