Mills recovered from the light and saw Stormveil City in the distance.
Stormveil City's walls rose from the ground, soaring into the clouds, majestic and magnificent. They were constructed from meticulously cut, square stone blocks, their bluestone material making them appear exceptionally sturdy. Their astonishing height made the walls seem to connect the blue sky and white clouds, as if they were about to pierce the heavens.
The nearly square, roughly hewn blocks used for the city walls had been polished and treated by masons, with neat edges that made the walls even more robust and durable. Each stone was placed in a specific position, tightly interlocked with the surrounding blocks, forming an astonishing wall.
At regular intervals, the city wall's towers stood like sentry posts. These octagonal towers not only served a defensive purpose but also provided stable support for the wall. They offered convenient multi-angle archery points, making the defense even more secure.
From afar, it resembled a colossal Gothic sculpture.
The golden borders made the city's stone walls vibrant and luxurious, as if to tell you it was a dazzling paradise.
The surface of Stormveil City's walls was meticulously decorated, with the gray of the stone walls complementing the gold-trimmed banners, adding more nobility and grandeur.
The wall surface employed extensive relief and carving techniques, making each stone block more exquisite and detailed. For example, the tops of the towers branched out like tree limbs, beautifully adorned, as if praying with hands raised to the sky.
Mills, amazed, looked at the beautiful blonde, golden-eyed young woman in front of him and couldn't help but ask, "Miss Roderika, may I ask what city that is in the distance...?"
Roderika clasped her hands tightly to her chest; she had just been praying in the direction of the Erdtree.
After hearing Mills' words, she lowered her hands and replied with a smile, "Please don't worry, Sir Mills. This is Lord Arthur casting Glintstone Magic, summoning back his territory and his people."
After she finished speaking, she subtly observed Mills' expression.
Indeed, after Mills heard the words "Glintstone Magic," the intense curiosity on his face vanished, replaced by admiration and awe.
"Lord Arthur is truly incredible. I've only heard that sorcerers can use various miraculous Glintstone Magic, but I never expected it to be so grand," Mills exclaimed, looking at the Erdtree in the distance, which emitted two different lights.
Roderika secretly nodded in her heart. Lord Kenneth Haight was right; no matter what strange things happened, as long as they told these people that the tarnished Lord was casting Glintstone Magic, they would find various reasons to convince themselves to believe it.
If more strange things happened later, this never-failing excuse could be used to deal with the humans, dwarves, and Elves outside.
As Roderika thought, she put on a smile and stopped beside several Elven-style wooden houses.
The wooden houses were built with rough logs, with faint traces of annual rings carved by time on their surfaces. Their roofs were covered with moss, blending into the surrounding natural landscape, as if they were trees that had grown in the forest for many years.
Several rays of sunlight filtered through the dense branches and leaves, scattering in front of the wooden houses.
Around the wooden houses, some exquisitely carved log stools were scattered, covered with soft and elastic moss.
The wooden house doors were ajar, letting out a faint, soft woody scent.
Small ornaments woven from dry branches hung in front of the doors, swaying gently in the wind, making a rustling sound.
On both sides of the wooden houses, climbing vines slowly ascended the walls, with a few crystal-clear small flowers interspersed among the verdant leaves.
Mills and the others were a bit dumbfounded; rather than wooden houses, they were works of art.
Roderika turned around and said to Mills and the others behind her, "This is where Lord Kenneth has arranged for you to stay. It has the most basic living supplies. If you are still not satisfied—"
Mills' throat moved slightly, and he asked uneasily, "Is—is this really for us to live in? Isn't it a bit inappropriate? These houses should be for the Elves, right?"
Although Mills had never seen Elves, he had heard his village elders, who had seen Elves, describe their appearance and dwellings.
So, when he first saw these wooden houses, he thought: Yes, these are the houses Elves should live in.
The people following him also nodded after hearing Mills' words.
Although a desire to move in was evident in the eyes of these people, they looked at their own attire, which was out of place with the exquisite houses, and felt a bit ashamed.
They felt they were unworthy of living there and would instead dirty the houses.
Roderika maintained her benevolent smile: "Don't worry, these houses were originally built by the Elves to help Lord Arthur and were always intended for people to live in. It's just that there aren't many people in the territory, so many houses have been left vacant."
Then, she playfully winked and said, "Or do you want to live in the dwarves' stone houses? Although the indoor environments of both are similar, the dwarves are naturally a bit noisy. If you can tolerate the noise the dwarves make all day long, I'll take you there."
Mills immediately waved his hands and quickly said, "No, thank you, we'll stay here."
Roderika nodded, turned sideways, and made a gesturing motion: "You can arrange the selection of houses yourselves. Soldiers will come later to bring you some clean clothes. Each house has a place for bathing, and the water basin is behind these wooden houses. It's filled with clean river water that Lord Kenneth just ordered the soldiers to fetch. However, you'll need to fetch water yourselves later; the stream isn't far from here."
"Our current location is Haight Fort. A little further south is Morne Castle. Do you see that large castle and wall? That's it. Morne Castle is inhabited by the Erdtree's people. You can go say hello if you're interested, but be aware that some people might have bad tempers. There are also some Elves and dwarves living there. You can buy things from them once you have money later. Behind Morne Castle is Stormveil City, which Lord Arthur just summoned. It should still be very empty now. You can get to know it slowly later."
Mills listened carefully to Roderika's words, noted down the important points, and then thanked her gratefully: "Thank you, Miss Roderika."
After watching these humans walk excitedly towards the Elven-built wooden houses, Roderika bid them farewell and left.
Meanwhile, Arthur, riding Torrent, arrived at Morne Castle.
"Lord Arthur, welcome back."
As soon as Arthur dismounted, he heard D's respectful voice.
He looked up and saw D standing meticulously at the entrance of Morne Castle's castle, waiting for him.
Behind him, Rogier leaned against the castle's passageway. Seeing Arthur look at him, he slightly raised the brim of his pointed hat with his hand and smiled in greeting to Arthur.
Arthur exclaimed with some surprise, "D, Rogier? You two actually returned from Eriador? When?"
He walked quickly over, first giving D an unexpected hug, and then also hugging Rogier, who was walking towards him.
D shivered uncomfortably and replied, "We also just returned today, but it was this morning."
Rogier added, "Yes, and we were just explaining the situation in Eriador to Nepheli Loux. But then we suddenly felt a strong light and knew you had returned."
While Arthur and the lion hybrids were heading to Limgrave Greatbridge, he also didn't forget another area Gandalf had mentioned to him: Eriador.
When Elrond brought the Elves over, Arthur also asked him about the situation in Eriador.
However, unfortunately, Elrond also knew very little about Eriador.
Or rather, the relevant information he knew was about Eriador from thousands of years ago. Elrond was unclear about the current situation in Eriador.
"In the distant Second Age, lush primeval forests grew on this land, and Eriador was part of the western portion of this great primeval forest. But then a fierce war occurred on this land, the primeval forest was destroyed, and Eriador became a land we have not set foot on for a long time."
As Arthur recalled Elrond's words to him, he asked Rogier and D, "What were the results of your investigation? What's the situation like in Eriador now?"
Rogier paused, then smiled and retorted, "One bad news, one good news. Which do you want to hear?"
D rolled his eyes at Rogier in dissatisfaction and said to Arthur, "Don't listen to Rogier. There's no good news or bad news. Lord Arthur, the situation in Eriador can be described as—"
"Terrible."