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Chapter 510: The Cliff at the End
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“Prince Duren!”
“He’s crazy…”
“No, he’s not. If Siva is indeed a God, then Prince Duren’s actions should be understandable.”
“I also want to kneel and pledge my allegiance to a God but…”
Many had different thoughts on why Duren, one of the rare Royalties in the entire Inner Continent, was crawling like a devotee of the Theocracy.
Gaia, who understood where he was coming from felt that the misunderstanding was big so she had thought to put a stop to it.
After all, contacting King Hugo didn’t take long as she immediately tried to connect him and create a Conference Call so they can start the meeting.
Hugo’s first sight of this “true meeting” was Duren coming at them like a crying dog, about to beg for food from his master.
It was unsightly, disgusting, and surprising more so for a rare Royalty, but before he could speak a word to reprimand his fellow royalty, Gaia already walked in front of the Dwarf.
“Prince Duren. Please stand up. It’s not right for you to be kneeling even in front of His Excellency right now.”
Duren, hearing the words, although it was spoken only to him in a whisper since they’re physically in person within the Bardavon Kingdom, the closest Real@D people in the room right now still heard Gaia address Siva as “His Excellency”, further deepening all of their initial thoughts about Siva’s real identity with this seemingly fictional Asgard.
“Lady Oracle… thank you… thank you…” But the Dwarf Prince, ostensibly not hearing her, only put his hands in front and bowed at Siva again. “Your humble Lord, I, Prince Duren of the Dwarf Clan, son of Theron, son of Tolkien, a mere Royalty of the Dwarven Mortal Kingdom, is hereby vowing my loyalty to you… oh great sir… no… the Great Lord! Lord Siva… please, please, please accept this tiny me… please accept this humble servant’s promise of service. I shall toil night and day for your cause! This humble Dwarf will dedicate his life and death at your beck and call. Please grant me this request, your Great Lord Sire. Allow this Duren to be the creator of your war weapons to fight the enemies of Asgard… allow this Duren to be one of your hands that will establish Asgard as the most prominent Terran Civilization in Terroa!”
Duren’s solemn, teary-eyed vow and promise was so shocking and so astounding that even Hugo, a royalty and a powerful fighter whose dignity was created through his fists and not by his birth, felt scared. Just by looking at Duren’s face and his tone of voice, anyone would feel that he wasn’t at the very least bit holding back anything. Duren had indeed promised his entire life to serve Siva!
Gaia, who was closest to him, was even more in a shock than surprised. She never knew that the Dwarven Prince had so much on his shoulders that he would solemnly vow like this with just the assumption that Siva was a God… or an Immortal.
Has the Dwarves actually been suppressed by the Bardavon Kingdom to this extent, that they’ll really bow down and forget their pride as a race just to be able to beg for a chance to revitalize the lost dignity they once-upon-a-time had?
Gaia’s initial plan for inviting the Dwarves to come here personally is because Siva did indeed have a large stash of PNF in him. Even more, he had all of those 52 Item-making machines of the former Terran-Human Alliance. While their Alliance had greedily hugged the nine 52-types of machines, Siva actually owned one of each type, thereby securing a steady supply of these important items for the sake of the Asgardians.
(AN: there are 52 items in total, there are nine of each of those item-making machines, so it’s a nine 52-type phrase in here… and to make you all recall it from Vol.6, the Item-making machines provide one item every 15 minutes eternally so you can only imagine how it will go once Siva had actually established a supply of it for the Asgard)
But she didn’t expect that the Crowned ‘Prince of the Dwarf Kingdom’ himself would actually crawl in a subservient manner thinking that Siva was truly a God —not an Immortal— that had a memory or an item of the old Era of the Gods with him.
Perhaps the fault of this miscalculation lay at the fact that she did not expect the meeting to go on that direction earlier.
Siva reacted “inwardly aggressive” upon being called a criminal earlier and this led to him saying a few words she didn’t plan ahead.
Originally, she invited the Dwarves to come here personally and secretly told them to get on Siva’s side no matter what happens, to show Siva that an ally as skilled as the Dwarves and someone who knew the innate racial skill they had inherited from their deceased [God Father], was for their race to receive the “additional issuance of PNF” and not anything regarding to their long lost [Legacy].
But who could predict Mortal mentality?
Even if Janus, as the Trinity God specialized with ‘scheming’ by pulling the strings of destiny and calling the entire event ‘fated’, managed to mold someone’s mentality to his specifications, couldn’t 100% predict that mortals will react exactly as he had intended them into once given the particular situation he intended them to go through at the very moment they faced it.
An adage, saying that “one’s destiny are molded into one’s hands” wasn’t made empty by this one particular situation.
Although Gaia had inherited this trait from Janus, she was not even 1% close to Janus’s 1% ability in designing the details of the plan.
Gaia didn’t expect that things would turn out this way and understanding the reason why Duren was crying like a child begging to be accepted as Siva’s servant, even more so made her pity the level of oppression the Dwarf Prince felt within their Alliance. Knowing his past and the effort his father had exerted for their clan, made Gaia bit her lips in pity for the prince.
Right, it was because the Bardavon Kingdom was afraid that the Dwarves will surpass them that they secretly ‘bought’ the support of Butteo Country (a militaristic country and a High Seat like Cynthiana Republic, using a deal of Warships and stationed Noah Clan Members) to deny their requests of an additional support of more PNF per Dwarf Crafter.
Gaia was supportive of the Dwarves’ goal to be of more use to the Alliance while the rest of the High Seats, aside from the two given, equally voted to both issue and not issue more PNF to the Dwarf Kingdom’s craftsmen.
Although the intent was pure coming from the 3 that had voted, the other three that didn’t vote in favor of it were all friends of the Noah-controlled Bardavon Kingdom… included was the persuasive proverbial massive fists of the Theocracy.
There are only nine High Seats and so, Butteo Country’s vote decided the decision to deny their request of additional issuance of PNFs for the last 50 years since the publication of the existence of the PNFs to the Inner Continent people.
Everything accounted, this very moment itself was one of those ‘events’ that Gaia found to be very displeasing, given, although she didn’t mean any harm to the Dwarves by planning it all, she could still not escape the shadowing influence brought forth by her “past life” with Janus.
Knowing she couldn’t stop Duren, she could only stand behind him and urge Siva who, using one of Cortana’s ‘acquired’ abilities, Scripting, just now in a certain degree, understood the level —not the exact— misunderstanding that pushed this Prince of the Dwarf Kingdom to kneel in front of him.
“Your Excellency, the Dwarves have been pushed to the limits and oppressed by the bullying of the Noah Race’s past kings for the last 50 years. The abilities of the Dwarves cannot be denied as their obsession to every detail of their crafts is evident of their devotion to the art of crafting.”
Siva raised a hand at her and then looked at the newly arrived King Hugo of the Werewolf Clan, sovereign protectors of the Cynthiana Republic.
“I’m glad that you could join us, King Hugo.”
“You know of me?” Hugo got confused.
“Of course.” Siva said casually. “I have Gaia here to tell me all about the members of the Terran Alliance of the current times.”
Although he spoke like a “sage”, the truth is, there was a label pointing at Hugo’s head with his name and a few important “data” in it.
“I’m surprised.” Hugo said and then looked at the kneeling Dwarf. “What do you plan with him? He is a still a prince and what Gaia said is also true.”
Hugo spoke for the prince because he was also a ‘vote’ in favor of the Dwarf Kingdom’s plea.
Siva understood Hugo’s point: please resolve the guy’s request first before jumping on the official purpose of this gathering.
Knowing this, Siva then stood from his seat and walked in front of Prince Duren, five paces away.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Prince Duren.”
“Yes, Your Great Excellency!”
Duren’s lively reaction upon being called made the rest of the alliance members behind him wear awkward expressions. Many even wanted to join Duren as it looked like Siva, a presumed God, is about to grace his sincerity with some blessing.
All those envious and jealous gazes fixed their eyes and ears into Siva’s next set of words.
“What do you see me as?” Siva asked calmly.
“I honestly don’t know...” Duren, like a crying child answering with all the honesty he can muster from deep within his heart, said in a trembling voice. “I came here to listen to the things you had to say. I trusted Lady Oracle’s voice within the council and so went on to come here. The Dwarven King was busy with his work and so I, as the next heir to the throne, came here carrying my people’s hope that our voice of reason will be heard.”
“That is a hard pressure you’re giving me there.”
A moment passed in silence. Even Hugo felt that Siva’s presence bore him an invisible pressure.
Just earlier, he was like a volcano threatening to explode with his fire and anger, especially when the Divine Crown Theocracy’s Supreme Pontiff announced him as their enemy.
Yet now, he was like a calm glacier; moving ever so slowly yet had an unstoppable momentum.
This was the invisible pressure that Hugo felt as he gazed at Siva’s back.
—but the vague records we have of the person named “Siva” felt very different.…
——was he really that “Siva” who appeared 56 years ago?
“Your sincere pledge had reached me. But I am sure that you are also aware that there is no kind of master-servant relationship without benefits so please tell me straight, what do you want? Rather, what do you seek to gain working for my cause?”
Siva made blunt enough to make the prince think of things through carefully. Unexpectedly though, the man looked straight at him in the eye and said in a clear and firm voice, “Help us reestablish the legacy of our clan! No… if it cannot be done, then please at least provide us with PNFs so that we can work for the Asgard better and more fluent!”
Siva understood this, at least.
Back in Jeremiah, when Siva asked Gaia if there are Master Blacksmiths she knew of, he thought that perhaps, since there are elves here in this game world of Terroa, the Dwarves would also be an “element” of the game.
True enough, there are indeed Dwarves. But the thing is, they aren’t as “useful” as he expected.
Back in his glory days, he had a Dwarf Follower who designed many weapons of war for him. That guy was the very God Father of the Dwarves of today, Nanduren. Alas, he didn’t know whether Nanduren was killed by his own hands or not. He couldn’t recall how they parted.
Looking at Duren, his sincerity to the Art of Crafting made Siva feel guilt for some reason.
As such, thinking about his needs in the Asgard, especially on the Dragon Revitalization Project he was putting so much of his resources for, adding the innately masters of crafting like the Dwarves will be tantamount to acquiring talent in a desert.
“Do your words representing your King’s?” Siva asked this for confirmation.
Siva’s question was almost a “Yes” and the Prince was so delighted that his happily smiling tear-face became an ugly contortion of muscles, beard, and dripping transparent snot.
“Yes, YES!! Your Excellent Sir Highness Lord, it is also my King’s throne’s father’s sincerest words!!”
(“““You’re messing up your own words!!”””)
The crowd behind’s faces distorted to half-balloon and half-crying, trying to stop themselves from loudly laughing at the messed up words of the excited prince.
Siva didn’t have the mental energy to laugh at the prince’s blunder as it would seem that the man himself was unaware of his messed up reply.
“Then I shall be blunt and accept your services. I know that it is rather early but I want you to send a message to your king that from this moment forth, my Asgard will be your country and that with the promise of prosperity and the fulfillment of your race’s greatest most innermost desire to fulfill the ancient purpose of reaching the peak and limits of the Art of Craftsmanship, I, Siva, King of Asgard, shall provide you with the resources to do just the very thing I have said.”
Ancient Purpose…
Reaching the peak and limits of their racial trait…
Resources…
Prosperity and fulfillment…
The protection of a [God]….
Was there a better deal to live for than this one?
Forget about the Theocracy, the Terran Alliance can’t even provide for themselves proper defense during the Monster Tides and Dragon Assaults, a secret country controlled by an “assumed” God is more than enough to know that Asgard is the most powerful country in the planet.
Many wanted to kneel beside the Prince but they knew that once they do so, not only were they be looked down by God Siva, they would also get the ire and ridicule of the God as well.
They won’t risk being abandoned because of one act of greed and selfish desire.
Prince Duren was so happy that he put his head to the floor and with a loud bang, did an eastern “act of deep gratitude” towards Siva.
“I shall immediately toil away!” he shouted.
“And also—” before Duren could even move, Siva followed with an additional instruction: “—prepare yourselves for moving to Asgard on a later date.”
—WHAT?!!
Moving an entire kingdom to Asgard?
Just how ridiculously big is his territory?
Even Gaia, who knew almost all of Siva’s secrets, was surprised by this claim. Mohindra didn’t care one bit. Hugo’s brain was overloading while the rest of the crowd’s brains totally stopped.
Prince Duren, the subject of the command, was at least faring better as he processed a question out of the chaotic confusion exploding on his mind.
“Pardon?” he asked with a Saitama dead-pan face.
“I will bring your entire country with me to Asgard after this meeting’s short-term purpose was met.”
Siva explained as such and pulled out two items after a ripple in the fabric of space, giving it to the confused Dwarf Prince in front of him.
“This is called a Liberty Drone. Give this to your King. You can summon and contact me through this item.”
After he spoke, he turned and went back to his seat, sitting down slowly like a real ”royalty” and then addressing everyone, not giving time for the Dwarf Prince nor anyone else to ask questions of any sort about his claim nor his item, nor his earlier commands.
“We will now proceed with the purpose of today’s meeting. The agenda is simple: cleansing. Firstly, I would like to meet you all in person before I am to say the information. But for the meantime, the fight against the traitors of Terroa is about to start, as my preparations are on its final stages. If you all don’t mind, I would like to request your aide to send at least a small contingent of strike forces to act as escorts to the main effort of the raid.”
Since Siva had said it, the crowd of leaders had to forcefully swallow the questions they wanted to ask him, and focused only the main purpose of this entire event’s trouble.
One of the people took a small step and asked, “I would like to ask: when do you want us to deploy them and where?”
“What about their provisions?”
Gaia raised a hand at them, “Don’t worry about the provisions. We will handle it all. We just want you to be the guard at the rear in case some unknown forces tried to interfere with the raid.”
“To be precise,” Siva answered. “It’s about to start in the next hour...but... aside from this preparation to attack the Blue Card Legion, just like how I’ve repeatedly expressed before you all back in that conference room behind you, there was an even more pressing matter I want you to prepare for.”
“Please, pray tell.” Another spoke up.
Siva looked at Gaia who took a step forward and spoke, “It’s indeed true that the Immortal Emperor is in dire need of help, but the main reason why I called on this meeting is for you to trust me when I say that only when meeting in person could we trust you to understand our intentions.”
At this point, Siva swiped the air and sent them a [Contract] —it was on the same manner Siva made the Humans swear a Heavenly Oath back then.
Siva did not wait for them to finish reading its contents and started to invoke the Heavenly Oath.
“I Siva—”
*****
After the oath of promise and mutual trust, there a classical loud thunderclap that made the people of the Terran Alliance felt surprised.
Siva’s oath was simple, adding his ability to twist the words according to his goal, he would promise to provide these people compensation for having the trouble to meet them along with their trusted subordinates.
The more he brings them the better while on his side, there would only be him and Gaia.
Mohindra was too strong of a deterrence so there are bound to be reservations. As such, it was then considered that the person that will meet them is just Siva and Gaia, and the place of meeting will be provided by these Terran Leaders 6hrs later.
Everyone agreed and swore the oath. After the thunderclap of confirmation, even Hugo felt that this so called Heavenly Oath was indeed on the level of a God.
Siva didn’t confirm if he’s a [God] or not, nor are there presumptuous ignorant ones who stepped forth in behalf of everybody to confirm it. Hugo, a latecomer, wasn’t aware of the reason why these Terran Leaders seemed to be different people when talking to Siva, but he saw the change in the attitude which they showed Siva at the end.
When everyone departed to prepare their army, it was only him and the Dwarf Prince who remained in the secret room.
The meeting was adjourned but there was this one question that gnawed seriously at Hugo.
“Come on. Don’t keep it in and ask me.” Siva was the one who started the conversation after seeing the hesitation on Hugo’s face.
Hugo, inhaling deeply, looked at Siva straight in the eyes and said, “Are you the [God] that killed a Devil in Misty Plains 56 years ago?”
Gaia looked deeply at Hugo and recalled that the Werewolves had a lifespan of at least 500 years.
It wasn’t weird that some of them could recall with sharp clarity a few things that happened only just five decades ago.
Mohindra, on the other hand, had slight clenching of her fists but she knew that it wasn’t the Siva in front of her that killed her husband so she just remained silent.
The quiet Linda beside her, however, was aware of a few things and so she looked at her mother, grabbed her hand tight and listened quietly. This simple act made Mohindra look sideways at her daughter and sighs deeply, grabbing tight the tiny hand in terms of a Dragon’s age.
Siva stared at Hugo and nodded, “That’s right, it was me but… it’s also not me.”
Hugo frowned, his distinctive racial thick brows, knotting together in confusion.
Siva followed, “I… am once a God but right now, I am just a mere mortal, just like you all. This was the reason why I don’t know how to answer those expectant gazes earlier.”
Hugo’s fists tightened, his heart raced, he heaved short breaths and looked at straight in the eye.
“Are you tricking them? Are you just spouting the nonsense about miracles of moving the entire nation of Dwarves in your Asgard?”
Siva understood his concerns and shook his head at the man, “No.” he said. Even Gaia who knew all his secrets from before wanted to know how he’d move an entire nation of Dwarves, including her Elven Forest, with him.
Siva continued, “I really am capable of moving an entire nation to my Asgard. If you want to, if you promise complete allegiance to me right this very instant, I will move your country to my Asgard, all lands, mountains, forests, and rivers… all of it… I can move it to my Asgard in at least half a day’s time… do you want to gamble?”
There was a wide grin on Siva’s face. Of all his hobbies, one of his favorites was proving people wrong about his promises.
If he said he was going to do something, even if it sounded impossible like moving an entire nation with its people in half a day’s time, he would do it.
The greatest thrill about this “gamble” was not the rewards later but the faces of disbelief they’d see when he proved them wrong.
“So, what about it?”
Of course, pledging their allegiance in words and actually doing it were two different things. Even if it’s not possible, Hugo won’t do something as very ridiculous as risking his nation’s name and status in a gamble with no sure chances of winning.
“Sorry, I refuse.”
“Ah, what a pity.”
Before Siva could say more though, Hugo said, “I can promise another thing though. Like——”
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See you next update for Hugo’s words…
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Next Chapter: It’s not a cliffhanger.