Chapter 526: Consultant
Northern Ufeiga, Adus.
Within Adus, on the boundless Gobi Desert, a train continued to race forward, spewing thick smoke, its rumbling echoing across the wilderness.
On this train, the mottled rust and worn-out scratches were visible everywhere. Stains and dust covered it from head to tail, indicating that this was an old train that had been operating for a long time in Adus’s harsh environment.
The train consisted mostly of freight cars, crowded with one soldier after another. They wore yellow-gray uniforms made of coarse cloth, with firearms beside them, each one resting with closed eyes, waiting for the iron beast beneath them to take them far away. They all seemed to have the appearance of soldiers.
In the front part of the train, there were several passenger cars. Inside one of these cars, Dorothy, dressed in a long robe, sat in a seat, gazing out at the desolate landscape swiftly passing by outside the window. Across from her sat Nephnis, dressed similarly.
“I didn’t expect to be back in Adus so soon. This barren look is really uncomfortable to see…” As she looked at the desolate scene outside the window, Nephnis couldn’t help but express her feelings. Dorothy slowly responded.
“The climate here is like this; there’s nothing we can do. But perhaps the dryness and yellow sand are not the only representations of Adus. A long time ago, the climate here might have been much wetter than it is now, at least it could have easily generated thunder.”
Looking at the almost cloudless sky, feeling the difficulty of a lightning strike, Dorothy said, then pulled out a book to begin reading. After hearing Dorothy’s words, Nephnis pondered and spoke up.
“A more suitable environment for lightning… Miss Dorothy, do you mean that during the reign of the Judge of Heaven in the Second Era, Northern Ufeiga’s environment could have been completely different?”
“Ha, it’s just my speculation. There’s currently no evidence; after all, the Second Era was seven thousand years ago.” Dorothy chuckled before turning the page of her book. After thinking deeply for a moment, Nephnis scratched her head and continued with a furrowed brow.
“Um… I’m feeling a bit itchy. It seems I need to find a place to wash up. This train is not like the previous one; there are no washing facilities…”
“This is a standard freight train converted for troop transport, so it can’t compare to the luxurious passenger trains like the Desert Arrow. Having a private compartment for us is already pretty good. Think about the soldiers crammed in the back, you’ll feel much better.” As Dorothy read, she continued speaking. After hearing Dorothy’s words, Nephnis stopped complaining about the train’s environment and instead asked.
“By the way, Miss Dorothy, where are we now? When will we reach our destination?”
“It’s been two days since we left Mont. According to the schedule, we should arrive in Dosa by tonight; there you can find a place to wash up. However, our final destination is Karnak, and there’s no direct train to get there. We’ll have to follow a caravan. By then, the journey might be even more uncomfortable, so you’d better get used to it.”
Dorothy told Nephnis. Upon hearing that there was still a long way to go without a train, Nephnis’s expression immediately darkened.
“Ah… With such a blazing sun, you mean there won’t even be a train at that time? No way…” Looking at the blazing sun outside the window, Nephnis said despondently. Seeing Nephnis getting a bit noisy, Dorothy waved her hand.
“Nephnis, your grandfather galloped through Northern Ufeiga in the past; how can you call this slight difficulty a hardship? Quickly return to your compartment and revisit your grandfather’s notes. Adjust your mindset, and don’t complain again when we set off.”
“Um… Okay.”
Listening to Dorothy, Nephnis stood up and shakily opened the door to exit. After Nephnis left, Dorothy let out a long breath, looked outside, and began to mutter.
“I wonder how the situation at the Rahmann Royal Tomb is now…”
“It is under the influence of the Savior Faction and might have already been targeted by the Underworld Coffin Cult. I feel like the situation won’t be good…”
Ever since she realized that the Underworld Coffin Cult might also be watching the treasures within the Rahmann Royal Tomb, Dorothy promptly decided to end her rest in Kankdar and return to Adus to confirm the situation at the location of the tomb.
Due to the instability in Adus, transportation between Kankdar and Adus was restricted. Dorothy spent a lot of effort taking advantage of the chaos caused by Robert’s escort back to the country to forge government orders from Kankdar, tricking a freight train to set out, and rode this train all the way to one of Adus’s major cities, Mont. During this time, she also contacted Shadi through the Navigation of the Literary Sea.
Dorothy contacted Shadi as a member of the Judge of Heaven Church, claiming that the church had obtained the specific location of the Rahmann Tomb of the founding king of the Baruch Dynasty. From some legends, she heard that the Rahmann Royal Tomb might hold precious treasures from the First Dynasty, so she wished to request Shadi’s help to explore the tomb, stating that her side would only take a small portion of the items from the tomb, and the remaining treasures would all be taken back by Shadi.
Dorothy understood that Shadi had just driven the Baruch royal family out of Adus; as they left, the royalty had divided up almost all the wealth they had plundered over the century. What could not be carried away had also been destroyed, severely damaging the mining industry and the few industries that supported Adus’s economy. Numerous mines were bombed and destroyed by the king during the retreat of King Baruch’s army, and the few remaining factories shared a similar fate. After Shadi’s regime took over Adus, it inherited a deeply impoverished and devastated country, with a very poor economic condition and extreme material shortages; it was already a challenge to maintain the army.
Once Adus achieved complete peace and declared a break with heresy, it urgently needed to do business with foreign countries to import food to ease the material shortages and repair the mining and industrial sectors devastated by war. However, this required a significant amount of funding, and all the wealth accumulated in Adus had been taken away by the Baruch royal family. Without money, these tasks remained incredibly difficult. So now, Shadi was clearly struggling due to a lack of funds; the treasures within the Rahmann tomb might alleviate his situation, so Dorothy was determined that Shadi would help with this task.
Indeed, shortly after contacting Shadi, he quickly replied, agreeing to help. However, upon hearing the specific location of the Rahmann Royal Tomb, he hesitated momentarily.
The reason was simple: the tomb was located in a valley called Dead Eagle Valley, and the nearest city to this valley in Adus was called Karnak, which was currently under the control of a group of hardcore members of the Savior Faction.
This armed group was the one most deeply infiltrated by the Savior’s forces within the Adus Revolutionary Army. It was one of the few armed factions where nearly all ranks, from officer down, were members of the Savior faction. It was the most loyal and powerful force of the Savior Faction in the region.
The commander of this faction was named Shahab, a fervent and slightly scheming man who earned Muhetar’s trust. After Muhetar’s d*ath, he remained highly vigilant against Shadi, disregarding Shadi’s attempts to lure him to Adis with promises of high official positions. He stayed put in his troop base in Karnak, ensuring his men prepared actively for battle, built fortifications, and allied with other revolutionary armed factions inclined toward the Savior Faction. However, under Shadi’s schemes and disguises, he hadn’t managed to attract too many allies.
As Shadi began internal purges, a series of local officers lured to Adis were captured, and squads of pro-Savior armed forces were scattered and reorganized without leadership. On the same day, a small number of Savior armed forces suspicious of Shadi were ambushed and eliminated.
In the wake of Shadi’s decisive actions, the Savior faction’s forces within the Adus Revolutionary Army were rapidly diminished, leaving only a few in a short span of a month. At this time, Shahab, who occupied Karnak, publicly opposed Shadi and proclaimed himself the heir of Muhetar. The panicked remnants of the Savior faction within Adus quickly rallied to Karnak under his banner, turning it into the last stronghold of the Savior faction in Adus.
From Shadi’s explanation, Dorothy learned that the purging activities across Adus had now entered the final stage, with only Karnak presenting a significant threat among the remaining Savior forces, while the others had faded. To resolve this last internal strife, Shadi began to reinforce the city closest to Karnak, Dosa, which was also where Dorothy was heading—this train’s destination.
Upon reaching Mont, Dorothy received support from Shadi and obtained an identity as a special consultant for the Adus Revolutionary Army. She used the zombie puppet Ed to assume this identity and made Nephnis his assistant. Shadi personally ordered the commander of the revolutionary army in Mont to offer high treatment to the special consultant. Under this arrangement, Dorothy and Nephnis boarded the troop transport vehicle heading to Dosa, and they were about to arrive shortly.
“According to Shadi, Dosa now houses a large number of revolutionary troops loyal to him, totaling nearly forty thousand, with excellent commanders leading them. They hold an advantage over the Savior armed forces in Karnak. Yesterday, they set out to assault the forward positions around Karnak. If everything goes as planned, they should clear the outer perimeter of Karnak today and complete the encirclement.”
“If that’s the case, even if Karnak itself doesn’t fall, the surrounding areas will be controlled by Shadi’s troops, making my trip to Dead Eagle Valley much more convenient. With Shadi’s forces as backup, even if I run into Underworld Coffin Cult members, I’ll have much more confidence.”
With thoughts like these, Dorothy turned her gaze to the sun sinking towards the horizon, internally anticipating the arrival at the destination.
…
Dosa is located in the western part of Adus and is the largest city in the western region. The Corrupt Wood River, originating from Central Ufeiga, flows through here, providing capital for urban development. It serves as the center of the western region of Adus, connecting all roads in the west, and is one of the few cities in Adus with a railway.
At night, the scorching sun sank below the horizon, with the moon rising alongside the whistling cold night wind from the east. Near the river, the city lit up with scattered lights. Although the brightness was far less than that of Kankdar and the major cities of the Main Continent, it was the only visible light in the surrounding land from high above.
The Dosa train station was brightly lit, with a long platform where a middle-aged man dressed in a Main Continent officer’s uniform stood with his hands behind his back. He gazed intently into the distance with several soldiers beside him, keeping watch over the dark railway ahead.
With a rumbling sound echoing in the darkness, the railway began to tremble. Amid the rhythmic clanking of machinery, a steel beast, exhaling black smoke and emitting steam, emerged from the darkness, heading toward the platform.
As the train’s front appeared, the middle-aged officer and the accompanying soldiers began to fix their gaze on it, observing as it gradually slowed down and finally came to a stop at the platform, accompanied by the sounds of the cars behind it. Soldiers from the freight cars jumped off the train one after another and onto the platform, while the reception staff prepared at the station stepped forward to guide the descending soldiers out. In an instant, the once quiet station became lively.
After seeing that the reception process was proceeding smoothly, the middle-aged officer shifted his focus to a passenger carriage. Within his sight, the carriage door swung open, and two soldiers stepped down to stand on either side of the door. Then a man in a trench coat, wearing a top hat with prominent features of a Caucasian, stepped down. Behind him was a young woman dressed in a robe, veiled, and seemingly of Northern Ufeiga descent, carrying a suitcase.
“Hello, are you Mr. Nei?”
In slightly awkward Faraluo, the middle-aged officer reached out his hand to the Caucasian man. The man smiled slightly, shook the officer’s hand, and then replied in fluent Northern Ufeiga.
“I am. Mr. Aidan, at the command of General, I’m here to provide you with some assistance.”
Receiving this response, Aidan expressed a bit of surprise at Nei’s fluency in Northern Ufeiga. He switched to his own more fluent dialect and said, “Ha, I didn’t expect that Mr. Nei’s Northern Ufeiga would be so good. It seems that communicating won’t be a problem. We’re short on personnel here, so your arrival is quite timely. You haven’t had dinner yet, have you? Please, Consultant, follow me for a meal. It’s an urgent time, and we don’t have any lavish dishes, so please bear with us.”
As he spoke, Aidan gestured for Nei to follow. Upon seeing this, Nei nodded and followed Aidan out of the train station.
On the way, Aidan began to briefly introduce the current situation in Dosa to Nei, who nodded along. Toward the end, Nei inquired, “Hmm, I have a rough understanding of the situation in Dosa, but, Lord Aidan, I would like to know how the troops we sent to clear the outer positions of Karnak are doing. Is the enemy’s resistance fierce?”
“Well…” Hearing Nei’s question, Aidan hesitated slightly, and his expression changed a bit. After a brief pause, he spoke, “Mr. Nei, to be honest, the troops we sent to clear the outer positions of Karnak encountered an active counterattack from the enemies in Karnak and suffered significant casualties. They are currently on their way back.”
“What… an active counterattack… and significant losses…? Your forces have an absolute advantage over the enemy in Karnak, right? They dared to actively counterattack? And sent your troops retreating… with heavy casualties?”
Nei exclaimed in surprise, while Aidan bitterly replied, “Yes, the forces I deployed do hold an absolute advantage against the enemies in Karnak; clearing the outer positions shouldn’t have gone wrong. But no one expected that suddenly, the defenders in Karnak received reinforcements!”
“Reinforcements? Could it be that foreign heretical forces from the Savior Faction have come to support them?” Dorothy, controlling Nei, asked in disbelief. Aidan appeared alarmed as he responded, “No, no, they are not from the Savior Faction! They’re not even human! They’re the undead! A large army of corpses appeared out of nowhere! Countless bodies and skeletal frames that cannot be killed by bullets, thousands of them! They charged over with their guns! My troops simply can’t withstand them!”
……
Chapter Push: The Old Ones’ Invasion
