Chapter 203: Time to go home.

Chapter 203: Time to go home.

I didnt know whether to feel guilt over the barrier falling or not, to be honest. I had never even thought about the barriers existence in the first place in the first place, making this new development rather ambiguous.

Thankfully, the dry man and the pope left us to recover from our surprise and freshen up, as their arrival had, by itself, left us both filled with adrenaline.

When, half an hour later, the inquisitor walked in on the fours of us sitting comfortably at his dining table, Emeri and I were glad that he reacted even worse than we did. He had stood there, not believing his own eyes. It took a while for him to realise that this was all real and even when he finally came to his senses, his explanation did little to diminish the dangerous glint in the popes eyes.

I had hoped that the recent turn of events would exonerate him of any guilt in the eyes of the church, as had happened for us, but it seemed that his insubordination wouldnt be forgiven that easily. At least he would live to see the consequences. Hopefully.

So whats going to happen now, your holiness? Emeri eventually asked, interrupting the popes unsuccessful attempts at making small talk with the dry man. Even questions about his daughter, Alice, couldnt get the stoic relic to open up.

Something interesting, I should think. He replied with a mad glint in his eyes. Though that impression might have been my imagination, as the glint disappeared as quickly as it had come. A switch had been flipped in the popes mind as he reverted to the kind grandfather image that he was trying so hard to emulate. Oh, and call me Myers in private, you two. Something tells me you two will eventually earn the right to call me by that name anyway.

At this point, the dry man extrapolated.

What the pope means to say is that conflict is about to happen. To what scale, we cant yet estimate.

Emeri cringed at the thought of causing this issue, but I had to admit that I felt excited at the prospect, rather than guilty. Imagining the sights one could see outside of the continent filled me with anticipation.

Are there many people living in the lands beyond the barrier, then? I asked, curious.

Its difficult to say, as none of us has managed to venture there. From the records, though, the other continents are said to quadruple the size of our own. It stands to reason that just as many people live there, then. We can only hope that they stand just as divided as we do.

I nodded, turning pensive.

If were outnumbered so badly, shouldnt we try to form alliances with the other countries along the coast? I wondered aloud. I know that Roa and the between lands are landlocked, but if our neighbours are conquered, we will follow and lose out on vital trade. Doesnt Roa rely on an Elos-owned channel to reach the sea?Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

At this, the pope spread his hands exuberantly.

You are correct, of course! Thankfully, I know just how to convince that rusty old sword to abandon its sheath! With the right bait, anything can be lured. From there, all we need to do is awaken his competitiveness!

We?

Im afraid that Im going to have to ask you to cooperate just this once

Later that evening, Emeri and I were already on a boat back to Roa. The pope and the dry man hadnt given us the details of their plan, but it turned out that we never needed them to do so in the first place.

This was because, apparently, they never intended to keep it a secret in the first place, as became evident when we encountered a commotion on deck, right before we were set to depart.

In the middle of the commotion, a man was holding up a newspaper with a bold title written on the front page.

The dry man of the between lands advances to the seventh tier- announces himself as the most powerful classer on the continent!

I couldnt stop myself from doing a double-take, knowing such a declaration to be far outside of the dry mans usual pattern of behaviour. All around us, people were gossiping about this new development. Being to close to Alterian, everyone seemed entirely convinced that the pope was by the strongest person on the continent. This didnt stop them from gossiping about the possibilities, however.

There was a lot of back and forth about how the other classers of the continent would take this declaration, for example. The wandering wind, a lady that could summon powerful winds that carved mountains, supposedly wouldnt care. She hadnt even bothered settling somewhere and likely wouldnt be interested in the title of the strongest.

Mulios sea-king, who was only a pseudo-tier 7 classer due to a failed trial, was thought to be the weakest of the 6 tier 7 classers on the continent, and therefore didnt have the power to contest the dry man.

The last two classers were bound to care, however. The emperor of Ostapor, for one, would see the declaration as a challenge to his authority, while the earth elemental nestled right above Giurna saw personal power as the only thing that mattered. Not dissimilar to Dalius, in fact, now that I thought about it.

One could only hope that this ploy would work and attract all of them to the upcoming continental meet.

For now, though, I turned my sights to the ocean. It was time to go home.