Chapter 42: Mighty Fist!
Soren is currently feeling a bit of a headache.
Princess Anna of Arendelle is somewhat better, but what bothers him most is how to deal with Vivian’s issue.
The little girl insists on stepping forward to confront the Demon God of Fear. On one hand, Soren wants to train her, but on the other hand, he is concerned about the dangers she may face. It’s somewhat like children growing up and not always following their parents’ arrangements; while Vivian can be very obedient at times, when she is determined about something, her temper can be as stubborn as Soren’s.
She cannot hide under his protection forever!
The eagle will eventually have its day to soar high, and while Soren could forcibly bring her back, given Vivian’s obedient nature, she would likely follow him back to Modo City, even if unwillingly. However, this is not a long-term solution. Moreover, Soren believes that Vivian’s decision is indeed correct, as she needs to train. So all he can do now is ensure her safety as much as possible, secretly mobilizing enough manpower to assist her in dealing with the Church of Fear.
One comforting point is that the little girl has learned a lot by being around him; she hasn’t recklessly sought trouble with the Church of Fear but knows to first subdue some serpent people as her muscle.
Since he intends to train Vivian, Soren naturally needs to make detailed arrangements.
“Come here!”
Soren shouted outside, and soon a guard entered. He instructed in a deep voice, “Immediately send people to collect any intelligence related to the Church of Fear. Spread our eyes across Shipwreck Bay, Taro Port, and City of Wealth; contact the Thieves’ Guild and the Shadow Thief Guild as well, and reach out to the Adventurers’ Guild. Don’t be afraid to spend money; I will allocate three hundred thousand Gind as funding.”
“Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, find them all for me!”
Money opens doors.
Three hundred thousand Gind is equivalent to a small principality’s total income for a year, and only Modo City can easily come up with this much money. Other forces would likely need to gather resources carefully. Treasure Island has already become formalized, and Modo City continues to have a steady flow of funds, with over five hundred thousand Gind in liquid assets on the books, and a large stash of gold and jewels in storage. Centered around Modo City, Soren’s influence has become akin to a maritime kingdom.
With so much gold being spread around, intelligence organizations near the Southern Coast are going almost crazy!
Regardless of the usefulness of the information, anything connected to the Church of Fear was sent for collection and organization. Soon, their movements were reported to Soren.
This is a major job for the Thieves’ Guild, something they haven’t had in years.
In less than three days, a detailed and accurate intelligence report was delivered. The Church of Fear was indeed active in the southern region, and after the d*ath of the Vampire Son, they seemed to have been regrouped by someone, with the locations of their activities clearly marked.
It is worth mentioning that this time, there were actually signs of demons within the Church of Fear. The Thieves’ Guild even lost three veterans while probing for information.
Naturally, Soren needed to make a statement.
For Vivian, he never hesitated to spend money; after all, money is meant to be spent. He directly sent a chest of gold to the Thieves’ Guild, and immediately they were energized, preparing to dig deep to uncover all the information.
The Church of Fear.
If it were another deity’s church, they might need to weigh their options, but for a deity’s church that was gradually weakening, the Thieves’ Guild would dare to probe.
The movements of Modo City naturally attracted many people’s attention.
However, many forces expressed their approval when Modo City suddenly engaged with the Church of Fear. As long as Modo City was fighting with others, they were happy.
Of course!
All of this still needs a public pretext.
That is, Modo City was recently attacked by the Church of Fear. The Church of Fear summoned demons which caused great destruction in Modo City, even resulting in many civilian deaths. Lord Soren was very angry about this and decided to mobilize forces to destroy the Church of Fear, ensuring that anyone who offends Modo City pays a heavy price!
This is the public reason.
In any case, any force that probes a bit could find out that Modo City had been attacked by the Church of Fear, and that a number of demons had appeared.
The entire Modo City operated like a war machine in a frenzy.
Using this incident as a pretext, Soren took the opportunity to issue a bold move, openly assembling the fleet near Shipwreck Bay, while also stationing heavy troops at Taro Port.
The external explanation was certainly that it was to prepare for any retaliatory attack by the Church of Fear!
However, when the heads of other forces heard this, they nearly spat out bl**d. Did it require mobilizing so many warships to deal with the Church of Fear?
Could it be that you want to use warships against the Fear Worshippers?
Initially, forces that thought this might deplete Modo City’s strength became uneasy, as they then thought of a very troubling issue.
What if Soren suddenly accused someone of colluding with the Church of Fear, preparing to retaliate against them?
Just the thought of it made them want to slap themselves.
The more they thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Currently, Modo City has the strongest fist in the south. Whatever Soren says goes. Even if you didn’t collude with the Church of Fear, as long as Modo City claimed you did, you could find yourself in trouble at any moment. When that time came, a fleet of warships would surround you, and heavy troops would be deployed by Modo City; it’s likely that no one would be able to sit still.
In fact.
Soren had also considered this point in private.
The Church of Fear had indeed caused considerable destruction in Modo City and killed many civilians. It was reasonable for Soren to retaliate against them, and while attacking the Church of Fear, he could naturally take the opportunity to strike some other targets.
However.
What surprised him was that perhaps other forces were really afraid of being implicated and harming the innocent; one by one, they stood up to declare they had no connection with the Church of Fear. For this evil organization that caused terrible destruction and killed civilians, they all expressed their willingness to help Modo City attack the Fear Worshippers.
They clarified their relationship first, and whether or not to deal with the Fear Worshippers no longer mattered.
But.
Things had developed to this point; no matter how they expressed themselves, Soren still mobilized a large number of warships, while secretly supporting Vivian in dealing with the Church of Fear. He also realized that the timing was nearly ripe.
It was time to take down a piece of territory on the southern continent.
—”Spearwind Hills!”
This is a rather fertile land, and more importantly, there are no forces capable of resisting him here, and it is very close to Shipwreck Bay, allowing Soren to strengthen his connection with the mainland at any time.
This dark line had been buried for a long time.
Soren planned to seize the opportunity to turn it into a fruitful harvest!
……………(To be continued ~^~)
