Chapter 347: Chapter 295: The Banyan Street Dream Killer
Byron had just repelled the May Wind near Gornaf Island, piercing one of its hearts with the Sure-hit Spear, Gungnir.
He was quite certain that the octopus warship, which had escaped to the deep sea to heal, would not easily resurface to cause trouble anytime soon.
After having Verlette the Quasi-Witch, the human radar, scout the area and confirm that the shipping route was indeed clear, he immediately seized this relatively peaceful time in the Bantaan Archipelago, a period when others dared not sail, to have his company’s merchant ships snatch up a fair share of inter-island shipping business.
The high freight charges were secondary; the once-jokingly-named ’Westwind Express Company’ thereby sped onto a fast track of development.
Even when the sea routes later recovered, the market share taken by Westwind Express would not be easily relinquished.
Not only that, but [Mithril Dragon] Miss Catherine also keenly seized a greater business opportunity.
With their access to first-hand news, and as the wave of pessimism spread through the major ports, they bought up many financially drained merchant ships and their cargoes at International Port and Royal Port at low prices, rescuing many shipowners and captains from financial ruin, along with their families.
Subsequently, Pioneer Guiding Colonial Trading Company itself leaped to become one of the most prominent shipping magnates among Hightins’ colonies, even throughout the entire Bantaan Archipelago!
They also conveniently offered reemployment to those captains, earning their endless gratitude.
During this period, every Governor’s Mansion gave the green light to these transactions, demonstrating astonishing efficiency and integrity.
It made the captains, who had grown accustomed to the sluggish and corrupt style of colonial officials, almost doubt their own eyes.
In a time when Divination failed to work on their target, other competing nations thought Byron was setting bait at his own expense, attempting to lure out the May Wind, unaware that the [Mithril Dragon], Miss Catherine, had already profited handsomely from the national crisis, laughing herself awake counting her personal coffers and her brother’s marriage funds.
"Through this battle, I’ve almost understood one of the principles of profiting from stock market fluctuations," she mused. "If Pioneer Guiding Colonial Trading Company were to go public, such aggressive acquisition of merchant ships would definitely be deemed ’philanthropy,’ leading to a stock price plunge and a selling frenzy. And as long as one can skillfully utilize first-hand intelligence, the stock market can be easily and legally controlled. Those accounts at the tail end of the intelligence dissemination chain, with delayed information, are the real leeks waiting to be harvested. It’s only a question of whether I want to harvest them, not whether I’m able to!"
Under such misunderstandings, it nevertheless did not prevent other nations from feeling a sense of urgency, each using their strengths to try to solve the ordeal of rampant bloodshed.
The Grand Duchy of Curland, which was not among the six great maritime powers, was one of them.
Even after recalling the frontline’s first echelon of adventure ships, they had only one Wonder Battleship equivalent to a Level Four Battleship.
One could hardly expect such military power to hunt down the notoriously vicious May Wind.
But with a Third Order Spirit Medium of the Graveyard Sequence at their disposal, they turned their attention to the second point mentioned by the Cardinal Archbishop: the enigmatic hand in the dream.
"Are all the natives on the island asleep?"
"Reporting, General. We have carefully checked. The entire tribe of hundreds of people has fallen into a deep sleep. Just as the intelligence indicated, they can’t be woken up even with fire, and they are 100% contaminated by those invasive marine species. We have calculated the time. They have been unconscious for less than half a day and are not yet deeply asleep. Entering their dreams now is the safest."
On the eastern part of the Bantaan Archipelago, on the edge of an island chain adjacent to the Ekdna Triangle and the Sea of Monsters, lay a small island called Palm Land.
A Wonder Battleship, the "Sea Spider," and two cruisers, both belonging to the Grand Duchy of Curland, anchored and halted. Squads of Marines landed under the leadership of two Mid-Sequences Transcendents.
"General, and you, my lord, please follow me."
A Second Order Black Witch, cloaked in black and with numerical tattoos on his face, immediately approached. His mouth opened to reveal a dark cavity and tongue, reminiscent of a black mamba snake.
This was actually a member of the Voodoo Sect’s Black Tongue Brotherhood.
Through a brief dialogue between them, one could infer what they were preparing to do.
— Artificial Dream Entry!
Although Palm Land was located in the eastern region, the island’s resources were too impoverished.
Apart from the lush wildlife in the tropical rainforest that could support a hunting tribe, it had no gold or silver, no spices, not even fertile soil for sugar cane cultivation.
Even its geographical location was far from major transport routes.
As a result, it became a spot even colonizers disdained, leaving it a reserve for the native people to continue surviving.
Yet even so, it could not escape the clutches of these outsiders.
Even their least valuable lives could now be of use.
As the Grand Duchy of Curland attempted to enter dreams to uncover secrets, the natives naturally became the lab rats.
"Barnacles" that had grown to their limits near the Virgin Strait were collected to poison the natives, plunging them into shallow dreams to facilitate the Third Order Spirit Medium’s observations.
Organizations like the Black Tongue Brotherhood, which had dealings with the Grand Duchy, were the direct executors of this "Artificial Dream Entry Project."
Using Reanimated Corpses that did not fear the coral disease to poison them, in just one night, hundreds of islanders all fell into slumber.