The train emerged from the fog. As Roland predicted, Montaigne never appeared again.
At night, David returned to his compartment and found the three servants who'd been trembling in the cabinet all day.
"I'm hungry. Zoe, Yui, help me prepare dinner."
The maids collected themselves and obediently went to carry out the order.
Interestingly, there weren't just three people hiding in David's compartment.
The female hunter Veronica, crouched in the corner secretly crying, looked both relieved and at a complete loss when she saw David enter...
The train's cook had already been taken out by Montaigne. David, already tortured unbearably by the Devourer, finally ate a feast under the twins' care.
He filled the dining table with food and frantically, rapidly stuffed it into his mouth.
Veronica, sitting across the table, stared dumbfounded at David devouring food without any noble etiquette, while she herself had no appetite.
"Pardon my boldness, Miss Veronica, why did you become a hunter?"
Halfway through eating, David, who'd finally barely suppressed his hunger, had the mood to look at the female hunter across from him.
Well no, actually his gaze had never left various parts of her body the whole time. Only now was he properly looking at the female hunter's eyes.
He'd noticed this morning that Veronica was the only hunter who hadn't charged up to fight Montaigne to the death, so she was the only hunter on the train who survived.
He didn't mean to look down on the female hunter. He was just somewhat curious—if she couldn't face the darkness, then why choose this path that required facing darkness?
Veronica's face looked somewhat troubled. After hesitating a while, she lowered her head and said: "My hometown was destroyed by dark creatures. My parents died under darkness's claws. My brothers and sisters were also devoured by monsters... At the end, a hunter saved me, so..."
"So you became a hunter?" David stuffed a piece of meat in his mouth and picked up her sentence.
Veronica nodded silently.
Counting the previous two times, David had saved her three times already. She really had no face to talk about how she aspired to become a hunter in front of David.
She was just a failure.
"You'll become a successful hunter."
But David suddenly said the opposite, which surprised Veronica somewhat.
"At least you survived, right?"
The noble young master's hands and mouth didn't stop. Who knows how he could eat and talk at the same time while still being so articulate.
"A hunter who can stay alive is a good hunter... What about your companion? Is he still alive?" David was referring to Muken.
Veronica nodded slightly.
From her expression, you could tell that even if Muken was alive, his situation wasn't so great.
David shrugged. "Courage, fearlessness—these are all rare qualities. But even rarer is using courage and fearlessness to survive. Advance when you should advance, retreat when you should retreat. On this kind of basic judgment, you've already done very well."
Is this comforting me?
Veronica's gaze trembled.
"Can I ask, what was your ritual to become a supernatural being?" David suddenly asked with a curious face.
The female hunter froze, slowly saying: "It was... the Fate Ritual."
David put down his knife and fork and smiled. "See, fate is already favoring you, isn't it?"
...
In the black night, on the edge of the tracks leading north, a small village was set ablaze. In the sea of fire, wails and cries for help rang out endlessly.
A tall hunter walked out from the village entrance. Behind him, only large pools of blood remained.
The firelight illuminated his face full of wrinkles under the worn hunter's hat, illuminated his demon-possessed smile.
"Found it... finally found it... Daughter, wait for me. I'll bring you back to life..."
The hunter held in his hands a gem radiating red and blue light. He looked at the gem and muttered to himself, walking all the way south.
The death prison had stripped away too much of his power. He'd gone too long without tasting death. But now no one could stop him anymore...
...
The train traveled all the way from the remote southern border toward the north. In the following days, Prince Roland never appeared again. David could only learn of His Highness's arrangements for him through messages from His Highness's attendants.
As they got closer and closer to the capital, the scenery outside the window gradually changed.
On the vast plains and wastelands appeared large expanses of endless wheat fields and lush farms.
And whenever they approached a town, David could see large alchemy factories. The chimneys of those factories floated up light smoke, condensing into thick clouds in the air.
The closer to the capital, the less they saw clear skies. The cities where they stopped to resupply became more and more prosperous, giving David quite a feeling of returning to his previous life's Industrial Revolution era.
It wasn't until the train had traveled safely for nearly a month that they finally entered the capital's territory.
The Goliath Empire's capital no longer had city walls. When the train crossed the Lionheart River on an iron bridge, this "pearl" of the north unfurled before David's eyes.
This was a dim pearl. The sky was shrouded by dark clouds. In the distance, on the brighter skyline, stood numerous smoke-billowing chimneys.
Countless steam ships traveled on the Lionheart River's surface. The bustling port was packed with people.
On the town's spacious streets ran carriages and some gear-heavy small steam cars. On both sides of the streets were rows of pointed-roof houses and various clock towers and tall buildings.
Residences, shops, workshops and other buildings extended all the way to the horizon, outlining a massive city that already had the prototype of a previous-life modern megacity, making David feel somewhat close to home.
The railway route happened to be at the boundary between city and countryside. After crossing the river, this prince's exclusive express train actually began heading toward the suburbs.
David wouldn't follow Roland to the final station. According to His Highness's instructions, he'd get off at the diocese station in the capital's south.
The Fourth Prince's messenger had already arrived at the capital ahead of time. David would directly enter the Church of Light under her arrangements and become part of the Church Hunters.
But before that, the people picking up David held a brief decoration ceremony.
A court envoy in red clothes led a ceremonial guard team to greet David Frank with the most standard imperial royal etiquette.
Only David and his three servants were at the station. Other than that, this ceremony had no other observers.
After a brief speech, the envoy handed David a silver medal.
The pure silver medal was engraved with a silver dragon spreading its wings, representing extremely high honor bestowed by the royal family.
Silver Dragon Medal.
In the Goliath Empire's nearly sixty years, David was the only person to receive this medal, personally ordered by the elderly Empire Emperor Timur O'Brien Goliath.
The reason for receiving such an honor was naturally because he'd heroically rescued the Empire's Fourth Prince Roland on the train.
Most importantly, David wasn't officially a hunter or royal guard with duties. He was just an ordinary border noble's son.
Of course, Prince Roland's intentions were behind this medal. She was already paving the way for David to enter the Empire's center.
David examined the dragon pattern on the medal and discovered this dragon was exactly "half" of the Goliath royal emblem.
The Goliath royal emblem consisted of a lion, a dragon, and crossed spear and sword. He'd once seen some medals representing military merit in his father's study—basically all lion-shaped... You could see this Silver Dragon Medal was indeed very rare.
"Wonder how much it'd sell for?"
At this moment, David and Doug behind him, responsible for manual labor, had the same vulgar thought.
Putting away the medal, David boarded the carriage waiting for him with his servants, heading to the Church of Light headquarters in the southern diocese.
The beautiful ancient pointed-roof buildings on both sides of the carriage windows opened David's eyes. Their intricate carvings combined the patterns of blazing sun with fine gear styles, forming a very unique charm.
David suddenly had a feeling that after coming to the capital, he was like a country noble young master just entering the city, seeing the real side of this world for the first time.
Oh right, he was originally a country noble young master...