Chapter 135: Strange Uneasiness

“...A Wizard?”

Karloa Lotte remembered who this Ent Wizard, Talay, was. She didn’t have any personal relationships with Talay. In the past, the king of Golden Eye had ignored Karloa’s opposition and looked around for alchemists; among the alchemists the king found, there was someone with strange powers.

At the time, Talay wasn’t a Wizard yet, but he had the knowledge to make gunpowder and cannons. Some kind of deal was thus made, which led to Talay teaching them how to make gunpowder, and in return, the king helped Talay become a Wizard. However, something went wrong, and Talay disappeared. After that, the war broke out.

Talay said, “I’m sorry, it was rude of me to enter your bedroom. But with all the people roaming about, I had no other choice when sneaking in.”

“...That’s fine. Why have you come to see me?”

“It’s clear on your face that you’re deeply concerned, and I’m considering helping you out.”

Karloa frowned.

‘I mean, we are in a chaotic situation. All sorts of things are happening now.’

Karloa replied, “It seems you don’t understand where you are and to whom you are talking. Why don’t we continue this conversation in prison? …Guard!”

Karloa expected the palace guards Golden Eye was proud of to appear in seconds with their trademark scarlet Phoenix feathers, but she didn’t even hear footsteps from outside the door. Instead, the only footsteps that could be heard belonged to Talay, who was coming closer to her.

“...Guard!”

Karloa became bewildered and looked at the door, and Talay didn’t stop.

“...Guard?”

Soon enough, Talay was right in front of Karloa, and he leaned toward her. Ents were a large species with an average height of two meters and twenty centimeters.

“Even if you call for them, the guards will not come.”

“...You didn’t.”

Talay straightened himself.

Ents usually had hard, cold expressions, but Karloa noticed Talay’s smile.

“No, I made you misunderstand, didn’t I. It’s just simple magic. Golden Eye is my hometown, and I still respect the palace and the royal family even though I no longer serve them. The guards simply aren’t able to hear you.”

“All that just so you can talk to me?”

“Yes.”

Karloa couldn’t figure out what this Wizard was up to, but for now, she decided to trust that he was speaking the truth.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

“The matter that concerned you so much. Namely the problem that Golden Eye is facing right now.”

“I don’t think it’s something that an Ent could handle.”

“What if I could?”

“How?”

Talay replied, “Would you care to listen to what I have in mind?”

***

Golden Eye. Those who left the banquet hall seemed to be in a foul mood.

“She won’t accept anyone’s help?”

“This is ridiculous. Is the regent, Karloa Lotte, also suffering the same illness as His Majesty?”

“This is Golden Eye’s palace. You should watch your tongue.”

An aristocrat meeting had been held at the banquet hall late in the night. Since the king wasn’t coming out of his bedroom, Karola, who was the regent, summoned the aristocrats of Golden Eye for a meeting to decide which direction Golden Eye was going to take now.

However, not a single aristocrat who participated in the meeting had foreseen this conclusion. Black Scale, or Mangul. The aristocrats thought Golden Eye could only survive by sticking with the stronger of the two. And Karloa was the one most ardently wished for Golden Eye’s safety, so the aristocrats judged that Karloa would pick one of the two countries regardless of the price they would have to pay. However, that did not happen.

Karloa declined help from either Black Scale or Mangul, and Asbestos for that matter. Since Karloa hadn’t made any concrete explanation, the aristocrats assumed that she had made a non-decision under the pressure to make any decision. The aristocrats expected this situation to continue for a while, and if they wanted to put an end to it, they thought more extreme actions needed to be taken.

There were simply the two factions of aristocrats at the meeting; envoys from both Black Scale and Mangul had also attended. The Kobold envoy from Mangul clicked their tongue. They were leaving when they saw the Lizardman envoy from Black Scale and went up to strike up a conversation.

“Deyanin, was it? This is troublesome for you too, right? You came all the way from Black Scale, and now you’re going back empty-handed.”

They had done their best to represent and fight for their own country during the meeting, but once the meeting was over, they had no reason to go against each other.

The white Lizardman, Deyanin, awkwardly laughed.

“Things somehow ended up like this, I guess.”

“And it’s not only chaotic here, but everywhere across the country. I don’t think we’ll get to sightsee before going back.”

“Someday there will be a time to do so.”

“Well, all delegates from abroad are going to have some drinks tonight, what do you say?”

“I do have a prior engagement, but if you don’t mind me being late, then sure.”

“We’re planning to stay up all night, so don’t worry.”

After choosing a time and place to meet up, the Kobold ambassador left, and only Deyanin remained. Deyanin then walked around the corridors of Golden Eye’s palace and soon arrived at a place that no one would go to.

“So you’re Deyanin from Black Scale.”

“My scales are white, so it’s easy for others to recognize. It’s one of my advantages.”

The Ent laughed.

“You’re a funny Lizardman… Anyway, things went as planned. Did you see?”

Deyanin looked out of the window in the corridor at Golden Eye’s capital below. Torches lit up everywhere, and the candles inside the houses looked like stars in the night sky.

Deyanin replied, “Yes. Everything is going as planned.”

This was all Night Sky’s will. Through a revelation, Kyle Lak Orazen found out about the three WIzards, and Night Sky told Kyle to help them. At first, the revelation priests were very confused. They found it contradictory that they should tell Kyle, Black Scale’s king and the representative of faithful believers, to help Wizards, who were non-believers. But Kyle acted as if he knew how things were going to unravel from the start.

‘It would have been difficult for those who favored Black Scale to gain the upper hand anyway.’

Even though Black Scale was powerful and had been victorious in battles until now, there was no way Golden Eye would be free of opposition against Black Scale. After all, Concealed Text God had died at the hand of Night Sky’s apostle, Lakrak. And dealing with the opposition wouldn’t change the fact that there was a more practical problem.

‘Golden Eye is…too far from Black Scale.’

Even if Black Scale was to help Golden Eye, attacks coming from Asbestos and Mangul would always be faster. The only thing that Black Scale could do was retaliation, and retaliation wouldn’t bring much consolation.

‘And so those who favored Mangul were about to gain the upper hand in Golden Eye, but…’

As expected, the regent of Golden Eye, Karloa Lotte, seemed to have been persuaded by the Wizard, Talay.

‘And that’s enough.’

Above all, Talay’s words were likely made more convincing because he could back them up with his surprising ability, magic.

Golden Eye didn’t have to surrender to Black Scale to win the war as long as they didn’t belong to another opponent.

Talay asked, “Hm, can I trust the words out of your mouth as well?”

“Yes. From now on, Black Scale will not take action unless formal aid is offered. And all those who favor Black Scale in Golden Eye will comply.”

Talay nodded as if that was enough.

When he was about to move back into the shadow, Deyanin said, “Wait.”

“What is it?”

Talay turned around.

“I don’t know if this will help, but Mangul’s envoy seems to be holding a gathering tonight. It seems like they have a scheme in mind. I found out about the time and place for the gathering in case the information might be helpful for you.”

Talay stayed silent for a moment.

“Interesting. Where are they gathering?”

***

“That’s strange,” Wisdom muttered.

Four months had passed since AR1026 died. In the meantime, Wisdom hadn’t exactly gotten everything he wanted, but in his opinion, things weren’t that bad either. Honestly speaking, losing AR1026 was a great loss, but in the grand scheme of things, he judged that things were slowly but steadily tilting to his favor in this war.

‘Danyum and Golden Eye have both started to follow their own paths without relying on other countries.’

In Danyum’s case, the country had broken apart. Rebellions incited by minority species broke out for the establishment of their own independent countries, which was a good thing for the alliance of Wisdom, Jang-Wan, and Crampus. Because no one could control the rebellion, the rebels didn’t become anyone’s power, but unfortunately, that also meant that Danyum was no longer under Crampus’s control.

‘Yan, the Wizard.’

From a player’s perspective, Wizards were difficult to deal with in many ways, and Yan was under Danyum’s protection. That left Crampus with only the faithful believers to control, but fortunately enough, more of them had been steadily gathering, and they had succeeded in creating an independent country by borrowing Wisdom’s territory.

‘And Golden Eye…’

Golden Eye was not in the players’ control, either. After AR1026 died, it had been a question of great anticipation which player Golden Eye would choose to join hands with, but similar to Danyum, Golden Eye chose a Wizard rather than the support of any of the other nations. It was unfortunate that he couldn’t get his hands on Golden Eye’s land and remaining forces, but Wisdom didn’t think it was a bad outcome.

‘As long as it’s out of Black Scale’s reach.’

But of course, Wisdom knew that this was what Sung-Woon had intended. Even though Black Scale was a powerful country, it would realistically be difficult for Black Scale to take possession of both Golden Eye, which was far away, and Danyum, which Crampus would actively try to interfere with. And if such an attempt was made, that in itself would give Wisdom a chance to attack.

‘So he made it so that no one could take possession of them. I get that part. It’s a good idea. However…’

Wisdom wondered if Sung-Woon had made a mistake; preventing others from getting their hands on the two countries was an entirely different matter from indirectly influencing the two countries without owning them.

Wisdom used the power of the alliance to force the two countries to completely block any trades with Black Scale and Red Fruit. And the two countries had no choice but to comply.

‘Crampus can still exert his power in Danyum. If he releases even one of his creations, Danyum has no other way of defending itself other than the Wizard. And the Wizard likely wouldn’t want to ask Black Scale for help if possible.’

The situation for Golden Eye wasn’t much different.

‘Golden Eye is closer to us. Even if Black Scale wants to help, it’s too far for them to do anything substantial.’

And this trade blockade could more or less determine the direction of the war.

‘The greatest weapon in this war are the cannons, which require black gunpowder.’

There were three ingredients in black gunpowder. One of them was sulfur, and another was charcoal. Out of these two, charcoal was easy to obtain, and sulfur was also found in Black Scale. However, that wasn’t the case for the third ingredient, potassium nitrate, namely niter.

‘Pure potassium nitrate needs to be obtained from niter, but no niter can be found in Black Scale’s territory. It would take a long time to produce them. Therefore, we’re significantly more in the lead when it comes to gunpowder production.’

Strangely, however, Wisdom couldn’t shake off his uneasiness.

‘Why isn’t Black Scale making any requests?’