Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Danello Harbor, which had been abandoned for decades since the ghost disaster, had been rebuilt after the recovery of the orcs. A new city was now built upon the ruins.
The dock was busy, filled with stevedores and boat trackers. Large and small merchant ships sailed here often. Jonathan Brown, who had just arrived at the dock with two men, but had yet to approach the dock, turned around and headed back at once!
“Bow your head! Don’t let anyone see us!” Jonathan warned.
“What’s wrong?” one of the other two asked with a low voice.
“It’s a trap. Four of the people squatting over there were from the Faith of the Sun!” Jonathan explained hurriedly.
The three men crossed an alley and went inside the city. On their way, they saw that several soldiers near the entrance were posting arrest warrants. Jonathan looked up and saw was his portrait on one of them.
He was shocked. He lowered his head and quickened his pace.
They finally entered a run-down house, where Jonathan took off his hat and scarf, then hung them on the wall. The weather in the north had started to turn cold, so it was very cold, even inside the room. They all sat around a fire to warm up.
After Jonathan and the others left the rat men relics site, a powerful force destroyed the entire site in an instant. Fortunately, they survived.
Jonathan knew that the explosion, coupled with the previous daytime stars was a warning, so he had returned to Bulburg overnight and headed for Danello Harbor. He had hoped to take a ferry from here and return to Sean City-State Alliance.
But, Jonathan didn’t know that Danello Harbor was now guarded by forces from the army. As Jonathan was only a level one alchemist, he was not strong enough to contend with them, nor did he plan to do so.
Jonathan squatted in front of the fire, extremely depressed. He then said, “They know it’s us. Sure enough, these guys have found me out! Now, the Faith of the Sun must be looking for us too. They are waiting for me to turn up!”
The middle-aged scholar on the other side said, “We have to leave immediately. I heard that they have begun to check everyone’s identities. We humans are too conspicuous in the orc kingdom, so if we stay any longer, we will surely be found out. We must leave here now!”
“Jonathan, everybody’s looking for us. Where are we going to go? What shall we do?”
“Maybe we can go across the Andromeda Mountain to the central province!”
“No, the Church of Light in the central province must be looking for us too!”
“We shouldn’t have come here. We’re done for, Jonathan. You shouldn’t have touched the stuff of the gods. We’ve offended the gods!”
Everyone was complaining, but none of them could think of a good way out of their current mess. Jonathan was upset, and he looked at everyone and said, “But, this is also our great chance, the opportunity of the Brown family to make its mark! We know the biggest secret in the world. As long as we can take the stone mural back to the central province, we will have everything!”
“But, how do we get out of here?” asked a young man.
All of the people present were part of the Brown family, who were supposed to be the most trustworthy of all people. But, at this moment, everyone became panicked. If Jonathan could not reassure them, there would surely be internal conflicts that would arise among them.
“Don’t worry, I’ve sent a message to Miss Marina! She will not give up on us! After all, we are alchemists and descendants of the great Lars Brown! Even the Church of Light and the Faith of the Sun could not compete with us. Standing behind us are all of the alchemists and the Sean City-State Alliance!” As soon as Jonathan uttered the name of Miss Marina, everyone became calm again, as if her name alone was a magic spell.
“Really? Has Miss Marina gotten the message yet?” someone asked.
“When I was in Bulberg, I sent a message to the Alchemy Association of Ahenaten Empire. When they received the message, they were to cross half of the continent and send it to Sean City-State Alliance. According to their report, Miss Marina received our message a few days ago!” Jonathan said.
“Great! We’re saved!” Everyone was overjoyed. It turns out that Jonathan had thought of everything.
“Yes, so the most important thing for us to do now is not to panic. We need to form a strong and united front!” Jonathan raised his voice to rally their enthusiasm.
At night, under the lamplight, Jonathan curled up on a bed in the corner, covering himself with a broken quilt. He was carefully reading the rat man skin scroll.
The contents of the scroll were written in the oldest Sofawk language. Jonathan made notes with a charcoal pen as he read. The more he read, the more his fingers couldn’t help but tremble. As a result, his handwriting was very messy.
There were a large number of ancient words on the scroll, quite different from modern grammar. They were obscure and difficult to understand.
Besides that, there were several taboo matrices that were complex to the extreme. Different patterns could be seen in the three-dimensional matrices, drawn out with special techniques from different angles. They were all showing how to transform one’s human body into a divine body.
The script above the matrices read:
God is in charge of the rules of the world and defends the truth!
The mortal one can’t make divine rules. To become a god, one must acquire a divine body, then ascend the divine throne!
All is insignificant, except rules, and the gods create the rules.
While he was reading, Jonathan felt that the scroll was revealing the world’s greatest secrets. This scroll was filled with all kinds of mysteries and taboos!
After Jonathan finished reading the scroll, he threw the it and his notes into the fire. The scroll was instantly engulfed in flames. While the fire emitted a wisp of black smoke, Jonathan’s eyes shone.
At this moment, a ship from the far-away Sean City-State Alliance was approaching the orc kingdom. It was about to arrive at Danello Harbor. An arbitral knight group from the Tiratan Knight Kingdom had also come all the way to Danello.