Episode 62: A New Purpose (1)

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Carolus' POV

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"Happy Birthday to me," I say to no one in particular while picking a slice of cake and eating it.

I actually have no idea what the exact date today in this world compare to mine and I only managed to notice my birthday by looking at my status. My age suddenly turned to 529 though I'm still 25.

I wonder if my family is celebrating my birthday or they are still mourning over my death?

I miss my mom and dad, my elder brother and elder sister, the next-door kid and her mother. No point thinking about it now since I'm dead there and I'm stuck in this world.

I'm sitting in my personal room right now in my castle.

I quickly eat the remaining cake and head back to the underground.

I only managed to mine exactly 6 diamonds this past week. I crafted it into a sword, pickaxe, and a knife. The diamond knife was really useful in cutting the cake.

I have to hurry. The kingdom of Astikuviel is apparently facing another monster crisis. An army of pigmen, wither skeleton and creepers appeared between the borders of Astikuviel and Xaerin.

Queen Thea is sending me detailed information about the situation and she asked for my aid.

Rose is also asking for my aid in saving her people on the phantom island located east of Aezeokar and north of Astikuviel.

Sisilla and Arthur are in the nether dimension and they are also asking if I want to help them fight the army of monsters from behind.

I just told everyone to hold out for two weeks while I look for some diamonds.

I'm happy to help everyone because unlike most of the people back in my own world, I always pay my debt. I died way too young and I still want to live for a little while. The goddess gave me a second, well, a third chance to live and asked to save this world so that is what I'm going to do but...

I'm not going to fight giant monsters and thousands of undead creatures with iron armor and iron weapons. No way. I'm not a reckless fool.

There is a problem though.

Last time, it took me a whole month to gather enough diamonds to craft an entire set of armor, tools, and weapons. I only have one week remaining. I don't know if Queen Thea and her army can hold out the enemy force for too long using only stone weapons and leather armor while their enemies are equipped with gold weapons and gold armor.

I can't waste any more time in mining. I have to think of other means to find diamonds.

I manage to reach the basement of my castle.

I repaired all of the damages done to my castle and even add some redstone traps to prevent future intruders. I also added a railway in the mineshaft for easier travel. I have plenty of iron and gold lying around so I decided to craft it into rails.

I open one of the doors in the basement and see a room full of chests filled with blocks and items. There is also a minecart sitting on top of a rail and is leaning on a block.

I created this room to be my only access to the underground and also act as temporary storage while I sort out what items are useful before transferring it to the permanent storage.

I quickly hop on the minecart and push the button on top of the block behind me to start moving.

The railway system still needs a lot of work since I still have to manually trigger the levers to travel left, right and straight but I don't have time for improving it right now.

My destination is a place that I promise I will never go back to.

It only took a couple of minutes to reach this place since minecarts in this world can travel up to 100 blocks per hour if the powered rails are properly spaced out which is truly amazing since average horses can travel 40 blocks per hour while my horse, which still in the capital of Aezeokar, can run 80 blocks per hour.

I hop out of the minecart and stand in front of a 3 by 3 wall. I'm B-100 right now and I'm standing on bedrock.

I suddenly remember the last time I mined in this direction. My mineshaft was quickly flooded with monsters and it took me a while to kill them all and plug the hole.

Behind this wall are the zombie tunnels. Queen Thea said that this place used to belong to Astikuviel and was used as a mine for ores and resources right before it was overrun by zombies.

My god. This is a really, really bad idea but I don't have a choice. I need diamonds quick and this is the only way that I can think of since there is a high probability that zombies here have diamonds in their inventory.

I equip the diamond pickaxe and start mining the stone wall.

It didn't take long for both of the tunnels to connect and the scent of the dead quickly fill my nose.

I put away the pickaxe and equip my iron armor and a diamond sword.

I can hear footsteps and moans in the dark tunnel while I just remain still waiting for them to come.

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Arthur's POV

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"This will be the last time I will ask you this question, Sisilla," I say to her while both of us are galloping beside the great lava ocean.

Sisilla is looking for something and she didn't say anything to me this past week. We just continued traveling way southwest.

"What are we looking for, Sisilla? If you don't answer this question, I swear in the name of the Goddess, I will head back to the overworld and leave you here behind." I say while still following close beside her.

She still remains quiet and my patience is wearing thin.

Queen Thea is sending reports about an army of monsters appearing in the western border and I'm still in this fiery place galloping to nowhere.

I was about to steer my horse in another direction to leave Sisilla behind when suddenly she stops her horse.

I quickly halt my horse and stare at her.

"Finally! I found it!" She exclaims while clapping her hands once.

"What?"

"You see that giant mountain island in the distance?" She says while pointing her hand in the distance.

I follow the direction she is pointing and see a giant netherrack mountain. I notice nothing special about it and I only see it as a regular mountain.

I turn my head back to Sisilla and stare at her while making the 'What's important in that mountain that we have to travel an entire week to get here?' face.

She didn't say anything and just smile at me brightly before wearing her diamond armor.

She also drops a bottle in the ground and I quickly open my status to see what buff she gave me.

Fire Protection VI

"What's this for?" I ask her while still staring at my status.

"Follow me." She says while kicking her horse to move forwards towards the lava ocean.

"Sisilla! Wait!" I quickly scream.

Sisilla just fully submerges herself in the lava along with her horse and cat.

I don't know what just happened. I know Sisilla is slight... a lot crazy but I didn't think she would just commit suicide all of the sudden.

"Come on. What are you waiting for?"

I suddenly can hear Sisilla voice and I quickly turn my head to see her head poking in the lava.

There is a moment of silence since I didn't think it would be possible. No humans in this world ever survive falling into lava but I'm staring at the unharmed, perfectly fine woman, diving deep into one.

"You can't see anything while underwater or let's say underlava so steer your horse towards the island and just keep moving forward," Sisilla says and she dives back into the lava.

I steer my horse towards the island and I notice that my hands are shaking.

I know that the Fire Protection VI potion can make you immune to extreme heat but I never thought that it can give you the ability to dive deep into the lava.

I just kick my horse forward and hold my breath.

My horse didn't whine or disobey my orders and just slowly move forward towards the lava ocean.

I keep moving forward while still holding my breath since I'm afraid to fill my chest with lava.

I'm fully submerged now and I can't see anything.

After an agonizing moment, I finally emerge in a giant cave which I believe is inside the giant mountain and my eyes are wide open with the things that I'm staring.

"Welcome and feast your eyes with the grand iron fleet of Chaephitopia." Sisilla voice suddenly echoes in the air and I see her dismounted in her horse and bowing slightly while motioning me to move forward.

I didn't move a block and just start counting the number of ships inside this giant mountain.

There are about 500 hundred of them and with their size, there is enough iron here to equip the combined army of the entire world with iron armor and iron weapons.

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Rose's POV

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"This is your last chance to say anything," I say to the man who is about to hang.

"Just kill me already." The man says while spitting towards my face.

My guards quickly point their spears towards the man but I quickly order them to stand down.

I wipe away his spit in my face while still remaining calm.

The guards around me stare at each other since they probably thought I would lash out and riddled this man with arrows and their thoughts are true. I'm barely holding myself together but I need to know how the illagers are coming to this kingdom.

"Tell me how the illagers managed to cross the borders and I promise, in the name of Cromwell, I will spare your life," I say to the man but he didn't say anything and was about to spit to me again.

I kick the chair the man was standing on right before he can throw another set of saliva at me.

The noose around his neck tighten and he is kicking furiously.

He stares directly to my eyes and I stare back at him.

I wait for a while and after a moment, he finally stops moving and the black color of his eyes widen.

The man is dead and I still know nothing.

My search for the prophet yielded nothing instead, I keep finding this Ender Dragon's believers.

How are they able to get inside the kingdom? Are there people here helping them? What are their plans?

Questions flood my head and I quickly shove them away since there are other problems I need to attend to.

I turn around and exit the underground dungeon.

I'm in the castle in the eastern territory right now preparing the fleet and army for the rescue mission.

I was about to enter my room to clean the filth in my face when my sister suddenly appears, walking towards me.

"You didn't get anything from the illager?" Rose asks.

I didn't say anything and just move my head to say 'No'.

"I see," Rose says. "The preparations for the coming expedition are almost ready." She says while handing papers towards me.

It's a list of all the things that are stored in the castle. Food, water, tools and many more.

Now, all I need is for the fleet and the army to come here.

"Any news about King Carolus?" I ask.

"No. The ender chest still has no new letters from him."

King Carolus gave me an ender chest when we were traveling towards the Aezeokar. He said that we can communicate with this and he was right. We are also using this to communicate with the Queen of Kingdom of Astikuviel and with Sisilla.

Apparently, thousands of monsters appeared in the western border of Astikuviel. Poppy said that we should send aid but we have barely enough soldiers to defend our kingdom.

It pains me to say this to myself but 'Every kingdom for themselves'.

I excuse myself and head inside my room to clean myself.