Firefly Journey

Chapter 132 Walking in the Snow (5)

Claudia countered, "Weren't we true friends before?"

Lin Yuanran was unwilling to lie: "Yes, I always felt that you had ulterior motives. I know that Professor Cassius is attractive to everyone, but I am not him."

Claudia said, "My goal is very simple: to make friends with capable people."

"But I'm not that great. Even my second awakening was only recently."

Claudia smiled and asked, "How many days did it take you to go from an ordinary person to a Second Awakener?"

Lin Yuanran answered honestly, "Less than a year."

"It took me five years."

Lin Yuanran was stunned.

The progress of cultivation among extraordinary individuals varies from person to person. Some are exceptionally talented, while others are dull-witted; Claudia, by all accounts, is the former.

In other words, it takes about the same amount of time for a normal genius to go from an ordinary person to a second-level awakener as it does for Claudia.

But is he moving too fast?

Lin Yuanran temporarily attributed his talent to transmigration, guessing that coming to this world might bring some special advantages. As for where these advantages came from, he would have to uncover them step by step.

"So, you're really amazing."

"Thank you for the compliment..."

Lin Yuanran immediately thought of a question, a question he had asked before setting off, but which Claudia hadn't mentioned.

"What exactly is your purpose in participating in this mission?"

"You asked me this question before, and I said I didn't want to talk about it."

"now what?"

"Now that things have come to this, there's no harm in saying it."

Lin Yuanran noticed a hint of melancholy in Claudia's eyes, which might be related to the purpose of her trip.

Claudia squatted down, hugging her knees with both hands and resting her chin on them.

"Our Kingdom of Delos is a straight line connecting the Empire and the Duchy to the east and west respectively. Many years ago, the Debasa Empire was powerful and launched invasions against neighboring countries, aiming to unify the continent."

The first to suffer would be our Kingdom of Delos. Because we are located right between the two countries, holding a very important geographical position, taking us would be tantamount to breaking through the eastern barrier of the duchy, exposing us nakedly to the Empire.

The Duchy of Delos did not sit idly by and wait for its demise. When we were unable to withstand the invasion of the Debasa Empire, they extended a helping hand, and thus our Kingdom of Delos did not fall.

However, the principality's purpose was no better than that of the Debasa Empire; it was simply for self-preservation, not out of genuine desire to help us.

However, the Duchy is our savior, so in order to solidify our relationship with the Duchy, I was sent to Yicheng.

After arriving at St. Louis Academy, Lin Yuanran frantically read through some history books about the ancient continent, and these stories were already very familiar to him. They didn't seem to have a direct causal relationship with Claudia's current trip.

Claudia continued, "My father has always been in poor health. He was exhausted from resisting the invasion of Deba. Overwork has taken its toll, and he is now frail and may collapse at any time."

In recent years, there has been ongoing discussion in China about where the throne would go if the father were to pass away.

Although I am the eldest daughter of the royal family and the first in line to the throne, I have lived in the duchy since childhood. The people of the Kingdom of Delos do not have much support for me.

I have many younger brothers and sisters who are still young and have no experience in politics, and are clearly not suitable to be the next monarch.

Only my uncle, Prince Enor, has served my father faithfully since the beginning of the imperial invasion, achieving numerous military exploits. Most importantly, he is still young and healthy; aside from the issue of succession, in every other respect, he is more suitable than I to inherit the throne.

At this point, Lin Yuanran roughly understood something. His first encounter with Claudia was at that auction. It was clear that she, as the host, was working very hard to promote the products, which showed that she cared deeply about her country.

This means that she is interested in the throne.

But as she herself said, having grown up in the duchy, she had no roots in the Kingdom of Delos. Although her subjects knew of her existence, if they had to choose, most would probably choose the more familiar Prince Enor.

“My uncle is very wary of me and also covets the throne. I don’t want to give up. Because I know that my uncle’s aggressive and militaristic attitude towards foreign powers will only drag our country into the abyss.”

Over the years, I've worked tirelessly to build connections and cultivate power within the duchy, all in the hope of one day returning home to inherit the throne.

“If I remember correctly, you and I should be the same age,” Lin Yuanran suddenly said.

"Yes, but members of the royal family are used to seeing swords and bloodshed from a young age. Age is not a reason to restrain their ambitions."

Lin Yuanran said, "That's not ambition, that's ideal."

Claudia smiled. "Perhaps. As of now, my power is still far less than my uncle's. The reason I came here is to win over the northern tribes and form an alliance."

Lin Yuanran frowned and said, "Then why didn't you come openly and honestly?"

Claudia smiled again. It seemed that this boy from the Rhine countryside was still simple-minded and did not understand the intricacies of the matter at all.

“I’m keeping an eye on my uncle’s movements, and he’s keeping an eye on me too. Can we come openly and honestly? Is that even possible?”

Well, Lin Yuanran isn't a member of the royal family, nor does he have any political ambitions. He's oversimplified the power struggles involved.

Lin Yuanran said, "Did you come alone? That can't be right. You are a princess of a country. Even if you are willing to take risks, those who care about you and follow you will not let you act so recklessly."

Claudia explained, "Sister Lisa, oh, the auction house host you met, she is actually my Royal Guard Commander."

"She did send me some men on this trip to the north, but those guards are shrouded in mystery and won't be exposed unless absolutely necessary, so even I haven't seen them."

"I see," Lin Yuanran said. "So you said you wanted to be friends with me, was it to try and get me to help you deal with that Prince Enor? I'm not going. I just want to cultivate in peace."

What a joke! Why should I help you? No matter how much you offer, it's not as tempting as a single hair from home!

Claudia said, "I just wanted to give it a try. Whether I succeed or not doesn't really matter. Besides, I'm only 16 years old. It's normal to make friends with people my own age. I didn't mean to drag you into this."

Lin Yuanran decided to avoid this topic.

"Given our current situation... let's think about what to do next."

"Anyway, I came to the Northern Territory to form alliances with those tribes; the missions don't really matter. Coincidentally, I have subordinates in the Northern Territory, and my next step is to contact them to get down to business."

Lin Yuanran glanced at her, or more accurately, at her spatial artifact.

"I think I'll stay with you for now."

Claudia looked up: "Are you going to be my bodyguard?"

"You can think of it that way. Anyway, once I'm settled, I'll still go see the reporter."

Lin Yuanran hadn't forgotten what the mission was. Claudia was a princess; even if she lost her employer, nothing would happen when she returned to Yicheng.

He couldn't do that. Although the penalties for failing a mission within the academy were not as severe as those in outside guilds, which involved legal liability, it would still have some impact on his points and such.

Most importantly, there is a rating system. If a student has a high failure rate in a task, then there will be restrictions on the tasks they can take on later. For example, they may not be allowed to take on some high-paying tasks.

That was not what Lin Yuanran wanted.

Therefore, at the very least, the reporter needs to see the person alive or dead to find out the whole story so that he can explain things clearly and avoid being punished.