Chapter 230 Chaos

A sailor rushed in. "Esk, latest news! There's chaos on Golden Reef. It's said that even the Pirate King's ship was blown up!"

"Damn it!" Esker Rabbi stood up suddenly. "Where's our cargo from Batalia Heights? Was it intercepted too?!"

Times were tough, so one had to find ways to feed their own people. One option was to negotiate with overseas merchants, bypassing official shipping routes and thus avoiding high taxes. Of course, this wasn't exactly "legal," and the navy would inevitably pursue them. If caught, at the very least, one's job would be lost, limbs broken, and a hefty fine would be paid to redeem the victim. In serious cases, everyone involved would be tied up and burned to death.

The sailor said nervously, "According to the time, it was indeed a collision. We can't contact the brothers responsible!"

"Who did it?" Esk Rabbi's chest heaved violently. He gritted his teeth in hatred, "Could it be those pigs in the navy who are eating their paychecks without working?!"

"I don't know." The other person shook his head. "But I've seen what the navy is doing. They've also sent ships towards Golden Reef. And it's quite a big deal, including a battleship!"

Maxine, who was listening in, couldn't help but shrink back silently, feeling guilty. A small boat filled with explosives and a simple trigger device—no one could have imagined it would cause such a big scene.

An anxious silence spread in the air. Suddenly, someone stood up, unable to bear it any longer. "Esk, why don't we just fight the navy now!"

Seeing everyone staring at him, the sailor gritted his teeth, steeled his resolve, and blurted out everything that was on his mind: "Rather than waiting for the navy to discover the smuggling ship and then have us brought to court and burned at the stake, it would be better to take action while the navy is being held hostage by the pirates and a battleship is out at sea—"

"That's right! Those bastards are just getting more and more greedy. If they keep going like this, we'll all die. We didn't want to endure this in the first place, but now's the perfect opportunity!" Someone else couldn't help but stand up and shouted, "Just like Port Morris, then the Casa Strait will become our own territory, and we'll all have enough to eat and won't have to suffer those bastards anymore!"

Some began standing on tables, waving their hats and shouting, "We want to riot! Revolt!"

"—Kill them! Burn them to ashes!"

Amidst the boiling chaos, Rabbi Esker quietly approached Mashilin and asked in a low voice, "Does Mr. Ghost have any instructions?"

The red-haired girl's expression seemed a little complicated, but those subtle emotions only flashed by so quickly that Ask didn't notice anything unusual at all.

"He said, 'Seize the opportunity and act boldly.'" Marcylin took a deep breath and repeated the emperor's original words in a deep voice: "'The People's Party will support our allies.'"

On the other side, the garrison in the Casa Strait was also feeling overwhelmed.

A richly dressed general slammed his pistol against the edge of the sand table, shaking the exquisite tin models representing the naval fleet.

He was furious at his men: "What does the Golden Reef explosion have to do with us? Why did a battleship leave the port without permission? Where is the commander on the battleship?!"

The adjutant beside him nervously wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Sir, we can't contact anyone - no one can. No one is answering the crystal ball!"

The other party sneered angrily: "Are you trying to tell me that it was those damn pirates who came to the Kasa Strait, secretly kidnapped the commander of a battleship, and forced him to sail into the sea?!"

The adjutant trembled as he ordered his subordinates to try to connect to the crystal ball again, while he was secretly complaining that it was not impossible.

A certain assassin, quietly concealing his achievements and fame, easily frightened the commander to the point of wetting his pants, not even daring to look back to see if he had left.

"Send two more battleships immediately!" The general gritted his teeth, nearly breaking his pen. "If the Empire's battleships fall into the hands of pirates, it will be a huge joke. Every one of us will be court-martialed!"

The Silver Helm Knights who had infiltrated Jaeger Wharf quickly noticed something was amiss. The streets were filled with the usual crowds of middle-aged men working as laborers, but for some reason, they were nowhere near as numerous. That was until a deafening cannon blast shattered the eerie silence.

"What happened?!" Knight Commander Yialos suddenly raised his head and looked towards the sea, his expression becoming more and more solemn - black smoke was coming out of the battleships docked on the coast, and someone attacked the local navy.

"A riot!" Moments later, the Silver Helmet Knight, who was in charge of intelligence gathering, returned quickly. "While the navy was out at sea hunting pirates, the Seamen's Union launched an attack on the navy base!"

At the same time, the crystal ball flickered, and his subordinates inside it shouted in panic: "Knight Commander! We encountered—Ah!"

Accompanied by a scream, the scene in the crystal ball began to spin and shake violently, as if it had fallen to the ground. In a slightly farther corner of the screen, an arm with a familiar arm armor slammed weakly to the ground, and blood gradually spread across the floor.

"The first one."

The voice of the visitor was hoarse and low, mixed with a strong sense of blood.

Knight Commander Yialos' fingers nearly crushed the crystal ball. Someone picked it up and tossed it up and down carelessly. "Long time no see, you iron blocks."

Their old acquaintance twitched his lips in the crystal ball, revealing his sharp white fangs. "Did everyone enjoy this dog-walking game?"

"No! Aleph—"

The two remaining Silver Helmets roared their comrades' names and charged towards the assassin. The latter simply crushed the crystal ball, and the scene completely cut off, leaving the Silver Helmets on the other side anxiously watching—the assassin was even more formidable than the intelligence had predicted.

"Knight Commander! Do you want to send reinforcements?"

"...No, if I'm not mistaken, the target is no longer at Jaguar Wharf." The Knight Commander slowly shook his head. "He won't allow so many Silver Helm Knights to remain at Jaguar Wharf. Otherwise, this riot will be meaningless."

As expected, like some kind of undisguised mockery, as soon as the Knight Commander finished speaking, the warlocks in the team detected the magic fluctuations from Ore Asachi in the direction of Spiral Bay - but the other party had clearly just spoken to them, and he was in the navy at Jaguar Wharf.

The salty sea breeze lifted the knight's cloak. The billowing black smoke from the distant naval base merged with the leaden clouds, creating a hazy image of the impending doomsday. Yialos frowned. He had been called the "Iron Curtain of the Royal Family." He had faced powerful enemies and dangers many times, but he had never experienced the trembling and terror of being manipulated at will by an invisible presence like today.

Until now, that person had been dragging them along in every move without question, but the Silver Helmet Knight had no way to resist and could only stumble along like a child learning to walk, just as a chess piece could never fight against the existence above the chessboard.

...That madman turned the entire Casa Strait into a trap, driving these hunters who thought they were hunting prey step by step into a carefully designed death trap.

"Knight Commander, why don't we just stay here and support the local garrison in suppressing the rebellion?" a knight suggested, gritting his teeth. "It would be good if we could disrupt the rebel leader's plans."

More importantly, no one wants to step into the glaring and hideous trap called death.

Yialos's expression became more serious: "What we can think of, that person can also think of-"

Without warning, the mithril armor of all the silver-helmeted knights lit up simultaneously. The silver irises on their chests slowly blossomed, and an ancient and complex spell condensed into a small nightingale in mid-air. After circling in a circle, it pointed in the direction of Spiral Bay.

The expressions of the Silver Helmets Knights changed drastically: "A distress signal from the royal bloodline? Why is there a royal family member here?!"

The Knight Commander slowly closed his eyes and added the unfinished words: "...So we will have to go."

The Kiteheart Guards must protect the royal family. This is one of the ancient oaths that all Silver Helm Knights have sworn to the Oakensale River - of course, as long as it does not violate the king's orders.

On a small boat in the waters near Spiral Bay, Apatella looked up and let the blood drip down her fingertips.

"It's disgusting to be forced to admit that I have Makian blood." She couldn't help but mutter under her breath, "Sweetheart, I have made great sacrifices for you."

The bard beside her absentmindedly plucked his broken lyre, producing a monotonous, piercing sound. Apatella couldn't help but glance at him: Finding the Chosen One was truly difficult, and as a last resort, she had finally turned to her "teacher" for help. But he seemed to be expecting this very thing, and after paying a considerable price to complete this "deal," Apatella felt she had been ripped off.

But she didn't expect that this mysterious and powerful man who traveled around the world would come to the Kasa Strait in person - damn old fox.

"You've seen the people too," the priestess said unhappily, "and what are you still doing here?"

"Oh, my dear little princess, don't throw it away after using it." Magnus shook his head and held his chest solemnly: "Who told me to fall in love? Sweetheart made me fall in love at first sight. Of course, the girl next to him is also very good-"

"Dear teacher, if you keep saying such nonsense, I will kill you." Apatella giggled sweetly. As a fervent believer in Analene, the goddess of love, she couldn't stand people who casually talked about "love" - ​​unlike her, she sincerely wanted to share bliss with her sweetheart.

...But the target of his flirtatious words was actually a god. Thinking of this, the priestess suddenly calmed down, even feeling a bit gloating.

You have to know that the god is not a good-tempered being. Maybe one day her teacher will have an accident and be crushed to pieces by the angry god - this possibility made her so happy that her anxiety about not being able to find the god of love subsided a little.