"Lambert..." Louis smiled, his voice hoarse yet gentle, "You’re alive too."
Lambert was montarily stunned, then quickly smiled.
He knelt on one knee, reaching out to hold Louis’s arm, fearing his body was too weak to sit steadily.
"Don’t be so tense, I... just slept for how long?" Louis softly asked.
Lambert hesitated for a mont, "Five full days."
"Five... days?" Louis’s eyes widened, "You an I was unconscious for five whole days?"
"Yes." Lambert looked at him with a complex expression, "We all thought you were just exhausted. The doctor checked and said it was just overexertion, with no external injuries. But... no one can explain why you slept for so long."
Louis was silent for a few seconds.
Indeed mysterious, that torrent of mories lasted only minutes in his consciousness, and the illusion was even more fragnted, seemingly just a few fleeting monts.
Yet he had slept for a full five days...
"My lord?" Lambert asked.
"It’s nothing, maybe just too tired." Louis shook his head, but his eyes were clearer than ever.
"The doctor just ca by again, and although you have no internal injuries, it’s best to rest for another day," Lambert’s tone eased a bit, "Emily is also on her way, it’ll take about five or six days."
"She’s coming?" Louis was a bit surprised.
"Of course she is." Lambert nodded, "Once the war ended and knowing you were unconscious, Lady Emily imdiately set out."
Louis paused, feeling mixed emotions.
He certainly wasn’t dead, even becoming stronger.
But only he knows, that crimson fog really entered his mind.
If not for the Primordial Heart, perhaps he’d have already turned into a puppet of anger like Titus.
"Lambert." He suddenly asked, "Now... how is the war?"
Lambert slowly nodded: "It’s over. The mont Titus died, the entire battlefield quieted down. All Point Giants, Barbarian Soldiers, even Magical Beasts, collapsed like broken puppets.
Now we’re just clearing the battlefield, burning remains, handling corpses, and... rescuing those soldiers who went mad but didn’t die."
"We... won." Lambert softly said.
"We... won." Louis softly repeated.
Outside ca hurried footsteps, a man in a gray-blue dical robe quickly entered the room.
The doctor did not say much, cautiously placing his hand on Louis’s pulse, then approached his chest, listening to the heartbeat.
A mont later, he took a dark golden bronze stone from a box, lightly pressing it on Louis’s forehead.
It was a Fighting Energy Reaction Stone, able to sense any uncontrollable fighting energy fluctuations within a Knight’s body.
"...Strange."
"What is it?" Lambert imdiately beca tense.
"No, it’s not bad." The doctor quickly gestured, "It’s just... although your pulse and breathing are weak, they are extrely stable.
The flow of fighting energy within is smooth, showing no abnormalities. By all ans, soone like you shouldn’t have been unconscious for five days."
"What do you an then?" Louis asked.
"...I can’t quite determine." The doctor lowered his head, "If you say severely injured, no. If you say fighting energy imbalance, no."
"It’s alright, since you’ve confird I’m fine, you may leave." Louis waved his hand.
"Yes." The doctor bowed and exited.
"Lambert." Louis turned with a slightly tired tone, "Help get so hot food, then... I want to go to the washroom."
"My lord, your body..."
"I can still walk." Louis gritted his teeth, standing with sowhat unsteady steps, but he managed not to fall, "Awakening from a five-day slumber should at least warrant a face wash, right?"
Lambert sighed, silently moving forward to assist him, leading him toward the inner hall’s washroom.
"I’ll wait outside, call for if you need anything." Lambert said softly, then gently closed the door.
Once the door was closed, Louis stabilized himself next to the sink, slightly panting before looking up at the copper mirror directly ahead.
The reflection in the mirror showed his pale face, faint blue beneath his eyes, lips nearly devoid of color, appearing as a noble young man recovering from illness.
"...Is this it?" He gazed at his reflection, lightly furrowing his brow.
No blood vines clinging, nor angry flowers blooming.
His skin bore no cracks, his bones had not mutated, even his breath fluctuations were suppressed by the Primordial Heart to nearly invisibility.
Even he almost suspected those events were rely a dream.
However, not being controlled is undoubtedly a good thing, as for any hidden side-effects within himself, he’s left to resolve later.
Louis lowered his head, subrging his face into the icy washbasin, as the cold water slid down his cheeks, seeming to wash away the five days of stupor in a single breath.
But what he truly cared about was never the face.
"The washroom certainly isn’t for washing faces," he muttered softly.
After confirming Lambert hadn’t intruded, he subtly waved his right hand.
In the next mont, the air seed to slightly condense, as a translucent blue interface appeared centrally, like water’s surface, shimring with flowing light patterns.
A faint blue light stream flowed gently along the screen’s edge, following which a series of information rushed out like a flood breaking through a dam, rapidly occupying the entire screen’s view.
Massaging his still sowhat heavy forehead, Louis read while mocking himself: "Offline for five days and only sixteen updates... seems nothing major happened?"
[Daily intelligence updates completed.]
[1: Post-war stability in the Red Tide Territory, good military and civilian conditions, under Bradley’s leadership, preparations for spring plowing have begun.]
[2: An adult Ice Vein Giant Snake has appeared on the northern edge of the Storm Plateau, ending its hibernation state.]
[3: Frost Halberd City’s post-disaster epidemic risk has erged, causing unrest among civilians due to grain distribution.]
[4: The Southeast Province’s grain prices have risen again, leading to the third wave of panic buying frenzy.]
......
The intelligence scrolled rapidly, and Louis reviewed them one by one.
Most of the intelligence didn’t count as bad news, mostly relevant news triggered by the war.
So discussed the progress of repairing food supply lines, others ntioned outbreaks of various diseases.
One entry stated that his nearly collapsing forge star’s seventh mine pit had finally restored initial production.
"Seems Bradley’s doing well... At least spring plowing is in motion," he nodded lightly, lips curling slightly.
Just as he was about to relax his shoulders, suddenly a piece of intelligence popped up.
[12: Governor of the North, Duke Edmund severely overextended life essence in the Battle of the Bone-Burying Canyon, with only 183 days of remaining lifespan left.]
The font on the screen seed to carry a chill, and Louis’s fingers froze mid-air.
He was silent for a full five seconds, his lips parched, not quite knowing where to start.
In that battle, Edmund thrice bore the brunt of the Angry Crown Giant’s charges, using his flesh to withstand divine court pollution.
Although he possesses the body of a Peak Knight, he is ultimately human.
He didn’t fail to think of the cost, only half a year of life left, making him sowhat sad given the Duke has helped him so much.
"Old injuries linger, past sixty, already near life’s end... enduring until now is certainly an anomaly."
Louis slowly sat against the wall: "But with the Duke’s death, my Red Tide Territory in the Northern Territory will have no backing..."
Before he could contemplate further, another piece of intelligence, even more shocking, followed.
[14: Ironblood Empire’s Emperor, Ernst August missing, last seen five days ago at Imperial Capital’s Old Dragon Castle.]
[15: The First Legion, Dragon Blood Legion, Emperor’s Personal Guard, all disappeared with the Emperor.]
[16: Imperial Capital’s situation is turbulent, the regent council has yet to release a statent, public opinion under control.]
"What, what?" Louis’s frail body practically sprang up from the ground.
Emperor, First Legion, Dragon Blood Legion, even Imperial Guard vanished?!
"This isn’t a vacation," his throat dry, "This is vanishing from the world."
His mind imdiately conjured nurous possibilities: civil unrest, coup, disaster, forbidden relic awakens, even so supernatural catastrophe stirring awake...
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