Castle of Black Iron

Hearing the knocks, Zhang Tie stopped his cultivation of the Great Wilderness Sutra and opened the door of the captain’s room. A crew member was standing outside the door.

”Captain, the first mate told me to let you know that we’re arriving at Oris, the capital of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire!”

”Aww, fine, I will go to the command module right now!”

The crew member gave a salute to Zhang Tie before leaving. Zhang Tie straightened his clothes before putting on his hat and walking towards the command module.

At this moment, Zhang Tie was wearing a set of dark green military uniform which fit that of militia of Jinyun Country. If not the symbol of captain on his chest, nobody would believe that he was the captain of the awe-inspiring fury-level battle airship.

The captain’s bedroom was the best in the airship, which was close to the command module. After passing through the spacious tunnel which was available to three people at the same time in the middle of the fury-level airship and walking down a small part of stairs, Zhang Tie entered the command module.

”At 13:58, on April 7th, the captain enters the command module and takes over the command of the airship!”

Seeing Zhang Tie entering, the first mate who was standing on the position of the captain beside the helmsman shouted loudly. At this moment, besides those volunteers who didn’t put on military uniforms, everything ran in the state of a formal expedition. They followed strict manipulation procedures and regulations. Closely after the first mate finished his words, the second mate marked on the flight log.

Those in the command module gave a salute to Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie gave a salute back to them. After that, he walked onto the command position which was 3 stages higher than the ground of the command module. Holding the rail around the command position, Zhang Tie lowered his head and looked at the land below the airship.

There was a very senior imaging lens which covered about 1 square meters on the command position. It was used to look down. This device was like a huge ground telescope. Through the application of the principle of optics, the captain could see clearly the situation on the land below the airship the moment he lowered his head. He could also adjust the angle and the size of the image in the imaging lens.

At this moment, the airship was above over 2000 m. Through the bird-view imaging lens, Zhang Tie could see clearly everything on the ground. Zhang Tie didn’t know how did the capital of Holy Golden Orchid Empire look before; however, at this moment, most of the capital had turned into ruins, which was more miserable than the situation in Blackhot City.

After the holy war broke out 3 months ago, Oris had been struck by demon disaster. The Holy Golden Orchid Empire which was almost destroyed by Haiger VII collapsed completely in this demon disaster.

Even before the Holy Golden Orchid Empire completely collapsed, Haiger VII had delivered an absurd order——to dissolve the entire empire and summon those chancellors who were still loyal to him to follow him to a new world and build a new country full of ’light and love’. After delivering that decree, the entire imperial household of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire disappeared.

Therefore, it’s hard to say whether the Holy Golden Orchid Empire died in the hands of demons or the hands of Haiger VII. When the holy war broke out, whether it was lucky or not for those countrymen to have such a bizarre empire. After the entire imperial household of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire disappeared, all the people in the city had lost their morale. Most of them had already escaped away like that absurd emperor before the demonized puppet corps arrived at Oris.

Those who hated Haiger VII the most were not those countrymen who had been tortured so much by that emperor and completely lost their confidence; but those ’able youths’ who had dreamed to be the emperor’s son-in-law and princes of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire at the cost of 200 gold coins or more.

Although nobody calculated how many of those ’able youths’ were there, as diplomats of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire had made advertisement in countries across Blackson Humans Corridor, it was estimated that at least tens of thousands of people had applied for being the emperor’s son-in-law, including Zhang Tie.

The total of the application fee of tens of thousands of people was not a small amount of money. Additionally, it was said that the registration fee was divided into different ranks. Different ranks matched different treatments. 200 gold coins were relatively affordable for those small figures who dreamed to be big figures; it was said that some application fee paid by rich clan and new startups in the Waii Sub-Continent for being the emperor’s son-in-law was as high as hundreds of thousands of gold coins, by which they could enjoy more special treatments.

Therefore, nobody knew how much had Haiger VII actually taken away in the name of choosing his son-in-law.

After the entire imperial households of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire disappeared, some people said that Haiger VII was the biggest liar in the history of Blackson Humans Corridor. He completed the largest-scale robbery in the history of Blackson Humans Corridor before the arrival of the holy war.

More ’able youths’ could only reap what they had sown. According to the bilateral agreement, this time, it was truly nothing to do with Haiger VII.

Zhang Tie also paid 200 gold coins in the embassy of Jinyun Country of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire which was like an illegal agent. He even sighed an agreement. In the beginning, he didn’t pay attention to that; however, when he took it out and read it carefully a couple of days ago, he finally found that line of words which were as tiny as ant legs in an inconspicuous place of that agreement.

——When being influenced by force majeure like war and natural disasters, the Holy Golden Orchid Empire’s imperial household is entitled to extend, terminate or abandon its fulfillment of this agreement. The loss caused by such force majeure would be sustained by the applicant. The application fee will not be returned in such case. The Holy Golden Orchid Empire and its imperial household will not shoulder any responsibilities for such loss.

——Note: the force majeure in the contract includes but not limited to those listed in the attachment. The final power of interpretation belongs to the Holy Golden Orchid Empire.

Of course, the holy war belonged to the most powerful force majeure. Therefore, they could only be speechless.

When he read this item, Zhang Tie became stunned. He even started to doubt whether the hilarious emperor of Haiger VII had long known that the holy war was going to break out. Therefore, he carried out such a robbery with her daughter as a bait.

Nobody could answer this question. Because all the royals of Holy Golden Orchid Empire had disappeared. Nobody knew their whereabouts. If in peaceful times, the disappearance of all the royals of an empire would cause a great chaos for sure; however, when many countries had vanished or were vanishing and many people died everyday because of the arrival of the holy war, such an incident was just like a spray in the tsunami which would be forgotten by people in a blink of eyes.

Zhang Tie adjusted his bird-view imaging lens and observed the situation of Oris under his feet. A lot of buildings collapsed or were destroyed in the battle fire. Not even a single alive person could be seen down there. However, Zhang Tie occasionally saw some demonized puppets wandering in the ruins. This was how the capital, the most prosperous place of the Holy Golden Orchid Empire presented in Zhang Tie’s eyes.

Since they left Jinyun Country and flew northwards, Zhang Tie started to see more similar scenes. Therefore, he became gloomy. He finally understood why those people raising boards in Yiyang City would like to leave this continent at the cost of their freedom.

They were deeply hurt by the holy war. Their sharp pains reminded them of the most realistic pursuit of commoners in the holy war——to survive themselves!

Zhang Tie watched the land down there which was contaminated by black and grey colors like a color palette with a calm look. However, he was greatly shocked inside.

”If the grand meeting for selecting Pandora’s husband was just a hoax, how could Haiger VII knew that the holy war would break out before the grand meeting? Haiger VII even set the time of the grand meeting before the even in Heavens Cold City. Unless he was a key figure among demons or the Three-Eye Association, he could not have such a precise judgment on the arrival of the holy war.”

”Even I didn’t have a clear judgment on the arrival of the holy war until I left Ice and Snow Wilderness, how could Haiger VII know about it so early?”

”If Haiger VII is really a demon or a member of Three-Eye Association, what’s the role of Pandora in this event? Is she a purely innocent girl or a demon or a member of Three-Eye Association like Haiger VII? If Pandora is a demon or a member of Three-Eye Association, how would I face her?”

Zhang Tie had a complex mood. In order to take a look at Oris, the Idiots airship flew more than a 1000 km than the planned route. After watching the ruins below, Zhang Tie knew that he didn’t need to face Pandora at least now. Not knowing why, Zhang Tie immediately let out a sigh inside.

Even if Pandora was really a demon or a member of Three-Eye Association, Zhang Tie knew that he could barely target his weapon at Pandora, not to mention to kill her.

”Just hand it to time!”

Only after 20 minutes, the Idiots airship had already flown past Oris, leaving this ruined city behind.

Zhang Tie turned his head and asked his first mate, ”Are there demon beasts within hundreds of square km that usually attack airships...”

”This route is relatively safer; however, as it is in the wild, there’re many mutated living beings and demon beasts that might attack our airship. We can easily find them if we want...”

Zhang Tie nodded. The moment he wanted the first mate to find a nearby place for him to kill some demon beasts so as to form a similar trouble-reappearance situation for the sake of practicing glider and rotachute did he hear the early-warning bell ring...