Chapter 119: Jacqueline Knights
“Let’s go.” Illyas went downstairs first, her footsteps hurried, “How long can your True Sight last?”
“Twenty minutes left.” Anse replied.
“We’re going to gather the Federation high-ranking officials now. Help me identify them. I’m afraid they’ve been possessed.” Illyas’s eyes were filled with worry.
“No problem. Do the people in the castle need to be vetted?” Anse suggested.
“No need. Any creature with malicious intent or evil alignment will be marked by the magic array as soon as it enters the castle’s range.” Illyas glanced sideways at him, the corner of her mouth slightly upturned.
“Oh~” Anse’s gaze flickered.
No wonder no one wants to come to the castle. This magic array is a bit off-putting, and a bit extreme.
What if someone with evil alignment appears among the direct line of Jacqueline Castle?
Illyas arrived at the hall, pressed the eyes of the relief beast on the wall, and a series of urgent alarm sounds echoed through the castle.
Then, she stood at the door, quietly waiting.
About a quarter of an hour passed.
Crisp horseshoe sounds rang out, and teams of fully armed knights came in formation from the other side, black horses, black armor, black helmets, purple flower emblems, with a stern momentum.
Anse looked into the distance. Jacqueline Castle was quite large, and he hadn’t dared to wander around. He hadn’t expected it to hide such a powerful armed force.
He counted them: a total of seventy-two people, all tall and burly, arranged in seven rows of ten, filling the gaze, the shock greater than hundreds of soldiers.
‘So many professionals. Rich and powerful.’
He used dice to detect a few people; almost all in the front row were professionals.
“How is it?” Illyas seemed very satisfied with Anse’s expression, a smile on her face.
“Impressive. Must cost a lot, right?” Anse exclaimed.
“This can’t be achieved with just money.” Illyas raised her face, her expression carrying a faint pride, “The Jacqueline Knights total over a hundred, with a few teams sent out by me to deliver messages or find people.
All knights are trained by the family itself, with professionals making up one-fifth, absolutely loyal…”
The Knights also have a hundred auxiliary soldiers, who also have horses, but don’t take them on short trips.
Moreover, the Knights differ from the castle guards; they don’t deploy for general tasks, only for training or combat.
Anse just nodded, thinking inwardly that Illyas didn’t need to explain in such detail.
“Such a big formation, don’t scare them off.”
His original plan was to go grab them directly; if they ran, it would be trouble. Bringing Illyas was mainly to avoid misunderstandings, as attacking someone on the street without cause could trigger the Federation’s sensitive nerves.
“It’s fine. First ensure the high-ranking officials aren’t infiltrated, then regular inspections. This kind of thing requires deploying many people; it can’t be done quietly.” Illyas took out a flying carpet, jumped on it, and gestured for Anse to come up.
“No need, I have a horse outside the door.” As soon as Anse finished speaking, a neigh sounded outside the castle.
“I know, Mr. Horleywen.” Illyas enunciated heavily.
She hadn’t gone out this morning just to post the task and contact friends to resurrect Stol; she had also gathered much intelligence, including rumors related to Anse.
Anse’s expression remained unchanged: “Let’s go, no time to lose.”
With that, he spread his butterfly wings, flew out over the city wall, and glided onto Nolnos’s back.
Nolnos hovered above the ground, enormous in size but landing lightly, trotting toward Dulag.
Giant Tail followed behind with large strides.
Behind them, the castle gate swung wide open, horseshoe sounds thundering as they quickly approached.
Illyas piloted the flying carpet alongside Anse, carefully examining Nolnos and the horseshoes on its hooves, her gaze intense, as if sparkling.
“What kind of creature is this? Never seen it before.”
“Fey horse. You can call it Nolnos.”
“Quite extraordinary, but I still prefer the flying carpet.”
Before she finished speaking, she shot up into the high altitude with a whoosh, at astonishing speed.
Nolnos understood and immediately felt unconvinced, snorting loudly, galloping at full speed, muscles bulging, posture extended, like flying close to the ground.
But the flying carpet’s speed rivaled a wyvern’s, with path advantages; there was no way it could catch up.
Seeing it refusing to give up, Anse had to cast Great Step on it, boosting its speed significantly, barely keeping up without falling too far behind.
The few kilometers passed in a flash.
Approaching the town, Nolnos slowed down, panting, eyes staring at the sky like copper bells. Horse born—no, fey born—for the first time felt such intense longing for flight!
Anse sensed its mood and rubbed its big head vigorously: ‘Pretty competitive. The future is long; what’s the rush.’
At this moment, Illyas flew over, a teasing glint in her eyes, red lips parting lightly: “Tsk tsk…”
Nolnos immediately raised its head, glaring at her, full of defiance.
“Don’t tease it anymore. Let’s get to business.” Anse smiled helplessly, not expecting Illyas to have this mischievous side.
Nolnos was stubborn; once its temper flared, he couldn’t control it.
“I’ve arranged everything. The four gates are sealed immediately, only in, no out.” Illyas composed her expression and beckoned him, “Let’s go to the Federation headquarters. Next, it’s up to you.”
“Okay.”
The Federation headquarters was located slightly north in the city, a building cluster of nearly ten wooden buildings, with dense personnel traffic.
This was Dulag’s political center, concentrating offices, security, commerce, taxation, and more.
The Knights sent out a few small teams to relay orders and seal the city gates; the others followed Illyas to the Federation headquarters, arriving with menacing momentum, causing a huge stir.
Illyas led Anse into the largest four-story wooden building and waited on the top floor.
About half an hour later, all the high-ranking officials arrived: five councillors plus several senior officials in charge of municipal affairs, security, taxation, etc.
Illyas greeted everyone to sit and gave Anse a look.
Anse understood, activated the True Sight Ring, and carefully observed everyone. Everything normal, no mind flayers or illithids.
Moreover, not a single one of these dozen people had evil alignment. Able to resist Amn’s financial offensive, they must all have principles and persistence.
Thinking about it, with Illyas’s huge formation, anyone with a guilty conscience wouldn’t walk into the trap.
“What happened again?” A gray-haired, hooked-nose old man looked weary, his gaze skipping over Anse to focus on Illyas.
The Federation was founded single-handedly by Stol. He didn’t manage much, but his prestige was high; no one ignored his words, which kept the Federation from having too many factions.
Illyas usually stayed home; many things were handled by the old butler, but her personal and Jacqueline Castle’s strength ranked second only to Stol, making her the default next president.
Thus, no one suspected her of plotting anything.
“Uncle Quentin, mind flayers have been discovered in the city. To be safe, I had to call everyone to verify…” Illyas explained softly.
“Mind flayers?” Quentin stood up abruptly, his expression grave.
Most people looked bewildered, clearly not knowing what mind flayers were.
Illyas patiently explained to everyone, and after hearing, there was an uproar.
Stol’s news had already exhausted everyone mentally; they hadn’t expected another wave before the first subsided.
“We’ve been targeted by illithids?”
“They want to turn us into a second Baldur’s Gate? No way…”
“Don’t brag. Find the illithid first.”
“If President Stol were here…”
“Keep it down…”
“…”
“Quiet!” Quentin slammed the table hard, staring down everyone, “What’s the panic? Just one mind flayer.”
Illyas nodded slightly in agreement: “Indeed. I suspect this is just an illithid’s tentacle probing Faerun; the real infiltration hasn’t started. No need to fear.”
“Where is that mind flayer?” Quentin turned, fixing his gaze on Anse.
Seeing this, the others also looked at Anse, eyes full of curiosity.
“This gentleman is Anse. He discovered the mind flayer and helped me bring back Stol…” Illyas smiled and stood beside Anse, her intent clear.
Anse’s expression was stern as he nodded to everyone: “Everyone, good afternoon.”
“I know you, Ashen Knight!” Quentin’s voice rose, his deep tone echoing through the room.
