After a few seconds, Liora shook her head and pushed this matter aside.

Though she was curious about Eleanor and believed that she might be the key to uncovering the truth of this world, her staying in Hope City, or rather, staying close to Duchess Lobelia, was ultimately more important and beneficial at the moment.

As her consciousness expanded outward and witnessed Eleanor leaving the city, accompanied by a large team of Knights and soldiers, Liora closed the door behind her.

She understood that Eleanor's departure was bound not to last long. Sooner or later, the two would meet again.

--

Moonlight gently fell from the dark sky, draping Hope City and its buildings in a thin veil of silver.

The city was shrouded in silence, and no people could be seen in the streets.

Most of the soldiers had already fallen asleep, while the ones keeping watch were staring intently at the wilderness in the distance, praying that no beast would come out of it today.

They hoped that the peaceful days would last forever.

Because of this, no one noticed that more than a dozen figures had unknowingly jumped over the stone walls and entered the city.

Dressed in black and wearing silver masks, their footsteps were nimble and steady as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

Very quickly, they approached the manor at the city's center. Climbing its stone walls with surprising ease, they jumped into the building from a barely open window.

Their figures blended into darkness. They wandered through the complicated corridors and stairs, soon arriving before a large stone gate and pushing it open.

The room inside was dimly lit.

Only the flickering fire of the burning candles cast a long shadow across the floor.

The room was mostly empty. Only a large throne stood at its very center, on which a purple-haired woman was currently sitting.

As their eyes landed on the woman, the many figures stepped out of the darkness.

In unison, they fell on one knee and saluted respectfully.

"Your Excellency.", they spoke at the exact same time, their voices overlapping.

The purple-haired woman, who was obviously Duchess Lobelia, didn't respond.

She merely nodded her head in acknowledgement and waved her hand, signaling the masked figures to rise to their feet.

Then, she asked a question in a cold voice:

"Have you completed your investigation? What did you find about her? Is she telling the truth?", Duchess Lobelia asked, her tone no longer as kind and warm as when she cheerfully chatted with Liora.

In response to her question, one of the several masked figures stepped forward.

After performing another salute to show their respect, they answered:

"Lord, we've already investigated everything regarding the person you asked us to pay attention to. However, their information is quite bizarre.", the masked person prefaced their answer before continuing:

"The first sighting of that woman was at the mansion of the Black Tulip family. At that time, a battle seems to have taken place. That woman showed up seemingly out of nowhere, killed the intruders, and ultimately saved the Black Tulip family."

"After that, she, for some unknown reason, attacked Baron Bloodshield. No one knows why or what really happened, but the Baron should still be alive, as there have been sightings of him since then."

"Then, that person visited the Ancient Beast Wilderness for a few days. Finally, she came here."

The masked person first gave a brief summary of everything before expounding on it.

Before long, Liora's entire journey was vividly outlined in front of the Duchess's eyes.

Some of the events that the masked person recounted certainly happened, while others were merely the spies' inferences.

No matter what, their information gave the Duchess a clearer understanding of Liora.

Duchess Lobelia fell into thought.

The information collected by the spies strangely matched with Liora's words, seemingly confirming her apparent identity.

Her appearance was indeed sudden, as if she had just left her hometown, and her movements were erratic and without a true purpose.

But the Duchess remained doubtful.

From the very beginning, she had not believed Liora's explanation.

After all, a wandering Knight with her level of strength was simply unheard of.

"To be able to become a Great Knight, her family must possess the appropriate technique. All the noble families that possess such techniques are famous in their own right. Even the fallen ones."

There were many noble families that had been destroyed over the past couple of centuries, leaving their descendants scattered across the Iron Armor Empire.

But when a family reached a certain level of power and strength, even if they were to be destroyed by an unfortunate accident, the details of their descendants would still be well-known by high-level people.

Yet, the Duchess could not match any of this information to Liora.

"Moreover, that woman is quite young. Even though strong Knights can retain their appearance, their aura can not be hidden. She is no more than twenty-five years old.", the Duchess estimated.

To reach that level of strength at such a young age certainly required talent. But at the same time, it also required a large number of resources.

Rare plants, precious potions, and corpses of beasts...

Liora's story of having never left her hometown was full of loopholes once one understood this.

The Duchess's hand lightly pressed against the throne's armrest as countless thoughts raced through her mind.

Although she heard about Liora's visit to the Ancient Beast Wilderness, she never mulled over whether this visit was related to the beasts' riot.

In her mind, this was at most an unfortunate coincidence.

After a couple more minutes, the Duchess's focus returned to reality.

Though some time had passed while she was deep in thought, the masked figures were still standing there, awaiting her next orders.

Seeing this, the Duchess didn't keep them waiting any longer.

"Go and continue your investigation regarding that person.", she said, and added:

"At the same time, send someone to pay attention to the movements of the Royal Family. I want to learn about every single one of their actions once they reach the border."

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