However, I was more concerned about another point expressed in the girl's answer: "Farns? Are there still families with their names recorded?"
Although I've heard there are still isolated cases, I've never actually confirmed them.
Since the collapse of the pre-kingdom era, which was under the rule of the kingdom, following the Black Tide, the family names that had been used to distinguish the nobles from the commoners were abolished by the majority of the surviving people. This was not only to convey the will to help each other equally in the face of disaster, but also to make a statement of completely severing ties with the noble forces that had caused the incident.
According to the historical records that were rescued in time and are still surviving, the Kuroshio Incident was caused by a royal member who blindly pursued power and performed an extremely difficult and uncontrollable summoning ritual on the outskirts of the capital, which ultimately led to the disaster.
This resulted in the complete annihilation of two cities near the capital by the black tide surging from the summoning array within a very short time, with no one escaping unscathed.
I had heard before that there were families with surviving names in the northern region, even ducal families that had been stationed in the far north since the kingdom's time, but they were few and far between. Unfortunately, no one had ever personally witnessed any descendants of that family traveling outside, so it was impossible to confirm how credible this rumor was.
I tried to ask Yao, the most knowledgeable person here, but the lady with only her delicate head on the table closed her eyes, frowned, and pondered for a long time before finally dropping a bombshell: "If my memory serves me right, the family with the name Farns should only be one royal noble family from the pre-kingdom era."
I was so startled I almost fell off my chair. Even Hikari, who had been patiently waiting, couldn't help but exclaim, "Royal family?!" and then scrutinize the black-haired girl from head to toe.
This caused the black-haired girl to tilt her head back and let out a smug hum from her nose, before enduring another five minutes of tickling torture.
Yao continued to ponder: "Logically speaking, the capital city where the royal family resided was the first area to be attacked by the Black Tide. Even with two archmages stationed there, they couldn't slow down the Black Tide's advance for even a moment. There shouldn't be any survivors... Could it be that another branch of the royal family was scattered elsewhere back then? Then why haven't we heard any news from them since..."
“Yao, you seem to know the Farns family quite well.” I tried to ask her.
With a furrowed brow, Yao remained silent for a while: "It was just a chance encounter, and we're not that familiar with each other." She paused, then added, "What's clear is that it's at least unrelated to what we need to deal with right now."
It seemed to be something she didn't want to talk about for the time being, and I could only nod in understanding.
That's true. Everyone has things they don't want to reveal, and it's tolerable to keep things to yourself as long as it doesn't affect the status quo.
Alice, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, only paused briefly before continuing to complete her assigned tasks methodically. First, she inquired about the other person's address, and then, at my instruction, asked about the location where the accident occurred.
But the response was somewhat unexpected: "Hengyao, Hengyao City, you outsiders wouldn't have heard of it."
This is indeed a city I've never heard of before, one that doesn't exist on any current map or in any past records.
Even Yao and her group, who claimed to have ventured deep into the hidden forbidden zones multiple times, shook their heads in disbelief as they looked at each other with questioning eyes.
"Even the site of the former Yong Kingdom, which was confirmed to have sunk a hundred years ago, has never been heard of with a similar name."
Yao's remarks were practically a final verdict.
She sighed, her tone carrying a hint of longing: "Please answer our questions seriously, young lady, as this concerns how we will treat you and how we will treat you. You wouldn't have just picked up this family name from some history book and made up a city name to try and deceive us, would you?"
"Really! I wouldn't stoop to such a trivial thing as lying!"
Tears welled in her eyes as Anne Farns curled up in a ball. Even now, freed from the vines' tickling, she still looked like a trembling little girl: "Hengyao City really exists! It's just that it's always been in a place without any contact with the outside world. This is the first time I've ever interacted with people from outside the city!"
"It's really just like what the old man said, it's so scary outside! Waaah!"
Once the conversation escalates to tantrums and rolling on the floor, there's nothing you can do.
Even though she knew those tears were just a byproduct of laughing too hard earlier, the atmosphere was slowly shifting in the girl's favor.
"It would be much easier if that crack from before were still there."
I couldn't help but shake my head and sigh as I looked at the outer wall of the miniature garden, which had already self-repaired and been completely restored.
Compared to the previous incidents of accidental intrusion, the damaged outer wall of the miniature garden recovered surprisingly quickly. In the blink of an eye, it went from having dark holes to having only a few cracks and fissures, and soon there was no trace of the cracks left at all.
It looked as if someone who had deliberately opened it was eager to erase any trace of themselves and quickly disappeared from the spot.
If it weren't for the remaining fragments of the outer wall that hadn't completely dissipated on the ground, and the girl's presence as further evidence, I would almost have thought it was just my hallucination.
"It's possible that someone did this on purpose."
Yao agreed with some of the guesses: "Let's assume for now that she's a descendant of the previous kingdom. Considering this premise, it's not impossible that they might frame each other. Disguising a death scene as an accident is one of those guys' specialties."
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