The Princess And The Lord-Chapter 1407: Aftermath

A gentle breeze brushed across her cheeks, giving them a pinkish hue. The fresh scent of damp trees filled her nose as she watched a flock of birds soaring through the sky. It was such a beautiful day.

"Lory, you are so heavy," Jay groaned.

"Lory, I can’t breathe, get up please..." Clift’s voice was muffled, half pleading.

Lory was lying flat on top of both Jay and Clift, her limbs sprawled, and her boots planted squarely on Clift’s face.

After the explosion, they had jumped from the plane. While everyone else used body-strengthening and protective spells to brace for the impact, Lory summoned the wind to slow their fall.

But no amount of magic could save anyone from falling that height without breaking some of their ribs and bones, even powerful gifted people, they couldn’t avoid serious injury, and for someone with weak mana, it would be like dropping an egg onto asphalt.

Worse still, unlike Fargo, Clift, Jay, and Lory, Samuel Albretch is not a gifted people, so he couldn’t cast any protection spells for himself. That’s why, in a moment of desperation, Lory summoned the Lucient Shield to protect them all from the impact and the result. A fairly large crater now sat in the middle of the forest.

"You know," Fargo said, admiring the size of the crater, "I was planning to build a hot spring about this big. You know what I can already imagine how how is gonna look like"

"Great. Are you imagining sitting on top of me too?" Stephan’s hot breath tickled Fargo’s ear.

Fargo yelped and flung himself to the ground, rolling away like a spooked cat. "Damn old man! How did you get behind me?!" He shivered, every hair on his body standing on end.

Stephan casually patted the wrinkle from his shirt and snorted. "Oh, please, this isn’t the first time you’ve sat on my lap."

"I was five!" Fargo shouted from the top of his lungs.

Stephan ignored him, then turned to Lory and helped her up. "You okay, sweetheart?" he asked worriedly, gently patting the dust from her clothes and hair.

"I’m okay, Uncle Stevie," Lory replied with a reassuring smile, not wanting to make him worry.

Meanwhile, the two poor boys who had served as Lory’s landing pad didn’t receive even a glance of concern from Stephan, but they were used to that.

Jay brushed off his torn clothes and sighed. "Lory, how can you be so heavy? I think you should cut back on some cake, seriously."

Clift, hearing that and shook his head. "I think she would rather cut off her own arm."

"As he said," Lory answered without missing a beat.

Fargo laughed it off, but then heard a groan beside him. It was Samuel, holding his arm, likely broken from the fall.

"You hurt?" Fargo asked, lifting his chin with an indifferent tone, not really concerned. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

"It’s nothing," Samuel muttered, brushing it off. As a former Dragxtarn, he still subconsciously harbored some pride in front of the Archknights, so he didn’t want to show weakness in front of Fargo and the others.

Fargo snorted loudly and tossed a health potion at him. "Heal yourself. You don’t want to be deadweight, right?"

Fargo’s provocation worked. Though reluctant, Samuel had to admit Fargo was right. He opened the phial and downed its contents in one gulp. Instantly, the pain in his arm vanished.

Once he was done, Fargo looked around and then commented. "We need to hide this place."

"How can you cover such a large area?" Samuel asked, glancing at the wide crater and the fallen trees scattered around them.

"Easy," Fargo said casually. "Simple, illusion spell."

"You think they won’t notice?" Samuel frowned.

"Eventually they will," Clift cut in, "But it’ll take a while and it will give us enough time to leave."

"But to cast an illusion spell to the area this wide..." Samuel was still in doubt.

As a Dragxtarn, he was trained specifically to face the Archknight as the goal, therefore, Samuel had undergone rigorous combat with powerful Talents from across the world.

It was through this relentless training that he came to understand the mechanics of spellcasting among the gifted people, how even the most skilled required precious seconds to conjure and convert spells into energy.

The size and potency of that energy are based on their mana pool, and when they exhaust it, they will become vulnerable, which means they become easy to deal with. he also knows that some spells were so demanding that only a rare few could wield them at all.

Samuel quickly calculated the area and how much mana would be needed, then he predicted that cloaking a space this vast in illusion would need more than two powerful gifted people, and he was assured that even an Archknight wouldn’t be able to do it alone.

But before Samuel could finish the thought, Fargo suddenly thrust his hand forward and began to chant. The air grew dense, pulsing with energy. A ripple shimmered across their vision—and in a blink, the world shifted.

The open expanse around them dissolved, replaced by the towering, emerald shadows of a dense forest, the transformation so seamless it felt as though the illusion had always been there.

Samuel stood still, wide-eyed in disbelief. Fargo had cloaked the entire area by himself. A spell of that magnitude should’ve drained even the most seasoned mage. Yet Fargo looked completely composed and at ease, as if he’d cast nothing more than a simple light spell.

What startled Samuel even more was how the others reacted: No praise, no awe,, they just shared a casual glance and quiet readiness. It was as if feats like this were normal to them, as if Fargo’s terrifying level of power was expected.

What scared Samuel is that perhaps all Archknights possessed the same amount of power as Fargo; therefore, no one thinks this is impressive.

"Let’s get out of here," Stephan said, his tone calm but decisive.

Without another word, the group moved swiftly, urgency in their steps but no trace of panic.

Samuel hesitated only for a moment before following, a thousand questions swirling in his mind. But one thing became clear: how foolish he had been to think that, as a Dragxtarn, he could stand on equal ground with the Archknights. Then again, perhaps Luxemborough had realized this too—and that’s why they agreed to cooperate with the S.A.I.N.T. organization.

________________________________________

____Back at the Elysium___

The attack ignited a firestorm of international alarm, drawing in law enforcement agencies from multiple countries and powerful organizations, all scrambling to uncover what had happened and who was behind it.

Medics and healers from the organization worked side by side, desperately tending to the wounded and mourning the dead. The scale of the devastation was staggering.

To make matters worse, the Elysium was swarmed by reporters from all over the world. They originally invited to cover the grand festival honoring the Saintess and to gain wider recognition. Unfortunately, instead of boosting their popularity, they ended up broadcasting their embarrassing side to the entire world.

Cameras rolled, drones hovered, and live broadcasts poured unfiltered images of destruction into every corner of the world.

The unthinkable had happened: the impenetrable Elysium building that they proud so much had been breached thoroughly. The proud stronghold of the S.A.I.N.T. organization, that once a symbol of absolute power of the organization, had been crumbled and violated mercilessly, leaving a deep and lasting stain on their once-unblemished reputation.

Normally, when a situation like this happened, the S.A.I.N.T. organization would have buried the truth beneath layers of disinformation. But with so many foreign eyes caught them right-handedly, there was no time to contain the narrative.

Luckily, they managed to suppress some critical details, and one of them is the most damning one: the fact that their secure internal data facility, known as SIF, had been infiltrated and several sensitive files were confirmed missing.

Alexander Behrenn’s face had turned black, bluish vein bulged on his temple, threatening to pop any minute. Meanwhile, across the table, Ellias Khans, Sean Lockwood, and Simon Ross stood still, waiting to be yelled at.

"Can someone explain how four people managed to penetrate our building’s security?" Alexander growled, his jaw clenched as he struggled to keep his rage in check.

Ellias took a steadying breath and began, "The enemy was fully armed. They possessed high-level charms and armor capable of evading our detection systems. They were trained, experienced, and highly resourceful—"

"And none of you were able to stop them?" Alexander cut in, voice razor-sharp.

A flicker of shame crossed Ellias’s face. "They... had help."

"That’s your EXPLANATION?!" Alexander roared, slamming his fist against the table. The sound echoed through the room and the scream continue, "This is our turf, our fortress! And you let these people walked right through us like we were somekind of park or something! What do you think the world think about us now? How can we convince them we’re the chosen one who will lead them to the new world when we can’t even defend our own ground?!"

Silence fell over the room like a heavy fog. No one dared to speak.

Alexander exhaled sharply and rubbed his temples, trying to steady himself. "Do we know anything about them? Anything concrete?"

Ellias nodded. "We’ve identified two of the collaborators, they are Garrof Windfield and Lloyd Bryner, and both of them are the former members of the Ultima infantry."

Alexander’s eyes narrowed. "Are they the same people who aided the Hamilton family?"

"Yes, Your Grace," Ellias confirmed.

Alexander sat in silence, his mind racing through a storm of possibilities. The room remained still, the tension thick—until the sharp buzz of a notification shattered the quiet.

It came from Elias’s phone. Awkward as it is, he still took his phone to check cause from the sounds it was from his subordinate. A moment later, his expression shifted, his jaw tightened. It took a few seconds before he drew a slow breath and spoke in a restrained tone, "Luxemborough failed to apprehend them. Their plane was crashing down, probably a suicide maneuver... and it’s believed no one survived the crash. They’re still searching for remains, but so far, there’s no trace of the bodies."

The room shifted. Sean’s neck tensed instinctively, veins pulsing as he lowered his head, trying to mask the reaction on his face. No one noticed, no one but Simon, who watched him with quiet suspicion.

Alexander tapped his fingers against the table, deep in thought. Then he looked up, his voice cold and commanding.

"Keep digging. I want confirmation—bodies, names, origins. I want to know who they were, where they came from, and how they got through us. Were the former Ultima members on the same flight?"

Ellias shook his head. "No. They departed earlier. But... one of them chose to stay behind to help, their relationship felt close."

Alexander narrowed his eyes, pinching his chin as he immersed himself in thought. "...So they were loyal." A faint murmur escaped his lips, more to himself than to anyone else in the room.

After a while, he continued, "Find the Ex-Ultimate members. Do it by any means necessary, they must know something."

"Yes, Sir!" Ellias gave a firm nod.

Alexander waves his hand dismissively, signaling Ellias, Sean, and Simon to leave.