Here, Ellie was a bit envious of Bell and Uncle Ged, who seemed to have no worries. She had originally thought she could gain some benefits by coming to the Eight Greed Kings' Sky City.
Indeed, in terms of gains, acquiring a piece of equipment that could increase her level was a huge gain for her, but it also drew her into Bai Xia's calculations, which truly made her very unhappy.
The next problem was how to travel to the Evaluation Country. The Evaluation Country was on a peninsula even further north of Re-Estize, and Sky City was at the southernmost tip of the continent. This meant crossing almost the entire continent.
Even though she had been to the Evaluation Country, this distance was too far for a High-Tier Teleportation Magic scroll. If Sticky Rice Cake flew, the fastest estimate would still take at least several days.
It seemed the fastest way was for her to use a scroll to directly teleport to the Re-Estize Royal Capital, and then ride Sticky Rice Cake directly. However, Ligurit had previously said that the Sky City's Guardians didn't like Dragons, which was why Sticky Rice Cake and the Dragon Maid were kept outside.
Speaking of which, she wondered how the Dragon Maid and Sticky Rice Cake were doing outside? After all, they had spent the night here. Was it a bit too much to leave them in the desert overnight?
Should she meet up with them first? No matter what, the Dragon Maid was someone she had brought, and she had promised that nothing would happen to the Dragon Maid.
So, Ellie proposed her decided route: first, she would teleport to the Re-Estize Royal Capital, then fly to the Evaluation Country by Dragon. However, she was not familiar with the Evaluation Country, so Ligurit would have to lead the way. Ligurit agreed, and was somewhat surprised that Ellie could directly teleport to the distant Re-Estize Royal Capital. Chao Lu simply said, "Everything will be as Lord Ellie commands."
Finally, Snow Elf escorted everyone to the transparent bridge before stopping. Ellie could tell that Snow Elf also really wanted to go along, but Chao Lu had prevented her, citing that someone had to guard Sky City. Snow Elf understood... so she could dutifully stay home and watch the house. Thus, Snow Elf, along with the two Heavy Armor Knights, watched Ellie and her group depart.
"What a pity! If only I could have joined Lord Bai Xia in causing some mischief," Snow Elf said, looking at the retreating figures of the group.
"Lord Snow Elf, why did Lord Bai Xia walk out of the city? Is our Teleportation Gate device broken?" one Heavy Armor Knight asked, turning his head to look at Snow Elf, who was sitting on his broad shoulder plate, with some confusion.
"That thing is one of E-Rantel's important facilities! How could it be broken? It's perfectly fine!" Snow Elf replied.
Snow Elf also found this point very strange. Wouldn't it have been better to just use the Teleportation Gate? E-Rantel's Teleportation Gate network covered the entire continent. Although many small Teleportation Gate nodes might not be directly usable due to lack of maintenance for too long, Chao Lu personally took people to maintain the Teleportation Gate nodes in the major countries of the continent every so often. So, there was no such thing as it being broken and unusable. Therefore, there must be some reason why Lord Bai Xia didn't use the Teleportation Gate.
"Then why?" another Heavy Armor Knight also expressed curiosity.
"That's Lord Bai Xia! We can't possibly fathom Lord Bai Xia's thoughts. There must be some profound reason! You see, didn't Chao Lu say nothing either? It must be Lord Bai Xia's deliberate arrangement like this," Snow Elf said.
"I see. After all, it's Lord Bai Xia, an existence beyond our comprehension." The two Knights nodded in unison, indicating... "Princess Elizabeth, are you alright!" The Dragon Maid, who had been guarding outside the barrier, seemed much relieved upon seeing Ellie. Sticky Rice Cake also spread its wings and cried out.
"Of course I'm fine. I was just delayed inside for some matters. I'm truly sorry for making you two wait outside all night!" Seeing that they both seemed fine, Ellie was relieved.
Sticky Rice Cake was fine, after all, it was a recruited mercenary; if it died, there would be new ones. If anything happened to the Dragon Maid, she wouldn't be able to explain it to the Dragon Queen, and she would lose face. She had already promised that nothing would happen to the Dragon Maid.
"What could possibly happen with me here?" Chao Lu said in a flat tone upon seeing the Dragon Maid. It was then that the Dragon Maid noticed an extra person in the returning party, and upon seeing Chao Lu, the Dragon Maid's face immediately fell.
"You, you are..." The Dragon Maid's voice even trembled a little. Although the Dragon Maid had indeed shown a slightly surprised expression when she saw Bell before, and had occasionally stolen glances at Bell, Ellie had noticed this.
She just thought that Bell and that Dragon Maid probably had no connection, so she didn't pay attention. But this time, facing Chao Lu, whose appearance was almost identical to Bell's, the Dragon Maid's attitude was clearly different from when she saw Bell. It was very clear... the Dragon Maid was afraid.
Upon seeing Chao Lu, the Dragon Maid instinctively took a step back and glanced behind her.
This was very clear: shock combined with fear, making the Dragon Maid instinctively think of running away. It seemed that Bai Xia must have done something incredible with Chao Lu hundreds of years ago, leaving a psychological trauma for the Dragon Maid.
"Hmm? This guest? Do you know me?" However, Chao Lu didn't seem to recognize the Dragon Maid and replied to her very respectfully.
"Ah... no, that... before..." The Dragon Maid didn't dare to finish her sentence and waved her hands frantically.
"Before, huh..." Chao Lu closed her eyes, seemingly recalling something, but opened them in less than two seconds.
"No impression. I don't think I know you," Chao Lu said.
"It's normal that you don't recognize me. Back then, I was weak and cowardly, it would have been impossible for you to remember me," the Dragon Maid replied somewhat dejectedly.
"A Dragon? I understand. It's normal for Dragons to fear me. However, it's quite rare to find a Dragon from that era still alive. So, I ask you, are you still Lord Ellie's enemy?"
Chao Lu, using some method, had discerned the Dragon Maid's true form, which Ellie couldn't even tell. From her appearance, she looked no different from a normal human.
And Chao Lu's words made Ellie even more certain that Bai Xia had indeed made Chao Lu do many incredible things in the past, causing even Dragons to fear her?
And she also said, "Are you still an enemy?" This implied that Bai Xia and Chao Lu's main enemies in the past were Dragons? After all, in the original story, didn't the Eight Greed Kings go to war with the Dragons? This also fit the original setting.
"No, I... how could I be Princess Elizabeth's enemy!" The Dragon Maid quickly denied, because even Ellie felt the killing intent that Chao Lu exuded when she spoke those words. If the Dragon Maid hadn't denied it, a Dragon's life would probably have been lost in the next second.
"Chao Lu, this is my friend, not an enemy." Ellie also quickly spoke up for the Dragon Maid.
"Understood. This is Lord Ellie's friend. What about this one?" Chao Lu turned her gaze towards Sticky Rice Cake, scaring Sticky Rice Cake so much that it immediately lay down on the ground, almost exposing its belly.
"This is my pet and mount," Ellie quickly explained. She still needed Sticky Rice Cake for the journey ahead!
"As expected of Lord Ellie, even a Dragon can be tamed as a pet." Chao Lu then withdrew her killing intent, which made Ellie breathe a sigh of relief. Ligurit was right after all; the Sky City's Guardians all disliked Dragons.
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