Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1526: Chapter 253: [Princess] and [Princess]

Normally, if Boss Luo wants to go shopping, he won’t be stopped… no one can stop him.

So while walking, Claudia and Mr. Otto suddenly lost track of Boss Luo… And it was only after a good while that Claudia realized the fact that Luo Qiu was nowhere to be seen beside her.

“When did we get separated?” With only her and Mr. Otto left, Claudia’s tone was somewhat unfriendly… even cautious.

Mr. Otto, who was asked this question, furrowed his brows, clearly thinking seriously about this issue — he was recalling the details along the way.

Since knocking out Yiben and hiding him, they were tailing a few servants, aiming to reach the Royal Palace banquet… During this tailing process, he actually had conversations with Luo Qiu.

Luo Qiu even casually asked him several questions — for example, asking if he knew about the Gospel of Judas and what he thought about them.

Though curious about why this young man suddenly asked these, Mr. Otto still said a few things — words that Claudia had heard before — on their journey to the Oasis.

However, the conversation seemed almost identical to the one they had while walking through the Oasis… Claudia couldn’t think clearly why Luo Qiu asked again.

But the memories… seem to reach here — after the questions, it seems they stopped noticing Boss Luo’s presence, leading to the current situation where they didn’t even know when they lost someone.

“There’s no other way.” Mr. Otto quickly made a decision, “Our goal is to find Princess Yamanlana, he knows… Rather than searching for him everywhere now, we might as well head directly to the banquet scene, there’s a high chance we’ll meet.”

“It’s the only choice…”

Claudia shook her head, always feeling uneasy without Luo Qiu beside her — this feeling of unease surged to the MAX level… She subconsciously opened a distance of more than one step from Mr. Otto.

At this moment.

“Princess!”

A young man in splendid attire exclaimed with an expression of surprise from afar… The young man quickly approached, “I never thought I’d see you so soon! Her Royal Highness Princess Yamanlana!”

Claudia cursed inwardly but recalled Mr. Otto’s previous words, so she reluctantly put on a cold facade, responded with a nonchalant ‘hmm’.

“Who are you?” Claudia said indifferently, “Have I met you?”

“I am the son of the Minister of Agriculture, Princess, you may call me Moni!” The young man enthusiastically introduced himself, saying he specially came to attend the banquet today.

“Oh, really.” Claudia nodded, “I was just about to go to the banquet… since we met, let’s go together.”

How could Moni, the son of the Minister of Agriculture, say no at this moment?

He immediately rejoiced, strutting ahead as if he was walking on the path of life’s peak.

Claudia, however, felt as if she was walking down a path of no return… once this fake identity is exposed, she didn’t even know if her weapons would be enough to kill her way out of the banquet hall, let alone escape the Royal Palace!

…

Strictly speaking, the entire Temple and Royal Palace of the City of the Sun appear to be a single entity… The Temple is located at the deepest part of the Royal Palace, which was built surrounding the Temple’s location.

Only members of the royal family are qualified to pass through the heavy guards and enter the Temple.

As the most renowned member of the royal family, Princess Yamanlana is naturally recognized by the guards along the way and thus, faces no obstacles.

Though they are called guards, these guards do not belong to the management of the Royal Palace — they are affiliated with the Temple, and only the Pharaoh of the Kingdom and the High Priest of the Temple can command them… Moreover, the High Priest’s orders generally take precedence over those of the Kingdom’s Pharaoh.

Princess Yamanlana is able to go through unimpeded primarily because of the Divine Artifact she holds — this is given to Princess Yamanlana personally by the Sun God, making it nothing short of a sacred item in the eyes of the Temple guards, hence Princess Yamanlana is akin to a Holy Maiden, chosen as the Proxy Agent of the True God in the Mortal World.

How could the guards of the Temple possible obstruct the passing of the Temple’s Holy Maiden — as long as the Holy Maiden is present here.

“Where’s the High Priest?” Having fully entered the Temple’s interior, Princess Yamanlana encountered a Priest and directly inquired.

The Priest replied, “The High Priest entered the Royal Palace more than a month ago and hasn’t returned, he just mentioned going on a journey, but will return on the longest night.”

The High Priest is both the Kingdom’s State Preceptor and the teacher who has guided Princess Yamanlana since childhood… Princess Yamanlana nodded slightly and waved her hand for the Priest to continue his duties.

Interestingly, as a Holy Maiden, her authority within the Temple far exceeds that of the Kingdom’s Pharaoh, yet as a Princess, she cannot casually enter the Temple… Of course, if she wished to enter the Temple, the Kingdom’s Pharaoh would find it difficult to stop her.

This is the relationship between the Kingdom’s Pharaoh and Her Royal Highness Princess Yamanlana.

Princess Yamanlana walked alone into the Hall of Gods… A place where the High Priest listens to the True God’s oracle — only those chosen can possess the ability to communicate directly with it.

Even though Princess Yamanlana has been bestowed a Divine Artifact by the True God, she actually has no answer to whether she truly is chosen by the True God… She can only occasionally and unilaterally listen to some of the True God’s voices.

The Hall of Gods is not lavish at all, merely a dim and small stone chamber… Without any decorations or even a place to sit.

However, when Princess Yamanlana entered the Hall of Gods, the entire simple stone chamber glowed with orange-red light… not strongly, like the afterglow of sunset.

Her Royal Highness Princess Yamanlana knelt on one knee, spoke words of prayer, with utmost devotion… After a good while, she stood up, raised her head, and said, “Oh great Sun God, why are you unwilling to guide me… The breeding speed of the Desert Behemoths has exceeded expectations, if this continues, when the longest night arrives next time, this City of the Sun might not survive…”

The stone chamber was so quiet that Princess Yamanlana felt she could hear her own heartbeat… The True God did not actively respond to her question.

Princess Yamanlana waited for a long time again, finally sighed slowly in disappointment… She lowered her head and knelt once more, reciting prayers with deep devotion.

After finishing everything, Princess Yamanlana, with a grim face, walked to the front of the stone wall, reached out to press a brick.

Once pressed, the brick sank into the wall, and at the same time, another part of the wall instantly opened — the flipped wall was clearly a stone shelf.

Princess Yamanlana quickly walked to the stone rack, her eyes swept across it—she reached out and took a box from the rack—there were still three identical boxes on the stone rack.

Princess Yamanlana opened the box in her hand, looked at what’s inside, and sighed, “Is this all that’s left…”

Bullets… The box was filled to the brim with bullets.

Taking a deep breath, Her Highness the Princess quickly composed herself, swiftly extracting some bullets from the box, then retrieving the Divine Artifact she had kept close from within her clothes, and adeptly loading the bullets into the handgun.

After she left the Temple, the Temple had already returned to its original form… Princess Yamanlana left the Temple, walking alone in the spacious Palace, as the sunset glow had already scattered inside the Temple, making Her Highness the Princess furrow her brow, “The timing of sunset arrives ever faster. Perhaps I should once again…”

…

Princess Yamanlana soon left the Temple and returned to the Royal Palace… but she was unwilling to head straight to the banquet, and walked alone in the Royal Palace courtyard.

As she walked, Princess Yamanlana suddenly furrowed her brow as she sensed a gaze coming from behind a tree, “Who’s there! Come out!”

Brave and skilled in battle, having trained rigorously since childhood, Princess Yamanlana suddenly spun around, her movements like flowing water as she pulled out the Divine Artifact hidden on her body.

Her Highness the Princess was even startled… she hadn’t even felt someone getting close to her before finally noticing.

A silhouette slowly walked out from behind the tree.

Under the glow of the setting sun, this figure gradually became clearer in Princess Yamanlana’s eyes, with a smile that she’d never seen before, as pure as a cloudless sky… even a small bird perched on his shoulder.

The Sacred Ibis, regarded as a holy bird in the City of the Sun.

Her Highness the Princess furrowed her brow. She knew such holy birds generally disliked human contact… only the Royal Palace kept a few Sacred Ibises, typically residing in the palace courtyard near the Temple.

The person before her seemed very young, wearing the attire of the Royal Guards—not guards from the Temple.

Facing Princess Yamanlana, who was now on high alert, the guard simply blinked, looking curiously at the Divine Artifact in Her Highness the Princess’s hand… the handgun.

She heard the guard say rather curiously, “So this is what the so-called True God’s Divine Artifact is.”

“You don’t know who I am?” Princess Yamanlana furrowed her brow, feeling the guard’s attitude was too strange… which guard, upon seeing her, wouldn’t be terrified and reverent?

Could he be new? That’s unlikely… since he knows about the Divine Artifact, he should also know who she is.

“Princess Yamanlana, I know.” The guard nodded, “I just saw you returning from your triumph, quite splendid.”

Princess Yamanlana furrowed her brow again, as the young guard’s indifferent, almost flippant tone provoked her to hum lightly, yet she slowly sheathed the Divine Artifact… her upbringing prevented her from directly using royal authority to oppress a mere guard… but for a guard who acted indifferent, it made Her Highness feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Are you new?” The kingdom’s princess asked coldly, “Why have I never seen you before?”

The guard answered sincerely, “I just arrived here… I’m not even familiar with the area. If this is an inappropriate place for me, I will leave immediately, rest assured.”

What’s wrong with this guard… is this the attitude one should have when meeting royalty?

It’s because she’s the princess, often spending time with soldiers in the barracks, having undergone a magical experience, so she doesn’t place much importance on hierarchy… if it were another royal family member, this guard’s insolent attitude would likely have been punished.

“It’s not whether you should be here.” Her Highness the Princess calmly said, “It’s that you’re a guard; instead of patrolling the Royal Palace, you’re loitering here… isn’t it obvious you’re slacking off?”

—Is this too harsh… he’s just an entry-level guy, perhaps the guard captain hasn’t had time to tell him the rules here.

“I see…” The guard nodded, “I didn’t think it through, I will leave right away. Please rest assured, Your Highness.”

Princess Yamanlana shook her head, feeling this simple-minded fellow wasn’t worth her ire… just as she was about to wave him away, Her Highness glanced again at the young Sacred Ibis standing on the rookie guard’s shoulder.

What’s going on with this Sacred Ibis, ever since earlier it’s been perched on the newbie guard’s shoulder, unmoving… Princess Yamanlana couldn’t help but look more closely.

“Is it injured?” Princess Yamanlana suddenly noticed the Sacred Ibis’s wing seemed bandaged.

The guard nodded, “I saw it under the tree, its wing was hurt.”

“You bandaged it?” Her Highness the Princess had already approached the guard, directly reaching out to hold the Sacred Ibis from the guard’s shoulder.

The Sacred Ibis appeared quite docile in Her Highness’s hands.

“I merely bandaged it.” The guard casually replied, “It might scar but shouldn’t affect its flight… I have some confidence in my bandaging, don’t worry.”

“Sacred Ibises rarely contact others.” Princess Yamanlana commented as she looked at the young guard thoughtfully, “They can discern those with malice from the good-hearted; they are holy birds of the City of the Sun.”

“It’s young, maybe it can’t tell the difference yet.” Unexpectedly, the guard replied dismissively.

Princess Yamanlana shook her head, sensing this guard was quite different from others in the Royal Palace, so she asked directly, “What’s your name?”

“Yiben.”

“Yiben?” Princess Yamanlana nodded, then bent down, releasing the Sacred Ibis slowly into the courtyard grass, mentioning casually, “I quite like you; from now on, you’ll follow me.”

“Your Highness, I’m new, so I don’t know much.” The guard shook his head.

Unexpectedly rejected, Her Highness coldly huffed, her ten years of battle aura against monsters surging forth, “I am a princess; my word is command! If you don’t know, then learn well! Follow me!”

With that, the princess swung her sleeve grandly and walked forward…