Arknights, but the sickly pretty girl starts

If Noah knew that Amiya had fought the black snake, she probably wouldn't be so worried...

As for Margaret...

-

"Hey, you, this isn't something you can just say sorry about! My little cube! This is really precious! Why are you just charging headfirst into it? Besides charging headfirst, you can't even ride a car? Where did you come from, you barbarian?"

Margaret was in serious trouble. She hadn't noticed someone in front of her while rushing along, and ended up getting hit by their [Small Cube]. She was fine, flying over ten meters away, but the small cube was practically shattered. This was the reason for the unknown Sarkaz lady's anger.

"I'm so sorry. This was indeed my mistake," Margaret said sheepishly, but she didn't have time. She could only speak, "My name is Margaret Linguang, a knight of Casimir. If you're willing to wait, I'll pay you ample compensation, but I'm really in a hurry right now... I swear in the name of the Linguang family that I won't break my promise. Now, please allow me to take my leave."

"That won't do! Your thing about Lin Guang and so on, Casimir is too far away, how can you be Casimir's knight, you must be making it up!" The little lich Ermengarde was sitting on the little cube, humming a song and eating the charcoal-grilled sandworm legs she bought on the road, when she was suddenly hit by a glowing holy light dump truck. It would have been fine if she was just hit, she even used magic to land smoothly and didn't suffer any injuries, but her mount, the little cube, was almost broken into pieces.

Originally, I was going on a leisure trip to find the person the old man was looking for, and I also had to go to Londinium to deliver a letter. It was just an easy and pleasant task, and I could complete it slowly by myself.

What was the result...his little cube was gone, and the driver in front of him was still trying to escape!

That's not that simple! She's ready to force this bastard bandit who calls himself a knight to stay!

"I think you're a bandit on the street. You must have stolen this outfit from somewhere, right? This place is a million miles away from Casimir. How could you possibly get here?"

"I can explain, young lady. Your Originium skills are very dangerous. Please don't use them against me—I will definitely give you appropriate compensation." Margaret looked at the Sarkaz lady in front of her, who was already beginning to get angry, and raised her hands helplessly. "Forget it, if a blow from your Originium skills can make me leave, then go ahead and vent your anger."

"Don't make it sound like I'm being unreasonable... My cube is broken, how am I supposed to catch up with that ship?" Ermengarde put away her spell in dissatisfaction. Casting spells on those who offered no resistance was indeed against her code. "I can forgive you for breaking my cube, but I need to go to Londinium and catch up with that ship called Rhodes Island. You must help me get there."

"...Rhodes Island? Londinium? We're on our way there then." Margaret watched as the other party retracted his spell and mentioned some places that caught her attention. She clapped her hands and said, "Well, do you mind if I carry you on my back? I can take you with me when I'm on my way."

"...Carry me on your back?" Ermengarde was stunned. "What do you mean? What do you want to do?"

"Anyway, I have a faster way to get there than your little cube," Margaret said confidently. "Just hold on to me. I promise it'll be much faster than you think."

"...Huh?" When Ermengarde heard that it was faster than the little cube, he instinctively wanted to retort. But after thinking about it carefully, he seemed to have been rear-ended, which meant that the other party was indeed faster than the little cube's normal speed... "Let me make it clear first, I just didn't use the maximum speed, it doesn't mean you are faster than my little cube!"

"Yes, then... do you need my help? I also need to go to Rhodes Island to meet someone, and then go to Londinium to find my former teammates." Margaret didn't mind the other party's arrogance. In fact, she was now thinking about meeting Noah. Although she met Noah once through the shadow, when she wanted to go there again, the link was suddenly broken, so she actually cared about what happened over there.

Her plan was to go to Rhodes Island to see Noah first, and then go find Shining and Nightingale from the Apostle Team.

"Why are you traveling with me... Are you also from the Sarkaz Royal Court?"

"what?"

"Okay, I know you're not. How could it be possible that Kuranta is a member of the Sarkaz Royal Court? I just said it casually." Ermengarde waved his hand. After thinking carefully, he thought that the other party should also be from Rhodes Island, so it didn't seem like a big deal for him to follow him. According to the old man, the predecessor of Rhodes Island was the Tower of Babel. Even if there were some changes, the organization established by that king would at least make Ermengarde like him more.

In any case, Ermengarde would rather trust the people of Rhodes Island than the military committee that was causing trouble in Londinium.

"Okay, as long as you take me to the destination, I'll forgive you." Having made up her mind, Ermengarde came up behind Margaret, leaped onto her left shoulder, and then, before Margaret's astonished gaze, transformed into a figure roughly the size of the figurine. After securing herself with a spell, she patted Margaret's neck. "Alright, we can go."

"What a powerful Originium skill, I've never seen it before." Margaret said, somewhat curious about this technique that could change size at will.

"You haven't seen much. There aren't many people in Kuranta who delve into the art of Originium. It's completely different from us. Okay, stop asking so many questions. Gogogo, without the little cube, you're my little cube now!" Ermengarde urged, but she quickly regretted it. She had never imagined that the method Margaret had described involved running on her own—and she hadn't imagined that he'd simply carried her on his back for her own good.

The oncoming wind forced Ermengarde to hold down her hat to prevent herself from being blown away. If it weren't for the spell that fixed her body, she would have been blown away.

Margaret was at full speed, charging down the long distance like a fully-protected semi-trailer Holy Light dump truck. Ermengarde realized why she dared to say she would take her spell. With her physical condition, even a head-on hit from the Originium technique wouldn't leave a mark. Furthermore, her speed made it difficult to slow down. Unless she was spotted in advance, once she saw her head-on, it would probably be too late to avoid her.

She could still avoid most of the pedestrians in the wasteland, but her small cube was floating in the air, and in order to avoid trouble, she cast a cognitive impairment spell on herself, so it was much more reasonable that she was not discovered... But who knew that someone would drive a Holy Light dump truck in the wasteland!

But now that things have come to this...I feel embarrassed to say slow down.

For the Lich King's Court... well, just for my own face!

Let’s talk about it when we get there!

Chapter 26: White Wolf

The situation in Victoria was somewhat overly tense. Even Rhodes Island had to enter by claiming to be a mining waste industrial equipment recycling agency, relying on this name to obtain passage and docking permits along the way. It was really amazing that the doctor could come up with this idea.

Many times, even Noah felt that the doctor's ideas were a little too fanciful.

However, after the docking procedures at Rhodes Island were completed, Noah finally couldn't wait for Margaret any longer. Amiya had already reunited with the King of the Impulse team, and she couldn't stay in Rhodes Island forever for Margaret. Although she was still a little reluctant, she got into Dr. Kal'tsit's car. Kuro patted her shoulder and said, "We should leave."

"I know." Noah nodded, "I just feel a little regretful."

"We'll meet again if we're destined to." Kuro knew who she was waiting for, but he didn't point it out. He just tried to persuade her.

"That's right." The engine started, and Noah could only withdraw his gaze and leave Rhodes Island. Watching Kal'tsit's team leave Rhodes Island, Warfarin, who was in charge of guarding the home, had a complicated expression. Honestly, although they had drawn a clear line before, Warfarin knew that if she really had to choose one side, she would definitely choose Rhodes Island without hesitation.

After all, those warmongers in the Military Commission were not her cup of tea. Fortunately, Kal'tsit did not ask her to participate, perhaps because she saw her hesitation.

"Sigh... I don't want to talk about righteousness or anything like that, but..." Huafalin sighed, leaning against the railing, "Maybe I shouldn't have boarded this ship in the first place. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so conflicted now."

-

Londinium is the strongest fortress in the world. Noah had heard this a long time ago.

But when she saw the dark outer walls of Londinium and the city defense cannons standing on the outer walls, she still gasped. The towering walls and the obviously oversized city defense cannons all proved the glory and power of Victoria. If Colombia was the forefront of emerging technology, then Victoria was the highest masterpiece of tradition. The pure mechanical beauty was reflected in every aspect of this ancient city.

Even today, Londinium remains synonymous with indestructibility.

"The strongest line of defense often begins to collapse from the inside... It's really true." Noah read the mission briefing and knew that the people now under the protection of this wall were no longer the people of Victoria, but the Sarkaz who had taken over the city's nest.

The Sarkaz who completely took over the defense of Londinium have actually become the masters of this city. Victoria, the most powerful empire in Terra, has been occupied by the Sarkaz. This joke is unlikely to appear even in novels.

I recalled the stories of Londinium I'd read in the books I'd read before: the crowning achievement of Terran industry, the unbreakable and strongest defenses, the iron walls that would be impossible to breach in a century. No nation's army had ever successfully breached Londinium's defenses, not even the high-speed warships of Ursus. Londinium had once been Terra's economic center, but only those who had seen the city in person could clearly sense that it was also a fortress that would never fall.

Sadly, it has become history.

Victoria may not have fallen, but Londinium had in fact fallen.

It sounds like a joke, but unfortunately it is not a joke. It may even be included in history exams as a test point.

"The situation in Londinium is tense, and the time we have to act is very short..." Noah muttered to himself, "Is Amiya okay?"

"Believe in Amiya," Dr. Kel'tsit responded. "She's no longer the child you imagined who needs protection. She's already capable of standing on her own."

"Of course I don't distrust Amiya." Noah shook his head, "It's just that I'm worried about the current situation..."

"The Grand Dukes?" Kal'tsit guessed what Noah was worried about. That's right, the Grand Dukes' attitudes were ambiguous. In the current situation in Londinium, Rhodes Island was the most embarrassed. Although their purpose was to prevent the war, even in the most optimistic estimate, this war would never be without losses.

Rhodes Island, the Grand Dukes, the Sarkaz, these forces gathered here, and Londinium is now a huge vortex - anyone who dares to touch it may be swallowed up.

War is almost inevitable...

No one knows what this battle will bring to Rhodes Island and what it will bring to Noah.

They could only remain silent and wait for the war to decide everything.

-

When Noah and the others just saw the towering walls of Londinium, Amiya, the Doctor, and the team led by the King of Impulse had already arrived under the walls and were preparing to enter. This was an unannounced visit, which strictly speaking violated Victorian law, but they had no choice. After all, the person who now had the right to interpret the law might be named Tracys.

They intended to enter Londinium through the route of a Mr. Thomas, who was very familiar with the terrain of the Sadean region, the area where their nearest entrance to Londinium was located, and Mr. Thomas promised to find a suitable entrance.

Mr. Thomas used to own a sugar refinery in the Sadian district of Londinium. His uncle had lived in Colombia for a long time, and his family had been long-term partners of Black Steel. So Amiya had been able to contact this key figure through Black Steel.

In the final analysis, it is to take the smuggling route...

In a sense, this person is the so-called human trafficker. He has probably smuggled many people into Londinium in the past. In fact, his background may not be very clean.

But after this, whether the base is clean or not is no longer a distinguishing mark.

Londinium was now on wartime alert. Looking at the terrifying caliber of the city defense cannons on the city walls, no one would want to take a hit, right?

Mr. Thomas initially wanted to choose a route and run away, but after the doctor reminded him, intentionally or unintentionally, that the road out of Londinium was not easy, he righteously decided to stand by Rhodes Island.

You see, people like to compromise. If the doctor asked him to lead the way, he would definitely not be willing to do so. But if he asked her to leave Londinium by herself, then he would be willing to lead the way himself.

However, it was not only Rhodes Island that had its eyes on Mr. Thomas. Not long after Rhodes Island took Mr. Thomas away, Deep Pool's team arrived here right after him. The team was led by Ahmoni. After seeing the deserted hiding place, she nodded thoughtfully.

Originally, this mission should have been assigned to Mandela, but Mandela disappeared during the prison break. Although the leader did not care about Mandela's disappearance, she was more concerned about the two prisoners who left.

That’s right, the leader is a very possessive person, but he has no interest in toys he has already played with.

Only those who can always arouse her interest can always be noticed by her.

Mandela herself probably didn't realize that her peacock-like displays of goodwill meant nothing to the leader. She had already lost most of her value. Even if the leader saw Mandela's body, let alone her disappearance, he probably wouldn't even bother to look at it.

For this woman with endless greed, apart from the people who interest her, everyone else is just a "prop" that can be burned at any time.

Alas, she is really a woman who is never full. If this continues, the deep pool will become her food sooner or later.

If such a person were to become the king of Tara, Tara would surely be doomed.

A smile appeared on her lips, and her tail began to wag. "Oh, what should I do~"

She asked what to do, but her expression didn't show any sign of being troubled.

"Alright, alright, let's pack up! Someone's gotten there first, and we still have to report back. I hope Abbrana doesn't mind that I didn't find the key to the city, but I'm really curious where the person who got there first came from."

It can't be fate that we end up being that girl in a wheelchair again, right?

Noah probably doesn't want this kind of fate anyway. Fortunately, she is not here, otherwise she would definitely complain like this.

What should be done with the Victorian soldiers who were captured earlier?

Ahmoni touched her chin and waved to the soldiers who followed her.

"I'll leave them to you. I'll go back and report first."

"...Ms. Ahmonie, what do you mean?"

"Ah, I'm giving you the final say. Whether they live or die is of no consequence to us. They're just useless," Ahmoni explained. "If you want to advance in the Deep Pool, you need to be better at interpreting the cadres' intentions."

"Yes! I understand!" Upon hearing this, the Deep Pool soldier's expression suddenly became serious. With Mandela missing, her position naturally became vacant. Perhaps the commander was planning to promote him?

When the soldiers in Shenchi thought of this possibility, they immediately became motivated. Compared to empty promises, this was a real cadre position.

What motivates employees to work hard, besides paying them enough, is a clear channel for advancement.

However, what even the soldiers of Shenchi probably don’t know is that their leader is not an easy person to get along with.

There is an old saying in Dayan: Serving the king is like serving a tiger - no, should it be said that serving the king is like serving a dragon?

After obtaining Ahmoni's permission, the Deep Pool soldiers immediately put on a ferocious face towards the captured Victoria soldiers.

“…Everyone, be quiet!”

Although it is better than being under Mandela, Commander Ahmoni is actually quite troublesome. There is always a feeling that he has bad intentions. The Deep Pool soldiers who have been under pressure now naturally want to vent all their dissatisfaction on these Victoria soldiers.

"To be honest, I don't want to point my weapons at you. You've been slaves to the Sarkaz for so long that you're no longer considered soldiers." He proudly held up his weapon and grumbled. "But there's nothing I can do. I can't extract any useful information from you, and the commander won't want to keep you."

"...We are just soldiers. How can we have so much information?"

"That's true, but I can't let you go. What if you fall into the hands of the Sarkaz again and tell them our plan?" The Deep Pool soldier knew that he couldn't extract any information from these soldiers, so he was just talking. How could he let these soldiers go?

"I say, how about... joining the Deep Pool?"

“…” The Victorian soldier didn’t say anything, but the answer was already obvious.

"Forget it. If you were Tara, the commander would have asked you to change clothes long ago." The Deep Pool soldier scratched his head, feeling that he had said some nonsense, but he was still quite happy. He felt like a big shot and could directly decide the life and death of these high-ranking soldiers. "Believe it or not. Instead of torturing you here, I would rather go out and kill the Sarkaz. Look, Londinium has fallen into the hands of the demons. But who can be blamed for this? Brother, I heard that you didn't fight much at all, and you all became prisoners of the Sarkaz one by one."

He reached out and grabbed one of the soldiers' hair, pulling it while accusing them. "Who made the Victorian Army, once feared by all of Terra, so vulnerable? Where is your commander? Is he still wearing his general uniform, calling the Sarkaz brothers?"

The soldier did not reply, nor did he have the opportunity to refute. Looking at these soldiers, the soldier in the deep pool also showed a blatant mockery on his face.

"—The commanders are right. Victoria is rotten to the core. Without us igniting the flames, this vast land would simply collapse into a pool of mud that wouldn't even burn." He raised his long sword. "You should be thankful, soldier, that you ultimately died at the hands of a former compatriot. You didn't let the demons' stinking butcher knife sully your honor as a Victorian soldier."

"...The person who betrayed Victoria actually kept talking about Victoria's glory?!"

Before she could strike, a voice stopped her. When she looked up, she saw that all her men had been laid low. Standing before her was a white-haired woman holding a standard Victorian shield. She had single-handedly and silently routed her entire team, without her even noticing.

——This is an absolute gap in strength.

"...Who?!" He raised the blade in his hand towards the woman in front of him.

"One of the generals who you said was on good terms with the Sarkaz, the former commander of the Second Squadron of the Storm Commandos, codenamed Horn." Victoria's white wolf appeared in the darkness at this time, with a cold face as if staring at a dead person.

"I will not let you harm our soldiers. Intruders are unworthy, and you, the Deep Pool, are even less worthy."

"...You...you are...the White Wolf that appeared in Hill County?"

"You call me that?" Horn was a little surprised. "I haven't heard such a title in a long time."

However, the other party's name had nothing to do with him, so Horn still raised the shield in his hand, "Now you have two choices, die here, or surrender."

Chapter 27: There are wolves in front and tigers behind

"Captain--" Bagpipe ran over from a distance. Ahmonie seemed to have known about the attack for a long time and had already escaped, but the rest of the Deep Pool soldiers had been completely captured by Horn and others.

The Horns now had their armbands covered with a piece of cloth, signifying that they were no longer the Stormtroopers Victoria had commanded. Ever since the Battle of Little Hill County, Victoria's military reputation had plummeted. In the former territory of the Kingdom of Tara, numerous rebels claiming to be Deep Pool had emerged. Undoubtedly, Deep Pool, through the machinations of Little Hill County, had successfully instigated a rebellion in Victoria's backyard.

On that battlefield, Horn saved his team, but was imprisoned immediately after returning to Londinium. After several meaningless interrogations, Bagpipe and others finally couldn't bear it anymore. They were already disappointed with the Victorian military, so they broke into the prison and rescued their captain. As expected, not long after Horn escaped, the Sarkaz actually controlled the entire Londinium.