Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 431 Technical Water Release
In the capital of the Kingdom of Locke, on a towering building that stands thousands of meters high and covers hundreds of acres, resembling a pillar reaching to the sky, the three great dukes of the kingdom—Duke of Ver, Duke of Kader, and Duke of Juniper—and the rulers of the province, are standing on the top floor of this building, waiting anxiously.

This is the highest-level five-star mage tower in the Kingdom of Locke, and also the highest-level observatory in the kingdom. At this moment, the three dukes have been summoned by His Majesty the King to prove one thing.

That is the justification for His Majesty the King's desire to expand the provinces.

The three of them were once close companions and powerful teammates of His Majesty the King. They fought side by side more than a thousand years ago and created the great Kingdom of Locke. But as time goes by, it seems that even their friendship has been eroded by the years.

Over the past few years, His Majesty the King has frequently taken action and kept trying to establish new provinces, but this is not an easy task and always requires some sacrifice. The kingdom's ecosystem was originally quite stable, and as long as there was no further disruption, there would be no problems.

Now things have gotten really bad. After all these years of trouble, not only has it attracted the attention of a large number of Neanderthal barbarians, but even the Reincarnator Organization has caught wind of this and wants to cause trouble.

There has to be a reason for all of this!
You are the king, you are the great six-star lord, but you are also the leader of our team.

After a long while, the magical shield of the observatory opened, and a white-robed female mage, who was about twenty years old, extremely beautiful, and with a half-divine aura, walked out. She was the fifth member of their team, one of the five great powers of the kingdom, the king's wife, and the beautiful queen.

"This is the result you wanted. His Majesty's actions were not foolish, but rather a precautionary measure. A much larger fragment of an ancient magical continent, with a total area of ​​over 30 million square kilometers, has appeared, along with trillions of smaller magical continent fragments. It will arrive in a hundred years."

"This is still a secret for now, but it won't be for long. The news will spread throughout the entire alliance and even the myriad worlds. You and I both know that our Locke Kingdom's overall combat strength ranks only fifty-fourth in the Alliance of Lords of the Heavens. Looking at the entire myriad worlds, it is completely insignificant."

“In the past, it was extremely difficult for His Majesty the King to upgrade to a seven-star lord and elevate his core territory to the seven-star level. Even your five-star territories could only maintain the status quo. But now, faced with this excellent opportunity, missing it would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Your lifespans are running out, aren't they? If you don't seize this opportunity, what are you waiting for?”

"To put it simply, His Majesty's meaning is very clear: the kingdom will expand the number of provinces to seven within a hundred years! But of the four new provinces, he will only directly govern one. As for the other three provinces, you can decide for yourselves. Duke Ver, you can plan the Thorn Province."

“Duke Kader, you can plan for the Windbreak Province.”

“Duke Duson, you can make plans for the Flying Eagle Province.”

"However, you must remember that the establishment of the new province will definitely severely provoke the Neanderthal barbarians. This war will be extremely fierce. Don't be stingy or think about your own little wealth. What's wrong with sharing some benefits with your subordinates? Once a new magical continent appears a hundred years later, that will be a huge benefit."

"That's all I have to say. If you're unwilling to stay put and only want to protect your own little corner of the world, that's fine too. But if your subordinates want to advance further, please don't obstruct or hold them back."

Hearing this, Duke Will, Duke Kader, and Duke Duson exchanged glances and finally nodded silently. Given the situation, there was no way to avoid making changes. Moreover, in recent years, the province's magic power had decreased, resources had been depleted, and the development of the territory had reached a bottleneck. It was indeed time to make changes.

-

The magic mine inside Gale Fortress is located in the center of the fortress and is under strict protection. Two Gale Paladins patrol and guard it 24 hours a day. In addition, Old Tom also guards outside the magic mine, but he still fell victim to the attack.

These reincarnators are far too powerful.

At this moment, Li Wei helped the weak old Tom walk over slowly. They looked friendly, like teammates, but in reality, he was hesitant because he suspected that old Tom had been infected.

Previously, Li Wei had always wondered how the Reincarnators managed to infiltrate the heavily guarded fortress and destroy a two-star mage tower.
So after Zhao Xuanxuan was killed, Li Wei spent several months collecting intelligence, and this time he even came to Fengxi Territory in person to carry out the mission, all in order to find out the truth about this matter.

Now, he can roughly guess what happened.

First of all, this is not an isolated incident.

The power struggle between the King and the Duke has been an open secret for a long time. Previously, in the Thorn Pass under the jurisdiction of the Province of Ver, the King's envoys appeared in waves, first to create the Thorn Province, then to create the Frost Province, but they all failed in the end. Now they are making trouble in the Province of Kadel.

Perhaps the overall combat strength of the Kader Province was not as good as that of the Wel Province. In any case, things were blown out of control. In just one year, a key pass fell, and five four-star viscount territories were either lost or dragged into a state of war.

Only then can the reincarnators be hired by the Necromancers.

In other words, the appearance of the reincarnators is irrelevant to the overall situation. They may be more like special forces from all realms. They are indeed very strong, but they are not the source of all events.

The root of the problem lies in His Majesty's desire to establish new provinces, which the established dukes opposed, leading to this tug-of-war between the two sides.

For example, Li Wei was very curious about where the Grand Master Teren had gone a few days ago with twenty-four Gale Knights and thirty heavy cavalry.
Who gave them the orders?
With them gone, Gale Fortress will be empty, don't you know?

With them around, even if a few more reincarnators come, they won't be able to cause much trouble. "As the saying goes, troubled times breed monsters. It's not that there are monsters that make a troubled world; it's that troubled worlds produce monsters!"

Li Wei sighed inwardly and suppressed the urge to snap Old Tom's neck; Old Tom was probably in trouble.

Moreover, the incident didn't happen last night, but a few days ago. The mother-child prop card he gave yesterday was the medium for calling out names.

Yes, Li Wei knew everyone in the entire Gale Fortress like the back of his hand. No matter how their words, actions, aura, or appearance changed, they could not escape his perception.

Only old Tom is quite dedicated. He often spends the night in the mountains and forests, and you won't see him for days at a time. If he is ambushed by the reincarnators, he will definitely be in trouble.

However, after much deliberation, Li Wei ultimately chose to pretend he didn't know.

The root of the problem isn't the infiltration of the reincarnator. The king and the duke are locked in a battle of wits, so what does it matter if a mere viscount jumps in?
Who knows who hired these reincarnators? Were they really hired by the Nepalese?

What if he was hired by a duke?
All of these are possible.

So don't cause trouble, just pretend you don't know anything, then find the right opportunity to escape, activate the mission settlement card, and get out of there as soon as possible.

It's better not to get involved in this mess!
"Gentlemen, what happened?!"

When Li Wei helped the frail old Tom over, it immediately alerted the two Swiftwind Paladins. The second-tier spellcaster also rushed over, but was protected by a Swiftwind Paladin. Twelve enchanted heavy crossbows were aimed at Li Wei and the other man from all directions.

"Tom and I were both attacked last night. He thinks that the enemy may have infiltrated our city."

Li Wei said in a deep voice, "At this time, we can't hide anything. Ensuring smooth communication is the most important thing. He can't let the reincarnator next to him become suspicious, so we have to be lenient, but we have to be lenient with high standards and strict requirements."

"Archie, don't get agitated. Have the guards leave. Also, inform Lord Ryder that he needs to know about this."

The second-tier spellcaster suddenly spoke, and the Archie she mentioned was the very alert Gale Paladin who stood in front of her.

"Tom, George, please come with me."

Li Wei helped Old Tom into the room where the spellcasters lived. She didn't have a mage tower yet, but even if she did, those reincarnators seemed to have a way to infiltrate and detonate it.

At this moment, the spellcaster first checked Old Tom's condition, and his expression immediately became serious.

“That’s right, Tom was indeed attacked by a powerful mental magic. This mental magic is at least Sequence 3, or even Sequence 4, so I can’t do anything about it. But if he can hold on for three days, it should be relieved after three days.”

“Spellcaster, Tom and I are worried that the enemy will launch an attack within the next three days, and you may be their first target. If a fortress does not have a spellcaster controlling the magic mine, its defenses will be reduced by at least half.”

Li Wei quickly replied.

“George, you can call me Agatha. Can I trust you?”

The spellcaster asked. She was a woman with gray hair, about sixty years old, and a native free citizen of this world, not a player. Of course, with the development of Windbreak Territory to this day, this spellcaster naturally understood the difference between native free citizens and professional players.

Li Wei gave the spellcaster a few more gentle glances before solemnly stating his position.
"That's for sure. Tom and I are trustworthy because we're mercenaries. At most, we might disagree with our employers about mercenary fees, but we would never betray them. The enemy can't bribe us with their magic powers unless they can kill us and step over our dead bodies."

Upon hearing this, the spellcaster Agatha smiled. "George, I am very touched to hear you say that. The situation is urgent, so Sir George, could you please be my personal bodyguard from now on? As you said, finding the infiltrated enemy is important, but the magic mine and I are even more important, as it concerns the survival of Gale Fortress."

"As you wish, Lady Agatha, as long as I am here, I will ensure your safety unless the enemy steps over my dead body."

Li Wei nodded solemnly. This was exactly what he had been thinking. This second-tier spellcaster absolutely could not be allowed to get into trouble.

As a second-tier ranger and a fairly competent scout, he couldn't possibly be so blind to this; otherwise, it would be a case of flooding the waters and wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.

(End of this chapter)