Chapter 208: An Old Acquaintance and the City of Sand
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
“The secrets of the Elemental Planes? I don’t know either; you should go find the mages for information instead. Why are you acting so surprised? Even I, Ayer, am not someone who knows everything. If it seems like I have a lot of knowledge, that’s only because I’ve had such a long life. The history of the Four Elemental Planes is even greater than that of the mortal plane. The Goddess of Creation Eich had used them as the foundation for creating all the other planes, and I wasn’t even born yet at the time. How could I possibly know?”
When I asked Ayer about the ancient secrets of the Elemental Planes, I received such an unexpected answer. And when he mentioned the Goddess of Creation, the black-clothed icy Death God was actually filled with a nostalgic expression.
“The Four Elemental Gods may have a pretty name but they’re really nothing more than warehouse managers working for the Goddess of Creation. Eich entrusted them with the power to control part of the very Elemental Planes themselves, but they definitely do not possess the power to truly rule over the Elemental Planes. Hehe! Nobody is able to rule over any Elemental Plane, as that would mean that that individual has the power to rule over one-fourth of the entire world and its living creatures.”
And when I checked this information from other sources as well—Margaret gave it to me in a friendly gesture—it also proved the veracity of Ayer’s words. The most obvious evidence, however, was that when the Four Elemental Gods were sealed, the Elemental Planes still existed and went on as usual. If an Elemental God were to die, a new Elemental God would naturally be born again in just a few hundred years.
Theoretically speaking, the Goddess of Chaos Cynthia inherited part of this power from her mother Eich. Cynthia would be able to control the Four Elemental Gods and indirectly control these planes; Cynthia’s Will was still affecting the Elemental Planes, which was why the Earth Elemental Plane displayed many traits of Chaos.
The Earth Elemental Plane was far different from what most people thought of it. This wasn’t a world devoid of nothing other than sandstorms and earth elementals, but it was rather the opposite. As the most ancient elemental plane of the four, its natural resources and specialties were incredibly abundant.
Various ancient species continued to reproduce successfully here, and precious gems and rare minerals were commonplace. Buried under the ancient hills were valuables that would be impossible to find in any other plane.
Of course, the most common type of resident here were elemental creatures related to the earth, but they were different from the humanoid elementals in the mortal plane. The earth elementals here weren’t accustomed to humanoid shapes; their shapes were, instead, wondrously strange and abnormal. Some took the form of dragons while some were typical stone giants. There were also giant crabs or insect shaped elementals; typically, they would choose to imitate strong existences that they had seen before.
Although they boasted of differences in appearances and species, they all possessed one thing in common; all these creatures were part earth elemental, and had the ability to devour each other and evolve into stronger existences.
According to stories, in the very beginning, Emordilorcan had been a weak stone giant. Because this place had a high amount of elemental power, the body parts of these elemental creatures made for excellent magical materials.
Any place with benefits to be gained would attract intelligent species. If there were enormous benefits to be reaped, it was only natural that there would be those looking to strike it big while not fearing death. After the “warehouse manager” Elemental Gods were sealed, these Elemental Planes were just like warehouses with their doors left unlocked and wide open; there were numerous methods to invade them. Various factions had already set up their own permanent outposts in each of the Elemental Planes.
In an area known as the Karo Hills was the outpost of the Mage Country, Ainrodant. Hundreds of mage towers and magic contraptions created a defensive energy field, and the semicircular dark purple magic barrier blocked all the sandstorms from being able to affect “Karo City.” Karo was also the largest non-native settlement in the Earth Elemental Plane for the nearest several thousand kilometers.
Various species could be seen walking in Karo’s streets. Although most were still humans, elves, beastmen, and other common species from the mortal plane, there were also some demons from the lower planes. You could even see a few machine lifeforms or ethereal lifeforms from other worlds. Of course, there were also gnome merchants that could be found literally everywhere. However, there was one species among them that was one of the rarest to be found in the mortal planes—half-elementals.
They always had complex reasons for coming into existence. Some were the descendants of high-level elementals and ordinary species while some had been ordinary species elementalized by the Elemental Plane, but their most obvious traits were their physical appearances. Their skin colors would always be rather eye-catching, with speckled, tan skin, or fiery-red skin, not to mention that they typically had various crystals embedded in their faces. Their appearances could be rather frightening.
Yet due to their bodies’ partial elementalization, they were also natural-born elemental mages. They had excellent innate element-sensing abilities, and with just a little training they would always be able to become superb elemental mages. They didn’t even have to worry about their element’s magic turning on themselves; they always grew quickly in power.
For the Mage Country, apart from all the special resources to be gained here, the Earth Elemental Plane’s half-elementals were excellent seeds that could join their ranks. As for the earth magic archmages, the Earth Elemental Plane’s high concentration of earth element density was the best cultivation location for them of all. With all sorts of rare elemental creatures and resources here, how could they possibly give up on coming to such a location?
But, recently, Karo had met with some trouble.
The Earth Elemental God had returned. These uninvited guests finally had to face the homeowner.
Obviously, Emordilorcan, who was still the master of this plane in name, wouldn’t allow his home to have uninvited guests. More and more earth elemental creatures suddenly changed their attitude towards Karo, and attacks by elemental beasts were becoming more frequent.
Due to the Elemental Tide’s increase and the return of Emordilorcan, the sandstorms became stronger in magnitude as well. Karo’s magic barrier was keeping out the sandstorms by now using 50% more energy than the same time last year.
“This won’t be good if it continues.”
It was becoming harder and harder to travel to and from the Earth Elemental Plane, and the magic power required to move between planes and the magic upkeep of Karo kept increasing as well. As a half-elemental archmage who was born and raised in the Earth Elemental Plane, Atadia had much on his plate to worry about.
Dozens of years ago, Atadia had joined the Mage Country and became an acolyte, and now, he was a Gold-rank archmage. Atadia couldn’t be more familiar with the city of Karo, but recently, he kept feeling more and more uncomfortable, as if this beautiful city filled with the culture of magic was a restraint upon him. Somewhere in the wilderness, there was a will that was summoning him.
And it wasn’t limited to only him. In the past three months, there were over a dozen acolytes that disappeared into the sandstorms, leaving only their mage robes and staves behind.
“Emordilorcan? How troublesome.”
As a Gold-ranked archmage, Atadia was no novice unaware of what was going on. The only existence that could influence the entire Earth Elemental Plane to such a degree could only be that legendary Earth Elemental God.
Since Atadia was no weakling, he could still resist this summoning in his soul, but those novice acolytes found it impossible to resist. Every half-elemental was precious, and losing them like this was painful for him. Yet this wasn’t even the biggest problem. Two days ago, an acolyte had gone wild and actually rushed into the magic mechanism area, attempting to break the magic barrier device, which was rather shocking.
“There’s still no response from our Mage Country? They should at least send us a few more archmages to help control the situation.”
“No. The Mage Country has also met with its own trouble. The Bardi Empire suddenly started a series of small conflicts with us, and most of our strongest mages have left for the frontlines. From what I gleaned through my personal channels, similar problems are occurring in the Wind and Water Elemental Planes. Add on the fact that transport and travel between the Elemental Planes keep increasing in difficulty, and perhaps not only will we not receive more aid, but we’ll probably even receive less assistance than usual.”
“If there’s a problem with the current dimensional traveling, then can’t we borrow the gnomes’ dimensional traveling services? Their time-space tearing devices should still be usable, right?”
“Their 20% fixed rate of failure is just too much. It’s still okay to transport resources, but it’s too dangerous to use for anything living. Also, those gnomes recently changed their rules, and have actually been making us purchase ‘insurance;’ otherwise, they won’t transport anything for us, and any losses incurred won’t be paid by them.”
“Insurance? What’s that?”
“Something that’s been getting popular recently among the gnomes. It seems to have been spread by the Underground gnomes. That’s a system where you pay a certain amount to the gnomes as a deposit, and if an accident occurs where you incur losses, the gnomes will pay you for your losses.”
“Isn’t that a good thing? Then you might as well buy it. We’ve always sucked up any losses ourselves in the past.”
“The problem is that even if we purchased their insurance, they wouldn’t give us any money back. The archmage Edwin in charge of dimensional transportation has been incredibly angered by them recently.”
“Why’s that? Don’t the gnomes always stress a merchant’s honesty?”
“They claimed that we put special magnetic items into the products we were transporting, which affected the dimensional teleportation. They are saying that we were at fault for the failed teleportation, and even requested that we pay them for their losses.”
“What the hell? If certain special items can’t be teleported, shouldn’t they tell us beforehand? Only telling us after the fact; then what about the next time? I doubt that archmage Edwin would let them use that excuse again.”
“The second time we had even worse luck. We met with a dimensional storm, and half our resources were lost.”
“This time, the gnomes should have paid up.”
“No, they didn’t, because their insurance contact had an additional clause stating, ‘losses caused by uncontrollable outside factors will not be paid by us.’ A dimensional storm is a natural disaster and is counted as such an uncontrollable outside factor.”
“Then why are we still purchasing that insurance or whatever!? Isn’t it just a merchant’s trap? Aren’t we buying it just in case we incur losses during the teleportation?”
“…Yeah, we only found out about it after being on the suffering end. In order to receive payment for our losses during teleportation, we were supposed to buy a special ‘teleportation insurance.’ In the end, for the third attempt, archmage Edwin ended up signing every single additional insurance option.”
“Don’t tell me we were on the losing end again? Would the gnomes actually go against their own contract?”
“…This time the gnomes’ time-space tearing device actually exploded, which was when we learned that in such a situation, we need to purchase an additional ‘accidental explosion insurance,’ otherwise there are still no reparations for us.”
“Just buy it then; why don’t you just buy all the insurance?”
“But the problem is that the ‘explosion insurance’ is more expensive than all the other insurances added together. But, as everyone knows about gnome products, not having explosion insurance is basically equal to no insurance. Archmage Edwin was so angry that he ended up getting a stroke.”
Atadia’s mouth was wide agape and he was rendered speechless, but this wasn’t the end. The mage acolyte giving him the report had an expression of not knowing whether to laugh or cry as he continued.
“The gnome merchants in our city have also learned these techniques, and are selling all sorts of insurance. Recently, there have been many half-elementals going missing, right? Those gnomes even made an insurance for in case they go missing, and they’re especially targeting young acolytes for this insurance. They’re spreading stories about the disappearances all over, making people worried for their own safety.”
“…Did they pay out any money? There’s no need to answer; I’ve already guessed it. They definitely didn’t pay!”
“Your wisdom could light up the skies. Indeed, those damned swindling merchants didn’t pay a single copper coin! They actually said that the insured person himself needed to request the insurance payment! Since those people have all gone missing, how could they possibly request payment?”
Suddenly, a needling high-pitched voice sounded from behind Atadia and the mage acolyte.
“Hello, I’m from the Anli Gnome Insurance Company. Have you heard of us?”
Atadia turned around to see a short gnome wearing extravagant clothing, all smiles with a business bag in his tiny hand.
“Do you know? There’s been a gang of kidnappers going around lately, causing the disappearance of many half-elementals. But our Anli Gnome Insurance Company specializes in this field, and we have set up several… I don’t know which type of insurance you need, but if you’re not satisfied, we—”
“Get the hell out!”
Atadia, who was always well-known for being a friendly individual, was angered to the point of roaring, but the gnome salesman still didn’t intend to give up.
“Hell insurance? We have that as well! Although I don’t know why this strange insurance request has been so popular lately, our customers are the Gods! You go to hell, we’ll pay up!”
…
In Karo’s archmage conference, the Epic-ranked archmage Kaid had an expression filled with worry as well. As the highest ranking archmage in Karo, he knew far more about what was going on than his subordinates.
As a true top-level archmage, the Controllers of Truth’s information network would always remember to give him a personal report, so of course he knew that the situation in Eich was changing at a rapid pace. Especially with regards to the conflict between his Mage Country and the Bardi Empire; it was no small conflict at all. If it wasn’t dealt with properly, it would become an all-out new war.
The Mage Country’s support could no longer be counted on, as the worsening environment in the Earth Elemental Plane indicated the return of the legendary threat known as Emordilorcan. And, they were also dealing with internal problems as well.
“Teacher, those damned gnomes are getting worse every day! They’re spreading rumors everywhere and causing people to panic, and not only that, they’ve recently begun increasing prices on basic goods and getting rich off of our country’s disaster! We should exile them!”
For Atadia, who was typically the calm type to be angered to such a degree, it seemed that the gnomes had indeed gone overboard this time.
“Then we’ll just starve to death. Seventy percent of the business done here is by the gnomes. Perhaps you could teach us how to create bread with magic?” Another mage, Soranto, remained calm as usual, but his sarcasm made Atadia rather displeased.
“If you think the gnomes are difficult to deal with, that’s only because you’re too simple-minded.”
“Hmph, then our resident genius Soranto will surely be able to deal with those greedy misers. Fine then, how about you go have a discussion with the gnomes about the recent problem of the increase in food prices?”
“…I’m unable to do it either, but that doesn’t mean that nobody’s capable of the task. I recommend a certain person that’s actually able to get the upper hand in negotiating with the gnomes. The gnomes have contracts that have more than fifty clauses and seven or eight pages, yet that guy’s contracts are actually thicker than books, with over eight hundred clauses. Just his talking can cause the gnomes to go into a daze. Recently, he’s been making money by having special negotiations with the gnomes. Now, wherever he appears, those misers will directly surrender and pay up.”
Soranto’s words astonished the other two present archmages. A human able to gain the upper hand in a business negotiation with the sly gnomes was incomprehensible and unheard of.
“Is he a major merchant from somewhere?”
“No, he seems to be a wandering adventurer, and gnome negotiation is just his side job whenever he happens to be in Karo. Most of the time, he’s out hunting, and while his power level isn’t much to speak of, he’s a rather lucky one.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s obviously nothing more than at the Silver rank, but the first time he came to Karo he actually had an Emperor Scorpion’s poison stinger on him. That’s a strong creature that even Gold-ranked warriors wouldn’t dare face alone.”
“Perhaps he hid his true power level. For someone to be out there by himself, it wouldn’t be strange.”
“At first, that’s what we thought as well. But archmage Aru who specializes in divination magic met him personally, and there’s no mistaking that he really is just at the Silver rank. But what’s even more astonishing is what happened later.”
“Hmm?”
“The second time he returned to Karo, he had an Earth Elemental Lord’s crystal core with him. That’s something that no Gold-ranked warrior would be able to deal with. And every time after that, he keeps bringing back stronger and stronger monster materials, in a shorter and shorter time, and…”
Soranto intentionally paused here, apparently trying to make everyone curious. Seeing how his master and all his senior brothers were watching him, he was satisfied and continued with his tale.
“The last time he returned to Karo, he brought back a twice-evolved magic mountain giant’s heart! Magic mountain giants already require Gold-ranked warriors to deal with, and if it’s a twice-evolved one, maybe not even a Legend would suffice! How is it possible?! That’s an evolved mountain giant that has limitless power in this environment. Even I would have to be careful dealing with one.”
This time, it was Kaid’s turn to be shocked. “Does he have a team to support him?”
“How would that be possible? It’s just him alone coming back to Karo each time to eat and sleep, and would he have his team stay outside and eat sand? Besides, detection magic indicates that every time he goes out, he directly heads for the highly dangerous areas, while his prey always has nothing more than some ice damage and cut wounds. He should be a magical swordsman of the ice element.”
“Ice damage? There’s almost zero water element present in this plane, so he’s still able to cause ice damage to the earth elemental creatures in this place where ice magic has minimal power?”
This was even more incomprehensible. Archmage Kaid started getting interested in this rumored person. “Arrange a meeting for me with this person; I’m getting rather curious. Oh right, what’s his name?”
“Roland. Although his nickname seems to be Blackhand, ‘Blackhand Roland.’”
When he heard this, Kaid stood up with an expression filled with surprise and disbelief. A dozen seconds later, he finally shook his head.
“If it’s him, anything is indeed possible. Hurry up and arrange a meeting with him for me as soon as possible. Forget it, I’ll personally go find him. You guys should come with me as well. If he’s who I think he is, he might be your teacher’s senior!”