NOVGO.NET Chapter 1656 1656: A Short Reprieve
‘Sorry for not responding to any of your messages these past few months.’
Seeing as his copies would take a while to forge the preliminary parts that would make up the snaplock firearms he’d be making, Valyr decided to use the time he spent waiting to catch up with some people he hadn’t talked to in a long time.
Namely, the Heavenbreaker War Squad.
‘I’ve already asked a couple of people here and there about the situation in the frontlines,’ wrote the young man in a specific group chat, his expression showing a hint of remorse. ‘Hopefully none of you guys were caught by it.’
‘…Glad to see you’ve finally found the time to send a message back to us.’
Waiting some time for the other side to respond, the young man eventually received a message from Hal, the tone in the latter’s message dripping with sarcasm.
‘I really do apologize,’ wrote Valyr in response, letting out a faint sigh as he bitterly smiled. ‘I was caught in a lot of stuff these past few months, so I wasn’t really able to update you guys with what was going on.’
‘Sure must be nice to work on a request from the empire without needing to head to the frontlines,’ Hal replied, causing the guilt the young man felt from not messaging them for a long time to intensify even further.
‘Cut it, will you, Hal?’ Thankfully, before his thoughts began to go on a downward spiral of negativity, Vera made her presence known by sending a message to their group chat, immediately reprimanding the man for his prior responses.
‘It’s not like we’ve been looking for the High Sovereign’s whereabouts the entire time he was gone,’ she wrote, finally allowing Valyr to obtain a bit of reprieve. ‘Plus, considering our professions, we’ve also received a request from the empire as well.’
‘Oh?’ Reading her response, the young man raised his eyebrow in curiosity. ‘By we, do you mean you and Hal? Or does that also include the other two?’
‘Just me and Vera,’ replied Hal, finally messaging him like he did before. ‘Harold and Nerissa are still out in the frontlines, though thankfully they were away from it when the sudden ambush occurred.’
Talking for a bit more, the three eventually caught up on what all of them were doing, with both Harold and Nerissa even popping into the group chat near the end of it all to do the same thing.
Briefly discussing each other’s whereabouts these past few months at first, the five of them soon shifted their conversation towards the sudden offense the orcs and elves mounted, only to then shift the topic once more to the mission the five of them accepted.
‘Although we’ve begun to find a few early leads to the High Sovereign’s whereabouts, it’ll take a while before we obtain some locations where the High Sovereign could actually be,’ wrote Harold, the others in the group chat remaining silent as he typed.
‘How long do you think it would take?’ asked Valyr, the gears in his mind turning as he briefly pondered over the other things he needed to do.
‘At the current rate, a year at least, two years at most,’ the man replied, giving the estimate a bit of thought before writing it down. ‘And that’s already with the military’s intelligence and reconnaissance network allocating a good chunk of their manpower towards the entire thing.’
‘Then again, that’s only possible because of our position as special enlistments.’
‘Speaking of special enlistments… have any of you already used the opportunities the military gave us?’ Recalling a certain memory as Harold’s message popped up on his screen, Hal decided to remind everyone else about it in the group chat.
Surprisingly, everyone else in the group chat responded no to the question.
‘Didn’t really have the need to use it,’ wrote Valyr, briefly thinking back to how he’d spent the past 10 months or so. ‘Though, now that you mention it, I might use it to prepare for my ascension to Rank 5.’
‘Honestly surprised you haven’t done it earlier,’ replied Vera, with Hal and the others voicing out their agreement. ‘Pretty sure everyone else here aside from you has already ascended to Rank 5 at this point.’
‘Seriously?’ Valyr felt a bit of pressure at those words. ‘Guess I should ascend in a couple of days, then.’
‘Ascend when you’ve reached the limits of how much you can improve yourself at your rank,’ wrote Hal in response to those words. ‘Of course, that limit is theoretically infinite, but you know what I mean.’
‘I know.’ The young man faintly nodded at those words, mulling over the things he needed to do to be considered ready to ascend to the final rank of mortality. ‘Wouldn’t have been the strongest during the Four Pillars’ Inheritance if I didn’t do that.’
‘Would’ve been better off not being reminded of that,’ replied Vera, which elicited a bit of a chuckle from the young man.
‘All jokes aside, keep me updated on the frontlines, as well as our mission to assassinate the High Sovereign.’ After briefly reminiscing with the two over their experiences at the inheritance a bit more, Valyr eventually decided to cap off their conversation.
‘…Oh, and also, I might have an improved version of arquebus ready for use in the near future.’
‘…Hoh?’ Seeing that his last few words had caught the attention of the group, the young man decided to share a small bit of information with them, specifically the part where the upgraded arquebus could be armed in far less time.
Unexpectedly, that caused the four of them to ask him when the upgraded arquebus would become available for purchase or for use, which forced Valyr to eventually come up with a safe estimate of around three months from now.
‘…You definitely shot yourself in the foot there, my friend.’ Abruptly ending his conversation with Hal and the others by closing the screen he brought up, Ataraxia’s voice soon echoed in his mind through their connection.
‘I’ve definitely got a bit too ahead of myself there.’ Valyr nodded in agreement, letting out a wry chuckle. ‘Then again, it’s been a long while since I’ve last talked with them.’
‘It has been.’ His other self nodded in agreement, memories of the Four Pillars’ Inheritance surfacing in their minds.
‘Anyways, since you’ve promised that those snaplock firearms are gonna be available three months from now, you better get working on the empire’s request, then.’
‘…Right.’ Valyr nodded once more, his attention on the various parts the production lines have forged during his chat.
‘Hopefully it won’t take too long.’