Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The Country of Darkness.
Lifting one’s head and gazing at the night sky that seemed like a deep, dark curtain left one breathless. The three scarlet moons hung high in the sky, emanating a faint and slightly-dull radiance on the land. Corina shifted her gaze away and extended her hand to hold her forehead. She was in a terrible state. It wasn’t due to her not being used to the death aura under the eternal night sky as an elf, but she was feeling helpless at the current situation instead.
After mediation from Nalea and Siena, all three parties eventually decided to form a joint investigations team to search for the lost moon princess. As this matter was extremely important, all three parties sent out formidable representatives. Putting Rhode and Ion aside, Lilian sent out Lydia as the representative of the Country of Light after learning from Sonia about the matter. As a result, Corina was also involved.
The Country of Darkness’s representative was ‘The Conqueror’ Garcia, while the remaining two legendary generals weren’t involved. Balende was still recuperating from his injuries, while Charlie, the Angel of Sorrow, wasn’t interested in this matter. Even if Charlie was here, perhaps he would break into a fight with Lydia immediately and toss the investigations to the back of his head. As for Ashvril, there was no point in speaking about the dead anymore.
For Rhode’s side, Alice, as the History Deity Warden, wished to perfectly reconnect and follow the clues left by Erin. Her ability to trace history was essential. Of course, Balende was fortunate that he wasn’t here. If not, he wouldn’t feel good seeing the person who had crippled his arm effortlessly.
Even though Lydia wasn’t the direct party in this incident, her presence was also important because in the entire Dragon Soul Continent, she was the most like-minded with Erin, which was why it was acceptable to have Lydia involved in the search. Well, she couldn’t be blamed since she had unique aesthetics like Erin, ones ordinary people couldn’t understand.
On the other hand, Corina was the representative for the Country of Law and her job was more of mediation to prevent any conflicts during the investigations. Shortly after, Corina realized that this matter was a bothersome one.
Although the four parties sent out their representatives, it went without saying that Dark Dragon Ion and Void Dragon Rhode were the leaders of the investigations team. As a result, what left Corina helpless was that these two leaders who were unpleasant in each other’s eyes clashed from time to time. Either Ion accused Rhode of purposely misleading the investigation content, or Rhode berated Ion for purposely twisting the facts. They were Creator Dragons, but behaved like hooligans instead, as though they were about to break out in full-scale battles at the drop of a hat. This terrified Corina. What made matters worse was that although the Country of Law was in charge of mediation, Nalea and Siena had headed back after leaving the task to Corina. For an elf who had just entered the Legendary Stage, what could she do to stop two Creator Dragons?!
Moreover, their subordinates also didn’t seem to have any reaction to it. As one of the legendary generals of the Country of Darkness, Garcia could only submit to the Dark Dragon’s orders unconditionally, so it was wishful thinking to count on him in persuading the Dark Dragon. On the other hand, Alice seemed disinterested in the whole matter. She wouldn’t hold back if she had to attack, but as long as the Dark Dragon laid a finger on them, she would retaliate immediately. As for Lydia, even though she asserted with a smile that she would do her best, it was apparent that she took advantage of the Country of Darkness whenever there was a chance—the hatred between them wasn’t over yet.
Therefore, in this unbalanced situation, Corina was running around in circles. The cycle of the situation was: Ion and Rhode immersed themselves in the investigations individually, explained their findings thereafter, slammed the table, bawled out at each other’s errors, and made all sorts of ‘war declarations’. Corina braced herself to stop them, and repeat… It was totally absurd.
“Hmhp, that bast*rd is definitely considering it.”
Rhode tossed the intelligence to the table, gazed at the eternal night sky, and let out a snort. He and Ion were aware that this investigation team was just a guise. Although both sides were flying the banner of ‘Investigating the disappearance of the moon princess’, they knew there was an ulterior motive. However, they reached a consensus for one result: Erin went missing in the Country of Darkness near the borders. That was why Rhode’s group came here to carry out the investigation. This also meant that they had entered the main turf of the Dark Dragon and the Dark Dragon’s strength was naturally the strongest here. Of course, with the high level of Rhode and the Deity Wardens, they weren’t concerned about this extent of pressure. But it was a pity that Ion apparently wasn’t aware of this fact.
And now, the main problem Ion was considering wasn’t about the life and death of his younger sister. In fact, from his standpoint it didn’t matter if Erin were dead. But it might even be better for him if she were because the empty seat of the ‘moon princess’ would be restored automatically. When that happened, he wouldn’t need to worry about the problems of Order in Dragon Soul Continent. This was why Ion wasn’t that concerned about his younger sister’s whereabouts. He valued the fact more on whether he could use this chance to attack and even remove this emerging force of Rhode’s. After all, Rhode was currently situated in the Country of Darkness. If Ion rose in revolt, perhaps the Void Dragon’s abilities might not be as powerful under the eternal night sky.
Meanwhile, Rhode had similar thoughts as Ion. Although he favored Erin to a certain degree, that was all there was to it. Erin didn’t go to bed with him, so he didn’t need to be responsible for her. It would be even better for Rhode if the talks broke down as he would have a justifiable reason to cripple or kill the Dark Dragon and pave the way for his ‘Dragon Soul Continent Transmigration Plan’. In fact, Rhode also had some selfish calculations. If worse came to worst, he could take down Ion before going on the search for Erin. After he found Erin, she would then take over Ion and lead the Country of Darkness. This way, Rhode’s problems would be resolved entirely.
Even though Ion and Rhode had the same intention to attack, they chose to bide their time. This was also the only reason why an insignificant elf in the Legendary Stage like Corina was able to stop them. Rhode and Ion still had some concerns though. Rhode had to watch for Siena’s and Nalea’s feelings, so he couldn’t be the one attacking even if he were taunted. On the other hand, Ion was still pondering about that mysterious young lady (Rhode’s younger sister) with the powerful aura. Even though he didn’t know what relationship she had with Rhode, she might possibly be an important figure in the Void Territory. War was an extension of politics. No matter how one chose to attack, one had to take the initiative in order to avoid huge issues while discussing terms.
In other words, be it Rhode or Ion, they were playing a dangerous game of balance of ‘I will not be the first to fire the gun, but I am not afraid of you firing first’. This was also why they had no qualms in mocking and ridiculing each other as it was all to make the other party lose his rationality and make the first move.
But based on the current situation, it seemed to yield minimal results. Ion was a calm and rational leader. Even though he was conceited, he definitely wasn’t a hot-headed fool. On the other hand, Rhode had been the leader of the biggest guild in the game. He had countless experiences with criticisms and mockeries on the Internet. In this aspect, he was full of experience in dealing with them.
Of course, putting aside what they truly thought, they continued to ‘investigate’ on the surface. After all, they hadn’t shed all pretense yet. But Rhode was confident that even if Ion tore into him one day, he would make it his death anniversary!
“… Big Brother, about the earlier matter, I’ve reached a conclusion with Gillian.”
While Rhode was complaining, the voice of his younger sister rang in his head.
“Oh?”
Rhode was surprised. After they returned to Grandia earlier on, he had gotten Gillian to work with his younger sister to investigate the issues of Canary’s and Mini Bubble Gum’s ‘Phantom Guardian System’ as to why their mastery levels dropped. Besides, after observing them for a while, it didn’t seem like a curse was the cause and this became out of his scope. Thereafter, he left the matter to Gillian and his younger sister decisively. After all, it was always the developers and GMs who had to deal with bugs in the system.
“What conclusion?”
“Gillian and I have investigated the level of Order in the continent. Everything is normal including the plane of existence in the underworld. But according to our data, something seems to be wrong with Sister Canary’s and Bubble’s bodies during this period. How should I put it… yes, it is as though they have similar data, but due to some unidentified reasons the data is misaligned. Even though the data is repaired quickly, a problem occurred in the system during the repair process and the system can’t find the point of difference in their similar data. This led to a portion of data being misled, causing their mastery level to fall.”
“I see.”
After hearing his younger sister’s explanation, Rhode pondered for a moment and finally understood what she meant. It was as though one were playing an online game and using one account to create two characters of the same name, gender, and class on servers A and B. Then, the character in server A had maxed-out level and equipment, while in server B, the character was neglected as it was only a weak sub-account. But due to some system error, the character information in server A and B overlapped. As a result, even after the servers were repaired, some of the equipment, skills, and money from server A were transferred to server B as it was essentially the same account. Of course, such an issue usually appeared in low-quality online games. But for a game like the Dragon Soul Continent… there shouldn’t be this issue, should it?
“Have you found out the reason?”
“It seems like an external force is attempting to connect… just like how one is trying to enter the server. Gillian and I have been searching for the source. Big Brother, be careful. I think Her Highness Erin’s disappearance is unusual…”
“Yes…”
Rhode nodded at his younger sister’s reminder. He also agreed that something seemed to be amiss, which was why he treated it importantly. After all, Order in the Dragon Soul Continent had basically merged with the original system data of the game already. To put it simply, the current Dragon Soul Continent was like a world in The Matrix, supported externally by various data and restructured into a whole new world. In this aspect, Rhode was rather meticulous about it.
“Pardon my rudeness, Your Majesty Rhode.”
While Rhode was pondering, Gaya lifted the entrance curtain and entered the tent. She gazed at Rhode and greeted him.
“Her Highness Lydia discovered some clues regarding Her Highness Erin’s disappearance.”
“Oh?”
Rhode twitched his brows.
“Bring me there.”
