Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 1158: Chapter 950: Headlong in the Wrong Direction

The mages, thinking more and more that Kelben surviving until now is nothing short of a miracle, exchanged glances in silent agreement to give up the idea of going to Deepwater City... But, there are still some allies in Deepwater City waiting for their news!

Yaro from Silvermoon City and River from Shadow Valley exchanged blatant glances, neither of them willing to be the diligent messenger of bad news.

In the end, Yaro nodded silently: there’s no choice, he is still a member of the Harpist, and it’s his duty to report information.

The male mage sighed helplessly, speaking of which, the Harpists in the bard faction are their organization’s strongest intelligence personnel, while the Rangers are the carrier pigeons.

But... due to certain matters, there aren’t many Rangers among the Harpists willing to take on tasks in Deepwater City... This profession of Rangers, even if he himself doesn’t have an elf teacher, his teacher surely has one!

Most Harpists already had strong opinions about Kelben for backstabbing the Harpist organization to build his own intelligence organization Moonstars, and now with this situation... It’s quite easy to arrange for Harpists to do disruptive work in Deepwater City.

But asking for help, or even passing a message, is especially challenging.

The bards aren’t much better, if it weren’t for Mystra’s incident, Miliel might have already left the Harpist Alliance with his followers... at least half would have gone!

Although Miliel doesn’t intend to take advantage of others’ troubles, his dissatisfaction with Silvermoon City is quite evident.

The increasing number of kind alignment bards appearing from Agleya shows that the glorious Bard’s Academy of Folcrum for thousands of years in Silvermoon City can only watch its gradual decline.

Previously, bards graduating from Folcrum Academy were well-received by the upper society in every corner of the Ferun Great Land, but it will be difficult in the future... With teachers scarce even in Neutral Faction, how many bards of the Kind Alignment can they produce?

And which noble would dare to let a neutral or even evil bard meet his family?

Nobles might not care about some romantic stories between bards and their family... after all, there are guards even without bards, but they absolutely care whether these bards will cause malicious incidents, such as assassinations and looting.

No one is willing to pay money to invite an assassin into their home, right?

Yaro stared at the Agleya Municipal Officer in front of him... this Mr. Lynn’s relationship with Miliel is so close that people suspect he might be the Chosen.

Yet, this gentleman was clearly once a member of their Silvermoon Alliance!

Before he came, he had of course reviewed all intelligence related to the Lord of Agleya. So he knew very well that the Archmage Hill, who accidentally arrived from another world to Toril, met the first Toril person, Lynn, and then they became quite good friends.

Then the rest of the story is very simple... An Archmage who dislikes managing affairs happens to encounter numerous troubles, and naturally turns to a friend who enjoys handling such things.

Most importantly, this friend Lynn not only has an extraordinary background but also an even more exceptional ability... Agleya City is managed so orderly, surely a city as well-informed as Silvermoon City would know.

However, the Silvermoon Alliance lost a strong and powerful sheriff... since losing Lynn, that forest town has been viciously attacked by goblins for several winters in a row.

The new sheriff, apart from an extraordinary background, is so mediocre that it’s not even worth evaluating... For Ranger Town, it can be managed by Rangers, but not by Wanderers.

Now Quelva can only be called Wanderer Town.

But even Elaströ had nothing to say... because of certain internal disputes, Lynn was clearly implicated, and when the Lord of Agleya invited Lynn to help, it was to give his friend a helping hand.

It was obvious to those with keen eyes that Agleya City back then did not intend to expand to its current extent.

The Lord of Agleya did not expect his friend to be so capable either.

So what can the Silvermoon Alliance do... how did that Lord Hill get so lucky?

Resisting the urge to sigh, Yaro asked Lynn amicably: ”It seems the Inn at the Port cannot accommodate so many of us!

Although the environment in Agleya City is nice, we might have some companions coming later who might find entering the city inconvenient, and this is a bit worrisome!

I wonder if Mr. Lynn has any solutions?”

Lynn raised an eyebrow slightly and chuckled twice: ”The Inn at the Port is quite big indeed!

Didn’t you see how large the courtyard is? In fact, all sides of the oak tree can house people.

It’s just that there weren’t so many guests before, so the left and right sides weren’t opened, and even the side facing the main road didn’t have residents on the lower floors because it was too noisy with the tavern nearby.”

He showed a peculiar smile, ”If that’s not enough, just add another layer, it’s easy, just a matter of minutes, no need to worry at all.”

Yaro looked at him in confusion, pondering over Lynn’s attitude... This Half-Elf never gives a straightforward answer, always speaking in riddles.

Isn’t the time for Edna to advance going to be very long this time?

Is Lynn thinking that others would also be impatient, coming over from Deepwater City?

Lady Numia, Mystra’s Preaching Mage, is somewhat more closely related to Kelben... After all, they are both reputed as the most devoted followers of the fallen Mystra, acting entirely on the Goddess’s will.

Compared to the Northern Seven Sisters, whom the previous Mystra trusted more, now that one clearly favors Kelben, completely relying on the Goddess’s favor to rise in rank, Numia won’t possibly show any dissatisfaction with Kelben regardless of what she truly thinks.

Would the people she sent really leave Deepwater City?

As for the others... Although Mystra’s resurrection seems to have a great impact, in reality, the number of Deity factions willing to get involved is limited... Any additional ones are likely enemies, right?

Those who don’t want Mystra’s resurrection, preferring the Weave to remain as it is now, are not in the minority... What true ambitious person would want a Deity constantly suppressing them overhead?

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many countries at war.

Of course, the most intense among them is Sel... The lich Sazzastan from the Necromancy Sect is systematically eradicating other factions competing with him for national dominance.

No one knows, perhaps due to Mystra’s animosity toward the Three Gods of Death, the most intense outbreak of the Magic Plague Storm occurred in Sel... The Red Robe Mages’ Cloud of Death, spread across the entire country, has been torn apart, and now the entire Sel Plateau has turned into a towering cliff.

Sel was originally the most important agricultural export country on the Ferun Great Land... The common people don’t care if the grain they eat is grown by skeletons!

Although the grain might carry a slight undead aura, it’s better than rotten food!

Moreover, the transportation journey is so long that the aura dissipates long before it reaches its destination.

Now, however, Sel probably can’t sell any grain... The Cloud of Death was defeated, and a large number of undead slaves turned to dust under the sunlight... Even the original terraced fields have become towering cliffs.

The Illusion Faction, Summoning Faction, Enchantment Faction, and Transmutation Faction, initially with many followers in Sel, have consistently opposed the Necromancy Sect’s practice of turning all civilians into undead creatures, even going so far as to declare war on the Necromancy Sect.

Unfortunately, though they were close to reaching Sazzastan’s undead creature manufacturing factories, Sazzastan reached an agreement with Bane... To exchange for changes in the function and form of Arcane Magic, and to govern Sel for the next 1000 years, he offered his soul to Bane and promised that his kingdom’s faith would be fully devoted to this Dark Lord... Meanwhile, Necromancers spread undead plagues throughout Sel, nearly overwhelming these factions.

This is also the reason why, on Edna’s side, Bane had no choice but to collaborate with Rose... He initially burned his entire Divine Power network spread across Toril to provide all the divine power to Sazzastan.

But now, with Bane showing interest in the events on Edna’s side, given his temperament, he would definitely inform Sazzastan... And that Undead Magistrate would be the last person to want the Weave’s restoration.

Yaro pondered and said, ”Although Lord Hill always claims that the port inn respects the builders of the Ferun Giant Road... The Evil Faction is also welcome to lodge.

But can Necromancers stay as well?”

Lynn looked on curiously: ”Why would a Necromancer want to stay across from a Kind Alignment Temple?

Even if it were Sazzastan from Sel, he wouldn’t want to live opposite the Agleya Temple, right?

Let alone with Tyr next door.

While the Righteous Knights might not be interested in storming into the inn for righteous judgment, that doesn’t mean they would sit idly by if someone summoned undead near them... If someone without undead in tow can endure the pain of Divine Power burning, we won’t stop his momentary whims either.”

River, who had been letting Yaro do the talking, finally couldn’t hold back... Yaro always enjoys talking in circles, to the point of not even knowing what he’s talking about!

She pulled a momentarily dazed Yaro, having just realized he’d said something silly, behind her, and with a gentle smile, she addressed Lynn head-on, ”Please disregard Yaro’s rudeness... His friend from Sel died in battle, so he harbors a strong hostility toward Necromancers. At the mere mention of enemies, he’s quick to think of them as the culprits.

But... interest in Edna and her group is not limited to humans, is it?

We certainly don’t wish to interfere with that Junior Mage’s travels, but for reasons that are well known, we sincerely hope to have the honor of following behind them.

In this way, it benefits everyone, doesn’t it?

With our presence, absolutely nothing would hinder Miss Edna’s steps; she can go to any place she’s interested in... And we also get the opportunity to meet the ones we’ve been longing to see.”