Mid-May.

The sun is shining and the sky is clear.

Five hundred kilometers west of the kingdom of Phaletis, a fourth-class battleship flying the blue flag of Phaletis stayed on the surface of the sea in the form of a sailing brake.

On the deck, two men and one woman, three young men dressed in naval uniforms and wizard robes, are raising their hands around a group composed of rune disks, crystals, gears... The brass apparatus of the composition chanted long mantras.

As they chanted continuously.

A pillar of blue light shot out from the strange instrument and went straight into the clouds, and a ring of bright and crystalline light bloomed beautifully.

At the same time.

In their north, south, and east there were a different number of pillars of light rising simultaneously.

detu——

The last spell sounded as if it contained an inexplicable sense of fear.

Centered on the numerous pillars of blue light, invisible light waves spread out rapidly.

In this huge oval-shaped sea area, which may have a total area of more than 160,000 square kilometers, the hearts of humans and various animals were instantly enveloped by a deep sense of panic, and they could no longer care about anything else, and desperately fled outward.

Sorcery has only one effect: creature banishment.

But.

This is the sixth activation of [Witchcraft Creature Expulsion] in three days, and the animals that have fled have been sparsely populated, and the remaining ones are simply unlucky people who can only go with the flow or even be completely unable to move.

Soon the area was almost extinct, and although it was still the same blue sea and blue sky, it looked visibly lifeless after losing most of the creatures.

After three days, the task of socializing was finally completed, and the only woman among the three breathed a sigh of relief:

"Anthony, what do you think the kingdom is for?"

"Come, look into my eyes. ”

Hearing this, Anthony rolled his eyes vigorously so that Dilis could see the whites of his eyes.

Alva, the brown-haired young man next to him, laughed heartlessly:

"Haha, Dilis, do you want to see me?"

"Idiot, don't!"

These three wizards are none other than the friends Evan hadn't seen for almost two years: Dilis, Anthony, and Alva.

Under the orders of Chief Archwizard Princeton, all the wizards of the "Violet Eye" were mobilized and went to sea separately to carry out this task that no one could understand, with the cooperation of the kingdom's navy.

Don't talk about them, even the official wizards don't know the inside story.

"If Evan comes back, he should be qualified to know with his status, right?"

Muttering, Anthony looked at the beautiful pocket watch in his hand.

What exactly the higher-ups want to do, with the deadline of the mission, should soon be revealed.

At the same time.

The Kingdom's most powerful warship, the Steam Fortress, was slowly approaching the center of the oval-shaped sea, only a few kilometers away from the predetermined position determined by the wizards of the alchemy school.

Whew-

The sea breeze blows.

Dressed in a dark blue gown that can only be worn for grand celebrations, Queen Isabella stands quietly at the bow of the ship, and beside her is Crown Prince Levina, dressed in a naval military dress.

Behind them are the members of the House of Lords represented by the great nobles, the important ministers of the kingdom, the chief and second chairs of the think tank, and the envoys from the countries within the alliance and a clergyman.

"Ambassador Steele, don't you Taylor have any inside information? What is Faletis trying to do? Even the legendary warship has been dispatched, is this going to test some new weapons?"

"What new weapons will need to be tested by Her Majesty herself?"

"What's that for?"

"Heh, won't you find out later? ”

The people of the kingdom were still calm, and the envoys of the various countries in the alliance had begun to talk to each other in low voices, talking about the purpose of Phaletis to gather the people.

With the exception of a few of the parties involved, the Queen and the Crown Prince, only a handful of the top brass who are absolutely loyal to the country know what they are going to do now.

Benedict, the envoy of the Tulip Powers and the Bishop of Phaletis who represents the "Iron Cross Church", still does not know what he is here to observe.

Princeton, who was standing behind Isabella, took out his pocket watch and glanced at it, bowed slightly to the queen and reminded:

"My Honourable Majesty, the time has come. ”

After the battle to protect the "King of Sea Monsters" was over, the three people who did not dare to delay for a moment took the "Steam Fortress" and the "Blue Hole" determined by the church directly teleported to the coast of Pharytis.

While saving a lot of travel time, it also circumvents the possible last resort of the "Brotherhood" - to seize the island and destroy it!

In the depths of the Black Sea, there are large trenches that can submerge even the highest mountains on land, and if you throw the islands into them, you will not even be able to make a wave.

This is not speculation, but this is a most likely compromise for the Brotherhood to take after the failure to kill the Kraken.

However, because there is no "blue hole" that cannot be intercepted, this worst situation has not been able to turn into reality after all.

Upon their return to the kingdom, the trio met with Queen Isabella, and the various departments of Phaletis began to operate with unprecedented efficiency.

As long as the island does not fall into the sea for a day, it may be taken away, and Her Majesty will have to sleep for an extra day.

And today is the day when all the pre-work is done and the island really takes root!

Hearing that it had finally arrived at the scheduled time, Isabella instantly perked up and looked at the sky:

"What about General Galott?"

"Your Majesty, they have come. ”

As soon as the words fell.

Hmmm-

A blue lightning shot down from the sky, a huge thunderbird flew around the "Steam Fortress" in the exclamation of the envoys, and a heroic black-haired female officer sat on the back of the bird and saluted the queen from afar.

Her Majesty, who had regained her graceful posture, smiled and waved in greeting.

Sou!

Evan had already flapped his wings and arrived in the sky above the intended position, and as he circled here, Olivia had already thrown down the tiny island of "Ugric", which looked like a ball of light.

Just a few minutes later.

Grunt... Grunt...

In the churning water, a small island tip shrouded in a misty aura emerged from the water. Then, like a sponge absorbing water, it expands rapidly, getting higher and bigger.

In the blink of an eye, it has grown into an oval-shaped island, and the layer of aura on the surface protects the surface of the island from being submerged in the seawater, avoiding the tragedy of becoming a saline-alkali land before it is put into use.

Then, as if it were unfolding from another dimension, it was amplified little by little and in equal proportions.

This way of unfolding allows the sea to retreat naturally, and there is no terrible natural disaster like a tsunami caused by the accumulation of huge amounts of material.

"Hahaha, it's done!"

"God bless Pharytis!"

"Long live Her Majesty!"

On the "Steam Fortress", which had begun to slowly retreat, except for those who were stunned and uninformed, all the high-ranking members of the kingdom who knew the inside story laughed loudly.

After the shortest route between Cyrius and the New World was blocked by the "eye of the storm" of Hipponoa.

The location of this island will directly face the only way to connect the old and new continents - the westerly warm current, which is often referred to by navigators as the "trident current".

It starts in the "Golden Sea" in the middle of the New World, traverses the Black Sea from southwest to northeast, and when it reaches the Old World, it divides into three places a little westerly:

One is the Canary Current that grabs the Kingdom of Ilia southward to the Treasure Sea, the Ilminer Current continues northward into the Northern Islands, and the smallest Tesgar Current turns back to the northern part of the New World.

It was an important sea route between the New World and the Old World, and the way home in the triangular trade, which was limited to a large fleet of powerful ships, of course.

It is a forbidden place for solo ships or small fleets.

This "Ugric Island" took root, advancing the sphere of influence of Pharytis at least 350 kilometers towards the open sea, and also completely occupied the place where the trident was diverted.

Whether it was for Atlan, a powerful country in the northern archipelago, or for the Cyrius Empire, which needed to turn south, it was almost impossible for a large merchant fleet to pass through.

It is equivalent to artificially creating a cornucopia of unlimited opportunities.

Because of this location, even a stone island with nothing can make a lot of money, not to mention that this is still a treasure island with rich mineral deposits and fertile soil.

Once they had their roots planted, they were confident that it would become a center of trade for the Tulip Alliance and even the entire Old World.

The future of ocean exploration will also belong to Phaletis!

This is also the original intention of this group of high-level executives to choose the site for the island.

When the legendary battleship was in a boil, Evan and Olivia, who were in the sky, occupied the special seats with the best views.

Looking at the large island that seemed to be gradually spreading out from another dimension, Olivia hugged Aven's neck and asked softly:

"Aiwen, has the matter of the territory been settled?"

"Hehehe, I heard that I am going to carry out a territory exchange, of course Her Majesty is very happy, and all kinds of documents for the promotion of the title have been prepared as soon as possible.

As long as we get back to the New World and go to the Georgia Governor's Palace for final confirmation. ”

Ai Wen knew very well that with the significance of this island to the kingdom, if he dared to choose his territory here, he didn't know how many intrigues and intrigues he would have to go through in the future.

The mind is darker, maybe there is no one in the upper echelons of the kingdom who wants to directly take away his ownership of the island, and in the face of great interests, the so-called promises and credits are not binding at all.

His own request may have greatly relieved many people, even Her Majesty.

So in the end, he chose to trade with the kingdom for land exchange.

The New World is adjacent to the royal colony of Georgia, a large area of land to the north of the Far Sail Territory, which is rich in iron ore, coal, and white oak trees, and is located between the Far Sail Territory and the autonomous colony of Charles.

Evan didn't feel like he was at a loss.

If we choose where to be the foundation of a country's development, ignoring all external factors, a vast continental land with a pleasant climate is certainly much stronger than an island country with limited resources.

The foundation of Phaletis and even the entire alliance is in the Tulip Islands, whether it is the royal family or the great nobles as vested interests, the foundation of hundreds of thousands of years of rule is here, and it is impossible to give up.

But for Aven, he didn't have that concern at all.

And he knows very well that it may not be a few decades, as a large number of steam-powered ships go to sea, and the logistics support network is gradually built.

By that time, the role of ocean currents was important, but it could no longer restrain the powerful steel ships.

After explaining to the girl on his back, Evan smiled and said:

"60,000 square kilometers of land in exchange for 100,000 square kilometers of Georgia, plus the title of a viscount, we still earned it. Hersie, we will be neighbors in the material world in the future, are we happy?"

Olivia, of course, knows that Georgia, which has not been in development for too long, is currently in the middle of the six royal colonies. It is impossible to say who Ai Wen chose this place for as his territory.

Putting her arms around Aven's neck hard, the girl replied earnestly as if she had said "I do" in a sacred ceremony:

"Happy!"

As for the title, which is a little low compared to the territory, Aven doesn't care too much. Didn't Viscount Jerome, the leader of the merchant aristocracy of Ilya, control the political situation in that country together with Wright?

He knew very well what the higher-ups were thinking.

It was just to exclude him from the center of the kingdom while reaping great economic benefits, more precisely, the status of a member of the upper parliament with a hereditary system headed by the great nobles.

Whether it is a traditional nobleman or a court nobleman, the ancestors of the dozens of big names of the kingdom are at least earls.

After several reshuffles and dozens of hundreds of years of interest struggles, the interest pattern finally formed, no one wants another tiger to share the meat.

Economic rights can be given, but political rights cannot.

Even the Amor family, as a marquis, has completely withdrawn from the core power circle, let alone himself, a boy who seems to be just good luck.

But.

After all, Evan retains ownership of a port city on the island of Ugol.

In any case, the level of development of the New World is still too low, and the value of this golden passage is still very huge. When the time comes, the forces of the United Garlot and Amor families will be fully qualified to get a piece of this feast!