Chapter Forty-Nine: The Stringent Conditions

“This man is the host of the gathering. He calls himself the King of Winster. His strength is unknown, his true name unknown, but he is certainly more powerful than I am,” Clay whispered to Ethan, introducing the identity of the man in the golden robe.

Ethan was also paying close attention to the golden-robed man’s voice, tone, and accent.

He couldn’t make it out.

This person had used some method to disguise his true voice, which sounded hoarse and chaotic, impossible to discern.

At that moment, the man in the golden robe seemed to notice Ethan and the others and spoke up: “Iron Fist, you’ve brought two newcomers. Introduce them.”

Iron Fist was Clay.

Clay stood up, bowed slightly to the golden-robed man, then pointed at Ethan and said, “Greetings, Your Majesty. Allow me to introduce: this is Godfather, and this is Tanya.”

Clay had explained the code names to Ethan and the others before boarding the ship.

Ethan thought for a moment and mischievously gave himself the code name Godfather.

Anya looked puzzled and sought help from Ethan.

So Ethan gave her an even more mischievous code name.

Clay was a bit bewildered by this; he didn’t understand why Ethan chose such names, especially since Ethan was not religious.

His own name, Iron Fist, was simple and straightforward.

“Godfather, Tanya… interesting. Welcome,” the King of Winster said after a brief nod.

He then raised both hands toward Ethan and the others.

They nodded in return.

Next came the so-called free discussion session.

In reality, it was an intelligence exchange.

Someone mentioned that Saint Quanti City had experienced some abnormalities, suspected to be caused by true names or ancient relics.

Saint Quanti was a city further north than Winster, close to the frigid zones, where it snowed and froze nearly year-round.

From this man’s words, it was clear that true name holders on this ship were not only from Winster but also from other regions.

The previous assumption was incorrect; Winster likely did not have many true name holders, and the King of Winster’s influence was greater than imagined, his reach extending beyond Winster.

After a few questions about the abnormalities in Saint Quanti, the topic quickly shifted.

“The Prohibition Agents have already entered major cities. Will this affect our gathering?”

“The Prohibition Agents target alcohol, not true name holders, so there’s no need to worry. Relax, everyone. This is the New Continent, not the Old Continent. There aren’t many witch hunters from the church here to trouble us,” the King of Winster concluded on this matter.

Ethan had not understood the witch hunt issue before, but after reading the Truth Report, it became clear.

On the Old Continent, non-church or non-official true name holders were labeled as witches or demons, hunted down by witch hunters who roamed to kill and cleanse true name holders.

The Truth Report often covered such stories.

On the New Continent, religious forces were weak, so there were no witch hunts. Initially, the New Continent was called a land teeming with demons.

After some miscellaneous discussions, the King of Winster clapped his hands to quiet the crowd and said, “That concludes today’s free discussion. Next, we will distribute the Truth Report. Then everyone is free to trade and engage in activities on the second floor. Thank you all for coming.”

“Praise to you, King of Winster! Praise your generosity!”

As soon as the King of Winster finished speaking, someone took the lead in praising him.

Others naturally joined in.

Ethan followed suit.

In truth, such praise was deserved.

Not only did he provide the platform, but he also gave away the Truth Report for free—a truly kind act.

From the fact that he gave away the Truth Report freely, one could surmise that he had some connection to the Eye of Truth.

During the meeting, there were no ordinary people in the cabin. Only now did the attendants enter, handing out freshly printed copies of the Truth Report to everyone.

Ethan quickly received a copy.

The front-page headline was about the Antustat Kingdom implementing a nationwide prohibition. Was there a true name involved behind this?

The headline startled Ethan.

He had never considered the issue from this angle before.

But after reading further, he found the newspaper’s arguments did not align with his own thoughts.

He thought it was about authority.

Prohibition must be related to the authority over alcohol.

The newspaper’s view was that the ban aimed to restrict true names connected to alcohol, but among all known true names, none were associated with alcohol.

It seemed that in this world, the concept of authority was not well understood.

After all, the Eye of Truth represented the more knowledgeable faction among true name holders.

Or perhaps the Eye of Truth simply did not want to reveal that they possessed knowledge about authority.

After reading the newspaper for a while, people began to disperse to the second floor.

What followed was mainly trading, more detailed intelligence exchanges, requests for adventure team-ups, and so forth.

Ethan’s main purpose for this trip was trading; he wanted to purchase an alchemical firearm and to craft an alchemical prosthetic limb for Viren.

Clay already knew Ethan’s intentions and led him straight to their target.

Among the attendees, there were three true name holders descended from ancient artificers. The strongest and most skilled among them was a man codenamed Living Flame.

Naturally, his fees were the highest.

But his notion of “high” was quite different.

He didn’t necessarily want money. In fact, money was the least of what he desired. More often, he requested peculiar materials or certain conditions.

For example, Clay’s knuckle duster had been exchanged for a pair of sea monster’s eyes.

Living Flame’s business was indeed booming. The moment he stood still, a crowd gathered around him.

Yet, as soon as those people heard one sentence from Living Flame, they all shook their heads and left.

His demands were too harsh.

This time, his payment was...

Alcohol.

Yes, alcohol. He needed three cargo trucks full of fine wine.

If this had been before, the request would have been easy; anyone could have fulfilled it.

But now, in the era of the prohibition, alcohol was more precious than gold. Even obtaining illicit liquor was difficult, let alone fine wine in such quantity.

Such a harsh demand made it better to seek one of the other two artificers of average skill.

But Ethan quickened his pace upon hearing this.

If it were other materials, it might have been truly hard to get.

But alcohol...

Right now, he had more than enough of it.

“I want three cargo trucks of fine wine. Remember, fine wine—not some randomly mixed trash. If you don’t have it, don’t bother me,” Living Flame snapped, clearly a man with a fierce temper and a deep love for alcohol.

“Three cargo trucks of fine wine, huh? I can handle that. If you help me craft what I need, I might even add more,” Ethan said.

“Really?!”

Hearing this, Living Flame grew excited, grabbing Ethan’s shoulder tightly.

“Of course it’s real! Didn’t I get you the sea monster’s eyes last time?”

Clay quickly vouched for Ethan.

“Alright, alright, great! Tell me, what do you want?”