This Necromancer Just Wants to Plant Trees-Chapter 1877 - 521 Steel Duke_2

They intimidated the passengers into voluntarily leaving the ship by using the Slave Hunting Team.

Once the small boats had left Purgatory’s Son’s merchant ship, those people who were then captured by Devil Lords like the Duke of Steel could no longer be considered Purgatory’s Son’s responsibility.

And those who truly remained on the board were, in fact, spared the miserable reality of becoming slaves.

This is the devil.

They seemingly value contracts on the surface, respecting the spirit of the agreement, but in the shadows, they’re masters of making rules and playing with loopholes.

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"But the Duke of Steel, Necromancer Bain, is quite an interesting character..."

Matthew knew not much about this one of the three magnates of Barthor Purgatory.

Mainly because the Alliance had done far too little homework on the outer planes.

While reviewing those materials, Matthew found a significant portion of them—and remarkably up-to-date at that—actually came from Margaret’s summaries.

According to the intelligence collected by Margaret,

The Duke of Steel, Bain, is the most war-oriented of the Devil Lords in the Nine Tier Purgatory.

Bain’s domain is said to be laced with an extensive network of underground tunnels and steel factories, hissing with massive amounts of steam and electricity.

Every cave within his territory was a forge for creating armor, weapons, or strategic war machines.

Millions of demons worked for Bain,

laboring day and night to craft one set of armor after another, one blade after another.

This phenomenon was said to have started during the Age of Enlightenment—

When the gods of the Heavenly Palace still sat above in the Heavenly Family Palace.

The Heavenly Palace’s suppression of forces from outer planes like Abyss and purgatory was thorough, leaving demons and devils almost breathless.

But it was from that time on,

The Duke of Steel began preparing for war over the long term.

Using the particularities of his domain, he opened numerous weapons factories, constantly inventing new equipment targeting the Heavenly Palace.

Many at that time believed that a war between the Heavenly Palace and Barthor Purgatory was inevitable,

And the main characters of the battling sides were likely to be Sun God Gerrard, unparalleled at the time, and the Duke of Steel, Bain.

Yet, unexpectedly,

The two had not clashed even by the time the Sun God fell.

Much later,

As the power of the Heavenly Palace receded, Bain gradually shifted his war preparations from the Heavenly Palace to other Devil Lords of purgatory.

This shift in focus made the other Devil Lords very uneasy.

They even attempted to invade the Duke of Steel’s domain,

Only to face the powerful sniping of his army—soon, the allied forces sent by other Devil Lords had to retreat in defeat.

Just as all involved Devil Lords were anxiously awaiting Bain’s retaliation,

Bain continued to prepare for war at his own pace, wildly so.

At one point,

Intelligence operatives discovered that Bain’s munitions could fill an entire Demiplane.

Despite the tense atmosphere,

Bain’s weapons factories kept forging on, day and night.

The retaliation that the Devil Lords had anticipated did not happen.

Then,

Storluk Industries began to meddle with many domains of purgatory,

And Bain shifted his war targets onto the space undead army.

He somehow stole plenty of unique industrial technologies belonging to Storluk, and his factories began to craft equipment that was no longer just conventional metal armor and steel weapons but advanced weapons with psionic or enchanted properties and super armor with higher metal forging standards.

But by this phase,

The people of purgatory had long become numb.

Just as they had predicted,

The Duke of Steel had always been preparing for war but never actually waged war against anyone.

His territory had remained at the initial size he had inherited, at most expanding to devour a few Secondary Planes or Demiplanes, yet compared to other Devil Lords who were constantly expanding, Bain’s domain could only rank at the very bottom.

Still,

No one dared to underestimate this Devil Lord with unique tastes.

His territory was less than one-tenth the size of the Demoness of Desire or the Viper Lord, yet his influence was on par with them.

Margaret’s evaluation of the Duke of Steel was—

"The Devil Lord who is most prepared for war, but has never actively waged war.

In purgatory, not initiating war is usually seen as an act of kindness.

And kindness is synonymous with weakness and vulnerability in the eyes of devils.

Ever since inheriting his domain, the Duke of Steel has never had a rebellion and very few are willing to attack Bain’s domain, indicating that those devils who are relatively familiar with him do not find him weak or kind.

The reasons for his bizarre behaviors may be either because he looks far into the future

Or purely out of character."

After finishing these materials,

Matthew only had one strong thought in his mind:

"How great it would be to find Bain’s arsenal?"

But three seconds later, he shook his head.

Everyone knew Bain had countless munitions, but no news had ever emerged about anyone obtaining those weapons, showing that it was no easy feat.

Even,

If one were to be a bit conspiratorial, Matthew might suspect that Bain’s fervent war preparations might also be part of a deliberately crafted persona.

Was the purpose to lure the greedy in search of his arsenal?

Or some other reason.

In any case.

While Matthew immersed himself in reading documents and daydreaming.

The large ship, with the flag of Purgatory’s Son fluttering, sailed slowly and steadily toward the downstream of the River of Silver.

A few days later, the ship had left Necromancer Bain’s domain.

The journey since had been smooth sailing, just as the Sailor Captain Dalain had said.

Nine days later.

The ship arrived at White Sand Pier without incident.

After taking some goods exclusive to the material world from the cargo hold, Matthew and his party hurriedly disembarked.

Flags of Purgatory’s Son floated everywhere onshore.

There were quite a few Purgatory’s Sons maintaining order near the pier.

At least on the surface.

It seemed to be a relatively safe place.

Next to White Sand Pier was a gathering area, and walking south for more than ten kilometers along the road from that area, one would reach the heart of the Blood Abyss territory, the fortified city of Blood Sand City.

That place was the second line of the Blood Battle.

Occasionally, some terrifying demon units would break through the defenses and invade the plains near Blood Sand City. Over time, to the south of Blood Sand City, hardly any small settlements could be seen.

The demons here also moved in groups to avoid encounters with any creatures from the Abyss that slipped through the net.

Matthew and two companions dutifully made their way around White Sand Camp, inquiring about purchasing channels and related prices for materials from the material world.

And just as they were about to leave.

Matthew unexpectedly ran into Sailor Captain Dalain.

He pulled Matthew aside and whispered,

"Tiefling like you, without any background, it’s easy to become targeted and hunted when you’re new here."

"This place is near a chaotic battlefield; no one will speak up for a few innocents wrongfully slain."

"If you want to do business in Blood Sand City, it’s best to sneak out of the camp at an unnoticed time. You should be careful; early morning might seem like a good time, but that’s when trackers are on high alert since it’s when the wise choose to depart."

"Plus, there are many untiring high-level demons around here, so it’s best to make sure you’ve shaken off all tails before you leave."

Matthew was somewhat surprised.

He first thanked Dalain, then asked,

"Is your merchant crew heading to Blood Sand City as well?"

He knew that Purgatory’s Son officially had a merchant crew of its own.

Dalain pondered,

"We will go, but it’ll be later, and it’s uncertain when we’ll depart."

"I suggest you keep an eye on our merchant chief. He may set out abruptly, and if you follow behind the caravan, likely, no one will dare to make a move."

"But still, once inside the city, be cautious..."

Having said that, he nodded to Matthew and quickly left.

"It seems our Sailor Captain is quite the good Samaritan, huh..."

Lorraine chuckled from the side,

"Matthew, you certainly have some charm; it hasn’t been a few days, and you’ve already captivated the Sailor Captain."

Matthew didn’t bother with him.

Afterward, the three ignored Dalain’s advice and left the camp directly.

After walking a kilometer or two.

Matthew suddenly stopped,

"We’ve been targeted by three groups."

"One on each side?"

Lorraine yawned, resting his right hand on the Green Flute at his waist.

Camela, on the other hand, had rolled her eyes back.

Three minutes later.

Her eyes returned to normal.

Faint auras of death came from behind them:

"They’ve been dealt with."

"Let’s move on."

Matthew shrugged.

The trio walked towards Blood Sand City without looking back.

Two hours later.

Dalain, escorting his own merchant fleet, passed by the same road.

Along the way, there were still murmurs from The Devil Guardians:

"Those tiefling merchants wouldn’t take advice?"

"Heh, as expected, surviving on the ship was just a fluke."

"What happened up ahead?"

"Hmm, Dalain?"

...