Arc 30The Broken Sea Bargain
Kang De turned the Council’s need for three relic materials into leverage while drawing Nixiyasi and her father into negotiations over the Azure Fleet and Distant Harbor. As the talks began, he prepared to expose the Council’s secret underwater operation and seize its prize.
- Kang De investigated corruption in Britain, then toured Distant Harbor with Parrot and showed Nixiyasi the workers’ benefits and growing prosperity.
- Nixiyasi returned to the Azure Fleet conflicted about Kang De, while her father Anthony demanded that she arrange a meeting and later plotted to approach Kang De himself.
- The Council sent Anthony and Azure Fleet forces toward Distant Harbor, but Kang De’s Frozen Legion captured the assault boats and Anthony asked to meet him.
- Kang De learned that the Council had set Nixiyasi a quota for relic materials and inferred that it needed them to open the Yilan-Tai'er ruins.
- Kang De persuaded Anthony to serve as an intermediary, offering him exclusive sugar-product sales rights while proposing negotiations over prisoners, trade, research, and compensation.
- Kang De told Nixiyasi that he had not traded her loyalty, but she feared her father had used her as part of the bargain and broke down crying.
- Kang De opened talks with Councilor Aokexindun, while Distant Harbor publicized the Azure Fleet’s defeat and damaged the Council’s reputation.
- Kang De and Hong San concluded that the Council wanted the materials for a secret underwater operation, and Kang De planned to target Aokexindun’s interests and seize the prize from the Council’s submarine.