"Ding—Ding—Ding—Ding—Ding—"
The distant and lodious sound of the bell still echoed in the sky above, resounding throughout the entire Norwich.
Every fairy in Norwich heard this bell ringing, touched deep within their hearts, yet also wept with joy.
"The Pilgrimage Bell!"
"The Pilgrimage Bell has been struck!"
"It is indeed the Child of Prophecy! The Child of Prophecy has co to Norwich!"
"Wonderful! We really are saved! Norwich is saved!"
Most fairies cheered, filling the whole of Norwich with an atmosphere of jubilation.
In the face of the imminent ’Catastrophe,’ the Child of Prophecy had co as foretold and rung the Pilgrimage Bell, much to the delight of those fairies who had been worrying over the threat of the ’Catastrophe.’
Only Spurgen, after hearing the Pilgrimage Bell, started cursing loudly in his own room.
"Damn it! How dare they do this...!?"
The smile vanished from the face of this chieftain of the Earth Clan and was replaced by an anger and panic he hadn’t shown before.
"Soone! Co quickly!"
Spurgen imdiately burst out from his room, shouting loudly all around him
"Lord Spurgen! We’re here!"
The lord’s trusted aide who had led Reiger and the others to the treasury city imdiately arrived with a large group of guards in front of Spurgen.
Interestingly, all these guards turned out to be fairies from the Tusk Clan, with not a single one from the Earth Clan.
Clearly, Spurgen, motivated purely by profit and considering combat prowess, had never intended to employ fairies from his own clan as guards but instead had hired the physically strong Tusk Clan fairies.
"Go at once to the Bell Tower! Take down the entire group who trespassed into the Bell Tower and struck the bell!"
Spurgen’s ireful command made the lord’s trusted aide hesitate.
"Lord Spurgen, if I may speak frankly, our chances of success are slim," said the lord’s trusted aide. "The opponent is the Child of Prophecy; even our Tusk Clan chieftain, Woodworth, failed to capture them after two attempts and was defeated by the might of Sir Gawain, the Elf Knight. With just us, the chance of success is very, very small."
Both Woodworth and Gawain were among the Tusk Clan’s suprely strong fighters.
Being part of the Tusk Clan, the lord’s trusted aide knew well just how formidable a character who could make those two suffer would be.
Even though he was an elite amongst the Tusk Clan and stronger in combat than the average Tusk Clan fairy, compared to those two, he was still greatly outmatched.
Hence, the lord’s trusted aide didn’t believe he could capture the Child of Prophecy who had baffled Woodworth and defeated Gawain.
To this, Spurgen cursed again.
"Are you an idiot?" Spurgen asked bluntly. "Listen well, this isn’t about whether it can be done but about taking action no matter what."
"Regardless of whether or not we can capture the Child of Prophecy, we must act as if the bell was rung without our consent."
"Otherwise, if the Queen thinks we have colluded with the Child of Prophecy, do you think that witch would spare us with her ruthlessness?"
"If we show even a hint of siding against the Queen’s faction, that cold-hearted witch will purge us. Do you understand?"
The lord’s trusted aide, having heard this, suddenly realized the severity of the situation and broke out in a cold sweat.
"Yes! I will imdiately lead the team to besiege the Child of Prophecy!"
Thus, the lord’s trusted aide quickly left, with the Tusk Clan fairies hurrying to follow suit.
"Tch!"
Spurgen, still feeling unappeased, stood there clicking his tongue in frustration.
For Reiger’s actions had thrown all his plans into disarray.
Long before the dark clouds appeared in Norwich’s skies and the ’Catastrophe’ began to manifest, Spurgen had already been selling off Norwich’s lands.
Naturally, it was the fairies of Norwich who bought these lands.
They used all their wealth to purchase the lord’s lands, thereby obtaining territories of their own.
But those fairies had no idea that this was in fact Spurgen’s conspiracy.
He, privy to the oracle from the Mirror Clan and the Queen’s detections, knew well in advance that Norwich would beco the epicenter of the ’Catastrophe.’
Therefore, he had sold off the lands of Norwich, knowing that they would soon beco ruins.
Once the ’Catastrophe’ reduced Norwich to nothing but flat ground, Spurgen would be able to reclaim the lands of Norwich in his na as the lord.
By doing so, he would essentially get a large sum of fairy money for the lands without having lost anything.
This was why Spurgen did not wish for the ’Catastrophe’ to be repelled.
If the ’Catastrophe’ were repelled, how would he recover the lands he had sold?
If the ’Catastrophe’ were repelled and the fairies who suffered no losses, how could they possibly give up their lands due to an inability to pay for rebuilding?
Only if the ’Catastrophe’ truly erupted, reducing Norwich to ruins, would the Queen order him, as the lord of Norwich, to reconstruct Norwich.
When the ti ca, only with the queen’s orders could Norwich legitimately reclaim the land, under the guise of urban reconstruction.
Even better, due to the reconstruction, Spurgen would be able to request necessary funds from the queen and turn a hefty profit.
With such a lucrative business, how could Spurgen possibly allow it to go bust?
He hadn’t even issued an evacuation proclamation because he was hoping that all the fairies who bought the land would die in the "calamity," avoiding a whole slew of subsequent troubles.
As for the fairies fleeing on their own initiative, that was of no concern to him.
Because Spurgen knew all too well just how foolish and self-absorbed fairies could be.
What they valued most wasn’t life, but things that could satisfy their spiritual needs.
Those fairies who bought the land were such beings.
How could they simply abandon the lands they had purchased by emptying their family fortunes?
The fairies of Tintagel Village could kill each other over trivial matters, so naturally, the fairies of Norwich could also stay amidst the chaos for a reason incomprehensible to humans.
Because of this, Spurgen used the Pilgrimage Bell as a bargaining chip to restrain the only ones who could, according to the prophecy, repel the "calamity" of Norwich—the prophesied child and his companions.
Indeed, Spurgen did not believe for a second that the prophesied child would abandon saving Norwich for the Pilgrimage Bell.
He rely wanted to impede their movents, to keep them inside the treasury city until the "calamity" erupted.
In Spurgen’s plan, whether or not the prophesied child agreed to his request, they would stay in Norwich for the Pilgrimage Bell.
The treasury city was closest to the Pilgrimage Bell, and they would need his permission to ring it, constantly trying to persuade him. In such a scenario, they would inevitably remain in the treasury city.
This way, when the "calamity" exploded, he could seal the entire treasury city, turning the strongest fortified vault into the sturdiest prison, to prevent the prophesied child from getting out to counter the outbreak of the "calamity."
Spurgen had devised such a plan since Aurora contacted him and revealed the prophesied child’s intention to ring Norwich’s Pilgrimage Bell, and he promptly agreed to Aurora’s request to et with the prophesied child.
Who would have thought that they would act so unreasonably, not even trying to maintain a facade of a relationship with him, and directly sneaking into the bell hall to ring the Pilgrimage Bell.
Don’t they want his help?
Aren’t they afraid that he would completely side with the queen and stand against them?
To overthrow the queen, shouldn’t they try not to offend him, and even coax him into joining the camp against the queen?
"What a bunch of brainless savages!"
Spurgen cursed bitterly.
But now, there was nothing he could do.
"If soft tactics won’t work, I’ll have to play hardball."
Deceit flashed in Spurgen’s eyes.
"If they won’t stay, then I’ll force them out."
Variety of sches surfaced in Spurgen’s mind.
However, just at that mont, a guard rushed over in a panic.
"Trouble, my lord!"
Seeing this, Spurgen’s heart tightened.
"What’s wrong?"
His voice involuntarily rose a notch.
But the news the guard brought was both shocking and delightful to him.
"From the direction of Norwich’s port, a large number of Moors are approaching!"
The guard shouted thus.
"The ’calamity’... has erupted!"
...
anwhile, at the very front of Norwich’s gate, a mighty horde of the Tusk Clan’s fairies marched forth.
The leader, clad in nobleman’s attire, covered in dark fur resembling an upright werewolf and exuding a vicious aura,
was the Tusk Clan chief and the lord of Oxford—an Elf Knight from Fairy Country who, a thousand years ago, had defeated the King of Moors and suppressed the "Grand Calamity"—Woodworth.
"Has the news been confird?" Woodworth asked his aide, "Reiger Brillhaut has entered Norwich?"
"Yes, it has been confird," the aide reported truthfully, "As Lord Mourine of Gloucester said, the prophesied child and his entourage are indeed heading towards Norwich, currently in the city."
"Good," Woodworth bared his teeth, with a fierce gleam in his eyes, "It was worth rushing here non-stop upon receiving the news, even accepting the damned Mourine’s assistance and boarding her prepared ship."
It was because of this that they were able to catch up to Reiger; otherwise, with the ans Reiger used to expedite their journey along the way, Woodworth would never have caught up in ti.
"This ti, I’ll see where you can run."
Imnse magic power stirred, and Woodworth, along with his legions, marched into Norwich grandly.
Another great battle was about to begin.
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