Chapter 93: The Fleet and Presents
“Tell me, if I were to use my War Angel Form and stab Darsos in the back, what will happen?”
“Good idea, why don’t you give it a try? Un, since it isn’t too far from the river, you could steal his boat after killing him and sail down the river. Then halfway through, abandon the boat and hide in the water. Given our strength, there should be at least a 70% chance of success.”
“Un, then we will use a shattered cup as our signal to move. You will turn into a blade and we will immediately chop at his neck. Then, after taking his demon sword, we will flee.”
“Can you let me eat the demon sword? I think that it is quite compatible with my attributes.”
“Fine, but you probably won’t be able to digest it now. Let me play with it awhile first.”
“Your Highness ‘Reyne’, I know that being forced to dress like this made you unhappy. But, please consider the citizens of the East Mist Communal Country, they can be regarded as the descendants of the Mist Country. They are unable to take another war in their current state.”
“Tsk.” A certain princess is still resentful.
“Hmph, foolish humans.” A certain Meow Alien speaks in disdain.
Kelly looks at the cat-human pair who are really scheming meticulously to murder the Emperor and smiles bitterly. From a certain sense, the main reason why she is following them as a retainer is that she is worried that the prince might go too far after accumulating too much resentment from being forced to dress like a lady.
Princess Reyne received an invitation to a cocktail party held by the Finance Minister of the Auland Emperor and along with the invitation was a note ‘The princess of that day, perhaps it is about time for us to talk. It is regarding the future relationship of both of our countries, so it is best if you come personally. If you’re going to send the indecisive little girl, then just forget about it.”
The hint is extremely obvious, especially with him circling ‘that day’ with red ink and the ‘indecisive little girl’ written at the back of the message.
Helpless, Roland can only start putting on makeup once again. Princess Reyne, who should have been angry from being scorned at, actually happily helped with the make up and the clothing, fueling Roland’s anger.
“You are really beautiful. Gentle and cheerful with a hint of maturity and restrain, alluring but not flirtatious. My face could actually become something like that.”
“Prince Roland, please stop it with that bitter face. You are actually very beautiful. Even though you look exactly the same as before, but the aura that you had accumulated throughout the years has created a big gap between you and the immature Princess Reyne. Actually, why don’t you try becoming a real lady? There should be a lot of Princes who would want to pursue you. Ah, I’m sorry, there is already an Emperor who wants to make you his empress, why don’t you give it some thought?”
Alright, looking at how she is giggling under her hands, Kelly is quite heartless as well.
Already enraged from being forced to wear that light and flowy dinner gown, after being provoked like this, Roland immediately draws his sword and walks out of the door.
“That ignorant man, to dare to insult me.”
Even after being stopped by everyone else, Roland still sits there with a nasty face.
In order to prevent accidents from really happening, Kelly who realised that she has accidentally gone too far volunteered to tag along and keep an eye on him. Un, she definitely isn’t using work as a reason to watch the commotion.
Right now, looking at the cat and man seriously scheming an assassination, Kelly regrets silently. If he were to really do it, the East Mist Communal Country would be in serious trouble.
Although he is trustworthy for most of the time, once the hole in his brain opens and his bad personality comes rising through, it is really hard to tell what he will do.
However, it is hard to blame Prince Roland for his rage.
The black-colored dinner gown that extends all the way to the ground brought out a noble and elegant disposition within him and maturity could be seen on his immature face. The combination of contradictory yet harmonious dispositions makes him extremely attractive to the opposite sex.
The light make up brought a tinge of gentleness to his masculine face. Under Kelly’s magical hands, the moment the beauty reminiscent of a flower from mountainous regions walks out of the carriage, gasps of amazement come rising from the crowd.
From Kelly’s perspective, she could see Prince Roland’s eyebrows twitch a few times and a few veins could be vaguely seen on his forehead. Apparently, he is already on the verge of exploding.
“I can’t provoke him anymore, or else he would really go on a killing spree.”
Thus, after declaring their identity, she quickly pulled Roland into the hall for the cocktail party to prevent him from exploding on the scene.
————
“Blush on a skeleton, flesh on white bones. All appearances are illusory.”
Actually, I am not that angry. Isn’t it just a layer of skin? I have already walked around with just bones, so what else could matter.
Un, I am already a grown man, so why would I record down such little things in my little notebook so as to prepare to get my revenge on them one by one in the future.
But, if I don’t show a little rage, such things would definitely be forced on me again in the future. I would be making a fool out of myself too often. So, I tried to best to display my wrath.
Of course, the lingering gazes of the other men made me really furious. The dumbfounded look that Darsos revealed made me write another line in my book of resentment without any hesitation.
“Lad, I will introduce Krose and Victoria to you 2 days later. No, that isn’t enough, who knows, this lad might even earn a profit from it. I have to think of a way to draw the Spring of Drowned Woman and introduce Beifeng to him.”
My mind is full of vicious idea but I still squeezed out a smile on the surface. After all, I am representing the reputation of East Mist Communal Country now and Kelly behind me is already on a verge of tears.
Apparently, the Emperor has already gave out word, so there isn’t many annoying fellows bothering me. Soon, in the room on the second floor, the secret discussion with two people on opposite sides each began.
“To actually dare lay you hands on the Astrology Platform of the royal family, aren’t you afraid that I would lay the blame for this case on you and start a war?”
As expected, trying to suppress me the instant the discussion starts.
“You should thank us for getting rid of this trouble for you. To even dare to use the lunatics of the Celestial Tower, aren’t you afraid of getting burnt? Right, we have found a few stuff there that you might be interested in, like the incident where the envoys of Solo Federation got assaulted.”
The Solo Federation is one of the strong countries in the continent and the attack on their envoys shocked the entire world. But, the true reason for the attack is because the Soloians were interfering with the battle for the throne of the Auland Empire. Thus, the man before me sent assassins to destroy their entire group of envoys and even blamed the other party for not bringing sufficient bodyguards.
Seeming to have anticipated my threat, Darsos shrugs with apathy on his face.
“It is all old news. If it was just a year ago, I might still be worried over it but now, hehe, you know also understand how much it only weighs now. But, let’s forget the matter of the Astrology Tower and talk about the future.”
“Fine, let’s treat the incident about the subordinate states as though it has never happened before and return back to where we belong.”
“That is impossible, the reputation of the Auland Empire will be damaged. We would rather start a war.”
The advantages of a secret discussion is that excessive diplomatic language could be dropped and one can dive right into the main topic at hand. Just like what I have said before, discussion is just a compromise made by exchanging chips after testing out the bottom line of the other party. It is decided by the chips and circumstances of both parties. Thus, it could even be said that the end point could basically be confirmed before the discussions begin.
Originally, judging from the absolute strength of both counties, I, representing the East Mist Communal Country, would be in a disadvantageous position. After all, the other party only have to threaten us with war and put on a fearless front. In that case, we, who would want to avoid war at all causes, have to give way to them. (Remembering the lord foreigners from a certain era…)
TL: Not very well-versed with China’s history so while I have a clue what he is referring to, I can’t confirm it.
This is also what Darsos is doing. By blackmailing us with war from the very start of the negotiation, it is obvious he is trying to suppress us with force.
However, what is fortunate is that I have found quite a few new chips in the Astrology Tower. As long as I can come up with a chip that is even more powerful than war, I would be able to reverse the situation.
“Cassomes.”
After throwing out this phrase, I silently savored the high-end cake and red tea without even looking at the other party.
But, from my peripheral vision, I can see two shocked faces of disbelief.
“You, how did you know?” Under excessive shock, the Hermit’s poker-face couldn’t be maintained.
Although Darsos remained silent, judging from his action of stroking the demon sword by his waist, he seems to be subconsciously entertaining the thought of silencing me once and for all.
Cassomes, it is the name of a ship. But, it is no original ship. It is the future Auland Empire’s super weapon, the flagship of their Air Fleet. At this moment, it should still be in the midst of being built in a secret base in an emptied chamber under the river.
Other than regular armies, every super Empire will have their own trump card. The Solo Federation’s Giant Elephant Legion that knows not of the existence of walls, the Beyer Empire who is rumored to be able to summon Giant Dragons to back them up in war, the Xiluo Empire’s Cursed Contingent that is full of all kinds of abnormal war monsters, Cazorla Kingdom’s Sea God Brigade which is said to be able to cause tsunamis on the continent and the Beastman Tribe’s Behemoth War Beast who could spar with Dragons reputedly. One of the reason why the Auland Empire is unable to join the superpower club is because they lack a strategic-level army.
Thus, generations after generations of Emperors have been investing in this sector regardless of the returns. After screwing up a few times, the final goal that they have decided on is an Air Fleet.
The Air Fleet, from the technical details of building one to digging a hole in the river to create a secret base for construction, spent the Auland Empire a total of 200 years and 4 to 5 generations of Emperor as well as the expenses of over half of the national treasury. If the walk through is accurate, it would take another 15 years before it would first appear in the war with the Underground World. In the first time that they appeared, they annihilated over 10 armies of the Underground Alliance, shocking the whole world. However, estimating the time, the construction should be in their final phase.
Perhaps, the reason why they moved to this city by the river a few hundred years ago is because it would be convenient for Kagersi City to build an underwater base.
This kind of country-level powerful weapon would definitely be under the direct control of the Emperor. However, Darsos didn’t ascend to the throne normally. He wasn’t even the crown prince previously, thus he had no rights to know of this secret.
Only when he ascended the throne was he pleasantly surprised about the secret weapon of his country. However, he descended into a situation that one would find it hard to laugh at, he was unable to enter the treasure vault.
The key to enter the underground base was originally in the possession of the Crown Prince Milause but Milause was already beheaded by Darsos. Without the key, no one can enter or exit the secret base. Gauging by the time, given that rations haven’t been sent in for a significant period of time, everyone inside should have long starved to death.
This isn’t the civilised society that emphasises human rights. All of those aware of the secret were sent into the secret base together with their family while rations and everything else were controlled by the external side. The result of being so overly secretive was that when a problem occurs in the chain, all connections would be broken.
Thus, he could only spare that smelly and stubborn old fool, hoping that he would possibly have a spare key. He was even afraid of using necromancy to extract his soul for questioning in fear of failing.
As for the reason why he colluded with the Celestial Tower and even gave them the Astrology Platform was because he hoped to utilise the divination techniques of the other party to find the key. However, in this era, the art of divination has already declined and a series of anti-detection secret arts had been placed on the key, not to mention that the Celestial Tower is much more skilled in assassinated and causing destruction rather than prophesying at this point, so it is natural that he would reap no fruits from this attempt.
Even if they were unable to use it, the fleet is still the top secret of the Auland Empire. If it wasn’t for him joining in the rebellion, even Hermit wouldn’t have the authority to know of it. Yet, an external personnel like me found out about it and even spoke of the name of the flagship. Naturally, the intention to silence me wells up in him.
It is to the extent that Darsos might even consider starting a war just to protect this secret.
“You do know that Angels can fly. Let’s first not talk about whether the two Legends in that secret chamber is able to eliminate me in an instant, do you think that I would utter these words without being fully prepared?”
The black cat on my shoulder is the best hunting hound. She has discovered the hidden troops of the other party from the very start.
After realising that it is impossible to silence me, Darsos killing intent retreated as quickly as it came. But, my chips wasn’t just limited to this.
“I know where the key is. That bunch of mad dogs have found it but they didn’t want to give it to you. If it wasn’t for the fact that the bloodline of the royal family is required to open the lock, perhaps they would have already emptied your treasure vault by now.”
“That bunch of lunatics, bastards! Those untrustworthy wild dogs! Hermit!”
“Yes, my majesty. The wanted list will be released very soon. All of the members of the Celestial Tower that we have identified will be arrested, the treacherous fools will be hanged.”
Even without looking in the mirror, a cruel smile is probably hanging on my face. Pushing the blame to an enemy really brings such great joy to me.
The Celestial Tower didn’t find the key, but someone else did… That is an one-of-a-kind famous Myth-class chain quest that would happen ten years later. Triggering from a fortunate player picking up an old backpack in an ancient well, it would end in the revival of the invincible fleet of the Auland Capital. The details of the process of how it happened isn’t very clear in the walk-through but an abandoned ancient well is already a big hint.
To others, this might be a great secret. When Beifeng told me that the new Emperor is coercing the location of the key of the fleet from the old Emperor, what is left is to find the location depicted in the walk through and after 3 nights of searching, I found the key in the 26th dried out ancient well I visited.
“If the doors were to open now, there might be a few surviving engineers and mages. This is much better than starting anew after finding all of them dead. A remote subordinate state should be nothing compared to an invincible Air Fleet. Right, if you intend to gamble and steal the key from me after killing me, go ahead. While I may not be capable of much, but I still have the confidence of making the key disappear forever. For example, feeding it to a fish in the ocean or a bird in the sky.”
Smiling, I casually stir the drink in front of me as I admire the anxiety and unease of my opponents.
Considering the unyielding spirit of the Mist Bloodline, giving their life for even the smallest thing as well as the ‘good reputation’ for remembering grudges, Darsos can confirm that if he were to continue using war as a threat, no matter what he earns, his trump card, the Air Fleet, would definitely be a goner.
I am not worried at all. Since my chips are larger than that of the other party, I am already on the advantageous side. The first to take a step back could only be the other party.
Kelly and I savor the tea delightfully while on the opposite side, their faces scrunch with anxiety. One side is smiling while the other is bitter. At this point, the situation cannot be clearer.
After a long bizarre silence, finally, grabbing his forehead, the King of Winter Wolves sighs helplessly and gives in.
“I can allow for all of you to secretly sneak away. The East Mist Communal Country will be excluded in the alliance ceremony and the list of subordinate states, but your country must be careful so as to not wound the reputation of the Auland Empire. You must remain silent during the commotion of the international community afterwards and in name, you must remain as our subordinate state.”
Remaining as a subordinate state in name is the bottom limit of the Auland Empire, otherwise he would be unable to explain it to the other countries whom they are going to alliance with.
However, I nod my head in agreement. Not talking about any other affairs, I have expected this to be their bottom limit. Going at it forcefully won’t benefit me and besides, I already have an idea on how I could bypass it. The main matter at hand now is to profit more from them.
“This isn’t enough. Our country is weak, so we require the generous support of your country. For example, the Missilor mythril alloy of your country, your specially-bred war horses…”
Alright, what is left is a certain someone opening their wide mouth to bite into the flesh of the other and the other so furious that he could kill someone but could only continue negotiating with his weak points were firmly grabbed onto.
Of course, as one of their national secrets, it is impossible for us to lay our hands on the Missilor mythril alloy but if we were to start out big, it would be easier for us to negotiate later.
After 4 hours of difficult negotiation, Darsos and Hermit gained a deep understanding that bargaining with a woman is almost suicidal. Not mentioning the ‘Reyne’, there almost no limit to the patience of the female Elf official. By pushing in bit by bit, she seems she would only be satisfied only when she forces the other party to flip the table in frustration.
When the Devil’s Contract is taken out by an Angel and skillfully altered using the Devil’s Language, even Darsos find himself unable to keep up with the happenings.
“…The contractor Roland guarantees in the name of the Mist Bloodline that as the true possessor of the royal authority in the Mist Country, after signing the contract, the Mist Country will become the subordinate state of the Auland Empire in name. However, the Auland Empire must pay the following resources to Roland…”
“Roland is your true name? That is a good name, just like the legendary hero from your family. Right, that is also the name of the sword representing your royal authority right? So it is a traditional name huh?”
The Devil’s Contract will only take effect when signed with one’s true name. However, if one doesn’t play a few literary game, then how can the contract live up to the vile name of the Devils who take pride in fraud?
The country written in the contract is the Mist Country, not the East Mist Communal Country, even though many people in the communal country still identify themselves as citizens of the Mist Country.
When the Mist Country is destroyed, in the eyes of the monarchs of different countries, the East Mist Communal Country is the revived Mist Country. Of course, for a professional diplomat, this kind of little tricks would be exposed in an instant. However, this is a secret meeting and apparently, these two lads whose patience were at their limits weren’t sufficiently professional.
The result of this contract is that the destroyed Mist Country would profess loyalty to the Auland Empire while he would gift me a large bunch of resources and technology in return and if it is not followed… The Devil’s Contract is signed using one’s soul, so the result of it is obvious.
By the time he realised that he was scammed, I believe that he wouldn’t have the time and energy to settle the scores with me and the East Mist Communal Country.
By the time we were satisfied with our returns, the tired Darsos smiles bitterly.
“I should be doing my job well as someone being ripped off. Then, as an outstanding profligate, can I invite you for dinner?”
He holds out his hands in invitation but what he received was…
“AH! This little thing dares to bite me… My apologies, is this your cat? It is very beautiful but it seems to be like its owner, a wild rose full of poisonous thorns.”
I smile, but it isn’t because of this Emperor who changed his words halfway through.
“Did you obtain sufficient blood sample?”
“Who knows how much blood that key requires, we just have to try it after we get back.”
After finishing discussing whatever that needs to be discussed, there isn’t really any reason for us to remain for dinner. Ignoring the regretful Darsos, I stood up to leave.
But, just as I was about to exit the venue, I was surprised by the chaos unfolded in front of me.
The cocktail party has been trashed. The tables were flipped while the delicacies and wine were scattered on the floor. Elegant ladies were shrieking as they escaped while their retainers and the gentlemen were surrounding the troublemakers.
“What happened!” Darsos, who seems to have found an outlet to vent his displeasure, roars.
“It’s that human Emperor Da… Da something.” A Gnome said.
“Idiot, since you can’t remember his name, then just call him your highness. Nice to meet you, your highness, in order to celebrate you ascending to the throne after getting rid of your father, we are here to present our celebratory gifts.” That is from yet another Gnome.
“Dumbass, stop prodding at their sore spots, getting rid of his father and ascending to the throne, it is obviously a rebellion. Right, that Da… da Vinci?” That is a orange-haired Gray Dwarf.
Yingou, Kabala and Hoyle have come to present their gifts to the new Emperor in hope of massive returns. After going through many exciting and tearful adventures (they were the primary cause of it), they finally found their target but apparently, their target was just about to go frenzy.
“Guards, arrest them!”
The black-colored dinner gown that extends all the way to the ground brought out a noble and elegant disposition within him and maturity could be seen on his immature face. The combination of contradictory yet harmonious dispositions makes him extremely attractive to the opposite sex.
TL: Or the same sex in this case (Just had to copy paste this to say this)