Chapter 232. Response
The crew members gathered quickly in response to the Captain's summons.
Upon hearing Charles' concern, Second Mate Conor spoke before anyone else, "Yes, someone from the Isle of Whereto told us that they had found you while you were missing. We went there after overcoming great difficulty, but we didn't find you.
"I remember seeing a young woman crying over your disappearance, saying that a tentacled monster had taken you away."
"How come no one told me about this?"
"Well, we thought they lied to us since we didn't find you, so we decided to just return to Hope Island. We forgot about the matter entirely because you soon returned to Hope Island by yourself."
Charles' brows furrowed slightly as he crumpled the letter in his hand. It seemed that the contents of the letter were true—Margaret had truly saved his life.
Recalling the crisis Jack had mentioned in his letter, Charles' heart raced. He turned to the silver-haired steward and said, "Send a telegram to the Governor of Whereto."
The silver-haired steward was slightly taken aback at the instruction. His mouth fluttered open, and it seemed that he had something to say but was hesitating.
In the end, Laesto sitting on a sofa while reading a newspaper said, "There's no more Governor of Whereto. It's been a while since he died. Whereto now has a new owner."
"What? When did he die?" Charles muttered, but he immediately realized that this wasn't the time for him to think about such things.
He turned to the silver-haired steward next to him and said, "Send a telegram to the Albion Isles. Ask about the ransom for the daughter of the late Governor of Whereto."
"It shall be done, Governor," the silver-haired steward said before walking away.
While Charles was stewing in his own anxiety, Laesto limped over to him and gave him a newspaper.
"I had no idea that you were unaware. Read these newspapers and catch up on the current affairs," Laesto said.
Charles took the newspaper and flipped it over to the first page. The emboldened words on the first page immediately caught his attention.
Governor Swann has successfully taken over the three islands of the Whereto. He advances toward Ebony Mist Island with his mechanical city, Ronker. The Governor of Ebony Mist Island has surrendered. From today, Governor Swann helms eleven islands and has become the undisputed King of the Northern Seas with the most islands under his jurisdiction!
The article included a photo depicting what looked like a spider made out of iron with the docks of Whereto as its backdrop. The writer was obviously shilling for Swann, but Charles couldn't care less; his eyes were unwittingly transfixed on the massive mechanical city.
Charles reckoned that such a monstrosity didn't exist even on the surface world, so how come they managed to build something so enormous with the technology of the Subterranean Seascape?
"The Subterranean Sea will soon become chaotic. You should worry about how you're going to keep your position as the governor of Hope Island," Laesto said before limping over to the sofa and sitting down.
Laesto's words had affected not only Charles, but even the crew members. Their faces were as dark as the bottom of a kettle. It was understandable, however, as Hope Island had become their most precious asset. Everything they had was bestowed upon them by the island, so depriving them of the island was a fate worse than death in their eyes.
A deafening silence hung about the room until it was shattered by a letter addressed to Charles. The letter's content reeked of arrogance, instantly reminding Charles of Governor Swann's fat face.
You're looking for Margaret? Have you taken a liking to her? Want to buy her and have some fun? Well, I would have considered it if I had her, but the issue is that the so-called pearl of Whereto is missing.
Maybe she has fallen into the hands of pirates?
Anyway, I have something to say. Soon, some guys who don't know what's good for them will come looking for you to establish an alliance against me. I suggest you pay them no heed. I absolutely won't touch your island if you agree to my condition.
Charles' face turned a shade darker at the content of the letter. The letter was short, but there was a lot to unpack from it. First of all, Margaret had disappeared. It was yet to be seen whether Swann had lied or not, but it was bad news.
Secondly, Governor Swann had made his ambitions clear in the letter: his plan was to dominate the entire Northern Seas—no, perhaps his ambition is greater than that, and he might be planning on conquering the entire sea!
"Who is in charge of the navy's intelligence department? I want him to gather as much information as he can about the Governor of Albion Isles' recent exploits! I need a lot of information!" Charles exclaimed.
They stood before a major crisis, and his goal was to ensure that Hope Island wouldn't get engulfed by the waves. He had to see to it that Hope Island would remain in his hands for the sake of achieving his goal of finding the exit to the surface.
Charles completely dismissed Governor Swann's promise in the letter; he was well aware of Governor Swann's personality, and he knew that every word out of the latter's mouth had to be treated as though they were farts.
"I'm in charge of the intelligence department whenever Bandages isn't around," Feuerbach said, standing up.
Charles nodded and said, "Feuerbach, Bandages, stay here. Everyone else is dismissed."
With that, the crew members walked out of the room with grave expressions.
"What do you think will the Captain do?" the former cook Frey asked. He finally had the physique of a cook after spending quite a long while on Hope Island.
"Do you even have to ask? Think about our Captain's personality. If Hope Island gets attacked, our Captain will go all-out to fight them. Hasn't that always been the case?"
"I think that's too risky of a route to take. Didn't Swann say that he's not going to attack our island so long as Captain does what he says? We're also too far away, so he might not be interested in coming all the way here in the first place?"
Hearing that, the honest James couldn't take it anymore and said, "What if he changes his tune after a few months of peace? He can attack us whenever he wishes, after all. He just needs to say it."
"Let's go to my place and drink," Leonardo chimed in.
"Is this even the time for us to be drinking?" James asked with a face full of worry.
"The Governor decides; we simply follow. Getting worried here won't do us good," Leonardo said and led the two away.
The atmosphere about Hope Island's Governor's Mansion was so tense that it was palpable, and people clad in blue navy uniforms were seen hurrying into the Governor's Mansion.
Soon, the Governor of Albion Isles' recent exploits were presented to Charles.
Governor Swann had started the clandestine operation of building the mobile mechanical city, Ronker, three years ago. It had immediately set out for a battle during its maiden voyage, and it defeated the strongest naval fleet of the Northern Seas—the Whereto's navy.
The metal structure was like an aircraft carrier, capable of carrying hundreds of helicopters that could be launched at any time to perform a devastating air raid on an island.
Needless to say, it was an invincible force in the Subterranean Seascape, as no island could withstand the siege of such terrifying armament. Every island on its path had either surrendered on sight or had suffered a horrible fate beneath its fatal beams of light.
Charles had a few guesses in mind about the so-called fatal beams of light, but those weapons weren't supposed to exist here, not to mention attached to Ronker.
A monstrosity powered by turbines was actually using lasers as weapons. The denizens of the Subterranean Seascape were none the wiser, but Charles found it bizarre. It felt like he was staring at a monkey climbing off the tree whipping out and wielding an AK.
There is absolutely no way he invented that thing by himself. There's a step-by-step process to everything; you can't just go straight to flying when you don't even know how to crawl.
Charles continued on reading, and his pupils constricted when he saw Swann advocating for the Divine Light Order on the islands he had conquered. Upon recalling how the clandestine construction had started three years ago, everything made sense to Charles. He finally knew how Ronker was born.
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