Chapter 19

In just a few days since his rebirth, Luo Di had always judged everything here based on his past memories, largely ignoring the memories of the former "Luo Di." Therefore, when certain things that seemed self-evident were noticed again, Luo Di realized that the consequences of these minor differences might be beyond his expectations.

The children of Duke Luxifolong?

Luo Di knew Duke Francis, who, although now referred to as a "Count" by these soldiers, was a traitor in Luo Di's memory, someone who made people grind their teeth in hatred—

During the orc invasion, this scoundrel not only failed to organize an effective resistance but also betrayed his country for personal gain, directly leading to the fall of Holier City!

Francis's treacherous acts ultimately led to his capture and execution by the rebel army. When his body was hung in the square, it even drew cheers from countless civilians—considering that the execution of a noble, especially a lord ennobled by the kingdom, would never be accepted by the noble class, but this time, no faction within the empire condemned the execution of Duke Francis. Because Viscount Francis had colluded with the orcs and betrayed his people to gain sole control over his territory!

The memory suddenly became clear at this moment. Luo Di recalled the conversations of the NPCs around him when he was leveling up his secondary skills in Holier City after the game started—

At that time, the common people on the streets were complaining about Duke Francis's high taxes and often reminiscing about the old duke. Many people analyzed that Duke Francis seemed to have done many despicable things to obtain his father's title.

What exactly did he do...

Luo Di squinted his eyes, thinking, and shifted his focus to the "duke's daughter" mentioned by the soldier—he vaguely remembered that before Holier City fell, a master tanner would always talk about how beautiful and pure the old duke's daughter was when giving players quests, and would assign tasks to distribute bread and food to the poor in the slums, because this master tanner had once received gifts from the old duke's daughter in the slums and had been grateful for years.

Where did she go?

Thinking about this, Luo Di suddenly felt a sense of nervousness as his heart raced—the fog of memory began to clear... Luo Di suddenly remembered the words of the master tanner: "It's truly unfortunate... Miss Sally died in the orc attack on Finks Village two and a half years ago..."

Suddenly, Luo Di felt a jolt of electricity in his mind, making him shiver!

As the clues gradually pieced together, the words from his memory surfaced, and Luo Di combined them with the content of the letter to form a highly plausible hypothesis...

The orcs' next move... Could it be related to the death of the old duke's daughter?

Could it be that they are going to attack Finks Village?

This hypothesis immediately brought more fragments to mind: "Francis obtained the duke's title by any means necessary," "the old duke's death was suspicious," "some nobles in the kingdom had secretly colluded with the orcs." These pieces of information made him even more confident in his assumption—given Francis's despicable character, this traitor would certainly eliminate any obstacles to his path to power, even if it meant getting rid of his own sister!

And if he could stop his plot? Could Holier City be saved from falling?

This thought uncontrollably surfaced in his mind, making Luo Di frown again.

If possible, he would not let any opportunity to change history slip by. If everything matched his guess, what Luo Di needed to do was not difficult—just prevent the duke's daughter from going to Finks Village... As for the rest—

"Luodi?"

Seeing Luo Di standing there motionless for a long time, the soldier who had previously responded asked softly, which immediately snapped him back to reality. His expression instantly became very serious, and he turned around and ordered, "Notify everyone to gather immediately. We have a new mission."

"Uh, yes!"

Although the soldier did not understand why Luo Di gave this order, the无形的威信 (intangible authority) Luo Di had already established made him immediately comply and run into the village.

Luo Di did not idle here. After some thought, he ran around the village and finally obtained two relatively clean pieces of parchment from an old man who had once been a scribe in the manor. He also borrowed a quill pen and some thick ink to write two formal letters—one signed by Lieutenant Soding and the other by the steward of Nolan Village, Anderson.

Next, he squinted his eyes, diluted the ink, and scribbled the vague and messy word "Finks Village" in orcish on the rough parchment.

When Luo Di decided to take action, he had already clarified his thoughts. He first needed to confirm whether Miss Sally was really going to Finks Village. If so, the probability that this event matched the disaster in his memory was over 90%—if not, these forged letters would give him a plausible reason to explain himself.

The "Ranger" class has some "intelligence" specialties, so Luo Di was very familiar with official language, and forging these letters was a piece of cake for him.

As for "Finks Village," Luo Di had never been there before his rebirth. In his memory, it was a ruin when the game started, and the NPCs mentioned that it no longer existed due to the orc attack, leaving only a pile of ashes. However, the specific location of Finks Village, according to the memory of "Luo Di," was less than thirty kilometers from Nolan Village.

Thinking about this, he still had a chance to prevent this from happening.

After preparing everything, the team, excluding the injured, was all assembled. Apart from the two who had already gone to notify the scouts in other villages and the original injured, there were now nine people in total, including Luo Di. Although they looked slightly tired, everyone was ready for battle.

"The orcs may attack Finks Village tomorrow," Luo Di said without wasting time, waving the letters he had just written. "This is a letter from Lieutenant Soding, proving that we are legally conducting cross-zone patrols and notifications. Any questions?"

Ruge, of course, knew the letters were fake, but he also knew that Luo Di would not call this group to Finks Village without reason, so he cooperatively replied, "No questions, sir."

This veteran was now thoroughly convinced by Luo Di and even had a blind trust in him.

Carter and the remaining soldiers also followed Ruge's lead. Luo Di did not say more, directly leading the group on horseback and heading for Finks Village without a word—by this time, evening had passed, and the sky was pitch black.

"Can I really change history?"

Luo Di's face was expressionless as he gazed at the distant horizon, but his heart was not calm.

...

With Holier City as the center, the territory governed by the Luxifolong family was called "Eifuta." The vastness of the territory and the abundance of resources made the duke's word almost as powerful as the king in the southeast.

Francis Luxifolong, the eldest son of the old duke Angmar, was exactly twenty years old in the 588th year of the Alon calendar and held the title of Count.

Using Luo Di's standards for player evaluation, his base class was "Noble Heir." In terms of attributes, it differed from "Legion Soldier" in the added value to intelligence, making it most suitable to choose advanced classes like "Elemental Mage," a mysterious profession that only a few could undertake. The highly talented Francis was now at the threshold of advancing to the next class—level 10 "Noble Heir." There were reports that he had already obtained the title of "Elementalist," representing a true advanced class.

If this were true, then for the level 2 Legion Soldier Luo Di, Francis would almost be an insurmountable mountain.

In the eyes of others, Francis was a standard heir—well-mannered, knowledgeable, and often seen chatting and laughing with others at the city's balls, banquets, or private parties. Though not overly mature, he had a commanding presence that set him apart from others. At a young age, he had made rapid progress under the guidance of a private magic teacher and even wore the bronze frost-lattice emblem representing a "Junior Elementalist." No one doubted that he would be a perfect and qualified heir to the dukedom and believed he would bring even greater glory to the Luxifolong family.

In contrast, Francis's sister Sally seemed less dazzling, but when people mentioned this girl, they would smile sincerely because her kindness and benevolence were well-known throughout the territory. The title "Duke's Daughter" often meant that many other nobles would inquire about marriage proposals before she came of age, but this was not the case for the Luxifolong family. The reason was that this girl, who often distributed bread to beggars in the slums, had decided to join the "Rose Cross" Church after coming of age—members of the Church were not allowed to marry.

The weather in mid-April was suitable for travel. According to the old duke's requirements, Francis and Sally would tour the villages and towns on the edge of the territory every year at this time.

In the old duke's own words from ten years ago, "Every noble should not forget their true responsibilities, which are not to enjoy the happiness brought by wealth alone, but to ensure that their subjects have a better life."

Although many of the border villages were fiefs of lords like Lord Kirk, the lords welcomed the duke's children's tours, as they could not refuse the face of Duke Angmar.

In the past, the old duke would always travel with his children, but in the last five years, Angmar Luxifolong had not accompanied them, which led to Lord Kirk's attitude toward Francis and Sally gradually cooling.

The two young people did not show any impatience about this.

Today was the seventeenth day of Sally and Francis's tour. They had to visit more than twenty villages and towns around the territory, which would take about three months according to the plan—during the tour, they would eat and stay in poor villages, with only two maids and sixteen guards, and no additional pomp.

This might be one of the reasons why old nobles had more depth than nouveau riche. No matter how much wealth the family had, the children would still experience the hardships their ancestors endured in building the family's foundation. In the current Vic Village, Francis, dressed in simple clothes, was talking to his sister—

"Dear Sally, the team is supposed to set off for Finks Village tomorrow, but the Uncle Smith I need to find won't be back until tomorrow. To avoid delaying the trip, why don't you go there with the team today?"