Volume 3, Chapter 8 – The Silent Silence. Island Acquisitions and the Tournament in the Kingdom of Ruma
The Wall at the junction with the mountain range. A bright, sunny day.
I arrived by helicopter at the Wall, which gleamed, reflecting light in all directions — and, like last time, it was freezing cold.
"Keeper!" I shouted, walking along the Wall, surveying the endless wastelands on both sides and the high mountain range that rose into the sky, cutting through the clouds.
The mountains looked so sharp that even a professional climber couldn't scale them. They were made of obsidian. And beyond them lay the quiet Ocean Sea.
It felt so good on this Wall — about plus twenty degrees with a pleasant sea breeze, and the icy metal underfoot was invigorating after the heat of the Silent Silence.
"And who's climbing around here again?!" the Keeper appeared, adjusting his beard with displeasure. "Ah, it's you. What do you want?"
I walked to the edge of the Wall, where it met the obsidian mountain.
"I need five hundred meters of Wall in length, two hundred meters in width, and thirty in height," I laid out my "request."
"Have the new rulers completely lost their minds? Are you even tuk-tuk?!" the Old Man was indignant. "You think I just suck Wall out of my finger? What do you need so much for? Ah... Strange ideas you have," the Old Man read my thoughts and sat down on the Wall's edge.
I turned away, a little disappointed, but didn't give up.
"At the junction of the Wall and the mountain, the new Capital will be built."
"You think you're smart, but they sent you back," the Old Man sneered, swinging his legs. "If you make a breach in the mountain, who will protect the world from the creatures?"
I looked at him skeptically.
"What about the fact that your Wall absorbs all magic within a hundred kilometers?! And we'll be cutting right under the Wall," I "flicked him on the nose."
The Old Man stood up and stomped his foot on the Wall — and a finger slowly, very slowly, began to emerge from the metal toward me...
Ting — he flicked me on the nose.
"I won't give you the Wall. But, so be it, I'll tell you what goes into it," the Old Man began pacing along the Wall with a businesslike air. "Silver — ten percent, tungsten and iridium — fifteen percent each, ruthenium — five percent, tantalum — five percent, neodymium — twenty percent, marifage — ten percent. Are you writing this down?" the Old Man glanced at me as I rubbed my nose.
"Then remember the rest. Terbium — five percent, arkun — five percent, guage — ten percent. Got it?"
"Got it... And how do you make it?" — I didn't understand a thing.
"Simple! Throw in tungsten, melt it, then iridium, melt it too, stir it, then add tantalum, ruthenium, and terbium powder. Mix thoroughly at a temperature of 3,422 degrees. Add a piece of marifage, wait for bubbles to form, quickly pour in silver dust, and start lowering the temperature to a thousand degrees. Then add neodymium with arkun and raise the temperature to four thousand — it should release steam, which you condense separately. Then add guage to the condensate, pour it into molds, and after a week, when it cools, you can use it. The ingots form a seamless bond upon contact."
I didn't understand a thing — thankfully, I'd turned on my earpiece, and CUB was recording everything carefully.
"Thanks then. But we'll cut through the mountain if we have to," I finished and climbed into the helicopter.
CUB's eyes lit up when they heard "seamless" — they were already imagining replacing the hulls of all their vehicles with this new material. After all, why would you need radar protection in a world where only you have radar?
—
—
A week later.
I continued training with Pex using rapiers under the scorching sun and terrible cold. Our duels took place all over the old Capital, while work continued on destroying the mountain near the Wall. My rapier skills kept improving — I could even land hits on Pex now, even though he spent all his time training just like me. Day after day, I trained, took painful wounds, and studied languages at night until I passed out, while CUB searched for unknown materials around the world. I'd made significant progress in the language and felt pretty confident — though I wouldn't say I understood everything. I still needed to learn more words, but I was fairly fluent in one of the languages.
And today, the Strategist called me to headquarters.
(I was back in headquarters again, hoo-oh. It's hard being outside — I already wanted to go somewhere, take a walk.)
Meow! — Mary-Sue rubbed against my leg.
"Hey there!" I wiped the sweat from my forehead, crouched down, and petted the cat.
The Strategist came out, placing two folders on the table.
"Regarding the materials. All materials have been found on two islands, according to reconnaissance. Rugun Island — population one hundred, under the jurisdiction of the Duchy of Malevych. The second, Kukah — uninhabited and not under anyone's control."
(Again with this Duchy... Maybe we can somehow negotiate with them?! They don't want diplomacy... War — definitely not. Why sacrifice lives?)
"Also. Regarding the MOU rounds. We received the dossiers on the attackers — one of them was a mage with passive protection against physical attacks and projectiles. But since the bullet penetrated him, we can conclude that the rounds work successfully against mages," the Strategist reported. "We also captured the Alpha a week ago and cut it into many pieces — and the Alpha turned into a hundred smaller versions of itself."
(So that's why Aviana asked for the dossiers back then... They calculated everything. And MOU really does work. As for the Alpha — that sounds terrifying. 130 soldiers from Charlie Group died in that operation — yes, they've already regenerated, but what if I'd gone there? There might have been more casualties among the equipment... I probably made the right choice going to Rekhilon.)
I stood up, holding Mary-Sue, and paced around the -1 floor of headquarters, thinking about our successes and how to handle the island — both without casualties and to try to close the conflict with Malevych...
(No ideas...)
"Any ideas on how to acquire the island and close the conflict with the Duchy?" I turned, and Mary-Sue sat on my shoulder.
Meow!
The Strategist took a sip of tea.
"Of course. The operation is called 'Oh God, Villain!'" Sip.
(The name is intriguing...) I sat more comfortably in my chair.
"We evacuate the entire population of the island, set up a scene of 'torture of the innocent' there, take many photos of various Yellows possessing soldiers — how they're suffering and how we save them — and announce the cruelty on the world stage through Rekhilon," the Strategist laid out the plan.
(A harsh plan, in my opinion. Who would want to leave their own home? Absolutely no one.)
"How do you plan to evacuate all the people?"
The Strategist sat down across from me, holding his cup of tea.
"Let me explain how the whole system of Archons and Archmages works..."
And the Strategist began his story:
There are currently three Archons' Wisdoms in the world: Kuribal, Azuy, LiuHia — and now Archon Seraphim, but the faith is local, and only the Yellows worship me, no one else knows.
Archon Kuribal — Wisdom of the Sea.
Archon Azuy — Wisdom of Love.
Archon LiuHia — Wisdom of Acquisition.
All these Archons are, in essence, different beliefs. All Archmages are, simply put, fathers in a church. An Archmage leads his "sheep" to the Wisdom of one Archon or another, and the fathers are the second pillar of most states, but they are subordinate to the state with voting rights.
According to local customs, every person in the world must have a Wisdom they follow — even if they don't visit monasteries or talk about their faith at every step.
Since Archmages are recorded in the chronicles, believers study the full lineage of their Archons. And in the Democracy of Silence, there are a thousand Archmages. We can choose a suitable one who preached exactly the Wisdom the people on that island believe in, and he will tell them that Wisdom will now give them a series of trials.
"And how will the evacuation happen?"
"We move in. The Archmage distracts all the residents. We disable the magic alarm stone. We set up a makeshift runway for the Boeing. We send the residents flying for a week. Then we create a horrific scene, make up the Yellows, take photos, and also bring Rekhilon in to inspect the site. Then, after seizing the island under the pretext of a 'liberation' operation and restoring the health of the island's citizens (replaced by our Yellows), we return the residents and begin extraction."
I stood up from my chair and poured myself some tea, deep in thought — while Mary-Sue lay on the map with Chinook and Black Hawk.
"And the second island?"
"We'll lay claim to it. Since no one uses it, we can start mining there before anyone even responds to the claim. Plus, we'll set up protection from a new EW system with MOU-fonit."
"Great. When do we fly?"
"I'd suggest a different option for you. Go to the Kingdom of Ruma — there will be a royal sword competition of any kind there," the Strategist walked over to me and took the tea. "And the winner can get an audience with the King himself."
(Alright... I wanted to ask why not send Pex or Aviana — they'd wipe the floor with everyone there. But I realized this was my chance to show independence and prove I can do something without the officers.)
"I agree."
"The aircraft is already waiting."
"What?"
"What?"
List:
— Get into sports. (In progress)
— Start some kind of business.
— Find a partner.
— Plant a tree.
— Learn a new craft.
— Ride a horse.
From this world:
— Learn the language. (In progress)
— Become independent and not rely on the officers. (In progress)
— Become proficient with weapons. (In progress)
— Master fencing at an excellent level. (In progress)
— (NEW) Win the tournament.