Throne of the North.

Chapter 781: Why are there still orcs involved?

"That couldn't be better."

Ryan was very satisfied with Liv's attitude, but the wealth Liv needed was probably an unimaginable figure.

What did he say to the other party last time? "It's worth the whole world."

However, Ryan didn't care about any of that. Liv was a serious person, but all he, Lord Ryan, needed was Liv herself; he needed a follower with great talent.

Hopefully, what Liv sees and hears in that other world after returning to the Frozen Territory will change her.

Surrounding the massive raven ship were many small boats, whose villagers did nothing as they headed toward the destination the ravens had anchored.

The fleet was not slow, and they stopped very often each day, spending very little time in the water to catch fish.

Most of the time, they listened to the news brought back by Freya and his men from their own ship.

"Is it really land? The wizard said the land is very, very far away from us. Don't lie to us."

On larger ships, people gather for drinks, and the topic naturally becomes the same one that has been repeated every day for the past few days.

"It's true, absolutely true."

"Frea said eagerly, her face flushed from the smell of alcohol," Freya said.

“It was absolutely land. I didn’t feel any sea breeze there. Although it was very cold, the earthy smell that is unique to land was definitely there.”

"What's going on, Freya? You're the same age as me, do you even know what the unique smell of land is?"

With a proud look, Freya said loudly:

"You wouldn't understand. Once you smell that scent, you'll never have any doubts."

He tilted his head back, seemingly quite dissatisfied with the distrust these people showed him.

"So, did that nobleman really come from the mainland?"

A younger man opened his eyes wide and asked a question, to which Freya gave a firm answer.

"Absolutely. The land we're heading to is Captain Ryan's territory; he is the lord of that land."

"Similar to...similar to Wizards and the Blue Sea Islands, I guess."

"I've heard that only nobles can become lords, not wizards, but Captain Ryan is very powerful, and the wizards of Kledar respect him greatly."

"Then...then, can we go to land too?"

This question really hit the nail on the head, and no one could answer it. Even Freya had a tense expression and didn't know what to say.

"You bunch of kids, you're still thinking about going to land? You're really brainless."

"Everything we have belongs to the wizard, including our souls. We can't go anywhere without the wizard's permission."

These words made everyone lower their heads. It was true; everything they had was created and bestowed upon them by the wizard.

Moreover, the seemingly powerful nobleman Ryan has a good relationship with the wizards and wouldn't offend them for their sake.

The ship rocked erratically, seemingly reflecting the inner turmoil of these people.

However, these ordinary people are easily forgotten. After the fleet sailed at sea for several days, they returned to their familiar lives once again.

Those who are truly persistent are still the people from Freya.

Because they had seen the legendary 'land'.

……

"Those villagers? Looking for me?"

The raven ship was mostly filled with Ryan's stag squires. He needed to demonstrate his strong military value to these ravens in order to gain more influence.

The sailors came from the pirate ship and were Liv's men. After Liv became Ryan's follower, they were also sold into the pirate ship.

These sailors were unusual; they seemed to have been influenced by the divine essence within Liv and transformed into a semi-finished form of familiars. Ryan noticed that their eyes had become like raven pupils.

This woman was arguably the most divinely inspired Child of the Apocalypse that Ryan had ever seen, and she was even able to influence those around her.

Listening to the servant's report, Ryan was somewhat puzzled. He didn't have a deep connection with those villagers, and their understanding of this world was limited, far inferior to that of the true rulers of this world.

Soon, Freya was brought aboard the ship. Glancing somewhat fearfully at the ravens on the mast, Freya gritted her teeth and said:

“Captain Ryan, they don’t believe we’ve ever been to your ‘land.’ I beg you to tell them.”

Ryan naturally knew about these people's discussions these past few days. When the topic of Freya came up, he couldn't help but laugh:

“Furya, you don’t need to worry or doubt whether they believe it. The legends about the land are too distant and unrealistic for people here.”

"Why don't you think about how many years this legend has been circulating?"

“It has existed since my great-great-great-grandfather.”

"Yes, such a long time has passed, and now you're suddenly told that your generation will see real land. How would you react?"

Freya scratched his head. "To be honest?" Of course he didn't know.

Because he felt he would believe it without a doubt, but this was already a preconceived notion. He had already seen the land, so it was impossible for him to think about when he was still ignorant.

In this world, even ordinary people have good manners, but their intellectual dullness is undeniable.

"You don't need to worry. It's not that they don't believe in the existence of land, but that they need time to accept this and to get over this news."

"Then you can tell them, I, Ryan Clayton, Baron Lord of the Frozen Territory, have made a promise to everyone in this world."

“I will take them to ‘land’.”

Ryan looked at Freya; to him, the population of each otherworldly plane was a rare commodity.

This is a source of spiritual income.

Upon hearing Ryan's words, Freya couldn't help but feel excited, but she still instinctively raised her head to look at the ravens with their eyes closed.

"You don't need to worry about them, I'll discuss it with them."

Ryan said with a smile, then looked at Freya, thinking that he needed to give this pawn some confidence first.

The next moment, a spiritual blessing descended, and a powerful sense of strength and hunger filled Freya's body.

"I……"

Knights and squires approached and led Freya to the other side, where food was prepared for them. It seemed that this guy might become one of them in the future.

Lord Ryan's blessing is not something everyone is qualified to receive. Thinking of this, the servants couldn't help but walk with their chests out.

On the mast, Kledal and several other crows opened their eyes, looking at Freya with confusion, before their gazes fell on Ryan.

Their eyes finally changed.

"There was no fluctuation of extraordinary factors in the void, but he gained extraordinary power. His life force was ignited, and as long as he had enough food and nutrition, his life force would not be consumed."

"This method..."

Kledal looked at Ryan and said seriously, "You actually possess the authority of a great being."

They now have strong reasons to suspect that Ryan is the authority they have been waiting for to return.

"It could also be the favor and divine grace bestowed upon him by a great being."

According to the shaman crow, they ultimately failed to sense anything through their own bodies.

Ryan didn't care.

These ravens were not obstacles to his conquest of the world; all their interactions were merely attempts to increase their influence over each other.

So far, Ryan seems to have succeeded.

Over the next few days, the ravens and Ryan interacted more frequently.

They began to wonder what the world was like outside of Mikragard.

"The planes of existence not covered by the North must be protected by powerful gods. What kind of power have they bestowed upon you?"

The ravens finally developed a desire to understand the existence of the Extraordinary Legion.

During this exchange, a solitary island in the sea came into view of Ryan.

The island was as large as a giant tortoise shell, lying on the sea surface. It had no towering peaks and was even somewhat rounded.

"This tortoise island is Keck."

Kledal gave Ryan the correct answer.

“A long, long time ago, Keck merged his soul into the body of the Tania Giant Turtle, a legendary monster with the most powerful flesh and blood in the Mikragard Sea. Stranger, don’t be surprised; this is not a strange thing for wizards. Of course, Keck’s behavior was also very extreme.”

"His purpose in doing this was to enable his physical body to withstand further transformation by the blood of God."

"He wanted to transform himself into a demigod."

"But obviously, his experiment failed, and even his soul became twisted. Later, it was the great god who bestowed upon him the body of a raven, which restored him. Even so, the god's curse left him in a daze."

“Keck has recently woken up and written back to us. He said he knows what happened and has found the answer.”

At this point, Kredahl also expressed his doubts.

“This is not normal. Keck should not know that the divine projection has already devoured a part of the authority of the great being.”

"Could it be that he has been awake all these years, studying the projected retinue, and then deceiving us by saying he was asleep?"

Kledal realized that he seemed to be different; he shouldn't have shown such doubt before even meeting Keck.

The ships docked, and there was a pier and a village where the wizards needed people to help them with chores.

And that's not all.

Ryan saw the orcs.

Yes, how could there be orcs in Mikragard?

And they were kept in a cage?

Upon arriving on Turtle Island, Ryan's first gaze fell upon the raven-beastmen in the cages.

Ravens and harpies are not very different in appearance, but the raven's identity features are more prominent on them than on harpies.

They're practically elongated crows that have been transformed into humanoid forms. If they weren't standing upright, you could easily mistake them for crows.

Ryan didn't know much about the Raven Orcs, since these orcs didn't appear in his territory. However, he also knew that the Ravens and Behemoths were the royal families of the orcs, never having fallen from grace.

Behemoths are powerful because of their own strength, while ravens are favored by the gods.

"How come there are orcs here?"

Ryan looked at Klerdal, who then spoke up:
"Orcs, a long, long time ago, when Mikragard still had land, there was such a race, but back then they were almost ruined by the wizards. Keck shouldn't have them."

"He captured them. These orcs, like you, are strangers in this land."

In contrast to the other puzzles, Kledar and his ravens quickly analyzed the matter of the orcs and arrived at a conclusion. Indeed, as long as it did not involve great beings, the knowledge and wisdom accumulated over countless years in their minds were invincible.

A giant raven beast descended from the sky, with a raven on its back whose eyes were grayish-white and had no pupils. Its aura was very turbid. This was the wizard Keke that Kledal and the others had mentioned, an extreme individual even among wizards.

“I have studied them and found out why the projections in the deep sea have obtained the authority of the great beings of the Mikragard world.”

The raven named Keck glanced at Ryan and Brand, having already learned of their presence during their previous conversation.

"The reason is because of these orcs."

Keck pointed to the raven-like beastmen in the cages.

"War broke out in their world, a racial war between orcs and humans, which they ultimately lost. To escape the calamities of winter, they began to seek safe places."

"As a result, they appeared in my waters."

“I awoke, so they were not captured by that projection in the deep sea.”

“I already know the answer from their souls.”

Keck slowly revealed the answer he had come up with during this period of analysis.

"During the interdimensional war of the gods, half of the authority that our great being was stripped away was affected by the shattering of the Rainbow Bridge while traversing the branches of the world's trees, and temporarily lost its direction."

"And in this process, that half of the authority is hunted and pursued by a great being hidden in the deep sea."

"In the end, that half of the power escaped His pursuit after a small portion was devoured and was lost in some other world."

"But in that world, the authority that should have sought human believers was discovered to have found that humanity already possessed faith, and that on that human soil, there was no room for the will of a second great being."

"At the same time, because of being hunted and pursued, it lost half of its original authority and is no longer able to search for a new otherworldly plane under the cover of the North."

"And so... the orcs got the better deal."

"The orcs' beliefs are very mixed. They may serve any great being. Our half of the authority of the gods, driven by instinct, needs faith to restore."

"And so...they became His followers."

Keck explained it very clearly, but Kledar and the other crows still needed to think and analyze it. However, this time, it was Ryan who was clear-headed.

He looked at Keke and the raven orcs in surprise, considering what they said and the history of the Norris continent.

Finally, Ryan's gaze fell on the bottom of his spiritual panel.

Following "Mammoth" is another affix: "Storm".

That was after he completely killed and devoured the great being's essence hidden within the Orc King's Broken Bones, and received divine blessing.

So... the prophecy of those crows wasn't wrong?

They received the half of the power that the gods of this world had escaped, but in a way that no one could have imagined.

(End of this chapter)