Sylvan felt distressed.

He received a letter from Nightingale about three days ago while he was in Fairy Castle; a flying-elemental magical beast delivered it. The letter stated that Watson had taken the astrologers to explore the Misty Forest and had uncovered many ruins. Blackmoon Town was also recruiting refugees; they had more than 100,000 people under their protection.

That amounted to around one-tenth of the total number of refugees at the border. Many people who knew about it appreciated Blackmoon Castle's good deeds, and some people in Fairy Castle even praised them.

The following were the maids' conversations that Sylvan overheard on the way to the toilet.

One maid said, “I heard that a new power, Blackmoon Castle, has appeared on the border and is recruiting refugees. If they joined them, they'd be safe from the magical beasts, and they can eat and drink for free too. I heard that the food there is better than the food in Fairy Castle.”

Then, another maid said, “Your news is outdated. According to what I heard, the food in the Blackmoon Castle is not only better than the food cooked here, but the ingredients are also first-cla.s.s and expensive! They eat silver-tier magical beasts' meat and ginseng of the same grade. That is a silver-tier ingredient. Even Lord Sylvan only eats it once during the festival!”

The first maid asked, “How do you know so much about Blackmoon Castle?”

The other maid replied, “A relative of mine was attacked by magical beasts during the winter and hid in Blackmoon Castle. I just received a letter from her in the morning. She said she had gained ten kilograms in Blackmoon Castle in the past few days, and her strength had also changed from iron to bronze-tier! I had wanted to bring her to Fairy Castle, but she refused to come now. She said Fairy Castle couldn't compare to Blackmoon Castle. I'm really envious of her.”

That year's winter was different from usual. The magical beasts were not only exceptionally powerful, but they were also more intelligent. As the border count, Sylvan had to protect his territory and send men to save other manors on the border.

Every year, that was a routine occurrence—Sylvan would dispatch troops to those manor owners in need. In exchange, the manor owners would provide Sylvan with money for protection. However, due to the arrival of Blackmoon Castle that year, the manor owners returned all of the guards that he had sent them.

It would be costly to seek Sylvan's a.s.sistance, but with Blackmoon Castle, they would not only save money, but they would also be able to eat and drink for free. At first glance, the decision was obvious. Many manor owners even decided to demolish their manor and relocate their entire family nearer to Blackmoon Castle. They would be neighbors with Watson once winter pa.s.sed.

The astrologer was very depressed but helpless about that.

He had admitted to the astrologer that Watson was his son. It was not appropriate to suppress him at that time. Furthermore, Blackmoon Castle had adopted a large number of refugees. If he acted rashly, it would only cause chaos among the people. One could only say that Watson had made a good move.

He was concerned about how he would deal with Watson and Blackmoon Castle. He was well aware that if the trend persisted, he would lose control of the border. However, there was no other option. Then, he received Nightingale's letter.

He wanted to see how many ruins Watson had unearthed; he wanted a cut of the spoils. Then he would use ident.i.ty as a father to urge Watson to be careful. It was simply ideal. That was what Sylvin had in mind as he dashed across the border.

At that moment, Sylvan a.s.sessed the youth in front of him.

He had brown wavy hair and eyes the color of the Azure Sea. His body released waves of magical elements as powerful as a platinum-tier elite. His arms and legs were also exceptionally strong, with explosive strength. One could see his attainments in body cultivation.

Furthermore, Watson's physique had some kind of strange power that caused him to feel a sense of crisis. Watson was the only person who could threaten him across the entire border, other than the astrologer.

“Those who can be regarded as Master's disciples are not ordinary individuals, as one might think. His skill may be even greater than mine if he can achieve such results at such a young age.”

He felt that way because of Watson and what he had seen and heard along the road that had made him nervous.

Misty Forest's previously luxuriant trees had been hollowed out, and the hills had vanished, transformed into towering pillars. Only a barren plain connected to the Dragonspine Snow Mountain remained.

The dense fog forest was rich in resources. Under normal circ.u.mstances, it would not be a problem to use it for hundreds of years. It was hard to imagine that someone could use a week to empty all the resources there. If he had not seen hundreds of thousands of magical beasts running on the plain, Sylvan might suspect that he had found the wrong place.

Furthermore, those supernatural beasts were not typical creatures. They were at the very least silver-tier, with tens of thousands of gold-tier magical beasts amongst them. If those magical beasts were to be released, it would be an unspeakable calamity for the entire border. Even Fairy Castle's strength would be insufficient to stop them. All of those magical beasts obeyed Watson's commands, which made Sylvan ponder it.

He had a grudge against the king, and revenge required strength, and those hundreds of thousands of magical beasts would undoubtedly be of great help to him.

With a meaningful expression in his eyes, Sylvin smiled and patted Watson's shoulder. “As I've just told you, Watson, if the ruins in the Dragonspine Snow Mountain are excavated hastily, the mountain may collapse and trigger an avalanche. The only solution is to employ magic to fill the excavated area. And I happen to be very good at earth-elemental spells, so please allow me to a.s.sist you as a father.”

Sylvan said the word father loudly. He reminded Watson not to resist him and to pay heed to his ident.i.ty.

His ident.i.ty as a father?

Watson scratched his head and looked confused. Who was Sylvan's child? Why would he tell him that? He even deliberately emphasized it. Was his child amongst his group of men?

Watson looked around and finally saw Nightingale. She was the only one who echoed the characteristics of Sylvan's child.

'Nightingale is the border count's child? Well, it's not impossible.' Watson stroked his chin. Even though Sylvan looked young, probably about 30 years old, the elves' bloodline was different from humans. Elves could live for a long time, and their appearance would hardly change.

While Watson pondered that, the astrologer walked forward. At first, he glared at Watson angrily, as if he blamed Watson for taking matters into his own hands. Then, he turned to look at Sylvan. “Your sense of smell is really sharp, Sylvan. I did not intend to tell you that. So, who told you? If I'm not wrong, it must be Miss Nightingale, right?”

Nightingale dropped her head in embarra.s.sment after the astrologer called her out. Sylvan, on the other hand, appeared unconcerned. “Master, I have complete command over the border. Is there anything I shouldn't know about this? After all, we're a family. I came to check on the progress of the exploration of the ruins and to provide a hand. What is the problem?”

He emphasized the word family.

“Fine. You are, after all, his father. I will not meddle in your family matters.”

The astrologer waved his hand. “But you came at the right time. I don't know what kind of danger is in those 10,000-year-old ruins. I was worried, but with your help, there should be no problem.”

“Don't worry, Master. I'll do my best. If we discover any treasure in there, I only want three-tenths of it! As for the other ruins that have been excavated, I want one-tenth. Do you have any objections, Master?”

Sylvan raised a finger. He thought he was already very generous. It would be unreasonable not to give him some benefits when they excavated the ruins right under his nose. The astrologer nodded. “I have no objections.” Suddenly, a young voice echoed from the side.

“I have an objection.”

Watson raised his hand.

Of course, he had an objection. He painfully excavated all of those ruins. The process may not be complex, but the border count did nothing, and he wanted to share the benefits. Why? Who was Nightingale's father?