Fool's Library

This allowed Hiltina to mature in a very short time, becoming a future empress with impeccable political skills and wisdom.

And the conflict between the two princesses over the right to the throne, which the nobles had speculated about, did not occur.

Despite losing her right to inherit the throne and becoming an ordinary princess, Ophelia did not harbor any hostility towards the king. Instead, she actively assisted her elder sister in handling military affairs.

Her obedient and sensible demeanor, like a capable assistant following behind her older sister, stunned the nobles who had witnessed Ophelia's true nature. They simply couldn't imagine associating the well-behaved and clever Ophelia of today with the dreadful little devil of the past.

What truly made those nobles give up resistance and choose to surrender was the news that Hiltina had broken through again in less than a year, advancing to the legendary level and truly ascending to the legendary throne.

Hiltina herself has already broken through to the legendary level, so what level can she reach when combined with that holy sword with 100% compatibility, which has completely released all the seals, and the "royal power" sequence contained within the holy sword?

Although it was a humiliating treaty that stripped away national sovereignty and forced the great nobles to relinquish every last penny of the benefits they had amassed from the empire over the years—

But the holy sword that grants true name liberation is placed before you; the question is, will you sign it or not?

……

Hiltina and Ophelia stopped at the end of the street, where a plain-looking car decorated with black eagle patterns was waiting for them.

After the two women sat down in the back seat, the driver started the car, and the black sedan drove them towards the end of the road.

"This is the Bureau's financial statement... I've already marked a few discrepancies for you, sister. The previous Bureau Chief was arrested for corruption just a year ago, and this new Chief is already up to no good. I think this department should be considered for elimination."

"This is a summary of military intelligence. All domestic cult organizations that were connected with the Tomb Keepers were completely wiped out a week ago. The second page contains a detailed list."

"This is a letter from the ambassador of the Holy Kingdom of France..."

In the back seat, Ophelia took out the political and military documents she had prepared beforehand and showed them to Hiltina one by one.

Although these government documents from across the empire had already been reviewed by Ophelia herself, with most of the unimportant content being filtered out, the Granville Empire was, after all, the largest human nation on the entire western continent—the remaining political and military affairs were still piled up like mountains.

By the time Hiltina had finally finished processing all the documents, the sun above the window had passed its highest point and was slowly sinking towards the west.

The scenery outside the vehicle was no longer the area where Starry Sky University was located, that golden plain where the wind blew the grass low and cattle and sheep could be seen.

Instead, the city's outskirts, in hilly areas away from the main roads, were replaced.

Hiltina gently closed her eyes, feeling the weariness wash over her like a tidal wave, engulfing her body and soul.

The path of a princess of an empire, and a monarch of a nation, is undoubtedly arduous and fraught with difficulties.

For Hiltina, it is truly more in line with her personality to fight as a night traveler, battling on the front lines in the Night World.

After all, in that case, no matter what kind of enemy appears in front of him, he only needs to cut them down with one sword... without having to manipulate power in the political arena and engage in hypocritical dealings with smiling nobles and politicians.

However, this was the path that Hiltina herself chose.

Whether as a princess of a nation, or the future empress, her mission and responsibilities;

It was an ideal called "the ranger" that he inherited from his mother;

Or perhaps it's that boy who holds a special place in your heart, the one you're willing to spend your whole life protecting, the one you don't want to see hurt in the slightest.

To avoid regretting giving up any of them at some point in the future...

Hiltina made a noble vow: "I want it all."

They decided to embark on this thorny path.

No matter what happens, even if what awaits me ahead is inescapable loneliness and devastation, it doesn't matter.

The hardships, obstacles, difficulties, and setbacks encountered along the way were all foreseen from the very beginning.

Therefore, she would never regret it, but instead, she carried all that burden on her shoulders and moved forward recklessly.

When Hiltina opened her eyes again, what came into view outside the car window was no longer the barren hilly landscape she had seen before.

Instead, there is a ginkgo forest with pale golden ginkgo leaves scattered around.

The car drove along a narrow path through a ginkgo forest, then slowly slowed down in front of a huge building.

This is a huge building filled with science fiction atmosphere. On the stone tablet at the entrance, the emblem of Star University and the black eagle pattern of the Granville Empire are engraved at the same time.

Hiltina put down the documents and pen in her hand and looked at the huge building in front of her.

She felt a deep-seated hope within her, a hope that was gradually emerging, dispelling her previous weariness and becoming indescribable yet incredibly vivid.

Similar in form to the Mystic Tower, this is a modern hospital built in cooperation between the Imperial Royal Family and Star University. It boasts the best medical facilities in the entire Western Continent and represents the highest level of medical care in the Seventh Era of human civilization. The proposal for this cooperative hospital was put forward ten years ago, but it was not officially promoted and completed until a year ago.

Hiltina is usually very busy, but never as busy as she is today, even during her commute and lunch break she has to make the most of every second to review documents.

The reason she scheduled all her tasks for the morning was to leave herself a full afternoon to visit the hospital.

This kind of afternoon is arguably the time Hiltina has looked forward to the most in the past two years.

Similarly, this was also the greatest motivation that enabled Hiltina to persevere despite the heavy pressure of her busy work, government affairs, attending events of all sizes, and engaging in insincere dealings with nobles and envoys.

Yes, the boy who was engaged to her two years ago, the boy Hiltina was willing to protect for the rest of her life...

At this moment, he is sleeping peacefully in a ward on the top floor of this hospital.

Chapter 246 Wherever he is, that's where I am

The car glided slowly and finally stopped at the main entrance of the large hospital with its futuristic-style exterior.

The car door opened automatically. Hiltina put away the pen and personal seal she used to review documents in the car, got up and got out, while Ophelia naturally followed behind her, slightly behind.

Ophelia in this state showed no trace of the majesty of the Second Princess, and was more like Hiltina's personal secretary.

"Ophelia, do you want to come too?"

Hiltina was slightly surprised. Whenever she took the time to visit Ophelia in the hospital, Ophelia would wait in the car downstairs and rarely come into the hospital with her.

However, Hiltina did discover by chance that her half-sister would often visit this place alone at other times... As for why she didn't come with her but insisted on coming alone at other times, the reason was unknown.

"Uh-huh."

Ophelia nodded with a grin: "It's also related to treating Brother Last."

"Sister, have you forgotten that I am, after all, a mechanic? ... I was in charge of following up on all the attempts made by the medical team to wake up Brother Last from his vegetative state, including proposals for the latest medical technologies and equipment."

"This proposal came from Star University. They said that Brother Last was trapped in the historical echoes of Deep Blue Harbor for hundreds of years, and can be said to be a person who truly lived in the Night World."

"Compared to the real world, Brother Last's soul is actually more adapted to the night world and has a higher degree of compatibility."

Ophelia paused slightly before continuing, "Therefore, if we bring those fragments that fell from the Night World Era stone tablet in the Mystic Tower to Brother Last's side, allowing his body and spirit to experience the atmosphere of the Night World up close..."

"Then perhaps it can stimulate Brother Last's soul, which is as desolate as ruins at this moment, and heal his fragmented memories and spirit, and even speed up the awakening process."

"I came here today with fragments of the Epoch Stone Tablet, intending to place them in Brother Last's hospital room."

"So that's how it is."

Hiltina nodded slightly.

Two years ago, there was that wedding that never took place, and then the hunt in the heavens where Satan, the demon king, shot down the angels...

The human boy named "Last" fell into a persistent vegetative state, which doctors called "unresponsive after coma"—or, in simpler terms, a "vegetative state."

There was no need for Dean Yin to act all meek and submissive in front of me, like a cat that had done something wrong, and to begin explaining.

As the wielder of the Nightblade "Infinite Sword," Hiltina knew everything when she saw the boy who had fallen into a long slumber and felt the embers of "Fantasy Collapse" still remaining on Rust's body.

As a superior ability to "True Name Liberation", if "Fantasy Collapse" is activated with a weapon such as a Mystic Code, then after the ultimate bloom brought about by the collapse, the price is the permanent destruction of the Mystic Code.

It's not just a simple breakage, but a conceptual destruction at the structural level, with no possibility of repair... Just as a skilled swordsmith might be able to mend the fragments of a broken sword, but could never reassemble the millions of shattered metal particles—even if a sword could be forged in its original form, beneath the same exterior, its core essence would be completely different.

If the cost of targeting with weapons is so high, how much more so when it comes to things that are more vulnerable?

"Equivalent exchange" is the only universal law in the extraordinary world, and even angels are no exception. However, the price that Rast paid to kill a quasi-angel with a rank below legendary was extremely high.

Using the ability of "everything can be a weapon", he not only imbued his crested costumes, but also his Rank Long and Nightblade "The Library of Fools" with the concept of weapons.

Then it all collapsed, and in that instant, it burst forth with a brilliance comparable to that of the divine realm.

The Sequence Long Rank and Nightblade are the origins of extraordinary beings in the present world. They are the powerful sources that they have spent their entire lives cultivating and honing... Similar to the so-called Golden Core and Nascent Soul in those fantasy and martial arts novels, if they were to suddenly collapse, one can imagine the severe trauma that would be inflicted on extraordinary beings.

It's perfectly normal for someone to completely transform from an extraordinary being back into an ordinary person with no strength, or even die.

Moreover, what Rast destroyed... was not just the Sequence Chief and Nightblade, but also his body and soul.

Only in this way can the gap between the peak of the sixth rank and the quasi-angel be erased in an instant, and briefly touch the divine realm.

Like the phantom of the demon king, with its dark, decadent wings outstretched, that day above the capital, it burst forth with a dazzling light like a shooting star in a fleeting moment.

But this is ultimately just a fleeting spark, just as the brilliance of a meteor is only a rare exception, while the darkness and nothingness are the main themes of the deep universe... After the intense performance, it can only fall to the earth and sleep in the dust forever.

At this moment, Raste, in body, spirit, and soul, was like a wasteland burned to ashes by flames, a ruin left after the tower collapsed, and had fallen into a long period of silence.

Given such a tragic situation, it would be more accurate to say that the boy was extremely fortunate not to have died outright, but to have maintained basic vital signs and simply fallen into a long sleep.

It was a fundamental trauma that caused the annihilation of both body and soul, and even though Hiltina had already ascended to the legendary level and was comparable to an angel with the Holy Sword in her hand... she was still powerless against it.

During these two years, Hiltina worked tirelessly to establish a cooperative hospital between Star University and the Imperial City... and whenever possible, she would make time to visit the hospital, located on the outskirts of the capital, regularly to see the boy sleeping in the top-floor ward—

This is the only thing Hiltina can do right now.

Over the course of two years, there were some good news, such as the instruments that sensed soul fluctuations occasionally sending delightful signals... In the depths of Rust's soul, in that wasteland that looked like it had been burned by wildfire, a faint fluctuation would intermittently emanate, as if a tiny seed was being quietly conceived in that ruin.

However, apart from that, many of the treatment plans proposed by the top medical teams of Granville Empire and Star University have had little effect after being put into practice.

Even so, Hiltina continues to strive to advance various new medical technologies and drugs... Even if she fails a thousand times, ten thousand times, as long as she lives, this effort will continue—

Just like the forest ranger's family motto, it is a vow to never abandon and never betray.

As Hiltina walked, the layers of security at the hospital were quickly unlocked. As a collaborative project between Star University and the Empire, the level of secrecy here was quite high... But Hiltina's reputation was now known to everyone, and with her frequent visits, the guards and staff at the hospital were already very familiar with her.

Ding--

The elevator doors opened after the pass was swiped, and Hiltina and Ophelia stepped inside. A few dozen seconds later, the numbers above the elevator car stopped at the top, the 23rd floor.

This is also the floor where Rust's ward is located.

The elevator doors opened smoothly, and the corridor on the floor was quiet with few pedestrians.

But soon, Hiltina noticed two familiar figures.

One is Akshia, who has long, ice-blue hair and exudes a cold aura like an ancient snow mountain. The other is a giant ferret that is lying on Akshia's shoulder, lazily yawning one after another.

Two years is enough time to change many things. For example, Ophelia has grown from a doll-like little girl into a graceful young woman, and Hiltina has also changed a lot compared to two years ago... However, the pair of the two in front of us, the human and the mink, haven't changed much.

Akshia remained as aloof as ever, as if time had left no trace on this Grim Reaper. As for Dean Yin, needless to say, Hiltina had once heard the proverb "It's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature" from Rust, and she felt that it was perfectly applicable to Dean Yin.

Let alone two years, even if it were another five hundred years, Dean Yin would probably still be this lazy and slacking shut-in.

Akshia was heading in the opposite direction from Hiltina and the others, coming from the depths of the corridor towards the elevator... Clearly, she had just finished visiting the patient in the ward and was preparing to leave.

Upon seeing Hiltina, the ice-blue-haired girl nodded slightly as a greeting. For someone who was usually expressionless and lacked emotion, this gesture was a rare display of emotion. Because of Rust and Dean Yin, Hiltina was one of the few acquaintances that Akshia knew at Star University.

"Long time no see, senior."

"You should be considered to have officially graduated from Star University now... What are your plans for the future?"

Hiltina greeted them.

Two years have passed, and Hiltina has gone from being a second-year student when she first met Rust to a fourth-year student...

Akshia, who was already a senior when she entered Rust, ranked first in the Starry Obelisk and the head of the twelfth seat of the Round Table, has naturally graduated from her fourth year.

"I think that with your abilities, Senior, you would be treated as an honored guest no matter which power in the Western Continent invites you."

"Of course, if you are willing to join the Granville Empire and work in the military or government, the Empire would be more than happy to have you."

The moment Hiltina saw Akshia, her intuition keenly sensed an invisible, silent aura emanating from her... a deathly, chilling presence, like the underworld itself.

Akshia has already ascended to the Legendary rank, a Legendary in the Death Order—she has even gone quite far on the path to Legendary status, perhaps not too far from becoming an Angel.

Of course, this is not surprising... Just as Hiltina relied on her affinity with the Holy Sword and the feedback from the Holy Sword to break through to the Legendary level so quickly and reach the realm of gods comparable to angels in two years.

Akshia also possesses a quality rarely found in ordinary legends—the Star Cup of Death.

As a descendant of the former Grim Reaper and the holder of the Grim Reaper's Star Cup... she is now the sole master of the Grim Reaper lineage. Advancing to legendary status or even becoming the Angel of Death will not pose a significant obstacle for Akshia.

However, Akshia simply shook her head slightly in response to Hiltina's invitation.

Azure light gathered at her fingertips and then wrote delicate, azure characters in mid-air.

"I declined all those invitations."

"I plan to stay at Star University."

"is that so."

Hiltina nodded slightly: "Although it's a bit of a pity, I can understand your choice, senior."

“Going to those places to take up a post will undoubtedly bring you superior power and status, but in return you will be bound by all sorts of constraints and shackles, and you will no longer be able to act as carefree as you did at Star University.”