Chapter 1174: Section 1175: Lloyd’s Sigh
This was a kingdom of steel and machinery.
A metallic man dressed in a black-and-white uniform with a Sheriff’s leather hat stepped out of a towering building.
The metallic man was exceedingly handsome, yet his skin had the color and texture of steel, reflecting a metallic luster under the sunshine.
As soon as the metallic man stepped out of the building, he looked up. A flash of red light passed through his eyes, and a beeping sound came to his ears, “Alert received, the third princess of the Ocalleg royal family has disappeared from the secret chamber of the royal court. All Sheriffs who receive this alert, please commence the search immediately, alert level, national high alert.”
“Sheriff Number 31, alert received.”
“There is also a verbal message from the royal family, if you encounter the third princess, don’t reply to anything she says, and do not anger her.”
“Understood.”
After receiving the alert, the metallic man, also known as Sheriff Number 31, immediately accessed the memory database in his mind, searching for information about the third princess.
The only piece of information he could find was a somewhat yellowed photograph, which depicted a little girl in a pink dress smiling innocently while hugging a small dog.
.com
The handwriting below the photo read: “Third Princess of Ocalleg Royal Family, Tasya. Danger level, cataclysmic.”
Sheriff Number 31’s brain short-circuited for a moment. The last cataclysm that the Heart Kingdom faced seemed to be the super earthquake that almost destroyed the Royal City ten years ago.
And now, the harmless-looking Princess Tasya was named cataclysmic?
Doubt flitted through Sheriff Number 31’s eyes, but it quickly disappeared. As a mechanical doll, he was endowed with very few emotional templates.
Sheriff Number 31 looked around and noticed that the sky was already crisscrossed with figures in Sheriff uniforms. Clearly, the message had spread throughout the entire Royal City.
After some thought, Sheriff Number 31 dashed towards a less crowded area—towards Central Park.
His speed was astonishing, like the wind coupled with lightning, and he quickly arrived at Central Park. However, the surroundings were filled with mechanical dolls and residents of the principality—there was no sign of the third princess.
At that moment, a tube popped out from beneath Sheriff Number 31’s boot, activating the core energy within his body, releasing a large volume of airflow, which he rode smoothly into the sky.
High above, Sheriff Number 31’s head turned in a complete 360-degree circle.
All the surrounding scenery was drawn into his gaze.
Nothing was amiss, except for a man wearing a strange cloak by the small lake at the edge of the park. From this person, he sensed no citizen information.
Presumably, it was a foreigner who had smuggled himself into the Heart Kingdom.
Under normal circumstances, Sheriff Number 31 would have immediately approached to punish and detain the smuggler, but with a bigger case at hand, minor cases like punishing smugglers would be deprioritized.
Still, the man was a nuisance. Sheriff Number 31 took a careful look at the man, intending to record his approximate information for a follow-up investigation later.
He observed the cloak-clad man holding an oil painting brush, painting by the lakeside.
From high above, the painting appeared to be the azure blue lake in front of him, including the steel buildings of the Heart Kingdom beyond the lake.
“A painter? Hmm, the danger level can be lowered further.” Sheriff Number 31 adjusted the danger level and case priority in his mind before turning away to fly to another part of the sky.
After Sheriff Number 31 flew away, the man painting by the lake looked up and let out a chuckle.
“Mister in the cloak, why are you laughing?” At that moment, from the shadows of a small grove on the lakeshore, emerged a girl holding a small puppy, wearing a bright blue flouncy dress. Her skin was porcelain white and translucent, with youthful moisture and smoothness, her cheeks a faint pink with a few freckles, looking innocent and adorable.
Without looking at the girl or speaking, the man painting simply curled a beautiful arc with his lips.
Because of the hood, the girl couldn’t see the man’s face, only his lips curved into what seemed to be a smile.
The girl pursed her lips, lowering her head to tell the puppy, “The big brother in the cloak is ignoring me. I’m angry!”
The puppy let out a groggy bark in response.
“Do you think I’m angry too?”
The puppy continued to humor her with another bark.
The girl, hands on her hips, shouted at the man painting, “If you keep ignoring me, I’ll get angry! And when I get angry, lightning will strike you down, you know!”
As the girl’s voice fell, what had been clear skies above the lakeshore suddenly gathered a cluster of dark clouds, with what looked like Lightning Serpents writhing within.
However, the clouds did not seem to favor the girl and no lightning fell; instead, the clouds simply drifted away.
The girl said, feeling wronged, “I’m really angry this time, and a great wind will blow you away!”
No sooner had she spoken than a breeze blew by the lake, although it wasn’t strong, only managing to blow the man’s hood down. It was only then that the girl could see the face of the man painting.
It was an exceptionally handsome youth, his lips curled in a smile, seemingly indifferent to his surroundings, indulging himself in his painting.
“Hey, look at me for a second!”
Getting no response, the girl stepped forward, by the youth’s side, meaning to give him a shove.
But as she came to his side, the girl was captivated by his painting.
If Sheriff Number 31 were here, he would see that the peaceful, beautiful lake scene he had observed earlier did not match reality. Although the youth truly painted the lakeshore and the buildings of the Royal City beyond it, the scene in the painting was far from tranquil.
The azure sky had turned pitch black and blood red, and countless winged demons poured out of a vortex in the sky.
And a terrifying Demon God was descending from the vortex.
Beneath the whirlpool was the Royal City of the Heart Kingdom as it is known today. But the city depicted in the painting lacked any sense of peace or beauty; it was full of warfare and bloodshed, with the land itself cracked open in vast fissures, magma bursting from the crevasses and engulfing the entire Royal City.
The girl beheld this sight and could not help but cover her mouth in shock, “What are you painting… Why is it like this?”