The story of the black silk female knight

"But I just miss him... what can I do? Especially when I see you wearing the Divine Armor, Sasha, I always feel like he's back... that's right."

Seemingly having suddenly thought of a good idea, Ilana's eyes lit up, and she jumped out of bed to rummage through the drawers under the wardrobe.

"Where is it... Ah, I found it!"

Soon, Ilana took out a small storage bag from the drawer, and then took out a small wooden box from the bag.

Opening the box, inside was a set of paladin armor neatly arranged... not the divine armor Valensa was currently wearing, but ordinary paladin armor, including a complete set of metal armor protecting vital areas and inner clothing.

In contrast to its neat and tidy storage, the armor was far from smooth and shiny. Many scratches and damage from weapons such as swords and knives could be seen. It had not been washed and still had a lingering odor.

Most importantly, this is a set of male armor, which is significantly different from the female paladin armor that Valensa had worn before.

"This is……"

Valensa immediately guessed what was going on. She didn't mind the damaged armor and its smell; instead, her eyes welled up with tears as she reached out and carefully touched it a few times.

"The armor my father wore when he was young?"

“Yes… Your father hadn’t inherited the position of Inner Templar Knight back then; he was just an ordinary young paladin who often acted recklessly… You are quite like him in that respect.”

Ilana also reached out and gently stroked the armor, her face filled with reminiscence:

"Back then, almost every time he went out to fight cultists, he would end up covered in wounds. Afterwards, he would come to me for treatment and to heal, and then we would... um~"

Ilana blushed noticeably at the end of her speech.

Then, before Valensa could even make a joke, she took the armor completely out of the wooden crate and handed it to Valensa:

"Come, come, quickly change into this and let me see if you look like your father..."

"This...this isn't quite right, Aunt Ilana, is it?"

Valensa was reluctant to agree, but seeing Ilana's pleading eyes filled with tears, Valensa finally sighed, silently took the armor, and began to change her clothes.

Valensa was already tall and slender, so even in men's armor, she looked perfectly natural. The only downside was that the chest area was too tight, making it difficult for her to breathe.

While Valensa was changing into her armor, Ilana was also tidying up Valensa's hair, quickly transforming her long brown hair into a common hairstyle for a nobleman from France.

After forcibly dressing Valensa up as a very effeminate male paladin, Elana fell silent again, staring intently at Valensa with increasingly fiery eyes.

"I……"

The increasingly awkward atmosphere made Valensa panic. Just as she was about to say something, Ilana reached out and touched her face, shaking her head and sighing regretfully.

"No... You're too beautiful and alluring. No matter how you dress up, you don't have Wilson's masculine charm. You're definitely not him..."

"Because I'm a girl~"

Valensa smiled wryly in agreement, while secretly letting out a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, she didn't have an older or younger brother, otherwise she would most likely have been used by Ilana as a substitute for her father and crushed like a pony by a cart.

"Boom?"

Just as she was thinking this, Valensa was suddenly pushed down by Ilana and pinned to the bed, immobilized in a position resembling a face wash.

"Waaaaah... But I still miss you so much, Wilson..."

Just as Valensa was about to resist, she heard Ilana's tearful voice again and felt her body trembling slightly.

……Why.

With a sigh, Valensa ultimately couldn't bring herself to push Ilana away. Instead, she gently patted Ilana's back from behind to comfort her.

Meanwhile, Valensa was quite flustered, fearing that Ilana would force her to become a substitute for her father and do something against her will.

"I'm not your father, Aunt Ilana, please calm down!"

"...No, you can be! Although you and Wilson are quite different, you are still his biological daughter, so it's not like you can't make do..."

"Uh……"

Just as Valensa was extremely worried that she might be forced to plant grass on her father's head, she noticed that Ilana suddenly stopped making a sound and her body stopped trembling.

I carefully broke free from her embrace and peeked out, only to find that Ilana was already asleep.

While still slightly drunk, Ilana seemed to drift into some kind of fantasy. In her sleep, she no longer shed tears, and her breathing became even with a happy smile.

"...Goodnight, Aunt Ilana."

Chapter 38 Tia's Decision

After the cooperation agreement with America was officially signed, the new trade route was put into use very quickly.

The merchants' enthusiasm and thirst for wealth far exceeded Valensa's expectations.

Even though Valensa, in the name of the Fran Expeditionary Force, repeatedly reminded the merchants that their current trade routes were at risk of being plundered by powerful Rank 1 beasts, the merchants paid no heed.

Merchants from all over the country, including Franco and America, flocked to both the north and south sides of the new trade route, hoping to sell their goods at high prices on the other side of the barren land.

Being robbed by a powerful Rank 1 beast is indeed a risk, but fortune favors the bold.

Adventurers are willing to risk their lives to hunt monsters and collect materials, and merchants are naturally prepared to risk their lives to make money.

While powerful beasts of the Radiant Rank are indeed formidable, merchants are more eager to seize market share on the other side of the Desolate Ridge as soon as the trade route opens.

How can a merchant be absolutely safe? Even on the official roads within the country, you can still encounter monsters and bandits if you're unlucky, let alone on a new trade route that crosses the desolate land.

Merchants were already mentally prepared, and according to various estimates, the cost and risk of this new land trade route were lower than those of sea transport!

If it weren't for the fact that the large quantities of magic crystals and ingredients absolutely could not be stolen by wild beasts, many major merchant guilds that mainly deal in maritime trade would want to use this new trade route to expand their business.

Not to mention the new insurance business launched by the Nora Merchant Guild... Even if they are unlucky enough to encounter powerful wild beasts that come to plunder, they can use a teleportation scroll to escape and receive insurance compensation. How could merchants not flock to the new trade route?

The northwest of Fran and the southwest of America became prosperous in the blink of an eye. Every day, caravans of more than a thousand merchants would embark on new trade routes to pursue their dreams of wealth on the other side of the barren land.

The wild beasts weren't fools. Although they had abandoned the land west of the ruins, they had kept a close eye on the situation here and soon discovered the opening of the new trade route.

Human merchants actually dared to traverse the desolate land on foot.

This is like tender meat delivered right to my mouth!

Many wild beasts were overjoyed upon hearing the news.

Even knowing that the isolation carried a strange and deadly 'curse,' they still chose to take up arms and rush towards the trade route, intending to kill and plunder.

Anyway, the wild beasts never have enough food every winter. Rather than starve to death in the tribe, they might as well take a gamble... what if they succeed?

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as "what if".

Before establishing the isolation zone, Valensa and Suzuran had conducted numerous tests and calculations.

Unless wearing protective suits that can shield them from radiation, life forms below the Radiant Rank have absolutely no chance of crossing the 20-kilometer-wide contaminated area.

The nuclear radiation on the ground of the contaminated isolation zone is not ordinary nuclear radiation, but a powerful radiation developed by Suzuran and infused with the power of dark magic, which is extremely deadly to any life.

Even if a Lighthouse-level powerhouse protects their entire body with magic or qi, they cannot completely resist this kind of damage. They must also have the powerful evolved body or protective suit of a Radiant-level powerhouse, otherwise they will suffer continuous damage from the pollution.

It will certainly be much more resilient than without any protection, but it will still experience symptoms such as itchy and ulcerated skin, dizziness, blurred vision, and weakness in the limbs, until death.

Given the overall strength of a Lighthouse-level cultivator, the probability of surviving a 20-kilometer isolation zone is extremely low. Even if they did manage to cross it, their physical body would be severely injured and their energy would be almost depleted. It's hard to say whether they could even defeat a farmer wielding a farming tool, let alone plunder a caravan.

So for the first ten days or so, all the wild beasts that tried to break through the isolation zone were left there and became new material for Princess Yu's undead army.

After another few hundred thousand wild beasts died, it seemed that the excess population had finally been exhausted. No more ordinary wild beasts were trying to break through the isolation zone, but instead, some Radiant-rank wild beasts began to probe.

As the only Radiant-rank combatant in the expeditionary force, Valensa certainly couldn't just stand by and watch. She had to lie in ambush in the isolation zone every day, looking for opportunities to ambush lone Radiant-rank beasts.

After absorbing the energy center of the spaceship in the cyberpunk world, Valensa's attributes increased significantly. Most elite-level beasts would be instantly killed if she successfully ambushed them with her domain when they were alone.

However, the wild beasts seemed to have anticipated Valensa's actions. The Radiant-rank wild beasts that stormed the quarantine zone to plunder the new trade route never acted alone; they always went in pairs.

Valensa tried to fight a few times, but after all, she had only recently been promoted to the Radiant rank and only had one Noble Phantasm, Sacred Shield Six Flowers. Even with her physical advantages, it was too difficult for her to win against multiple opponents.

Most of the Radiant Beasts are ancient creatures that have lived for over a hundred years. Almost every Radiant Warrior has more than one Noble Phantasm, and some of these Noble Phantasms have very strange effects and characteristics, causing Valensa to suffer losses several times... If it weren't for her many trump cards, she might have really been defeated.

Fortunately, the early warning system is operating very smoothly.

Each time the powerful beastmen painstakingly drove Valensa away and crossed the isolation zone, the merchants on the trade route had already used teleportation scrolls to escape, leaving them with nothing to steal.

Once or twice is fine, but after returning empty-handed many times, the number of times the Radiant-Rank Wild Beast experts went out to fight began to decrease significantly.

Nobody wants to do useless work every day, and almost every Rank 1 Wild Beast is a tribal leader, so they also have to save face.

Every time they go out to attack, they return empty-handed, and sometimes they are even injured by Valensa when they are unlucky... What do the beasts under their command think?

Wild Beasts, there's a reason why their race name includes the word "beast"... This is a race that believes in the supremacy of the strong. Once the tribal chief shows signs of weakness and is unable to maintain his strength, a young warrior will immediately challenge him in an attempt to take his place.

Otherwise, many tribal leaders would not send out talented and promising young beasts to their deaths in order to consolidate their own position.

In short, Valensa's plan was a success.

Although the trade route had only been open for two months, the dispatch rate of powerful beasts of the Radiant Rank was extremely high, forcing many merchants to use teleportation scrolls to escape halfway, and causing the Nora Merchant Guild to lose a lot of insurance money.

However, as the powerful beast warriors of the Radiant Rank lost heart about raiding trade routes, the success rate of new trade routes increased dramatically. Many merchants made a fortune by selling local specialties, making the trade routes prosperous again.

Yashilo's insurance business finally turned from loss to profit, and various new business route supporting services were launched one after another, with a large amount of wealth converging at both ends of the business route.

Valensa finally lived the life she had dreamed of in her previous life—money kept flowing into her pockets while she lay there every day.

However, this good time lasted for less than a month... Just when Valensa thought she could go back to the capital to relax for a couple of days and have some milk tea, she suddenly received bad news.

Within a single day, four caravans were attacked by powerful beasts of the Radiant Rank... More than 150 caravan members perished, and all their goods were looted.

Each member of the caravan carried a teleportation scroll for self-preservation, but the communication scroll, which was supposed to warn of an attack, did not respond at all... By the time the powerful Rank 1 beasts arrived, it was too late.

Are there powerful beast warriors who can completely evade the surveillance of the undead in the isolation zone?

But that's unlikely... The radiation pollution in the isolation zone, which is infused with dark magic, is something even a powerful expert of the Shining Rank couldn't withstand with their bare body. If they used magic or other biological energy to protect themselves, they would inevitably leave traces and be discovered.

How exactly did the wild beast manage to do that?

Valencia took this matter very seriously. She carefully examined the sites where the caravans were attacked and personally patrolled the trade routes to protect passing caravans and prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Having finally seized goods from human trade routes, the wild beasts were not about to stop and soon launched another operation.

Valensa stumbled upon the attacking beast, and its secret—its ability to cross the isolation zone without being detected by the undead army—was revealed.

This was a wild beast that looked about 70-80% similar to a harpy. It launched its attack from high above the clouds, which was also how it avoided the sight of the undead legion.

This wild beast clearly knew Valensa's information; it was very cautious.

Seeing Valencia protecting the caravan, it decisively abandoned its plan to swoop down and plunder, instead throwing a few darts from a distance of at least 8000 meters before turning and leaving.

Valensa could only watch helplessly as the beast left... She currently lacked the ability to fly at high speeds to pursue it.

The [Anti-Gravity Skirt] I got from the Dimensional Hardware Store a while ago does allow me to fly, but the requirement for using this skirt is that you can't wear any other clothes underneath it.

Valensa has dozens of merchants with her. If she were to change into the [Anti-Gravity Skirt] on the spot to chase after the enemy, she would immediately become a flying welfare girl.

So Valensa could only watch helplessly as the enemy retreated, her brows furrowed as she muttered to herself:

"High altitude...that is indeed a big problem."

Although the powerful cultivators in this world are comparable to some mythical figures from her previous life, not every powerful cultivator can roam freely in the sky.

The ability to fly is a very special thing in this world.

Without the aid of special items or mounts, one needs at least a Pearl-level level of wind-attribute magic cultivation to fly.

Many warrior-type cultivators, even after reaching the Shining rank, are unable to fly on their own and must rely on flying artifacts or mounts.

But regardless of the method of flight, it generally won't go very high.

Just like Earth has an atmosphere, the surface of Eve also has a protective layer, which is an atmosphere rich in magical elements.

The higher you are above the ground, the thinner the magical elements in the air become, making it more energy-consuming to fly using magic and putting a greater burden on your body.

Even for a Radiant-rank expert, the average flight altitude is usually no more than 5000 meters... Flying higher is not impossible, but it would be extremely uncomfortable.

Moreover, just like using energy to protect oneself and forcibly cross the isolation zone, all flight abilities also rely on energy consumption such as magic or qi.

Undead are extremely sensitive to the presence of living beings. Some mid-to-high-level undead with strong perception will never miss a creature using energy within a few thousand meters... So even if other Radiant-level wild beasts think of flying over the isolation zone, it won't work. They will still be discovered by the undead in advance.

But this harpy-like beast was completely different. It must have undergone a special physical evolution after reaching the Radiant Rank, and it could fly up to 10,000 meters in the air without relying on any magic or other biological energy, and grab onto the only blind spot in the isolation zone.

Fortunately, there aren't many wild beasts with this ability; so far, only this one has been discovered.

Valensa's initial idea was to try her best to kill the harpy beast.

Therefore, she made a great decision, took off her black stockings, and flew up to an altitude of 10,000 meters wearing the [Anti-Gravity Skirt], intending to use her domain to ambush the harpy beast.

But there was no cover to hide in the high sky, and the harpy beast was extremely cautious.