Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

Who will rule this vast country in the future? What kind of upheavals and predicaments will Victoria face? The throne will be vacant, the fruits of victory will be handed over to the Republican aristocracy, and will the homeland he is loyal to remain as peaceful and beautiful as it is today, after being divided up by ambitious individuals?

Does our motherland still have a future?

"I cannot agree," Ernest firmly stated, offering his own suggestion:

"Her Majesty Vina's army is already on its way to Princeton County. We should keep quiet for now and keep the news of the demons appearing in the mountains from our mouths. We should concentrate on eliminating the threat from [Deep Pool], and then gather our army, equip them with anti-infection gear, and prepare to launch a full-scale campaign against the aliens!"

As expected, opinions diverged. Winster wanted to take action and forcefully seize the initiative, but Ernest anticipated the enemy's move first, gripped his cane, and activated his Originium Arts.

A grayish-white light enveloped Ernest's body like an eggshell. The plants on the surrounding ground began to wither slowly, and fine salt grains seeped from the pool. This was an application of his Originium Arts, a form of salinization. With the help of the soft and dense salt grains, he was fully confident that he could withstand Winston's attack.

If Winster cannot deliver a fatal blow, he will inevitably face a clash between the unicorns and the steam-armored troops. This is Ernest's goal—Winster cannot accept this outcome. Losses on either side would weaken the expeditionary force!

The situation reached a stalemate for a moment.

Meanwhile, in Princeton County.

The Earl of Princeton stepped out of the family's ancestral secret passage, and once again his majestic Earl's mansion came into view.

Without a word of idle chatter, he pointed to the mansion and said:

"Wayne Bruce and Reed are at the Earl's mansion, in the deep pool. Prepare for the assault!"

Chapter 86 Brother, this guard is an angel

"Is it just my imagination? There seem to be fewer people at the mansion today?"

Surtr was a restless soul. When there was no war, she liked to wander around the manor, experiencing the so-called "aristocratic life." Unfortunately, she never truly experienced the essence of that extravagant and corrupt aristocratic lifestyle—it wasn't just about having ice cream at your beck and call; it was about having an ice cream factory built right next to the manor at Surtr's command. One could only say that her limited knowledge restricted her imagination.

But her illiteracy didn't hinder her intelligence; after wandering around for a while, she noticed the unusual nature of the mansion today. She pushed open the bedroom door, peeked out, glanced at Wayne sitting in the chaise lounge by the window reading a book, and clapped her fist in a knowing smug way, saying:

"As expected, even your bearded henchman isn't by your side!"

Upon hearing this, Wayne closed his copy of "On Sarkaz." Since Surtr had arrived, his reading time for the day was essentially over.

Wayne turned his head from the recliner to look at Surtr, slightly puzzled by the "bearded lackey" Surtr had mentioned, before realizing that Surtr was referring to Ernest. He then shook his head helplessly. The Duke of Victoria, a marshal, was being called a "bearded lackey"—Wayne was both amused and exasperated.

"They had something to do and went out temporarily. But what about you? Why are you wandering around again?"

In his memory, Surtr in Ark should not be such a "leisurely" person. According to the operator's records, Miss Surtr should be a proud girl with clear goals and strong action. How come when it comes to her, Surtr really becomes Sister 42, with only seven parts arrogance and three parts coquettishness left, and the first two characteristics are gone?

They didn't even keep saying they wanted to find the place "in their memory".

Wayne was puzzled, but he couldn't very well ask Surtr about it to her face. Besides, wasn't Sister 42 even cuter now that she was acting normal?

If it's some tiresome tragedy on Terra that has turned Surtr into what's in the archives, Wayne should just try to avoid it.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable under Wayne's absent-minded gaze, Surtr turned his head away, saying with annoyance:

"It's all because of Niyan. I don't know what's wrong with her lately, she's been like a silent gourd, often not saying anything, and when she has nothing to do, she just stands there all day, curled up in that turtle shell, I don't know what she's doing. When I try to chat with her, she gets distracted after only a couple of sentences."

As Surtr spoke, her irritation gradually disappeared, and a look of worry appeared on her pretty face. She looked at Wayne and asked:

"Do you think she might be sick? Isn't she suffocating from being cooped up in that shell all day? Damn it, if I ever get the chance, I'm definitely going to crawl in and see what's wrong with her!"

Although she looked impatient on the surface, Surtr still valued Mudrock, her good friend.

Wayne smiled knowingly. He didn't know what Mudrock was doing inside the power armor, but he certainly couldn't be sick.

Having played through the Wolumond storyline, Wayne knew from the start that summoning the Earth Giant with Mudrock was extremely costly, and could even result in the loss of life. So why did he still feel confident and bold enough to let Mudrock and Surtr unleash the Lava Giant Levadin combo during his time in the North?

It wasn't because Wayne was cold-blooded or possessed by the evil spirits of Babel. Rather, it was because Mudrock himself stated that there were two ways to summon the Rock Colossus: one was to overdraw his life force and force a special summon, and the other was to prepare offerings and items and use a ritual summon.

The so-called offerings and props are simple: mud figures and "the earth's approval." Mud Rock can be molded at any time, but "the earth's approval" is a mysterious and elusive thing. In the Twilight of Wolumond storyline, Mud Rock, as an outsider and an infected Sarkaz, obviously cannot obtain the earth's approval in "Laitania," a land with strict laws against infected people and which does not welcome demons and the Reunion Movement. Therefore, he can only use his "bloodline of the filthy soil" to forcibly communicate with the earth and summon the rock colossus, the price of which is naturally his life force.

But in Victoria, both mudstone and clay are readily available; clay figures can be easily sculpted. As for "the approval of the earth," let's not forget who the current ruler of Victoria is, and who the ruler of Victoria's brother is.

Although it's just a formality, blood is thicker than water. Since even the ruler, Vina, acknowledges it, why shouldn't the earth?

Therefore, Mudrock only needs to worry about whether she can create enough little mud golems, instead of having to pay with her life to forcibly summon them because the earth doesn't approve. If necessary, she could even summon a squad of Mudrock colossi, but her control over Originium Arts is limited, and they would collapse soon after she created them, so it's better to create one that can exist for a long time.

Without sacrificing lives, given the vitality of the "Earth Demon - Behemoth" race that Theresa mentioned, how could Mudrock possibly fall ill? Impossible.

Moreover, even if she gets sick, Wayne will still be informed. After all, when Wayne handed over the prototype power armor to Mudrock, he had taken a precaution—he specifically asked the designer to add a life monitoring component and a life support component to ensure that the armor could monitor Mudrock's physical condition and save her life in a critical moment.

The mudstone will be fine. Wayne's thoughts drifted off to something strange.

Sister 42 wants to crawl into the mudstone's armor and stick to it, doesn't she?

A confined space, in public—it's taboo. This kind of thing…you know what, it's actually quite novel. Wayne said his XP was stirred, and he wanted to try it too.

Unfortunately, Mudrock isn't even willing to tell Wayne that she's a girl yet, so progressing to the point of being intimate will probably have to wait until her next life. After all, Wayne doesn't have much to help Mudrock with; he has nothing but money.

You can't just arrogantly go up to me and say, "I can give you a home, can you?"

Whether Mudrock will agree or not is unknown; he'll have to ask Skullbreaker, Mon3tr, and the Demon King first.

However, now that the topic has come to this point, Wayne also became curious: what exactly has Mudrock been doing all this time?

He got up from the recliner, walked to the door, and nodded to Surtr:

"Aren't you curious? Let's go take a look together. You won't be too embarrassed to ask if you're not alone, right?"

Surtr was slightly taken aback, but then followed Wayne with delight, saying as they walked, "Great, the boss is really generous."

............

The Northern King's temporary palace, a bedroom made of reeds.

Reed stared at Mudrock, the guard standing straight and silent before her. She opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say. She could only stare at Mudrock with her big, watery eyes, looking at him with a pitiful expression, while her mind wandered.

Brother, this guard is terrifying.

Suddenly, Mudrock moved. She shook her neck from side to side to relieve the soreness and numbness in her limbs. Then she patted the side of the power armor, opened a small storage box connected to the inside of the armor, and carefully took out a small gadget that she had just made.

A lifelike 7:1 scale miniature version of "Wayne" figurine!

Although it wasn't colored, the facial expressions, movements, and even every single strand of golden, frizzy hair were meticulously reproduced, making it look so real that it could be mistaken for a fake.

Holding the figurine in both hands, she handed "Little Wayne" to the Drak girl lying on her side on the bed in front of her, her voice, altered by the voice changer, deep and muffled, saying:

"Here, this is for you. I just made it. That way, His Highness Wayne will always be with you, no matter what."

With her small mouth slightly open, Wei Cao took the figure and examined the "little brother" in her hands with sparkling eyes. She turned it over and over and played with it carefully, as if she wanted to compare every detail with the Wayne in her mind.

After a long pause, she finally raised her head, looked at the stern-faced "giant" with surprise, and said:

"Wow, amazing! It's exactly the same! You must be an angel!"

Reed was extremely grateful, because in her mind, only the "gods" and "angels" spoken of by the Laterans had the ability to create beautiful things, and the gods were all old men with big beards, so this guardian must be an angel!

A faint smile appeared on her face beneath the mud mask. To receive such praise meant her efforts over the past few days hadn't been in vain.

That way, the poor little girl might be a little happier.

Just as Princess Theresa and Princess Wayne said, her Originium Arts can not only be used for killing, but also bring smiles!

Mudstone proudly puffed out its chest.

Chapter 87 She must be very happy now.

"What are you doing?"

Wayne knocked on the bedroom door, then gently pushed it open. Inside, Reed was twirling the "Little Wayne" in his hands with shining eyes. Because of the presence of Mudrock, the creator, "Little Wayne" could even move like a normal person—this small figure was much easier to manipulate than a stone golem several people tall.

After Wayne pushed open the door, the room fell silent for a moment. The next second, Reed happily got out of bed, calling out "Brother" as she tried to show Wayne the figurine in her hand. But Mudrock was one step ahead of her, taking a step forward and blocking the puzzled Reed.

Little Miss, no! Don't show this to Prince Wayne!

If His Highness Wayne finds out that I secretly made his figurines, my life as a guard will be over, right?

Or should we make a loud noise to cover it up?

Her face flushed beneath the mud mask. No, that would be even more embarrassing to think about!

Left with no other choice, Mudrock could only bend down and whisper in the reed's ear:

“Your Highness Reed, we agreed, didn’t we? This is a secret between us. We can’t tell His Highness Wayne!”

Reed was stunned for a moment, blinked, and thought to herself, "Really? How come I didn't know that?"

"It really is! Doesn't Your Highness believe me? You must have been too happy to hear clearly!"

Mudrock frantically apologized in his mind while stammering and making things up. Fortunately, Reed didn't think much of it; since the "angel" said so, she probably really hadn't heard him.

It was a little regrettable that her brother couldn't see such a cute little clay figure, but the feeling of having a little secret from him was also nice. Reed nodded, hid the clay figure behind her back, and carefully curled it up with her large tail.

She discovered this method of hiding things while observing her Celtic sister recently. Celtic sister often used this method to hide Reed's favorite donuts and her own beloved mint tea when those dark people suddenly entered, and then took them out after they left. Over time, Reed also learned this trick.

Seeing this, Mudrock breathed a slight sigh of relief, turned around to look at Wayne, who had been inexplicably left out for a while, and apologized:

“I’m sorry, Your Highness Wayne, we really weren’t doing anything related to you just now.”

Wayne shrugged helplessly. This "protesting too much" argument was practically an admission of guilt.

What is it that concerns me?

To be honest, Wayne was very curious. But seeing the mudstone's resistant stance in front of the reeds, and the reeds' hesitant expression, Wayne thought about it and decided not to ask.

Prying into the secrets between close female friends isn't exactly gentlemanly behavior in Victoria, and Wayne felt he'd done a decent job so far, so he figured he shouldn't have a bad reputation. He changed the subject, looked at Mudrock, and asked:

"Mudstone, have you been feeling unwell anywhere lately?"

Mudrock stiffened slightly, glanced around the interior of the power armor she had transformed into a small workshop, and stammered in response:

"N-nothing, Your Highness Wayne, why do you ask that?"

"Because Surtr said..."

Before Wayne could finish speaking, Surtr, who was standing nearby, interrupted impatiently:

“Because you’ve been acting like a shut-in lately! And you almost never come out of your turtle shell, and you’re always spacing out. We’re friends, I…” Surtr’s voice suddenly softened. It was indeed a little embarrassing for her to say these words, given her personality. She turned her head slightly, trying to hide the embarrassment on her face, and said, “I’m worried about you.”

"what....."

Mudstone opened its mouth wide and let out a gasp.

Surtr was extremely embarrassed and exclaimed in a loud voice, "Huh? What the hell is that?!"

She leaped onto Mudrock's armor, grabbed the fake steel horn on the mask with both hands, and pulled hard outwards:

"Open this turtle shell for me, let me see what's wrong with you!"

Mudrock frantically raised her hands to pull Surtr off her neck, waving her arms and whimpering: