Chapter 923: Compensation
Jeremiah knew about the business dealings that the Tower of Dusk had with the Brilliance Shrine, but in the face of the great temptation of the Sky Castle, all friendship would be secondary. Even the arbitrators of the Brilliance Shrine could be killed, let alone the Tower of Dusk.
Looking at the menacing Holy Light Paladins, Lin Li kept a straight face, and calmly said, “The new mages of the team, work with the Death Knights and take them down. Try not to harm the rest.”
One reason why Lin Li ordered them not to hurt the rest was because he had some ties with the Brilliance Shrine, and he had also obtained some pointers from Pope Rosario of the Brilliance Shrine. Another reason was that he wanted to train the new mages of the team. Defeating them without hurting them was obviously more difficult than directly exterminating them.
Hearing Lin Li’s order, a group of Death Knights immediately broke away from the team and charged towards the Holy Paladins. The new mages of the team quickly formed Magic Arrays and dashed behind the Death Knights.
Lin Li looked at the two Alchemy Colossuses sent by the Rotterdam Kingdom’s team, and said, “Dismantle them.”
Norfeller and Ujfalusi moved towards the several Alchemy Colossuses after receiving the orders. Even though those Alchemy Colossuses were stronger than the previous two, and had reached the Legendary-level, they were nothing to the two Undead servants.
However, Angelano, who was standing behind the two Undead creatures and wearing a colorful armor, began yelling and charged forwards. “Damn it, they actually have the cheek to take this worthless garbage out. It’s such a shame to the noble alchemy! I can’t tolerate this! I can’t!”
Archbishop wanted to dissuade Jeremiah again, but the Holy Light Paladins had already collided with the Death Knights of the Tower of Dusk. The light of Holy Light and the magic spells were continuously glistening. They instantly enveloped the two teams.
Looking at the constant outbursts of Holy Light, Jeremiah smiled slightly and nodded gently. He then said, “Yes, that’s right, they’ve actually exerted power that’s much stronger than usual. Seems like we can nurture them in the future.”
Indeed, in anyone’s opinion, the light of Holy Light would definitely outshine that of magic spells whenever there were battles between the two. However, no one knew that the Death Knights from the Tower of Dusk could also control Divine Power. In fact, a large portion of that Holy Light was emitted by the Death Knights.
However, the answer was soon revealed as well, and the battle only lasted a few seconds. When all of the light disappeared, one could clearly see that the Holy Paladins who had taken part in the battle had already fallen onto the ground. The Death Knights of the Tower of Dusk were already putting their Cross Spears on the necks of the Holy Light Paladins.
At the same time, the battle on the other side ended just as quickly, and the Legendary-level Alchemy Colossuses had all fallen onto the ground. There were no traces of battle on Norfeller and Ujfalusi. To them, a battle like that wasn’t even a warm-up.
On the other hand, Angelano, who was dressed in colorful armor, yelled in a sharp voice, “Come out, let Lord Angelano see what kind of trash is controlling this garbage. I’m infuriated.”
Seeing that result, everyone in the teams of the Brilliance Shrine and Rotterdam was dumbfounded. What a joke, it ended just like that. Tens of Holy Light Paladins and a few Legendary-level Alchemy Colossuses actually did not manage to last a few seconds! If the other party had gone all out, it might have been acceptable, but they had clearly only sent a small portion of their team to attack.
“Ah, did you think I was afraid that you’d hurt them!?” the archbishop hollered at Jeremiah, who was dumbfounded, after which he pulled him towards the Tower of Dusk. He exclaimed, “President Felic, it’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!”
Although he was shocked by the strength shown by the Tower of Dusk, Jeremiah’s face grew sullen after hearing that Archbishop Martin had swallowed his pride and spoke to a young man in such a humble tone. He was in charge of the Holy Paladins, and was given the title of the Holy Blessing Paladin by the Brilliance Shrine. He was also the prince of the Ledin Kingdom whose status was on par with Archbishop Martin’s. Since Archbishop Martin had behaved that way, did he have to do the same and bow to the nameless junior in front of him!?
“Archbishop Martin, you don’t have to worry. We’ve merely given them a small test, which they managed to pass by fluke. Don’t worry, I’ll personally make sure to teach them a lesson next.” Jeremiah did not want to admit defeat easily. Although the other party looked rather powerful, he felt that his peak-Legendary-level strength was enough to suppress them.
Upon hearing Jeremiah’s words, the archbishop became even more anxious, and he couldn’t care about Jeremiah’s identity anymore. He reprimanded, “I’m telling you, President Felic is also at the peak of the Legendary-level, and he might not be inferior to you. How are you going to teach him a lesson? Besides, the Tower of Dusk has a lot of business dealings with us, and we share a very close partnership. Do you think it’s more reliable to work with them or with those people from Rotterdam!?”
Jeremiah was shocked speechless. The cooperation with the people of Rotterdam was actually a complete coincidence, and was formed simply because they had all found clues about the Sky Castle. In fact, in Anril, the Rotterdam Kingdom was actually a closed nation which had almost never forged any relations with other nations in the past 1,300 years or so. The Brilliance Shrine’s cooperation with Rotterdam Kingdom could be considered a first in history.
However, Jeremiah would be displeased with genuinely working with the Tower of Dusk because he had never suffered such a loss before! Therefore, even though he followed Archbishop Martin, he was still thinking to himself that he had to teach the Tower of Dusk’s team a lesson to vent his frustration.
The team of the Rotterdam Kingdom was initially still considering what to do next, but after hearing that Archbishop Martin knew the Tower of Dusk, a member who was dressed like a mage stepped out and walked towards the Tower of Dusk’s team too.
Lin Li was also quite familiar with Archbishop Martin. When he gave Pope Rosario the antidote back then, the archbishop was the one who personally visited the Tower of Dusk and invited him to the Brilliance Shrine. He also interacted with Lin Li quite a lot in the Brilliance Shrine. Hence, he waved his hand and motioned for the Death Knights to let go of the Holy Light Paladins, after which he walked towards Archbishop Martin and the rest smilingly.
“President Felic, I’m really sorry, it’s all because we’re too reckless,” said Archbishop Martin, who knew Lin Li well, and was aware that Lin Li preferred being talked to nicely. Hence, he did not put on any airs as an archbishop, and simply lowered himself to repeatedly apologize.
Although Jeremiah was pulled over by Archbishop Martin, he absolutely couldn’t bring himself to stoop that low and speak in such a tone. Standing beside Archbishop Martin, he simply glanced at Lin Li, humphed coldly, and remained silent with his head held high.
Jeremiah’s humph scared Archbishop Martin, and made him almost break out in a cold sweat. In his heart, he cursed Jeremiah for not knowing any better. However, he dared not delay any further. Instead, he said, “President Felic, please don’t mind. This is Prince Jeremiah of the Ledin Kingdom and the leader of the Holy Light Paladins, the Holy Blessing Paladin of the Brilliance Shrine.”
Archbishop Martin introduced Jeremiah as a royal first because he hoped that Lin Li would understand that he acted that way because of his royal pedigree. On the other hand, he also wanted to slightly draw a line between Jeremiah and the Brilliance Shrine. He meant to tell Lin Li that although Jeremiah was part of the Brilliance Shrine, he was mainly representing the royals of the Ledin Kingdom.
“Oh, Archbishop Martin, you’re worrying too much. Since it’s just a misunderstanding, everything will be fine after we clear the air,” said Lin Li, who did not plan to put Archbishop Martin in a spot. However, he didn’t pay any attention to Prince Jeremiah, either.
Of course, how could Lin Li not know about the thoughts that Jeremiah had? He simply felt amused by Jeremiah’s childish behavior.
“This is the chief imperial mage and metallurgist of the Rotterdam Kingdom, Master Donald.” Upon seeing that Lin Li didn’t mind, Archbishop Martin was secretly relieved, and then introduced him to the people of the Rotterdam Kingdom.
However, Master Donald did not look at Lin Li squarely in the eye, nor did he have any intention of greeting Lin Li. Instead, he raised his chin slightly, and said in a cold voice, “I don’t care who you are. Your people have destroyed our Alchemy Colossuses, so you must make compensation for that now. Once you do, leave this place.”
He made it seem like a charity. It was as if he would give them a chance to leave once they compensated him in a satisfactory manner.
Actually, Lin Li really wasn’t surprised by Master Donald’s attitude at all. Others might not know much about what kind of personalities the people of Rotterdam had, but the Tower of Dusk had held a few mages of the Rotterdam Kingdom captive. Throughout the years, the mages even confessed to having peeped at women when they were showering, what more the various information about the Rotterdam Kingdom.
It was said that the ancestor of the royal family of the Rotterdam Kingdom was once a human noble who was titled by the High Elven royal family during the Dark Age. That meant that as a human, he had obtained the title of a duke of the High Elves. It was not at all the same as human royalty.
The human noble did not obtain the title because of any great contribution to the High Elves, but because his father had actually won the heart of a female High Elf who was also a noble amongst the High Elves. It was actually also a rather amazing skill.
Hence, that human noble not only received the title of a High Elf noble, he also had a part of the High Elves’ bloodline. Throughout the long Dark Age, his position was passed down. As the title continued, their bodies contained a portion of bloodline that belonged to the High Elves.
The current Rotterdam belonged to that human noble, and the title had been passed down from generation to generation. Hence, Rotterdam was one of the few places that was not excessively oppressive to humans during the Dark Age, and could even be considered a paradise for humans at that time. However, due to the laws of the governing nobles, Rotterdam was also not allowed to accept exiles from other noble lands. Otherwise, Rotterdam would have been overpopulated.
Despite the fact that the last leader of Rotterdam was said to be one of the initiators of the war that overthrew the High Elves, they were still proud of having the blood of High Elves flowing through their veins and having once held the title of High Elven nobles. In their opinion, only High Elven nobles were true nobles, and those nobles appointed by the human royal families could never compare.
Of course, in addition to bloodline and title, the people of the Rotterdam Kingdom were also proud of the fact that they had initiated the war to overthrow the High Elves. To them, if that ancestor had not stepped forward to overthrow the High Elves, the humans in Anril would’ve still been under the rule and oppression of the High Elves.
In short, in the hearts of the people of Rotterdam Kingdom, they were still nobles with noble bloodlines, and were also saviors of the world. Lin Li had heard about plenty of such arguments and debates. Hence, he was not surprised by Master Donald’s attitude.
“You want compensation?” Lin Li questioned, looking at Donald coldly. He tolerated Jeremiah because of the Brilliance Shrine, but he didn’t have any friendship with the Rotterdam. In fact, he had a feud with them. In the beginning, if it weren’t for the Rotterdam Kingdom’s support for the Syer Bandits, Black Clouds Town probably wouldn’t have suffered that disaster.
Donald didn’t care about Lin Li’s tone, as he had seen plenty of pointless clamoring and boasting from the weak. There was no change in his expression, but he looked at Lin Li with a tinge of pity in his eyes. He said in a stereotypically aristocratic tone, “You heard right. To make you learn this lesson, you will have to pay full compensation in double for the seven Alchemy Colossuses you have damaged.”
An ordinary Alchemy Colossus was probably worth at least nearly 10,000,000 gold coins on the market. Double of the price of seven Alchemy Colossuses would amount to hundreds of millions of gold coins. However, seeing that Donald’s gaze was constantly shifted onto the mages of the Tower of Dusk, Lin Li immediately understood that Donald was clearly interested in the magical equipment of the mages.
Lin Li had always been reluctant to bother with people like Donald who had abnormal mindsets. He simply said, “Sure, you can take it yourself.”
No one would think that Lin Li truly intended for Donald to take the compensation himself, likewise for Donald. Lin Li’s answer was undoubtedly a straight-up refusal and a declaration of war.