Chapter 215 Disembarkation

At the port of Thunder City, the gentle spring breeze ruffled the sparkling sea, and crying seagulls circled around the mast flying the Purple Moon Flag.

People walking on the shore walked in a hurry, like a wound-up pocket watch, afraid of wasting a second.

However, even in such a busy port, when passers-by saw Mr. Roxell Colin standing on the deck, they would involuntarily stop, take off their hats to greet him, and express their heartfelt respect and piety.

Most of them are people who made money from Colin Mining Company.

Of course, there are also some people who lost money or accidentally sold too early.

On the deck of the ship, Punk stood with his head nod respectfully, facing Mr. Colin who had his back to him.

"Sir, according to your instructions, our newspaper has occupied more than 60% of the market share in the port of Thunder City."

When he said this, he hesitated for a moment and continued.

"In fact, this number was 80% a few days ago, but recently the Andes family has also begun to enter this market. Not only have they used their advantages in the banking industry to monopolize the channels of information, they have also poached many capable employees from us."

Punk's voice was quite critical.

In his opinion, Andes was not very fair in this matter. The two families were obviously allies, but they stabbed him in the back.

What's more, what they did was far more than just in the newspapers, it even involved the exchanges.

The Andes family's bank also operates the exchange.

It's just that due to people's inertia and the increasing share of transactions outside the Red Leaf Tea Shop, plus the fact that the sheriff of Queens has become a member of the Brotherhood, their market share is difficult to be easily snatched away.

After listening to Punk's complaints, Luo Yan just smiled. He did not get angry as the former expected. Instead, he said nonchalantly.

"Punk, you've been with me for a while. When have I ever asked you about specific recruitment matters?"

Punk was slightly stunned and shook his head.

“No.”

Luo Yan continued.

"Then do you think Mr. Andes, who is busier than me, will personally inquire about such details?"

A hint of understanding appeared in Punk's eyes.

"I see... I understand."

Looking at Punk who seemed to understand, Luo Yan nodded slightly and looked at the thriving port with a smile on his face.

"It's normal to have friction. You can never stop them from doing the same thing as you. Besides, it's not a bad thing to let them get involved and make the pie bigger together. There is a market covering the entire empire waiting for us outside Leiming City."

"This is healthy competition. If they can poach your people, you can naturally poach their people with your own abilities, or even bribe insiders to dig up secret intelligence and throw dirty water on the other party... These are all normal business competitions, as long as you don't go too far, such as touching the other party's real core interests, or exposing the Andes family's scandals."

"You have to remember that true allies are not those who follow each other's lead, but two hands tightly clasped together, so tight that even a needle cannot be inserted. Everyone thinks that we are a force that checks and balances each other, but in fact we have always been in the same group on issues that touch the soul."

“When anyone tries to replace one of the hands, this force of checks and balances will immediately turn into a pull between us, and no one can really separate us.”

"More than that, these two hands will unite and crush them."

Punk carefully wrote down every word Mr. Colin told him, absorbing the knowledge he taught like a thirsty sponge and transforming it into a part of his memory.

In just these two short months, he gained knowledge that he had never heard of in his life.

Praise Mr. Colin!

Praise Saint Sis! He felt that he gradually understood the truth of this world and saw the gears hidden in the pocket watch.

Although he did not realize it at this moment, these truths were actually told to him by the devil.

But the devil did not tell him everything he knew.

The time is almost up.

After training his men, Luo Yan glanced at the time on his pocket watch, then looked towards the port, where he saw a carriage hurrying over.

Not long after, Captain Lumire, whom Jack introduced to him, came from the direction of the cabin.

"Sir, Her Royal Highness the Princess has just arrived at the port. Would you like to meet her?"

His expression was even more respectful than Punk who was still kept in the dark, as if he had seen a real god.

And they are gods on earth.

Seeing Irene hurriedly jumping off the carriage, Luo Yan happened to meet those emerald green eyes and saw the panic, reluctance and sadness that filled them.

He did not tell her in advance that he was leaving, but he did reveal the news to her brother, His Majesty Edward.

Given His Majesty Edward's cunningness, he would almost certainly leak the news to her inadvertently and then use her to retain himself.

Even if His Majesty Edward did not play this trick, it would not matter. He did not turn around and leave immediately, but stayed at the port with Punk for a long time.

"Of course, I still owe her a goodbye and an apology."

Leaving these words behind, Luo Yan softly chanted a spell.

A stream of green air lifted him from the deck, and then gently placed him on the dock of the port.

At the same time when his heels touched the ground, the pair of small horse-hide boots had already risen into the air, carrying the aqua blue long skirt across the sea that was more than ten meters wide, and landed in front of him.

Those emerald green eyes stared straight at Luo Yan, and the mist of sadness almost condensed into water droplets in the red eye sockets.

"Why? Why didn't you tell me you were leaving!"

Looking at the emotional Princess Irene, Luo Yan pondered for a long time and made a heavy expression.

"I'm worried you're sad."

"Do you think I'll be happy if you leave without saying goodbye?" Those emerald green eyes were filled with sorrow. Irene's eyes were red, and she bit her lips lightly, saying in a hoarse voice, "This will only make me sadder."

Luo Yan lowered his brows and spoke softly.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, please forgive my selfishness. I really can't bear to part with you, and I can't bear to see you sad. The time I spent with you was very pleasant. If possible, I really want to stay in this beautiful land forever. However, I am the eldest son of the Colin family after all, and I have obligations and responsibilities that I must fulfill... I can only promise you that I will return to your side as soon as possible."

"As for farewell, I left a letter for you, which will be mailed to you after I leave. But now it seems that this was obviously my own cleverness, and I did a bad thing."

Seeing Mr. Colin's sincere apology, Irene felt that the dissatisfaction and grievance in her heart were diluted a lot.

Especially at this moment, she suddenly realized that it was not that he didn't care about her feelings, but on the contrary, he cared too much about her.

Because he cares about himself, he doesn't want to see himself sad.

The past scenes came to his mind, including the pocket watch he had placed in his hand that night, the fact that he had gone deep into the enemy camp to help him despite the danger, and the bowl of mushroom soup and bread he had brought to him when he was at his most vulnerable...

It was at this moment that she suddenly realized that he had actually expressed his feelings a long time ago.

Maybe he wasn't the one who was slow.

But yourself.

He has always cared about my feelings meticulously, but I have always been asking for more from him...

Behind the sadness and resentment, a trace of shame gradually emerged, and then was gradually replaced by self-blame.

It was at this moment that she not only understood his feelings, but also finally faced her own heart——

She found herself so reluctant to let him leave her.

Irene's lips moved slightly, and she suddenly took a step forward. In front of Luo Yan's surprised gaze, she put her forehead against his chest, as if to hide the expression on her face.

Just as Luo Yan was thinking about what to say to break the silence, she spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

"The reason why I'm sad is not because you're leaving. As a member of the Campbell family, I also shoulder the obligations given to me by Saint Sith. How could I not understand your difficulties? The real reason why I'm sad is that you didn't tell me anything..."

"Feel sorry--"

"Please don't apologize to me, dear Mr. Colin," Irene looked up at him, a forced smile appearing on her tear-stained face.

That smile was like a rushing river under the setting sun, sparkling yet shaky.

However, he could still see the strength in those eyes, like real gems.

"...I will wait for you to come back, no matter how long it takes!"

As she said this, she took his right hand and placed an amethyst brooch engraved with the Campbell family coat of arms in his palm.

Looking at Mr. Colin, whose face showed surprise and emotion, Irene smiled shyly and whispered.

"I have always wanted to give you a gift in return, so I made this thing without permission. It may not be very good, I hope you don't mind..."

"No, Your Highness, how could I dislike your gift?" Luo Yan shook his head, stared into those expectant eyes, and said in a serious tone the words that made her heart beat almost out of her chest, "Thank you, I like it very much."

"I will carry it with me forever and regard it as a treasure of my life."

He kissed the back of her hand, and then, under the gaze of countless citizens and crew members, he boarded the steamer next to the dock.

The steam boiler made a shrill hum, and the huge chimney spewed out milky white clouds, pushing the huge steam ship gradually away towards the west.

Irene's eyes were fixed on the huge ship, or rather, on the figure on the deck.

Her hand was tightly clasped around the pocket watch hanging from her belt.

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Until the dirty clouds disappeared at the end of the sea, until the only sound of seagulls remained on the noisy dock.

…

The rising and falling waves hit the side of the ship. Standing on the deck, Luo Yan kept staring at the port of Leiming City until it melted into an invisible dot where the sea and the sky met.

"What a pity... I thought she would confess." Youyou, who had been watching the show from beginning to end, was floating beside Luo Yan and sighed softly, as if she was regretting something.

Luo Yan didn't say anything, but just withdrew his gaze from a distance and turned to walk to the other end of the deck.

He felt that Irene was actually a very good girl, like someone who came out of a fairy tale.

It's just a pity that as a demon king, he is destined to be unable to respond to her pure feelings like the prince in the fairy tale.

Of course, this regret does not belong to him.

After all, he did it on purpose from the beginning.

"Thunder City has fallen."

After a pause, Luo Yan continued to speak to Youyou who was floating beside him, answering the question irrelevantly.

"Once Edward's new policy is completed, our corruption will quickly spread along the shipping routes beneath our feet to various ports in the Whirlpool Sea, and then spread to the entire empire."

The extraordinary power and power of faith in this world are ultimately the choices of the people, and the so-called chosen ones and even the gods themselves are nothing more than "the choices of the people."

They are above everyone else, but they are not truly invincible, nor are they truly omniscient and omnipotent.

Once people abandon their original way of life, the towers built on this land will collapse, and even the gods themselves cannot stop this dramatic change.

This is actually Lint Isaac's helplessness.

He wanted the men of the Kingdom of Ryan to live a good life with the wealth accumulated through hard work, and to use prosperity and wealth to smash the lies of the emperor and Saint Sith, but some of them used money to humiliate their compatriots after becoming rich, and to make up for their lost dignity from the weak. He wanted the women of the Kingdom of Ryan to break the feudal shackles, but some of them first put down their shame in the name of independence, and then used their endless strength to destroy the moral bottom line of the entire kingdom, and let the feudal shackles on their feet drag everyone down together.

He knew the importance of education, so he placed his hopes on his children. However, the only literate teachers he could find were either nobles or priests who held grudges, or those who he thought were crazy, and who taught him a group of even more arrogant little lunatics.

When people get old, they suddenly realize that they went to smash lies, but they burned their lives for bigger lies. No one has ever truly loved them, and they have never truly loved anyone. Their sloppy life is written on the tombstone, but they can't even put together a sentence.

If this is the new world that Lint Isaac talked about, then the Emperor is also good, even if this goodness is illusory.

Compared to the lunatics of the Mechanicus, even the knights chasing windmills become lovable people.

The moment Isaac's reforms were abandoned by everyone, the divine power he possessed immediately became rootless, and only the technology he brought remained.

He couldn't even find a specific person who betrayed him, because everyone who wanted to go back to the past automatically became his enemy the moment they were faced with the choice.

And when he lost the support of everyone, the only extraordinary power left in his hands was even the one bestowed by Saint Sith on the Isaac family. He was full of feudal colors from head to toe.

In the end, he lost his godhood and was defeated by another extraordinary being chosen by God, just as the epic tells...the evil demon king will eventually die under the sword of the brave.

That was the will of the gods, and it was also the choice of the people at that time.

Trying to build a new century building with stones from the old world is ridiculous in itself.

Luo Yan inherited not only Lint Isaac's divinity, but also learned from his lessons.

The citizens of Thunder City wanted a fire, so he handed them gasoline and lighters and told them how to have a big one in the name of Saint Sith in His back garden.

When the stones are burned into bricks and the wood is burned into charcoal, the castles of the old times will naturally collapse.

Then it was the Demon King's turn to step onto the stage of history.

I believe Lint Isaac will be pleased.

After all, Luo Yan didn't think that this fellow villager chose him to repay anyone's kindness.

"As expected of you, Lord Demon King. Hehehe." A nostalgic laugh came out of Youyou's mouth.

Luo Yan glanced in its direction and was speechless at such childish imitation behavior.

But then again.

He has made such a big move this time, it is time for him to return to Shanghai to report his achievements.

At this time, Captain Lumire returned to Luo Yan's side again, nodded respectfully and said.

"My Lord, where are we going next?"

Luo Yan said it casually without thinking.

"Keep driving towards the New World, then stop at a sparsely populated port, or simply find an uninhabited deserted island. Use the method I taught you to draw a teleportation array on the shore and place enough magic crystals there until I reappear in front of you."

There were enough supplies on the ship, enough to feed Lumire for a long time.

As for why Lumir was the only one eating, it was because everyone except him was a ghoul.

If it weren't for maintaining a decent human image, these zombies would be fine sleeping in coffins or eating rotten food.

Luo Yan paused and continued.

"My only request to you is that you don't let anyone follow you. If you can't hide, find an uninhabited sea area and use the magic crystal cannon I put on the ship to kill them."

"Remember, your ship carries the dreams of the citizens of Thunder City and even everyone in the Principality of Campbell. You must not let them down."

"Yes, sir." Lumire nodded slightly and accepted the order respectfully.

At the same time, a small fishing boat slowly approached the steam-breathing cargo ship, and then the sound of shouting was heard.

"Gentlemen on the boat, does anyone want some fish? They're fresh from the sea."

There are many fish in the fishing net hanging behind the boat.

The boss standing on the bow and shouting looked very much like the hawkers selling fish to passing merchant ships, except that he looked a little more ferocious.

Not only that, there was also a person standing on the fishing boat who looked out of place.

She was wearing a black cloak and had a dagger on her waist. She gave off an aura that kept strangers away, and her fierce aura was no less than that of the monsters in the maze.

She raised her head and looked at the man standing on the deck of the ship with full eyes.

The look of expectation seemed to say——

"Welcome home, Demon Lord."

Looking at those eyes that could speak, Luo Yan smiled and nodded, then said goodbye to his men behind him.

It is far enough away from the port of Thunder City.

It's time for him to get off the boat.

(End of this chapter)