Of course, the news Yano brought back was far more than just this. The most startling piece of information concerned the "Wiseman Dynasty" that the second prince, William, had established in the northern territories.
The "Wiseman Dynasty," which the new king had hoped would be the foundation of his new reign, collapsed as suddenly as a sandcastle in less than ten short days.
Rumor had it that William’s personal army, stationed in Luca Castle in the Furnace Zone, had suffered a "divine punishment." Overnight, large numbers of soldiers had died mysteriously or gone mad. Even William himself was found to have hanged himself in his room within the fortress.
Following William’s sudden death, the Northern Alliance he had barely managed to patch together instantly disintegrated. The nobles who had originally supported him either scrambled to switch their allegiance or scurried back to their own territories, daring not to mention the name "Wiseman" again.
Rumors gradually began to spread throughout the northern lands, claiming that the Furnace Zone—especially Luca Castle and its surroundings—had been cursed by the gods and was now "unholy ground."
The major noble houses now considered the area a forbidden zone. They spoke of it in hushed tones, not daring to approach or even mention it lightly.
’Strange...’ Chen Yu’s Gel body wobbled slightly, his mind filled with doubt.
He had also heard strange rumors about Luca Castle from Arthur.
The fortress had previously been the central domain of the White Horse Kingdom’s immensely powerful Duke Deer. However, the duke had been inexplicably sent to the guillotine, his death shrouded in mystery.
Now, the second prince, William, who had taken over his territory, had met a fate that wasn’t much better.
’There might be some unknown secret hidden here,’ Chen Yu suspected. ’It might even be connected to the very root of the turmoil in the White Horse Kingdom.’
However, the northern territories were too far from the Slime Kingdom, separated by the vast Golden Glow Valley. It didn’t affect the Kingdom’s core interests for the time being, so he didn’t dwell on it, merely filing the information away.
The news that the Snowfield Beastmen were about to march south, however, did cause Chen Yu some concern.
Sergash and Semia were still deep in the Snowfield, undergoing a trial on an ancient, snow-covered mountain.
The harsh environment and great distance of the Snowfield made his connection with his Gel avatar there intermittent and unstable. He had no idea what their current situation was.
He dispatched another Gel avatar to the Snowfield, hoping to get news of them as soon as possible and prevent them from running headlong into the southward-marching Beastman Army.
He also tasked the Gel avatar with moving about the Snowfield to gather intelligence on the Beastman Army’s specific movements and scale. This was to prevent them from getting some hot-headed notion to attack the Slime Kingdom to the south instead of the White Horse Kingdom.
The possibility was slim, but it was always best to be prepared.
After finishing his chat with Yano, Chen Yu informed him that he would be appointed the first president of the Kingdom Adventurers’ Guild.
Yano had been an Extraordinary before, but hearing that he was to become president of the Adventurers’ Guild still left him stunned for a moment. He then left excitedly, presumably to share the good news with his family.
He probably never imagined that in just half a year, he would go from a disgraced noble to the president of the Adventurers’ Guild.
...
The days flowed by, peaceful and fulfilling. In the blink of an eye, two months had passed.
During that time, aside from news from the Rift Snowfield that the Adventurers’ Guild headquarters and the Slime Royal Academy had been completed, and that the Queen Bee had successfully birthed her first batch of Dragon Beast Poison Bee larvae, there were no other major developments within the Kingdom.
Even the situation in the White Horse Kingdom remained superficially calm, held in a delicate balance by the standoff between its various factions. No new large-scale conflicts erupted.
Casaric sent no more men to harass the Kingdom either, as if he had temporarily forgotten all about the Slime Kingdom.
Chen Yu spent his days cultivating his core techniques, managing the Kingdom’s affairs, and discussing matters of knowledge with Oldes. Life was surprisingly leisurely.
But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had forgotten something.
’What was it I forgot?’ he wondered inwardly. His round body was draped over the railing of a terrace in the Mudu Royal Palace, watching the snowflakes drift down in the distance.
He hopped down from the railing, ready to go out and welcome his first winter in Zeyarira.
But soon, an urgent message arrived from the Great Slime Sect over the Gel network. Only then did he remember: the vampires who had set out for the Wuwan Port Alliance still hadn’t returned.