Chapter 226: At the Temple (2)
"Faster. There isn’t much time left till midnight."
Ella pushed her crew to speed things up. The giant tool they were assembling pushed them to their limits. The complexity of the assembly caused even the Stellar Shield to sweat profusely.
She looked worried at the dark sky above. Her life depended on the success of this mission. The Merchant Council didn’t like their prominent members choosing a side. They believed in neutrality. Most profits came from earnings from all sides of the conflict.
As a born and bred member of a prominent merchant family, she believed in the principle too. The issue was her opponent. She admitted her inferiority in front of Sterling. Heck, she even loved him. But she wished to be the top earner and that wasn’t possible if she stuck to conventional means.
To win, she turned to the second principle of merchants: the higher the risk, the higher the reward. So, she gambled her life on it. If the Divine Lord succeeded, she would outearn the entire Union. And if he failed...well, she would be dead to know the consequences.
She felt her heart beat wildly inside her chest. The nervousness and excitement of tonight gave her a rush that sent shivers through her body. She looked at her ship, the River Serpent, and thought about her childhood crush.
"Is this how you feel every time you do something crazy?"
...
Sterling’s heart thumped loudly inside his chest. It wasn’t nervousness. Only excitement.
As his men loaded the giant construct, he stared toward the Temple district. He didn’t see a damn thing, not even the walls. It was the darkest night of the month, after all. But he still smiled.
"You do know you seem crazy to onlookers, right?" Quid stood at his side and sniggered.