Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 899: Chapter 695: The Undying Foes

Actually, Hill only cares about the Righteous Knights; he doesn’t want the people he identifies with to be killed by tedious political struggles.

It’s nothing for Neverwinter to shift from the domain of the deities to the faction of the arcanists, but do they have to use such despicable means? The Righteous Knights have protected them for thousands of years.

The fall of Tyr was largely because during the time of the Magicplague, the tragic downfall of the Righteous Knights in Neverwinter forced that God of Justice to risk damage to his Divine Soul, break through the World Membrane, and descend to save his loyal knights.

It was the Silver Shield Knights and their families who died in Neverwinter.

In the end, Tyr only took back a portion of the souls, and the rest preferred to fall into the Bottomless Abyss rather than forgive Neverwinter.

Although Neverwinter lived well by betraying the Paladins during the Magicplague, later when the world returned to normal and after Tyr had fallen, the mountain beneath the city suddenly connected to a vein and turned into a supervolcano, completely destroying the city and cutting off the bloodline of Prince Ban forever.

It seems it was just their bad luck... but Hill once observed the mountain range where Neverwinter is located, and it’s not a volcano nor connected to a vein.

One could only say that even after falling into demons, the Paladins know well how to persist and be patient.

It sounds like a satisfying retribution story, but those tragic and miserable processes before... Hill doesn’t think any normal person would want to see it, let alone the fact that he knows all these people and gets along with them well.

The Silver Knights have been stationed in Agleya City for so long, always minding their own business and placing themselves in a supportive position for Hill. As soon as Hill needs help, they will actively assist.

In their training downtime, many young Paladins also appear on the streets of Agleya. These decent-looking, cheerful, sensible young men make anyone feel pleased just by seeing them.

Who would want to see them come to such an end?

This is probably why even though Neverwinter has the best reputation among the towns in Sword Bay, Hill has always been unwilling to interact with them, as he is always wary of Prince Ban.

There must be something wrong with this guy, and Hill also suspects the old King who named his son that... Their family, rather, has the headstrong and passionate Princess, who seems like a normal person.

As for what the Temple of Heim plans, it isn’t related to Hill.

Unless they have offended him, as long as his rules are obeyed, Hill never refuses any temple from a non-evil faction entering his territory.

Hill anticipates they will all go; dealing with the multitude of issues in Luskan is better than enduring the rudeness of Neverwinter’s Prince Ban.

The warriors of Heim’s Temple have a worse temper than those of House of Tyr and likely have long wanted to leave.

But Hill does not intend to directly deal with Heim’s Temple.

Among these deities who emphasize order too much, Hill can only say he gets along okay with Tyr. He has no intention of making friends with all the Toril Deities; it all depends on fate.

Hill thinks it’s unlikely... Among the Three Gods of Justice, the God of Loyalty Tom and the God of Suffering Ilmarte are types Hill doesn’t want to deal with, not because they are bad, but... their overly radical doctrines are simply incomprehensible.

Although Tyr is also serious and solemn... he reasons things out! Those two give Hill a headache just by thinking about them.

As for the Guardian God Heim, no normal person would want to get involved with him... not to mention he was the culprit who lost the Tablets of Fate, causing the gods to be stripped of their powers and thrown into the Ferun Great Land, and he dutifully killed the former Mystra, almost collapsing the entire world.

But what Hill despises most is Heim’s active participation in the invasion and racial massacre actions against the Maztika Continent.

Though the aim was to protect his followers, the methods were excessively ruthless.

This deity lacks normal emotions, as do his subordinates, who are like cold-blooded creatures. One can imagine the kind of people they are to engage in colonizing other continents.

Just like this retreat from Neverwinter, no matter what the Paladins of Tyr do, they will lend a hand to those from Heim’s Temple; but in reverse, those guys from Heim’s Temple only care about themselves.

In the actual history of Neverwinter, they directly abandoned the Silver Shield Knights like that, even conveniently sabotaging them for a smooth retreat of their own people.

Later... a severely injured and irrational Tyr went to challenge Heim, and their ultimate mutual demise was definitely not without reason.

Hill quietly looked at the temple outside; Tyr’s Paladins were already preparing, and they kindly brought along Heim’s Temple.

He could only watch silently. Changing some things naturally also incurs some unwanted consequences.

But at least... Tyr will no longer fall because of this matter.

Hill boarded the Purvey Ship Magic Ship with Lynn and some Elf Guards. He had given the Northern Continent enough time to react, yet no faction has claimed the intention to dispute his control of Luskan.

Thus, Luskan truly belongs to him now.

Compared to staying in the Magic Tower facing those unpredictable little fairies, Lynn and the elves prefer to sit with Hill in the patio on the back of Purvey.

Hill purposely enlarged the patio so that the excited elves would have enough space to frolic.

Lynn sat beside him and whispered, ”In the North, apart from Neverwinter and Baldur’s Gate, all the other countries and independent cities have sent congratulatory messages in various ways. Not only did they acknowledge your rule over Luskan, but they also praised your courage and sense of justice for expelling the pirates and dark mages.

I feel something is amiss. Have they realized your strength?”

”Aside from Luskan, other places do have some connections with the dragons,” Hill casually said. ”At this stage, no one wants to offend someone like me who can easily take down several dragons.

Unless those Naesreiel arcanists come out into the open now.

However... they probably won’t be able to do that for another couple of years, even if they can cast spells without the Weave. The Origin Power doesn’t allow them to use spells above the Fifth Circle more than a few times.

In the short term, strength is still more useful than mana.”

Lynn frowned and said, ”To be honest... I understand not wanting to offend. But for them all to appear so fearful... I think there’s something wrong, it’s just not normal! I feel unsettled.”

”Some of the forces in the North are just waiting to see Neverwinter make a fool of itself.

This action against Luskan, many people know is actually targeting Neverwinter.

Do you think... that blatant message will only be sent to me?”

Lynn nodded: ”And the other part?”

”If, after occupying Luskan, I suddenly get conceited upon seeing most of the North prostrating at my feet, with the powerful undead as my henchmen, it might make me impulsively try to unify the entire Sword Bay!” Hill said coldly. ”This method of flattery is always effective.”

Lynn suddenly realized, though he usually understood these things, sometimes he just couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

Actually, it’s not entirely his fault; this method of flattery isn’t commonly used in Toril, since if it takes a little effort to get rid of someone, most countries still choose to act.

Lynn is more accustomed to smiling while stabbing someone in the back.

”What’s going on with Baldur’s Gate?” Hill asked calmly.

Neverwinter is not even worth mentioning; it would be strange if they congratulated me. After plotting so much, everything has fallen apart now.

The people of Neverwinter don’t need to riot, but they won’t be able to live so prosperously in the future.

This brings us back to what Lynn is familiar with, and he couldn’t help but smile: ”Baal definitely can’t reawaken any time soon, so the people of Baldur’s Gate have become arrogant again.

They’ve produced some Children of Bhaal, trying to claim inheritance rights to the Undead Swamp where Agleya was originally located.”

”On my land deed... there’s their mark too, right?” Hill asked, puzzled.

”That’s why they want you to exchange Luskan for the Children of Bhaal! That way, everyone would be satisfied!” Lynn laughed heartily.

”What kind of fool would come up with such an idea?” Hill asked in surprise.

”This isn’t about fools; it’s about hiding their schemes with stupidity.

To put it simply, it’s about being shameless.

There are hardly any normal people left in Baldur’s Gate; it was all ruined by Bhaal.” Lynn shook his head, ”So many temples and great nobility all participated in the making of Bhaal’s children, and then Bhaal wiped them all out in one go.

Now, the City Lord is basically a puppet, and who knows who’s really behind this... Many are using his mouth to test external reactions in all kinds of foolish ways.

Though it seems foolish, it’s not without purpose.

At least if something goes wrong, Baldur’s Gate, which hasn’t acknowledged your rule over Luskan, can send troops at any time.

It’s quite a grand plan, but no one cares about their little schemes.

With Baldur’s Gate’s current strength, they won’t have the ability to leave their city for at least 100 years, and that’s if Bhaal doesn’t resurrect in between.

The Blood of Bhaal has already spread to every corner of Baldur’s Gate; as long as Bhaal wants to resurrect, they won’t be able to escape.

Hill nodded, looking at the approaching Luskan: ”The magic crystal vein in Luskan is on the central Long Island, right?”

”Yes. The Arcane Brotherhood was originally there, and the big hole should be where the Magic Tower was.”

”For a city hall, it’s still a bit small,” Hill said lightly, ”It’s just right to connect the front and back of the four islands, and those bridges are too low, they need modification.”

The Pulvey Ship circled in the sky, and Hill lightly descended on the island lying at the river’s mouth like a giant fish.