novelkee Chapter 566 : Remember to Repay the Blood Harbor Mortgage
Chapter 566 : Remember to Repay the Blood Harbor Mortgage
Chapter 566: Remember to Repay the Blood Harbor Mortgage
After quite a while, a slightly familiar voice came through the link.
『You can take Bazel away now. His life form has been completely transformed. As I said before, he should be able to shine brilliantly in Castel.』
『Gwen, it’s fine whatever happens with Bazel. Castel isn’t short of another Stellar Furnace. What I want to know is—how are you right now?』
『I still have some trouble. There’s too much Knowledge Pollution in the mist. I need to absorb it slowly. After you take Bazel away, don’t disturb me for a while. When I succeed, I’ll contact you.』
『Still can’t tell me the reason?』
『It’s not that I don’t want to tell you—it’s that I don’t know either. I told you before that within the White Calamity, I would gradually receive both Knowledge and Pollution. I’ve obtained many scattered fragments of knowledge in the mist, and now I’m piecing them together, slowly forming the truth. I don’t know exactly how long it’ll take, but I have a feeling it’s not far away. Perhaps a few weeks from now, you’ll be able to get the truth from me.』
『Alright, then... can you still return to Castel?』
The mist churned. Gwen stayed silent for a long time before finally speaking in a muffled voice: 『You’ve already gotten what you wanted. Why care about a little girl from a Fried-Fish Stall? If you must talk about Gwen, wouldn’t that other Gwen out there be better? She’s saved countless members of the Resistance Army in the Northlands, while I... may not even be able to save myself.』
『Bettys recently spent all the points she’d been saving. She helps with substitute teaching in her spare time and has earned quite a few points little by little—you know that, right?』
『Wha—』
『She used those points to apply for a roadside shop—made of reinforced concrete. Even if the Tide of White Bones reached Blood Harbor, it wouldn’t collapse. It’s a hundred-year property, seventy years to pay it off in installments, monthly point payments required. She even wrote both your name and Yami’s on the property deed. Next month, you have to come back and pay the bill, got it?』
『...』
『If you don’t want to default, then come back and work early. Castel has your friends, your shop, and your eight hundred and forty installments of mortgage. You can’t escape.』
『...Alright.』
Hughes’s eyes gradually grew hollow; the soul within had already returned. What remained here was only an empty shell.
The mist surged. Suddenly, a sharp bone claw stepped onto the frozen surface in front of Hughes.
Worker Hughes’s lower body was frozen in the ice. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t break free. This was another vast, endless sea scattered with floating ice. Hughes had never seen any living beings here before.
But now, this White Bone had appeared abruptly before him.
Moments later, the mist thinned slightly. A colossal skull, mountain-sized, loomed faintly closer to his side.
The eye sockets of that skull were several times larger than Hughes’s body. It was impossible to imagine how enormous the being within the mist must be.
It lowered its head and stared at Hughes for a long while. Its bony claw twitched slightly, revealing a fine white thread, almost invisible compared to its immense body, tied to it.
The other end, however, was connected to Worker Hughes’s chest, splitting into several strands that stretched along the sea’s surface far into the distance.
That was the Link from Hughes—also, His Anchor.
The sound of bones rubbing against one another arose, like countless skeletons singing together in unison, forming a deep and hoarse voice.
“Cas...tel.”
“Going to the Northlands? Now?” Nini froze upon hearing that, then widened her eyes. “What about us? Do we follow? If you go, all the Banshees will start losing their vitality!”
“That’s why I came to tell you. Alexei is heading north to manage affairs there. You’ll take charge of the Banshees in the meantime. If there’s any trouble, handle it. I’ll be back soon.”
“How soon?”
“If quick, by tonight; if not, a day or two at most.”
“Alright.” Nini glanced at Ash. “She’s going with you?”
“Yes. If you need anything, tell me now. The train’s about to depart—I have to go.”
“Don’t die in the Northlands.”
After Ash tossed Nini out the window, Hughes boarded the train and left Blood Harbor. This trip had been abrupt; only a few knew his purpose.
The train clattered along the tracks, and after several hours, Hughes arrived at the familiar Wasteland. Alexei and Gwen were waiting at the station to greet him—they had only just received the message. Hughes hadn’t even sent a word of notice; he had simply boarded the train straight away. If not for the train whistle announcing his arrival, they might not have known until he knocked on their office door.
“How’s the situation? Any abnormalities?”
“...Yes.” Alexei looked deeply at his Lord. “We just received important news. Something strange seems to have been thrown out from the mist. The Banshees on rotation have already contained it. We were preparing to send the intel back.”
What had just been thrown out of the mist was, of course, Earl Bazel.
Hughes soon saw him on the open ground before the Fortress.
Two fully armed Banshees were pressing down a skeleton several meters tall.
Its body was grotesquely twisted, as though a normal human body had been forcibly stretched and enlarged.
And the way it was stretched was crude—like a clumsy doctor performing surgery with toy blocks, or a beginner carpenter’s crooked practice work.
Its bones had been broken, with other white bones forcibly jammed into the fractures, mismatched and crooked, barely pieced together into a humanoid form.
From a distance, it looked human yet disturbingly wrong. The eerie distortion was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine.
Fortunately, the seven or eight Gatlings aimed right at its skull provided some comfort.
Gun barrels also extended from the distant Fortress, where several regiments of the Expeditionary Army now had their weapons trained on the area. Even if a horde of such White Bone giants appeared, they could still fight back evenly.
“What happened?”
Hughes asked one of the Expeditionary Soldiers nearby.
“My Lord, I’m today’s watch post, responsible for observing the White Mist. Earlier, this White Bone giant was suddenly thrown out of the mist—right in front of the two Banshees on duty.”
“Yes, I was on shift with Una. We were playing cards when Bazel just whoosh—got thrown out.”
Hughes looked up and saw Feniel gesturing with all six of her hands, mimicking a card-playing motion.
“How did you know it was Bazel? Did it say so itself?”
The White Bone giant let out a cold snort—instantly, a cluster of Gatlings was shoved right back against it, pressing it down again.
“So it can talk...” Hughes murmured, then noticed Feniel’s expression turning odd.
“This one... when it was thrown out, it was already Bazel.”