Chapter 41: Choice

Once players unite, the power they can unleash is also extremely formidable.

Emperor's Hammer Cruiser, Skyfall Cruiser, Barracuda Battle Barge, Will Battle Barge, Rotting Corpse Battle Barge, Holy Skull Battle Barge.

A strike fleet composed of two cruisers and four battle barges. Plus over a hundred unescorted, refitted ships sailing with the fleet. This is the largest fleet the Player First Guild can muster with a certain degree of official support.

Because there is no protection from a Goddess or Magic, and the figureheads have not granted recognition, the players' fleet can be said to be fragile as glass compared to other fleets of the Chivalrous Expedition, possessing no real combat effectiveness. However, a total of three hundred and sixty cannons and a series of supply provisions are still essential for the fleet.

Moreover, for the mages of the Tower of Wisdom, who support this Chivalrous Expedition for reasons unknown, incorporating these fleets into their joint spellcasting range is not a difficult task.

Players are rapidly integrating into this world, developing as if they were native inhabitants.

Everything is developing in a positive direction.

Whether it is the supplies continuously sent from the Far West and even beyond the Old World, the gossip spreading through the streets and alleys, or the whispers produced in special occasions filled with hazy purple mist, everyone seems to be shrouded in a kind of fanaticism.

The Errantry War must proceed, and it must even be the most powerful and populous Errantry War in history. The transported supplies even exceeded the capacity of one hundred and sixty dock warehouses, and the accompanying sponsored fleet reached a level of twenty-one medium and large vessels alone.

Even the legendary warship, the Knight's Glory, which once went toe-to-toe with three Vampire Pirate battleships without falling behind, will be deployed as the flagship for this Errantry War.

With the push from multiple parties, the scale of this Errantry War is unprecedented.

Players, Human, Elf, Dwarf, Empire, and even those as far south as Tilea and the Border Princes, and even further away, have all begun to gradually hear of the greatness of this Errantry War.

They all know that a supernatural rift has appeared in the Arctic region, and the power of the Chaos gods does not seem to be effective in that place. A strange, or even bizarre, wizard has occupied the Broken Lands and is using powerful Magic to modify the local terrain.

According to common sense, such a powerful mage should be an individual with some fame in history.

But everyone checked their respective genealogies back eight generations and never saw such a person. In the end, they could only conclude that they might be a stowaway from another large region.

Then let that strange stowaway experience the hospitality of the local people. The major powers do not have any special thoughts on this; it is just another daily occurrence of the Old World's chaos, and the scale of the fighting is not even as large as the Empire and Bretonnia joining forces to resist the Green Tide.

At the very least, three Dwarf fortresses have been destroyed in the Badlands, and the long-beards are already so furious that they are going to send Rune smiths to give the Greenskins a big surprise.

And not only that, as the Vampire Pirate situation intensifies, large-scale naval battles have begun to break out around the Island of Eternal Gathering of the Elf.

There are double-digit numbers of battleship-class vessels alone, and even super-dreadnoughts have appeared.

Compared to the inexplicable Errantry War in the Broken Lands, it is clear that the resistance against the Green Tide in the Badlands and the great naval battles around the Island of Eternal Gathering are much more lively.

But this is only the world's perspective. For the parties involved, or rather for one of the parties involved in the Errantry War, this pressure is a torture and agony that normal people can hardly imagine.

"!"

Waking up from a nightmare once again, Joshua opened his eyes wide, looking at the ceiling above him, covered in cold sweat.

The purple gem embedded in the first-class pleasure pavilion in Gelongni seemed to be reflecting his pale face.

It's blown up.

It's completely blown up.

Joshua wiped the sweat from his face, his heart emitting a short and rapid roar. He never intended for this; he just wanted to shift the blame. Really, Joshua swore to the heavens, at the very beginning, he just purely wanted to fabricate a reason, a reason for himself to escape.

He killed the nephew who questioned him, slaughtered the wavering Knight in the cabin, and even killed all the unsuspecting serfs below the deck. Even Joshua himself could not remember how he managed to sail such a large ship back to Gelongni.

Was it the tide? Or something else? What is the result of this Chivalrous Expedition? What is it in the end? Should tell them... should be honest about his sins.

Looking at the purple gem with a slight crack on the ceiling, Joshua hesitated in his heart.

He didn't know why he was possessed, killing everyone and making himself the only witness. Should tell them.

He should have been an upright Knight, should have achieved victory relying on his own sword and honor, why did it turn out like this?

"My Lord..."

However, at this moment, a fair and smooth arm wrapped around him from behind like a snake. A soft laugh sounded in his ear.

"You are a hero, a hero who discovered the evil wizard. When the Knight King is still resisting the Green Tide in the south, you discovered the traces of true evil, so you gathered everyone to go and fight, isn't that a very great thing?"

"Am I... a hero?"

A wisp of purple mist swirled in the incense burner, and his originally clear consciousness seemed to blur.

He felt that this wisp of purple fragrance seemed somewhat familiar.

In the incense burner of his own fleet, when he went mad and killed all the servants, when he was finally desperate and wanted to die, this wisp of purple seemed to exist in the corner.

"Of course, my dear hero."

In the girl's light purple, hazy gaze, Joshua's gaze also seemed to become unfocused and hazy.

Was I wrong?

Was I really wrong?

I wasn't wrong, if I were wrong, how could I be here?

"How many people can admit their own incompetence and weakness?"

The girl lowered her head and whispered:

"Leaving that terrible world must not have been easy, right? My Lord, look, your dignity is ashamed, but I think this is even greater courage and honor, oh?

So, let us immerse ourselves in this joy. Let us walk toward the other shore of chivalry, under the blessing of laughter and honor."

You see, I have already become like this..."

The purple-eyed woman laughed. And accompanied by a low roar from Joshua and the woman's soft, charming laughter, the incense burner crackled, bringing a wave of enchanting fragrance.

(End of chapter)