Chapter 427

Chapter 427: A Brief Rest in the Garden

As the sky darkened, the two people in the café also reached the time to part ways.

Time always passed swiftly. Today, Pulman had been here for quite a while. Although as the highest leader of a nation, there was virtually no one who could constrain him, staying any longer might still stir up some unusual rumors and speculations.

Before leaving, Pulman once again invited Lolan Hill, hoping she would stay and participate in the construction of Clancia.

“I didn’t prepare myself for such an invitation suddenly, so let’s take it slow for now. However, I will come back tomorrow, and I’ll be staying in the Imperial Capital this month.” Even though she did not immediately agree, Lolan Hill still agreed to stay for a while.

Seeing the young lady’s response, Pulman breathed a sigh of relief. As long as she did not refuse, he was content. For this teacher who seemed like a fairy from the forest, he often felt that she might suddenly disappear, only to reappear unexpectedly at some point.

“This is the proof for entering the royal palace. You can show this to the guards at the entrance; they will notify and guide you.”

Pulman handed over a shield-shaped badge about the size of Lolan Hill’s palm. The badge was dark gold with enamel as its base, featuring several lifelike stars, with golden wheat ears surrounding the center on both sides.

“Alright.” Lolan Hill did not decline and accepted it directly.

“So, see you tomorrow.” The silver-haired girl waved at Pulman, and then they went their separate ways.

Pulman walked out of the café. Two teams of waiting knights had already lit torches and stood on either side, protecting the leader of Clancia back to the palace for rest.

Lolan Hill stood upstairs watching the procession gradually depart, slightly assessing the strength of the group.

Most of the knights in black armor were elites at Sequence 4. Behind them were several attendants with varied appearances, whose strength ranged from Sequence 5 to 7, each seeming to have their own specialties.

After spending a simple night at a hotel in the Imperial Capital, Lolan Hill arrived at a side gate of the palace the next morning. The main gate was usually only opened for major events or formal occasions, and the palace staff entered through the side gate.

The current Clancia Royal Palace was no longer the residence of the royal family but had been transformed into the center of the national administrative institution. Personnel from various departments moved about, conveying documents and orders. Guards in cloaks and armor stood on both sides of the corridors, as the defense force of a nation’s heart was naturally top-notch.

“Please wait a moment.”

A guard took the shield-shaped badge from the young lady, had her register briefly, and quickly went to inform the palace steward. Not long after, a maid-like woman appeared at the entrance.

She had a neat single ponytail, holding files in her hand, looking about 20 years old. After stepping out of the palace, she first bowed slightly to the young lady before leading the way ahead.

“Please follow me.” Behind her were two maids in black and white, each with a light rapier hanging from their waists, clearly more than just decorative figures.

They turned around several times, walking through the garden-like palace corridor, and finally arrived at a relatively quiet place.

“I apologize for taking a bit of a detour. Lord Pulman said you might not want to be seen by many people,” the head maid led Lolan Hill to a pavilion in the garden.

“The morning state affairs meeting hasn’t ended yet. Please wait here for a while.”

After saying this, she asked two maids to bring some pastries and fruit to the table.

“Mm, it’s fine.” Lolan Hill sat down at a white chair beside the round table, slightly observing the surroundings.

This place should have been an outdoor garden used by the former Western Wind royal family to entertain guests, located at the rear of the palace, relatively quiet. From the side of the pavilion, one could overlook the view of the Imperial Capital below, with red-tiled houses scattered across the landscape, bustling streets, and wisps of smoke rising in the distance.

After a brief rest, the maid who had led her here had other matters to attend to and temporarily left, but she left the two sword-wielding maids behind to follow Lolan Hill’s instructions.

Lolan Hill asked the two maids, “When do state affairs meetings usually start and end?”

“Madam, the meeting starts at 8 AM. Without major events, it generally ends around 10 AM. However, currently, the southern region isn’t very stable, so the meeting might last longer.”

Although they were just maids, they had become well-informed about major events in Clancia through constant exposure. Since Lolan Hill also wanted to know the current situation, she began asking one question after another.

“I’ve been away from this land for a long time and only returned recently. Could you tell me about the current state of Clancia? Of course, you don’t need to tell me anything confidential.”

“Very well, Madam.” The two maids looked at the young lady for a moment, then quickly lowered their heads to explain.

“Currently, Clancia is roughly divided into 34 counties and 12 provinces, with a population of about 250 million.”

Truly vast, Lolan Hill thought as she listened to the two maids, slowly understanding the scale of this country. As one of the largest nations on the Western Continent, second only to Cangcui in terms of land area, Clancia’s population was undoubtedly substantial, although it was rarely counted before, and with the nobility’s concealment and underreporting, the numbers were always vague.

It wasn’t until the fall of the Western Wind that Clancia was established, and the government spent considerable effort to re-census the population and land and other information, revealing some hidden truths.

During the time of the Western Wind, the officially reported population might not have exceeded 180 million, with a significant portion being slaves of the nobility, bandits in the mountains, villages in remote areas, and refugees fleeing their homeland.

Once the country stabilized and cleared all the chaos, these invisible populations gradually surfaced, causing great surprise among the officials. Later, they had to increase the budget for domestic farmland, resulting in the current nationwide effort to cultivate fields.

After understanding the basic situation of Clancia today, Lolan Hill became slightly curious about the two maids.

“Where did you come from originally? Did you train with swords since childhood?”

The two maids exchanged glances before carefully responding, “We are descendants of the Western Wind nobility, so we have some extraordinary skills. Coupled with literacy and good physical conditions, we were selected to enter the palace to assist and entertain guests.”

Descendants of the Western Wind, the young lady thought to herself, sizing up their strength, which was around Sequence 4. Although they couldn’t compare to the terrifying geniuses in the academy, reaching this level by their mid-20s was extremely rare.

“What do you think of the current Clancia? Or rather, how do the former Western Wind nobles view Clancia now?”

(End of Chapter 427)