There were two things asked of Abel. One was to forge two circle materials. The other was to help the dwarves locate an island in the middle of the ocean. While the former was a direct request from the Goff Family heads, the latter was a personal request that’s made on Bernie’s behalf.
Abel hesitated when he was asked to locate the island. While it was true that White Cloud could fly under disguise over a very long period of time, it was not possible for him to leave the duchy of Carmel, given the current geopolitical circumstances. The Assassin Union might’ve become a tool of the duchy of Carmel now, but that’s not to say that there were still a lot of forces that were eyeing the wealth and resources in the state that he built. Emperor Ambrose, especially. He must’ve prepared a lot recently to try to find a way to prevent the duchy of Carmel from expanding any further.
Bernie suddenly raised his voice, “I- for real? I can’t believe it! So you’re saying there’s a way that you can try to get to the island?”
Abel nodded as he explained, “I’m somewhat confident of getting there, Bernie, but only under the condition that I’m going alone. Also, you know things are like right now. I can’t just leave the duchy of Carmel for too long.”
Bernie shook his head very quickly, “Who are your enemies? Just tell me, and the Goff Family will send an entire army of puppets to help wipe them off.”
The puppet army was the most powerful army that the dwarves controlled. With each unit about five meters tall, one trained dwarven engineer would operate each one of them. They were pretty invisible to anything other than advanced wizards, meaning they pretty much dominated any major and minor conflicts that were allowed to take place on the Holy Continent. By the way, it didn’t matter if Abel was buying from the dwarves because all the states were already buying from them.
Still, it’d be a drastically different story if the arms dealers decided to join the battle themselves. If the dwarves decided to participate in a war waged between humans, it would most likely be seen as an invasion of the human world. Abel was not ready to be held accountable for something this serious. He was not that desperate for military advantage, and to be fair. It wasn’t like the Kingdom of St. Ellis was impossible to beat on his own. He just needed to wait a little more, and even the great human empire of Ellis would decline in agricultural production.
Unlike the Kingdom of St. Ellis, the duchy of Carmel had plenty of food for its people. This was the reason that talents from all fields started coming in recently. The duchy of Carmel was undergoing the process of rapid development, and Abel contributed to it plenty himself. By supplying his military with training potions and combat qi bread that he created, the knights that served him only continued to increase in quality.
So, thanks but no thanks. He didn’t really need Bernie’s help to help him beat his rivals, especially when it would potentially cause a break between the relationship between two races. The Holy Continent was already in a very tense position as it was. Once the Orc Empire shut down its borders, the humans had been going at each other relentlessly for resources and geopolitical dominance. If the dwarves decided to intervene now, things would only turn uglier and more filled with bloodshed.
Abel shook his head, “I appreciate it, but no, Bernie. This is a war between the humans. I’m not saying that I’m guaranteed to win, but I am confident that my opponent will lose with me doing too much.”
“Oh well,” Bernie shrugged his shoulders as he was rejected from starting a terrifying war, “So when are you free, then? You know, for the-”
Abel seemed a bit nervous, “I guess for a while? I was just promoted very recently, so I needed time to stabilize my mana.”
Bernie replied, “Okay. I’ll wait for you, then. Actually, I should go home to report something first.”
Abel looked at Bernie in his eyes, “Right, right. Bernie, I want you to remember something very important. If I’m going there for the first time, I have to go by myself. Is that clear?”
Of course, he wasn’t going to bring the dwarves with him. If they were all riding on White Cloud’s back, then the noise would just be too loud for the invisibility ability to have any effect.
Bernie smiled and nodded, “Understood, my friend. Just bring a teleportation circle with you, okay? Once you set it up on the island. We’ll be able to go there ourselves.”
Abel raised his brow, “You’re saying the teleportation circle works among the ocean.”
Bernie explained, “Yes, and if it’s the specialized enhancement model we’ve created, we can deploy multiple of our trusted members to the island at once.”
That sounded like something only a filthy rich dwarf would say. Large-sized teleportation circles were not common in the human world. In fact, they could only be seen in Wizard Union branches that were unique to the three human empires. For a filthy rich dwarf like Bernie, however, large-sized teleportations just sounded like an inferior version of the kind of things he would use on a regular basis.
After three months, he settled with the duchy of Carmel and his own mana stability, and Abel was ready to go help the dwarves. For now, after sending Bernie away, he was ready to spend time for some quality rest.
Winter came quicker than usual this year, and things were starting to get messier in the human world. Another duchy was destroyed. No, it wasn’t one of the states that were subordinate to the Kingdom of St. Ellis. While many were starting to consider targeting the five states that served St. Ellis, the duchy of Carmel was technically still allies with St. Ellis. No one was really ready to engage in a direct conflict against the duchy of Carmel.
On the other hand, no one would want to see the duchy of Carmel annexing any of the five subordinate states. Things were starting to look quite awkward. The five duchies were at their weakest time ever, but no one really dared invade them.
Meanwhile, the duchy of Ann at the Kingdom of St. Anwall was divided into three of its neighboring states. It became the first duchy that was destroyed with force. While the Duchy of Keyen suffered a similar fate, it was accepted by the duchy of Carmel as a whole. The King lost his crown, but his title remained the same. For the Duchy of Ann, the royal family was exterminated because they didn’t surrender. Since the Kingdom of St. Anwall didn’t help, all that they did was fight until they couldn’t any longer.
Ever since the invasion of Keyen happened, all the duchies created plans to prevent themselves from facing the same situation, so when they all decided to attack the duchy of Ann, they managed to end it all before the Emperor of St. Anwall even made the decision to help. In just ten days, a duchy was destroyed. this had never happened before, and it happened right at the doorstep of the Kingdom of St. Anwall.
With the example of Ann, more conflicts arose in the human world. Winter was supposed to be the time for the least amount of conflict, but now, it became a season of terror and bloodshed. Of course, none of this had anything to do with the duchy of Carmel. The duchy of Carmel had ten thousand knights at command, several sky ships, and sphinx knights. It became the only state free from any sort of military challenge. Abel managed to make sure of that when he signed the peace treaty with the Kingdom of St. Pierrt and the Kingdom of St. Anwall.
One month later, a second duchy was destroyed. This time, it was a subordinate state that served the Kingdom of St. Pierrt. In the same way as Ann, the Kingdom of St. Pierrt didn’t help to resolve the fight. As a result, about half of the population was destroyed in one war.
Apart from the three human empires and the duchy of Carmel, all of the other duchies engaged in battle several times. The Kingdom of St. Ellis was the weakest of three empires, but because of its unique relation to the duchy of Carmel, it became the state that suffered the least amount of risk from its potential invaders.
So what was Abel going to do about all this? Well, it wasn’t like he could do a lot at all. He used up all of the fountain water that was provided by the statue of three goddesses. There was enough to sustain the current population size of the duchy of Carmel, but more refugees and immigrants were coming in at any moment. The entire duchy was very busy with all the people that were coming in.
Instead of carrying out everything on his own, he decided to leave all the political things to his advisors and officials. It was not like any of them would try to overthrow his throne because his reputation was already too great to be challenged, and two, no one was going to go against someone with a kill record of multiple advanced wizards.
In terms of allies, he had an entire community of wizards inside the duchy of Carmel to serve him. He also had a lot of knights and royals that signed magical contracts with him. There were also the elves and the dwarves. He was pretty much a god in the duchy that he ruled over. Actually, many were already starting to call him the “great king,” something that was only used for divine beings and emperors of the three kingdoms.
One day, a small meeting was being held at the assembly room inside Harry Castle. There weren’t a lot of people that joined this meeting. There was Earl Bennett, Earl Marshall, Earl Brook (head of the Bakong City Harry Family), Earl Benson of the Benson Family, Earl Elmer of the Marlow Family, Earl Enoch of the Lansi Family, Head Commander Bodley (head of the knight army) and Abel, the king of the duchy of Carmel.
Abel spoke to all of his most trusted men, “Thank you for coming here today. I have something very important to announce to you, and that’s something that has to do with everyone who’s been supporting the duchy of Carmel for so long.”
“I will now leave the duchy in your hands. Unless there are wars, I’ll make sure to not deal with any political affairs and instead, leave it all to your discussions. Once you’ve all put all your suggestions, usually, Earl Bennett and Earl Brook will make the final decision. For military affairs, Head Commander Bodley will take charge.”
Earl Bennett asked, “Are you going to do a shutdown training, your Majesty?”
Abel had a record of not doing too much political work himself, but it was strange for him to go all the way to make an announcement like this. Most of the men here were already taking care of most political things. If he wasn’t planning on going through a shutdown training, no one would’ve thought of the reason for today’s meeting.
Abel smiled in response, “No, this is different. I’m calling you all because I’ll leave the duchy of Carmel and pay a visit to the dwarves. The shutdown training will happen once I get back. For this to happen, I need all of you to be able to keep things running without me here.”
Earl Bennett stated, “Yes, your Majesty. With Earl Brook and I working together, you can leave all the political matters to us.”
Head Commander Bodley spoke, “Thank you for your generous trust, your Majesty. In time, I’ll make sure that the duchy of Carmel has the strongest military in all of the Holy Continent.”
“And Uncle,” Abel suddenly turned to Earl Marshall, “Do you mind becoming the new king for me?”
The room suddenly became very quiet. Everyone had a shocked look on their faces.
Earl Bennett was the first to speak, “I don’t think the duchy of Carmel can exist without you, your Majesty.”
Head Commander Bodley joined in as well, “I agree. Without you as the head, your Majesty, the army won’t have the same morale as it has now.”
Before anyone else tried to speak, Abel made a gesture to tell them to stop.
Abel turned to Earl Marshall, “So what do you think, Uncle Marshall?”
Marshall turned to Bennett and smiled, “You know my career well enough, don’t you? I did receive some nobleman’s training from Bakong City, but I was by no means a good student. My father knew that very well.”
A humble man even at a time like this.
“I don’t have the knowledge and experience to be a king, and you know how much I love Harry Castle. It was my only home for so many years, Abel. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to leave it, so what, I can take my son’s throne for myself?”
Earl Bennett asked in a genuinely confused manner, “What happened, your Majesty? Why are you surrendering the throne now?”
Abel said it plain and simple, “I’m rank fifteen now.”
No one was able to respond to that statement calmly. They all knew what rank fifteen meant.
Earl Bennett tried to keep his composure, “So you’ve reached rank fifteen?”
“Yes,” Abel replied and explained, “I became a rank fifteen three months ago. In a few years, I’ll become an advanced wizard. I’m planning on leaving the Holy Continent once that time comes.”
Earl Bennett tried to be persuasive, “The duchy of Carmel is your territory, your Majesty. It is the territory of the Harvest City Harry Family, and so far, there are only two heirs of the Harry Family. Your uncle isn’t going to leave Harry Castle, so the only one who can become king is you. I’m sorry if I sound too forceful about it, but you can’t hand the throne to another person.”
Earl Marshall spoke as well, “Perhaps you should find a queen, Abel. You can leave the Holy Continent after you’ve had a child. I’ll make sure to take care of it when you’re not here.”
Abel couldn’t help but smile at that comment. There were still ten years before Loraine could get out of her training, and for someone with a lifespan as long as him, it’d be much more fitting if he found an elf rather than a human.
Abel tried to sound shy about it, “I don’t think I’m old enough yet, Uncle.”
Earl Marshall was very serious, “No, you are old enough. If you aren’t a wizard or a king, you should have your coming of age ceremony already this year.”
It was the start of a new year. Abel was just about to turn eighteen, but his current status didn’t allow him to have his coming of age ceremony. His age became irrelevant the moment he became king.
Earl Bennett asked the question that everyone wanted to hear, “So will you back after you’ve left the Holy Continent, your Majesty?”
“Well, I am, of course,” Abel nodded, “This is my home. I’m only going out for a bit because I want to see something different.”
Earl Bennett proposed, “Very well, your Majesty. You are a wizard who is expected to live for several centuries. You are also a grandmaster blacksmith, and who is there to replace someone as great as you? As far as I see, having you continue being the king will be beneficial for everyone that serves the duchy of Carmel. That’s not to say that you can’t leave the administration work for your trusted officials, of course.”
“I agree,” Head Commander Bodley said firmly, “There is no need for a new king any time soon. Even if you’ve left the Holy Continent, your Majesty, it is guaranteed that you will be back. When you have your child then, we’ll serve him as your direct heir.”
Abel nodded weakly, “I… I’m not going to have a child any time soon, but I like the idea. Once I’ve left the Holy Continent, I’ll make sure to leave Bartoli here as my direct contact. She’ll be representing me if there is anything I need to talk to you all about.”
Two days after the assembly was over, it had been the three months limit that Abel agreed with Bernie. On this particular morning, Bernie arrived at Harry Castle just like he promised. Wizard Cyril came with him as well. The two came just in time to have breakfast with Abel.
Bernie handed a parchment over as he ate, “Here, Grandmaster Abel. This is a replica map of the sea route we’ve discovered.”
Upon looking at the map, Abel could tell that the illustration used the Splitting Earth Basin as its base. That being said, everything must be traveled starting from the Splitting Earth Basin first. There was also another problem. Since the map was drawn very poorly, it’d be very difficult to pinpoint the island. This was something pretty challenging even with the digitalization ability of the world stone fragment.
Abel complained as he looked, “I’m going to have a lot of trouble following this.”
Bernie scratched his head, “It’s been very hard for us to pinpoint an exact location in the middle of the ocean. The ocean has no landmark, but the creator of this illustration is a very experienced veteran of ours. There shouldn’t be that much of a problem with the precision of this map.”
“I’ll give it my best,” Abel replied, meanwhile putting the illustration into his portal bracelet.
Wizard Cyril spoke, “A gift for you from the clan elder, Grandmaster Abel.”
It was a portal ring for Abel. As soon as he took it over, he was able to immediately declare himself as its owner by injecting his power of the Will. Portal rings were the most convenient portal items in all of the Holy Continent. Even in terms of their total capacity, they were still better than portal bracelets.
After scanning into the new portal ring he got, Abel discovered that it contained a dimension that was ten meters in width and length but only one meter in height. The height might be a problem, but he could still stuff in plenty of things here. It was already better than most regular portal bags, actually. Even the highest-ranking wizards would only get bags that were about five to ten cubic meters in volume.
There was also something special about this portal ring. It had only one thing inside of it, and that was a gigantic spell plate that had all sorts of runes drawn over it. There was all sort of ingredients used on top of it. It was literally the largest circle plate he’s ever seen. The length and width were about ten meters, which basically took up the entire space that the portal ring had. As several hundred intermediate gemstones were already installed on top of this circle, all he needed to do was to activate it with his power of the Will. The dwarves were very considerate when they decided to give it to him as a gift.
Bernie continued after Abel accepted the gift, “There is also something else I need to speak to you about, Grandmaster. Whatever rivals the duchy of Carmel is currently facing, know that we can be of help. I’ve already made an application to the higher-ups of our clan. Once you are back from the island, we’ll be ready to give you two of the sky ships that we’re currently repairing.”
Those were two very valuable gifts in a row. Bernie was very serious about this expedition, so it seemed. With Abel’s help, it became plausible for the dwarves could create any number of sky ships that they desired. Abel was just starting to worry that the three sky ships weren’t enough for the duchy of Carmel’s demand, but now, his friendship managed to improve the duchy’s productivity.
As for the mission, it’d be very easy for him with White Cloud and Flying Flame to help. It’d be like a short trip for him.
Abel smiled as he raised his cup of juice, “Send my regard to Chief Goff, Bernie. May our friendship stay long and firm.”
The two dwarves raised their win cups as well, “Yes, may our friendship be long and firm!”
…
In the middle of January, Abel departed alone from Harry Castle. He brought all of his summoned creatures on White Cloud’s back. After they all flew over to the Great Diving Mountain, he started making way to the Dividing Earth Basin. White Cloud was invisible the whole time, so none of them were spotted by the humans nor the dwarves. This was a secret mission. During the time he was gone, again, he announced to the public that he was undergoing another shutdown training.
After gaining the “teleportation” ability, White Cloud became a whole lot faster. It was almost like it could perform the “instantaneous movement” on its own, making a supposedly-ten-day trip in just one day.
This wasn’t the first time Abel’s seen the ocean. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen it, but honestly, this was the first time to explore it. In all of the Holy Continent, the common consensus was that the ocean was not a place to be explored. Due to the sheer number of dangerous spiritual beasts that resided here, no humans had ever managed to conquer it.
As soon as White Cloud flew above the water, he heard two warnings from the battle command spirit’s siren. Usually, the siren could only be heard when the detected target was at least an advanced wizard. Worse, it would be a top-level spiritual beast in the detectable range.
To calm Flying Flame down, Abel gave him a pat on the back. He ordered it to conceal its dragon’s presence because there was a weird sense of pressure he’d been feeling as soon as he entered this area. As faint as this feeling was, it was real enough to make him want to increase his level of alertness. Yet, when he tried to locate the source of this pressure, he had no idea where to begin.
There were plenty of libraries on the Holy Continent, but none of them contained any specific knowledge on the ocean. This was the case for humans. For the other races, there might be a bit more to look into. As far as Abel remembered, he did remember the ocean being mention in some alchemy-related books he found in the elves’ libraries. He also read about the ocean when he was reading forgery-related books when he was in the dwarven library, but that was pretty much it. There wasn’t a lot of specifics in the field of Mariology on its own.
Perhaps it had something to do with his current wizardry level. According to what Wizard Dunn’s told him before, only the advanced wizards would have access to know the secrets behind this world.
