Chapter 737: The Leader
Translator: TransN Editor: Meh
Roland was clear that it was nothing but his own speculation.
I can't jump to a conclusion based solely on the documentation of the underground civilization since their contents still need further verification. For example, the underground civilization thought that they successfully survived a series of competition, but what about their opponents who probably were also able to use magic power? Where did they leave their traces? What about human beings? Did witches first appear before the first Battle of Divine Will— or rather, was the mankind gifted with the sense of magic when they were still primates or even at the beginning of the Mammalian age?
Maybe, human beings in this world didn't go through such a long process of evolution at all. Could they directly become what they are now through mutation after gaining a victory?
He was afraid that to answer these questions, he would need a great number of outstanding explorers like Thunder.
As compared to those researches, his top priority still remained to be human survival, but he believed that it was just a matter of time for him to find out the answers.
He looked at Pasha, asking, "Before you moved this part of relic underground, had it been kept by the church... no, I mean the Starfall City all the time?"
Now that he knew the importance of the relic, he started to care about its safety.
"Yes. Due to the existence of the giant paintings, burying it underground can't prevent the Divine Will. Therefore, it's always kept by the most powerful witch organization. During the Months of Demons when magic power reaches its peak, demonic beasts will come for it. That was why they launched frenzied attacks at Hermes during those months before." With these words, Pasha moved her giant body away, revealing the scene behind her. Two piles of dead bodies of demonic beasts stood there with light blue blood dripping down and flowing all over the ground. Pasha continued, "After we knew the Starfall City had suffered a serious setback, we took back the relic as soon as we could. Now it's very safe in our hands."
Wendy gasped at the sight. "How did you kill that many hybrid demonic beasts?"
"The Instrument of Divine Retribution can deprive the targets of their magic power, and these monsters will die soon without the power in their bodies." Pasha briefly described how this instrument worked and continued. "But it'll only become a mighty weapon when it's activated by the Chosen One."
Roland caught the keyword immediately. "Deprive them of their magic power? So does it mean that it'll do no harm to normal animals? Can God's Stones influence the instrument?"
"No, it directly affects magic power, and God's Stones can't do anything about it at all."
Learning that this instrument could affect an area within a radius of over 5,000 miles without causing any side effects to living beings without magic power, Roland had to admit it was really an environmentally friendly weapon. Unfortunately, however, its start-up requirement seemed too harsh.
He wondered whether the underground civilization had really tested this instrument's power or not. "Maybe they've just done it in theory? Otherwise, they wouldn't end up losing its relic in the war. Wait, did they create something they couldn't use? This kind of absurd things will only happen in this strange magic world."
Thinking that the underground civilization had an advanced magic theory and demons were able to cultivate various kinds of abilities, he realized human beings seemed to have no advantage in manipulating magic power at all. The witches were not a stable group. Their awakenings happened randomly among people and their abilities were hard to predict and control. Given that, he believed they still need a long time to evolve, but now there was not much time left for human beings.
Roland suspected that by the time the Taquila witches found the Chosen One, Neverwinter's armies equipped with advanced steel weapons had already gained an upper hand in the war against demons.
Despite all those thoughts, he would never try to deny the existence of magic power in this world.
He decided to carry out research on both science and magic power at the same time. In this way, the new findings of magic power would increase their productivity. In the meantime, the development of productivity would generate more resources for the studies on magic power.
He believed all research projects could be successfully carried out as long as there was plenty of money and manpower, including the one on magic power.
Now that he knew the basic situation of the Taquila survivors, he thought it was time to negotiate with them.
He said, "Pasha, thank you for telling me your situation and research results. As demons are obviously our common enemy, we should work together and pool our resources to fight against them. How about we building a united front of Divine Will to further our cooperation and coordination?"
Pasha tapped with her tentacles. "I agree. We only hope Your Majesty will continue your policy to gather more witches. All the Taquila witches want is to find the Chosen One among them. We'll send another God's Punishment Witch to bring you a new Five-Colored Stone."
"I'll continue the policy anyway. Even if you don't say that, I'm still going to expand the witch organization in my kingdom, but..." He paused for a while. "I think you'd better move to another place, such as the western mountains near Neverwinter."
"Well..."
Before Pasha gave her answer, all the witches in the reception hall stirred. "Your Majesty?"
"What about demonic beasts?"
At this moment, all the witches were staring at him. Some seemed worried and some nervous. Only Agatha gave him an approving look as if she had known that he was going to make such a request.
Roland surveyed them and signal the witches to calm down and relax. After that, he turned to look at Pasha on the light curtain again and said, "To be honest, I can't agree with your plan to protect the relic on your own. Once you lose it, all human beings' efforts will be wasted. Demonic beasts aren't tough enemies, but without the defensive line in Hermes, are you sure you can protect the relic when demons launch a surprise attack on you?"
Having heard that the underground civilization diminished probably because they lost its part of the relic, he thought it was better to put this thing under his own protection or somewhere near him. He would feel better if he would be able to send an army to support them immediately when they were attacked.
Celine seemed to be disagreeable. "As long as we change the annihilation core, demons will become easy targets as demonic beasts."
"No, they won't. Demons are way more powerful and intelligent than demonic hybrids. I can tell from the packed dead bodies that those demonic beasts were once very close to your core region. If I guess correctly, the Instrument of Divine Retribution isn't far away from the phantom instrument." Roland noticed that the little tentacles on Pasha stiffened for a moment when she heard this sentence. "If some Mad Demons who can throw spears attack you guys, how many magic cores will be able to remain intact?"
"But..."
Roland continued to explain patiently, "If you still think I won't do any better than you or worry about that demonic beasts would be attracted by the relic, you can settle down on the side of the western mountains close to the Fertile Plains and I'll build a road to connect your place with Neverwinter. In that case, I'll be able to help you whenever you're in trouble: Trust is the foundation of cooperation, and placing the relic where both parties regard as safe is the first step to build our mutual trust, isn't it?"
Pasha remained speechless with her tentacles intertwined with those of the other blobs. They seemed to be communicating with each other rapidly in this way. After seven or eight minutes, she started to talk again.
"Before I give our reply, I'd like to ask a question first. If we do form a united front of... Divine Will as you said, who'll lead us to fight against demons?"