Chapter 531
Chapter 531
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 531
Chapter Title: The True Nukelavi Kingdom
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1.
The films she'd seen so far in black and white weren't commercial ones.
Leryue hadn't picked them out to begin with.
They were cryptic art films hard to grasp or blatant propaganda aimed at her nation's soldiers, with the projectors salvaged from the existing ship stores or a beached warship.
Dirty boring stuff, but for Leryue, who had precious little to do anyway, they made for decent time-killers.
But the first full-color film she watched was on another level entirely.
Lip-sync perfectly matched to the actors' moving lips.
Vibrant colors, diverse direction, sophisticated music, a lifelike sense that real people were breathing inside, booming sound shaking the chest from left and right speakers.
Advances in science and culture don't always drive artistic progress, but the latest films of this era were more fun and dazzling than ever before.
So why?
Why did she feel this gloom settling in after the credits rolled?
Why was she curled up in one corner of the sofa like this, unfit for a queen's dignity?
"This is a film made for agitation and propaganda."
There were no heroes or villains in this movie.
Sometimes the protagonist's comrades or superiors acted like utter lunatics.
Sometimes the ruthless enemy seemed more human than anyone.
Her head throbbed.
If war broke out to conquer the world, would the movie's tragedies replay in reality?
Could a tightly controlled army, armed with cutting-edge weapons blending magic and science, completely avoid civilian casualties?
For the first time ever, moral quandaries swirled in Leryue's mind.
Crude and faint as it was, it was unmistakably self-reflection.
She had a vague sense now of why he'd shown her this film.
"I don't get it."
Leryue irritably knocked over an empty plastic bottle.
Headaches were the absolute worst.
"Well, you really are a spy after all."
Cultural brainwashing—what a cunning tactic.
Was a rival nation scheming to turn Nukelavi Kingdom's ruler into a pacifist and avert war?
Infuriating, but she had to admit it had worked.
Leryue sighed and approached the box piled high with movie cases.
But Leryue was innately optimistic by nature.
The shadow of contemplation that had loomed over her face moments ago gave way to a goofy grin.
Time for a mood switch—after all, that movie had been genuinely fun.
And this box held hundreds more on par with it.
"Oh? Ooh! Oh ho..."
Leryue rifled through the plastic cases with a rustle, scrutinizing each one.
She had no clue what any were about, but the flashy covers alone were endlessly fascinating.
Some looked downright eerie and scary, others showed men and women back-to-back with guns at the ready.
And there were even films featuring monsters wrapping around skyscrapers nearly as tall as Rakenraken.
She thrilled at the covers alone, soaking in the era's vibes.
-Rustle.
"Hm?"
Leryue spotted something at the very bottom of the box, buried under the case mountain and wrapped in opaque black packaging.
She tore it open without hesitation, revealing about fifty films inside. Leryue frowned.
"Hmmm...?"
Nothing.
Unlike the flashy others, the cases ended at semitransparent plastic, the layers plain white.
Instead, a note fluttered out from the black vinyl.
[Customer request: Please remove the covers. Make the contents unrecognizable too.]
A spark of curiosity flared, but she shoved it aside.
With so many fun-looking movies around, she had no intention of starting with something unidentifiable.
Leryue beamed happily and queued up the next screening.
2.
The haul from this latest prize was about a quarter of what filled the existing treasure vault.
According to Leryue, it'd been almost never that she'd gathered so much loot all at once.
That would've meant dedicating a few days to sorting, but she summoned Siwoo without a care for his circumstances.
"What is it?"
"Today is the day of trials."
Leryue blinked her bloodshot eyes as she spoke.
Her spirit body's durability was near-infinite, but staring at the TV for nearly thirty-six hours straight would redden anyone's eyes.
"The day of trials?"
"Didn't you wonder? In return for installing that splendid full-HD television projector, We grant thee permission to set foot in the Nukelavi Kingdom."
"Isn't the Nukelavi Kingdom the Akula?"
"The true Nukelavi Kingdom."
With that, Leryue ascended the stairs from the engine room to the upper level alongside Siwoo.
Soon, he realized they were heading to the submarine's vertical rudder and conning tower—what you'd call the massive dorsal fin if likening the sub to a whale.
-Hiss!
Leryue shut the thick iron door—fifty centimeters at least—and spun the wheel handle.
There was the torpedo tube exit, but this way let you walk the deck, so more convenient.
Seawater began rising from the feet up, equalizing pressure nice and slow.
The deep-sea water, untouched by the sun's warmth for millennia, was so frigid it might've formed thin ice if not brine.
"Are we going out to sea?"
"Indeed."
Siwoo briefly wondered if he could just bolt now, but quickly shelved the thought.
They were underwater.
Even with his sturdy spirit body and adept mana reinforcement, he doubted he could outswim Leryue while cleaving through the water.
Plus, the affinity operation seemed to be progressing steadily, and he planned to ask for contact privileges soon anyway.
"No need to look so scared. Take Our hand."
He felt like Peter facing the faith test.
He took her hand as instructed.
It was slender to the point of barely feeling the knuckles, faintly cool.
"Thou takest Our royal hand yet offerest no thanks? Insolent."
"My apologies. I was so overwhelmed with honor that words failed me."
Normally, Leryue would've grinned or puffed up proudly, but today she seemed like seaweed washed ashore on a sandbar.
Lifeless, drained.
Was it because this 'trial' implied some grueling task ahead?
The water rose swiftly to her chin, and he instinctively held his breath.
Really damn cold.
"No need for dramatics. Our blessing rests upon thy shoulders."
"Huh?"
The forward external hatch swung open, ice-cold seawater engulfed his body, yet he breathed fine.
He could even converse effortlessly, with only mild resistance when moving—no real burden.
And his eyes didn't sting, of course.
Beyond the fully opened hatch, the deep sea's vista unfolded.
"How is it?"
"......"
Siwoo was speechless.
His experiences were plentiful by now.
He'd toured Gehenna's natural wonders and withstood massive strikes that vaporized carriers whole.
Stepping onto the submarine's deck brought the sublime natural panorama into sharper focus.
The seabed scenery, vivid despite zero light, awed even Siwoo, veteran of countless mysteries.
Lifting his gaze revealed darkness deep as a starless night sky.
Beneath stretched a vast plain.
The plain was soft sand that'd take footprints at a step.
Fish of shapes unseen even in aquariums flitted like birds amid sparse coral forests swaying in slow deep currents.
Following the slopes led abruptly to colossal mountains.
A mid-ocean ridge, peaks marching in a row, towering at least a thousand meters.
"A sight rarely seen, eh?"
Genuine awe pleased Leryue; she flashed a grin.
Her hair, brushing the sea, undulated like in a breeze, gleaming azure as blue jade.
But the smile faded fast.
The moment a jellyfish-like plastic bag fluttered into view.
Like watching someone trample a lovingly tended garden—most would wear that expression.
Leryue reached out, and the bag melted away.
"Didst thou think Our world conquest stems from petty greed? Nay. 'Tis righteous retribution. Humanity fouls the seas without remorse. Shall I, ruler of the abyss, overlook it?"
"'Twas counsel for Your Majesty."
"Do loyal retainers always judge aright? We think not."
Leryue dropped the argument.
Instead, she hopped off the deck onto the seabed plain.
Soon enough, what she called the true Nukelavi Kingdom came into view.
A massive passenger liner wedged in the V-shaped rift where ridge peaks met.
Leryue's sub was huge, but this liner dwarfed it—not even half as big.
More astonishing: lights of rapture spilled from the sunken wreck's windows.
Even with her blessing sharpening vision, the seafloor was fundamentally dark.
The liner standing luminous in the desolate deep rift evoked a gaudy haunted mansion in a deserted forest.
"The kingdom I shall one day reclaim."
Siwoo followed Leryue into the Nukelavi Kingdom.