Chapter 333: 5 Years
Under Valerie's order, the crew members docked the Gold Demon ship near the shore and lowered the shaft.
?
"Liam, you'll be in charge of this ship from now on. Wait here for three days. If I didn't come back, go back to Bluebay City and inform my family about the situation."
Saying so, Valerie brought three metal suitcases from the lower deck and passed them to Charles and Destiny Lady.
Then, the trio moved towards the deck's edge and cast fly spells on themselves.
Charles cast the [Fallen Angel's wings] spell, Destiny Lady casts [Ice Wings] spell, and Valerie casts a unique spell called [Nature's Wings].
After that, they flapped their wings, flew past the shore, and soon flew above the woods.
As they flew over the dense woods, Valerie held the suitcase tightly and turned her gaze towards the other side of the island.
From above, the whole island appeared more like a donut-shaped one.
A large lake appeared at the center of this island and was encircled by full of vegetation.
A few settlements appeared near the lake and seemed to be packed with palm tree houses.
"Weston told me to go the Haven Town on this island and give these suitcases to a particular person called Sage. He also gave me his house address. Do you guys heard of him?" Valerie asked.
"But they look more like tribal people," Charles said with a frown.
But just as Valerie was about to respond, she turned her gaze towards a small mountain range and noticed black smoke from the other side.
"The Town must be on the other side."
Saying so, she flapped her wings and flew in that direction.
Within a few minutes, the trio flew past the large lake, crossed the mountain range, and soon saw a small town surrounded by a 2 to 3 meters tall fence.
They also saw a few ships and boats docked near the shore and guessed that this must be the Haven Town.
Unlike the houses in Edge Port city, this town was filled with cottages, ranches, and snout houses.
If not for few patrol boats docked near the shore region, Charles and others would've thought of this as a pirate town.
As they flew towards the town, they lowered the altitude and soon descended on a grassy area.
Then, they dismissed their wing spells and chose to walk on foot.
Fifteen minutes later, Charles and others walked out of the woods and moved towards the town's entrance.
After that, they showed their identity cards to the patrol security guards and entered inside.
Valerie then took out a white slip from her pocket and spoke as she glanced at the surroundings.
"55A Main Street."
They then walked past many houses and soon stopped in front of a one-and-a-half-story house with a symmetrical rectangular floor plan and a gable centered over the door.
"Is this the house?" Charles asked as he walked near the wooden door, knocked it twice, and soon frowned.
At that moment, he noticed a quote on the door and got confused.
'Nature is Gift.'
"Life Church member?" Charles furrowed his brows.
He clearly remembered that the Life Believers would only say 'Life is Eternal' when greeting.
Noticing his puzzlement, Valerie took a step forward, opened the door, and explained.
"It is customary to start by saying 'Nature is Gift' before greeting guests in Azure Federation. The reason is that the Life Church has been treating vegetarians in a good way. Unlike other Churches, Life Church actually encourages everyone to become vegans. The Azure Federation is also the birthplace of the Life Church. That's why most Life Believers in Federation say 'Nature is Gift' at the beginning and end of the conversation."
Saying so, she took a step forward and walked in.
Charles and Destiny Lady also entered inside and soon saw a middle-aged man at the reception counter.
He had blue eyes, a round face, an average height, and he wore a regular linen dress.
Upon noticing their arrival, he stood up from his seat and greeted them.
"Nature is Gift."
Then, he clasped his hands together and asked.
"Welcome customers! What would you like to eat? We've all kinds of foods like garlic roasted cauliflower, fried cabbage, butternut squash stew, roasted broccoli soup, and so on."
Upon hearing his sudden speech, all three of them got stunned for a moment.
After a short silence, Charles cleared his throat and asked.
"Are you Mr. Sage? We came here to deliver something."
In truth, he used his [Arcane Eyes] skill and noticed that this man was a mortal!
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man widened his eyes for a second and nodded.
"Yes, I'm. Did you bring the pumpkins?"
Upon hearing those words, all three of them were at a loss.
'We came to the wrong address.' That thought appeared in everyone's mind.
"Sorry for the intrusion, Mister. I think we came to the wrong address." Destiny Lady said in an apologetic tone and turned around.
But before she could take another step, the middle-aged man shook his head and spoke.
"You came to the right address. Three elemental crystals, right? I was expecting your arrival."
Just as he finished his words, all three of them suddenly noticed that the whole surroundings started to change.
The concrete floor, walls, and ceiling started to break and were soon replaced with plants, vines, trees, and flowers.
"Domain of Nature!" Valerie said in a shocked tone.
'Rank-5!' Charles and Destiny Lady also got tensed up all of a sudden.
Before they could cast defensive spells, the surroundings again broke like glasses and soon were replaced with floors, walls, and ceiling.
Simultaneously, the metallic suitcases in their hands were also disappeared!
Without minding their shocked faces, the middle-aged man named Sage took out a leather pouch from his space ring and tossed it to Charles.
"It's the remaining payment amount. Come on, let's have breakfast first." Saying so, he turned around and started walking towards the nearby hall.
Although Charles and others got shocked a little, they soon regained their cool and followed him into the dining hall.
Spicy aroma entered their nostrils as they stepped in.
"Please take a seat," Sage said as he clapped his hands.
Charles and others glanced at each other, nodded their heads, moved toward the table, and sat down.
Meanwhile, three servants entered from the nearby room with different kinds of dishes and started serving them.
As Charles and others started to eat, Sage also asked some questions about their journey.
Upon hearing his question, Charles told him about the Rising Serpent Navy force's inspection and warned him to be careful of Weston.
"Heh, he is daring to play behind my back, huh." Sage nodded his head and was about to ask another question but stopped.
"It seems Weston is here to notify me about the situation. You guys stay here and eat. I'll take care of him."
Saying so, he walked out of the dining room and moved towards the reception hall.
At that moment, a 50-years-old man in his luxurious cloth walked into the reception hall and soon ran towards Sage with an anxious look on his face.
"Sage! We were fooled. All the three Fairy crystals are gone! I shouldn't have trusted the newcomers!"
"Please stand up, Weston. Tell me what happened." Sage furrowed his brows and asked.
Upon hearing his words, Weston gained some courage and spoke in an angry tone.
"I entrusted the goods to two mages and a pirate crew. But those damned thieves escaped with those crystals. Once I capture them, I'm going to cut them with my sword-"
"Who are you going to cut, Mr. Weston?" Charles asked as he walked out of the dining hall.
Upon seeing his face, Weston's body stiffened.
"C-Charles… I d-didn't know that the naval force would check your ship-"
Before he could finish his words, Sage raised his hand and waved it.
Weston's body was cleaved into two the next instant and fell on the concrete floor with a thud.
"Caleb, a dead lizard is lying on the floor. Clean it quickly."
Saying so, he turned his gaze towards Charles, took out a large pouch from his space ring, and tossed it to him.
"I have a job for you two. It's about a journey to the Endless Sea's first layer. Do you guys want to take it?" He asked with a smile.
Meanwhile, Charles caught the leather pouch, glanced at Destiny Lady, and nodded.
"We are also planning on going to that mysterious sea."
'Although we are in Endless Sea zone, this one should come under outer region area. Once we move deeper, the dangers will also rise exponentially.' He muttered inwardly.
After that, Charles and Destiny Lady choose to stay in Haven Town for the next few days and familiarized with the new area.
Meanwhile, Valerie left Haven Town a day later and went back to Edge Port City with her crewmates.
Although the next job tempted her, she realized that her crewmates wouldn't survive a single day in the mysterious sea.
…
City of Iron, Iron Kingdom.
Even though only a few days had passed, a great change happened in the city of Iron.
The first thing was about the complete control of the Royal Palace.
After Charles left the Edhen World, Edith moved to the Royal Palace and eliminated all the inside threats like rebelling soldiers, Kings' Guards, and even the servants.
Then, she also helped Rhea to gain complete control over the Nobles' circle.
Just after she arrived at the Royal Palace, she also assassinated all the rebellion mages and nobles and helped Rhea become the true Queen of the Iron Kingdom.
Although the Griffon family head still opposed Rhea's decision to construct a new magic tower, most nobles agreed to it out of fear.
Then, Rhea ordered her private soldiers to start recruiting construction workers by the end of the first month and even lay the foundation near the eastern city wall.
Hundreds of construction workers, artisan class Mystics, and even Earth Mages came from the nearby kingdoms and joined the construction process.
Meanwhile, Jessie started managing all the financial problems. She used her friendly nobles' circle and let them invest their money in the Magic Tower's construction.
In return, she promised all the investors that they would get ten free seats per year!
Of course, all the candidates had to sign 20 years contracts, though.
The tower construction process had officially begun at the end of the second month.
On the other hand, Jessie also used her free time and started improving her strength.
After the failure rank-up process, she learned her lesson and started seeking advice from their Teacher, aka the Holem's Crown, from time to time.
She then learned more about wisdom power and started searching for Wisdom Potions on her own.
Not only that, but she also used her [Blood Curse] skill on all the Rank-3 Criminals and Thieves and started created a shadow organization called the Silent Nightmares.
Although it was just the start, she had already gained complete control over the Slums District and Commoners District.
Meanwhile, Noel mostly spent his time in the Royal Palace and continued improving his sword skills.
But what surprised everyone was that Titus actually started dating Daisy Elliott!
Although Titus had already grown into a fine young man, everyone still considered him a young kid.
So, this news indeed shocked others.
Jessie was the one who got affected by this news most.
But soon, she realized that her younger brother had already buried his ambitions and started living a normal life.
If this were Noel, Jessie and Rhea would've forced him to concentrate on improving his strength.
Unfortunately, this was Titus.
Out of the four disciples, he was a pretty average guy.
After he ranked up to Rank-3 [Rogue] Class Mystic, his progression came to a halt.
Jessie and others also knew of this problem, so they chose to stay silent.
On the other hand, Edith spent most of her time in the old mansion and started finding clues about Charles's future death.
As for the Holem's Crown, he created another clone body with the help of Edith and continued to make a unique Tower Core.
Time flew by.
Five years passed in a blink.
