SilverAsh's Decision / The Future of Kjerag

What were those self-sacrificing Mizuki, Shuiyue, thinking when they chose to surrender everything to the Sea of Life?

"As we expected, this meeting was not going to be easy to succeed."

"The biggest problem right now is still Bolivar. What are your plans?"

Kal'tsit reached out and scooped up Mizuki. Seeing her lover showing such an adorable side, she felt a strange, indescribable feeling, a slight urge to... lick it, though she wondered what it would taste like.

"Seaborn has entered the final stage of evolution. Once he adapts to the land and Originium, I will force him to pass through Bolivar and open a temporary route to the battlefield. The pressure on Great Yan and Ursus is not too great at the moment."

Are you trying to scare them?

"Sometimes intimidation is more effective than reasoning in getting people to make a choice quickly, Kal'tsit, I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologize. I can understand your choice; it's an extraordinary decision made during extraordinary times."

Mizuki apologized for the changes he was about to bring to the world. The massive influx of Seaborn onto land would be major news for the Terra and could cause widespread panic. Even if this fear of Demons, which lacks awareness of their existence, cannot become a channel for spreading spiritual pollution, the Demons nourished by this fear will certainly become stronger, and the pressure on the northern front will instantly increase. This is why Mizuki did not initially commit all his forces to the ice field.

"I will try my best to keep the operation secret and avoid causing too much panic. I will leak a little information to make Bolivar's side a bit nervous. As for Ursus... there is currently a war with the Demons, and internal conflicts have shifted. The conservative old nobles have transferred most of their fighting force to the front lines, and the new emperor is already preparing to take action against the old nobles."

"Where is Kjerag?"

"I'll go talk to them myself later. Although it's conservative, isn't there a highly respected and revered saint there?"

Mizuki waved her hand, explaining that she invited Kjerag to the meeting because Kjerag was also part of Terra, and that there was a relatively young Feranmut in Kjerag who was quite benevolent towards humans. Not many people knew about the second point.

"Go talk to them, but don't bring any more people into the family."

It was hard for outsiders to imagine that Kal'tsit would actually make a comment. Mini Mizuki's face turned a little red. He was essentially one of Mizuki's multiple threads, and also the real person, so of course he understood what this meant.

"No, don't talk like I'm some kind of..."

"I know everything about Huang and Gavial."

Kal'tsit's sharp gaze made Mizuki extremely uncomfortable. He finally understood why everyone in the Medical Department had that look on their faces when Kal'tsit was mentioned.

Her tiny index fingers touched together, making her a miniature clone. Mizuki's voice was even lower, so much so that it was impossible to hear what she was saying without looking down.

"... Would you believe me if I said it was an accident?"

"Were they all really accidents?"

"It was all done by the Doctor!"

Pointing at the Doctor sitting there eating snacks, Mizuki's speed in betraying her teammates was astonishing. The Doctor hugged his bag of potato chips tightly and gave Mizuki a shocked look that seemed to say, "You actually had the heart to betray me."

Even if Amiya were to stab her with a knife one day, she would never imagine that Mizuki would betray her.

"We'll settle this later. I've already persuaded them for now; you can talk to them yourself tomorrow."

Nominally, Mizuki's first wife is Exusiai, and his second wife is the Doctor. But in terms of real power, they should probably be Lemuen and Kal'tsit instead. The day before yesterday, as soon as I returned, I was approached by Hoshiguma and Gavial for psychological counseling. After learning about this, I wanted to ask Mizuki directly, but I was held back by Amash's matter.

Upon seeing Amash, Kal'tsit was completely stunned. Fortunately, she was a remnant of the Old Civilization, so understanding Amash's existence was relatively easy for her, and she also learned about Mr. K's existence.

She could understand Mr. K's madness and obsession. Imagine if it were her, losing Theresa and even losing the mission to protect Terra, watching Amiya die, and then facing the Doctor's madness, witnessing Mizuki descend into despair under such immense pressure.

In such a situation, it would be extremely difficult to avoid going insane.

"Okay, I'll be going now. You two remember to go to bed early and don't stay up late."

She jumped back into the cup, waved at the two of them, and Mizuki returned to its clear, transparent form, leaving only Amash and Kal'tsit staring at each other in silence.

Chapter 234 SilverAsh's Decision

"Enciodes is not here. What is he doing? The patriarch of the House Silverash is not even at the Three Clans Council. Does he still care about the Holy Mountain? The Holy Maiden and Yel?!"

The middle-aged man with a weathered face and a beard couldn't help but swing the axe in his hand. If SilverAsh were in front of him, he would definitely throw his axe at Silver Grey's face.

"Stop making so much noise, Aktoz. This is in front of the Saintess. What kind of behavior is this?"

The petite girl wearing headphones had a serious expression, but she was also puzzled by SilverAsh's absence. As the weakest of the three major families of Kjerag, he would never intentionally leave such a handle for the other two families to use against him.

Now that he's not even present, not only will Aktoz, who already harbors some resentment towards the House Silverash, have something to say about it, but even the elders and other minor nobles should have something to say about it.

Everyone instinctively looked at the Saintess sitting in the main seat and the elderly Elder standing beside her, wanting to see the Saintess's reaction. Saintess Enya was Enciodes's sister.

"Let the meeting continue, ignore him." Enya had no intention of saying anything good about SilverAsh, but she felt uneasy, as if something terrible was about to happen today.

"Yes, Holy Maiden, I strongly oppose Enciodes building the railway to the foot of the Holy Mountain. I can't control what he does in his own territory, but this is simply blasphemy against the Holy Mountain!"

"I agree. No matter what, this kind of thing is just too much."

"But isn't this all for the sake of trade?"

"Our Kjerag is a vast and resource-rich land; what do we lack? Do we still need to trade with the outside world?"

As soon as Aktoz opened his mouth, the surrounding minor nobles couldn't help but chime in with their discussions. Although their voices were soft, some outrageous remarks occasionally popped out, leaving Ratatos, the head of the House Browntail, speechless. How could she possibly manage Kjerag with these guys whose brains were practically shorter than hers?

Even Ratatos could understand that SilverAsh's goal was to modernize Kjerag. She just felt that SilverAsh was too hasty and that it didn't align with the interests of the House Browntail.

It was noisy. Without SilverAsh, the head of the House Silverash, around, the minor nobles naturally had to curry favor with the remaining two major families. However, Aktoz hadn't expected the group to react so strongly. In fact, he was only against extending the railroad to Holy Mountain. As for the electric lights and such that SilverAsh had brought, he actually thought they were quite good.

(This is so noisy. Strange, where did Yara go?)

Saintess Enya subtly glanced around out of the corner of her eye, but didn't find her maid anywhere, which was quite strange.

While the "Three Missing Ones" meeting was underway, Mizuki sat cross-legged in the tea room in the back, placed her umbrella aside, and accepted the hot tea handed to her by Yara.

"Thank you. I never imagined that an ancient deity from the legends of Kjerag would actually transform into someone else's maid."

"I can't see much surprise in your eyes. How shall I address you?"

Yara, or rather, the avatar of Yel, was filled with curiosity about the Mizuki before her. She clearly sensed that the person in front of her was the one who caused that rain. That night, even her true form was awakened, trembling with fear that the rain would bring something bad.

But what was the result? Nothing happened except making Kjerag more habitable, and even preserving most of the snow-capped mountains to prevent the snow mountain animals from losing their homes.

"Everyone usually calls me Mizuki." Indeed, it was no surprise that Mizuki could read the memories of himself from different worlds. There was always one of him who had crossed paths with Kjerag. Kjerag and Rhodes Island also had connections. Mizuki not only knew Yara's true identity, but also knew that a good show would happen here in Kjerag later.

"Are you a friend of Enciodes?"

"No, that's not it. I've only met him a few times on Rhodes Island, but I came here for him. I hope that the three great families of the Kjerag will take him as their leader in the future."

Having frankly stated his purpose, Mizuki and Yara both shifted their attention to the neighboring house. It was clear that this incarnation of the god Kjerag was also troubled by Kjerag's current situation. Kjerag, like this snow mountain, had been frozen for too long and had always found it difficult to take a step forward. It was a rare opportunity to have someone as talented as Enciodes, Yara also hoped that he could change Kjerag.

But this still takes time, a very long time. What Mizuki lacks most right now is time. He's too lazy to wait, and Terra doesn't have time to let the Kjerag people change either. The crisis of survival is right in front of them, and they need to be able to distinguish between what's important and what's urgent.

If the Kjerag people don't understand, then Mizuki won't say anything; Kjerag 'll just consider it their own choice.

"As expected, his absence today is due to something very serious. I've read that letter; the secret joint meeting of all Terra is indeed far more important than the one in this small room next door."

As the god of Kjerag, Yara can control everything that happens within Kjerag. Compared to Mizuki, whose incarnations are all the same entity, there is a clear primary and secondary relationship between Yara and Yel, but most of the time she is equivalent to Yel herself.

"So I want to ask what the god of Kjerag thinks, just like the Sami and Ama, that you also gave these people a land to live on, and although you haven't appeared for thousands of years, you have become part of their culture."

Religion and Yel were by no means tools used by the nobles of Kjerag to rule this land. Even SilverAsh, who was recognized as the most unorthodox among the Nobility Faction, maintained a devout faith, not to mention the die-hard Aktoz.

"Indeed, if Yel had intervened, everything would have been a foregone conclusion. The Kjerag people would not have defied my will. But Kjerag should not have a god; it already belongs to them, and I have personally handed it over to them."

The snow-capped mountains provided the land for the Kjerag people to live on, Yel also secretly protected this place from Catastrophe. She was well aware of what era it was now. Gods did exist in Terra, but no one had ever stipulated that gods must be above humans.

"I don't want Yel to show herself openly, just a slight hint to that saint will suffice. She's intelligent and farsighted. It would be even better if you could simply ignore what happens next."

"If I hadn't given my consent, the weather wouldn't be this nice today."

Yara smiled, and she even looked somewhat like Mizuki, before an explosion rang out.

Meanwhile, far away in Kjerag, SilverAsh sat at the negotiating table, seemingly more preoccupied than yesterday. Judging by the time, the real drama should be unfolding on Holy Mountain by now. Unfortunately, this single message transmission had cost three million Lungmen dollars. That Eis from Penguin Logistics was certainly not being polite with his fees. But SilverAsh couldn't think of any other way to quickly transmit messages; Lungmen was too far from his home.

If he could, SilverAsh would prefer to be someone who advocates peaceful evolution, but neither Kjerag nor Terra has the decades to support him in doing so. From the moment he received that letter, he understood that he had to sit in this position as "the person in charge of Kjerag," not as "the chieftain of Silverash Ash," as the two are completely incomparable.

The follow-up reforms he carried out in Kjerag over the years gave him considerable influence in the Kjerag. The entire news and radio station in Kjerag was managed by the House Silverash. Why? Because the other two families had no one who knew how to operate these two businesses. Even the half of the newspapers they barely managed to take over couldn't make any waves. The content of those two families' newspapers was far inferior to that of the House Silverash, which meant that Kjerag's propaganda and information channels were also in his hands.

Add to that the military strength they've secretly cultivated over the years; even if the two families combined were doubled, they wouldn't be enough to defeat him. Could those axes cut through the Victoria armor? Could those arrows outrun Originium cannons? He couldn't wait any longer; Kjerag couldn't afford to drag this out.

Violence, the simplest, most direct, and also the most foolish method, was something he didn't want to do, because it would cause some wavering in Kjerag, but not to the point of fundamental damage, and he had no other choice.

From the day he left, SilverAsh secretly instructed his trusted men to prepare for a violent seizure of power and to prepare for propaganda. For this very reason, he Eis Is to convey only one sentence to his trusted men. "The winter sun melts the snow, and all things are reborn."

"Kjerag agrees to the proposal and is willing to Terra Federation Conference."

With SilverAsh's words, the atmosphere of today's meeting changed somewhat. Candela had thought she could be a witness to history, or even a shining part of it, but now... she felt that she might just be a grain of sand in it.

She did represent Bolivar and the three forces, but she was just a representative. She didn't have the actual power that SilverAsh had. She didn't dare to say that Bolivar had joined the Terra Federation Conference. She knew very well that none of the three forces would acknowledge what she said.

"Laterano agrees to join."

"The Reunion and the Sarkaz Lich Clan have also joined."

Now everyone finally understood that the Reunion had gained a foothold in Kazdel because it had the support of the Lich Clan, one of the Ten Courts. This made it all clear.

"Ursus agrees to the proposal and, in the name of His Majesty the Emperor, is willing to Terra Federation Conference."

Viet cleverly took a precaution, only joining the conference on behalf of the Emperor. Once the Terra Federation Conference was formally established, it would mean that the entire parliamentary alliance would need to help the current Emperor maintain legitimacy, and many of the Emperor's orders could be carried out in the name of the parliament. The old Nobility Faction would not be able to openly oppose the whole of Terra.

"Minos is willing to Terra Federation Conference."

"Rim Billiton no problem."

Siracusa has agreed to join.

"Leithanien has no objection."

After the first round of statements, only Sand Bone, representing Sargon, Viviana, representing Kazimierz, and Candela, representing Bolivar, remained.

"Ah... I would very much like to join on behalf of Sargon, but I'm not sure if the chieftains will agree."

"It's alright." The Emperor casually crossed his short legs. "As long as they don't want to drown, they have no reason to disagree. Besides, I have a friend who seems to have been to one of your Sargon's most famous City of Gold."

"Then Sargon will join as well. Ah, Your Emperor, you can tell me about this earlier next time."

Sand Bone immediately realized that the City of Gold the Emperor spoke of was the city lost deep in the desert a thousand years ago. If it was that city, it would surely be worth Sargon's King of Kings agreeing to form an alliance.

As for Candela and Viviana, it's normal that they can't give an answer. Everyone knows that Candela doesn't have any real power, so they're willing to ask those three forces for their opinions on some matters. The Kazimierz Oversight Committee and the Commercial Union behind Viviana also need time to reach a consensus.

Considering the timeframe, it would take at least a week... Hmm, that's a bit of a hassle.

Wei Yenwu suddenly felt once again that Terra's communication technology was too backward, which would be detrimental to future exchanges and communication. This was also a technological shortcoming that Terra had not yet overcome. The Originium crystal dust in the air interfered too much with electromagnetic signals, and information transmission technology had not made any breakthrough progress. Not everyone had special long-distance communication methods like Great Yan.

The Emperor looked somewhat listless. Dario suddenly felt a dampness near his ear, followed by a familiar voice that only he could hear. After listening to the other person's story, he couldn't help but look at SilverAsh, his eyes filled with shock and admiration.

"Wait a minute." Dario raised his hand. "I have been entrusted to represent not only Iberia but also Aegir in the council. This entrustment comes from Ms. Goredia, the Aegir technical governor, honorary legion commander, and one of the chief war architects of the Aegir military group, the Abyssal Hunters Gladiia."

She stated that, as an ally, China is willing to provide a certain level of technical support to other countries.

At this point, the atmosphere of the entire meeting changed once again. Even Wei Yenwu and the Emperor showed surprise upon hearing Aegir's name.

This request certainly didn't come from Gladiia herself, but was relayed by Mizuki. Mizuki had informed her about the meeting that morning and asked for her opinion.

Even if the threat of the Seaborn is gone, it's hard to say whether Aegir can remain unscathed in the coming upheavals. Besides, there are still many Church of the Deep lurking in the city. Of course, she wouldn't refuse an alliance, even if she originally looked down on the land-based nations of Terra.

With Aegir joining the alliance, the situation instantly became clear. Anyone who didn't join now would be in for a world of hurt. Iberia, with Aegir's technical support, instantly became the strongest land power. Need I say more about the benefits of allying with Aegir?

Without hesitation, Viviana raised her hand. "Kazimierz agrees to Terra Federation Conference."

Now, only Candela remains silent, and she feels immense pressure.

From a personal perspective, she really wanted to join the parliament; Aegir's technical support alone was enough to make it irresistible.

However, from a broader perspective, she does not have such power. Dossoles, under her command, is the most prosperous city in Bolivar, but not the most powerful. She has achieved her current status only with the tacit approval of three forces, which means that she could lose everything at any time.

"Let's adjourn the meeting for now; it's time for lunch."

The Emperor patted his belly, giving Candela a way out. The others nodded in agreement, knowing better than to expose him, and leaving room for maneuver.

These days, life isn't easy for anyone.

Chapter 235 The Future of Kjerag

"Is this a good thing? I had already tacitly approved of Enciodes's violent seizure of power, but you still want to... well, create these things?"

Yara looked at the enormous monster, two or three meters tall, that was fighting fiercely with the people of Kjerag not far away. Its ferocious head was like a skeleton, and its body below was made of solidified ice Snow Ghost in Kjerag's legend.

"His original plan was to create some unexpected events. Since Kjerag was bound by his faith, it would be much easier for him to act in accordance with his faith."

Mizuki looked at the giant Snow Ghost. No matter what marks the spells and attacks left on it, they would be repaired in the next moment. Originally, the three races meeting could not bring many guards. Now, apart from the Holy Maiden, there were only a few combatants. They were completely helpless against this immortal monster.

"The untamed Snow Ghost attacked the sacred Manzhuyuan in Kjerag, the saintess and the heads of the two great families were seriously injured, House Silverash stepped forward to fight the Snow Ghost, protect Kjerag and defend the glory of Yel... How pleasing to the ear it sounds, it's a very cliché story, but for the people of Kjerag, whose faith has been rooted in them for thousands of years, it is so effective."

"If it weren't for me, they should have taken that step long ago." Yara shook her head gently, looking at the Manzhuyuan that had been destroyed by the explosion and the snow puppet of Mizuki.

If it weren't for His whim back then, transforming into human form and ruling this land for three hundred years in the guise of a god and in the name of a king, Kjerag wouldn't have been so deeply rooted in faith.

No one can deny that faith has indeed brought something to the Kjerag people. They may have disagreements with each other, but their shared faith allows them to unite. However, this unity alone is Kjerag.

Even though this land is somewhat barren and small, the fact that it is not affected by any Catastrophe will eventually make it a target. Being backward means being vulnerable to attack. The fact that it hasn't been attacked yet is just because others don't want to attack it. Yara has read a lot of books from outside and understands this point deeply.

"Having a faith isn't necessarily a good thing; the Kjerag people are very united."

As Mizuki spoke, she walked into the ruins, lifted the fallen Yel statue, and brushed off the dust and dirt.