Chapter 34: Aftermath |
“My heavens! Look! What is that?!” A cry of alarm tore through the brief calm.
“Hiss—don’t tell me…don’t tell me it’s happening again?!”
“……”
The crowd had only just managed to catch their breath after the terrifying pressure, when their hearts were instantly seized tight again! Terrified gazes turned in unison toward the city center.
The tower that had originally disappeared slowly twisted back into view amid the torrential rain, as though it were being forcibly squeezed out from some unknown space.
Fortunately, that heart-palpitating pressure did not descend together with it.
After waiting tensely for a long while and discovering that no further abnormalities occurred, the crowd finally let out a breath of relief.
Inside the small building.
“Imon, I-I’m kind of regretting this now…” the companion who had just dealt with his pants muttered softly, his voice thick with tears.
Although he too still had lingering fear, he truly was not that frightened. Whether it was because he had a big heart or simply thick nerves, in any case, he did not care all that much about these things.
What he cared more about was whether some master would take him as an apprentice and appreciate his work. That was the real reason he had come here.
As for worrying about whether he might die…wasn’t he still alive and well right now!
“B-but I’m really scared. The moment I close my eyes, I feel like some huge disaster is about to come down on me…”
“Hey, stop scaring yourself!” Imon gave his back a hard pat and pointed at the orderly, densely packed cluster of buildings outside the window.
“Didn’t Brother Jie say it? Big shots don’t have time to bother with little shrimp like us! Just look at how big this city is! How prosperous!”
“Even the ‘slum district’ under our feet that Brother Jie kept complaining about is ten times more prosperous than the most flourishing street in town! A hundred times cleaner too!”
Imon truly marveled at the greatness of this city!
That was right—greatness!
In his eyes, this city was like an extraordinary ‘work of art’!
Relying on his own outstanding memory and spatial imagination, from nothing more than what he had seen along the way, he had already sketched out a complete architectural blueprint in his mind. The style of every building was so fluid and unified, yet each still retained its own distinctive character.
The building clusters rose layer upon layer in a scattered arrangement, yet everything was orderly. Complex, yet not chaotic.
Moreover, every district had a complete commercial area, residential area, medical station, and security office. Some even had leisure areas, and this was only the slum district!
He truly did not know which master’s hand this great city had come from!
If he ever had the chance, he would definitely go pay his respects, and even if it cost him his life, he would still think it was worth it!
“Think about it. If our craftsmanship really catches the eye of some master, and we’re lucky enough to study and grow in this great city, then in the future…maybe we could even help build a miracle like this! Then when we’re old, we’d have something to brag about to our descendants!”
Imon’s voice carried an almost devout yearning.
“That’s right! Little Ao, you’re just too timid. You absolutely can’t give up such a good opportunity!” another companion beside them chimed in.
“Who knows how many people begged Brother Jie to bring them here and still couldn’t find a way in!”
“……”
After being bombarded by his companions talking over one another, Aude barely managed to suppress his fear. He looked toward the central tower with a gaze mixed with terror and longing, imagining whether he might one day have the chance to stand atop it and look down over this great city.
*
Several kilometers outside the city, the elders of the various races watched the tower that had reappeared in the city center with grave expressions.
“It seemed…there was already a result.” The dwarf elder stroked his dense steel-brush-like beard, and his rough heavy voice broke the silence.
“It was hard to say whether it was good or bad. I only hoped it wouldn’t disappoint.” Another ratfolk elder looked deeply worried. He was the weakest among the elders present, and the one whose caravan had suffered the heaviest losses.
“No matter the result, Coral Thorn City will probably become the center of a storm from here on.” This was a bearfolk elder over four meters tall, with brown fur. He had purely come to watch the excitement. Anyone who dared rob the caravans of his people usually got hammered into little pancakes by him.
“That’s true enough. A Legendary creature! Once this news spreads, even those old Legendary monsters who spent years in secluded cultivation will probably be alarmed!” the dwarf elder agreed.
“Indeed. If one could tame a Legendary creature, it would be an unimaginable aid to any force!” A trace of greed flashed through the vertical pupils of a lizardfolk elder.
“That’s not necessarily true!”
Everyone turned toward the foxfolk elder who had voiced the objection.
“A Legendary creature dared to appear openly in a major city like this without backing? Who would believe that! Perhaps there is some other unknown Legend behind it supporting it.”
“In that kind of situation, investigating a Legendary creature that possibly already has an owner without proper reason is basically the same as declaring war on an unknown Legend!”
“Th-this…then would the Legends of the Crescent Empire also just ignore it?” someone asked in doubt.
“That depends on how great the impact of this incident was. If the local forces of Coral Thorn City undergo a major reshuffle, then the Empire’s Legends will certainly be alarmed. But if it was only local forces biting at each other like dogs, then no matter how fiercely they fought, the Empire would at most send a few investigators over to take a look. There is no way they would actually have a Legend make the trip.”
“Besides, this was a Legendary creature that had mastered a spatial domain! Without space control of the same level, which Legend would dare say with full confidence that they could keep it here? Once it escaped, a Legendary creature that harbored hatred toward the Empire and could freely travel through space—what that would mean, I think everyone understood very clearly.”
The air fell into utter silence. Legendary creatures truly were things one could only encounter by chance and never seek out.
The temptation of a Legendary creature was certainly enormous, but the terrifying power and latent risks it represented were even more fearsome.
But precisely because of that, if any force had a Legendary creature as part of its foundation, its deterrent power would far exceed that of an ordinary Legendary powerhouse! One had to know that creatures of this sort generally possessed extremely long lifespans and could shelter a force for countless years.
The most famous Legendary creature was the Eternal Tree! A legend among Legendary creatures! That was the anchor that steadied the elves, the foundation on which they stood!
No one knew how many tens of thousands of years this ancient tree had existed. It was precisely Its existence that granted the elves their extraordinary affinity for magic, making the elf race one of the strongest races in this world.
Quite a few elders, having thought of the Eternal Tree, looked toward the elder of the elves with envious expressions.
Feeling everyone’s gazes, Ailianna could not help but sigh inwardly. The elf race was so vast, yet how many could the Eternal Tree truly shelter? Otherwise, why would her people have been targeted by slave traders?
Moreover, the elves were no longer as united as they had once been. The strife between factions was growing fiercer and fiercer, and even marginal groups like theirs suffered deeply from it…..
Just as the elders of the various races all harbored their own thoughts and discussed in low voices, Gann·Cole suddenly appeared before them, causing a brief commotion.
“Many of you had likely already heard of my identity.”
There was a trace of fatigue in Gann·Cole’s voice that was hard to detect. With a somewhat uncomfortable expression, he opened his mouth and said, “Allow me to formally introduce myself.”
“I am Gann·Cole, branch president of the Coral Thorn City Adventurers’ Guild, and a two-star Silver Shield adventurer.”
He paused for a moment, swept his gaze over the elders of the various races, and went straight to the point: “I came this time to inform you of the handling result of this incident.”