Uncle here isn't your average office worker!

Having said that, Wright picked up his teacup, took a sip, paused, and then patiently asked:

"Speaking of which, who is she waiting for? Is she in the city?"

Unexpectedly, the soldier shook his head again, uttering a startling statement:

"She said her name was Skadi, wait for Roy, the Ever Knight Roy."

Volume 1: Chapter 165 Ursus Inner Guard

Kazimir, the village of Dripping Water.

It was another leisurely afternoon. Skadi leaned against the old pine tree at the entrance of the village, her eyelids slightly closed, and the straw in her mouth swayed rhythmically up and down, as if she had fallen asleep.

The outside world seems to be in turmoil lately, but this has nothing to do with Skadi, and Skadi doesn't care at all.

Whether it was Ursus conquering cities and seizing territory or Kazimir reclaiming its homeland, the back-and-forth and deceit between these land kingdoms were not as interesting to her as searching for the lost pack beast with Chlor from the village.

However, the pack animal didn't go missing every day, and after a while, she inevitably started to get a little bored. But since there was still no news from Roy, she didn't dare to leave rashly. She could only stay there for the time being.

Unexpectedly, after she happened to repel several groups of Ursus people who had wandered over there, she was regarded as a hero of the village. Although she insisted that she did not need to be thanked or given any land currency, the kind-hearted villagers still brought her food and fruit every day.

With no worries about food or drink, and the person she was waiting for not returning, Skadi somehow ended up taking a job as a temporary village guard. Every day, she patrolled around the village and then stood guard at the gate to stop anyone with ill intentions.

For example, there was that group earlier who claimed to be the Kazimir army, but immediately came up with torches, intending to burn the village down. When villagers tried to stop them, they were kicked aside and fell to the ground, howling in pain. If Skadi hadn't arrived in time, that villager would have been killed on the spot by a drawn sword.

Skadi didn't care about their identities. Just because you say you're a soldier of Kazimir doesn't mean you are. Skadi had seen bandits in Iberia who burned, killed, and looted under the guise of soldiers before.

Besides, even if you were a real army, what kind of soldiers would come in and cause destruction, and even beat up the villagers? This wheat field was planted by Skadi after watching Koror and the others work all day long. Their food supply for next year depends entirely on this. If you set it on fire, they'll starve next year. Wouldn't that be like having an official but being a thief?

Anyway, it's not a good thing. Want to burn it? You'll have to get past her first.

Even Marna and Russell couldn't do anything to Skadi in a short time. How could a few soldiers be a match for Skadi? They drove them away in no time. After thinking for a moment, Skadi simply guarded the village entrance to prevent those people from coming back.

Unexpectedly, instead of the returning Knights of Kazimierz, she was greeted by two strange figures dressed in black leather and wearing octopus-like black masks.

"Hiss—whoosh. No sign of the black snake. This is the closest settlement to the White Wave River."

He was breathing heavily, as if his steam armor was emitting heat. The dark figure made no move, yet it seemed to be shrouded in a layer of indistinct black smoke.

Skadi straightened up, her eyes gradually hardening.

She sensed an ominous aura emanating from the two of them.

But the dark figure seemed completely oblivious to her wariness, neither turning its head nor even glancing at her, but instead replying nonchalantly:

"Heh—heh, it seems they've failed."

"A war not authorized by His Majesty the Emperor is bound to fail. Now it's our turn to clean up the mess."

Another figure in black nodded very slightly, then said, "Leave it to me. You go and clean up the battlefield first, then report to His Majesty."

After saying that, the two stopped talking. One of them turned around and walked slowly towards Bai Bo, while the other finally turned around and looked at Skadi, seemingly quite surprised, and said:

"You noticed us?"

Even Skadi was taken aback by the question, and couldn't help but wonder about the intelligence of the person in front of her.

You two were standing straight on the wasteland, with no cover and no fog around. It would be strange if I couldn't see you with my eyes wide open.

This was certainly not a case of the Emperor's Blade, the mighty Ursus Imperial Guard, having lost their minds—although theoretically they no longer had a brain—but rather a genuine anomaly.

The inner guards' powers were stolen from the frozen freaks of the northern icy plains of the Ursus Empire, and the frozen freaks' greatest abilities, besides mental corruption, were spatial manipulation.

Therefore, although the inner guards appeared to be discussing classified information in public, the ominous black mist surrounding them had actually severed their connection with the surface world. It was clearly abnormal that Skadi could notice them.

"Hmm... Come to think of it, you don't seem to be a Kuranta person, or even a land dweller. I remember, you seem to be called..."

"Agorians".

The guard nodded, pondered for a moment, and surprisingly chose neither to leave nor to take action. Instead, he asked directly,

"Agor, have you ever considered pledging allegiance to Ursus?"

Ursus is an extremely conservative country, but in some ways, it is also a very enlightened one. Its conservatism is reflected in its rigid aristocratic system, the expanding power of warlords, and reforms that have yielded little success and are fraught with resistance. Its openness, on the other hand, is reflected in its upper echelons' acceptance and learning of foreign cultures and talents.

The Ursus were once ruled by the Falcons, yet they overthrew them by learning from their knowledge. They were once bullied by countries like Victoria and Gaul, but they rose rapidly by recruiting marginalized nobles and learning their advanced systems. Bodrakastie, a Sarkaz, Herag, a Falcons, and Brechester, a Victorian, were all generals who ruled their respective regions. They were all considered unusable by foreign powers, yet they complemented Ursus and shone brightly. The reason for this lies in Ursus's inclusiveness.

The Emperor's words were not unfounded. Before the demonic fragments were implanted, his education and knowledge were no less than that of any professor at the Academy of Sciences. He was fully aware that the Agors were the behind-the-scenes force, even the key force, in the rise of Iberia. Although the true reason for Iberia's destruction during the Great Tranquility remained unknown, the Inner Guard believed it was definitely not as simple as the Iberians claiming that "the Agors brought disaster."

After all, they've used this tactic to death. Whenever Ursus encounters any problems, they'll shout, "It's all the infected's fault!"

The inner guard was quite interested in the fact that this Agor girl could see him hidden in the black mist. Was this an ability shared by all Agor people, or was she special? Could this help Ursus completely defeat the demons? He couldn't let this possibility pass him by.

The recruitment was sincere, but Skadi's response came much faster than the center-back had anticipated:

"I haven't thought about it. I have no intention of doing so."

Skadi answered decisively.

“I’m just passing by and don’t want to get involved with you. As long as you don’t damage the wheat fields here, I won’t do anything.”

"Oh? You think you can beat me?" The guard's voice was as rough as ever, but Skadi could detect a hint of resentment in it.

Perhaps she was rejected too quickly and felt hurt?

Skadi was unsure, but she reached for the greatsword as she sensed hostility from ahead.

The guard raised his hand, and a cloud of black mist condensed in it, seemingly containing some indescribable malice, making Skadi feel uneasy.

If the attack came from one direction, Skadi could defend herself. But this malice was unlike any other attack. It surrounded Skadi, like the omnipresent air enveloping her, and even tried to enter her body through her breath, chilling her internal organs.

Alarm bells rang in Skadi's mind, and she immediately decided to strike first. But before she could draw her sword and move forward, the omnipresent malice suddenly vanished, along with the guards not far away.

Before she could figure out what was going on, a shout from afar drew her attention.

"It's her, that woman! She injured several of our brothers! Sir, you have to help us get revenge!"

A guard with a bruised and swollen face was shouting and cursing loudly. Behind him, the city defense army leader and the representative of the citizens' self-defense force were walking side by side.

Volume 1: Chapter 166 Pure Love Warrior Slays Minotaur

The representatives of the citizens' self-defense force already sensed something was wrong. The white-haired, red-eyed girl before them looked remarkably like the "wild female warrior beside the most outstanding Azure Gold High Priest in history" that Lord Xuan Tie had described. Especially since she had clearly stated that she was waiting for Roy here, it was practically unmistakably Skadi.

This is truly a case of the flood washing away the Dragon King's temple; the family doesn't even recognize each other anymore. Who is Skadi? She is a war god-level figure praised by the Xuan Tie Grand Master as "heroic and decisive like himself." With the city garrison's mediocre skills, let alone the Wuzhou Alliance looking down on them, it would be as easy for her to take the head of this so-called "supreme commander" all by herself.

The citizen representative understood and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. This trip was worthwhile; otherwise, if the garrison and Skadi had really started fighting, what if they got injured or killed?

Where can you find such good cannon fodder manpower as the garrison?

Surely no one would think he'd be worried about Skadi, right?

To prevent the garrison from doing anything reckless, a citizen representative stepped in to smooth things over:

"Alright, alright. We will handle this matter fairly. What's urgent right now is to relocate the villagers here and implement a scorched earth policy."

There was nothing wrong with what he said. There are priorities. Even the Business Federation and the Supervisory Council, these two mortal enemies, knew to form a united front when Ursus invaded. But the fact that he said it made the garrison representative unhappy.

"What do you mean 'let it go'? So the one who got beaten wasn't one of yours?" The garrison representative, looking like a thug, rolled up his sleeves and swore as he stepped forward, trying to provoke him: "You beat up my man and you're not going to run? I guess you've got some guts. Here, I'll give you two choices: either come with me now and work as a laborer in my army for a few days, or stand here and don't move, let my soldiers beat you back, and I'll consider this a closed chapter. How about it?"

Before Skadi could react, the citizen representative turned pale upon hearing this.

He knew that the quality of Kazimir's army was now uneven, but even mediocre soldiers would at least put on an act. This guy wasn't even going to pretend. This scoundrel's behavior, running rampant in this desolate wilderness, was disastrous. Did he really think no one could control him?

Making Skadi do hard labor? Putting aside whether you have the ability, are you really planning to make her do hard labor? You're just lusting after her body, you're despicable!

Look at those eyes, they're practically bulging out. Everyone else is focused on building their careers, can't you at least have some respectable ambitions? Ugh, disgusting!

The citizen representative was no longer going to tolerate it. Skadi was Roy's man, practically a half-member of the Unarmored Alliance, and had even helped Xuan Tie Dawei. As a trusted confidant who had infiltrated the Unarmored Alliance, how could he tolerate his own people being disgusted by a lowly soldier?

Anyway, there aren't many people coming, only about ten. We can just say that the Ursus scouts launched a surprise attack, and the garrison representative was hit by a stray arrow and died on the spot.

Without making a sound, the citizen representative slowly approached the garrison representative from behind, his raised arm ready to strike, when he noticed the dark shadows slowly rising on the horizon, and his heart skipped a beat.

The sheer number of people, the scale of the operation, and the predominantly black and gray attire, resembling a dark cloud overhead, clearly indicated that it could not possibly belong to the small-scale Kazimierz Knights.

"Ursus army! Ursus army ahead!"

With a shout, the citizen representative thrust his hidden sword forward, piercing the waist of the garrison representative.

At his roar, the dozens of civilians accompanying him erupted into chaos, shouting in disarray. Before the garrison representative could even raise an alarm, he felt a sharp pain in his kidney, and instinctively tried to cry out. But the civilian representative suddenly leaned in and covered his mouth, shouting:

"Everyone, be quiet! We are too few in number. Do not cause any disturbance or wander off. Do not attract the attention of the Ursus people!"

His reminder only made things worse. The dozen or so soldiers, who were already poorly trained and disorganized, scattered like birds and beasts in an instant. How could they possibly obey orders? They ran away before the Ursus people arrived.

The crowd vanished without a trace, leaving only the garrison representative wailing and watching his personal guards flee in despair.

Damn it, you guys have always taken advantage of me, but when it really comes down to it, you fair-weather friends are completely unreliable!

He rolled his eyes upward, trying to look at the citizen representative behind him, but met the citizen representative's indifferent gaze.

He never imagined that the seemingly scholarly and refined citizen representative in Wright's office would suddenly reveal his fangs, leaving him utterly defenseless.

As life force gradually faded, the citizen representative flicked his sleeve sword upwards, completely severing the tendons in his waist. His technique was skillful and experienced, encountering no resistance whatsoever.

He tossed the garrison representative, who was unable to get up, aside and looked at Skadi, only to find that the young-looking girl in front of him hadn't even frowned once, remaining as calm as an emotionless machine.

As expected of someone valued by both the Xuan Tie and Qing Jin Grand Masters. He bowed slightly before asking:

“Miss Skadi, I apologize for making you laugh just now. Do you know the whereabouts of the Azure Gold Throne? Lord Xuan Tie misses him very much.”

What is the Azure Gold Grand Position?

I think I heard old José mention this name before; it seems to refer to Roy?

Skadi stretched out her hand, pointing in the direction of the approaching Ursus army: "He's there."

She didn't know Roy's exact location, but she could smell the sea on him. Deep-sea hunters were connected by blood, and even undocumented immigrants enjoyed normal treatment.