Aske had a brief conversation with Mao Zhongwei and the others, deciding to rest in the fortress first since Academician Shao Qiangang was old and could not physically handle coming down from such a high mountain.

As the group entered the fortress, a call was made internally to Count Friedrich of the Sorren Family.

Friedrich, of course, knew the importance of this matter because Princess Sofie had once instructed him to keep an eye on Mont Blanc in the southern regions and notify her immediately should anything occur.

The Shatai Fortress in the Southern Border was established based on this reason, and meeting the Squad Leader of The Azure Longsword here made Friedrich instantly aware something was amiss.

Since the princess was now the Empress of the Empire, she should have long since left that mercenary group. Whatever grudges and sentiments there were between the two sides, no one knew.

Therefore, Friedrich dared not to be negligent and promptly made a call to the Empire Knight Order.

Now that the Magic Tide cap had risen to Lv.40, the Church Court's technological products no longer had the risk of being destroyed by burning. Thanks to the good relationship between the Holy Daughter of the Church and the Empire's princess, things like electric lights and telephones had become widespread in the empire.

Soon, the Knight Order notified the princess, who personally spoke with Friedrich over the phone, which greatly invigorated him.

The princess gave the highest instructions: appease these people and ensure they stay in the Shatai Fortress.

Thus, the orders were passed down step by step until they reached the middle-aged noble who was in charge of the fortress.

This noble hurriedly had the best food and wine prepared, planning to host a banquet for the four of them tonight to get them drunk. If they wanted to leave tomorrow, he would organize an outing for hunting... In short, he would do everything possible to keep them there.

However, before the banquet even began in the evening, a stream of radiance flew in from the northeast direction, transforming into the figure of Eleanor within the fortress.

"Aske!" She rushed into the castle hall, seeing Aske sitting in shock on the chair, she immediately ran over joyfully.

"Eleanor?" Aske was slightly stunned.

The once slightly naive Knight Girl had now matured as if she were a juicy peach: her golden wavy curls draped over her chest, supported by lofty mountains. Her skintight knight robe with a white base and black cross couldn't conceal her shapely curves and extraordinarily pleasing long legs.

She deftly unfastened the cloak from her back with one hand, tossed it onto a table beside her, and hurriedly dashed to Aske's front, as if she wanted to plunge into his arms, but stopped just shy of him, shyly twisting her hands, showing a gentle smile:

"You're back?"

"Yes, I'm back." Aske also smiled, getting up from the chair.

The middle-aged noble, attendants, along with Mao Zhongwei, Yu Ziwen, and others nearby could all see the eagerness with which the princess rushed in and the tenderness and affection in her eyes... It was almost as if it were turning into syrup.

It clearly showed deep feelings.

Mao Zhongwei silently exchanged glances with Yu Ziwen, communicating with each other through their eyes:

This is the princess of the Holy Solomon Empire?

Yes, it should be, no doubt.

Divine Luo is a leading power in this world, we've got to establish good relations.

Do we need to? I think as long as we have our comrade marry her, the diplomacy with Divine Luo Empire would be rock solid, impenetrable, and we can immediately ascend to the level of an "all-weather strategic partner" for our country in this world, achieving the initial goal of finding a foothold.

"Hey, let's do some introductions." Aske didn't leave the others hanging for too long and began introducing them to Eleanor.

"This is Viscount Graf, who warmly invited us to attend his banquet tonight."

"Your Highness, I feel immensely honored by your visit," the middle-aged noble, overjoyed, quickly performed a noble's bow. Eleanor smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.

"These are people from my world. Comrade Mao Zhongwei, from the Security Department, akin to your Blade Warrior Secretary here; Comrade Yu Ziwen, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, akin to your Emperor's spokesperson; Academician Shao Qiangang from the Academy of Sciences, akin to your Empire's Archbishop."

"Hello," Eleanor politely greeted each one.

Mao Zhongwei and the others acted courteously as well. Although they were big shots back on Earth, over here... they had nothing of worth and no status to present. Without Aske's connections, forget about meeting the Empire's princess, they wouldn't even have the qualification to meet Viscount Graf who managed the fortress.

"Have you gone back to see your mother?" Eleanor withdrew her gaze and smiled at Aske again.

"I've seen her, she's doing well." Aske replied.

"How long do you plan on staying this time?" Eleanor's vibrant blue eyes gazed at him affectionately.

"It's hard to say, still thinking about it." Aske smiled.

"Why not just stay?" Eleanor proactively took his hand.

Aske: ???

He was slightly caught off guard, and the people next to him, whether it was Viscount Graf or Mao Zhongwei, Yu Ziwen, and others, almost all had their emotions surging, giving him eager looks.

Agree with her!

Of course, those present were already of a certain age, and it's impossible to heckle like young people saying "agree with her!" "agree with her!" but they showed an anxious expression wishing to help Aske agree right away.

"Where do you live now?" Aske asked.

"Depends on the situation, sometimes at Weisbach Palace, sometimes back to Aachen Palace." Eleanor responded, "Oh, I've also formed a knight order."

She pointed at the white base black cross insignia on her chest and smiled:

"I designed it, does it look good?"

Yes, large, the curve looks good... Aske nodded with a smile.

Then Eleanor pulled him by the hand to leave, Viscount Graf hurriedly blocked the remaining three so they wouldn't follow and be third wheels.

"You've been gone for almost six years." While strolling in the fortress courtyard, covered with fallen leaves, Eleanor said softly.

"Hmm." Aske nodded, "Actually, only six days passed on my side."

"The flow of time is inconsistent?" Eleanor mused softly.

"Hey, you're guessing really fast." Aske said in surprise.

"Why don't you not go back, or bring your mother over?" Eleanor suggested, "Since you can bring people over now..."

"It's fine," Aske said lightly, "Even if I stayed here for thirty years, it would only be a month for my mother on the other side. Occasionally going back to see her is enough."

"True, indeed." Eleanor nodded.

After a moment, she somewhat resentfully said:

"You didn't even ask how I've been these years..."

"How have you been?" Aske awkwardly asked.

"Not bad." Eleanor smiled, "Taking the knight order all over the Empire, mainly to resolve and pacify the internal wars and uprisings in various duchies, kinda similar to the past in the mercenary group."

She paused, then continued: "Hmm, having been a squad leader for so long, sometimes I have this illusion of being a man. However, the families and ministers over at Aachen are annoying, they tried to coax me into sitting on the Iron Throne in earlier years, seeing now that I have no interest in becoming emperor, they constantly urge me to marry, probably with their eyes on my future offspring."

"Sigh, I've waited too long for you, they probably don't understand and keep introducing young noble men, one after another, into my knight order, often saying 'willing to start as my knight followers', hehe."

Eleanor gave a sly smile and kicked a small stone on the roadside: "I just assign them as followers to those forty-something old knight lords."

"You're too mean." Aske joked, "They come for you, not really wanting to be followers of grumpy old men."

"Yeah, I think so too." Eleanor nodded seriously, "But there's nothing I can do, I'm your knight, accepting personal followers should at least be run by you, right? But you weren't here, I couldn't bring them over for you to see, and they're all handsome young noble lads, what if you came back and got jealous?"

"Uh..."

"Well, how about this." Eleanor displayed a beautiful smile, "To completely curb their intentions, the best way is to finalize my marriage, so they can fully give up."

"Let's get married, Aske." She stopped walking and seriously suggested.

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