Chapter 386 He Actually Reached The Answer First
Naturally, Xi Wei saw everything Jom was doing.
His a.s.sessment was thus: Wow, to think that you reached the answer first.
It was true that Xi Wei had high hopes toward his believers and was convinced that small fry like the hill-folk would never win against the Players. However, the condition of the bet was whether the opposing side could occupy the Sky Horizon, formerly known as the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN).
If their opponent proved shameless and would claim that they succeeded in occupying the Elven SIN by just having one or two believers landing on Gaim, even getting the Earthweaver to ‘uphold fairness’, Xi Wei would have to suffer in silence.
But since the Lord of the Peaks had a positive public image to uphold, he could not afford to be unreasonable and directly bully others with his power.
That was why even if he would resort to dirty tricks, he would at least need to fly his believers up to Sky Horizon.
That way, what Xi Wei had to do was clear: his believers need to do what they can to stop the hill-folk, and prevent even one of them from getting up to the Sky Horizon!
They could even go further and avoid the hill-folk from learning where the Sky Horizon even was!
***
Soon after the Players actively prepared themselves, the event started once the Lord of the Peaks’ believers began to set foot within the borders of the Valla Empire.
And not long afterwards, the envoys and supplies from Lancaster had reached Crookes which was under reconstruction.
Still, Lancaster had not sided outrightly with the Church of Games the moment. Being a city of trade, there were many churches that had a foothold within, and the various religious factions acted as a deterrent against each other, hence maintaining a certain balance.
Even though Corinth Atherton had discreetly sided with the Church of Games, he did not actually change his faith. From a certain perspective, he was merely working with the Church of Games.
Moreover, the waters of Lancaster ran deepmany n.o.bles and ministers were ready for conflict at any given moment, because of their birth and the perspectives instilled in them. As such, even though they were aware that their mayor was allied with the Church of Games, they would at best show goodwill and not side with them alongside Corinth.
Indeed, the n.o.bles’ thoughts and att.i.tude did not change much even after the Twin City Cup and learning the strength of the Church of Games.
In truth, it did not matter to them who their mayor was or which church held powerwhat, is the mayor not going to need us n.o.bles to manage his city just because your Church of Games controls it?
Herman thought so too.
That was why he was really reluctant to be appointed as envoy by Mayor Corinth, who attached him to the supply convoy heading for Crookes.
Why would Lancaster have to donate our resources without recompense?
It would be fine if it was to earn good karma back when Crookes was a powerful mining city. But after it had been reduced to debris by natural causes (the official statement from Crookes was that a mountain collapsing and destroying the city), its former prosperity was now buried underneath mud and rockwho knew how long it would take for them to rebuilt.
In comparison, wouldn’t it be better to keep the resources at Lancaster to reward us n.o.bles who contributed so much to the Twin City Cup?
It was therefore a pity that Gerald McCobley, captain of the Lancaster city watch had been keeping a very close eye on the convey throughout the journey. Herman would have diverted half of these fifty supply carriages so that the Lancaster n.o.bles could be reimbursed for their losses!
“Welcome, envoy from Lancaster.” Mayor Meredith greeted Herman in delight when he eventually reached Crookes. “Truly, you only know who your friends are in times of hardship.”
In the past, a n.o.ble of Herman’s level would never have the right to meet old Meredith. But now that he saw for himself that Crookes was just a pile of debris, Herman was shaking. He naturally could not say anything a.s.suring in response to old Meredith’s greeting, and simply played along with some half-hearted grunts. It was only when he reached the tent prepared for him that he turned to his aide and said, “Since Crookes had fallen to such a state, we probably wouldn’t get much in return even though we invest so much resources in them. With Lancaster’s future development in mind, let’s keep some of the goods for ourselves.”
“Won’t Mayor Corinth accuse us if we bring it home with us?” His aide asked rather worriedly.
“Naturally, we won’t bring it back to Lancaster directly. That is why you will wait here until we leave Crookes, and move the goods to a nearby city, where you would buy land to store it.”
Herman spoke with a look of righteousness just then. “It is all in the name of Lancaster’s future!”
Knowing his cue, the aide started to lick his boots.
*
*
*
Old Meredith was not aware that Herman was such a short-sighted person. Believing that he was merely tired from the journey, he did not urge the handing over of supplies.
And during the actual handover next day, Herman had quickly rushed to the scene, ready to embezzle a portion of the supplies on an official capacity.
Or that was how it was supposed to go.
Before he could put on airs and talk things out with Old Meredith, he noticed several familiar Players walking by from the encampment of the Crookes’ survivors.
Though the Lancaster n.o.bles were basically not involved in preparing or running the Twin City Cup, they did watch the tourney and naturally recognized some of the more famous and stronger Church of Games members—in other words, the Players.
And one of them was the champion who wore a pink flatfish head mask.
That was truly unforgettable… And now, not only were those powerful Players showing up in Crookes, but they were also involved in some sort of secret operation.
“What’s the matter, mister envoy?” Meanwhile, old Meredith was puzzled by the Lancaster envoy’s behavior. He could overlook Herman’s not handing over the supplies immediately since he was wise enough after living so long, and knew that some people would always think about getting some commission as the middleman.
But this envoy was neither requesting anything or reacting to the numbers old Meredith himself was putting out, which was certainly puzzling.
Nonetheless, Herman’s attention was completely drawn to the Players, especially when he found them dragging one unconscious person after another past the encampment.
Occasionally, one of them would exclaim “This one’s debuffs are all gone! He’s playing dead!’ After that, a whole bunch of Players would rush toward them, give the unlucky fellow a wild beating until his face was all swollen. Only then would they continue dragging their victim away.
Some of the unluckier fools were directly beaten within an inch of their lives. Seemingly afraid that they would die just like that, the Church of Games believers would force feed them cola to save them, and then beat them up again to knock them out before dragging them away…
Even bystanders would feel that their victims were better off dead than alive.
There was no telling as to where the victims were being dragged off too. It was only known that there were no stockades or dungeons in the encampment, and that those people dragged away never came back…
“Sir Herman?” Old Meredith’s voice left Herman shuddering just then, and he promptly recovered.
“T-Those people being dragged away…” “Don’t worry—those are elements who wish Crookes ill. You are our kind friend, sir, how could you hurt Crookes in any way?” The old man said kindly. “Now, about the supplies…”
Still, the old man’s kindly looked appeared unbelievably sinister in Herman’s eyes right now.
Therefore, he did all he could to stop himself from shaking, while speaking seriously as if it only made sense, “Of course, there’s no problem with the supplies. Take everything! I won’t permit you leaving with one short!”