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The Kingdom of Dane was a nation composed of the Jutland Peninsula and the Zealand Island.

“In fact, the names Jutland and Zealand are just pronunciations in the imperial language. The native pronunciations are slightly different.”

Among the crowd disembarking, Brantley, who was explaining his hometown to Sophia like a tour guide, suddenly caught Karl’s curiosity.

“How are they different?”

“The Wilan Peninsula and Shellan Island. These are closer to the official names. Sir Meyer should also take note.”

“No, why do you twist people’s surnames so casually?”

“That’s just how everyone calls them here. Now, Sir Chazel. I’ll guide you. Let’s go.”

Karl, unable to articulate his frustration, snapped back.

“Why do you call Sir Chazel’s name correctly!”

“Are you saying I should casually call the honorable nun knight’s surname now?”

Leaving Brantley and Karl, who were creating a situation akin to a joke, Sophia looked around.

It was a bustling port. Large and small ships and longships were docked at the pier, with workers loading cargo, passengers disembarking, and those waiting to board, creating a scene of bustling activity.

Indeed, it was a capital city befitting the Kingdom of Dane, which prided itself as the center of the Baltic Sea. Copenhagen truly deserved to be called a bustling port city.

Amidst this, Sophia’s group strolled along the pier.

Walking at a leisurely pace, Sophia casually remarked.

“It seems the Duke’s concerns have indeed come true.”

Despite the seemingly endless and trivial conversation, the group couldn’t help but stiffen their previously light expressions. They were already aware of the underlying implications.

Brantley, who had been trying to maintain composure with jokes, clenched his fist anxiously upon hearing Sophia’s words.

‘No, no. Anxiety won’t help. Now is the time to stay calm.’

Ignoring the cold sweat seeping from his clenched fist, Brantley calmly scanned the surroundings with a composed gaze.

Originally, spellcasters develop a cognitive domain based on their subjective understanding as they train in the Reverse Brain Method and delve into the mysteries of spells. This unique cognitive domain of spellcasters becomes more precise and profound as their understanding of the world deepens and their interpretations become more plausible.

Brantley, initially a court poet and rune mage from the North, had cultivated his cognitive domain to read the relationship between main strength and spell waves, and to interpret the causality between the celestial constellations and earthly runes.

However, after meeting Sophia and being exposed to Qi Men Dun Jia, his common sense and cognitive abilities were completely transformed.

Not only could he read the influence from main strength to spell waves to phenomena, but he could also read the reverse influence from phenomena back to spell waves. At this point, his cognitive domain had the ability to discern the roots from the branches.

With the added characteristics of a formation master, his newly reconstructed perception revealed the true forms hidden behind the veil of illusions.

The bustling streets of Copenhagen seemed unproblematic. The people coming and going were clearly the lifeblood of the city.

The only issue was that among these people, a significant number of monsters were moving around disguised by illusions.

Monsters with pale skeletons wearing worm-eaten clothes, monsters with tentacles resembling worms sprouting from their eyes, nose, and mouth, and monsters resembling birds, lizards, worms, or beasts but with grotesque features.

These hideous monsters, quietly mingling among the people and moving as if following a set pattern, were enough to evoke indescribable feelings in those who saw through the illusions.

“It’s surprising. Monsters, by nature, reveal unconditional hostility and ferocity towards humans, yet they show no reaction even when humans pass by closely…”

Conra, following Sophia, also saw the same thing and made a mysterious expression as if he had seen something strange.

{That’s evidence that someone is controlling these monsters. There’s a being exerting strong control over these numerous monsters, suppressing even their innate instincts.}

Conra’s spirit, Esras-Hermes, whispered to him. Recently, this spirit had been feeling somewhat overshadowed. Originally the group’s spell expert and Conra’s spell teacher, he felt his position slightly diminished after Sophia took in the Crow Dragon Haegis as her spirit, Drayg-Haegis.

He was a spirit born in the Silver Age, known as the origin of spells, yet since the appearance of Drayg-Haegis, a Bronze Age spirit, he had been unable to assert himself.

In other words, his position as a knowledgeable advisor was under threat. The prowess of a dragon-born spell master was indeed formidable, transcending the characteristics and gaps of different eras.

Thus, he had to at least maintain his position as Conra’s contracted spirit. Otherwise, his dignity as a Silver Age spirit would be compromised.

While conversing and hastening their steps, the group suddenly caught sight of a strange scene.

Sophia, who was following Brantley, suddenly reached out her right hand and snatched a sailor-dressed monster disguised by an illusion.

‘Huh? Did I see wrong?’

Karl, stunned by the sudden turn of events, rubbed his eyes, doubting what he had seen. But the scene before him was undeniably real.

In Sophia’s right hand, now retracted, was a monster, its neck grasped and subdued, hanging limply.

Karl, with an indescribable expression, asked.

“Is it okay to just grab it like that?”

The scene could be summed up as a swift, confident action, almost like snatching a thief’s bread. To an outsider, it might seem as if Sister Sophia Chazel had a penchant for kidnapping or theft.

“Huh? Is there a problem?”

Sophia’s response was incredibly nonchalant. With an innocent expression, she tilted her head, looking puzzled, as if nothing had happened. Except for the monster hanging limply in her right hand, her expression was utterly harmless.

In short, the previous act of bad hands was just a normal action for her, not worth noting.

Looking around, Conra and Maria, who had been her disciples, showed no unusual reaction, merely giving Karl a wry smile. Brantley, surprisingly, showed no reaction, his eyes shining brightly as if Sophia’s action had inspired him.

At this point, Karl thought.

‘Maybe I’m the strange one.’

The principle of majority rule is inherently sad. When someone holds common sense universally accepted, and the rest of the group lacks it, the one with common sense becomes the odd one out.

Karl prided himself on his adaptability. He pursued a good spirit of conforming to majority rule to avoid becoming the odd one out in any situation.

As Karl quickly rationalized, Brantley added an explanation to support his rationalization.

“Controlling monsters isn’t as convenient as one might think. Sir, do you know about familiar spells?”

“Not in detail, but isn’t it a spell that controls another life form, sharing vision and senses?”

“Exactly. But such spells are usually not single spells but combinations of several basic ones.”

According to Brantley, familiar spells are combinations of domination, connection, and communication spells. However, dominating another life form is never a simple task.

Naturally, to exert control over another life form, there must be a connection between oneself and the other, and through this connection, one’s influence is projected.

But if there’s a connection and influence is projected, it also means the other side can influence you.

Of course, spellcasters aren’t fools and have developed spells to bypass the subject’s consciousness or reaction systems to reduce the other’s influence and increase their own.

But the more complex the subject’s thought circuits or the more subjects there are, the more the spell’s difficulty increases.

“Actually, the bidirectional circuit is due to the ‘communication’ aspect of the spell. To receive timely feedback from the controlled familiar, you can’t cut off the signals coming from the other side.”

In short, to get information from the familiar, you must maintain a bidirectional circuit, and with such a circuit, it’s hard to control multiple complex life forms due to the spell’s resource limitations.

‘Hmm. Okay, I don’t understand a word of this.’

Of course, Karl didn’t understand any of it, but not wanting to show it in front of Brantley, he nodded calmly.

Brantley, having noticed Karl’s state, concluded his explanation with a look of disdain.

“In short, the numerous monsters being controlled here probably can’t serve as the caster’s eyes and ears. Exerting such control over monsters means giving up the bidirectional circuit to strengthen one-sided control. Of course, the caster isn’t a fool, so some might still have bidirectional circuits.”

The gist was that Sir Chazel would handle it.

As Karl nodded, Sophia’s group left the port.

Exiting the port, the group noticed the number of monsters on the streets decreasing. However, Brantley remained wary, as the presence of monsters in the city’s heart was highly threatening. The situation hinted that enemy blades were hidden in Copenhagen’s core, and Brantley couldn’t hide his grim expression.

Suddenly, Brantley asked Sophia.

“Sir Chazel, have you decided where to stay?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Sophia had planned to stay at the Copenhagen church’s dormitory as usual. Having always done so, she had no other plans.

Thus, Sophia was puzzled by Brantley’s sudden question. But Brantley had his reasons.

“I told you my family is in Copenhagen. Now that we’re here, you must give me the chance to host you. If Sir Chazel graces the Somz family, Brantley Somz would ask for nothing more.”

It wasn’t wrong. When traveling, it’s customary to visit a friend’s family home if in the area.

Sophia, who had initially thought of staying in the dormitory, considered the convenience of the church’s dormitory for a traveling nun knight. However, she also thought of her companions.

Karl, upon hearing of Brantley’s family home, looked excited, his previous boredom gone. Conra and Maria, though pretending otherwise, also showed anticipation in their eyes at the prospect of staying in a proper mansion instead of the church dormitory.

‘Hmph, these guys…’

Sophia suddenly realized that since taking them in, they had never stayed anywhere but church dormitories.

Though the church dormitories were better than mediocre inns, there was a clear difference between religious facilities and secular accommodations.

‘Well, I can’t keep them with me forever. If I plan to let them become independent someday, it might be good to let them experience such situations now.’

Thinking this, Sophia leaned towards accepting Brantley’s request.

There was another reason.

‘In a situation like this, it’s better to have the support of a powerful local figure.’

Copenhagen’s situation was different from Aarhus. Unlike Aarhus, which was nearly destroyed and occupied by monsters, Copenhagen still maintained peace (?) and prosperity (?), at least on the surface.

If this situation continued, the city might eventually become a demon’s playground, but fortunately, it hadn’t reached that point yet.

For someone like Sophia, this situation was tricky.

‘The most troublesome part is that I’m an outsider.’

Despite the church’s spiritual authority and the transcendent, extralegal powers of paladins and nun knights, they were essentially wandering outsiders, not local influential figures or celebrities.

To ordinary people, nun knights and templar knights were high-ranking strangers who appeared one day, caused a stir, and left. Even if the local church was close to the people, there were limits.

Thus, the support of a prestigious family with influence in the city was invaluable.

Moreover, the Somz family was a notable court poet family in the Kingdom of Dane. Considering that court poets often became chancellors in the North, the Somz family likely had some influence in the royal court.

Influence over the people was one thing, but having a voice in the royal court was crucial. It meant being able to mobilize public authority with less burden.

“Alright. This time, we’ll rely on Sir Somz. Then, we’ll trouble you.”

“Thank you! I’ll take good care of you. You won’t regret it!”

Brantley Somz’s face was filled with joy and a triumphant smile.

 

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