Chapter 98: A Thousand Years of Waiting

Chapter 98: A Thousand Years of Waiting

In the Rorsted Archipelago, within the primeval jungle outside Bayam.

The leaders of the resistance had gathered in a cave, respectfully watching the Sea God’s blessed before them—a man in a black cloak, with yellowed brows and deep blue eyes.

“Lord Danitz, this is an opportunity!” Kalat, whose head was shaved clean and whose bluish beard shadowed his jaw as he sat in a wheelchair, spoke with visible excitement.

His partner, Edmonton, whose face was marked with short red streaks of paint, immediately followed. “Lord Danitz, according to the reports from our intelligence officers, the situation in Bayam is chaotic. Both the Church of Storms and the Governor-General’s office are anxious because the Feysac army has surrounded Backlund.”

At this point, Edmonton glanced at Kalat, letting the person more familiar with the details give a more precise account.

Kalat looked at the solemn-faced Lord Danitz and weighed his words before saying, “Differences have already appeared within their ranks. Some wish to draw power from the colonies to reinforce Backlund, while others want to hold this place as a seed for revival.

“These differences have led to a certain confusion among the military and the Beyonders of the Church of Storms as well. Openings are appearing everywhere.

“Lord Danitz, this is our chance. We can fully agree to the terms offered by the Feysac and Feynapotter navies, coordinate with them in attacking Bayam, and take back the nation that belongs to us!”

It is indeed an opportunity… but is this something I can decide? I’m not an idiot! Danitz quietly listened to the resistance leaders’ statements and muttered twice inwardly.

As an Intisian, a famous pirate, and a treasure hunter, he truly felt no mental burden about attacking a Loen colony. He had no hesitation or wavering at all.

Of course, his sense of belonging to the Intis Republic was not particularly strong either. When he occasionally took on pirate work, he even preferred targeting Intis merchants, because they tended to carry more valuable luxuries with them.

There was only one reason Danitz did not agree to the resistance leaders’ request on the spot. Having become a Conspirer, he was very clear about exactly what role he occupied.

A human-shaped message relay.

A tool responsible for passing messages between Gehrman Sparrow and the leaders of the resistance.

Gehrman is most likely a Loenese. If I dare agree to this directly, I might not live to see tomorrow’s sun… But then again, he doesn’t seem to care about Loen at all… Shit! I can’t be deceived by appearances! Danitz cleared his throat, looked around, and said, “This matter is of great importance. Prepare a clean and quiet altar for me immediately. I must pray to God.”

In an organization whose members generally believed in the Sea God, such a request did not surprise Kalat, Edmonton, or the others in the slightest. It even matched their expectations. They immediately arranged for people to prepare the ritual.

…

“The resistance in the Rorsted Archipelago can’t sit still either… They themselves were only able to persist and avoid being wiped out by Loen and the three Churches because they had the support of countries like Feysac, Intis, and Feynapotter… I even had them extract quite a bit of aid from those countries…” After listening to Danitz’s prayer, Klein sighed.

Seated within the ancient palace, he lightly tapped the edge of the mottled long table with his fingers. After thinking for a few seconds, he conjured The World, Gehrman Sparrow.

The crazy adventurer immediately assumed a posture of prayer and said in a low voice,

“…Use the current situation to directly negotiate with the high-ranking members of the Church of Storms and the Rorsted Governor-General’s office. Apply the necessary pressure… The aim is to force them to yield and accept the idea that the people of Rorsted should govern the Rorsted Archipelago…

“…The resistance can guarantee most of the benefits that the Loenese currently possess, allowing them to feel at ease in withdrawing troops and Beyonders to reinforce Backlund…”

…

Within the clean and tidy altar chamber, Danitz, having received a response, straightened his back.

He turned and looked toward the resistance leaders waiting outside. With a solemn expression, he said, “I have received an oracle.

“God tells us that every one of His children is precious. They must not be sacrificed for a war that is not absolutely necessary.

“We will not lightly start a war, but neither will we fear one. In short, we will first try to make use of the present situation and our strength to negotiate with the Loenese, forcing them to make concessions that satisfy the vast majority of us. If that fails, then we will consider war.

“God said: remember hatred, but do not let it blind reason. The people beside us, and a beautiful future, are what matter most.”

After becoming a Conspirer, Danitz discovered that his ability to invent reasons and persuade others had risen sharply. Many times, as soon as he opened his mouth, ideas would take shape.

Kalat, Edmonton, and the other resistance leaders all harbored deep hatred toward the Loen colonists. Even so, the Sea God’s words and Lord Danitz’s explanation successfully caused them to waver.

During this period, they had gained a clear understanding of just how powerful that Sea King was. If the war developed to the point where both sides were seeing red, the entire Blue Mountain Island where Bayam was located might be swallowed by the sea and turned into ruins, with all the locals dragged down as burial offerings.

The powerhouses of Feysac and Feynapotter certainly had the ability to prevent the situation from collapsing entirely, but how much strength could they really spare for a peripheral battlefield like the Rorsted Archipelago?

Kalat and the other resistance leaders did not trust them very much. In their view, those people were essentially no different from the Loenese. They were all robbers from the Northern Continent, and at any moment, they might tear off their masks and become new colonizers.

After a stretch of silence, Kalat, seated in his wheelchair, looked at the man in the black cloak standing on the altar and said, “Lord Danitz, we are willing to work toward a peaceful solution.”

He paused, then added, “Intelligence indicates that the one currently holding final decision-making authority in the Rorsted Archipelago is that Sea King, Jahn Kottman. It would be best if we negotiated with him directly.”

Danitz nodded lightly. “That is exactly my thought.

“We need to send someone as plenipotentiary representative into Bayam, to face Jahn Kottman…”

He was just about to ask who was willing to go when he suddenly discovered that Kalat, Edmonton, and the others had all turned their gazes onto his face, as though saying that the Sea God’s blessed, the Intis pirate with a comparatively detached status, was the most suitable candidate.

…Shit! Danitz cursed inwardly. Looking at everyone, his thoughts raced as he said, “Mm. This is an honor, but it also contains extreme danger. I know some of you are filled with a spirit of sacrifice and wish to make the contributions you ought to make. Uh… in that case, let’s decide by drawing lots. That would be fairest.”

“I have no objections,” Kalat and the others replied without hesitation.

Several minutes later, Danitz looked at the card in his hand, the muscles of his face twitching almost imperceptibly.

…

In the City of Silver, at the top of the round tower, inside the Chief’s room.

Colin Iliad turned his gaze toward Derrick Berg, who looked underdeveloped when compared to the people around him.

“Are you ready?”

Derrick held the giant hammer, Thunder God’s Roar, whose handle resembled a leg bone, its surface a deep blue wreathed in lightning. He nodded heavily.

“I’m ready.”

He did not look like a Beyonder of the Sun domain at all. He was closer to a berserker.

Colin Iliad, with his graying hair and old scars on his face, then shifted his gaze to Lovia.

“Are you ready?”

Lovia, with her silver-gray curls and pale gray eyes, no longer wore her usual black robe patterned with purple. Instead, she had changed into a suit of dark armor.

She moved her head almost imperceptibly and said, “No problem.”

The Demon Hunter Colin, now a Silver Knight, turned his gaze to the others in the room and asked each of them in turn whether they were ready.

After receiving affirmative answers from everyone, Colin Iliad slowly walked to one wall, took down the two straight swords hanging there, and carried them on his back.

“Depart.” The Chief of the City of Silver gave the order, concise and unadorned.

The exploration team he led would head once more to the camp in Afternoon Town, conduct a further exploration of the Giant King’s Court, and find the road to the true sea.

Amid the sound of metal armor plates striking against one another, Lovia, Derrick, and the others silently followed behind the Chief, filing out of the room and descending the staircase.

Along the way, they saw Waite Chirmont and the other elders of the six-member council. They saw residents of the City of Silver maintaining order within the round tower.

Some leaned over the railings. Some waited at the stair landings. All of them wore unusually solemn expressions, as if seeing off an exploration team that bore their hopes.

No one spoke. The scene was silent. But as Colin Iliad, Derrick Berg, and the others passed, the residents of the City of Silver raised their right arms one after another and pressed their fists to their foreheads.

Amid the sound stirred by that gesture, Colin and the rest of the exploration team left the round tower and arrived on the road.

They then lit lanterns made of stretched beast hide.

Under the glow of dim yellow light, one resident of the City of Silver after another walked out of their homes and stopped by the roadside.

With eyes full of admiration and expectation, they watched Derrick and the others, raising their right arms in succession and pressing their fists to their foreheads.

Derrick instinctively straightened his back. A burning heat filled his chest.

Just like that, surrounded by the crowd, the exploration team followed the road to the city gate and walked out of the City of Silver.

As if guided by a shared understanding, Colin, Derrick, Lovia, and the others had only just left the protection of the city walls when they all turned back at the same time, looking at the hometown that had held fast in the darkness for two thousand five hundred and eighty-four years.

They saw that the residents of the City of Silver had not left. All of them remained near the gate, watching them.

Whoosh.

The dark mass of people raised their right arms in unison and pressed their fists to their foreheads.

It was both an expression of the highest respect and the deepest blessing.

Colin Iliad gazed silently for a few seconds. Then he closed his eyes, raised his right arm, and brought it down with a forceful sweep.

“Depart!”

Derrick and the others immediately turned, carrying their beast-hide lanterns that gave off dim yellow light, and stepped silently yet resolutely onto the road shrouded in darkness.

Their destination: the Giant King’s Court.