Chapter 126: Pascal Islands (1)
As he went to the Capital carrying the letter he received from Ikael, he was able to get in without much difficulty.
After checking Ikael’s writing that was printed on the outside of the red letter, the palace guards immediately let Ian through.
‘Ikael, Gripper, these twin magicians must have quite an influence on the Luspel imperial family.’
However, once inside, Celia was unable to continue, so Ian met the emperor alone.
And King Celias warmly greeted Ian.
“Sir Ian, it’s been a while.”
“Long time, no see, Your Majesty.”
“Yes, so you brought a letter that Sir Ikael has sent?”
“That’s right.”
As Celias lifted his hand, h.e.l.laim, who always stood guard next to him, approached Ian and took the letter.
And while looking at Celias, who spread the letter out and read it, Ian gulped.
‘What the h.e.l.l, why is the king’s expression so serious again? What is he planning on making me do…’
He already a.s.sumed that the quest wouldn’t be an easy one, but seeing his serious expression, he felt even more nervous for nothing.
With a small voice, Celias mumbled.
“I see, so he’s in the Pascal Islands, you say…”
After reading through the whole letter, Celias turned his attention towards Ian.
“Sir Ian.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“By any chance, do you know a place called the Pascal Islands that’s in the southwest?”
“Pascal Islands, huh….”
Ian racked through his brain and desperately tried to remember a place with the name Pascal Islands.
‘An island? I don’t think it’s a famous place…’
However, no matter how much he went through his brain, he had never heard of a place with that name.
“I’m not too sure, Your Majesty.”
And Celias’ words continued.
“I see. But then again, no matter how outstanding of an adventurer you are, there’s no way you would have gone to an enemy country.
At those words, Ian sucked in a sharp breath of air unintentionally.
‘Enemy country? You’re telling me it’s part of an enemy country…? It’s not part of Kaimon Empire, is it?’
Ian hurriedly opened the continental map that was at the top of his interface.
And he was able to discover the name ‘Pascal Islands’ above an area of small islands gathered together towards the southwest coast of the continent, or in other words, in Kaimon Empire’s southernmost sea.
Ian began to grow more nervous.
This was because if his nationality was discovered while he was in an enemy country, he could be stabbed to death in an instant.
Celias’ words continued.
“Pascal Islands is made up of a total of eighteen different islands. And Ikael is saying he has found out that amongst them, an island called ‘Pascal Prison’ is where Kaimon Empire’s jail is built.”
Ian, who couldn’t really think of how to respond, listened to his words quietly.
“And there are prisoners of the Calabius War from ten years ago that are locked up in that place by the Kaimon Empire’s men.”
The words Calabius War were incredibly unfamiliar, but either way, Ian had a hunch on what kind of quest he would receive.
‘Is the quest for me to go and save the war prisoners?’
Celias’ words continued.
“An oracle that the pitch-black fog cast around the Calabius Canyon would clear soon has been made.”
“Calabius Canyon…?”
At Ian’s question, Celias nodded his head and explained.
“Calabius Canyon is a land of darkness that’s a little deeper past the Sky Highlands that you, Ian, went to in order to hatch the Griffin.”
As soon as Ian heard that, there was something that he remembered.
‘Ah, he must be talking about that long canyon that’s dividing the continent in half.’
But then a question formed.
‘The role of the pitch-black fog that is cast over Calabius Canyon is probably to block off the path that connects to the central area of the continent, which isn’t open yet… But that’s being lifted?’
Separate from Ian’s cluttered mind, Celias continued speaking.
“The moment the fog that’s cast over Calabius Canyon is lifted, we will probably have to go into war with Kaimon Empire again. Before then, we must retrieve the war prisoners no matter what.”
h.e.l.laim, who had stood next to him without a word, added on.
“We especially need to save at least a warrior with the name ‘Kaizar’, Sir Ian. He is one of the strongest swordsman we have within our Luspel Empire. If Ikael’s information isn’t wrong, he will also be imprisoned there.”
Ian, who organized all of the information he heard from Celias and h.e.l.laim inside of his head, slowly opened his mouth.
“By any chance, was the date the fog of Calabius Canyon would be cleared mentioned with the oracle?”
Ian asked without much expectation, but surprisingly, Celias nodded his head and responded.
“It has. Exactly two weeks from now, the oracle stated that the fog of Calabius Canyon would be cleared.”
For a moment, Ian felt the information that floated around in his head click together like a puzzle.
‘Two weeks from now…! That’s the date for the new update. For this large update, the central continent will be opened!’
Having found out unexpected information, Ian’s expression slightly glowed.
‘Once the central continent opens up, Kaimon Empire and Luspel Empire will be connected… Then war will be inevitable.’
Ian, who had a feeling that he was going to be dealing with the central aspect of the large update, felt pleased.
“Anyways, Ian, I was hoping you’d go to Pascal Islands and rescue the prisoners. How about it, do you think you can do it?”
Along with Celias’ words, a quest window popped up in front of Ian’s eyes.
Ring-.
• Rescue the War Prisoners
Recently, King Celias of Luspel Empire had received an oracle that the ‘black fog of Calabius Canyon’ would be lifted.
The black fog was a restriction that was formed immediately after the Great War of Calabius about 10 years ago through a supernatural phenomenon.
If this restriction was cleared, a war will inevitably rise up between the two empires again, and Celias is expecting you to rescue the prisoners of Luspel Empire that are being held captive before then.
Amongst them, a swordsman with the name ‘Kaizar’ is especially important, as he is a required individual in order to lead the empire to victory.
Within two weeks, rescue the prisoners and return to the Capital safely.
Quest Difficulty Level: S
Quest Requirement: A user that is an aristocrat of Luspel Empire.
A user that has Affinity higher than 500 with the King.
Time Limit: 15 days (Time limit to rescue the prisoners)
Reward – Specialty Points 2000
Imperial Family Contributions (Depending on the clear rank, the amount will vary)
Fame (Depending on the clear rank, the amount will vary)
Ian, who read through all of the quest content, wore a puzzled expression after discovering a new word.
‘Apart from the other stuff, what are Specialty Points?’
This was because he had never seen the words ‘Specialty Points’, which were written in the Reward tab.
However, whatever the reward, he was planning on proceeding with the quest no matter what, so Ian accepted the quest without hesitation.
And if it was an S-rank quest, as he had already cleared one before, he was confident enough.
“I will try, Your Majesty.”
And at Ian’s acceptance, Celias wore a satisfied expression as he nodded his head.
“As expected, if it’s you, Sir Ian, I thought that you wouldn’t fail to meet what I antic.i.p.ated.”
Celias, who turned his head towards h.e.l.laim, continued speaking.
“h.e.l.laim, please provide three galleon s.h.i.+ps for Sir Ian.”
‘Galleon’ s.h.i.+ps were large s.h.i.+ps with 3-4 levels of decks that stemmed from ‘galea’, which were active in the Mediterranean Sea in the medieval times.
And it was a wars.h.i.+p that made up the main force of the Luspel Empire’s naval forces.
h.e.l.laim responded with a voice showing discipline.
“Understood, Your Majesty.”
* * *
“Come this way, Baron Ian.”
Isreun, Luspel Empire’s southernmost seaside town.
Ian, who arrived at this place instantly through a warp in the Capital, wore a puzzled expression.
‘What the h.e.l.l, it was possible to move around like this as well?’
This was because the magicians of the imperial family used ma.s.s-teleportation and moved Ian immediately.
After hearing that he would need to go to the southernmost part of the continent in order to get on a boat, Ian, who thought that it would take quite a long time, wore a pleased expression.
‘The time that I would spend moving around was the most wasteful, but this is a relief.’
The guy that was guiding Ian was a high-ranking knight of the imperial family’s royal guards whom h.e.l.laim provided.
His name was Paulean.
He was a whopping lv 170.
After checking his level, Ian freaked out.
‘I should get along with him…’
Using a bright(?) voice, Ian struck up a conversation with Paulean.
“So, there was a town like this as well. It’s my first time seeing it.”
At those words, Paulean wore a quizzical expression as he asked back.
“You’re saying this is your first time coming here? It’s one of the most famous towns in the southern part of the empire.”
Ian wore an embarra.s.sed expression.
“Ah, it must be because I’m usually in the eastern or northern parts.”
Fortunately, the awkward(?) time between the two wasn’t that long.
This was because the harbour where the fleet of Luspel Empire were stationed wasn’t far off from the place they were warped to.
It seemed the king had already contacted them, as the three s.h.i.+ps that would be moving with Ian were on standby at the dock.
The captain, who discovered the party of Ian and Paulean, as well as Celia, approached them.
“Salute! You’ve arrived, Baron Ian.”
Ian, who became awkward at the respectful salute of the captain, slightly bowed his head before checking his information slyly.
‘This person that’s called the captain… No wonder he looked more amazing than Paulean.’
His basis for that was none other than his rugged physique and appearance.
He was the officer of Luspel Empire’s fleet, but his appearance almost outshone a pirate’s.
• Laurent
Level: 195
Position: 3rd Captain of the Isreun fleet.
‘…’
And Ian had grown speechless.
As he checked his outrageous level of 195, his already tough-looking appearance looked almost brutal.
“Ni, nice to meet you. I’m Ian.”
Ian, who shook hands with the captain, moved his feet in order to get on the s.h.i.+p.
And Celia, who followed right beside him, whispered in Ian’s ear with a very quiet voice.
“Lord, that person is a little scary…”
As expected, Ian strongly agreed with her words.
“I think so, too…”
Like that, Ian loaded his body onto a s.h.i.+p for the first time while playing Kailan.
This was even Jinsung’s first voyage of his life.
* * *
Keu-keu-keung-!
A bas.e.m.e.nt prison where a dark and damp energy rose.
Iron gates opened sideways along with sound of metal that was uncomfortable to hear.
“Kaizar. Isn’t it time for you to give up now? Luspel has forgotten about you.”
Sitting in the middle of limestone was a man whose legs and arms were tied, and a man who had armed his whole body in silver armour approached him as he started a conversation.
The man in silver armour was named Lacromyu and he was the leader of Kaimon Empire’s knights.
“Funny. There’s no way that’s the case, but even if it was true, I don’t care.”
Kaizar replied with a husky voice while remaining seated, and Lacromyu sat down on the stone pedestal that was just lying around next to him.
“Ten years have pa.s.sed. And not long ago, an oracle that the fog of Calabius Canyon will be cleared was made.”
“…!”
At the word oracle, Kaizar, who hadn’t even budged in a while, slightly lifted his head.
As his grey hair, which had grown long, covered his whole face, his expression wasn’t properly visible, but a strange light shone from his eyes, which were visible between the strands of his hair.
“Will a b.l.o.o.d.y war be opening up again…”
Kaizar mumbled with a self-mocking voice.
Lacromyu opened his mouth again towards him.
“If you help us, you may even be able to unify the Colonar Continent through this opportunity, Kaizar.”
Lacromyu persuaded Kaizar with a pa.s.sionate desire.
However, Kaizar just smirked.
“Don’t make me laugh, Lacromyu. The battleground is not a place that can be controlled with the strength of just one or two people.”
And the corners of his mouth slightly rolled upwards.
“Even if Luspel doesn’t have me, they have h.e.l.laim, as well as Gripper. It is not as easy of a place as you think it is.”