Chapter 1036: Departure
Elder Jorre nodded slightly, apparently agreeing with Nasry’s words more. He said, “Not bad, the forces in the Breezy Plains are disunited, and if we are too overbearing, we might end up prompting them to unite instead. The Ledin Kingdom and the Felan Kingdom are examples. Besides, our roots are out in the sea, and other than using battles.h.i.+ps to dominate the ocean, we can’t use other means. It’d be much more difficult to send our troops to enter the mainland than the Ledin Kingdom and the Felan Kingdom.”
After the members of the Gilded Kingdom chatted for a while in the empty conference hall and a.n.a.lyzed the current situation, they all thought that as long as they kept those forces in suspense for a few days, they would know how powerful the Gilded Kingdom was, as well as their intentions to enter the Breezy Plains, and would then come crying to beg for another negotiation. Hence, Cantory did not take the slipup to heart, and simply waited for the forces to settle the issue with him.
When Cantory and the others left the conference hall, they were no longer sulking, and instead looked rather triumphant. Cantory was initially still planning to go to the entertainment joints in Calon City for some fun, but after much persuasion by Nasry, he decided to return to the battles.h.i.+p in the port. They were just waiting for the forces of the Breezy Plains to apologize to them and sincerely ask for another negotiation.
On the third day after returning to the battles.h.i.+p, Cantory and the others were leisurely sipping wine and enjoying the sea breeze. All of a sudden, Nasry’s adjutant hurried over, saluted them, and approached Nasry to speak to him softly. After hearing the report, Nasry’s smile stiffened, and it was as if there were suddenly gloomy clouds in the clear sky.
Seeing the changes in Nasry’s expressions, Cantory, who was chatting with Elder Jorre, immediately showed his displeasure. He didn’t think that something major had happened, but he was displeased with his whispering. Hence, he sternly questioned, “Admiral Nasry, is there something that you have to hide from us?”
Nasry calmed himself down, and said to the adjutant, “Tell Envoy Cantory and Elder Jorre what you told me just now.”
“Envoy Cantory, Elder Jorre, here’s what happened. Just now, I received some news that one of the battles.h.i.+ps we sent back home got attacked during the journey.” The adjutant was a little terrified and fl.u.s.tered. Although he held a high position, he was far inferior to the several envoys in front of him. Although he would not be held liable, since he was just an adjutant, he knew clearly that if the big shots were to pursue the matter, they could blame anyone.
“What!? The battles.h.i.+p got attacked? Where? Could there be a powerful sea beast?”
The ocean was dominated by the Gilded Kingdom, and no one could compare to the Gilded Kingdom in the sea other than a few gigantic sea beasts that were hidden in the depths of the ocean. Hence, when he heard that the battles.h.i.+p had been attacked, the first thought that came to Cantory’s mind was that the battles.h.i.+p had been attacked by the sea beasts.
However, the adjutant shook his head after hearing Cantory’s question, and said, “Envoy, the ones who attacked us were not sea beasts, but a large and powerful battles.h.i.+p. The naval troopers who were lucky to survive said that the flag of the Tower of Dusk was hung on the battles.h.i.+p.”
“Impossible. How can there be a battles.h.i.+p in this world that’s more powerful than ours? Even the Ledin Kingdom and the Felan Kingdom don’t have any. The Tower of Dusk is a local force, how can they have such a battles.h.i.+p? Could it be that those naval troops have messed up, and are trying to s.h.i.+rk responsibility!?” Although Cantory was not from the navy, he was extremely confident in their battles.h.i.+ps.
He was not blindly confident. In fact, the Gilded Kingdom could become the hegemon of the seas all because of their powerful battles.h.i.+ps that had been incorporated with alchemy. They dominated the seas and would win every battle. Even ferocious sea beasts would turn into the prey of the battles.h.i.+ps.
Although the Ledin Kingdom and the Felan Kingdom all had some troops on the coastlines, their investment in the navy was rather pathetic, and their so-called battles.h.i.+ps were garbage that would shatter upon touch. They were not fit to be compared to the fleet of the Gilded Kingdom at all. If the Gilded Kingdom had had a powerful land army, they would have barged straight into the Ledin Kingdom and Felan Kingdom with cannons.
Cantory and the others thought that the Tower of Dusk was just a new, emerging force in the Doland region that might not even be able to create a wooden s.h.i.+p, let alone a battles.h.i.+p that was comparable to that of the Gilded Kingdom.
“No, Envoy, according to the naval troopers that survived, the enemies’ battles.h.i.+p seems to be very similar to the one of ours that went missing. Besides, they were the ones who boarded the s.h.i.+p first, and sank the battles.h.i.+p after looting all the supplies on our battles.h.i.+p.” Under the pressure of Cantory, the adjutant felt his legs shaking together with his voice.
“It’s our missing battles.h.i.+p? Atrocious, it must have been given to them by that old fogy Ashen Warlock!” Their battles.h.i.+p being robbed was simply humiliating for them. Cantory was so infuriated that he smashed the table into bits, and turned to say to Nasry, “Admiral Nasry, since they have the audacity to provoke us, don’t you plan to do something about it?”
Two battles.h.i.+ps of the Gilded Kingdom went missing in the Felan Kingdom and the Breezy Plains, respectively. They determined that the one in the Felan Kingdom went missing because of the Arbitrators of the Supreme Council, while the one in the Breezy Plains went missing because of the Ashen Warlock. In their opinion, only a true powerhouse like the Ashen Warlock could take over their battles.h.i.+p. Now, the flag of the Tower of Dusk was hanging on the battles.h.i.+p, and thus they thought that the battles.h.i.+p was given to them by the Ashen Warlock.
At this moment, Nasry was just as infuriated as Cantory. After all, the two battles.h.i.+ps belonged to his forces, and as the commander of the Third Fleet, he had an uns.h.i.+rkable responsibility in this matter. However, he did not flare up like Cantory, and instead suppressed his anger while saying to his adjutant, “Spread the news to the staff so that they can come up with a plan for an a.s.sault as soon as possible. The Gilded Kingdom’s pride cannot be stained by others!”
Nasry did not issue that order because he let his anger get the better of him and had lost his rationality. Otherwise, he would have instructed them to launch the cannons on the battles.h.i.+p and blast the entire Calon City. In Nasry’s opinion, the enemies would not be able to operate the battles.h.i.+p skillfully without five to six years of training. Hence, if he could recapture the battles.h.i.+p, he would not only be able to make up for his previous mistakes, the battles.h.i.+p might also be able to play a significant role in this negotiation.
However, Elder Jorre stopped the adjutant who was about to go and relay his orders. With a frown, he said to Nasry, “Wait. Admiral Nasry, it might not be appropriate for me to b.u.t.t in regarding the military affairs, but I have to say that the most important thing for us to do now is to obtain what we need peacefully. Once we start a battle, the following negotiation’s process might be detrimental to us.”
In fact, what worried Elder Jorre the most was not starting a battle with the forces of the Breezy Plains. They all felt that the battles.h.i.+p was seized by the Ashen Warlock and given to the Tower of Dusk. That meant that the Ashen Warlock and the Tower of Ashes had an extraordinary relations.h.i.+p. If they got into a battle with the Tower of Dusk, they might provoke the Ashen Warlock, and they might not get any benefits with their current strength.
In fact, they initiated the negotiation in a bid to obtain the resources they needed from each force peacefully. However, they faced the deterrence of the Ashen Warlock. Otherwise, how could the people of the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati possibly sit together to negotiate calmly with the local forces?
“What do we do, then? Are we supposed to just put up with it!?” Since when had Cantory ever suffered such a loss? He was naturally indignant.
Elder Jorre sneered and stroked his beard. He coldly said, “Isn’t the president of the Tower of Dusk in Calon City? There was no progress in the negotiation this time all because he decided to leave all of a sudden. This time, although we have suffered heavy losses, we can make up for them if we can get the two Tera Mines from the Tower of Dusk.”
Upon hearing this, Cantory and Nasry seemed enlightened. The attack that the Tower of Dusk launched on them might have caused them to suffer heavy losses, but if they had a bargaining chip, they would be able to use it to force the Tower of Dusk into compromising in the following negotiation.
“Okay, in this case, go and inform the people in the Breezy Plains. I will see what the people of the Tower of Dusk can say during this negotiation.” After having figured it out, Cantory immediately instructed his subordinates to inform the representatives of the forces in the Breezy Plains to start a new negotiation.
At the same time, a giant battles.h.i.+p that had characteristics which were unique to the Gilded Kingdom appeared in the sea region outside Calon City. However, it was slowly sailing in one direction under the flag of the Tower of Dusk. Several mages stood on the deck of the battles.h.i.+p, wearing the ident.i.ty badges of the Tower of Dusk. The one taking the lead was Alan who was in charge of the mages of the Tower of Dusk.
After attacking the battles.h.i.+p of the Gilded Kingdom, Alan did not command them to leave the sea region immediately. He even deliberately set off a lifeboat, hoping that the Gilded Kingdom could send another battles.h.i.+p after getting the news.
He was not being conceited. Although their battles.h.i.+p was from the Gilded Kingdom, the performance had increased greatly after it was modified by Lin Li and Angelano. Although the battles.h.i.+p was fused with Alchemy, it initially needed hundreds of skilled sailors to operate. However, after Lin Li modified it, the operation of the battles.h.i.+p became much simpler, and only required less than 20 mages to operate.
In addition to simpler operation, the battles.h.i.+p’s mana cannons were also furnished with Legendary magical crystals. Besides, Lin Li also decorated the battles.h.i.+p with some Guru-level mageweaths and Guru-level Alchemy Arrays, which made the battles.h.i.+p become a genuine unsinkable fortress in the sea.
Even if the Gilded Kingdom sent five giant battles.h.i.+ps, Alan would be confident of escaping unscathed after causing them to suffer huge losses. In fact, even if they faced a Sanctuary powerhouse, the battles.h.i.+p would still be able to sustain the enemy attacks for a period of time and allow the mages of the Tower of Dusk to leave through the Teleportation Portal in the armored superstructure of the battles.h.i.+p.
However, Alan and the others unfortunately did not see the Gilded Kingdom’s battles.h.i.+ps even after waiting for a long time. They had no choice but to return helplessly.
The battles.h.i.+p of the Tower of Dusk naturally could not be docked in the port of Calon City. Alan left his men behind to guard the battles.h.i.+p while he disembarked. Within just half an hour, he returned to Calon City and reported all the gains to Lin Li. When Alan was done with reporting, the people of the Malfa Family happened to return with the news regarding the Gilded Kingdom’s decision to start a new negotiation.
“Aren’t the people of the people of the Gilded Kingdom very arrogant? Why didn’t they react after getting a slap in the face?” Clearly, Alan was not satisfied with the gains today, and he was hoping that the people of the Gilded Kingdom would lose their temper, thus giving him an excuse to kill them.
“Don’t worry, there will be a chance later,” Lin Li said nonchalantly while flipping through the Book of Eternity. He felt that the arrogant people of the Gilded Kingdom would not let the matter go just like that. Perhaps that matter had influenced them to suddenly decide to hold another round of negotiation.
However, Lin Li was not bothered by the reactions of the Gilded Kingdom. Anyway, he did not plan to let the Tower of Dusk suffer any losses during the negotiation this time.
Indeed, as soon as the negotiation on the second day began, Cantory, the envoy of the Gilded Kingdom, began questioning the members of the Tower of Dusk in exasperation.
Initially, Cantory intended to be a little gentlemanly when he thought about his plan yesterday. However, when he saw the people of the Tower of Dusk, he immediately lost his cool. Before the members of the Tower of Dusk sat down, he immediately slammed his hand on the table and stood up. Glaring at Lin Li with bloodshot eyes, he barked, “Master Felic, the cargo battles.h.i.+p that we used yesterday was attacked by the Tower of Dusk in the sea. How do you explain yourself!? Do you really want to get the entire Breezy Plains involved in a war!?”