Those time travelers that year

"Did you have a good time tonight, Lorena?" Sid said softly.

"Yes!" A slight blush appeared on Lorena's face as she replied, "I also have to thank you, Sid, thank you for the dress."

“What’s mine is yours, no need to thank me,” Sid laughed, his burning gaze fixed on Lorina’s eyes. Lorina lowered her head shyly, avoiding Sid’s intense gaze. “Lorina!” Sid called out.

"what happened?"

"That's right, I plan to bring you home after my coming-of-age ceremony in six months," Sid said firmly. "At that time, I will tell my father that you will be my wife!"

“This…” Lorena was stunned, looking at Sid’s resolute expression with disbelief. “This is too fast! Sid, what if your father…”

“Don’t worry, Father will agree,” Sid replied. “Believe me, in the future you will be a countess, my wife, Sid Grete’s wife, the mistress of the Grete family!” Sid held Lorena’s hand and said warmly. “Believe me, my dear.”

"Yes, darling, I believe you!" Lorina leaned on Sid's shoulder with a happy smile, just like a girl in love.

The salon soon came to an end, and the guests left in twos and threes, boarding their respective carriages, concluding the evening's social gathering. Sid, arm in arm with Lorina, boarded the carriage together. He personally escorted Lorina back to her home in the capital, where gentlemen helped her down from the carriage.

"You had a great day, Sid," Lorena's beautiful voice flowed into Sid's ears.

“Of course, future Countess!” Sid helped Lorena down from the carriage and kissed her neck. “I look forward to another wonderful night; will you give me that chance?”

“Of course, future Earl.” Lorena blushed and rolled her eyes at Sid. She stepped out of Sid's embrace and straightened her skirt. “Would you like to come in and sit for a while?”

“Next time, I need to go back,” Sid said. “My father summoned my brother to the capital, and I need to greet him, whom I haven’t seen in a long time.”

After saying this, Sid kissed Lorena's red lips, then said goodnight and smiled as he returned to the carriage. The coachman pulled on the reins, turned the carriage around, and drove off into the darkness in the distance. After Sid left, Lorena turned and went into the open room, where a maid greeted her. "Miss, you're back!"

"Has the bishop arrived?" Lorena asked, her tone arrogant, a stark contrast to her earlier demeanor beside Sid.

“His Excellency the Bishop arrived three quarters of an hour ago,” the maid replied. “He is now waiting for you in the tea room upstairs.”

She nodded to the maid, signaling her to leave. Then, Lorena, lifting her long dress, walked up the velvet-carpeted stairs to the tea room door and pushed it open. Under the lamplight, the exquisite tea set and furniture shone brilliantly, but an inappropriate person ruined it all: a person draped in a long black robe, with even their face hidden under a hood, sat comfortably in a wide chair, drinking steaming hot black tea.

Lorena lifted her skirt and walked into the room, sitting opposite the man in the black robe.

"How's it going?" the man in black robes asked, his voice hoarse and dry, as if it had been smoked by fire.

“Just an arrogant little brat who doesn’t know his place.” Lorena chuckled, her tone full of sarcasm. “He got lucky, and he’s so self-important. His father was stupid enough, but this new heir is even more stupid… He’s not as good as the original one. At least that brat named Charles could see the situation clearly and knew who would be eliminated.”

“It’s precisely because he’s stupid enough, and his father is just as stupid, that we need to use his identity to get in,” the man in black said. “There’s still a month left… and a week later, the priest will take that thing to Ruman’s capital. So far, the plan is going smoothly.”

42. A Few Things About the Main World (2)

“This is the best news I’ve heard in a year,” Lorena said. “So, I only have to put up with that idiot for another month at most?”

"As long as we can enter the palace by the time autumn arrives, everything will be settled," the man in black robes said. "A group of mortals should not think of resisting the power of our lord. This sinful kingdom, built on disaster and bloodshed, will be plunged into the abyss on that night."

“If any member of the opposition were to publicly assassinate and kill the current king at a royal banquet, the entire country would descend into civil war.” Lorena laughed, her smile no longer resembling a beautiful flower in the lamplight, but rather that of a demonic witch. “Imagine the scene: the heir of the Grete family, one of the stalwarts of the opposition, assassinates His Majesty the King at a royal banquet. The Grete family will be destroyed, and Duke Arliut will be implicated. The entire opposition will face the wrath of the royal family and the reformists…”

"If we surrender, the entire opposition will be wiped out by the reformists. Duke Oni will not let this opportunity pass to completely destroy his greatest political enemy," the man in black robes continued. "Similarly, Duke Arliut, who has always been dissatisfied with the royal family and the opposition and has been advocating for a renewed restriction of royal power, will absolutely not give up so easily. Because if he gives up, he will be doomed. At that time, he and his opponents will have no choice but to rebel, and on that night, the entire capital will be a river of blood... After that, the entire Ruman Empire will be plunged into slaughter. And the carnage brought by the war will awaken my lord. On that night when the capital is a river of blood, my lord will return to this world."

If Charles were here, he would tell them that cults are doomed, and terrorist cults would be thoroughly crushed by the bald eagle. Other nations, whether it's the bear or the rabbit, would simply smear bricks in the face of terrorists who follow cults. Unfortunately, Charles isn't here and knows nothing of what's happening. Of course, the two who are here intend to drag Charles into this cult's conspiracy as well.

“I have already placed the mark on Gret’s successor,” Lorena said. “I can control him for a short time, but I will need someone to help cover for me.”

"Don't worry!" the man in black said. "Others have already taken care of these matters, but there's some uncertainty about whether it's safe to rely on just one person..."

“The Serpent Ring can only control one target at a time.” Lorena said, touching a deep purple ring on her right hand. “If there’s one more, the target will have an easier time breaking free. Besides, I’m only a Ryan-level, I don’t have the ability to control two people at the same time, even with the Serpent Ring.”

“One isn’t quite perfect.” The man in black robes placed his teacup on the table, tapping it lightly with a finger that looked like a withered twig. After a long while, he spoke, “How about this? I’ll find an opportunity to personally take control of another member of the Grete family. If you fail, I’ll fill in the gaps. At least in the plan, the King of Ruman must die.”

"What about the decorations?"

"It's all done. We've been here for so long, everything that needed to be done has already been done. The altar below is ready. All we have to do is wait until that night and let this capital city be a river of blood." The man in black robes laughed loudly. "At this point, there's basically nothing for me to do. I might as well do my part for the re-arrival of my lord, wouldn't I?"

"To have a Creator-level expert intervene, that's really Grete's eldest son's good fortune!" Lorena giggled.

“Drink! I’m just doing this as a precaution. After all, those hyenas somehow caught a whiff of our scent and are planning to come here,” the man in black said. “It’s better to be safe than sorry, in case they ruin our plans.”

"The Sanctuary? How did they find it?" Lorena frowned her beautiful brows.

“They had no evidence; some peripheral followers were simply exposed by accident, and the hyenas followed their scent. But it's all alright. When Master wakes up that night, those Holy Temple guys are nothing more than a bunch of larger ants.” The man in black robes stood up from his chair. “However, we can't let these hyenas get too arrogant. In that case, we can only let them die that night. I think the death of a promising Holy Temple deacon will definitely make those old hyenas regret their actions.”

Lorena nodded. After all, for a long time, the Sanctuary had been known for its meddling. Of course, the end of the era of divine right of kings also led to the Sanctuary being ostracized, given their deep ties with the Church. However, in this era, few people knew what had happened in the past. A boundary had been drawn between the underworld and the mortal world; after all, even the most skilled mystics couldn't possibly defeat a fully armed army. Of course, non-humans were an exception, like the master they worshipped…

——————————Divider Line——————————

Having just returned from the world of The Elder Scrolls, Ciel was unaware that someone was plotting against him, nor that a group of reckless individuals were eyeing him. Before that, he had always believed that this world was just an ordinary one. He thought he was the only one with extraordinary powers. However, he soon discovered the other side hidden in the real world.

However, even if he knew, he wouldn't think much of it. A group of ants trying to outwit a dragon is a joke, unless they're all incredibly intelligent. Before absolute power, no matter how much you scheme, if the one who wields that power wants to overturn the table, you're powerless to stop it, aren't you?

Now that he's back, he's still trembling with fear because of the golden eyes he saw when he left. If he's not mistaken, those golden eyes, which resemble dragon eyes, must belong to a deity of the Nien world. Not a demon god, not a holy spirit, but a true god, the highest being of the Nien world. The so-called demon gods and holy spirits are nothing but a joke before that being.

Akatosh, the god of time, creator of the Dragonborn, origin of Alduin, and creator of the entire world. If this were in D&D, he would be a god above gods, and that's no joke. Just being glanced at by such a god-like being before leaving, even several days after returning to the main world, still felt lingering fear.

"The Elder Scrolls' secrets! Could they be any more shady?" Charles muttered. "Those Holy Spirits and Demon Gods are probably all for naught. The biggest boss is watching from above. If you still dare to make any underhanded moves, you're practically asking for death!" Thinking of those Demon Gods who used underhanded tactics for the sake of the Dragonborn's souls, Charles silently mourned for 0.5 seconds.

43. A Few Things About the Main World (3)

This was a banquet celebrating the coming-of-age ceremony of Sid Grete, the heir of the Grete family. Nobles who were on good terms with the Grete family came with gifts and congratulations. The brightly lit hall was filled with laughter and chatter. Gentlemen in formal attire were discussing current affairs and politics with an air of self-importance, making boastful criticisms and rebuttals of contemporary politics. Meanwhile, the ladies accompanying them were gathered in pairs, whispering or showing off their expensive jewelry.

At this moment, Earl Gretel entered the hall. Now over fifty, the earl's hair was gray, and his figure had become fuller. The years had left deep marks on his face; it was impossible to recognize him now as the sharpshooter who had fought valiantly on the battlefield over thirty years ago, a man of unerring accuracy.

As the protagonist of the evening, Sid Gret naturally followed the Earl, greeting him and cultivating relationships with acquaintances. In noble circles, one could be infamous or act independently, but one could never be isolated, for doing so would lead to ostracization by the mainstream. And nobles who are ostracized generally do not live long…

Well, none of these messy rules mattered to Charles, after all, he was the one being ostracized. Being summoned by a letter to attend his 'brother's' coming-of-age ceremony, being brought from his country villa to this imperial capital—a place Charles considered excessively polluted by industry—he'd had enough. The capital of the Ruman Empire in this era was much like the British Empire of modern history; the so-called Foggy London wasn't far off from that reputation.

Rather than living in this city that severely impacts his health and quality of life, he would much rather relocate to the countryside. At least the air there is pure and unpolluted, unlike here where every breath carries a ton of carbon dioxide.

Of course, there's another point: he absolutely didn't want to stay here and be treated like a clown. Did he really not notice those mocking glances? To be honest, in Charles's eyes, the upper-class people gathered here were nothing more than a group of stubborn landlords clinging to their small plots of land. In the era of the Industrial Age, what were a group of landlords? You must know that the real protagonists of the Industrial Age were not landlords clinging to their small plots of land, but capitalists who rose with the times.

And so, sitting in a corner of the hall, Charles helplessly endured the mockery of what he considered a bunch of idiots, while wondering whether he should go all out and unleash a fireball to wipe out these morons...

……

"Welcome, gentlemen and ladies, to my son's coming-of-age ceremony," Earl Grete raised his glass and said loudly. "Thank you all for coming!" After Earl Grete finished speaking, a burst of applause rang out in the hall.

“My son, Sid Grete.” Earl Grete took Sid’s arm and led him to the center of the hall, then solemnly asked Sid, “Are you willing to abide by the traditions of the nobility?”

"I do!" Sid's voice was filled with excitement. Under the light, his reddish-brown hair, which was distinctly different from Ciel's, made him look radiant.

"Are you willing to inherit the glory that belongs to the nobility?"

"I do!" His expression was focused and serious, his excited tone tinged with solemnity.

"Are you willing to shoulder the glory of the Grete family while dedicating your life to protecting the family and maintaining the Grete name?"

At that moment, Sid caught a glimpse of his brother, Ciel, out of the corner of his eye. Ciel was hiding behind a pillar in the hall, shrouded in the shadow cast by the falling lamplight, looking like a stray dog ​​craning its neck and gazing up at the lamplight.

Yes, that's right. Because of his foolishness, his elder brother had been disqualified from the inheritance, and now, barring any exceptions, he would be the next earl, the next head of the Grete family. He had gained status, he had gained power, and all of this should have belonged to his brother, but now it was all his. If nothing unexpected happened, his brother would be excluded from the family's core for the rest of his life, and in the future, he would have to live at his mercy, while he would inherit everything from his father, with a glorious future and a great destiny. He and his brother were no longer on the same path.

“I do!” Sid replied.

A burst of enthusiastic applause erupted once more, and surrounded by these cheers, Sid felt as if he owned the whole world. However, he failed to see the disdain and mockery in the eyes of his nominal brother. It was like watching a group of actors performing a farce on stage.

——————————Divider Line——————————

A gentle evening breeze blew, and the capital city was enveloped in a sea of ​​lights. Carriages came and went; in this upper-class area, people didn't cease their activities at night. Of course, residents of the lower and middle districts would choose to rest at this time, conserving their energy for the next day's work. Only those idle nobles would be out and about in the dead of night, but Charles was one of them, so he had no right to say anything.

That banquet was truly annoying, mainly because Charles was genuinely afraid that he would just blow up a fireball. So, after offering his brother a very warm blessing, he took an opportunity to quietly leave the Earl's mansion in the capital and wandered off to the streets alone.

Frankly, if he hadn't been forcibly summoned to the capital and didn't want to lose his noble status anytime soon, he wouldn't want to stay here at all. Or rather, compared to the endless worlds he could travel to, this mere modern society held no interest for him whatsoever. This era lacked computers and refrigerators, falling short even of the ordinary societies in the HP world, where at least they were striding towards the information age of the 21st century, unlike this world filled with industrial pollution and an average age of forty or fifty, where pollution levels were excessive. Although the 21st world was also heavily polluted, it was still better than this city that constantly burned coal, built factories within urban areas, and dumped wastewater and thick smoke all day long.

'Forget it, I remember the so-called Royal Banquet is in half a month.' Ciel thought to himself as he wandered aimlessly. 'If I just get through that banquet, I should be sent back to the countryside, right? Okay! Then, should I go to God and Demon 1? Or go to Type-Moon and play a Holy Grail War?'

'Looks like I'll have to endure the desert to go to God and Demon 1! Oh no, that won't do, deserts are torture for humans… I should have just grabbed a flying broomstick from the Harry Potter world. Now I realize I can't even fly!?'

"Ugh! Forget it, forget it, I'll just play a round of Holy Grail War... Forget about the world of tormented souls! Who knows if I'll be hunting souls or being burned as firewood there, or maybe I'll just be corrupted by the abyss!"

'Hehehe... Saber! I've been wanting to see her in person for ages... Well, it's pointless not to go to the Fifth Holy Grail War; running into Archer would be troublesome. Hmm, I'll go to the Fourth Holy Grail War then!'

'That's the decision...wait, what?!'

Charles stopped in his tracks, looking around in surprise.

He didn't know when, but he was the only one left on the surrounding streets. The streetlights flickered on and off, and all was silent, as if he were the only person left in the world. A familiar feeling arose, and the space around him seemed to be surrounded by something, instantly transporting him away from the real world and into a strange place.

In the normal world, have you ever seen a shadow that stretches out on its own?

Um, these sections about the main world might be a bit weak... I just wanted to explain some of the main world's settings, and it won't be many chapters long, probably ending in about ten chapters.

44. A Few Things About the Main World (4)

Like watching a horror movie, on a quiet street, with no one around, the shadows cast by the dim streetlights stretched and lengthened as if they were alive. At the same time, within the elongated shadows, countless blood-red eyes opened, staring intently at Ciel.

Suddenly, Ciel shivered, goosebumps rising all over his body. This bizarre situation felt like stepping into a horror movie! Ciel stared blankly at the strange scene before him, frozen in place. It wasn't that he was too afraid to fight back; it was just that reality was too surreal. Wasn't this supposed to be a modern society? How could such a ghostly plot appear?

However, just as Charlemagne was encircling the darkness, a hoarse, withered voice rang out.

"Hahahaha... Charles Gretch... How gracious! Why would our dear Mr. Charles flee the banquet alone?" The hoarse voice carried an eerie quality, instilling fear in those who heard it. "Oh, right, now you're nothing but a discarded fool! Your status, your rights, and the privileges and honors you deserved have all been taken from you by your brother... Now you're just a pathetic wretch... a pathetic wretch, a piece of trash, only fit to cower in the gutter..."

As the voice spoke, a strange surge of anger, frustration, and sorrow began to rise within Charles, attempting to invade his mind.

“Suffer, despair, this world has abandoned you…” The shadows on the ground trembled, writhing and crawling out, then being kneaded like clay by an invisible hand. One after another, clay-like monsters emerged from the shadows, surrounding Charles in the center. “…With fear, become…”

"I said!" Charles interrupted the voice, "Aren't you annoying me?!"

"...Puppet...cough cough, what!"

"Aren't you annoying, old man?" Charles glanced at the mud-like monsters, exactly twenty of them, completely surrounding half the street. But judging from their appearance, these disgusting-looking creatures were utter trash, not even as good as the ghouls in the sky. At least the ghoul overlord of the Coldfall Mountains could easily crush these mere showpieces.

“You…why, this is impossible…” The hoarse voice was filled with astonishment. “…So that’s how it is. I heard that the eldest son of the Grete family is obsessed with witchcraft and occult knowledge. It seems that it’s not just a rumor.”

"So, you old codger, can you please put these eyesores away?!" Charles pointed at the black, mud-like humanoid monsters, rolled his eyes, and said, "These things look disgusting, like a pile of poop... Just thinking about it makes my eyes water! Also, can you please stop this constant beeping? You're disturbing the peace..."

"Hmph! You think you're so great just because you've learned a little bit of mystical knowledge?" The hoarse voice said with a mocking tone, "You've only just entered the gate, brat. I'll give you a chance: kneel down, sign the spell contract, and become my slave, or die."

"Huh? I mean, you old codger, talking so big, aren't you afraid of hurting your back?"

"You arrogant brat, then die!" The owner of the voice was clearly enraged by Xia Er's attitude. As his words fell, the black, mud-like humanoid monsters pounced on Xia Er, opening a massive black maw that took up the entirety of his head. "I'll make good use of your corpse then..."

boom!!!

Flames and explosions silenced the hidden figure. Roaring flames and shockwaves swept away the black, mud-like humanoid monsters, the intense heat instantly turning them into charcoal, while the shockwaves shattered their remains into pieces.

"Using what, corpses?" Charles, a blazing fireball trailing in his right hand, casually hurled it, obliterating a pile of black mud monsters into dust. He then turned his gaze to his ten o'clock position, looking at the corner of a wall. "Oh, right, so these pathetic, eyesore-worthy things were made from corpses? What a bunch of trash! An incompetent necromancer created a pile of garbage..."

"You, how is that possible?"

"What? Do I have to ask you to come out?" Charles chuckled, then tossed the fireball in the direction his eyes were looking. "As you wish!"

boom!!!