Starting as an Island Lord – Chapter 147

Chapter 147: A Thousand Miles to Deliver a Divine Artifact, the Gift is Valuable, but the ‘Sentiment’ is Even More Valuable

‘Click~~’

The airship door opened, revealing a very lightweight material. Lightweight materials often mean low defense.

It definitely couldn’t withstand his Fire God Gun, let alone the immense power of a hydrogen balloon explosion.

A young woman stepped out, her thick burgundy hair coiled behind her head, revealing a luxurious and youthful face. It was the Queen of Kao, nicknamed Nana.

Compared to a few months ago, she looked much younger, transforming from a woman in her mid-thirties to one in her late twenties.

This was, of course, thanks to the Golden Blessing Potion.

Rosen grinned. “Your Majesty, even if you wanted to invite me, there was no need to come personally.”

The Queen sighed. “Capturing others can be left to my subordinates, but to capture you alive, I had to come myself.”

Rosen looked at the Queen, clad in a magnificent dark red combat leather armor, and gestured towards the ground in front of him.

“Squat down, hands behind your head, facing away from me. Yes, like that.”

“Don’t try anything funny, or my hand might slip.”

Throughout the entire process, the Fire God Gun remained pointed at the Queen’s heart. At the slightest movement, he would immediately fire.

However, Rosen had to admit, the Queen’s curves from her waist to her hips were truly beautiful, exceptionally full and round.

The Queen, fearing that Rosen might actually shoot, squatted down meticulously.

The second Sage followed closely behind.

It was the female Sage who had yearned for youth that day.

She also looked much younger, and her transformation was significant. From an elderly woman in her sixties with a wrinkled face, she had become a middle-aged lady not yet fifty, even growing a lot of fiery red hair.

Rosen smiled. “Madam Aeloria, I helped you regain your youth without any ulterior motives. Is this how you repay me?”

Aeloria, the female Sage of Kao, might appear gentle and quiet, but she had the fierce title of ‘Lady of Flame.’ In her youth, she had a fiery temper.

Aeloria glared at Rosen. “Baron, your potion wasn’t cheap.”

Money was a small matter. The key issue was that the entire country was under his control.

But how could Kao, the Kingdom of Roses, a great nation with hundreds of millions of people, be controlled by a mere Baron?

So they had been investigating Rosen’s true identity this whole time.

Originally, this matter was difficult to investigate. Apart from ‘someone from Virland,’ there were almost no valuable clues. But Rosen was too exceptional; his fame spread throughout Virland and even began to circulate within the Nature Alliance.

Once Kao’s spies relayed the situation in Virland back, they concluded that the mysterious Archmage and the Baron of White Sturgeon Island were definitely connected.

After careful planning, they used the kingdom’s newly developed flying artifact to travel thousands of miles secretly and capture him.

They hadn’t expected that such meticulous preparation, regardless of the cost, would still fail. It was both heartbreaking and perplexing.

The third Sage stepped out, the eldest Sage Lyrton, the most renowned Light Mage on the continent.

His appearance had been rejuvenated from seventy years old to less than sixty.

“Mr. Lyrton, you’ve truly disappointed me.”

Lyrton’s face held some anger, but he said nothing, obediently clasping his head and squatting in front of Rosen.

Rosen looked back at the airship. “I sense a very powerful artifact hidden within the airship. It should be a psychic artifact, and it seems quite large, but it should be movable.”

“Bring it out!”

With the Queen and the Sages captured, the court mages inside the cabin could only follow Rosen’s orders.

Soon, an object about half a person’s height, placed on a wooden round platform, was carried out.

At first glance, it seemed to be some kind of metal, but upon closer inspection, it felt a bit like a blue-green stone.

There were no visible runes on its surface, nor any signs of processing. Its shape was very irregular, as if naturally formed.

“Your Majesty, what is this?”

“A Psychic Meteorite. It can convert lightning into zero-circle psychic energy. Although the intensity isn’t high, its single conversion limit is incredibly high. No one could withstand it before.”

The Queen’s voice was filled with confusion. She couldn’t understand why Rosen was still conscious.

“Such magical stones fall from the sky?”

Rosen was genuinely surprised. No wonder the Queen dared to risk capturing him. She had such a divine object to assist her.

Of course, it was also evident that compared to those nobles with generations of heritage, this batch of Queen and Sages from commoner backgrounds in Kao had noticeably bolder personalities.

Any noble in a position of power would be more inclined towards negotiations or sending their subordinates to take risks, and would absolutely not risk their own lives on such a potentially fatal mission.

Rosen asked again, “Your Majesty, my people are all unconscious. If anything happens to them, you’ll pay with your lives!”

“It’s just a super-giant zero-circle sleep spell. They’ll wake up after a while. There won’t be any major issues.”

“Oh~ I hope it’s truly as you say.”

As he spoke, Rosen pondered how to deal with these uninvited guests with their extremely special identities.

Kill them?

That would be an immense waste, like pouring a feast into the sewer.

So he could only control them.

But for him to control so many people alone, without daring to relax for even a moment, made him feel uneasy.

As he was pondering, the Queen of Kao spoke up. “Archmage, since we’ve been defeated by you, we naturally accept the consequences.”

“According to the rules of prisoner redemption, you can exchange us for a ransom. Two million… no, within three million, there would be absolutely no problem.”

Rosen chuckled softly. “I’m just afraid I might have the money but not the life to spend it.”

At that moment, he suddenly heard a mind voice in his head. “Rosen, where are you?”

It was Nephelonia.

Her appearance made Rosen secretly relieved. “How are Lily and Karina?”

“They’ve woken up, but they’re still a bit dizzy.”

“Excellent. I’m just outside the cave. Come and help me.”

Not long after, the three High-Circle Mages arrived beside Rosen, each holding a Fire God Gun.

With the addition of his powerful companions, Rosen secretly let out a sigh of relief.

Controlling so many people alone was like dancing on a knife’s edge. He was under immense pressure.

He introduced the captives’ identities to the three women.

“These three Sages are not simple, especially the one with burgundy hair. She’s the Queen of Kao. Keep a close eye on her.”

The three girls were stunned. Who would have thought that the Queen of Kao, who held great power and was high above, would appear on White Sturgeon Island?

But they still kept a firm watch on the three Sages.

Now free, Rosen entered the airship with his Fire God Gun.

There were fifteen mages inside the airship, five of whom were Fourth-Circle Magic Masters.

With the three Sages subdued, they naturally didn’t dare to act rashly, each looking at Rosen with apprehension.

Rosen pointed the Fire God Gun at them, preventing these mages from taking any risks while he carefully observed the airship’s structure.

His first impression was cramped, like a crude basement.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered a simple wind-power conversion circle.

The power source of the circle was burning blackstone. The blackstone heated the air in the combustion chamber, causing it to expand rapidly. This hot air was then controlled by High Mages and channeled in a single direction, creating a powerful thrust.

Simply put, it was a rudimentary jet propulsion system.

Its thrust was far from enough for actual flight, but it was sufficient to propel the airship forward quickly.

“An interesting idea, and the structure is quite ingenious.”

Rosen praised, then exited the airship again and addressed the Queen of Kao, who was staring at him intently. “You could capture me once, you could capture me again. So I can’t just let you go back.”

The Queen immediately shook her head. “We can’t capture you anymore. Without the Psychic Meteorite, we wouldn’t dare to take the risk.”

◈◈◈

“But you would encourage others to come and cause me trouble, and I’m just a small Baron after all. I can’t withstand repeated harassment from a powerful kingdom like Kao.”

“And since you’re traveling in secret, no one would know if you disappeared.”

“Therefore…”

Rosen slowly turned the muzzle of the Fire God Gun towards the Queen’s beautiful face.

The Queen’s face instantly turned pale. “No, no, no~ Someone knows! Selup knows we’re here!”

The Puppet Master Selup was the youngest of Kao’s three Sages.

Upon hearing this, Rosen knew that the Queen and the other two Sages had traveled, while Selup controlled puppets resembling them to cover their absence in the palace.

It was conceivable that if the plan had gone smoothly, they would have returned within two or three days at most, and no one would have noticed the Queen’s departure.

If the plan hadn’t been successful, Selup would naturally dispatch a large number of spies to the north to search for them.

There was no need to worry about Selup betraying them, at least not in the short term.

Because by controlling the old King, the interests of the four Sages were already firmly bound together.

Rosen grinned. “Heh heh, the plan was quite well prepared.”

For a moment, he couldn’t figure out how to deal with these three important figures from Kao. After some thought, he decided to keep them as hostages for the time being.

But Kao couldn’t be without a Queen, nor without its Sages. If time passed, chaos would erupt in Kao, and the authority of the Queen and the Sages would be replaced by new powerful figures.

By then, the hostages would be useless.

What to do?

After much deliberation, Rosen’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Doesn’t Kao have a Sage specializing in puppet control?”

He immediately had an idea.

He was highly efficient and acted immediately.

The first step was to summon Miss Akali, his meticulously crafted Black Iron puppet.

Since they weren’t too far from Crescent Castle, Akali arrived secretly nearby after about half an hour.

Then, Rosen used Transformation magic to create a temporary changing room in the airship’s blind spot.

After finishing, he used Mind Whisper to address the Queen of Kao. “Go in and take off all your clothes!”

The Queen of Kao was puzzled, but she had no choice but to comply.

Rosen also entered the changing room. The Queen gasped, her cheeks flushing red. She stopped undressing halfway. “Your Excellency, what are you doing?”

Although she had given birth to multiple princes and princesses, she had never exposed her body in front of any man other than the old King.

Now, Rosen suddenly entering startled her greatly.

“Hurry up and take them off!”

Rosen pointed the Fire God Gun at her.

Helpless, the Queen gritted her teeth and obeyed.

Then, Rosen carefully observed her body.

After understanding, he called Akali in and used Transformation magic on her.

In no time, another Queen of Kao, indistinguishable from the real one, appeared in the changing room.

The Queen’s eyes widened, her blue eyes filled with deep fear.

“What do you want to do?”

“I’m warning you, even with your unparalleled magic, you can’t hide this for long. Once it’s exposed, you’ll face Kao’s wrath!”

She had clearly misunderstood, thinking Rosen wanted to silence her and replace her with a puppet Queen.

Rosen chuckled. “Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I’m certainly not that foolish.”

He urged her, “Put on your clothes. Not your own, but the puppet’s.”

The Queen hesitated, but under the threat of the Fire God Gun, she complied.

Akali, in turn, put on the Queen’s clothes.

Rosen then said, “Madam Aeloria, Mr. Lyrton, come in as well.”

After the two Sages entered, Rosen explained his detailed plan. As expected, all three were stunned.

Lyrton shook his head repeatedly. “No~ Absolutely not! The Queen of Kao cannot be a hostage!”

Aeloria also rejected the idea without hesitation. “This is absurd!”

The Queen, the one directly involved, remained silent.

Rosen looked at the two Sages with a cold smile. “Of course, you have a second choice. In fact, everyone can choose this path.”

“But I believe you definitely wouldn’t want to take it.”

As he spoke, he retreated to the entrance of the changing room, aiming the muzzle of the Fire God Gun at the three Sages inside the cramped space.

A single shot, and everyone inside would be dead.

He could fire three shots in a row, ensuring that even Mother Nature herself couldn’t save them.

“Your Majesty, what do you say?”

The Queen of Kao stared at the dark muzzle and sighed deeply. “Let’s do as the Baron says. We’ve been defeated by him, haven’t we?”

She knew that if she disagreed, this lawless Baron would surely send the three of them to meet Mother Nature.

Perhaps he would pay the price for this in the future, but with his abilities, he would definitely find a way to cope.

As for the three of them, they would have no future.

Aeloria and Lyrton’s faces were grim, but they were powerless.

In the end, they acquiesced.

Thus, the silent ‘Queen’ and the two Sages left the changing room, boarded the airship, and quickly departed White Sturgeon Island.

After the airship completely disappeared, Rosen looked at the silent Queen and shrugged.

“Your Majesty, I originally only intended to borrow a little of Kao’s power. I never meant to push you to this point. After all, I don’t want to cause too much trouble.”

“But you were simply not satisfied and insisted on controlling everything, which led to such a regrettable outcome.”

“But rest assured, I will establish a more mature and stable communication channel, ensuring that you can remotely control the political situation within your kingdom at all times.”

The Queen glared at Rosen coldly. “Baron, you’re playing with fire!”

Rosen remained unfazed. “I’ve always been playing with fire.”

Power was like a flame, possessing immense force, yet scorching to the touch.

This time, the gains were significant. Not only did he obtain the Queen as a hostage, but he also acquired a mysterious Psychic Meteorite.

With the Queen as a hostage, Kao would become his powerful ally, a trump card against the Duke of Dawn.

Of course, this card couldn’t be overused. After all, the kingdom didn’t belong solely to the Queen. There were many political rivals within Kao.

If he went too far and caused the Queen to be sidelined or triggered a coup within Kao, the game would be over.

Therefore, he had to play this card cautiously.

‘As for this meteorite, I must study it carefully!’

Converting lightning into psychic energy, this was a truly valuable treasure!