Chapter 543 - Lumi's Past (1)
The Capital of the past had a strong resemblance to the present Capital when Leon had been observing from the sky. But after he descended on the ground, the surroundings did not give him a single sense of familiarity.
"Where am I? Considering where I landed, this should be somewhere in the Upper West District…" Leon gazed at his surroundings with a lost expression.
The Upper West District should have been the most familiar of the four Upper Districts to him, considering traveled through the Upper West District every time to reach Crawford University.
However…
"Nothing looks familiar at all. The span of 400 hundred years is enough to change many things, huh? The lifestyles of mortals cannot be compared to the lifestyles of Divine Practitioners in the Divine Realm…" Leon casually spoke to himself as he tried to feel the rough surface of a stone pillar.
Without any surprises, his hands phased through.
Nevertheless, Leon appeared unconcerned about this as he continued with his train of thought, "Mortals know their time is limited. As such, they make the most out of their time, leading to significant changes. In comparison, thousands of years can go by in the Divine Realm without a single change except its inhabitants…"
Due to abundant resources, Divine Practitioners spend most of their lifespan in quiet cultivation, leading to fewer interactions between Divine Practitioners and slower advancement of the cultivation civilization.
"Fewer struggles, fewer interactions… no surprise that there could be thousand-year-old young masters with the mentality of spoiled kids, while in comparison there could be kids with the maturity of adults on Gaia."
Shortly after, Leon smiled wryly, "I'm kind of glad I didn't turn out like one of these whiny useless young masters from the Divine Realm…"
After pushing the matter to the back of his mind with a shake of his head, Leon eavesdropped on the conversations in his surroundings.
…
"Hey, have you heard? Another beast tide has begun attacking the Great Wall?" A nobleman spoke on the second floor's balcony of a nearby tea shop.
"Ah, yes, I have heard about this matter." Another nobleman sitting opposite of the first nobleman nodded before asking casually, "What about it?"
"You're not concerned in the least?" The first nobleman asked with surprise. "That's the beast tide we are talking about!"
"Don't we have the Great Wall?" The second nobleman said nonchalantly before adding, "We are no longer the same helpless people we were during the Cataclysm. With the Great Wall's protection and our weapon advancement, even commoners can kill some beasts if they are equipped. There's nothing to worry about."
"True, but we can never be too careless with this matter, no? If the Great Wall falls, the rest of humanity will not have an easy time against the beast tide."
"I see your point, but it has been over a hundred years since we enjoyed the protection of the Great Wall. If those beasts can breach the Great Wall, they would have already done so. Besides, there are other people who take care of this stuff. Thus, we don't need to worry about anything else fattening our own pockets."
"I suppose so…"
As the two noblemen continued to converse, Leon decided not to stick around further and left with a sneer.
He had heard enough.
"It was people who think like this that reinforcement came so late when the Great Wall needed them most, resulting in the tragedy of the Crimson War," Leon muttered.
Shortly after, he concluded, "It seems this should be around the year 118 H.R…"
Year 118 H.R, the year of the Crimson War, the day in which the bodies piled mountains and blood flowed like rivers in humanity's desperate attempt at defending the Great Wall against the beast tide.
Leon remembered his history lessons.
The Crawford Kingdom paid a painful price for their complacency and negligence after enjoying peace and prosperity for a hundred years.
Suddenly picking up the faint stench of blood in the air, Leon slowly shifted his gaze towards the distant western direction.
"It seems the event of the Crimson War is already occurring as I speak…" Leon muttered softly before glancing at the nobles and aristocrats and chattering and laughing in ignorance. "And yet these people still don't have a clue what is going on."
Shortly after, Leon shook his head again with a melancholic sigh.
Even in history lessons, the exact death toll of the Crimson War was never mentioned. All he knew was that the Crawford Kingdom experienced a steep plunge in its population.
"Where was Lumi during this time?" Leon pondered with a frown while finding his way towards Lost Isle Alley.
Although it was the location of Lumi's tragedy, it was a start to finding Lumi's whereabouts, her home, and her family during this time period.
Even so, finding Lost Isle Alley was a hassle.
Where there were supposed to be vacant plots of land, there were buildings. And where there were supposed to be blocks of buildings, they were vacant plots of land.
Leon felt like someone was messing with his head as he navigated his way to Lost Isle Alley in accordance with his memory.
After much struggle, he arrived before the entrance of Lost Isle Alley.
"At least these three buildings are exactly the same as I remembered… No surprise there. These buildings were left abandoned and haunted for 400 years."
While searching the area, Leon frowned.
Before Lost Isle Alley was haunted, it existed under a different name; Gallagher's Hidden Market, as written on the entrance board before him.
However, when Leon searched the depths of his memory, he recalled that Lumi's family name was also Gallagher.
"Considering the Gallagher family is wealthy enough to own this entire area, it's strange that I have not heard of any other existing Gallagher family. Such a prominent family wouldn't just vanish during the past 400 years without a cause."
Leon furrowed his brows.
"After Gallagher's Hidden Market became the haunted Lost Isle Alley, their properties were sold at low prices to the noble families of the scions that killed Lumi… Of course, these noble families were shortly killed off by Lumi or Duna after, but did they also killed off their own family too?"
While Leon pondered, a weakly young girl suddenly fell to the ground after getting kicked out of the store in front by a fierce man.