Chapter 1886 - 1885: Kovotra

The morning sunlight poured down from the edge of the sky, illuminating the silent wilderness.

Anke lifted his head, looking at the rolling mountains outside the window, looking at the magnificent city at the end of the mountain range. He took a deep breath. "I’m back."

"Is this Vissen?" He Ao’s voice sounded in his ear.

"Yeah." Anke pointed at the magnificent city at the end of the mountains. "This is Vissen."

The city stood on a flat valley floor between the mountains. A winding river seemed to flow in from behind the city, pass through the entire city, and then flow out along the valley.

The city seemed to have completely filled every inch of valley it could occupy, with some towering walls even built atop the cliffs.

Some building foundations protruded out from the flat ground, like skyscrapers suddenly squeezed up out of a plain.

"What’s the name of that river?" He Ao continued to ask.

"That river has been there ever since Vissen was founded," Anke said in a low voice. "We call it the Kattra River. The name’s a bit of a mouthful, and we don’t really know when it came into use. Ever since Vissen existed, it’s been there."

As he said this, he paused slightly, realizing the way the river’s name sounded was somewhat familiar.

He rolled the word around in his mouth for a moment, then said softly, "Old man, back in the day, did Kevortla also have a river like this?"

"Yes," He Ao said slowly. "That river was called Kovotra. It means ’the great river at the bottom of the valley.’ The name Kovotra also comes from that."

"These two rivers... could they actually be the same one?" Anke mulled it over. "Kevortla and Kattra, they sound pretty similar."

"Maybe over a long enough span of time, the pronunciation shifted a bit," He Ao said calmly. He actually wasn’t very surprised, because he had guessed as much long ago.

The Floating Warplane began to slowly descend, drawing close to a relatively flat knoll below.

Geslo looked at Anke and said slowly, "We can’t get too close to Vissen, or their radar will pick us up. Landing out in the wild like this is best."

"Got it." Anke nodded, indicating he understood.

Then he turned his head, looking at the city outside the window. "So, old man, have you located where Kevortla was now?"

"What?" Geslo thought Anke was talking to him and looked up.

"Nothing, nothing," Anke shook his head and smiled. "I just like talking to myself."

Geslo gave an awkward smile and went back to keeping his gaze on the area around the ship.

"I’ve found it," at this moment, He Ao’s voice also sounded in Anke’s ear. "It’s right where your line of sight ends, where that city stands."

Anke froze for a second. Even though he’d already had a hunch, he still said with some surprise, "So Vissen is Kevortla?"

"Strictly speaking, no," He Ao denied. "But this new city should be built atop the ruins of the old one. The two cities don’t necessarily have any direct connection; it’s just that this stretch of valley happens to be suitable for founding a city. The two cities also don’t completely overlap."

He Ao said quietly, "As I recall, Kevortla extended a bit farther up along the valley, but most of the two do overlap."

"That makes sense." Anke nodded. His geography was poor, and he couldn’t really grasp the nuances, but he knew that, right now, nodding was good enough.

Bang—

By this time, the airship had already touched down, giving off a slight tremor.

"So, old man, are you coming into the city with me?" Anke continued to ask in a low voice.

"Yes." He got He Ao’s calm reply.

"Vissen is West Steel’s territory," Anke said quietly. "Maybe my Mercenary Corps ID is still good. We might be able to slip through just like that."

"You probably won’t need your ID," He Ao said.

"What do you mean?" Anke was taken aback.

Just then, Geslo had already unfastened his harness and walked over, looking at Anke. "We’ve arrived, Mr. Anke."

"Alright." Anke quickly snapped back to himself and looked at Geslo. "Then wait here for me a bit. I’ll go into the city and bring my mother and big brother out."

"Mr. Anke, we’re here to escort you while you fetch your family," Geslo said slowly. "If you go alone and something happens, we’ll be held responsible."

"Huh?" Anke was stunned. He looked at Geslo standing before him, then swept a glance over the nearby combat team members. "So what are you saying? You’re all coming with me?"

He paused for a beat. "But how are you going to get into the city?"

"Before we left, Mr. Davis gave us some prepared cover identities," Geslo raised his hand, revealing a merchant caravan pass. "Right now we’re a legitimate small procurement caravan from Vitland."

"Since when does Davis prepare stuff like this? You can’t just whip up identities like that on short notice, can you?" Anke was a bit dumbfounded.

"Mr. Davis said that if we’re planning to do big things, we have to be fully prepared." Geslo looked at Anke and explained, "These were prepared for gathering intelligence in other cities, and the identities are absolutely clean, with no way to link them to Ilotan."

"He really thinks far ahead." Anke sighed.

Then he paused. "Alright, then let’s go in together."

He knew that Geslo and the others were not just here to protect him; they were also here to keep an eye on him.

If he went into the city alone and ran off, Eric’s investment would basically go straight down the drain.

But since he was pinning his hopes on Eric’s protection, he naturally had to show some sincerity. After all, it wasn’t just about him; he also had his mother and brother to look after.

Hearing him agree, Geslo let out a breath of relief and smiled. "Good."

Then he lowered his head, took out a thin metal strip, and handed it over, speaking softly. "This is two hundred thousand federal coins in Cryptocurrency. Eric asked me to give it to you before he left."

"You really don’t have to." Anke immediately raised his hand, about to refuse.

"Your mother and brother are both ill, and they’ll need treatment. Medical costs can be unpredictable," Geslo said in a low voice. "Mr. Eric said this money isn’t a gift; it’s a loan, and he’ll charge interest. Just use the Federation’s benchmark rate. It’s very low, only three or four percent annualized."

Anke glanced at Geslo in a daze, then looked at the metal strip in his hand.

He didn’t know what exactly the Federation’s benchmark rate was, but three to four percent, compared to the forty to fifty percent interest rates on all sorts of small loans and credit cards in the Federation, was almost like free money.

But if you called it free, it wasn’t quite, because there was still that bit of interest, which made clear the money wasn’t being lent for nothing.

"The interest starts accruing from when you begin to use it," Geslo looked at Anke and smiled. "If you don’t need it, you can just give it back to me. It won’t be a problem."

Anke turned his head and glanced at the combat team members around them. At some point, the door of the Floating Warplane had already opened, and those combat team members had naturally disembarked. No one was paying attention over here.

He let out a sigh, took the metal strip from Geslo’s hand, and said solemnly, "Thank you."

Medical costs in the Federation were indeed astronomical, and he really didn’t have much money on hand.

"It’s fine," Geslo smiled. "Eric’s a very good man, everyone acknowledges him."

With that, he also turned around and ran down toward the underside of the airship.

"Old man," Anke didn’t follow him. Instead, he sat in his seat and said in a low voice, "what do you think of this Eric?"

"A very good person," He Ao said slowly. "If nothing happens to him, he’ll take good care of your family for you."

Anke let out a breath of relief, then said a bit warily, "what do you mean, ’if nothing happens’?"

"Child," He Ao smiled with a bit of helplessness, "this is a chaotic age, in chaotic times anything can happen. Even emperors and generals are as insignificant as weeds that can die at any moment."

Anke nodded, half-understanding, "I get it."

With that, he stood up and followed Geslo’s back, walking down off the warplane.

——

Zzzla——

The ancient stone door was pushed open from the outside, and a snow‑white, jade‑like, crystal‑clear bare foot stepped in from beyond the door, treading onto the black stone slabs.

A light breeze blew, lifting some of the dust on the stone slabs and blowing it toward that smooth foot.

But when that dust fell on the fair little foot, it seemed to be separated by some invisible barrier, sliding along the curve of the instep down to the ground.

Right after, the owner of that little foot stepped further in, and a violet gauze hem spread forward, covering up that foot that stirred the imagination.

"Guess what I ran into in Ilotan?" A clear voice, like a bird bursting into song, rang out in the dark hall.

"An unknown Angel who almost beat you to death. You’re badly injured now, and only by using some special Magic did you manage to keep your life, right?"

A figure’s outline slowly took shape in the darkness. He raised his head, his gaze falling on the girl in the purple gauze dress. "Ai Luoti, you’ve grown weak. I had them find a way to get you released from imprisonment, not so I could see this kind of ending—getting seriously wounded by some nameless Angel who popped up from God‑knows‑where."

"Seems your information network is rather broad," the girl chuckled softly. "That was no nameless Angel. I know his name—do you? I’m sure you’ll be interested."

"There aren’t many people in this world who can pique my interest anymore, let alone some weak, unknown Angel," the figure in the darkness rasped. "Who is he?"

"Denos." The girl smiled softly.

The figure in the darkness froze for a moment.

The entire dark hall fell completely silent in that instant, dense darkness shrouding everything.

——

Vissen

The shrill blare of a horn rang through the morning streets, and the clamor of people coming and going echoed in the dusty air.

Anke turned his head and glanced back at the towering high wall behind him. Looking at that wall that almost completely blocked out the sky, he lowered his head, looked back at the lofty city gate, and let out a long breath of relief. "Home."

He shifted his gaze ahead to the somewhat shabby street in front of him, the unreasonable cars tearing past, and listened to the bus driver beside them, who, after being cut off and forced to stop by a small car, started cursing furiously.

All this noise, which used to feel a bit annoying, at this moment had an unexpectedly wonderful charm.

After the torment of long‑distance travel, he had finally come home.

So this is what it feels like—being alive and having the chance to see your family. Such a happy thing.

Up ahead, Geslo was driving the off‑road vehicle, and in the rearview mirror there were two more off‑road vehicles following behind them.

Anke had thought the interior of that Floating Warplane was shocking enough already.

He hadn’t expected that inside the warplane there was even a small garage, with several luxury off‑road vehicles parked inside.

Anke’s big brother’s dream used to be to save up enough money to buy a second‑hand compact car, so he could do some passenger‑carrying work, but he’d never managed to scrape the money together.

Now, these luxury off‑road vehicles—each one that at a glance looked to be dozens of times more expensive than those second‑hand compacts—were piled up in the lavish Floating Warplane like toys.

And this was just one of that General’s Floating Warplanes.

High‑society life had already gone a bit beyond his imagination, to the point that Anke even felt an unreality, as if he were dreaming.

Round it up, and this counted as returning home in glory.

Right now Anke almost wished some old friend would show up by the roadside to greet him, so he could casually show off the various features of this luxury off‑road vehicle, then drive off in style under his friend’s envious gaze.

Of course, that was only a thought. He didn’t actually dare run into any "friends."

He’d already signed a Mercenary contract; at this moment he should be at the front lines, not here.

But there was something else he hadn’t forgotten. He lounged against the sofa and said in a low voice, "Old man, we’re in the city now, I’m going home. You’re going to look for things related to Kovotra, right? Need my help?"

He still clearly remembered the agreement between him and He Ao.

"No need," He Ao said. "I’ve more or less figured out some rough locations of Kovotra. I have to go take a look. Let’s part ways here."

This stunned Anke for a moment. He thought for a bit and said quietly, "Old man, is that convenient for you? I can have these combat teams assign some people to go with you. With them there, we can keep in touch, and in an emergency they can help you out."

He Ao considered for a moment. "That’s fine. Just tell him. Turn right up ahead, I’ll guide him."

Anke paused slightly, then lifted his eyes, leaned over, and quickly discussed it with Geslo. Then they got out and rearranged their seating.

Very soon, the whole combat team split into two groups. Geslo drove off to the right, while the remaining two vehicles followed Anke to pick people up and, incidentally, protect him.

Geslo had originally planned to go with Anke, but under Anke’s strong insistence he chose the right‑turn route.

He didn’t ask where Anke was headed, though; he simply took the right turn.

Only after they’d been separated from Anke for some distance, when they were close to the end of the right‑hand road, did he finally speak softly. "Sir, where should we go?"

"Turn left up ahead," He Ao’s slightly amused voice sounded by his ear. "You know of my existence?"

"Mr. Davis once said there was a powerful elder behind Anke, very likely with him," Geslo said respectfully as he turned the wheel. "And I’m also very clear that relying on our own strength and luck alone, it’s unlikely we could suppress the Deceitful Bee, nor would we be that fortunate."

He paused, then continued explaining, "And Anke kept ’talking to himself’—he wasn’t talking to us, so naturally there must be a ’person’ beside him we couldn’t see."

"You’re a clever one," He Ao said with a smile.

"I’m just used to gauging others’ intentions," Geslo replied respectfully. "It’s an honor to work for you."

"There’s a construction site up ahead," He Ao’s voice sounded in his ear. "Pull over there."