Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1913, Article 1885.
The lady from the volcano's residence seemed genuinely moved, as if she truly sympathized with Laqad's feelings about the changes in the Golden Dynasty.

Unlike the chief interrogator of the Volcano Mansion, a character that evokes fear, she seems more like a kind-hearted older sister.

But as Lan En looked at her, he turned and met Alperish's gaze.

"You really don't want to sit down and have a detailed discussion?" the Witcher urged. "The royal city is in complete chaos right now. It's not easy to even sort things out, let alone get support from the Volcano Mansion."

Regardless of what Lan En meant by those words, when she heard the words "chaos in the royal city," a hint of eagerness appeared in Ditika's eyes.

“No! No need!” Ditica emphasized again, her smile widening. “The sooner the better. Your Excellency the Faded One, the Golden Dynasty must be stabilized as soon as possible; there is no time to lose.”

“If this is the will of the demigod Lord Raccard,” Lann shrugged and nodded indifferently, “of course, we have no objection.”

The square behind the outer gate of Rodel is very spacious, and it is still quite empty now that there is no constant flow of people entering the city.

It even looks large enough to serve as a military camp for several thousand people.

Here, the wind from the Asian Plateau, carrying the scent of golden meadows, will scatter your words, making them difficult to discern from ten paces away.

"Then let's hurry up..."

As she spoke, Ms. Ditika pulled out a document from under her golden cloak and was about to open it.

Before she could finish her action, an unpleasant, mocking laugh came from under Alperich's wide-brimmed pointed hat.

“You’re being a bit too hasty, time and time again.” He pressed down on the brim of his hat, which was adorned with red chalcedony. “Heh, you look just like a rune bear rubbing its back against a tree.”

Ditika's originally enthusiastic expression, and the atmosphere of the conversation, were all rendered unpleasantly frozen by Alperish's 'taunting tongue'.

In this unpleasant silence, it was Lann, who was standing next to the mocker, who naturally patted Alperish on the shoulder and stepped forward to take the scroll of paper from Ditika's hand.

A friendly gesture, like a spring breeze, dispelled the tense and unpleasant atmosphere.

After handing over the parchment scroll, Ditika took a step back and stood beside the Furnace Knight, who remained unmoved, his hands resting on his longsword in front of him.

A faint smile still lingered on her face, but her heart had just clenched painfully.

When Alperish spoke, she thought that the royal city of Rodel had already realized Lord Lacad's true intentions!

Only the Forge Knights behind her somewhat quelled her panic.

A knight who could follow the First King and be invincible in the war against the giants, even though this is the royal city, it's so close to the city gates, so he should be able to fight his way out, right?
But then, Lann's actions made Ditika breathe a sigh of relief.

It turns out that it was just Alperich's 'taunting tongue,' habitually sharp and venomous.

Furthermore, with [Gold] Godwin just assassinated, the Volcano Mansion coming to the Royal City to offer support, even if it's truly well-intentioned, will certainly cause controversy and discontent among the Royal City's original guards.

It's perfectly normal to get a few sarcastic remarks from someone.

It's just that both she and the Volcano Official Residence have something to hide, which makes them particularly sensitive.

But the other person who had faded in front of him seemed much more rational.

Therefore, after handing over the parchment scroll, Ditika held extra expectations for Lann.

Hopefully, this 'sensible and discreet' faded figure can act rationally. In this suddenly turbulent golden dynasty, it is certainly necessary to pool resources and share resources!

Meanwhile, the Grand Justice Lakad at the Volcano Mansion, also located on the Altan Plateau, is naturally the first force to be accepted!
Therefore, Ditika now stood beside the Forge Knight, looking expectantly at Lann who was opening the scroll.

But she soon discovered that the faded one in front of her, although he seemed easy to talk to, had a troubled expression on his face after opening the parchment with the letter written by Laqad.

Ditika's heart sank, wondering if the Faded Ones were all against the Volcano Mansion interfering in the defense of the royal city of Rodel at this crucial moment.

Entrusted with this important task by Lakkad as the chief interrogator, Ditika took a deep breath, preparing to argue her case and confront these two faded individuals.

In any case, now that the prince has been assassinated, the queen is not involved in daily affairs, and the king consort has been discussing politics with the demigods. It is now appropriate for a high-ranking demigod to come forward and assist in dealing with the unstable situation of the Golden Dynasty.

The Volcano Official Residence is now in the right!

“Ms. Titika, I have received Lord Lacard’s personal letter, but…”

Lan En said with a troubled expression.

Meanwhile, Ditika had secretly mustered her courage and prepared to deal with the 'unreasonable difficulties' of the Faded Ones.

"Many things in this letter don't seem to conform to the laws and treaties of the dynasty."

"...Huh?" The chief interrogator of the Volcano Mansion had considered the rejection from the Faded Ones, the dissatisfaction with Rodel's original defense system, and whether other demigods might have accidentally sent people here before Rodel's accident...and other obstacles.

But she never expected... what does it mean to have a problem 'in terms of laws and treaties'?

Do you know what you're saying? Who wrote that letter you're holding?

The Grand Justice of the Golden Dynasty! You're telling me that what he wrote has legal issues...

"According to the third supplementary clause of Article 17 of the Dynasty's Military Deployment System, a list of troops qualified to be stationed in Rodel during special periods is provided, including the private armies of various demigods, as well as border legions, etc."

“But that’s the problem, Ms. Ditica.”

Lan En rolled the parchment he had just unfolded and read back into a tube, tapping the tube against his palm repeatedly, seemingly deeply suspicious of the contents of this handwritten letter.

"The personnel at the Volcano Residence are nominally under the position of [Grand Justice]. They might have a lot of overlap in personnel composition with Lord Rakad's private army. But the problem is, Lord Rakad doesn't have a private army that's known to the world."

During his lifetime, Prince Godwin was not particularly attached to private armies or personal fame because he was the key figure in the Golden Dynasty and essentially considered the dynasty to be his own.

Even so, he had his own knightly order that bore the banner of the 'Faded Sun'.

And among the demigods, those with the strongest martial prowess need no further explanation; the Valkyrie possesses the Order of the Corrupted Knights, and the General of Shattered Stars possesses the Red Lion Legion.

However, despite holding the position of "Grand Justice," Laqad was not known for his military prowess, nor did he have any military duties such as suppressing border conflicts. In the past, perhaps to conceal his ambitions, or perhaps because he felt that having a title was unimportant.

He had subordinates, but these people were never officially recognized by him as his private army. Instead, they were all placed under the position and department of the Grand Justice of the Volcano Residence.

They were judicial officials and judicial soldiers within the Golden Dynasty.

The law stipulates that there is no place for judicial soldiers among the troops that can be stationed in Rodel.

This has led to us getting stuck right now.

Ditika stood beside the Forge Knight who had put her at ease, staring dumbfounded at Lan En opposite her.

In fact, it wasn't just Ditika; Alperich, who always had a mocking smile that made people uncomfortable, also had a stiff smile at this moment, raising the brim of his hat and carefully examining his colleagues around him as if he had seen a ghost.

Not a single inch of his skin was exposed, and he never uttered a sound from beginning to end, like a furnace knight, a puppet made of reddish gold.

His distinctive axe-shaped helmet made a slight scraping sound as he turned his head a few degrees toward the Witcher.

You, a faded veteran who fought in the Giants War and did hard work for two-finger players, are you switching from training to reading mechanics?!

The third supplementary clause to Article 17 of the Military Deployment System... Even Ditika had to think about this for a long time!

Then she vaguely remembered that such a thing existed, but she only remembered that it existed; she still didn't remember the specific details.

But regardless of whether Ditika, or even the judicial officials at the Volcano Mansion, remembered it or not, Lann himself was certain that every word he said was true.

Although the Golden Dynasty was a divine dynasty, from the perspective of civilization development, it was actually still in a very primitive stage.

Essentially, it was roughly at the same level as when the Zhou Dynasty first arrived.

Before the War of the Giants, it was practically a tribal society.

However, the wonders and technological achievements created by extraordinary power, these external appearances, concealed the immaturity of the civilization itself.

How many legal provisions could such a dynasty possibly have? How detailed could they be?

Lan En didn't even need to misinterpret the law; simply following the rules was enough to thwart the Volcano Mansion's plans.

In any case, the attitude he received from Wang Fuladagan was to stall for time and maintain stability. As long as there was still hope for the Golden Law, he would not give up hope.

Lan En's approach also happened to meet Wang Fu's requirements.

However, although she didn't have the ability to memorize every single legal provision of the Golden Dynasty like Lann, Ditika was still someone entrusted with an important task by Raccard: to test the waters in Rodel first.

She had served at the Volcano Mansion for many years, and the position of Chief Torture Officer was not something that could be secured simply by being ruthless.

So after a brief moment of surprise, Ditika immediately came up with a normal response strategy based on her experience.

“Your Excellency, none of what you’ve said is a problem. My lord only needs to issue a single command to change the identities of his subordinates. After all, he is a demigod and also the Grand Justice!”

(End of this chapter)