Now, nine years had passed. The King, who was thirty-six back then, was now forty-five, and due to overexertion, he had grown graying hair. His eyes were deeply sunken, making him look as though he were in his fifties.
After Gray perished in the Second Year of the Silver Moon, none of the human lords on the Keltos Continent had a good day. Whether they stood firmly by the White Bone Holy Light Court or leaned towards Heaven or Hell, it was the same.
When she first met Gray, she was merely a seventeen-year-old, an obscure, tender girl who took up arms against the old King to smoothly inherit the title, even resolutely prepared for death at one point.
Nine years later, she was now twenty-six, a highly esteemed Duke Beisher on the continent. Fortunately, probably because her territory wasn’t vast and she was still young, her face showed few obvious marks of time, only a slight maturity. Of course, *the weariness in her eyes was palpable.*
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, nine years had passed, and the brevity of the human lifespan was becoming increasingly evident.
Oh, and by the way, Yilin was unmarried, and the Beisher Family had no heirs, which greatly troubled Abi Robbs, the steward.
Jones observed the new gadgets he had prepared, toured the grand castle, and the city-states under Jones.
Yilin carefully inspected Jones’s semi-finished works and softly said to him, "I have some bad news to tell you, about your mother."
Jones was stunned and quickly asked, "What happened to Mother?"
"No need to be that nervous. Even though Gray is no longer here, Richie is still around. With Richie here, no one would dare to harm his mother. When he goes mad, he’s capable of anything. However, she seems to know that Gray is gone. *I’ve been trying hard to conceal it, but it’s becoming difficult to hide.* She called me over several times, and I didn’t dare to go. *After all, I wouldn’t know how to lie to her.* If you have time, you should go see her."
"Has Richie not been back?"
"No. None of us have seen Richie for a long time, and things seem to be quite bad with him. I’ve heard... only heard... We have completely lost contact with him, so we can only go by hearsay. It’s said that the pressure from Heaven and Hell on him is growing, making him more and more irritable."
"I understand. I will find a time to visit Mother."
"Or, you could bring her here, so you and Dora can both be with her."
"Understood." Jones nodded.
In the distance, Benedict II raised an unfinished magic wand high, examining it closely under the moonlight, "We all felt that we wouldn’t be able to hold on and might need you to send troops. But it appears we can still stick it out if you continue to supply these weapons at such low prices."
Jones smiled and said, "If it really becomes unsustainable, just say so. I might not be able to send troops, but I can bring all of you over here to retire."
Benedict II cast a meaningful glance at Yilin in the distance and said, "A lord, even in death, must die on their own land."
"Alright then..." Jones sighed helplessly, "I should be heading to the Elf Forest soon, maybe I can find a potion to slow aging. Blood Elves are quite proficient in that area. Mainly, I want to help my mother. If my father were still alive, I wouldn’t want him to return and see that she had already grown old. Besides, I don’t want any of you to leave me."
Benedict II laughed out loud, "Perhaps you can just turn your mother into a Blood Elf, my father once considered this option. Fortunately, humans aren’t as averse to the Blood Clan now. When my body gives out, I’ll come looking for you too. Hahahaha."
During the entirety of the Silver Moon Fourth Year, Giant Snake City was in a period of rapid development, brimming with opportunities and challenges.
The Liches’ enormous accumulation of magic breathed infinite vitality into this newborn city-state, and even, under Jones’s guidance of a new mindset based on sharing, the Liches made continuous progress in magical achievements. It was like a nascent star rising. The rightful source is Nov3lFɪre.ɴet
Meanwhile, the entire continent was blanketed in the fog of war, filled with agonized wails. The lords loyal to Gray were struggling and striving to curb the growing influence of Heaven and Hell.
However, everyone knew that the only reason they hadn’t fallen was that Heaven and Hell had not yet gone all out. In their eyes, their toughest opponents were still each other.
The fate of the entire continent was teetering in the balance.
In the blink of an eye, it was the Silver Moon Fifth Year. After nearly six months of negotiations, the Blood Elves finally officially invited the Giant Snake City Lord, Hydra Knight Jones, and Jones, as City Lord, had decided to personally travel to the Holy Land of the Blood Elves for a critical negotiation.