From Salted Fish Port to White City, the journey took about ten days. These ten days passed in a flash for Gray. After all, for a lich, an accidental oversleep could turn into hundreds of years of hibernation.
Conversely, the ten days felt like a long nightmare for the Black Cat because it had to constantly deal with Gray. Or more accurately, Gray's endless stream of questions.
Standing under the night sky, Gray looked up at the full moon and asked, "Why is the moon a different color every day? Sometimes it's red, sometimes silver, sometimes blue?"
"There are three types of moons: red represents blood, silver represents luck, and blue represents peace."
"Is there any evidence for that?"
"If you ask me, who am I supposed to ask?"
"So you believe it without evidence?" Gray exclaimed in astonishment, with a tone of disdain in his voice.
This made the Black Cat exceedingly furious. It was one thing to deal with a fool, but it was unbearable for that fool to look down on you. This feeling was truly terrible.
...
Passing by a cemetery, Gray saw a funeral procession with people crying and asked, "What are they crying about?"
"When a relative dies, aren't you supposed to cry?"
"Why cry?"
"Because their loved ones have left them forever, and they miss them!"
"Let me help them." Gray pointed a finger, and the corpse inside the coffin sprang up, turning into a zombie. The mourners scattered in terror, creating utter chaos.
"Uh... they don't seem to miss them much."
The Black Cat stared blankly.
...
Seeing a couple snuggling together, Gray asked, "What are they doing?"
"Falling in love."
"What?"
"A prelude to reproduction."
"I see."
Turning his head, Gray then saw two men snuggling together.
"What about these two?"
"Don't ask. I know nothing!" The Black Cat's fur bristled.
*For a young lich, the whole surface world was full of novelty, an endless stream of questions to be asked.*
*But for a ghost accompanying the lich, these questions were nothing short of a nightmare. Yes, a nightmare. As Gray thought he had mastered all the terms in the human world, he began probing deeper, trying to dissect all the "common sense," analyzing their meanings and values piece by piece, interpreting them with a lich's mindset.*
*This made the ghost feel like his entire worldview was collapsing—although he hardly had any worldview to begin with.*
Passing through a town, upon learning that it was Sunday, Gray insisted on attending a service like a knight to listen to the priest's sermon.
"As a knight, attending service is fundamental. Isn't there 'faith' written in my knight's oath?" To prove his devotion, Gray even pulled out a piece of paper with the oath copied on it, showing it to others.
In reality, he was the only "person" who insisted on doing this.
Yilin agreed. Yes, she agreed. Although hesitant, she eventually agreed. The entire army stopped to wait for Gray to attend the service. One must say, Yilin was quite accommodating to this "devoted" knight.
Thus, more than a thousand troops surrounded the entire church.
That day, only Gray, Yilin, and the Black Cat attended the service since the others couldn't fit inside. The priest's voice started trembling during his sermon.
"What is the point of humans having faith in the Holy Spirit?"
"The Holy Spirit will protect humans."
"Specifically, how does it protect? With magic?"
"With divine grace."
"Did the knights who were killed also have the Holy Spirit's protection?"
"Perhaps they weren't devout enough, so they weren't protected."
"How do you tell the devout from the non-devout?"
"For example, whether they attend service."
The priest initially intended to give a friendly explanation and then tell Gray, "A devout knight like you has nothing to worry about." But Gray abruptly said...
"That's bad. Among all of us, I'm the only 'devout' one. Won't we fail then?"
This was quite awkward.
The priest glanced at Yilin, who was standing behind Gray, looking coldly at him. Cold sweat broke out on the priest; he didn't dare to respond and could only offer an awkward smile. This made Gray fall into deep thought.
"I think I've discovered a secret about theology." Gray whispered to the Black Cat.
"Shut up, everyone knows this secret." The Black Cat whispered back.
"Mr. Priest, the next time I come, I hope to discuss divine grace with you. I find this topic quite interesting."
The priest hesitated and said, "Actually... there are many churches around, you don't have to come to me specifically."
"Why?" Gray's soul fire curved into a question mark again.
Of course, there was no answer to this question.
As they left, the priest handed Gray a Bible and said, "Holy Spirit above. Theology is endless, and as a servant of God, I don't fully understand it either. If you have any questions, you can find answers in the book or ask other priests. Just... please don't come to me specifically."
"Mr. Priest is quite a humble person." Gray remarked sincerely.
"Tch." This "tch" was uttered by the Black Cat trapped behind Gray's back with its legs crossed.
As soon as they stepped out of the church, the door slammed shut with a "bang," hurriedly locking itself.
Gray stood dumbfounded, turning back to look, his question mark almost forming a lollipop.
In those ten days, Gray spent most of his time asking why. Naturally, the primary victim of his inquiries was the Black Cat. After all, Gray wasn't bold enough to babble to everyone yet.
As for Yilin, she focused mainly on "preparations" during the ten days.
Apart from traveling and the scarce amount of sleep, she devoted most of her time to meetings, writing letters, and negotiations.
"According to custom, the King will personally preside over the celebration and cannot leave the capital until the end of the month-long event. This is our final deadline."
With only a thousand troops, a third of Count Caspar's forces, such a number was hardly enough to contend with the King. When most of the troops heard that Count Caspar would only contribute a third of his forces, they felt a sense of despair because they had already tried countless ways to get more support but failed. This thousand was likely all they could muster before the final showdown.
However, as a successor to the Beisher Family, Yilin clearly didn't think so. She had greater plans for these thousand troops.
She wrote down Count Caspar's allegiance in a letter and sent it to all corners of the duchy, placing it in front of various nobles. Along the way, she used the thousand troops to coerce weaker nobles into taking a stance and then allied with smaller nobles to pressure larger ones.
"If Baron Yiduo'er supports us, I will promise to double his land after I become the Duke."
...
"Tell your master he has one hour to decide. If he refuses to acknowledge me as the sole heir of Duke Beisher, my knights will mount his head on a spear."
...
"Yes, you're right. I might not be able to ultimately inherit the duchy, but if you refuse to submit to me, you definitely won't see tomorrow's sun. Even if you run, my knights will storm your territory, plunder your manor, and distribute your wealth and weapons to those willing to submit to me."
...
"If the Viscount refuses to accept a new agreement between us, I don't mind finding a new negotiation partner. For example, your brother. As far as I know, he's quite interested in inheriting your estate."
After each concession from their opponents, Yilin would reward them with some gold coins to demonstrate her generosity and wealth. Of course, she never forgot to leave a meaningful bloodstain on the coins.
After each show of strength from their opponents, Yilin would order Gray to uproot a tree or defeat one of their knights to intimidate them.
The seventeen-year-old girl showed an unusual maturity.
"Is this really a woman?" Pas asked.
All the remaining loyal knights, except the wounded ones, were used as fast messengers. Even Huoersi and Pas's mercenaries were sent out.
If Pas weren't injured, he likely would have been sent out, too.
With manpower shortages, Yilin's personal guard was reduced to just Gray. A lord only taking a single guard while leading troops provided by a potentially treacherous lord was something that would almost never happen under normal circumstances.
But these were not normal times. Moreover, after Gray had done so many horrifying things, it was unlikely anyone would try to harm those he protected.
Along the way, to intimidate minor nobles, Gray had uprooted six large trees, defeated three knights, and carried two millstones under everyone's stunned gazes…
And so, like a growing snowball, the ranks swelled. By the time the army reached White City after ten days, it had grown from a thousand to three thousand people.
Not much, not little. In any case, they at least matched Count Caspar's forces. At the same time, with Yilin's deliberate promotion, Gray's reputation quickly spread.
Ten days later, a white city, filled with bird songs and floral scents, appeared before Gray.
Layer upon layer of houses, an endless plain, vast farmlands, fertile soil, crisscrossing rivers with arch bridges scattered all over, and a continuous flow of people. It felt different from any town they had previously encountered, a feeling of interconnectedness and vastness.
Undoubtedly, this was the most prosperous human city Gray had ever seen. He was so taken aback by the extraordinary sights that he stood there, stunned, a countryside boy amazed by the big city.