Castle of Black Iron

Chapter 94: Prelude

Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey

Facing this quarrel in the conference room of the Temporary Supervision Committee, many of the people inside the room remained silent, while Captain Kerlin looked infuriated as the blue veins on his neck were moving up and down like miserable earthworms. In contrast, Mr. Zerom looked at the two people who were quarreling with a slightly gloomy expression. As for other teachers, some of them remained quiet, while others were whispering with the people beside them. Most of the teachers in the Temporary Supervision Committee protested against this mission.

“Everyone…” The slim and tall man with the bright, silky hat swept his gaze over the others and said in a commanding voice, “I am not here to negotiate with you. I am only here to tell you that Goose-neck Grass and golden wolf marrow are materials that Master Abyan needs to refine medication that’s urgently needed by the military of Blackhot City. Currently, the only place where we can acquire these two things is the Crescent Prairie. Coincidently, the teams participating in the survival training happened to be at Wild Wolf Castle, making your group the closest to Crescent Prairie. Thus, the administration of Blackhot City had entrusted me the task of bringing you this order. For these students, this is just more training and a challenge!”

“Do you want the brats to practice by risking their lives?” Mr. Zerom sneered.

“In which year has the survival training been calm and resulted in no one losing their lives!” the man with the silky hat rebutted calmly.

“Crescent Prairie is much more danger than Wild Wolf Valley because the wolves over there move in packs. Aside from that, there are LV 2 golden wolves, which cannot be dealt with by the average student. If the administration of Blackhot City is in need of Goose-neck Grass and golden wolf marrow, then they can send someone else here to collect them. There is no need to make the students do something like this that would make them risk their lives…” Captain Kerlin’s single eye glittered with a cold light.

“I have served in the military of Blackhot City for many years now, so how come I have never heard of Blackhot City’s military being so extravagant that they’re bringing along recovery medication?”

Perhaps it was because he had known about the one-eyed man’s bad temper or because of the one-eyed man’s strength, but the man with the silky hat became a bit reserved; however, he still spoke in a commanding tone, seemingly as if he didn’t care that his lie had been revealed before the people in front of him, “Captain Kerlin, although we are not qualified to meddle in the matters of the management of the Blackhot City military, we clearly know what has been happening these past few days in the outside world. Now that the relationship between the Andaman Alliance, Blackhot City included, and the Sun Dynasty have become increasingly tense, no surplus military people could be spared. At the same time, several of the big figures need to reserve some recovery medication, thus Master Abyan has been busy recently. This is just a small matter, and I will just release some missions in the name of the Temporary Supervision Committee. Since my superior has already agreed to this, I will be responsible for the details, and what you guys need to do is simply to coordinate with me…” As he said this, the man with the silky hat sneered, showing a typical face of a villain. “Of course, I know you are respected by the students attending this survival training, and I also know that most of them would follow your instructions. If anyone here wants to give me trouble during this mission, then feel free to do so; however, if I cannot complete this mission, then I will faithfully report what had happened here to Master Abyan and the administration of Blackhot City. Hei hei… at that time, you might not be able to deal with that person like you did with me!”

Hearing of Master Abyan and the current situation in the Andaman Alliance, everyone became silent. Master Abyan was the chief medical pharmacist of Blackhot City. He was a big figure with a great load of power and had a name that could greatly pressure everyone presently here. For the Andaman Alliance, the situation has been deteriorating for the past few days because of the reappearance of the Red-scarf Burglars, who had caused troubles and then disappeared. The Red-scarf Burglars had suddenly appeared and assaulted Lance City, one of the other cities in the Andaman Alliance. After causing a huge number of casualties and damages, they had once again escaped. Although they were chased by the guards of Lance City, they disappeared at the border between the Andaman Alliance and the Sun Dynasty. As for the guards who were chasing them, they were completely surrounded by the border army of the Sun Dynasty and were wiped out. At the sight of the several photos of the corpses of the guards from Lance City in the territory of the Sun Dynasty, the Sun Dynasty was rather furious as they condemned the Andaman Alliance for destroying the peace between the two parties by trespassing the border of the Sun Dynasty and starting a war. In response to this, the Sun Dynasty’s military had already started to gather at the border. Everyone knew that this was a scheme, but so what? This was not something that they could change in the least. Besides the Norman Empire, the Sun Dynasty had also finally revealed its intentions of wanting to occupy the Andaman Alliance. Hearing this news had already caused the entire Andaman Alliance to be frightened…

“It’s just several golden wolves and a few wolf packs. It isn’t too bad, as it’s possible that the students would have to face the Norman Empire and the Sun Dynasty!” seeing as how no one had uttered a single word, the man with the silky hat added.

“Every student is free to make their own decision during the survival training. Nobody is allowed to force them to do anything, not even the administration of Blackhot City and Master Abyan!” Captain Kerlin fixed his gaze onto the man with the silky hat. “This is our bottom line.”

“Heh heh… Don’t worry! I believe that there are some students out there that would cooperate with me without me having to force them!” The man with the silky hat sneered with confidence…

……

Ten minutes later, standing by the windowsill of the outer castle, at the sight of the increasing number of students in front of the mission notice below the outer castle, Captain Kerlin angrily slammed his fist onto the granite windowsill, causing a large piece of stone to fall from the windowsill. Turning his head, Captain Kerlin stared at Mr. Zerom, who looked a bit gloomy. “Zerom, you have the best brain here. You tell me, because of the events that had happened within the month, have all the big figures already prepared to retreat?”

“There’s no need to explain how a lion would eat a rabbit—those were the words Marshal Lin Changjiang, the leader and governor of the northern border army of the Norman Empire, gave when the Foreign Ministry of the Norman Empire inquired him. Marshal Lin Changjiang had ordered the Foreign Ministry of the Norman Empire to pass along his words without missing a single one, and that is what the Foreign Ministry of the Norman Empire did…” Mr. Zerom also sneered. “Previously, the lords of the Andaman Alliance thought that they could just curse the Norman Empire as usual as they used the event that had transpired in Blackhot City to finally solve the dispute, while at the same time they would steadily make money; however, nobody could have expected that the Norman Empire didn’t even have the patience to do superficial things and had instead directly shown their intention to attack Blackhot City. Seeing their intentions, it’s within expectations that those fellows who only care about their own business would prepare to escape for their lives. Recovery medication? That’s bullsh*t. Even when others want to chop off their heads, they’re still hurriedly trying to gather some recovery medication. Even when they’re going to lose their lives, they’re still thinking about making money. The reason that Blackhot city could not send out enough people to collect Goose-neck Grass and golden wolf marrow lies in the low compensation. If they could raise the compensation by three to five times, then there would definitely be a great number of pioneers and adventurers who would like to make extra gains in the Crescent Prairie by collecting Goose-neck Grass and golden wolf marrow, both of which are not highly valuable in the least. If they had truly increased the compensation, then the turn to make a profit would never have belonged to Samira, that fellow who’s always looking for an opportunity to be promoted. If they had truly increased the compensation, then they would not cause the students attending the survival training here to have to take on such great risks!” Saying this, Mr. Zerom heaved a deep sigh. “Previously, we wanted the students to be able to safely complete the survival training as well as leaving them a good memory, but now, it seems that it is impossible!”

As he said this, Mr. Zerom turned around and solemnly looked at Captain Kerlin. “When this survival training ends, I will resign and leave Blackhot city…”

“You want to leave?” Captain Kerlin looked at Zerom with wide opened eyes.

“I have been thinking it over these past few days. Can’t you see it? Chaos will soon arrive. The big figures in the Sun Dynasty, the Norman Empire, and even in the entire Blackson Human Corridors have already made various preparations for the future. Perhaps in the next three years, five years, or even a decade, the third Holy War between humans and the demons will break out. When that time comes, tens or hundreds of billions of people would turn into corpses as numerous countries and cities will be burned to ruins. However, nobody knows how long the third Holy War would last, and neither do they know whether humans would exist after it. In such troubled times, people will see no bright future by following those who only care about their small business. If I want to find safety, then I will have to find a bigger person since I don’t want to be cannon fodder for those fellows with the silky hats.. What about you? Do you want to go with me? How about leaving together?”

Captain Kerlin frowned as he was currently in an internal struggle. Because of what had happened today, he became frustrated when he connected the events that had happened in Blackhot City and the Andaman Alliance, causing his over ten years of loyalty towards the management of Blackhot City to waver. Given what Zerom had said, Captain Kerlin also sensed the aggression from the words of Lin Changjiang, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Border Army who had infuriated all the soldiers, who were still hot-blooded and wanted to repel the Norman Empire’s invasion, of Blackhot City. But, what was the parliament of the Andaman Alliance doing? What was Blackhot City doing? Neither of them had declared war against the Norman Empire’s invasion nor were they prepared to fight to the death; instead, they were quarreling with each other. In the parliament of the Andaman Alliance, there was a great number of people who were shouting loudly to transfer the testimonies and physical evidence collected from the incident from several days ago when the Niumen Business Group colluded with the Red-scarf Burglars to Andaman City. They had requested to hold a motherf*cking hearing in the parliament, and Blackhot City had become flustered and agreed to their request since they wanted to work together to prolong the amount of time they had to prepare for their fight against the Norman Empire. Such a performance had really made Captain Kerlin disappointed. At the same time, the Andaman Alliance’s timidness was fully exposed. The people who only cared about counting gold coins and making small business might be able to live well in a peaceful age; however, in troubled times such as now, they could only be a piece of fat on the kneading board that would be freely chopped by others.

“Are you still thinking about Miss Daina? Are you still afraid that that great beauty isn’t ready to go out with you?” Zerom put it straightforwardly, completely hitting the mark at what Captain Kerlin was concerned about.

Hearing him mention Miss Daina, Captain Kerlin’s face instantly blushed. He then rebutted like a kid, “So what!? I have already saved up enough money. I can immediately buy a house near Bright Avenue that’s more than 100 square meters…”

“Wow, how romantic you are! You are truly a god-created couple…” Zerom showed a strange smile.

“B*stard…” Captain Kerlin threw a punch towards Zerom. Having long been prepared, Zerom instantly slid to the side and exited through the door, causing Captain Kerlin to fail to hit him.

“Trust me, Kerlin, you two are not suitable for each other!” Before leaving, Zerom told Captain Kerlin seriously.

“Nonsense. I feel that Miss Daina treats me well!” Captain Kerlin stuck to rebut.

“That’s just your misconception!”

“Why are you saying that?”

“Have you ever heard of a wild goose falling in love with a bear?” After saying this, without even glancing at Captain Kerlin’s infuriated face, Zerom quickly escaped. “I have to keep an eye on that man with the silky hat. If he goes too far, then I’m afraid I’ll have to give him some trouble. Luckily, my students are all clever. I hope your students are as rational as mine!”