Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 571: Abyssal Sea Map
If it had happened in the past, and the cooperation with the allied alien race had broken down on the first contact, Harvey might have relied on his strong military power to directly "use force" and adhered to the principle that everything within the range of firepower deterrence should be based on his own interests.

But this carrot-and-stick strategy is obviously inadequate for dealing with the Coral Sea people who live in secluded waters off the coast... Not to mention that the North and Saint Valen are thousands of miles away from the South China Sea, even their neighbor, the "Kingdom of a Thousand Sails" Faros, has no way to deal with these allies.

The Royal Navy of Erisburg is invincible in the South China Sea, but unfortunately the sea people never confront them head-on. Occasionally, some offshore tribes will attack the smuggling fleet, but when they encounter official forces, they will immediately choose to stay away from them. They will never rely on their maritime advantages to easily make enemies with human countries.

In addition, many rare and hard-to-find spell materials and potion raw materials in the magic world come from the deep sea. Although the sea people are relatively closed in their political relations with the human race, they maintain long-term cooperation with many wizard families in private. They do not completely reject chambers of commerce with backgrounds in spellcasting organizations, and supply them with goods and materials that the tribe urgently needs.

In short, barter based on the principle of equal exchange is acceptable... but using their clan as a tool or taking advantage of them openly or covertly is not acceptable.

"For their tribe, the Abyssal Sea Map is more than just a simple, time-honored migratory route map," Arturo pondered for a long time before slowly explaining, "it's a precious artifact representing their beliefs and traditions. Unless we pay a price that impresses them, it will be difficult to successfully obtain all of it."

Harvey nodded, sighed helplessly, and said, "The North has long since established trade with the Sea People through the mediation of the Faros Royal Chamber of Commerce for magic stones, materials, potions, and popular specialty goods... These things are indeed not bargaining chips that can be used to exchange for sea charts, but we don't know... what else do they want?"

After all, the dwarves and elves are eager to learn and master magic from humans. Harvey can build a spellcaster academy in the north that is no less sophisticated than the one in the south, attracting them to send young people from their tribes over and let the orthodox wizards from the Federation teach them with all their strength... This proactive and tolerant attitude can easily establish a good cooperative relationship with the other party.

It was also because of this that he was able to borrow the "Golden Tree Heart" and "Earth Crystal Core", extremely rare treasures, from the two tribes with just a few words.

Winning over the "rootless people" of Isengard was even simpler and more direct. They longed for an oasis and fertile land... The large tracts of land in central Saint Varen that were acquired from noble lords happened to be uncultivated, so Harvey generously gave them away, and also received gratitude from these new immigrants.

And the sea people...

"Perhaps what they urgently need right now is to resolve the centuries-long conflict with the Abyssal Sea Clan." Prall suddenly slapped his forehead and said with sudden realization, "That's right! Complete control of the Coral Holy City may be the Coral Sea Clan's most desired goal right now!"

"The Abyssal Sea Tribe?" Harvey paused, then pressed on. "The Sea Tribe split into two completely hostile tribes? I've never heard of that before."

Elder Sirius, the oldest and most knowledgeable of the three, quickly explained, "It's normal for Your Majesty not to know. The people of the Southern Territory have always known very little about them. The sea people are originally divided into the Coral Sea People, who live near the coast, and the Abyss Sea People, who live in the distant seas."

But this does not mean that the two split ethnic groups are close relatives of humans - the Coral Sea Clan are, after all, "outsiders" who migrated to the southern border with humans and demons. They also have hands and limbs, and except for the gill organs and webbed feet on their cheeks that are different from ordinary people, there is not much difference between them and humans.

However, the Abyss Sea Clan are truly "locals" who have survived and multiplied in the Southern Territory for thousands of years. The history of their ethnic group's development can even be traced back to the ancient times before the Dragon War. They have absolutely no blood relationship with humans... Even their appearance is more similar to that of sea creatures. In addition to the torso and hands, their lower limbs are several huge and thick tentacles similar to those of an octopus.

"So they're not related by blood? No wonder they're constantly at odds..." Harvey suddenly realized. "The Coral People aren't good at fighting. They probably can't defeat those truly native alien races in the vast ocean." Sirius smiled. "That's true, but what's even stranger is that when the Coral People first migrated to the southern waters and settled there, the Abyssal Sea People took the initiative to accept and shelter them. They even taught and guided the Coral Sea Priests in the migratory promotion ritual. The relationship between the two groups... wasn't inherently conflicted and irreconcilable from the start."

It turns out that it’s a mixture of love and hate... Harvey couldn’t help laughing.

"Then how did their relationship completely break down?"

"After all, the Coral People are close relatives of our human race, skilled in architectural renovation... and particularly exceptional in arts like sculpture and painting. Therefore, the Abyssal Sea Clan initially chose to entrust their sacred land to them for its decoration..."

As a result, it took hundreds of years for these coral people to use extremely gorgeous sea gems and a large number of prismatic corals to build a magnificent coral holy city!

After the establishment of the Holy City, the two tribes originally lived in peace and harmony for a period of time... However, as both tribes worshipped the original sea god, who would lead and rule the Holy City, and who would control the most glorious sacrifices to the gods became the biggest fuse of conflict between the two sides.

At first, it was just a small friction between the top leaders, and then gradually evolved into an armed conflict between the tribesmen and believers... In order to avoid an outright war, the two tribes agreed that every three years, during the worship ceremony, each tribe would send three sea god warriors to duel, and the winner would completely take over the management of Coral City for the next three years.

As for the losers... they need to pack up their bags and evacuate the Holy City in disgrace. No one is allowed to stay!

This is an immense torture and humiliation for both parties.

"And as far as I know... the Coral Clan hasn't won a divine duel in thirty years." Arturo shook his head and said helplessly as he looked at Sirius and Prair who were trying hard not to laugh.

Never won once? Are the Abyssal Sea Clan so powerful?
Harvey raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Don't the Coral Tribe also have quite a few high-ranking sea priests? If their ultimate goal isn't to kill their opponent, then in a relatively restrained duel... there's no way they'd lose so utterly, right?"

Sirius waved his hand, putting away his smile, and said, "Your Majesty, you may not know that the duels of the sea people are not ordinary competitions. Their traditions have always been strange..."

The competition item... is deep-sea diving. Whoever can successfully dive to the depths of the abyss and successfully retrieve the ritual sacred object sunk in the trench in advance will win the final victory in the duel.

After all, the coral people are a humanoid race with long arms and legs. How could they possibly defeat the octopus people who are born with eight legs!

(End of this chapter)