The Mythical Path of a Princess from a Destroyed Kingdom

Standing in the line, behind the table were two royal maids in charge of recording. One of them raised her hand and pricked the fingertips of the spellcasters with a needle, took out a drop of blood, pinched it to make it disappear, and had the maid next to her record the spellcaster's name.

Soon it was the turn of the two druids. One of the spellcasters, who had taken the blood, asked curiously, "Miss Maid, when will the Enchanted Lock be opened?"

"In about another week, remember to notify the others who don't have time to come and record, and tell them to make sure to come and record at a certain time. Otherwise, if the Lock is opened, they won't be able to protect themselves, and it would be terrible if they were attacked by enemies or accidentally encountered some disaster."

The maid in the record reminded them to shout it again using amplification to ensure that every caster could hear it.

Another week passed. It was nighttime when Maginus stood in front of the Lock of Illusion, raised his hand and placed it on the core of the Lock of Illusion, recording the information of the person who could cast the spell. About three minutes later, he removed his hand, thus completing the recording.

"Alright, next is the initial activation of the Enchanted Lock. Have most of the casters been notified?"

Maginus interlaced his fingers and propped himself up, while Mira and Rachel stood far away outside the basement door and said, "Most of them have been notified."

"Okay, then you guys move further away."

Activating the Lock of the Mystery for the first time may cause violent magical fluctuations, which will have a negative impact on creatures within a certain range. If you are affected by the negative effect, it is best to stay away.

Just to be on the safe side, the two girls left the palace basement like everyone else and waited in the garden.

Once she confirmed that no one else was in the palace, Maginus placed her hands on the sphere of light, and with a slight thought, activated the Lock Core, causing it to begin operating.

Terrifying magic spread instantly, forming a massive magic circle around the royal palace, with streets, greenery, and magic lamps built by Doveri to guide the powerful magic away from chaos and towards order.

The chaos lasted only a moment. All the spellcasters within the area of ​​the illusion felt an unprecedented sense of "fullness" at that instant. The stinging pain made them instinctively lower their heads, but fortunately, it came and went quickly.

However, in the next second, starting from the palace, the magic lamps lit up from the inside out, and a sense of oppression formed by a huge magical power enveloped everyone who could sense the magical fluctuations. The magical power that filled the air fell into a dead state and could not be mobilized.

For those who had been registered by the maids, the magical restraints on them were quickly released, the sense of death disappeared, and the spellcasters couldn't wait to try their hand at casting spells. The small-scale magic tricks in front of them gave them a great sense of security.

"Has the Lock been activated?"

"It should be. We are registered spellcasters and can cast spells. I wonder what the situation is with those who aren't registered."

As the group began to talk, the city garrison was given a new mission.

With the lock activated, the outside spellcasters within the affected area can no longer conceal themselves with magic. It's time to search for those guys, wipe out all the assassins and spies, so that all the noble officials can rest assured.

The nobles and officials who received advance notice had already arranged for their entire private guards to surround them, carefully observing their close attendants or relatives.

When the lock was opened, the invited adventurer mage swayed slightly, a look of shock flashing in his eyes. He raised his hand to try to cast the simplest spell, but nothing happened.

Moreover, some officials actually had hidden individuals in their homes. When the magic lock was opened, all unauthorized magical effects were prohibited, and the people who had been concealed by magic were revealed to be their true forms.

The effects of the transformation and metamorphosis spells were erased, and the middle-aged woman dressed as a maid changed her face and even her figure into a man. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, realizing that something was wrong with his body, and tried to leave quietly, but the gleaming blade was already on his shoulder.

The invisibility spell wore off, and the assassin, who was openly hiding in the dead corner of the stairs, was unaware that he had been exposed until the arrow pierced his neck.

Similar situations occurred on streets closer to the palace, mostly in areas frequented by nobles, officials, and the wealthy.

Dovley was thrown into chaos once more. All the hidden adversaries knew that the Maze had been activated and they had to flee, or at least escape the area covered by the Maze.

Chapter 640 Infrastructure and Wonders

The hunt for the infiltrators, the great battle royale for the infiltrators, has begun.

Without the concealment of magic, many stealth fighters were immediately exposed. Although some professionals managed to escape from the mansion's layers of encirclement, they were left with wounds and their clothes were torn.

Once on the street, the injured and alone were immediately spotted by city guards who were lying in ambush at various key points, and the guards launched a chase through the streets.

Stalkers and stealth fighters can't even get into civilian houses because the area is full of high-ranking officials and nobles, who all have some private soldiers or guards. Rushing in now would be suicide, and there are archers on the walls to help the city guards launch an attack.

The assault began towards the outer perimeter of the area. The first infiltrator to reach the street exit narrowed his eyes and shouted to provide intelligence to friendly forces:

"Don't come any closer! The exit of xxx street is blocked!"

All exits of the area covered by the Maze Lock have been completely blocked by the city guards. It is impossible to get out by taking the main road, but there is still a slight chance by taking the alley.

The problem is that after extensive renovations, there are far fewer winding and crooked alleys. Maginos, who had successfully escaped from the capital, learned from his experience and did not intend to leave any way out for those who came after him, so he completely reduced the number of useless and deep alleys.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the city guards blocking the exit unleashed a barrage of arrows, turning the hiding man into a pincushion.

The blockade was extremely tight, and the enemies who learned of the news could only hide in the alleys. The captains of the various teams in the city garrison looked somewhat anxious, mainly because it was almost dawn and they had not yet captured all the enemies whose true appearances they already knew.

Maginus had already given orders that the normal lives of the residents of Doflai should not be disrupted, so the city guards should lift the blockade and leave when the sun rises.

The remaining "achievements" will definitely leave the area covered by the Maze Lock, either by completely escaping Dover or by continuing to disguise themselves and lurk in the areas not yet covered by the Maze Lock.

Regardless of how difficult the subsequent pursuit will be, they still want to catch all those who have disguised their appearance with magic today.

After most of the day had passed, as the sun rose, the city guards had no choice but to reluctantly return to the city garrison. They had captured 18 enemies and killed 33, who were all taken to the dungeon for interrogation.

Mainta, who was able to eat his fill every day, glanced at the captured enemies, randomly selected two with resolute eyes, and had the prison guards take them to his room. The rest were handed over to the interrogators for questioning.

There are too many people; it can't handle them all. It's time for the idle interrogator to take over the interrogation.

"Hey, we've got a job! Everyone get up now, stop slouching."

The interrogator, whose skills were somewhat rusty, opened the rest area and let all the prison guards get up. The menacing-looking guys had fierce smiles on their faces, clearly itching to get back to work after not having done so for so long.

"Very good. The labyrinth has been set up and the system is currently sufficient. Next, we need to subtly promote the system applied to Dover. Do any of you gentlemen have any good ideas? Please refrain from pleasantries and flattery; I don't want to hear them."

Having completed the labyrinth, Maginus felt relieved and summoned the Doveri management to discuss what important matters needed to be addressed next.

Inside the throne room, everyone looked around, but none of them had any good suggestions. The main problem was that the development speed of Doflamingo and even the entire Netherre was too fast, so fast that they couldn't keep up.

"Communication is a problem, Your Majesty."

Ronfield stepped forward again. Now he held a noble title and some official positions, giving him the right to speak in the throne room.

"If you wish to expand the system throughout Netheriri, maintaining communication between local areas and the capital is essential. A certain level of control over adventurers is also necessary. Ideally, you should leverage national power to integrate local adventurer guilds and have them managed uniformly by the capital..."

Ron explained his thoughts, and Maginus rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She thought of the communication devices in the technological world, but the continent of Noir was affected by magical fluctuations, making the transmission of electrical signals difficult.

In other words, we need to find a way to produce a certain amount of magical equipment that can communicate remotely. Not to mention mobile phones, it has to be able to receive signals like a fixed signal tower.

In this respect, we can learn from the magic guilds. Their guilds located in various cities can also contact the headquarters, not through magic, but through facilities similar to signal towers.

As for local adventurer guilds, they really need to be consolidated. The quality of adventurers varies greatly, and sometimes clients are even ambushed and killed by adventurers, and vice versa. Maginus, who used to be an adventurer, knows this all too well.

She doesn't aim to completely eliminate local guilds, but at least to create a hierarchy and establish a reliable intermediary service that both clients and adventurers can trust.

But this is connected to what's above; we need communication equipment first before things can proceed smoothly.

Once she integrates and connects the city garrisons and the capital city offices in various places, allowing them to exchange information, adventurers in one city will be able to accept quests from another town, which will be much more convenient.

"Minister Astan, what is the state of the national treasury?"

Primia stepped forward, flipped through his notebook as if to make a show of it, and said with his head bowed, "Your Majesty, the national treasury is full, and the reparations from various countries have been received. No one is in debt."

Under the guise of reclaiming territory, the country waged large-scale wars, accumulating a considerable amount of money in its treasury. Subsequently, a steady stream of reparations was paid, and a portion of these reparations was used to train the army, successfully achieving a positive cycle.

The remaining money could naturally be used to develop the country. Maginus immediately decided: "Recruit a group of alchemists and mages who are interested in research and manufacturing. Some will be sent to the academy, and the others will be responsible for developing magical equipment according to my requirements."

"As for the research location, we'll use an open space outside Netherland as the site for building the research institute."

"Yes."

Primia retreated to the group of officials. Maginus glanced at the crowd below and noticed that a general who had participated in the war seemed hesitant to say something. Not wanting to delay, the queen yawned and gestured for him to come forward and speak.

The general bowed to Maginus and tentatively asked, "Your Majesty, we have forced several countries to sign reparations agreements. The soldiers fighting abroad miss Nesery very much. Should we stop our expansion for the time being?"

"...Do as you say, give the soldiers a leave."

Maginot readily agreed, as long as the national treasury showed positive growth, that was fine with her.

Chapter 641 The Kingdom's Office, Established

Two months after the establishment of the Maze Lock, the outskirts of Doflamingo were gradually transformed, allowing the area covered by the Maze Lock to slowly expand. According to the confirmation from the city garrison and "Shadow," as the town could no longer use magic, serious incidents decreased significantly.

Whether it's vandalism, street fighting, murder, assassination, or theft, all have decreased, which can be entirely attributed to the emergence of the Maze Lock.

The inability to use magic means that adventurers can only fight each other with real weapons, which is time-consuming, laborious, and cannot be resolved in a short time. As a result, perpetrators have fewer opportunities to use magic to cover up traces of murder and theft.

This directly leads to a decrease in the probability of serious incidents. After all, criminals also want to survive. Of the people arrested in Dover in recent years, petty thieves have returned, but those who are more serious than petty thieves have not been able to return so far.

According to rumors, they were all sent to mines, salt fields and other places for forced labor, which was dangerous, poorly paid and exhausting. There were also beastmen slaves there, so it was extremely dangerous.

No one can confirm its authenticity; probably only high-ranking officials and nobles would know. But thugs and thieves certainly wouldn't dare to gamble on it. Some murderers kill so that they can live a better life. If that goal might not be achieved in the end, they wouldn't dare to kill.

Pedestrians who frequently pass by the sewers have noticed a new change in Dover: sometimes at night or in the early morning, constructs emitting a foul odor appear at the sewer entrances. Most of them are animated armor or something similar, and there are also a few mud golems. They all look very strange, like the work of novices.

These were all amateur creations, and it was unclear when they would be obsolete. The sewers also needed rebuilding and regular cleaning. These failed attempts by spellcasters studying at the Kingdom Academy were all put to good use.

In combat, these contraptions would shatter almost instantly upon contact with the body of a warrior; even a novice warrior or five civilians could dismantle them.

Although it can't be used for combat, it's good at odd jobs, such as moving bricks and cleaning sewers. As for applying it to other areas, Maginus doesn't intend to do so.

As we all know, replacing manual labor with machinery will cause many problems, and there are not many safe jobs left for residents and civilians.

Using constructs instead might allow these easy and simple tasks to be completed quickly, but it could lead to unemployment for residents and orphans, making it even more of a loss.

Therefore, the failed attempts of the novice spellcasters in the academy were used to do some simple and dirty work that no one else wanted to do, such as cleaning the sewers. After Maginus took power, he sent many adventurers into the sewers to clean up any monsters that might be there, and many others were driven out.

That's not all. Monsters sometimes appear in the filthy sewers for various reasons. For example, rats and cockroaches may become infected by potions that mages carelessly pour into the sewers, or piles of foul-smelling garbage may coalesce into monsters due to magical fluctuations. This is not impossible.

The sewers need to be kept clean, but others are unwilling to do it, so the structure is just right.

There are some issues with the construction of the research institute; it's not finished yet. The site is located on a flat area with a deep pit nearby, which could be used as a landfill to temporarily store research waste.

They had already reached an agreement with the druids in charge of environmental issues, but the druids suddenly changed their minds, saying that some plants here are easily affected by magic and that the site must be relocated, otherwise the affected plants may mutate.

The group started arguing about the location of the research institute, and it hadn't been resolved after more than half a month.

Should we intervene?

Mira inquired, as this had indeed affected the construction of the research institute. Maginos, however, was not in a hurry. She raised her hand and lightly tapped the table, deciding to ignore the matter.

"Well, the environmental department's reasons are quite valid, and I have no reason to interfere. Most importantly, the research institute doesn't need to be built immediately. The researchers haven't even been recruited yet, so we can take our time. It's up to the Adventurers' Guild, which we control, to make the preparations."

"If you're only referring to the capital region, then the guild has already been established, but what should it be called?"

"As for the name, let's call it..."

Maggienus pulled the head maid's hand and kneaded it, then thought of a simple and easy-to-understand name.

"Hey boss, the money's right here!"

The warrior, acting as the team leader, shouted a command and led his five-person squad out of the restaurant. The young female ranger asked, "When are we going to do a mission? We're running low on money; we can't exactly go back to manual labor or something."

This adventurer party had recently arrived in Doflamingo, and the spellcaster believed that Nethery, as a newly emerging kingdom, would certainly have many opportunities.

Therefore, the spellcaster persuaded the warrior, who was the captain, to bring his team of adventurers to the royal capital, Dover, to buy a house near the commercial street as a base, and to prepare to conduct activities centered in Dover for a long time.

Unfortunately, it's hard to find suitable quests. The local adventurer guilds are weak, and the quests they offer are either too easy or too bizarre, making it impossible to find anything suitable.

However, as adventurers, they were already used to it and decided that if they still didn't have any quests in a few days, they would leave Nesery and go to a nearby city to take on a quest.

"Hey, wait a minute, when did an official building appear here?"

The wanderer's surprised exclamation made everyone turn around. In an inconspicuous corner of the intersection, the shop sign read "Kingdom's Office" in large characters, and a clear, large official logo was printed in the corner, ensuring that no one would mistake it for something else.

The name itself makes it quite clear.

"You'll find out once you go in and take a look."

No one nearby went in, so they decided to go ahead and find out what was going on. They pushed open the door and entered the red brick house. The interior was clean and bright, with tables and chairs for visitors to rest.

A woman stood at the innermost window, dressed conservatively, with a sweet smile and alluring expression, exuding a slightly worldly air; she was probably a reformed woman.

A soldier coughed and stepped forward, while the bard in charge of the conversation bumped past his own captain to greet him:

"Hello, beautiful lady, isn't the weather lovely today?"

"Yes, sir, poet."

The woman maintained her smile. Normally, she wouldn't mind playing around, but unfortunately, she was in work mode and didn't intend to engage in much conversation: "You've come to the dispatch office to find out its purpose, haven't you?"

“That’s right,” the warrior nodded, seizing the opportunity to interject, “Is the dispatch office similar to the Adventurers’ Guild?”

"Yes, the empire is currently in a phase of rapid development. To cope with the increasing troubles and the things that the city garrison is temporarily unable to handle or complete, Dover has specially established a dispatch office..."

After reciting the memorized introduction, the woman noticed the monk seemed thoughtful, while the others were confused. She then offered a simpler version:

"This is an adventurers' guild with official backing. You can accept quests here, and once you complete them, the official guild will confirm them and then give you the commission fee. You don't need to ask the quest giver for it yourself."

"What if other problems arise? For example, the mission situation goes wrong?" the mage asked.

"Here are detailed solutions."

The receptionist took out a book and pushed it out. The monk gestured for everyone to come over, apologized, picked up the book, and walked to the side to look through it.

Chapter 642 Gathering Together

After reading through a large book, the mage confirmed that the dispatch office was actually an upgraded version of the adventurers' guild, and even had the functions of a real estate agency and a job agency.

The rules are more rigorous than those of the Adventurers' Guild because they are officially backed. If a problem arises with a commission issued by the agency, the official city guard will step in to resolve it once it is verified, ensuring the interests of both the adventurer and the commissioner.

There are naturally costs involved. The dispatch office charges handling fees and intermediary fees, and on the surface, its commission is higher than that of the Adventurers' Guild. As for the hidden side, well, any mage who dares to make a judgment thinks that the Adventurers' Guild is still the one ripping people off.