Garrett walked along the red carpet with a sowhat dazed expression.
Ahead, Earl Isolite continued to proclaim his achievents, his voice booming like a bell, resonant throughout the hall:
"Magus Nordmark has invented a dicine for treating the mariti plague, thus enabling us to persuade various allied races to join us on long voyages;"
A burst of applause followed. Within it, Garrett saw many nobles whispering to each other, perhaps discussing matters of long-distance mariti transport?
"Magus Nordmark has also organized ergency battlefield dical protocols and invented penicillin, significantly reducing dical costs and allowing more young n to return ho safely;"
Arrayed on either side of the throne, fleet commanders, captains, and healers all gave Garrett friendly smiles. Particularly, a few healers from the Temple of the War Gods shone with admiration, looking as though they would whisk him away to their temple if not for the royal presence.
"Furthermore, Magus Nordmark has devised thods for blood testing and transfusions, enabling high-ranking warriors to recover quickly from severe blood loss, greatly enhancing the fleet’s endurance;"
Garrett briskly walked past. As he brushed shoulders with the Grand Knight, the vice-commander of the Second Fleet’s Knight Squadron, the knight gave him a thumbs up, a gesture of admiration.
"Besides these, Magus Nordmark has other inventions that have been a substantial aid to the fleet. For example, the new rubber tubes make it very convenient to pump water and, when cut into sections and fitted onto a person, can prevent drowning..."
You an like lifebuoys?
Garrett widened his eyes. Truth be told, rubber lifebuoys were indeed more reliable than throwing wooden boxes and blocks. But then, the issues with inflation and valve cores...
Had it all been left to the transmuters?
As he stepped forward on the red carpet, exchanging a quick glance with Earl Isolite, he stopped in front of the queen. To his right, a young female officer passed a silver platter, and the queen, smiling, handed him a dal:
"Magus Nordmark, in recognition of your contributions to the kingdom, I hereby award you the Golden Oak Leaf dal. Please co forward—"
Garrett nearly turned around and fled at the ntion of the Golden Oak Leaf. What’s next, a Red Cross and a couple of diamonds?
Thankfully, his remaining sanity held him back. Fortunately, the dal was just an oak leaf with a diamond embedded in the center, unadorned by any other decoration. The queen personally pinned the dal on him, arranged the long green ribbon, and smiled:
"Magus Nordmark, I hope you will continue your efforts and make even greater contributions to the kingdom..."
Garrett bowed and expressed his gratitude. Fortunately, he was the last to receive a dal, and the queen soon exited, moving to the casual mingling phase of the banquet. Cirilla was the first to bounce up to him:
"Let see, let see! What’s this dal for?"
Garrett obligingly cast an Identification Spell. A flash of light passed, and the spell imdiately reported:
"The diamond in the center of the dal is enchanted with a 【Arrow Protection】spell, which automatically recharges once a week. If placed in a strong energy environnt, like a mage tower’s elental pool, it could recharge daily."
"That’s stingy..." Cirilla pouted. An 【Arrow Protection】spell was only a second-level spell, yet for all Garrett’s great deeds, the queen had only included such a basic magic on the dal!
Garrett had apprenticed under the Lord of Thunder, and the gifts he received usually carried third or fourth-level enchantnts!
"Cough... Cirilla, you can’t asure others by the standards of a legendary mage..." Garrett whispered. Before he could finish, Baroness Veitag approached, beaming with congratulations:
"Congratulations on receiving the Golden Oak Leaf dal. This dal, awarded to spellcasters outside the royal line, is one of the highest honors, granting the bearer a status comparable to that of an earl within the court."
She cast an envious glance at the golden oak leaf:
"Among spellcasters below level ten, you are the first to my knowledge to receive this dal."
Cirilla held her head high, her little nose wrinkled, and humd with pride.
Of course!
Garrett was just that impressive!
She dragged Garrett happily in line to view the gold plates, crowns, masks, and staffs. anwhile, in a shadowy corner of the court, soone watched Garrett and whispered:
"Is that him?"
"That’s him."
"Can we move against him?"
"It’s difficult... Today’s grand ceremony has heightened the palace’s security; people are watching everywhere... Look, several from the Royal Mage Corps are absent, and so well-known experts too, probably on covert guard duty..."
"I didn’t an
now!" the first speaker said, clearly frustrated:
"This war has cost the church dearly, and the higher-ups are already furious. If they knew we couldn’t complete our mission, we might face severe consequences—what can we do to lure him out?"
"Sa old trick then?... Start a plague sowhere in the capital to draw him out?"
"Is there a recent outbreak anywhere? Any patients or their belongings that we could use to spread the disease?"
"This... this... "
The suggester faltered. Truth be told, he had seldom shown his face, hiding out in his estate most of the ti. Gathering tily information was indeed too much to ask of him.
"Think of sothing fast! If we botch this, you, I, and even your daughter who married into the Carolingian Kingdom, we’re all dood!"
The suggester shivered, a chill running down his spine. Though they had all declared a change of faith, returning to the embrace of the Spring Goddess, severing ties with the Radiant Church was not so simple—
So had daughters married across the strait, sons who were clergy of the Radiant Lord, swept away with the church, so married into nobility of the Carolingian Kingdom...
Although the queen had not pursued them strictly after her ascension to stabilize the kingdom, when the Radiant Church sent representatives, many had no choice but to obey.
"Let think, let think..."
He murmured quietly. His gaze drifted through the window to the brightly lit flagship by the riverbank, his eyes suddenly lighting up:
"We could ask the other side for help! Let them round up so patients, sneak them across, or collect so items to send over! If they can’t manage that, they can’t bla us either!"
From the Kingdom of Kent to the continent across, the strait at its narrowest was less than 30 kiloters. Such a busy waterway, despite any prohibitions, always had people smuggling across. Moreover, Kent, Carolingian, and Rhine Kingdoms had ongoing demands for each other’s goods.
The ssage and requests were swiftly sent across. The deputy magistrate stationed across the strait, Lord Lucien, slamd his desk upon reading the letter:
"Those heretics, daring to conspire with foreigners! — Didn’t we just capture a batch of blood thralls? Go! Send them all over! Let them cause chaos!"
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