Chapter 702 — The Legacy of the Duke of the Eastern Region

"Boulder City?" Gao Yang said, somewhat surprised, reaching out to take the printed document the servant handed him. A moment later, his expression turned strange.

Amber immediately leaned over curiously: "Hey, hey, what is it?"

Gao Yang: "The administrative hall of Boulder City reports that there is a Transcendent in their prison—one who practiced magic without a license and entered the country illegally—and he is mooching food and drink in his cell. No matter how they try to drive him out, he will not leave."

Amber was stunned: "That's it? A thing this small gets reported to you?"

Gao Yang's mouth twitched: "This person claims his name is Bard Windell."

Amber did not react at once: "Bard Windell... that does sound a bit familiar. Which one was he... ah! The one Byron blew up?!"

"Windell is a Typhon noble surname; it is not easy to share a name exactly in that regard," Gao Yang said with a strange expression. "This really is... so the real world is the most dramatic after all..."

...

The Typhon Imperial Capital, Aldernan.

An Luo, who had rushed back at full speed after receiving the order, once again set foot on the streets of the city where she had been born and raised.

Riding in the Windell family carriage and listening to the sound of the wheels rolling over the road, An Luo opened the cover panel on one side of the carriage and gazed somewhat absently at the street scenery and the passersby coming and going.

She knew she had been away from Xuanyue City for a long time, but the changes that had taken place in Xuanyue City still exceeded her expectations.

Some old buildings had been torn down; some buildings she did not recognize had appeared along the streets; and even some of the houses she did know had hung up strange signs reading something like "xx Company" or "xx Factory." Aldernan, wreathed in thin mist, was shrouded in a layer of gray, and a faintly odd smell filled the fog. It was not a pleasant smell, and it made An Luo frown instinctively.

Was this the "new atmosphere of the Imperial Capital" described in the letters that came from within the country?

An Luo frowned as she watched the streams of hurried people on the road. She still remembered what Xuanque City used to look like, remembered those leisurely and proud citizens, remembered the comfortable, unhurried rhythm of the place. But Alderan now seemed like a tightly wound mainspring in a mechanical clock, as if some fast-spinning gear were driving everyone forward. The pedestrians in her view walked at a furious pace, as though they dared not waste even a single minute, and at the far end of the street where they poured onward stood either tall, ugly factory buildings or towering smokestacks...

Most of Xuanque City was in fact still the same as when she had left, yet some change beneath the surface seemed to have altered everything, and An Luo felt she hardly recognized the place anymore.

As the carriage rolled down the long street and gradually drew near the Wendel family estate, An Luo's thoughts finally settled, and she began to think about the matters she would have to face.

She had come home, but she felt that this return of hers was not a glorious one.

The carriage came smoothly to a stop at the front gate, and servants emerged to welcome her. All of them wore beaming smiles; whatever else might be said, the eldest young lady's return home was worth their rejoicing. And besides the ordinary servants, that familiar old butler also came out and walked to the carriage door.

The butler bowed. "Eldest young lady, welcome home."

An Luo poked her head out. "Is Grandfather at home?"

"Yes, he is waiting for you in the flower hall."