Saturday evening, on a small island off the eastern coastal port city of Rausse in the Feysac Empire.

Ebner, having taken on the appearance of the "Professor," and Lady "Greed" stood together on the island’s private dock, seemingly waiting for something.

Behind them, dozens of "containers" had been neatly stacked, filled with various ores and supplies needed by "Morning Star City."

All of these had been gathered by "Greed" Ksenia, who served as the Countess of Rausse, over the course of more than a week, and piled here.

As for the "containers" themselves, that was in fact Old Huang’s contribution — he had proposed this method of transporting goods over a hundred years ago, originally applied only to trains. It was only in recent years, after steam-powered vessels became widespread, that it began to be used for sea transport as well.

Checking his watch, Ebner found that there were still over ten minutes before the appointed time with the "Queen of Stars," and so he struck up a casual conversation with Ksenia.

"Gathering all of this couldn’t have been easy, could it? How much did it come to in total? I’ll reimburse you afterward." Ebner asked with a smile.

"It really wasn’t easy — after all, it had to be transported to the island without the knowledge of many people. If I weren’t a ’Manipulator,’ it would have been very difficult to manage." Miss "Greed" first emphasized the difficulty, then glanced at Ebner and said, "But as for reimbursement, that’s all right — I’m not short of that much money..."

"Then what do you want?" Ebner, catching the unfinished implication in her words, asked directly.

"Her Imperial Majesty the Empress has invited all of the Empire’s great nobles to a special ball to be held next Thursday evening at ’Olmir Palace’... There seems to be something important to announce.

"And I am in need of a male companion, and would like to ask you to take on that role." Ksenia said this and then curved the corner of her lips upward, blinking as she added, "Many nobles already know that I keep a ’pretty boy’ from the ’Earth Mother Goddess’ Church in Indou Port — it wouldn’t do to have that be merely in name only, would it?"

Every king or emperor of the northern continent was bound by the three great covenants of the Seven God Churches, and was permitted a maximum Sequence of 5. The God of Combat Church’s supervision of the Feysac Imperial family, the Einhorn family, was comparatively straightforward and blunt — they required that every emperor of the Empire be an Empress.

In this way, as long as the emperor had not suddenly become male, it indicated that the Einhorn family was still abiding by the covenant.

However, Ebner paid no attention to the matter of the Empress. He furrowed his brow and repeated the timing of the ball: "Next Thursday evening?"

"Yes... What’s the matter?" Ksenia asked in puzzlement.

Next Thursday — that is October 13th, the very day in the original story when the Feysac airships launched an aerial bombardment on Backlund... The Einhorn Imperial family summoning the great nobles for a ball at this time — they are surely about to announce the start of the war, aren’t they?

At that thought, Ebner glanced at the still-puzzled Miss "Greed" and thought to himself: The Countess of Rausse appears to have been marginalized long ago... That makes sense — the full details of her family’s background aren’t clear to most people, but the Einhorn family certainly knows, and would naturally never regard her as a true "insider."

"It’s nothing... I would guess that Her Imperial Majesty the Empress is being so solemn about this because she is about to announce something that will shake the entire continent." Ebner replied with meaningful implication, then after a brief moment’s thought gave a nod and continued: "This request — I accept."

He naturally would not go to "Olmir Palace" in person, but with the newly acquired "Discerner’s Robe" to assist him, crafting a "personality avatar" of himself would not be difficult at all.

Ksenia still wanted to ask further, but at that moment the sea horizon beyond the dock slowly gave rise to the form of an enormous sailing vessel.

Behind this sailing ship, another dozen or so vessels of normal size followed, all heading toward the dock at remarkable speed.

As the fleet drew closer and closer, its flag gradually became clear, and the faint scarlet moonlight allowed Ebner and Ksenia to make out ten white stars of equal size upon it, arranged around a cold, indifferent eye that had no eyelashes.

"The Future!

"The Queen of Stars!

"So the ’friend’ you found to transport this shipment of supplies is the newly risen ruler of the open seas!"

At the sight of it, Ksenia could not help but exclaim aloud, and at the same time used her ability to "hypnotize" the servants and guards on the island, making them completely oblivious to the visit of the pirate sovereign.

Another ten or so seconds passed, and when the clock tower on the island rang out its clear and ethereal chime, the time had just turned to exactly ten o’clock.

At this moment, the fleet led by the Future came to a stop, and Cattleya — clad in a long black classical robe — had appeared on the bow of the ship at some unknown point, her garment still covered all over in various symbolic markings and magical signs, only now carrying a few additional touches of a "mysterious" quality.

Beneath the scarlet moonlight, a brilliant light suddenly appeared before Cattleya, and dazzling starlight scattered down in a cascade, condensing into a transparent long bridge.

The bridge extended forward continuously, reaching all the way to the dock.

Immediately after, this newly crowned pirate sovereign stepped with steady strides onto that bridge of condensed starlight, and very soon arrived before the two of them.

The "Queen of Stars" Cattleya surveyed Ksenia, the Countess of Rausse, with her deep black-purple eyes, gave her a nod of acknowledgment, and then turned to look at the containers stacked on the dock and asked: "Is everything here?"

"This is only the first batch — I’m afraid there will be another trip needed afterward." Ebner shook his head.

Barring any unexpected developments, the war would break out next week, and transporting supplies so easily after that would not be so simple anymore, so he had to take advantage of the current period of peace to stockpile more for "Morning Star City."

"That’s a minor matter... Besides, I have already received your payment." Over the past several evenings, Cattleya had listened to Ebner tell that story of "seeking light in the darkness" to its end, and on that basis had developed several "Mystery Reenactment" spells — though their effects seemed to fall somewhat short of what she had anticipated.

——She was certain she had never heard this story before, and it ought to be quite a closely guarded secret.

At this point, Ebner looked over the fleet Cattleya had brought and asked, feigning ignorance: "Your crew won’t let word of Ksenia’s affairs here slip out, will they?"

The "Queen of Stars" had just given the Feysac Navy a very public humiliation — if people were to learn that the Countess of Rausse was colluding with her, it would likely cause considerable trouble.

"I only brought the officers of the Future. The sailors of the other ships have been given leave and did not come along." As she said this, Cattleya made a gesture toward the deck of the Future.

Jane Grant, who had been standing on the deck all along, saw it and immediately issued commands in the "Language of the Dead," whereupon countless undead and corpses emerged from the ships one after another — some walking, some drifting — and made their way toward the containers.

Jane, being a descendant of the "Death Consul" and wearing the "Ring of the Death God," was able to command a far greater number of undead than an ordinary Sequence 5 after advancing to "Gatekeeper."

However, she did not recognize Ebner on the dock, as the latter was presenting himself in the guise of the "Professor" — not only his appearance, but even his aura was entirely different from Ebner’s.

(End of Chapter)