Chapter 139: Hidden Currents

From the very start, we had agreed upon an alliance. After all, without an invitation with sufficient weight behind it, it was impossible for a top brass of another country to visit other countries so casually.

It is also within expectations that I would get the cold shoulder. They had only invited a run-of-the-mill diplomat, yet contrary to their expectations, I came. This was equal to baiting and preparing to fish for a carp, yet catching a whale instead. Naturally, the fisherman would find the situation hard to process.

Furthermore, if it was just an ordinary diplomatic visit, they wouldn’t make such a big fuss over it. However, the East Mist’s diplomatic party seemed to have ambitious dreams of this trip. The first thing they did after entering the city gates was unloading the goods of nearly a hundred carriages at the square, claiming to “thank Sharal Autonomous Region for their many years of help. In return, we are giving additional gifts on top of the ones used to repay their debt, and every resident can claim a complimentary gift” and such advertisement, creating a commotion and making everyone in the city aware of their presence.

The complimentary gifts that barely numbered three hundred were all snatched clean in less than a day. However, the citizens who came upon hearing the news had also spread the news, so probably everyone was aware of the fact that the diplomatic party of East Mist was in Sharal right now. Furthermore, the one leading the group was the legendary Prince Roland.

One’s name and history always stays with them. When this legendary figure appeared from out of the epics and paid a visit to them, the Sharal Autonomous Region’s reception unit panicked.

It was common knowledge that someone of equal standing in the country had to receive the diplomats, and the receiving host being of higher standing than the guest was a form of respect towards them as well. For example, the hosting side’s sovereign can personally receive a fief lord of the diplomatic party, and it wouldn’t seem out of place. However, if the king of another country came, and the hosting side welcomed him with a fief lord, that would be disrespectful.

Furthermore, although I had no official authority in East Mist, as the ancestor of the founder of the nation, my standing was significantly higher than that of Queen Reyne. Perhaps, even their sovereign who had the bloodline of Mist flowing in him could only be considered his junior. This was a difficult situation for them.

“If Princess Reyne came, Lord Gagalol coming to welcome her personally would already be a great honor on her part. However, now that it is Heroic Spirit Roland, going by seniority, even Lord Gagalol’s retired father isn’t qualified to welcome him.”

Do they really have to dig out the ancestors who founded Sharal Autonomous Region and say, “This is His Highness whom you have always spoken of. You are the only one who is qualified to welcome him. Right, he has already said that we will count each other as individual entities, so please don’t treat yourself as his citizen and don’t insist on greeting him as a subordinate.” After all, this was probably the only way they would not be considered as disrespectful.

Not only were those of the foreign affairs department distressed about it, even the top brass of Sharal Autonomous Region felt gloomy about this incident. They had only invited a diplomat to negotiate an alliance to counteract the Beastmen army, which was likely to invade southwards, so why did this fellow come instead? Not to mention, he was extremely high profile about it.

All of Sharal probably already knew that East Mist was here to negotiate an alliance by now. Furthermore, given the amiable relationship between the two countries and the massive gifts that we have brought, we created an impression that something incredible was about to happen. On the other hand, there was no news from the lord on their side.

In an alliance negotiation, when one party came prepared while the other party was completely ignorant about what was happening, it was very easy for the unprepared to be disadvantaged. They had already held meetings for three days straight to figure out what was going on. On the other hand, I had been dawdling about the embassy before I decided upon carrying forward my next step, swaying public opinion.

At this point, Gagalol finally made his decision. It was impossible for them to come to a conclusion with those doors closed, so they decided to invite me over.

The moment I stepped into the Lord’s Residence, just as I was about to prepare a surprise for the other party, I was surprised by them first.

Based on the information I had received, Gagalol Haber was a plump man. However, the toned man before me who had his upper half bare and had an eagle tattoo on his chest, which fluttered along with his breathing as though it were alive, definitely wasn’t him.

“Respected Lord Roland, I am Gars, the eldest son of the Chieftain of Eagle Tribe. I represent my father and the tribe in paying respects to the immortal one.”

The passionate handshake of barbarians (if it was in the mountains, it would likely have been a hug) wasn’t that pleasant to accept. In the face of the 2.4m tall giant, I was like a bean sprout. Whether the other party was capable of bearing their passionate welcome and innate brute strength was also an important factor barbarians used to evaluate whether the other party was worth making friends with.

“This strength should be around 18 points. Possessing such strength despite being at Silver-rank, how fearsome. As expected of a battle tribe whose members were all of Bronze Bloodline.”

However, compared to me, who had strength exceeding 20 points, it was as though his strength was entirely negligible. No matter how hard he squeezed me, his hand would just end up aching.

As expected, Gars released his grip first, shaking it forcefully to get rid of the aching sensation. On the other hand, Gagalol stepped forward with a smile, saving him from this difficult situation.

“Prince Roland, welcome to Sharal Autonomous Region. I am the lord here, Gagalol. Our ancestors from 300 years ago should have been your people as well. Your arrival here is an unexpected surprise, as well as an honor. Please be seated, please be seated.”

At this moment, I was trying my best to suppress myself from laughing impolitely. Gagalol’s protruding stomach, stout stature, fish-like ears, and bulging eyes were exactly as what was stated in the intel. He did resemble a standing frog.

In response to the passionate welcome of the other party, I chuckled.

“We were a family 300 years ago? Then, are you willing to become a family with us 300 years later?”

———–

If creating new armies gave an instantaneous rise to a country’s military prowess, then education was aimed at grooming new talents, talents that would bring the country to prosperity.

In this world, “knowledge is strength” weren’t just empty words. Building a high institution to groom the growth of a certain occupation was a reflection of the history, overall strength, and accumulation of a country.

The Mages’ Country was difficult to deal with because of all sorts of established Mages’ institutions around the country. When the Mages, who were known to be difficult to deal with among the battle classes, gathered as one, when the immortal top-tier Mages chose to conduct their research there, no one would be so foolish as to provoke them of their own accord.

Olivia traveled over a thousand miles to Auland to study because Auland was well-known in the world for its alchemy, and its alchemy institutions had groomed countless master alchemists. As a result, they had attracted numerous apprentice alchemists to study with them. In turn, this also helped solidify the Auland Empire’s position as the leader in the field of alchemy.

Up until today, other than rebuilding the army barracks, Diffindor had built all kinds of schools, such as the Kindness Faction Garden Art Academy, Diffindor Life Medical School, Beast Tamer Technical Academy, Nanxiang Law Academy East Mist Branch, and West City Engineer Academy.

TL: The first word for Druid means kindness (Kindness Faction -> Druid Faction)

If you evaluated them based on their names and thought that they were ordinary institutions, you couldn’t have been more wrong.

The full name of Kindness Faction Garden Art Academy is Druid Forest Art of War Academy (Garden Art Class—We also teach you how to cultivate plants as well!). All those selected as lecturers were all some kind of leader figure in the Druid Faction. In other words, most of the lecturers were dangerous terrorists wanted all over the continent.

Most human kingdoms were hostile towards Druids. As such, they often lived in mountains and forests, isolated from the rest of the world. However, the various denominations among them had a unique and swift way of communicating with one another. Under Eaglestorm’s guarantee, quite a few outlaws were willing to try out “a life without sinning.”

As for what kinds of students such a dangerous teacher would teach, that was an enigma to me as well. At the very least, from the very beginning, I had already been rebuked by those ill-tempered Druids.

“What? Cultivate a new crop that could endure the cold? Do you know why we all became outlaws? Because we punished those bastards who went against the will of nature. Are you sure you want us to cultivate such aberrations of nature? We will really beat you up!”

As expected, when I brought up my request, I received a blunt and rude response.

Among the raging Druids, at least Eaglestorm’s reply was more pragmatic: “Lord, I doubt that anyone would be able to do so. We can accelerate the rate of maturity of plants, allowing it to mature a year or two earlier. That is the privilege that nature has granted us. However, changing the unique traits of a plant from its core is unnatural, so naturally, we are unable to do so. In theory, there is not a single Druid who is able to do so. We have to obey the rules of nature. These kinds of actions that go against the laws of nature would only be attempted by Dark Druids.”

If Druids were the public enemies of the continent, then the Dark Druids, who had fallen into depravity, were fanatic worshipers of the Chaos. Similar to ordinary Druids, they found anything unnatural a mistake, but Dark Druids behaved much more extreme in all aspects.

Without doubt, man-made cities were unnatural. Ordinary Druids would only try to stay away from city life, only retaliating furiously when the forests they lived in were being invaded. On the other hand, Dark Druids would try to create a hurricane or a flood to destroy the city. However, their greatest insanity was that they denied the existence of the Gods. They found the Jurisdiction of Gods unnecessary, and the existence of the various Churches of Gods was a sin by itself. They believed that everyone should return back to the fundamental elements.

Not easy to understand? Let me give an example. When they thought that the Sea God was an existence that shouldn’t exist as the conscious controller of the seas, and was a threat to nature, they would grasp every single opportunity to attack the Priests of the Church of the Sea God.

In reality, the Church of the Sea God wasn’t the only victim. Almost every single Church of God was on their blacklist. Thus, the Gods of both factions unanimously gave these extremists the beautiful name of Dark Druids, and these Dark Druids had constant appearances on the wanted lists.

The other Gods could still accept East Mist giving Druids the green light. However, if they were to invite the Dark Druids into their cities, they would immediately suspect that Wumianzhe had gone mad.

Alright, in the end, I could only give up. However, it was fortunate that Amelia’s arrival meant that I wouldn’t have to seek out those dangerous Dark Druids. At the same time, the Kindness Faction Forest Art Academy also found themselves a magnificent principal.

“What? You mean those little Druids who refuse to come under my command? I didn’t see any of them though. Oh, that day, I pummeled all of the teachers. He should be one of them.”

Given how violence-inclined the principal and teachers were, this Garden Academy, which should have been a propagator of harmony and camaraderie, would produce generation after generation of terrorists.

Furthermore, based on what I knew, the Kindness Faction Garden Art Academy was the most normal of the numerous institutions that were about to begin lessons.

The principal of Diffindor Life Medical School (I was the one who came up with the name) was Harloys, nicknamed Xiao Hei (still named by me). Other than imparting recent medical knowledge and techniques, it also focused on all kinds of Necromancy skills. It was probably the one and only formal Necromancer Institution in the world of the living.

TL: Xiao Hei -> Little Black (Xiao Hong -> Little Red)

In fact, I was also a visiting lecturer of the study of Undead Creation of the academy. Of it, its Plague research was probably the top of the world. After all, Kakana and a group of formidable Undead Alchemists were stationed there.

Alright, due to this, the Holy Church had sent us a stern warning. Numerous countries also protested against it and sent letters of censure. Even so, I threw all of those into the trash can without hesitation. In any case, our relationship was already hostile, so I could protest however I wanted to. What about the Anti-Undead Covenant agreed upon by majority of the continent? All along, I had thought of agreements that I never signed as a waste of paper.

As for Nanxiang Law Academy East Mist Branch, there was nothing to be said about it. It was just a surface version of the main school in the Underground World. However, with Krose as its mascot and Xueti as the honorary principal, the number of applicants they received this year exceeded that of other institutions.

As for the West City Engineer Academy, it was divided into two main factions—Goblin Self-destruct Study and Dwarf Suicide Study, and the principals were the self-destruct expert of the Goblin engineers and the suicide expert of the Dwarf engineers. Alright, I confess I gave my biased views about those who were stated previously, but I have always thought that these were the fundamental, unique traits of this institution.

Alright, that’s all for the introduction of the institutions. What? There’s still one more, Beast Tamer Technical Academy?

Seems like I was unable to omit it. I will do a brief introduction then—the principal of the technical academy is Beifeng, and what is being taught is “All kinds of techniques to interact with beasts.” There should be nothing else that needed to be said about it.

When I saw this proposal, I almost stuffed Beifeng into the main cannon of the Borealis and blasted him out of Eich. However, this was the reward he demanded after he miraculously managed to accomplish the mission of taming the Winter Wolves. Furthermore, facts had also proven that it was highly possible that we would need Beifeng’s abilities in the Northern Lands filled with Magic Beasts.

In the end, under the seduction of solid power, I compromised helplessly. However, I threw the building to the outskirts of the city to prevent it from being an eyesore. I also arranged their office to be on the dozen story-high clock tower so as to help them train their bodies.

【You want powerful warriors? Sure, train them yourselves, develop them. —You expect soldiers to pop out just by building barracks? The Star Wars next door is beckoning you.】

Fine, since the System had retorted that just building the barracks itself was insufficient for the production of troops, I created a bunch of institutions to train the future core of our military. In any case, for every single person I threw into the institutions, I would receive a powerful soldier in a few years’ time. There wasn’t much of a difference from this and the unscientific barracks. It was just that the duration required was slightly longer, and the resources required were greater.

At this moment, when I was busy negotiating important matters with Lord Sharal and the barbarian prince, my companions, under my orders, were busy spreading those recruitment pamphlets all around Sharal Autonomous Region.

They should be traveling through the alleys of the villages and the squares in the cities to bring in new students for their institutions. Of course, it was highly probable for them to fight over them as well.

“The hybrids will be discriminated against? Rest easy, madam. Such a thing has never happened in East Mist, not to mention that the God of Law’s Forbidden Spell, The Sinless City, had also guaranteed it. There is no need for you to worry about your son being bullied! Right, please accept this pamphlet. There is my serial number on it, and if you take this and sign up at the West City Engineer Academy, you can save five gold coins on the school fee!”

“No, it’s true, I didn’t eat into the discount. I’m not lying… Fine, madam, I give up. Alright, seven gold coins then. However, you must introduce other students to me. For every one that you introduce to me, I will give you a discount of two gold coins!”

Currently, Goblin Kabala’s performance was the best. He had already developed a multi-level marketing network and at the current moment, he could already sit back and wait for money to roll in.

“Um, is there an academy for alchemists? I would like my daughter to learn alchemy, but we don’t have any good alchemy academies here.”

“We don’t have any alchemy institutions at the moment, but you can consider having your daughter apply for Diffindor Life Medical School. Their Anti-plague research’s (the public name for Plague research) Dean Master Kakana is a Legend-rank alchemist. Her two students are also Legend-rank alchemists. Under her tutelage, your daughter will surely become an outstanding alchemist.”

Alright, a young lady, who had set her goals on being an alchemist, under the coaxing of a student trafficker, had started walking on the path of becoming a Necromancer.

“East Mist’s best Navy Command Academy is recruiting! Do you wish to become an admiral and possess a harem of countless warships? Welcome to the newly established East Mist’s First Royal Naval Academy!”

Alright, no matter how much effort Rina Papa-san put into his advertisement, his recruitment results were destined to be worse of all. To date, he had only recruited two dark-skinned admirals who refused to admit that their skin tone was dark. In a certain sense, they seemed to possess some level of cognitive disorder.

The reason? East Mist Communal Country was a landlocked nation, it had no navy at all. That was the reason why most people thought that he was joking. The crux of the problem was that I didn’t allow him to reveal the fact that East Mist’s Air Fleet was in the midst of construction.

He had already been confirmed for last place. As for second to last, it would probably be Garden Academy. For those who were unaware, this Garden Art Academy sounded overly inclined towards the aesthetics, and it was unlikely for one to make a living out of it. As for those who had received explanations on what it was—sending their own children out to be groomed by outlaws and become Druids, public enemies of the continent—, it was a little beyond them.

What left others speechless was a certain Dracon who stepped onto the front lines personally. Without preparing any pamphlets for recruitment, all he did was prepare a feast and a barbecue on the square and chat with those guests who were on the same frequency as him. Just like that, he somehow took second place in the number of students recruited.

“Hey, you have already recruited so many people. Share two of them with us.”

“Let me look at the rankings.… It seems that we have 20 additional students. How about this, one for a hundred gold coins. Take it or leave it.”

It was no wonder that they would strive so hard in this recruitment drive, to the extent that they had begun selling and purchasing students from one another. After all, I had intended to use the results of their recruitment to determine the budget for the respective institutions next year, and that was a huge sum of money.

At this instant, this wasn’t just occurring in Sharal. All kinds of recruitment activities were being carried out all over East Mist. My goal wasn’t a short-term improvement, but for this weak country to change from its very core and grow stronger.

Of course, I had my own reasons for why I was willing to dump so much money into Sharal to motivate the recruiters.

At this very moment, I was looking gleefully at the two dumbfounded top brass of another country.

What caused them panic, let alone bothering about diplomatic etiquettes at this point, were two photos in front of them. One of them was of the sacred lands of the Beastmen, Orsolovan Summit. In the photo, the lands had been ravaged by the flames of wars. As for the other photo that was placed right before Gagalol, it was one of Sharal Autonomous Region. There wasn’t any autonomous region of any sort in the photo, just a plot of barren land amidst the forest.

Without my existence, East Mist Communal Country wouldn’t have risen up; without East Mist’s support, the hybrids wouldn’t have been able to survive and reach Sharal; Sharal Autonomous Region wouldn’t have existed.

This kind of logic was comprehensible to me. However, in the eyes of the lord of Sharal Autonomous Region, those photos represented a frightening future that could possibly be realized: “Can it be that Sharal has been totally erased, to the point that not a single trace of it remains?”

“These two photos are images that I have foreseen through divination techniques. I can assure you in the name of the Holy Light that these photos are real. Take a good look at what will happen to your people and your land in the future. Think about it before you reply to my suggestion.”

Looking at the two top brass whose faces instantaneously turned pale, I smiled gleefully.

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