Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 249: The Lantern Bearer: The Fallen Lighthouse Keeper

Hearing this voice that was exactly the same as the autobiographical poem at the entrance to the maze, Byron still found it hard to believe, even though he had guessed it long ago:
"Are you the great pirate Flint? Are you really not dead yet?
But why are you trapped on this evil treasure island? First Officer Thomas misses you very much."

"Ugh!"

The voice on the other side first sighed for a long time, and then continued weakly:
“That’s me.

This is a long story, gentlemen and ladies, please go to the core of the third floor of the maze first, and I will explain it to you in detail on the way."

The rule of "like attracts like" came into being again, and the invisible force pulled them together towards the core of the third floor.

However, after reaching the third floor, Byron's ability was sealed by white lead and he was completely transformed into an ordinary person.

Although Violet's power was suppressed, it was still usable.

In her pair of sapphire eyes, it was obvious that she was eager to give Byron a princess hug.

But considering the height difference of 165/190 between the two sides, they had to give up regretfully.

She pulled his hand naturally and said softly:
"The body is as light as a swallow!"

The [Magic Boots·Wings of the Petrel] on their feet grew two pairs of small wings, and with the guidance of that kind of attraction, the speed of the two increased again.

Although not as fast as Byron's Son of the Storm, it is much faster than running on foot.

As the two of them followed Flint's instructions and hurried on their way, a second perspective appeared before their eyes.

Saw Flint’s true appearance in that fourth-level lighthouse.

There is only one spirit left, living in the contract.

Moreover, most of them have lost their human form and transformed into a cicada monkey, also known as a nymph.

It was covered in a golden shell that looked like pure gold, with three pairs of legs growing between its chest and abdomen, and only its head still roughly retained its human appearance.

But one of its eyes became a compound eye of a cicada, and three red simple eyes grew on its forehead, making it have five eyes like a cicada.

Only the last human's right eye was still clear, flickering with a faint golden light of reason.

"hiss--!"

Even though Byron and Violet had seen enough weird things, they still felt physically uncomfortable with the combination of humans and insects before them.

I couldn't help but gasp.

Flint smiled self-deprecatingly:
“As you can see, I’m not in a very good state right now.

My control over the Faustian Contract is far inferior to that of the corrupted evil spirit in my body, or my 'animal' side.

If you hadn't made the right choice, I wouldn't be able to communicate with you.

Please introduce yourself.

In my previous life, I was Flint, a fourth-rank pirate warlord of the Lighthouse Order, and also a [Lantern Bearer] in the Lighthouse Federation who was responsible for guarding the world's rifts!
I assume that since you have come to the Bantaan Islands, you must have heard of the Lighthouse Union, or even had dealings with them, right?"

Hearing these two words, Byron and Violet looked at each other.
"Lighthouse Union? Lantern Bearer?"

They are naturally very familiar with this organization.

Whenever night falls, beams of light will pierce through the darkness and soar into the sky across the entire Bantaan Islands.

Each beam of light represents a lighthouse built by the Lighthouse Federation.

A human settlement may not have a church, but it must have a lighthouse and a tavern.

Currently, a large lighthouse for Torrent Fortress is also being planned, but construction has not yet begun.

Catherine has been in contact with the International Harbor and Lighthouse Association office to discuss specific matters.

As for the "Lighthouse Federation" itself, it is an international organization composed of many Lighthouse Sequence Extraordinary People, and its formal members also include and only include Lighthouse Sequence Extraordinary People.

Has the largest number of pilots, pirates, gunners, sailors, and navigators
No matter which force applies, as long as the owner of the land pays the fee, they will build three levels of lighthouses from low to high in every place reached by humans.

They made great contributions to mankind's overseas development.

It can be said that without this third-party public organization, there would be no current Age of Discovery.

But they are somewhat unfamiliar with the term "lantern bearer".

Flint also saw their confusion and explained to them carefully:

"[The Lantern Bearer] is often associated with taboo knowledge, which is restricted from spreading. It is normal that you don't know about it.

In the church's "Gospel of Genesis", the world is a huge sailing ship sailing on the vast ocean of source.

The source tides and secret knowledge that penetrated into this world from the 'cracks in the ship's planks', which are also cracks in the world, created a wide variety of extraordinary powers.

However, if the gaps between the planks are too large, water may leak out, allowing excessive source material to surge into this world, threatening the safety of nearby humans and even our entire ship.

When we, the Lighthouse Association, built lighthouses all over the world, we discovered that the number of "cracks in the planks" was far beyond human imagination.

Especially in overseas areas, the farther away from the Old Continent, the more cracks there are and the higher the danger level.

By the way, referring to the influence classification of [Holy Relics], World Rifts are also divided into four levels:
Level three, level two, level one, and level zero correspond to village level, city-state level, national level, and world level.

The "Lantern Bearers" that exist behind the cracks are the name given to the crack guardians within the Lighthouse Federation.

After Flint's brief explanation, Byron and Violet quickly understood the cause and effect of the matter.

Because of the roads, the extraordinary beings of the Lighthouse Sequence are always stationed at the border between the "human world" and the "natural world".

Every extraordinary person in the Lighthouse Sequence is the vanguard in resisting the source tide.

This is especially true of the Lantern Bearers.

The world's "lantern bearer", also known as the lighthouse keeper.

Responsible for using its own lighthouse to monitor the cracks that appear in this world, and to use the power of the [Silver Law] to suppress the source tides.

It is considered one of the most dangerous professions in the world, along with the church's "Night Watchman".

Of course, it would be impossible to require all members of the federation to rely on a spirit of sacrifice to maintain the existence of the organization and its noble cause if it went against human nature.

Even if it can be maintained for a while, ten years, or even dozens of years, it will definitely not last long.

With responsibility comes power, and with effort comes reward.

Every extraordinary person in the Lighthouse Sequence can gain huge benefits from this kind of watchman work.

Not only does his spiritual growth rate increase faster, but the difficulty of the promotion ceremony is also much lower than that of other extraordinary people.

Needless to say, there are discounts when inviting the Federation to build the lighthouse.

When Flint said this, the stern look on his face disappeared quietly, and turned into deep helplessness:

“There is a level-two crack on this Treasure Island that is large enough to allow a mid-sequence monster to pass through. Normally, the danger rating is not high.

I thought that with the strength of a fourth-level pirate and the help of the first-level [Holy Relic: Faust Contract], I could guard this second-level rift independently.

But the bad thing is that on the other side of the world rift, the corpse of an extraordinary being, Mammon the Worm of Greed, drifted here with the tide.

Its followers came up in groups.

But as a lone ranger, the [anchor] in me is not strong enough.

Polluted by the endless flow of knowledge released by the other side, he began to degenerate uncontrollably.

The so-called treasure map that lured others here was born.

Although I have taken remedial measures and limited the present world rules to prime number years.

But after a long time, I will also be degraded into a follower and minions of the greedy insect opposite, and will no longer be able to restrict its followers from entering the human world. "

The [Lantern Bearer] looked at the two people with burning eyes:

“I need someone to help me!

The reason why we don’t look for those real artists who are in the hall of fame.

It is because they are too sensitive that when they open their psychic vision they can often see many things they should not see. In fact, they are like walking time bombs.

Just getting close to the main body of "Faustian Contract" might cause one to lose control on the spot.

It is because this contract really contracts with a 'devil' in the Sea of ​​​​Source.

Only someone like Faust can remain unaffected and complete his mission of guarding this world rift."

No matter how evil the human race is, there are always some individuals who can be called true heroes.

And not just a fourth-order job.

Although Byron and Violet felt that it would be difficult for them to become such heroes, it did not prevent them from respecting such people.

Until Flint made a request with a strange smile on his half-man, half-insect face, the smile was particularly creepy:
"Now it's time for you to make a choice.

You can inherit my treasure, my Faustian Contract, my seat in the Lighthouse Federation, and even inherit some of my extraordinary abilities through the 'Pirate Treasure Chest' ceremony.

However, in exchange, you must also inherit my responsibility as the Lantern Bearer to guard this world rift!"

(End of this chapter)