Tribal Sign-In: Immortal At The Start-Chapter 245: Reaching Neptuma Federation, Southern City

After leaving the capital, the two carriages crossed the last three lands of the Bulorka Kingdom and entered the forest that filled the remaining distance between the two nations.

With Rion’s help, they easily camped within the forest, during which Rion practiced the four ether arts that the system had rewarded him.

Based on the motion of his arms, Cyclone’s Eye allowed him to pull or push the people and objects within his proximity. Clockwise motion pulled them towards him, and anti-clockwise motion pushed them away from him.

Flame Barrier required hand signs and a leg swipe to enact a flaming wall around him.

Aqua Fist made use of stance and fist movements to cover his fists with swirling water that, upon impact, damaged the victim from the inside out.

Spiralling Sphere of Wind made use of hand signs and aura to form a sphere of rapid wind currents that held the power to destroy the nearby area on impact.

As usual, all of them required fixed patterns of breathing that he knew instinctively.

After twelve days of travel, the forest cleared, and they could finally see the border of the Neptuma Federation.

Unlike the Bulorka Kingdom, Neptuma wasn’t a big nation; instead, it was rather small, having four cities and six towns.

Each city was ruled by one of the four dukes, and instead of land, nobles had power within various departments of the coastal trade hub of the southern continent.

The horses neighed as Edric and Frank pulled their reins and drove them back to the Bulorka capital.

Rion looked at the nation before him and mumbled, "We now just have to take a ship to the veiled islands."

"That won’t be easy," Zaelyane commented from behind.

"Why?" He frowned.

She stepped beside him and explained while looking at the vast nation, "Veiled islands are named so because they are covered with a fog so heavy that treading them is nearly impossible. Not even the adventurers go there, making the journey to it both fruitless and costly."

Understanding dawned on him.

"Then we should ask for support from the person mother talked of," he started as his eyes drifted towards the southern city.

"My liege," Yuura called out to him.

Rion turned his head towards him and asked, "Is something wrong?"

Yuura shook his head and mumbled with a frown, "Are you going to reveal your identity to them?"

Hearing his question, Rion fell silent. In the past few days, he had explained the workings of Honoured One to Yuura, and for Rion to get the duke’s help, he would have to tell him who he was.

"Don’t worry about it," Rion answered with a smile and looked at Dora, who was sitting on a rock while holding his hands.

His expression softened, his lips curled upwards, and he said while tugging at her, "Let’s go."

Dora nodded before she stood from the rock and locked her fingers with his.

With a final glance at the path behind them, Rion took his first step towards the entrance of the Neptuma Federation.

After walking for a few minutes, they neared the entrance, and just as Rion had expected, there was barely any crowd.

’No wonder the king of Bulorka holds the festival every year.’ The festival wasn’t just a statement of his rule but an experience unlike any other place, and that was what brought them more than what they spent on it.

"Halt!" The guard standing by the entrance halted them and looked at them with a scrutinising gaze.

After a minute, the guard’s expression eased, and he mumbled under his breath, "Just a bunch of adventurers."

He raised his open palm towards Rion and said, "One silver each."

Rion stared at his palm for a few moments before he nodded, took out four silver coins from his pouch, and placed them on his palm.

The guard grinned and stated while walking back to his station, "Go in."

Without wasting a single moment, Rion and others entered the gates, and he took them towards the nearest carriage house.

From there, they boarded a carriage to the southern city.

Afternoon fell as the carriage moved past the two towns and came to a stop at the entrance of the southern city.

All four of them stepped out of the carriage.

Rion paid the fares and, using his Zone, he gathered every single piece of information he would need.

For a few moments, he just stood at his spot, and once he finished listening to every chatter, reading every single piece of paper in the open, he let out a sharp breath and said, "Hah... What bad luck..."

Hearing him, others frowned, and Yuura asked, "What’s wrong, my liege?"

Rion looked at him and explained, "The south duke is currently being pressured by the other dukes to give up his position."

"What...?" Zaelyane muttered with a shocked expression.

Seeing her react so intensely, Rion frowned and asked, "Is it worse than I think?"

Zaelyane nodded. "It is, the four ducal houses keep the federation afloat — if even one of them leaves, the whole federation would be in trouble."

Rion furrowed his brows. "The other dukes also know that, and if they are still doing this, they are either preparing to give the position to someone else or they have set up measures to break the fall."

"That’s true," Zaelyane mumbled. "But each duke has a treaty with one of the four nations, and that is why they can or were able to keep themselves safe, away from any kind of war and internal conflict..."

Zaelyane’s expression darkened, and she added, "If they are doing this, it means the nation to which the south duke holds the treaty is not in a condition to help him."

Seeing her expression, an ominous thought appeared in Rion’s mind, and to confirm his suspicion, he asked in a sombre tone, "Which nation supports the south duke?"

Zaelyane looked him in the eyes and answered with a deep frown, "Leonara Kingdom..."