Free Web NovelChapter 347: Chapter 345: Tournament Restart
The events of these past few days have gripped the hearts of everyone in the Northern Alliance.
Or rather, the world’s attention is now focused on the Northern Alliance.
Who could have guessed that in just half a month, so much could happen at a Mage League tournament?
One of the five great empires being played for fools by a sect—while the world mourns those who died in Gerald City, they’re all mocking the Northern Alliance.
"Unbelievable—a town of tens of thousands, and it took a whole hour after losing contact for anyone to even notice."
"One hour to discover it, and rescue wasn’t sent until three hours later."
"Three hours? Anyone who wasn’t dead at first surely died later, right?"
"They haven’t announced the death toll yet, but you know it’s a lot."
"Rumor has it at least half died, and the rest aren’t much better off."
"What a disgrace. And they still have the gall to host the Mage League?"
"Sects are terrifying."
"..."
Countless voices of doubt have spread throughout the world, carried by the press and the songs of minstrels.
And at this moment, the Monarch of the Northern Alliance delivered a public speech about the tragedy in Gerald City.
Besides reporting the casualties, the speech declared the launch of an extermination operation against the sect, vowing to rid the Northern Alliance of their presence entirely—a campaign named Operation "Pest Cleanup."
Afterward, he also mentioned upcoming actions, including that the Mage League would continue as scheduled, and that if any such incident happened again, the Northern Alliance would double their compensation for the losses.
Right after the Monarch’s speech, the Mage League Committee made a statement as well, saying the tournament wouldn’t be canceled and would restart the next day.
That night, Ashburn, led by Blake, found Hilia and relayed the committee’s intentions to her.
"You’re saying that before the tournament begins, you want me to check if there’s anything off?"
Hilia pointed to herself: "Are you sure, Your Eminence Ashburn?"
Ashburn nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it, the Northern Alliance is full of useless people. The League Committee is a den of idiots, a bunch of fools looking to pad their resumes and nothing more. Counting on them? Might as well hope the heretics find mercy for the Northern Alliance."
Hilia: "..."
Looks like the League Committee really is useless—so useless that Ashburn’s already given up on them completely.
"But I’m still supposed to compete, you know."
"It’s fine, really. If you find something and your match is interrupted, we’ll schedule a rematch for you. If you discover a clue that causes you to lose, we’ll arrange another match as well."
Basically, this was hinting to Hilia: she could replay her matches as many times as needed until she won.
But Hilia disdained using such tricks.
If you lose, you lose. Would a rematch really guarantee a win?
"I’m just a humble Tier Three Mage...don’t expect too much. As long as I make it through the League in one piece, I’m satisfied."
"You will, as long as Miss Xilia gives things a look before the match."
"Alright then, I’ll overstep a little. But I’m probably just going to say whatever comes to mind—it’s up to you whether you listen or not."
Ashburn replied coldly, "Anyone who doesn’t listen, I’ll make sure they never have the chance to listen again."
"..."
And so, as the Northern Alliance, supported by all factions, launched its grand Operation "Pest Cleanup," the Mage League resumed.
In the morning, Hilia arrived early at the arena, gave it a casual once-over, reported nothing to Ashburn, and went straight back to sleep...oh, no—to meditate.
"Our opponents are already dead, so we advance by default. Sigh, how tragic."
With no match to play, the girl was quite melancholy.
"Lord Rose, do you think the Polar Blood Alliance will still try to stir up trouble now?"
"Schrödinger’s trouble."
"What do you mean?"
"It means they’re both likely to cause trouble and not likely to—usually, the League is on high alert right now, and the guards are the kind who actually do their jobs, not the layabout committee types. So, the Polar Blood Alliance shouldn’t try anything now.
"But then again, the guards might start slacking off, thinking their defenses are airtight and so the Blood Alliance won’t show up. Which means the Alliance might decide to make another move after all."
Hilia understood. "So, basically, until they really act, there’s no way to predict a thing, right?"
"Right. But today’s the first day—the League’s defense is solid, and there’s no way they’d come now. Besides, you’ve led the destruction of so many of Kost’s bases—basically cleared out all the sites around Kost. A lot of those heretics hiding in the slums got rooted out too."
As he spoke, Rose seemed to remember something and grinned. "Oh, and your simpering classmate was rescued, too. When the heretic got found, he ran for it and didn’t have time to drag your little lapdog along. The Kost sheriff is having him taken to the hospital right now."
Hilia: "..."
She’d completely forgotten about that whole thing if Rose hadn’t brought it up.
Hilia said, "How is the Polar Blood Alliance so much more dangerous—they cause even more chaos than the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association."
Rose said, "Not really. The Mutual Aid Association tried to summon a white whale of the Sea Successors in Huijin City. With my interference, they couldn’t bring forth anything above Tier Six, so only a Tier Five white whale showed up—and you managed to catch that one. But if they had succeeded in summoning a Tier Six white whale..."
A gigantic Tier Six demon...
Hilia pictured it, and a chill ran through her.
If that had happened, Huijin City would likely be destroyed.
She just hadn’t felt much about it at the time—but realized now, the Deep Sea Mutual Aid Association was aiming to wipe out the capital itself.
But after that whale operation failed, they vanished and didn’t dare act up again.
Yet the Polar Blood Alliance has bigger goals—instead of giving up after the Abyss Gate was dealt with, they simply froze an entire town of tens of thousands in an instant. Who knows if that was their way of mocking the Northern Alliance, or just a move to "cut losses."
"So all the Polar Blood Alliance’s preparations were to open the Abyss Gate?"
"Opening the Abyss Gate isn’t the goal—it’s just a prerequisite."
"Then what’s their real objective?"
"No idea. Maybe to summon their god?"
In Rose’s palm, a smear of ashen black began to appear, then he dispelled it.
"What’s that?"
"A wraith—something that only forms when a lot of people die. A kind of Spiritual Object, usually only found in the Underworld."
"Does that help with summoning a god?"
"Maybe." Rose shook his head. "Wraiths and faith conflict with one another. Usually, gods wouldn’t use such things—unless..."
"Unless what?" Hilia pressed.
Rose looked out the window.
"Unless the god is dead—and wants to come back."
