Chapter 101
Chapter 101
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 101
Chapter Title: Trolls from Asbestos
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"Who goes there?"
Basen Rak Oran's question made Garuda open his beak.
But Hwi Ravina Muel was a touch quicker.
"Mazdari?"
"Ah, it's been a while, Ravina."
Basen turned to look at Ravina.
"You know each other?"
"Yes. This person is..."
Ravina couldn't immediately figure out how to introduce Mazdari, since she had no idea how he'd ended up here.
The fact that she, a non-believer, could stay by Basen's side was thanks to the knowledge and wisdom she'd devoted to Heukrin, and Kyle's approval.
If Mazdari was a wandering alchemist, it might be better to conceal his identity.
Mazdari took a seat right in front of Basen while Ravina hesitated.
"I'm an alchemist, Prince Basen."
"An alchemist? You know my name, Garuda Mazdari?"
"Not until recently."
"Looks like you're with that bunch over there."
Basen nodded toward the group approaching along the shoreline.
They were trolls.
All armed, but none had drawn weapons or charged forward.
The boisterous Astasidians suddenly grew wary.
An Astasidian scout came dashing up from afar, out of breath.
"My apologies, Your Highness! I have urgent news..."
"If it's about the trolls landing, you're too late."
"Oh no."
The scout bowed his head low as he spoke.
"At first, I thought they were Danyeom merchant ships, so I figured there was no need to report. But then they started unloading, and it was all armed trolls..."
"Did you inform the general?"
The general Basen referred to was Iyan Tata, the one who had helped distribute the cannons and gunpowder transported by Thione Itimo, and who'd worked with Basen to drive the pirates from the southern isles.
Iyan had sent word of the final victory from the eastern isle but, instead of joining the festivities, was resting alone on his ship.
"No, not yet..."
"Then tell General Iyan and have him bring his troops here. Prepare for battle."
"Yes, sir."
Mazdari spoke up.
"No need to be so on guard."
"Hm, on guard? It's not like that."
"Then?"
"Just standard precautions. A troll unit disguised as merchant ships arriving under cover of night? Assuming they're hostiles is only natural."
Mazdari scratched the back of his neck at that and replied.
"Well, we didn't mean to startle anyone. We arrived at night to drive out the remaining pirates from these southern isles as quickly as possible, and we borrowed Danyeom's merchant ships because our own nation has no vessels ready for the southern seas."
"An alchemist from the Tower who met Ravina... so you're one of the Asbestos folk."
"That's right."
"What brings someone from Asbestos all the way to these distant southern isles?"
As he finished the question, trolls approached from behind Mazdari.
A troll who looked like a general spoke up.
"Mazdari, there you are."
Mazdari stood from his seat and joked lightly.
"General, don't come too close. His Highness, Prince of Heukrin, is here, and we're uninvited guests."
"Basen? You're Prince Basen? A pleasure. I'm Oldor Maen, general of Asbestos."
"Oldor, are you in command?"
Oldor Maen and Mazdari exchanged glances.
A strange tension hung in the air for a moment, and Basen didn't miss it.
'Not just a superior and subordinate. Similar to Ravina? A high-status alchemist chosen by the king, maybe, but I wouldn't think he'd command battles.'
Basen was right.
"Yes. My apologies for causing concern. We have no intention of clashing with Heukrin. First off..."
"Mazdari already explained why you came by merchant ship at night."
"I see."
"But I can't easily understand why you'd come all the way from Asbestos to the southern isles."
Oldor said,
"Are you aware that Danyeom has been plagued by the massive Yabon pirate fleet?"
"Yes. Lately, they've even extended their reach to 'our Heukrin's' southern isles."
Basen still couldn't fully believe they were truly from Asbestos, but he decided to proceed on that assumption.
Which made this conversation a form of diplomacy from here on.
Basen began by asserting that the southern isles were Heukrin territory.
Oldor's eyes narrowed.
"From what I know, Heukrin doesn't interfere in the southern isles."
"Because of the Astasidians' unique culture. But we've consistently received tribute."
"Hm. Asbestos collects tribute from the nomadic tribes of the central wasteland too, but we don't claim them as part of Asbestos."
"Probably because they follow a different faith. But these folk worship Yacheon."
Oldor, who had planned to challenge that point, asked back.
"Really? From what I've heard, each isle in the southern chain worships gods with different names."
"They call the god by different names, but it's true. We thought so before, but this incident confirmed it. Priests from the main temple will come down."
Whether the southern isles belonged to Heukrin wasn't the pressing issue right now.
But if Heukrin's response had been slower and Asbestos faster—if Asbestos had cleared the pirates before Heukrin—it could have become a major problem.
Basen glared at the troll general before him.
'They surely would have claimed the islands they liberated from pirates as their own. Saying the Astasidians were just barbarians from the start.'
But Basen had held the line firmly, leaving Oldor no easy angle of attack.
Oldor took a step back.
"...Very well. Regardless, Asbestos is sending troops as an ally to Danyeom. That's why we borrowed their ships."
Asbestos and Danyeom had originally been enemies.
But that was decades ago.
After Rakrak defeated the evil god, Heukrin's influence kept growing, reaching not just other lands and races, but even the courts of foreign nations.
Heukrin-friendly nobles and lizardman officials could be tolerated, but when even secret Yacheon worshippers appeared, the five central nations had no choice but to heighten their vigilance.
As a result, Asbestos allied with Danyeom, Aegka, Geuman, and Mangul, and that alliance endured to this day.
Basen cut in.
"Even so, it's hard to buy. Danyeom has its own army, and Aegka and Mangul are closer."
"That's..."
Mazdari opened his beak.
"Why hold back? As you know, Prince Basen, it's because of the southern continent."
"I see."
Basen had suspected as much.
The Yabon pirates had to be crushed, but relations with the southern continent remained uncertain.
Even if the Yabon were some ancient evil from legend, it was unclear if they represented the entire continent or just a faction.
And in the worst case, even facing the whole continent, advances in gunpowder tech had bolstered each nation's confidence in war.
'If we can win, we can claim land too.'
Basen doubted King Kyle's thoughts differed much from other kings'.
Trade with the western continent wasn't thriving, and even that little was monopolized by Danyeom sea routes.
Yet Danyeom was reportedly profiting handsomely from it.
So trade with the southern continent would surely yield even greater gains.
'Or maybe I've made a mistake.'
Basen had found Asbestos aiding Danyeom odd.
Danyeom wouldn't beg help from distant Asbestos when Aegka and Mangul were nearer.
But viewed differently, it opened the possibility that all five nations—Aegka, Mangul, Geuman, Asbestos—were involved.
'Danyeom and Mangul, with southern sea access, provide ships and crews; the others supply troops and resources. Efficient division. Does that mean Heukrin faces all five?'
The silver lining, in Basen's view, was that this wasn't direct combat yet.
Oldor said,
"That's why, after wiping out the pirates on Ormur Isle—which belonged to Danyeom—we hurried straight here to the southern isles. To aid Heukrin."
Basen wanted to snap that they'd just argued over whether the isles were Heukrin's, but he let it go.
Pointless waste of energy.
"Appreciated. So you're planning to head to Doltan Isle too?"
"As far as needed, even farther."
"...Good. A shame we didn't recognize allies come to smash pirates sooner. General Iyan will arrive soon—enjoy the drinks and meat till then. Ormur's pirates threatened these isles too, so you've earned it."
And so the feast continued in that awkward atmosphere.
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Doltan Isle proved far less straightforward than the southern isles.
The reason the Yabon pirates had kept falling back was their overly vast operating range.
Forces that should have concentrated were scattered, letting Heukrin and other nations' ships pick them off piecemeal.
But when the Yabon gathered undivided on little Doltan from the third continent, they became a formidable threat.
Sungwoon muttered at sea south of the southern isles.
"Where the hell do they keep cranking out these ships?"
The Yabon's threat was sheer numbers.
Even counting just the forces at the southern isles, Heukrin's warships totaled twenty-five, Danyeom's forty—not insignificant, but Yabon had pushed over a hundred to the isles' front and still replenished losses steadily.
Sink ten with cannons in battle, and the remaining ninety could board and overwhelm.
The third continent's warships racked up steady, frequent victories, yet it was the warships—not the pirates—retreating to the southern isles.
Troop fatigue mounted, and cannon use demanded constant resupply above all.
Sungwoon even considered crossing to the southern continent himself.
Players had two movement options.
One: Instant teleport to allied lands or priest locations.
The other: Fairly swift flight.
Teleport was preferred, but unclaimed lands forced flight.
And even "swift" flight felt glacially slow to players.
Sungwoon had his migratory birds for scouting, but player-divinity limits cut the shared vision after glimpsing continent outlines.
'Or maybe divinity blocks.'
Divinity block was a player-observation shield skill, unlockable at divinity level 19.
Sungwoon's was 21; he figured Wisdom and Hegemonia on the same continent had surpassed 19 too.
But wide range and long duration drained divinity heavily, and attempting it signaled hidden secrets—so it wasn't spammed.
Still, such crises didn't last.
As Mangul's thirty-gunship fleet followed Danyeom's, the Yabon's reinforcements slowed.
'Pirates are a plunder society, after all.'
That explained why nations weren't desperate despite numerical inferiority—they held all pirate turf.
You can't farm at sea.
Doltan was sizable, but no isle could feed crews of over a hundred ships.
And resupply from the southern continent was distant.
The pirates were literally starving.
Heukrin and allied navies claimed a major win off the southern isles after two months, then beelined for Doltan.
But Sungwoon noticed the sea lanes to Doltan were eerily empty.
Pirates bracing for a last stand? Maybe, but they'd need to show ships to slow the warships.
'Suspicious. Something's up. Perhaps...'
Heukrin ships and warships carried military priests under the pretext of bestowing Yacheon's blessings.
Sungwoon located a priest aboard the flagship Pirate's Shame and issued a revelation.
Succinct, so no tricky interpretation.
The priest bolted to the deck, seeking Basen.
"What is it?"
"A revelation from Yacheon."
"What'd He say?"
"I dare not paraphrase. Yacheon warns: 'Be cautious.'"
Heukrin vessels advancing with the allies slowed per orders from the flagship Pirate's Shame.
Allied fleets ahead glanced back curiously but pressed on, figuring it was a brief council.
Then a massive shadow engulfed the lead allied ship.
A giant tentacle slammed the deck; railings shattered, debris flying skyward.
Countless suckers gripped the hull, timbers groaning in agony.
Someone recognized it.
"K-Kraken! It's a kraken!"