My dear witch, please turn evil according to the script!

Chapter 227 Hey, what the hell are you doing here? Is this still Isfar?

The clamor and noise of vendors, the stomping of armored soldiers on the street, the clanging of armor plates, and the residents going about their business all over the street.

This is everything Roland saw and perceived after regaining his sight and senses.

A bustling market.

The towering walls that were tens of meters high in Isfar have disappeared, and the giant circular structure that floated in the sky has also vanished.

Instead, there was only a brick and stone wall four or five meters high.

Even the armored soldiers walking on the street only had armor plates on their chests; their lower bodies were covered in leather protective gear.

The same goes for the weapons they carry.

There were no fancy magical weapons, no firearms, and no standard military equipment inscribed with runes.

What weapons they carry depends entirely on what they have.

Some people even had long knives hanging from their waists without scabbards, and the knives were nicked.

Strangely, these soldiers generally possessed the strength of the fourth-ring rank!

Roland thought to himself that such a strange army would not appear within the Empire's borders.

He looked around and then up at the sky.

The sky was clear and the sunlight felt warm on my skin, as if I had arrived in spring.

Only the gentle breeze that brushed past my face carried a slight chill.

Roland made his judgment a second later.

This is definitely not Isfar!

It might not even be a real space.

Roland, who was somewhat familiar with spatial techniques, was certain that no spatial fluctuations had occurred.

Could it be a hallucination?

No, that's not right!
Roland finally noticed something was wrong.

He looked down at his palms... His palms, which should have been bare except for a glove made of moon spirit fluid, were now adorned with a pair of silver gauntlets.

Upon closer inspection, the trench coat had transformed into a pure black suit of armor draped with a navy blue cloak.

Roland tried to control the Moon Spirit Essence Liquid with a thought, but received no response.

In his hand, only a "silent sword" appeared.

Yes, Roland knew it was a fake the moment he grasped the sword of silence.

An illusion! Or rather, a dream!
When Roland realized this, the "Sword of Silence" in his hand also began to change. Gloves made of Moon Spirit Essence reappeared in his hand, replacing the gauntlet.

However, the Demon King's gauntlet that always hung at his waist still did not appear, and his attire remained unchanged.

After standing there for a while, Roland sensed the presence of the system and the runestone. After confirming that these two trump cards of his could still be used smoothly, Roland breathed a sigh of relief and then directly activated the World Tree's protection, attempting to neutralize the spell in this place.

Strangely, the spell failed to work, a situation that had occurred before... when he tried to use the World Tree's protection to counteract weather magic in Blackthorn Territory, but he failed as well.

Although he didn't succeed, Roland was relieved.

At least he was certain that the spell wasn't targeting him, but rather that he had entered the range of the dream spell's influence.

Moreover, this spell itself is not hostile.

Moreover... the spatial coordinates are correct; this is still Isfar, and he hasn't been teleported to any strange place.

However, this dream magic is exceptionally powerful, and has distorted the distinction between reality and dreams.

Fortunately, I recently obtained the dream spell called Emerald Mirror from the system.

This spell has the ability to transform dreamlike things into reality, and therefore its knowledge contains the concepts of transformation and boundaries between the real and the unreal, which helped Roland quickly understand Isfar's situation.

This is not a spatial anomaly, but rather a blurring of the lines between reality and dreams.

Roland had been standing there for a while, and many people nearby were looking at him.

However, upon seeing Roland's armor and attire, they were all shocked and quickly looked away.

Roland also took note of this, treating it as a clue.

Although his appearance hadn't changed, this outfit... seemed to have a hidden meaning.

Since we're already here, let's make the best of it. Ancient Eastern wisdom tells us that since we're already here, let's find a place to eat first.

First, we need to figure out the basic settings of this dream space, and then think of a way to undo this spell.

With this thought in mind, Roland began to walk on the completely unfamiliar streets.

As he walked, Roland looked around.

To be honest, the layout, structure, and architectural style of this dream city were more in line with his imagination of a different world of swords and magic.

The empire is still too urbanized.

Even their clothing and appearance began to evolve in the direction of the modern era they remembered.

The military has also begun to place greater emphasis on the coverage of large-caliber firepower and the synergistic effect of various weapons, rather than the individual strength of a single soldier.

After shaking his head, Roland felt somewhat helpless. He had originally brought the long-silent remnant soul of the Demon King so that it could chat with him during the operation and provide some clues.

Firstly, it would help him relax, and secondly, he genuinely didn't want the guy to leave his sight.

But after entering this dream, the gauntlet that housed the remnant soul of the Demon King simply vanished!

Although Roland could sense through the consciousness link that the gauntlet attached to the Demon King's remnant soul was still on his body, he was clearly unable to communicate or interact with it in this dream world.

It seems that, like his own Moon Spirit Essence and the Sword of Silence, this dream spell cannot replicate anything beyond the caster's comprehension.

Conversely, once someone trapped in a spell realizes they are in a dream, they can bring out objects they thoroughly understand.

He couldn't possibly understand or fully comprehend the gauntlet of the prototype Demon Hand, or the Demon King's soul residing within it.

Well, now it really is a solo mission.

To his surprise, an elderly man dressed in fine clothes rushed toward Roland as soon as he saw him.

Roland was somewhat surprised, but he still stood still and waited for the other party to approach.

"Oh my, you've finally arrived! Please come with me!"

"Excuse me."

"Don't dare!"

Roland followed the strange old man out of the street and was led by him into an unremarkable tavern.

This cheap tavern doesn't look like the kind of place this old man would usually frequent.

His attire already indicated that this guy was either rich or noble.

After Roland entered the tavern, he noticed that everyone in the tavern was looking at him.

There was no hostility, only respect and trust.

What role do I play in this dream?
Roland became even more curious about this question.

Judging from the outfit that was automatically changed after entering the dream, she was definitely not some nobody.

He's like he's entered a role-playing game now.

However, in order to find a way to break the spell and understand some of the settings of this dream, Roland decided to continue acting.

Judging from the current situation, it seems he has likely been assigned a role similar to that of a rebel. Of course, Roland was cautious and memorized the coordinates of this location.

Soon, led by the old man, Roland walked through a door and entered a room.

After entering the room, the old man pressed a button on the bookshelf, and the bookshelf immediately moved aside, revealing a secret passage leading downwards.

Ah... what a cliché development.

After mentally complaining for a while, Roland followed the old man into the spiral staircase leading downwards.

The staircase was very long, and the end could not be seen at a glance. Clearly, this secret underground location could not have been created by an ordinary person.

After all, not just any force can dig such a deep pit, at least a hundred meters deep.

Roland walked up the stairs for a long time, adhering to the principle of "I won't move unless the enemy moves," without uttering a single word.

The old man was the same; after entering the tavern, he became completely quiet.

Roland just found it a bit strange.

Such a secluded place should, logically speaking, have a more discreet way of entering, right?

Who allows an old person to go out on the street and solicit customers like a tout?

Dream magic is different from real dreams; it needs to follow basic logic.

Otherwise, it would be easy for someone who has fallen under the spell to see through the flaws.

It took them a long time to reach their destination.

Another door.

It was just a huge stone gate several meters high.

It's similar to the stone door Roland saw in the royal inheritance chamber.

At the bottom of the tightly closed door, there is a small, diamond-shaped hole.

Only then did the old man speak up: "Sir, from now on... everything is entrusted to you."

"We, the Shadow Guards of our kingdom, will risk our lives to buy you time. Before you complete the ritual, we will unite the remaining troops from various nations that have arrived here to withstand the Demon King's army."

May the glory of Pratia endure forever!

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man's aura, which had been that of a kind and wealthy man, suddenly changed, and a pure and sharp killing intent was revealed without any concealment.

Immediately afterwards, the old man handed Roland a stone prism-shaped spike.

"Sir, please step inside."

Roland nodded and thrust the spike in his hand into the hole in the stone door. The next moment, the stone door slowly opened.

Roland was also able to see the scene inside the stone gate.

A cave, a secret tunnel whose destination is unknown.

He glanced back at the old man before stepping through the stone gate.

As he entered the cave, the stone door slammed shut with a loud bang.

Inside the cave, after Roland entered, torches that had been stuck in the rock walls for who knows how many years were lit.

In an instant, the darkness before Roland's eyes was swept away.

But Roland was not in a hurry to move forward.

He had already gleaned a great deal of information from the old man's words.

This is indeed Isfar, but it is Isfar during the Demon King War, and it's even unclear which year of the Demon King War it is.

But one thing is certain: the Knight King did not appear at this time.

They were living in a dark age, suffering defeat after defeat under the onslaught of the Demon King's army.

But at this point, the rise of that Knight King should not be far off.

After all... he had also heard the term "remnants of various states".

If my history knowledge is correct, the Northern Federation, which represented the true main force of humanity at that time, was defeated one by one by the Demon King's army.

The last allied forces of several kingdoms were almost entirely wiped out in the battle against the main force of the Demon King's army, which nearly sealed humanity's defeat.

The young Knight King was born at that time and fled to the relatively safer countries of the southern continent with the refugee wave.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Platia... Roland did indeed remember that Isfar once belonged to this kingdom.

Now Isfar is part of the Empire, and beyond Isfar lies the territory of the Kingdom of Platia.

As for why Isfar became part of the Empire, it was mainly due to the efforts of the second emperor of the Empire.

After defeating the Demon King, he and the Iron Duke led the human army to launch the first campaign to reclaim lost territory.

While expelling the demons, it also encompassed the territories of the southern kingdoms that were not originally part of the empire's borders, extending all the way to Isfar.

The emperor stopped in Isfar, and the expansion of the empire's power came to an end.

The Kingdom of Platia did not express any objection to the Empire's occupation of Isfar, and for the next three hundred years, this important northern town remained under the Empire's control.

but……

Roland suddenly noticed something: the remnants of the Federation of Nations did not seem to be so easily defeated.

The Demon King's army has been held back in the North for at least thirty years.

Otherwise, the Knight King would never have been able to grow up.

But faced with multiple kings of the royal court, that terrifying floating demon city, and the demon king himself... what supported those remnants of the army to hold out in the northern border for nearly thirty years?
They held out until the Knight King unified half of the southern continent and established the initial territory of the empire before collapsing, allowing the Demon King's army to march south.
And... why didn't the Demon King think of driving the Demon King's Castle across the northern border and directly to the southern continent?

Not only could his Demon King's Castle fly, but the previous incident in Blackthorn Territory also made Roland realize that the Demon King's Castle had the ability to remotely deploy troops via teleportation arrays.

Logically speaking, geographical barriers and city walls should not be obstacles.

It's a pity we couldn't get in touch with the Demon King; otherwise, we could have just asked the person in question.

Never mind, it was just a dream.

It may not be the true history.

My current goal is not archaeology, but to find a way to break free from dreams.

However, let's keep moving forward.

We don't know where this tunnel leads.

Roland walked ahead along the torchlight, for a very long time, perhaps a full hour, before he saw a different light coming from the end.

Unlike the light emitted by torches, the light coming from the end is more like the sunlight.

Bright and gentle.

Continuing to walk towards the end, Roland soon saw what was at the end of the mysterious tunnel hidden a hundred meters underground.

A huge void, with the light that Roland had seen before emanating from beneath the dome.

Beneath the dome lay a... dilapidated temple?

And why does it look so familiar... like I've seen it somewhere before?

The next moment, Roland's back was instantly covered in cold sweat.

He remembered.

The architectural style of the dilapidated building hidden underground in front of him was exactly the same as the temple in the starry sky that he had seen in his dream that day!
(End of this chapter)