Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

"Oh right," Christina suddenly remembered something and called out, "Thanks for the sandwich last night, old man!"

In response, Uri just waved as he rounded the corner.

Shaking her head wryly, Christina turned towards the stairs, silently thanking the old chef not just for the food, but for bringing a little bit of levity to her mood.

Before she could head up, however, Christina felt a slight tug on her arm and looked down to see a curious look on Elly’s face.

"Is something wrong?" Christina asked.

"Why did that uncle call you ’Princess’?" Elly tilted her head.

Ah, right, I never told her, Christina immediately understood and awkwardly scratched the back of her head, "Because I am a Princess."

Elly’s jaw dropped as her big eyes blinked several times.

"Sorry, I forgot to mention it yesterday," Christina apologized. She wasn’t quite sure why, but she just felt the need to do so.

After getting over her initial shock, Elly narrowed her eyes and stared hard at Christina’s face for a while before seemingly coming to some profound conclusion and nodding, "Papa said princesses are the most beautiful girls in the world, so I guess that makes sense."

Christina blushed slightly at the honest, innocent praise, but quickly composed herself and patted the young girl’s head, "Elly is also very cute."

Elly smiled at the compliment, but Christina could tell that it was more of a forced smile than a genuine one. Whether it was because the little girl didn’t believe her, or was just too sad to really smile, she didn’t know.

Knowing there was a long way to go, Christina didn’t press the issue and simply leaned down a bit to warn her, "Make sure you stay by my side and don’t let go of my hand, okay, Elly?"

Nodding, Elly gripped her hand a little tighter as the pair climbed the stairs and arrived on deck.

There, about 70 armoured soldiers were already lined up, facing north-west, their eyes all fixed on a pair of ships in the distance.

Looks like they’re about 5 km out still, but they’re coming downstream, so they should be here in about 10 minutes, Christina quickly judged.

At the same time, Elly was looking around nervously, the sight of so many soldiers who were supposedly from a bad kingdom frightening her somewhat.

Seeking a sense of security, she moved closer to Christina, the only one she felt somewhat comfortable around.

Although Christina might also be a bad girl from a bad kingdom, or rather, a bad princess from a bad kingdom, so far, she had been kind to Elly, and with no one else around she could trust, the little girl didn’t have much choice but to cling on and hope for the best.

As expected, Lana Gage was already on deck, organizing the troops.

When she spotted Christina, along with Elly, she raised her brow for a moment before nodding, understanding her young friend and subordinate’s thinking. She then motioned for Christina to take her place in the front row of soldiers.

Technically, Lana was organizing a formal welcoming party in anticipation of their ’allies’ arriving; but, in reality, it was a defensive formation and show-of-force, just in case something went wrong.

Everyone, Christina included, understood their commanding officer’s intent and acted accordingly, keeping their hands on their weapons, but also keeping them sheathed as they remained on high alert.

The minutes passed as more and more of the Third and Fourth Battalion assembled on deck until finally, the lead Darr Kingdom vessel pulled up alongside and extended its gangplank.

As soon as the ships were connected, a dozen Darr Kingdom soldiers scrambled over, two of whom, a man and a woman, wore distinct armour that signified they were of significantly higher rank.

Feeling the aura coming off the lead man, Captain Gage’s expression tightened ever so slightly as she thought to herself, A Mid-Rank Martial Initiate. This could get complicated.

Still, backing down now would only make them look more suspicious, so Lana stepped forward and gave a proper salute, "Greetings, Sir."

Ignoring Captain Gage entirely, the Darr Kingdom Martial Initiate swept his eyes over the deck, his expression unfriendly, before snorting, "You are all trespassing on Darr Kingdom soil. Explain yourselves."

Forcing her expression to remain neutral, Lana Gage reported, "Yesterday morning, we spotted signs of smoke and moved to investigate. Upon our arrival, we discovered a destroyed village and stayed to search for clues about those responsible, all in accordance with the agreement our two kingdoms recently signed."

"Hmph, I never made any agreement with you Rockwell dogs," the Martial Initiate snapped, "Do you have any proof you’re not the ones responsible for the destruction of our village?"

When these words were spoken, the tension on both sides clearly rose, with more Darr Kingdom soldiers crossing the gangplank and some of them even beginning to draw their weapons.

In response, the members of the Third and Fourth Battalions also raised their shields and brandished their weapons.

Realizing the situation was beginning to spiral out of control, Captain Gage raised her hand and ordered her subordinates, "Stay your weapons!"

Bitter looks filled the faces of the Rockwell Kingdom soldiers, while those from the Darr Kingdom sneered and stepped forward aggressively.

"Commander Anders," the woman in fancy armour hastily called out, "Are you sure this is wise? Our orders were..."

"Quiet, Lani!" The Martial Initiate, apparently surnamed Anders, snarled at his adjutant, "I don’t care what those higher-ups say, none of the Rockwells can be trusted!"

The female Captain named Lani wore a difficult expression, but ultimately stood down, allowing her superior to handle things his way.

Turning back to the Rockwell Kingdom soldiers, Commander Anders glowered for a moment, seemingly debating what to do when he noticed two individuals who seemed quite out of place.

"You there, identify yourself, and explain why you have a child with you," Anders demanded of the anomaly he had spotted.

At the same time, all eyes turned towards the two young girls among the Rockwell Kingdom soldiers, one of whom was wearing armour, the other clearly wearing someone else’s clothes and shaking quite seriously as she tried to hide herself from view.

Christina was certainly concerned about why Elly had suddenly begun cowering shortly after the Darr Kingdom’s Martial Initiate Commander boarded their ship, but she couldn’t exactly deal with that at the moment as she had more immediate concerns.

She didn’t like the way Commander Anders was glaring at her, and really didn’t like his overbearing attitude towards her and her fellow soldiers, but Christina also understood that the animosity between the Darr and Rockwell Kingdom’s wasn’t something a simple order from their leaders could settle.

Still, if this Mid-Rank Martial Initiate thought he could intimidate her, he was dead wrong.

Since you want to do this the hard way, I won’t hold back, Christina thought to herself, patted Elly to comfort her, then stepped forward to formally introduce herself.

Worst case scenario, she could just pull out her trump card and shut this man up.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!