Chapter 681 River Pirates
As Kannekorl Mountains was near the tundra region in the north, Aizkovos, it was covered in snow throughout the year. By then, they had already crossed River Onxy and entered Remdik.
On the mountain, Jonathan looked down at the silvery-white sight before him with a frown. Meanwhile, Karl landed beside Jonathan. “Mr. Goldstein, what are you looking at?”
“Look at Kannekorl Mountains. They are technically the same mountain range as Delisgar Ridge, but Remdik separated them,” Jonathan uttered with a sigh.
Karl chuckled. “Delisgar Ridge and Kannekorl Mountains have been a hot topic for debate since a long time ago, but alas, the separation happened hundreds of years ago. If we want to take it back now, we’ll have to invade the place.”
Even though Jonathan was the head of Asura’s Office, he had only been in the organization for a little over three years.
Therefore, he was not as familiar with certain issues as the Eight Kings of War.
Nevertheless, Jonathan turned to look at Karl at the mention of an invasion.
“Say, Karl, why are we only allowed to defend ourselves and not start an invasion?”
“What did you say?”
Both men were cultivators, and they could even hear the sound of a leaf falling meters away from them.
Therefore, it would be impossible for Karl to not have heard Jonathan’s words.
What happened was that Karl was taken aback to hear those words from Jonathan.
Jonathan had always been more of a pacifist.
He would rather promote peace over war.
He would kill, but he would not be the first to lift the blade.
That was why Karl always felt that Jonathan was missing the charm of a leader despite being in the position.
As time went by, Karl began having thoughts of establishing an organization by himself.
Jonathan’s pacifist demeanor was why Karl was at a loss for a reply when Jonathan asked him why they could not be the first to attack.
At Karl’s silence, Jonathan sighed and raked his gaze across their surroundings.
“We have the West Region Army ready to strike, and we have Doveston surrounded by enemies. In the north, we have Remdik’s Medved Army, and in the east, we have Jetroina coveting on us. All this time, Chanaea’s leaders have been focusing on defense. If the others cross our borders, we’ll take them down, but here’s the thing I don’t quite get. If the other party is obviously keen to invade us, why can’t Chanaea declare war on them and bring the battle all the way to their country instead?”
Karl remained stunned in silence by Jonathan’s words.
Chanaea’s current military—including Eastern Army, Yaleview Army, and Asura’s Office—had over two million soldiers.
Even Remdik, who posed the greatest threat to Chanaea, only had less than a million and eight hundred thousand soldiers in their army.
Yet, a mega-powerful country like Chanaea never bore any thoughts of expanding its land.
Make love, not war.
Mulling over the various conflicts Chanaea had with other nations, Karl found himself swallowing the words at the tip of his tongue.
Meanwhile, Jonathan gently tapped the snow on his sole and took out two shield-like items from his ring.
“All right, don’t dwell on it that much. We won’t figure anything out by standing here.”
As he spoke, he threw a palm-sized magical item to Karl.
“If we want to expand our territory, we must first have a stable country. Internal conflict means we won’t have enough power to do anything. Even if we do form an alliance, it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to agree on all the orders given. Come on. Let’s get your wife and child first. As for the eight respectable families… we’ll kill as many of them as we can.”
With that said, Jonathan channeled the spiritual energy in his hand. The palm-sized shield he was holding onto earlier grew and began two meters long.
Then, he threw the shield down the mountain and stomped on the ground he was on, making snow explode beneath his feet. In the next second, Jonathan landed on the shield.
There was the sound of friction noises behind Jonathan, and when he turned around, he saw a thin line over a hundred meters long on the top of the mountain.
His earlier leap had caused a mini avalanche.
Like tidal waves, the white snow surged down the mountain, transforming into a hungry beast running after Jonathan.
Once the avalanche started, Karl used the shield to get down the mountain like Jonathan.
The forest was engulfed in no time.
Meanwhile, both Jonathan and Karl’s white figures disappeared into the woods.
A small cruise ship decorated with colorful lights was slowly advancing in Lerner River.
Remdik was a large country with highlands, but the place was sparsely populated. Moreover, the people in Remdik spent almost six months a year in frigid weather.
Hence, transportation there was not as convenient as transportation in Chanaea. Some of the roads leading to remote towns were old roads constructed decades ago.
Hence, rivers like the Lerner River that cut through the entire country would be far busier than other places.
On Medev’s deck, Layla Balfour was swiftly cleaning up the wine glasses.
That was the identity that Blood Squad had asked their spies in Remdik to give to Layla.
Two days ago, Blood Squad had sneaked into Wildefield’s Griffin Castle to rescue both Layla and Karl. During their rescue operation, twenty-four members of Blood Squad were killed, but at the same time, the squad also killed close to three hundred Remdik guards.
Both Remdik and Aidan could not stand a failure like this.
Therefore, Remdik’s special operations unit, Team Alpha, was mobilized. Along with some other soldiers they met with along their way, they began chasing after Blood Squad.
By the time the group boarded Medev on Lerner River, there were only eight members of Blood Squad left.
However, Layla and Killian’s Chanaean appearance would give their identities away in the blink of an eye. Hence, before boarding Medev, Blood Squad’s captain, Sabino, got the nearby spies to create new identities for Layla and Killian.
They put makeup on Layla, so she looked like a woman from Remdik.
Meanwhile, Killian was disguised as Sabino’s son. His head was shaved, and he was given an oxygen mask to wear so that he would look like a sickly son of a wealthy man who was seeking medical help.
Those arrangements were how they went through several inspections safely.
However, Medev was intercepted again. This time, instead of merely skimming through the passenger list, the inspectors wanted to look at the passengers themselves.
Sabino, who was wearing a suit, was holding Killian’s hand while smiling and shaking his head at Killian to signal the boy not to speak.
“Hurry up! Hurry up! Everyone, including the captain of the ship, has to come to the recreation room on the first floor right now!” Came the Remdik announcement from the speakers.
Sabino then turned to look at his subordinates, who were hiding among the crowd and inclined his head slightly.
The rest of them understood what Sabino meant, and they quietly took out their daggers.
In the recreation room on the first floor, Layla was looking in Killian’s direction. They were dozens of meters away, but neither Killian nor Sabino walked over to Layla.
Right then, a towering bald man on stage with a pistol fired several shots at the ceiling.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Immediately, everyone turned to nervously look at the bald man.
Then, they saw the bald man grin, flashing his golden teeth at them. “We’re river pirates of Lerner River, but we’re not here for the money this time. We’re here for a mother-and-son duo from Chanaea. All Remdiks, move to the left!”
