When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

In the Moon Platform Square, clogged with colonnades and small vendor carts and carriages, Ange Rock descended the steps, glancing around.

The morning sunlight pierced through the gauzy smoke, lightly falling on the mottled ground.

The rustling sound of pedestrians’ clothing.

The rattling sound of carriages rolling over the ground.

The shrill cries of a young mother commanding her children to stay away from the traffic.

Layer upon layer of double-decker freight carriages crowded around, with drivers in neat clothing, wearing felt hats and swinging their whips high, cracking them loudly in the air.

Flowing slowly along the circular road, with a lawn in the center.

At the center of the lawn, a fountain with a stone sculpted beaver was Saintess Catherine lifting her single arm.

The water flowed like a transparent vampire vine, lifting a fist-sized stone ball.

At the edge of the lawn, one could still see workers before starting their shifts, collectively sitting on the grass with carpets laid out, cutting open bread, and adding eggs and sausages as usual.

"As a city, compared to Changge City, it’s relatively clean, but if it’s the Pope’s palace city, it’s too plain, lacking in aesthetic appeal."

Though he said nothing, Ange Rock judged it internally.

A city with aesthetic appeal must have aesthetically appealing architecture.

The houses of the Holy Alliance are too uniform, monotonous, thus losing that asymmetrical complex beauty.

Weary from travel, Ange Rock had been to the Holy Alliance once, though only to Rapids City, but he no longer viewed the Holy Alliance with the fawning adulation of "Artistic Forest."

He respected the Holy Alliance, but he also knew the Holy Alliance had only risen for ten years; it would take at least fifty years to form any major influence.

This is assuming the other three major kingdoms keep from interfering, but Aleksei’s gamble seems premature now.

His gaze shifted to Aleksei, who was engaged with a tall young man, over six feet.

He wore a dark navy officer’s uniform, a belt around his waist, clean-shaven, but with a military saber hung at his waist.

This man, from the North Mountain People, had missed the major battles of the first and second Thousand River Valley wars but had excelled in subsequent small skirmishes.

Not long after that, he had been recommended by the military administration of the Shattered Stone Plain, entered Saint Danji Military Academy, and eventually graduated with Aleksei in the same class.

Compared to the refined and gentle high-ranking officers of Falan and the crude lower-ranking officers, this officer named Baleri was evidently quite odd.

He possessed the refined demeanor of a high-ranking officer but also crudely smacked Aleksei’s back hard, joking vulgarly.

How did Aleksei’s cousin favor such a person? Is this the military officer to partner with him in the future?

Why is he so intimate with my cousin?

It was rather amusing, this thought flashed briefly in Ange Rock’s mind and quickly dissipated.

"I’m too weary from the journey, so I’ll just head to the inn to rest myself." Throwing his luggage to the accompanying young attendant, Ange Rock clasped his hands behind his head, intending to head to the inn.

As he turned away, he heard Aleksei, who had been laughing enthusiastically, snap his head around: "Hold on, who gave you permission to leave?"

"What’s wrong? I haven’t gotten into any trouble," Ange Rock raised his hands and grinned.

"Look at your attitude; I brought you here to broaden your experiences, not to sleep the day away in some room!"

"That’s right." Baleri smiled, stepped forward, and patted Ange Rock’s head, "Little brother, if you’re too short, you need more sunlight to grow taller."

"What the hell..."

"Ange Rock!" Aleksei sharply glared at Ange Rock.

"Did I say something wrong?" Baleri looked baffled.

Aleksei leaned in and whispered a few words to him; only then did Baleri apologize profusely: "I’m sorry, I got it wrong; turns out you’re as old as we are, you just look too young."

Ange Rock said nothing, just gritted his teeth.

"But Aleksei isn’t wrong; this exhibition is going to be eye-opening for you." Baleri affectionately slung his arm around his shoulder, "How about this, I’ll treat you to lunch as an apology, okay?"

Do I even know you well?

Ange Rock’s mouth twitched, looking at Baleri with a forced smile: "Honestly, I’m really not interested."

"Don’t say that." As a North Mountain People, Baleri slapped Ange Rock’s thin back strongly, "The exhibition is great, it’ll broaden your knowledge and learning."

This time, Ange Rock was genuinely a bit angry.

Who was he anyway, a renowned young genius in Falan, a graduate at fifteen, a master’s degree holder at eighteen?

Mentored by three masters, with significant accomplishments in history, natural history, and law?

What hadn’t he seen that would require some backwater thing to broaden his knowledge?

Wasn’t it just a Spring Machine? Wasn’t it just mountain copper surging due to the wealth brought by the Alchemists, leading to an explosion of mountain copper energy storage units?

These things, he and his teachers had studied countless times.

Although he couldn’t determine the design and construction, he knew the working principles thoroughly.

Did Baleri really think of him as just another Norn Barbarian?

But for Aleksei’s sake, he grudgingly maintained politeness: "There’s really no need."

With the stubbornness of the North Mountain People kicking in, Baleri grabbed Ange Rock’s arm: "How about you just take a look, I promise there’s something you’ve never seen before."

Ange Rock laughed in exasperation.

Once you’ve read a thousand books, you’ll find nothing in this world truly strange.

He’d already seen ten years of bizarre stories and grand celebrations in Falan; his heart was as cold as the snow-capped mountains of Storm Cape.

His heart was icy.

"Alright," Ange Rock said with a smile of irritation, "Let’s go have a look."

Everywhere they went, no matter what miraculous machine or product this officer of the Holy Alliance bragged about, he would ruthlessly expose the operational mechanisms behind it.

He wanted to show the people of the Holy Alliance that not all Norn people were drunken fools like Gloev!

"Awesome." Baleri immediately led the way forward, while Aleksei turned and give Ange Rock a look.

Ange Rock, as if oblivious, followed along but halfway turned to give Aleksei a grimace.

"Due to a small main exhibition area, we’ve divided it into inner and outer areas." Baleri explained as he walked, "The outer area mainly provides popular science, mostly teaching the common populace theological technology."

The inner area is where technical priests, engineers, and inventors showcase their inventions to investors.

We’ll start with the outer exhibition area..."

"No need, I’m quite familiar with that knowledge in Falan." Ange Rock smiled and shook his head, "Let’s head straight to the inner exhibition area."

"Oh, alright." Baleri was initially taken aback but not upset, "I’ll take you to the inner exhibition area, then."

After turning a few bustling street corners, the three finally arrived at the designated exhibition area.

The exhibition area was set between two rows of high-rise apartments, initially built for a commercial pedestrian street, but now served as the exhibition area.

At the entrance, two life-sized bronze statues of lion-bodied Brother Huo stood, their beastly claws gripping the ground firmly.

The gears on their backs gently turned with the breeze, producing melodious music.

A long queue of people stood, with some always passing by wanting to touch those gears, the clear music sounded ceaselessly.

"Haha, I have an officer’s ID, and it allows me to bring two outsiders through the fast track." Baleri flashed his officer’s ID, "...Ange Rock, what’s wrong with you?"

"Uh, nothing, nothing, let’s head inside."

Ange Rock withdrew his gaze from the glass canopy between the rows of apartments, palms sweating slightly.

Damn, the Holy Alliance sure loves to take risks, actually creating a transparent roof with glass between two buildings!

Their ignorance of the properties of glass! As a natural historian, how could Ange Rock not know?

With even a small gust of wind or rain, a whole pane of glass falling could easily kill someone!

The Holy Alliance truly disregards lives, aren’t they afraid of impacting international perceptions?

But seeing his cousin and Baleri striding inside, he couldn’t afford to lose face and reluctantly followed behind with determination.