Chapter 714: A Gloomy Afternoon in Genoa

Chapter 712 711.The Gloomy Afternoon in Genoa
At the same time Murphy left the Land of Creation to return to the Valley of the Shadow with an odd look of exhaustion, a war report message about the Black Flame Pass was finally delivered to the Transylvanian embassy in the Genoa Peninsula.

With this world’s communication efficiency, such an important battle report shouldn’t have been delayed for so long.

But the problem was that before the Black Flame Pass had fallen, Lord Heather had already noticed that the communication on the side of the Brass Fortress was completely blocked. Neither the arithmetic beads, nor the psychic messages, nor even the blood crystals that the vampires used to contact each other could take effect.

Murphy said that it was the power of subspace at work, which caused the transmission of all battle reports to be forced back to the most primitive means of transportation.

They needed to use the Thieves’ Guild’s channels to pass on the information, and in order to prevent Dusk from interfering, they also had to ask Lady Shani, who was currently located in Crimson Fortress, to use her Thorn Clan intelligence network to pass on the battle reports.

This would be too much of a delay.

Directly leading to the time when the war report was delivered to Genoa Peninsula was already in the afternoon two days after the end of the battle of Black Flame Pass, such a speed of war report delivery in a war with psychic factors involved that is to be court-martialed!
However, this is the current bad situation, so that both the sender and the recipient have nothing to say.

After receiving the information delivered by the hand of one of Grand Duke Shani’s heirs, Prof. Malcolm didn’t dare to make any delays, and brought it into the interior of the embassy at the first opportunity, and found Venerable Lord Paying, who was painting here, on a balcony high up in the building, and handed it over to him.

The vampire’s millennial venerable lord was still very much in his element.

Even now that the situation was as bad as it was, it still didn’t disturb his mood to play with his art, and Professor Malcolm took the time to look at the work that His Holiness had been busy with for the past few days as he handed the war report to him.

It was an oil painting made from the perspective of overlooking the entire Chardonnay Harbor from a high place, and it had to be said that His Holiness’ artistic level was really quite high, making Professor Malcolm, who was also a “man of culture”, fall in love with this unfinished painting after just one look.

His Holiness not only used extremely realistic techniques to depict the Halfling city in his eyes, but also used some surrealistic techniques to mold the smoke and haze that always shrouded the buildings of Chardonnay Harbor into a “tangible” gesture.

Upon closer inspection, the haze looks like something sinister poking its claws into the bustling city.

This detail gives this very beautiful landscape painting a “religious meaning” that is hard to understand, but definitely exists.

But His Holiness didn’t paint because he had nothing better to do.

In fact, after taking care of the matter at the Witch’s Café, Lord Payeng should leave this place and go back to the Blood Alliance Clan’s compound through the Brass Fortress.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to leave, he was trapped.

To be precise, there was no longer a way to take the path through the Brass Fortress over the Gorgon Pass.

Just as Lord Heather predicted the situation, there were also many people on this side of Chardonnay Harbor who had already found out about the strange situation of Fortress of Brass in the past few days, any message to that side could not be connected, it seemed that there was some kind of power that shielded that area.

This is not a small matter!
The Brass Fortress, as the military fortress that had held off the main force of the Jackal army in several Black Plagues, the army of the Brass Dwarves was by no means the only one gathered there, there were also a legion of Elven Rangers and a portion of the Sanghai people’s advance guards.

In fact, the words of Murphy and Tris sneering at the inaction of the Kingdom of Canary Blossom and the Kingdom of Nordtorf were not correct, it was not that the two kings did not send their armies to support the Black Plague, it was just that the direction of their support was not the Black Flame Pass.

They had clearly made their judgment through past experience.

Currently, the Brass Fortress also contained the Goldfinch Kingdom’s elite Antani Hunter Brigade, as well as the two vanguard brigades of the Nordtorf Kingdom’s Southland Legion.

That could be said to be the area with the most troops currently stationed on the continent, and it was also true that the Jackals of the three clans were already attacking the various strategic locations in the Gorgon Pass near the Brass Fortress, they just hadn’t launched an attack on the main body of the Brass Fortress yet.

Currently, not only was Venerable Lord Paying waiting for news in the Port of Chardo, but even the Elven Kingdom of Castile had sent an extremely high-status Moon God Priestess to sit here, representing King Quirion’s concern for the situation on the battlefield.

After all, the commander of the Elf Ranger army at this time was King Quirion’s only sister.

The situation in the Brass Fortress had touched the hearts of many people, but even a figure like Venerable Lord Paying had no way of figuring out what exactly was wrong with the Brass Fortress.

“Demon’s smoke.”

While His Holiness was reading the battle report, Professor Malcolm looked in the direction of the Gorgon Pass as he cursed in a low voice:

“That damned smoke is blocking the scouts sent out by the Steam Lords, and I’ve heard that even the Sangha’s navigational Holy Beetles can’t traverse through it, and will get lost as soon as they enter. What a worrying situation, perhaps that’s some kind of evil magic of the Jackals?”

“Jackals can’t do such a thing, Professor.”

Venerable Lord Paying was in a hurry, but he remained stoic on the surface.

He read the battle report, frowning tightly and casually explaining:

“That should be some kind of power variant of subspace, that strange mist reminds me of having seen something similar on a trip to the Sea of Mists.

Those Wave Fishers would unleash such a mist before plundering a ship, cutting off all senses of detection and completely disrupting the spatial system within it, so that once you enter it, it’s like entering a labyrinth.

But this time, the smoke that enveloped the entire Gorgon Pass was clearly strange, and I have invited the Storm Rippers of the Atlantean Kingdom in the Great Reef Province to come and help me out, as they are very skilled in dealing with such strange forces.

Damn it!”

The Exalted Lord saw the second page of the battle report, and after reading the report that Lord Heather had unsealed the Lord of Darkness to block the Jackal’s plague weapon and had been banished to the depths of the Astral Plane at the end of the day, the Exalted Lord’s first defense-breaking curse of chortling was spared for the first time even though he had seen a lot of things.

He would literally be in no mood to paint at this point.

As the person who had helped Heather seal away the power of the Dark Lord back then, there was no one who understood the terrible consequences that that evil god would cause once it was unleashed better than Venerable Lord Paying.

However, Heather knew this but still unsealed it, thus showing how critical the situation was at that time in the Black Flame Mountain Pass.

Even though at the end of the battle report, Lady Shani reported to the Exalted Lord in a positive tone that the hundred thousand or so troops of the Splintered Claw Clan had all been executed by the Star Realm Rip, it still did not allow the Millennium Exalted Lord to feel even a hint of pleasure from revenge.

Heather was his heir.

Even though that was a relationship that was only forged because of an accident that happened over a hundred years ago, the Exalted Lord was indeed a sentimental person, and after learning that his own heir had met such a tragic end, the anger in his heart was already somewhat suppressed.

“I must make a trip to Transylvania! I must see the situation there with my own eyes, our strategy was miscalculated, compared to the Brass Fortress, the scale of the war after Transylvania will definitely be bloodier and crazier.

Perhaps, that is the center of gravity of this Black Plague!”

His Holiness handed that battle report to Professor Malcolm, who took it in his hands and just read the beginning before his face revealed a shocked expression, the

The entire position was destroyed, the jackal vanguard was annihilated, the Split Claw Clan’s Grand Chief was awarded his head, and the Blood Alliance’s second lord disappeared. These things alone are enough to shake the continent, it is hard to imagine that they actually happened in one place at the same time.

“Professor, I entrust you to immediately make three copies of this war report and send them to the Steam Lords’ Council, Lady Sylph Garland Nord, the head priestess of the Moon God, and the embassy of the Sanghai Empire, who must understand the fall of the war in the Black Flame Pass and how the war situation in Transylvania that follows will affect the Black Plague.”

Venerable Lord Paying was a man of action.

After deciding to personally travel to Transylvania, he was immediately going to set off.

While putting away his own brushes and drawing boards, he spoke to the serious-faced Professor Malcolm beside him:
“You also noticed the battle report about Mother Earth’s warning to the Brass Dwarves, as well as the threat of twilight appearing below the position at the Black Flame Pass, all of which points directly to the possible, if not already occurring, fall of the Brass Dwarves.

There was also the threat of the Ratmen, which Governor Murphy had emphasized.

This means that the end of the Brass Dwarf may have been sealed in the eyes of the gods, and I wouldn’t dare guess what will happen next, but my guess is that the situation in the Brass Dwarf is about to change drastically.

Be sure to relay my warning to the halflings, and tell those stubborn isolationists to prepare their defenses immediately. And demand that the fleets of the Elves and the Songhayans move immediately; if they do not come to the support of the Genoa Peninsula, then things will be disastrous once the situation here is rotten.

I will return as soon as I can before things take a turn for the worse.”

“Your Holiness, Transylvania needs support!”

Professor Malcolm exclaimed:
“This battle report already explains the situation, and the fact that the Blood League Knights didn’t enter the Brass Fortress is the best news, which means that your clan can be the support Transylvania needs the most.”

“But if we abandon our position, it means that the Jackals can occupy terrain that is more favorable to the Brass Fortress attack.”

His Holiness was in quite a bit of difficulty for the moment. He said:

“You are asking me to choose between two battlefields, Professor, I can understand your feelings, but there is still a bit of time on the Transylvanian side, I will discuss this matter with Archduke Tris and Governor Murphy, and I will have to see for myself your defense efforts before I can make a choice.

But I will give you a promise, in Transylvania need time, blood league knights will never be absent.

I must leave now.”

“You can travel there in a Perfect Voyage Far Company blimp.”

Professor Malcolm suggested:
“Captain Paula has bought four new airships over here, they will be leaving port in two hours to deliver a shipment of military aid to Transylvania, and it will only take two days to go straight over, which is much faster than if you were to take the steam train.”

“I have a horse that definitely flies faster than your airships, and I can actually teleport.”

His Eminence took one look at the professor’s odd expression and realized that this batch of “aid” to be sent to Transylvania probably contained some contraband that was not so “convenient to disclose”.

The professor was hoping to use His Holiness Pa Ying’s “fruit of face” to make the airship’s departure from the harbor a little smoother.

“Okay.”

Venerable Lord Paying nodded and said:

“I will take that airship to leave Chardonnay Harbor, but I don’t have that much time to fly there slowly, if you still have things that are inconvenient to transport then hurry up and send them up, I will only escort your airship through the Halfling’s customs inspection.”

“That’s already a great help, thank you for your assistance, Your Holiness.”

The professor took his leave at once and ran off to attend to these important matters.

Through the old flywheel’s concubine Mrs. Taylor’s vast connections in the black market during this period of time, they had collected a lot of contraband, and even got a batch of half-obsolete walking machines, but how to ship them out of Chardonnay Harbor was a big problem.

Right now, with the help of Venerable Lord Paying, at least this batch of goods would be no problem.

With the character of Lord Paying, he would not be involved in this kind of thing, but the situation of the Black Flame Pass side all depends on the Transylvanians to save the day, and people have paid so much, even if it is the Lord had to carry a little bit of “debt of gratitude”.

On the balcony, he took a last look at the calm port of Chardonnay, and then took a look at his unfinished oil painting, His Holiness shook his head, and casually added the last few strokes to the painting, so that the smoke cloud that enveloped the city completely turned into the hideousness of the devil’s probing claws.

It represented his state of mind at the moment.

He left the painting here and turned to leave the balcony to head to his room to pack up his things, only to see Xiao Xuelun standing in the doorway of his room, squeezing a strange mechanical squirrel.

Seeing Pa Ying coming over, Little Xuelun shrunk his neck a bit in fear, but still opened his mouth and said:

“Your Holiness, the situation in Transylvania is bad, right? Can I go back with you? I can’t stay here and continue wasting time. The people of the Xike Territory are suffering from the threat of war, and as a lord, I must…”

“You should stay here!”

Venerable Lord Paying looked down at the small vampire in front of him.

He wasn’t very wound good at dealing with children, but at this moment, the Venerable Lord explained patiently:

“It’s not just because that uncle of yours who knows how to change things very well has become the central figure in the Transylvanians’ efforts to raise supplies in Chardonnay Harbor, it’s also because you haven’t actually realized yourself that your work here is more important than you think.

Let me ask you this, Sherron.

Do you still encounter that strange spirit when crafting engineering items these days?”

“Uh, it’s encountered, but it won’t communicate with me.”

Sheridan said with some embarrassment:

“If I take the initiative to seek it out, it disappears and only pops up when I’m not looking, I feel as if it’s watching me, but with so many mechanics in the city, I don’t quite understand why it’s so interested in me.”

Venerable Lord Paying did not reply.

He crouched down and looked into little Sherron’s eyes as he said:
“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, it’s not a burden you should bear, but since you’re already being watched by it, it means you have some sort of ‘qualification’.

It’s not an evil god, Sherron.

It was a special being that I would be hard pressed to describe to you in words.

I have forgotten everything about it, but I am still familiar with it, and it was once one of the protective forces of this world a long time ago.

It was by no means evil.

I do not know who awakened it and guided it to Chardonnay Harbor, and I reckon it had something to do with the greatest mechanic ever born among halflings, Lord Bach the Elder.

Unfortunately, until the time of Old Bach’s death, he did not make this secret public.

But you must remember that it is an honor to be noticed by it, especially for vampires like us who carry the original sin, and that could very well mean the possibility of some kind of ‘redemption’.

You can’t understand it all yet.

But you have to trust me that your usefulness in staying here is much more important than you going back to Transylvania with me.”

“Huh?”

Hearing the Venerable Lord’s words, Sherron was a bit confused for a moment, she glanced at the mechanical squirrel in her hand that she had crafted to use as an idle toy, and then raised her head again to ask:

“Then does it have a name?”

“Yes.”

The Venerable Lord reached up this instant and rubbed his brow, searching for that name from the ancient remnants of his memory as he spoke softly:
“I think it did, I just remember calling it by ‘Eden’.”

“What a strange name.”

Sherron shrugged, a little discouraged as she said:

“But I still can’t understand why it chose me. Do I have some special talent that I haven’t realized? My mechanic crafting skills aren’t even mid-range in Chardonnay Harbor, at most I’m a powerful apprentice.”

“It has nothing to do with your skill, Sherron, and the power it represents is in no way interpreted by the halfling engineering at hand.”

The Venerable Lord Paying stood up, he reached out and placed his hand on little Sherron’s head and stroked it.

He said:

“It may have something to do with your lineage, you are a son of Murphy.”

“But I’ve drank the source blood.”

“But as far as Eden is concerned, you’re Murphy’s voice in Chardonnay Harbor. Remember, make good use of that identity.”

(End of chapter)