When Iron Axe heard the news, a rarely seen look of surprise appeared on his face. He exchanged looks with Edith and saw the shock in each other's eyes.
In fact, Tilly hesitated to inform their findings to the First Army's commander without verifying the truth first. After all, it was something close to a miracle. If the Demons were truly capable of achieving such a feat, it would definitely dampen the morale and confidence of the higher-ups, and people with weak wills would even think of surrendering.
"We didn't make a mistake, that's for sure, coo." Maggie patted her chest. "Lightning and I have been to the ridge of the continent before, and such a mountain didn't exist then, coo!"
Lightning nodded. "We are currently unable to verify if it is something the Demons are responsible for, but one thing is for sure. It appeared there within the past half month."
"I see…" Edith pondered for a moment and spoke, "If that is the case, then everything makes sense."
"You believe us?" Tilly was shocked.
She originally believed that Edith would take some time to digest the information before being able to arrange and conduct surveillance operations for verification. Who would had thought that the Pearl of the Northern Region had accepted their words immediately. After all, even though the three of them had personally witnessed the scene, it took them a very long time to reach the consensus that it was no hallucination.
"You have to blame Roland for that." Edith sighed. "If it was three years ago, I reckon that I would had treated your words as lunacy… but now, I think that anything is possible. If I had continued staying in that tiny place, I will never have realized how much the world has changed."
"Aside from that, the demons' unusual activity confirms this point." Edith paused for a while and narrated the information received by Hill Fawkes. "None of the cities owned by n.o.bles are able to accommodate so many people, but a floating island might."
"Demons… are accepting mankind?" Lightning was stunned.
"This isn't the first time. Didn't Agatha mention it before that in the first Battle of Divine Will, some humans actually formed an 'alliance' with the demons to fight against the Witches." Edith shrugged her shoulders. "At that time, they were afraid of Witches. Now, the only variable that has changed in our situation is that they are now afraid of His Majesty Roland. Since they are unwilling to accept change or to be part of the change, there is a limit to what they can do."
"They didn't heed the warnings about the Battle of Divine Will…" Tilly clenched her fists subconsciously.
"No…" Edith revealed a strange smile. "Even if the n.o.bles acknowledged it, they might still make the same decision. It might take a several years or decades before the end of the war, but the reality is that His Majesty has removed the power of the n.o.bles and took their lands away from them. To some people, this makes no difference as taking their lives. Since one is immediate death and the other a delayed death, they will rather choose the latter."
"Enough of this." Iron Axe interrupted them helplessly. He knew that once the Pearl of the Northern Region entered her state of mockery, it would be difficult to stop her. Besides, it was easy for her to offend others and even himself. "Back to the matter at hand, how should we go about handling the floating island?"
Edith's expression returned to normal. "No, we can't do anything about it. If it had been at the ridge of the continent the entire time, we'll be fine. But if that thing truly came from elsewhere, we are in deep trouble. For Her Highness Tilly to be able to see it from a few hundred kilometers away, its size far surpa.s.ses that of anything we can imagine. Do you think that we can destroy part of the Impa.s.sable Mountain Range by relying on the Fires of Heaven?"
"We need to inform my brother as soon as possible." Tilly spoke up.
"I concur." Edith nodded her head. "This no longer concerns plans and strategies, the only one capable of thinking of our next step is His Majesty Roland."
"It is a pity that the new communications iron towers are still under construction; otherwise, we would have the ability to converse with His Majesty immediately." Iron Axe walked over to the work desk and picked up a pen and paper. "Regardless, we should first send a flying messenger before doing anything else."
"There is no need for that, let me handle it." Tilly stood up. "With the speed of Phoenix, I can arrive at Neverwinter in the afternoon if I set off tomorrow morning. It is far faster than any messenger. Also… I was thinking of thanking him for the new gift."
With that, she turned to Lightning and Maggie. "We will have to trouble the two of you to continue the investigation to the west of the Impa.s.sable Mountain Range."
"Leave it to us," the two replied earnestly.
…
The next day, Tilly flew alone on the Phoenix east towards the sea before following the sh.o.r.eline southwards. In less than four hours, she landed in the Aerial Knight Academy in King's City.
On this day, many witnessed the sight of a red shooting star shooting across the sky.
After leaping off her plane, she sprinted into the castle. Seeing her gray hair, no guards dared to block her path.
Upon opening the office doors, Roland blinked his eyes in surprise. Obviously, he did not expect her to appear.
"Uh… is there a problem with the plane?"
Tilly stopped in her tracks as a hint of guilt appeared in her heart in that instant. Did I force him so much that the first thing he asks when seeing me is about the plane? "No, the personal plane… I mean the Phoenix is far better than what I had antic.i.p.ated. About that… thank you, Brother."
"Phew." Roland heaved a sigh of relief, but his expression immediately became serious. "Then the reason you're back is because… you have important information for me?"
"That's right, while piloting the Phoenix on its maiden flight, I accidentally discovered demon movements." Tilly then recounted the experience the three had in detail.
After listening to the entire story, Roland frowned. For an object to be seen from such a great distance away, aside from being un.o.bstructed, the other factor was size. Take for example the moon and the stars. At a distance of over a hundred kilometers, even the Impa.s.sable Mountain Range would appear to be a thick line, the ridge of the continent would only appear as a dusky 'hill.' To be seen from such a distance, the object was definitely not small.
The demons already have the ability to move an island into the sky?
One had to know that it was impossible even for modern day technology.
If it was truly a solid island, any weapons would have little to no value. This was determined by physical characteristics. Any large weight object capable of floating signified an astonis.h.i.+ng amount of energy.
Magic power is truly unreasonable…
But Roland deeply understood this point after he met Anna. Now, it was imperative that they verified the information regarding the behemoth.
He thought of an exceptionally suitable person.
Entering the Dream World, Roland picked up the phone and dialed Valkries number.