“Who are you?”
At Vasen Lark Orazen’s question, the Garuda opened his beak to talk, but Hwee Ravina Muel was faster.
“Mazdari?”
“Ah, it’s been a while, Ravina.”
Vasen looked back at Ravina.
“Do you know each other?”
“Yes. This man is…”
Ravina didn’t know how Mazdari had gotten there, so she couldn’t immediately think of how to introduce him. A non-believer like herself was only able to walk alongside Vasen since she had devoted her knowledge and wisdom to Black Scale, and also because Kyle approved of it. For a wandering alchemist like Mazdari, it would be better to lie about his identity.
While Ravina was hesitating, Mazdari sat down in front of Vasen.
“I am an alchemist, Prince Vasen.”
“An alchemist? Do you know me, Garuda Mazdari?”
“I didn’t until recently.”
“You must be in the same group as those fellows over there.”
Vasen pointed at the line of Trolls walking along the coastline with his chin. They were all armed, but they had neither attacked nor drawn their weapons.
The noisy Astacideas noticed and didn’t know what to do. Then, the Astacidea island lord came running from the distance.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness! I have something to tell you…”
“It’s too late if you’re talking about Trolls coming to shore.”
“Oh.” The island lord bowed and continued to say, “I thought that was a merchant ship from Danyum and didn’t see the need to let you know at first. But then from the ship came armed Trolls, so…”
“Did you inform the General?”
Vasen was talking about General Ian Tata, who had received some of the cannons and gunpowder that Theone Itimo had transported. He had helped Vasen chase out the pirates at the Southern Archipelago.
After announcing their eventual victory, the general had gone to the ship to rest rather than going to the celebration.
“No, not yet…”
“Then let General Ian know. Tell him to come here with his troops, and that he should prepare for battle.”
“Yes, sir. Leave it to me.”
Mazdari then said, “There’s no need to be that wary.”
“Hm, wary. It’s not that.”
“Then what?”
“It’s a reasonable preparation to make since you and your Trolls had come at night, disguised as a merchant group. It was only natural to assume that you are our enemy.”
Mazdari scratched his shoulder and said, “Hm, I didn’t mean to surprise you. We arrived at night only to drive away the pirates at the Southern Archipelago as soon as possible, and we borrowed a merchant ship from Danyum because there were no ships going out to the southern sea from our country.”
“You must have met Ravina at the Alchemist Tower as a fellow alchemist. That means you’re from Asbestos.”
“That’s right.”
“What brings you to the Southern Archipelago all the way from Asbestos?”
Just when Vasen finished asking, a Troll came up to Mazdari from behind.
The Troll, who appeared to be a general, said, “Mazdari, here you are.”
Mazdari got to his feet and said with exaggerated gestures, “General, don’t come too close. The prince of Black Scale is here, and we are an uninvited guest.”
“Vasen? Are you Prince Vasen? Nice to meet you. I am the General of Asbestos, Oldor Mayen.”
“Oldor, are you the one in charge?”
Oldor Mayen and Mazdari looked at each other. A strange atmosphere lingered between them for a moment, and Vasen didn’t miss it.
‘They don’t seem to have the regular relationship of a superior and his subordinate. Is Mazdari someone similar to Ravina? If he is indeed an alchemist chosen by the king, he would have a high status, but I don’t think he would be leading a battle.’
It was just as Vasen had thought.
“Yes. I’m sorry to have troubled you. I hope you understand that we have no intention of fighting Black Scale. First of all…”
“Mazdari has already told me the reason you came on a merchant ship at night.”
“Is that so?”
“But it bears the question why you have come all the way to the Southern Archipelago from Asbestos.”
Oldor replied, “Were you aware that Danyum had been suffering at the hand of a large-scale pirate group called Yaboon’s Pirates?”
“Yes. We recently came to the aid of Black Scale’s?Southern Archipelago.”
Vasen still had a hard time believing that these people really came from Asbestos, but decided to go with it. And if they were who they said they were, this would be a form of diplomacy.
Vasen decided to start by telling them that the Southern Archipelago was clearly recorded as part of Black Scale’s territory.
Oldor narrowed his eyes.
“As far as I know, Black Scale does not interfere with the Southern Archipelago.”
“Because the Astacideas have their native culture. However, we have continued to receive tributes.”
“Hm. Asbestos also collects tributes from vagrant tribes of the wilderness, but we don’t claim them as part of Asbestos.”
“Probably because they believe in a different religion. However, these Astacideas also believe in Night Sky.”
Oldor, who was going to make a counterargument, asked, “Is that true? From what I know, each island of the Southern Archipelago believes in gods with different names.”
“They have different names for the god they worship, but it’s true. The situation is getting cleared up recently. Bondan’s priest is coming.”
Whether the Southern Archipelago belonged to Black Scale or not was not the important matter at the moment. However, it would have been a more serious matter if Black Scale had arrived late and Asbestos had gotten here faster, before Black Scale drove out the pirates at the Southern Archipelago.
Vasen glared at the Troll general in front of him.
‘If that was the case, they definitely would have driven out the pirates and claimed that the islands they freed were theirs. And they also would have said that the Astacideas were simple barbarians in the first place.’
But Vasen’s assertive claim left Oldor with no room to argue. Oldor took a step back.
“…Alright. Well, Asbestos has decided to send our troops to Danyum to help them as they are our ally. Which is why we rode here on Danyum’s ship.”
Originally, Asbestos had had a hostile relationship with Danyum and Red Fruit. But that was decades ago. After Lakrak defeated the evil god, Black Scale’s influence only continued to grow, and that influence began to affect other lands and other species, as well as the rulers of the other countries. The friendly aristocrats and Lizardmen officials of Black Scale had been allowed some freedom in the past, but when those who secretly followed Night Sky began to emerge, the five countries in the center of the continent had no choice but to become wary. As a result, Asbestos became allies with Danyum and Red Fruit, as well as Golden Eye and Mangul, and those alliances had continued to this day.
Vasen shook his head and said, “But I’m still not easily convinced. It’s not like Danyum has no army, and aren’t Red Fruit and Mangul closer to Danyum?”
“That is…”
Mazdari opened his beak and said, “What would we get by hiding our intention? You would know, Prince Vasen. We came because of the existence of the southern continent.”
Vasen had assumed that was the case.
Yaboon’s Pirates were deemed an enemy, but it was still pretty much unknown how they were related to the southern continent. It was assumed that Yaboon’s Pirates had something to do with the ancient evil within the legends, but there was no telling whether they represented the whole continent, or only a part of it.
And even in the worst case scenario where the whole continent was their enemy, what the development of gunpowder brought them in terms of military might made each country more confident in battle.
‘Because if we win, we can take the land.’
Vasen didn’t think the kings would think that much differently than Kyle. Trades with the western continent hadn’t been fully established yet, but Danly had already taken over the sea routes. And it was a known fact that Danly was making good profit from that alone. Therefore, if trades with the southern continent became active, there would be great profit to be gained as well.
‘No, then I may have made a mistake.’
Vasen thought it was unusual for Asbestos to cooperate with Danyum since there was no reason for Danyum to request Asbestos for help when Red Fruit and Stone Cave were close by. If he thought about it from a different perspective, however, it could be assumed that all five countries, Danyum, Red Fruit, Stone Cave, Golden Eye, and Asbestos, had entered the fight together.
‘It would be efficient for Danyum and Stone Cave to provide the ships and crewmen, as they could have ships docked in the southern sea, and the other countries can provide the troops and resources. Does that mean Black Scale would have to face all five countries?’
Vasen thought it was a silver lining that the war wasn’t a direct one.
Oldor then said, “So that’s why we came to the Southern Archipelago as soon as possible, after driving out the pirates on Olmur Island. We came to help Black Scale.”
Vasen wanted to say that they had just been arguing whether the Southern Archipelago belonged to Black Scale a moment ago, but decided not to. It was a waste of energy.
“Thank you. Then were you also thinking of going all the way to Doltan Island as well?”
“If necessary, we intend to go even farther.”
“…Okay. That’s good. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize friendly forces that would drive away the pirates. General Ian will be here soon, but until then, let’s enjoy the meat and wine here. The pirates on Olmur Island were also a threat to the Southern Archipelago, so you deserve this too.”
The feast continued with an awkward atmosphere.
***
Doltan Island wasn’t as easy to deal with as the Southern Archipelago.
The Yaboon’s Pirates had continued to fail at defending themselves because their range of activities was too large. As a result, their forces were spread thin, and they got destroyed by the fleets of Black Scale and other countries. Once Yaboon’s Pirates were no longer scattered along the third continent but gathered on the small Doltan Island, they became a threat that wasn’t easy to tackle.
Sung-Woon mumbled at the southern sea of the Southern Archipelago.
“How did they produce so many ships?”
The threat of Yaboon’s Pirates came from their number. At the Southern Archipelago alone, there were a total of 25 military ships from Black Scale and 40 military ships from Danyum, which was in no way a small fleet. However, Yaboon’s Pirates had continued to send more ships whenever their number dwindled even after deploying more than a hundred to the Southern Archipelago.
.
So even if ten ships were destroyed by cannons in battle, if the remaining ninety ships came up to the ships of Black Scale and the other countries, they would be defeated.
The military ships of the third continent continued to win steadily and frequently, but eventually, it was the military ships that had to retreat back to the Southern Archipelago, and not the pirates. The soldiers’ exhaustion accumulated, and above all, continuous supply for the cannons was slowing.
Sung-Woon considered going to the southern continent himself. There were two ways a player could move. One was to teleport to the desired part of their or their ally’s land, or to where their priests were; the other was to fly, which was pretty quick. Generally, teleportation was preferred, but players had no other choice but to fly to areas that weren’t their own. And even though the flying speed was objectively quite fast, it felt slow to the players.
Sung-Woon also had the option of reconnaissance using his migratory birds, but that was limited to a player’s Divinity level, and his shared view with the birds got cut off when the continent was barely visible.
‘Or it might have been a Divinity Block.’
A Divinity Block was a skill that blocked another player’s views, and the skill was only available to players who had reached a Divinity level of 19. Sung-Woon was at level 21, and he assumed Wisdom and Hegemonia, who had originated from the same continent as him, to be over level 19 as well. However, the greater the range and the longer the use, the more Faith points would be consumed, and that fact that they were blocking other players’ view with the skill indicated that they had something to hide. It wasn’t a skill used without a particular purpose.
‘Above all, pirates are a looting society,’
There was a reason why the counties of the third continent were able to take things easy without being rushed when they were losing to the pirates in the first place: they had taken over all the areas where the pirates had been active.
It wasn’t possible to farm at sea. Doltan Island was quite big, but there was no way it would provide enough resources to feed all the pirates on more than a hundred ships. And the island was too far away from the southern continent to be supplied. As a result, the pirates had literally begun to starve to death.
Black Scale’s naval force and the allied navies were able to obtain a landslide victory in two months at the sea around the Southern Archipelago, and they went straight to Doltan Island afterwards.
However, Sung-Woon noticed that the sea route to Doltan Island was empty. The pirates could have been preparing for their last stand on the island, but pirates should’ve been sent to delay the military ships.
‘It’s a strange move. Something’s up. Perhaps…’
Military priests were stationed on The Humiliation of Pirates and the military ships of Black Scale in order to receive blessings from Night Sky. Sung-Woon found a priest on board The Humiliation of Pirates and gave them a divine revelation. The revelation was simple enough that it could be easily interpreted. The priest rushed to the deck and found Vasen.
“What is it?”
“Night Sky has given us a revelation.”
“What was said?” 𝑖𝘳.𝒸ℴ𝑚
“I dare speak the words of Night Sky from my mouth. Night Sky warned us to ‘be careful.’”
The navies of the alliance that were advancing with Black Scale’s battleships slowed at the command of the head ship, The Humiliation of Pirates. The other ships followed suit as well, and the troops wondered what was going on. After a brief meeting, though, they continued forward.
Then, a huge shadow struck one of the ships at the very front. A giant tentacle swung down and slammed into the deck, breaking the railings and sending fragments flying everywhere. As countless suckers stuck onto the ship, the wood began to creak and fall apart.
Someone realized what the thing grabbing the ship was.
“K-Kraken! It’s a Kraken!”
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