Chapter 47: Aid from the West
“Based on the current results, there is no problem with your spirituality or mind, Your Majesty.”
After a week of careful examination, the court mage, Droypus, carefully chose his words as he replied to Empress Theodora:
“The other party should not have left anything malicious on you. To be safe, we will continue to observe you for three more days.”
Theodora stood on the balcony of the palace, overlooking the rows of gray rooftops below, and frowned:
“That island… where exactly is it?”
“The most likely possibility is the world of the collective unconscious.” Droypus pondered and replied. “The gray fog you saw on the outer sea of the island should be the boundary between the unconscious and materialization.”
“The second possibility is the spirit world, opening up a space similar to the main plane in the spirit world through a magic circle, and the gray fog may be caused by the effect of the magic circle.”
“The third possibility is that you are indeed still in the main plane, but you were teleported to a certain place. In the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, there are countless islands like stars in the sky. It is very possible for someone to control one, but the ability to teleport over long distances is relatively rare.”
“Of course, as for the legendary semi-planes, or the three sub-planes of the Abyss, Purgatory, and the Underworld, we will not discuss them for now since they are too far-fetched.”
“Understood.” Theodora nodded slowly, looked at Lady Varomina, the official scribe who was attending by her side, and nodded. “You may leave now.”
“Yes.” Droypus bowed and left.
“Your Majesty.” Varomina curtsied slightly. “The West has replied. Empress Zoe is waiting for you at the Palace of the Golden Throne.”
“Lead the way.” Theodora replied.
Arriving at the Palace of the Golden Throne, Theodora quickly learned of the West’s response to their request for troops.
First was the bad news from the Holy Solomon Empire.
Emperor Otto seemed to have made up his mind to interfere in the power shift at the top of the Solomon Church.
The Church’s countermeasure was to instigate Duke Wolf of Kirchberg within the Empire to secretly oppose and obstruct Emperor Otto.
Although the two sides had not yet engaged in large-scale conflict, they were both preparing for war, so the Holy Roman Empire was unable to send troops to support the Eastern Solomon Empire’s war effort.
Then came the reply from the Church. They had also invested all their resources in the confrontation with Emperor Otto and were unable to send Templar knights to support their Solomon brothers in the East.
Civil strife broke out in Hungary, and the messenger lost contact within the country, so it was obviously impossible to count on them in the short term.
The only good news probably came from Venice. It was said that although the Church could not send troops, Pope Innocent himself signed a Holy War decree, calling on a group of Frankish knights who brought their own food and equipment. He also negotiated with the Venetians, intending to let them travel by naval ships to provide support.
These Frankish knights were originally small lords from the Holy Solomon Empire and the West Frankish Kingdom.
Because Emperor Otto and the Church were almost openly confronting each other, each instructing their subordinate dukes to expand their territories and strengthen their power, these barons and viscounts who originally owned a castle, a town, or even a village were almost all incorporated or defeated overnight. They lost their ancestral lands and could only come to the East to seek a living through adventure.
For the Franks, as long as there were battles to fight and wealth to plunder, they didn’t need the Empire to pay extra.
However, what was unacceptable was the price offered by the Venetians:
Transporting these Frankish knights and their retinues required the construction of a large number of ships.
The Venetians’ shipping price was 50,000 silver marks, equivalent to about 25,000 pounds in imperial currency, which could be paid in four installments.
The down payment required Constantinople to pay 7,500 pounds, and the Venetians would only set sail after seeing the money.
“This is outrageous!” If her elder sister hadn’t been present, Theodora would have wanted to tear the diplomatic document to shreds. It wasn’t that the Eastern Solomon Empire couldn’t afford this sum of money, but the Venetians’ attitude of taking advantage of the situation was really annoying. When did the noble Solomons have to be subjected to such shameless diplomatic extortion?
“Negotiations are like this. The other party asks for a sky-high price, and we counter-offer.” Zoe, however, was not as furious as her younger sister, but just said leisurely, “The Venetian envoy is also here, we can discuss the specific terms.”
“Sister, are you really going to cooperate with the Venetians?” Theodora was still angry. “It’s not like we have to use the Venetian navy. Since these Frankish knights are willing to support us, can’t they just come by land?”
“These knights are already concentrated in Venice.” Zoe looked troubled, sighed, and said, “If you let them come by land, maybe half of them will be intercepted by Otto, and then the other half will be intercepted by the Wolf family and pulled to participate in the Holy Roman Empire’s civil war.”
“Besides, we also need the Venetian navy to besiege the west coast of Anatolia, otherwise, once we lose Nicaea, the Seljuks will be able to transport troops by sea and deploy them to the Thracian plain.”
The Grand Domestic and the cabinet members also rushed to the palace, and soon the two Empresses’ heated discussions with their ministers could be heard again. It was not until 3 am that they reached a preliminary consensus.
It was already 8 am when the Venetian envoy was summoned to the palace.
The envoy was wearing a red and white classical robe and looked like a wealthy and amiable merchant, but his words were bland yet aggressive.
It was not until noon that the two sides finished bargaining and finalized the final terms that they could both temporarily accept.
“A down payment of 5,000 pounds of gold, the remaining 2,500 pounds will be raised by the Church through fundraising, but the Empire must sign a loan agreement with the Bank of Venice…” Theodora read it carefully and sighed silently in her heart.
Faced with the Venetians’ exorbitant demands, this was already the lowest price they could get.
“Sign it.” She said as she stamped it with her small purple seal, in quadruplicate, and then handed the contract to her elder sister Zoe.
“I didn’t bring my seal.” Zoe frowned. “I probably forgot it at the Boukoleon Palace, I’ll take it back and stamp it later.”
She put the contract away in her sleeve and left the Palace of the Golden Throne with the official scribe, Varomina.
Walking in the corridor of the palace, Zoe suddenly said as if unintentionally:
“I heard that last week, my younger sister had hallucinations?”
“Yes.” The official scribe, Varomina, didn’t dare to hide it and reported truthfully, “Empress Theodora met with the heir of the Achilles family in a tavern in the city last week, and then mysteriously disappeared for half an hour.”
“After returning, Her Majesty claimed to have been transported to an island in the middle of the ocean. The court mage advisor, Droypus, analyzed that Her Majesty was most likely sent to the world of the collective unconscious.”
“The Achilles family, is that the family whose ancestors came from the Dragon Kingdom?” Zoe pondered for a moment. “I remember this family should have all died out 40 years ago in the Sclerena rebellion.”
“At that time, a branch of the Achilles family stayed in Constantinople and supported Emperor Basil.” Varomina added. “Because of this, although the Achilles family suffered heavy losses and now there is almost only one heir left, no noble dares to covet their wealth.”
“Even the late Emperor Constantine (Emperor Basil’s younger brother) took good care of the Achilles family.”
“I see.” Zoe said lightly. “Find the heir of this Achilles family and find out what happened that day.”
“If he really has the psychic ability to open up a world in the collective unconscious… ask him if he is willing to serve the royal family as my personal mystical advisor.”
“Understood, Your Majesty.” Varomina nodded slightly, subconsciously understanding Zoe’s implication.
If he was willing to serve the royal family, then the matter of Empress Theodora’s disappearance could be put on hold for the time being.
If he was unwilling, then naturally there would be other ways to deal with it later.
…
“Ha!” On the top of the mountain peak of Furnace Island, the battle axe and spear crossed, sparks flying from the metal.
Sidlipha stepped forward, stretched out her arms, and her two axes whirled like a storm.
Whirlwind Slash!
Eleanor raised her shield and turned around. Under Sidlipha’s storm-like attack, her shield trembled as if wailing, but it was never knocked out of her hand.
Suddenly, she swung her shield, passing through the gap between the two whirling battle axes, and hit Sidlipha’s chest.
As she staggered Sidlipha, a cold light flashed behind the shield. The spear shot out like a dragon, stabbing straight at Sidlipha’s abdomen.
Sidlipha’s body was knocked backwards. In a split second, ignoring her balance, she abruptly swung her axes out.
With a loud clang of metal clashing, Eleanor’s spear in her right hand was deflected, but her left hand still stubbornly held the shield, protecting her chest.
Sidlipha fell to the ground on her back, gasping for air, and suddenly burst into laughter.
“What are you laughing at?” Asker walked over and looked at her with an idiotic expression.
“It feels so good.” Sidlipha said.
“The Whirlwind Slash lasted too long.” Asker reprimanded her. “Why did you spin so many times? Are you a fan? You have to learn to actively stop the skill!”
“When the enemy is not under your control, the duration of any skill release cannot exceed 3 seconds, otherwise it is easy for people to see through and counter it!”
After saying that, he turned around again and instructed Eleanor:
“The timing of your shield bash and grapple was excellent, but the subsequent Dragon Spear was not well executed. The enemy is not a wooden dummy that doesn’t fight back. Before each attack, you have to think about what to do if your attack is dodged? What if it is blocked? What if it is parried?”
“If your operation was more refined, you could stop the Dragon Spear after the shield bash, wait for her axe to swing in vain, and then thrust out the Dragon Spear again, she would have no way to parry it. This detail is not difficult for you to do with your current strength, but you must have this awareness.”
“Okay.” Eleanor nodded and went to meditate on the side.
This was a habit she had recently developed. During meditation, she would replay the details of the battle just now in her mind and verify and summarize them one by one.
Sidlipha lay on the ground to rest for a while, then got up again, full of energy, and began to practice activating and stopping the Whirlwind Slash.
Asker pondered for a moment and suddenly asked:
“Have you decided?”
“Decided what?” Sidlipha was stunned. “You mean, becoming a Transcendental?”
“I mentioned it to you yesterday.” Asker reminded her. “Two bloodline paths for main DPS and burst.”
“The first is the Barbarian path, which will grant you the ability to use two-handed weapons, allowing you to activate your own spirituality and enter a controllable state of frenzy, greatly increasing your physical strength in a short period of time.”
“At the same time, it will also grant you the power of bloodlust. Every time you successfully kill an enemy, your spirituality will be satisfied, your injuries will heal to a certain extent, and your combat ability will be temporarily enhanced.”
“The second is the Titan path.” Asker continued. “You will have the bloodline of a frost giant. When activated, your body will be over three meters tall, and your skin will have extremely strong physical and magical resistance.”
“You will master the power of frost and lightning. Any enemy who attacks you will suffer frost damage, and your lightning will jump between enemies, paralyzing them and burning their internal organs.”
“You will also have an ancient aura, which will allow you to automatically identify ancient ruins and artifacts, making you less susceptible to illusions and psychic influence.”
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