We Can Go Now

Lieutenant Mailun was kneeling here.

He buried his head in the ground, remaining completely still in the most humiliating posture.

It was as if it had become a frozen statue.

They forgot the passage of time.

Until the sound of firm, powerful footsteps approached and came before him.

He slowly raised his head and saw a pair of steel combat boots. Looking up, he saw a human knight standing tall before him, looking down at him without any smugness on his face.

There was only curiosity and incomprehension.

The human before him spoke in Elvish, "Elf, stand up."

Mailun's lips trembled slightly. He slowly moved his stiff body, using his hands to support himself on the white flag, and slowly straightened his knees and stood up.

Cleveland didn't offer any help; he just watched.

Fighting, charging, running—everything that happened tonight had taken a huge toll on Lieutenant Mailun's body and mind. He was exhausted, his body was swaying, his strength was greatly depleted, and his spirit was utterly weary.

He braced himself against the flagpole, muttering, "I, Mailun Yikelesi, have been ordered to represent the Wings of Wayne to offer unconditional surrender and request an audience with your highest commander. I have important information to inform you. Humans, you may do with me as you see fit, but..."

Cleveland interrupted him, "Why?"

Lieutenant Mailun stared at him blankly.

The knight said, "Why go to such lengths? To grovel and abandon your dignity and pride—knowing you elves as I do, you would rather die than do such a thing. What is driving you to do this? What happened? You can tell me everything directly."

Lieutenant Mailun remained expressionless.

"I don't know... what happened."

His voice was hollow, but at this moment, it slowly began to come alive.

"I was just an ordinary Marine Corps adjutant serving in the Royal Navy, assisting my superior. I made the wrong decision, handing over the last chance for victory to you. I was prepared to die, returning to the Rift Valley, wanting to follow in the footsteps of the captain and commander, but instead I encountered their entrustment..."

"A desolate town, raging beasts, the captain and knight's crew trapped, unable to escape, then they shot this arrow at me, ordering me to surrender..."

He slowly took the scroll out of his pocket and handed it to Cleveland.

The voice sounded like a dream.

"Time was short. My brothers stayed behind to hold off the raging beast. The knight didn't have time to tell me more. He told me to give this thing to you, to humanity, and to pray to the gods that one of you might be able to understand it."

"He said that a trace of the gods' seal had leaked out back then, leaving a small Veil in the rift. Not only must they find a way to seal this small crack, but they must also declare to all the races of the entire continent, warning them that the danger has not gone away, and everything is contained in this scroll..."

"I don't understand, I don't know what happened, really."

"All I know is that I messed everything up. If I had led everyone to find the captain instead of trying to reclaim the Wings of Wayne, things might have been different..."

"All I know is that the captain and the knight entrusted their last hope to me. They made a choice: to surrender to humanity, to bring shame upon the Royal Navy, to abandon all dignity and pride, to lie there forever, to choose... to trust you."

"This message also needs to be forwarded and conveyed."

"All I know is that they made this choice. Since it was a joint decision by the captain and the knight, I will obey, no matter the cost, to carry out their orders."

His speech became faster and faster.

Their gazes became excited and fervent.

Having suffered several blows today, he was probably teetering on the brink of collapse. Lieutenant Mailun shoved the scroll into the knight's hand, muttering, "Do you understand what I mean, human? The knight said that the things in the Rift must be destroyed. They chose to trust you, and you must trust them too. Don't let greed and suspicion drive you to make the wrong choices. Do you understand what I mean? Do you understand what I mean?"

Don't know.

Somewhat difficult to understand.

Without witnessing it firsthand, and relying solely on the elf's rambling account, it's truly incomprehensible.

But soldiers are capable of understanding each other.

The elf's fervent emotions were genuine, devoid of lies and deceit, stemming solely from pain and unwavering resolve. The knight gazed at him calmly and asked, "How to destroy it?"

A glint flashed in Adjutant Mailun's eyes.

He gripped the knight's gauntlet tightly. "Wings of Wayne! The Wings of Wayne's magical core! Force a beaching in the Wings of Wayne, transport this capital ship's magical core to the island. It's the capital ship's mana reservoir, and in an unstable state, it's enough to trigger a massive explosion, completely shattering that so-called Veil breach! That's what the captain said! Master Laclais knows how to do it; let him do it!"

The knight was taken aback by what he heard.

He then gave a wry smile.

Master Laclais... Only a powerful spellcaster can be called a master.

That is, the archmage stationed on the Wings of Wayne.

Unfortunately... he's already dead, killed by Kang De's bird.

Upon seeing his appearance, Mailun felt a wave of dizziness. He grabbed the knight's shoulder and roared, "The master is dead? He has no spellcasting ability here and poses no threat to you. Isn't a powerful spellcaster what you've all been dreaming of capturing? What have you done!"

"What to do, what to do, what to do..."

He muttered to himself, seemingly insane, then his eyes lit up. "There are other spellcasters! There are other spellcasters! Bring them to me, I'll persuade them! You have spellcasters on your ship, right? Hurry up! Bring the magic core up! Don't you believe me?!"

Suddenly, the knight delivered a swift chop to his neck.

The elf rolled her eyes and slumped softly into the knight's arms.

Cleveland laid him on the ground and said softly, "You should get some rest."

He turned to see the captain and Kang De, who had also gone ashore with the knight, but for safety's sake, they stayed at a distance to prevent the elves from having any other plans.

He explained to Kang De and the captain, "What do you think?"

The captain frowned and said, "Excuse my bluntness, but I remain skeptical. Their intention to use the magical core to detonate that so-called rift is indeed plausible, but if that's the case..."

In that case, the magic core will be completely destroyed.

The Wings of Wayne was a flagship of the elves, representing the pinnacle of elven shipbuilding craftsmanship.

Bringing this warship back to the mainland is not only a tremendous achievement and honor, but also of immense strategic value. It means Goth could reverse-engineer a vast amount of intelligence about the elven navy, especially the magical core, which is priceless... Even more so, if it were secretly traded to the Empire...

After all, their purpose in coming here was to seek help from the Empire.

The importance of the magic core is self-evident.

The elf's message suggested using it to blow up the so-called "Veil hole." Regardless of what that thing actually was, the motive alone seemed to have a sinister undertone.

What if this is an elf conspiracy, to use the Goth People to destroy the magic core...?

The captain said, "We need to consider that possibility."

Cleveland looked at Kang De: "Kang De, you set up the bait traps in the Rift. Have you seen any of the things the elves mentioned?"

Kang De looked bewildered and somewhat frightened.

"No, I walked for a while and then sensed many terrifying things ahead. The Honey Badger and the others wouldn't let me go any further, so I built a wall over there using scraped stone shards, set some traps, and made other arrangements, all so that the elves could help me find out what was inside. I never expected..."

His tone was somewhat complicated.

If what the elf said is true, he had to take a new look at these pointy-eared creatures. Upon discovering a great crisis, they demonstrated the responsibility they should have, even going so far as to bow to their mortal enemy in order to deliver the valuable information... From an observer's perspective, such behavior is nothing short of heroic.

I never expected these elves to be so manly.

Cleveland then asked, "What do you think we should do? Trust them?"

Kang De was surprised, and then said, "I know nothing about your side of the world, neither about elves nor Goth, so I don't know."

The knight smiled. "It's like this. The situation was dire; we were on the verge of total annihilation. Thanks to Kang De's help, we not only turned the tide of battle but also captured an elven flagship. According to Goth People war rules, the Wings of Wayne should rightfully belong to you. In other words, you have the right to dispose of this warship. Even if we want to detonate the magic core, we need your permission..."

"..."

Kang De fell into deep thought.

Magic Core, it sounds incredibly powerful.

His current thoughts on magical items are: Can they be broken down? Can they Extraction?

In particular, this so-called magical core, the heart of the warship—if we use fantastical Element from Earth's White Mist for large-scale enchantment, could we create a ship spirit?

Therefore, I couldn't make up my mind for a while.

There really is a Black Beast's lair on the other side of the rift, and it absolutely must be destroyed. But whether or not to use a precious magical core to destroy it requires careful consideration. Kang De pondered for a while, wondering if he could create a big news story by leveraging the various resources around the neighborhood. He came up with a few ideas, but none of them seemed to work.

He suddenly remembered something. "He gave you a scroll?"

"Yes." The knight handed over the scroll, somewhat expectantly. "Can you understand it?"

Kang De took it, glanced at it, and was immediately stunned.

He recognized the characters.

But I don't know him.

It's not a language from Earth.

That altar.

That altar, covered in radiant writing... used this language.

He glanced at it a few times, but still couldn't figure it out. He tried Extraction some details from the edges, but it was still a massive and complex stream of Element. Finally, he handed the thing back to Cleveland: "I don't understand."

Cleveland was somewhat disappointed. "Then let Her Highness see it in a bit. The princess is well-read and knowledgeable; perhaps she can understand the text..."

Kang De nodded, "Since we can't make up our minds right now, let Tina take a look at this. Also, we need to start making arrangements to guard that rift valley, in case..."

Just then, his shoulder slumped.

He turned around and saw Kangaroo standing in front of him, its eyes serious.

Pigeon, Marmot, Wolverine, and A Xing were all watching him.

Aside from the Parrot... the Parrot remained on the Wings of Wayne, acting mysteriously.

During their earlier conversation, the animals had scurried to the side, seemingly discussing something. Now, the Kangaroo patted Kang De on the shoulder and then turned to gesture towards the Wings of Wayne.

Kang De asked, "Is it absolutely necessary to do it? Is there a way to do it?"

The Kangaroo nodded twice.

Kang De thought for a moment, then nodded. "Let's do it."

So the Pigeon took the lead and flew towards the Wings of Wayne, still clutching the handheld camera.

The camera is always on.

Cleveland and the captain were momentarily stunned. Seeing the animals frantically pushing a boat into the sea, the knight asked, "Wait... Kang De, what's going on? Have you made up your mind?"

"Ah, yes, after all, they had never suggested anything to me before."

Kang De followed them toward the ship. "And now they say... we can board."

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PS1: Second update... Ah, 6,000 words today.

PS2: The app's side posts and comments will be restored tomorrow, but the book review section seems to be waiting a while longer. Ah, anyway, it's something to be happy about. Should we vote to celebrate? I'll add an extra chapter tomorrow. Didn't I promise to update three chapters? I'll make up for it.