Chapter 54: Dam(2)

Luke, Liam, and Spencer went into the carriage that King Jasper had prepared for them. Luke looks back at the carriage with an uncomfortable face.

'The King already prepared a carriage for us in advance at the very front of the gates of Paliath. That meant he'd already done a background check on me and tracked my most recent location. Wow, what a creepy guy.'

Luke sighed and turned his gaze to the person in front of him. The carriage driver and the warriors that escorted them all dropped them at the entrance of their kingdom. And Luke can see why.

· Woah... there's so much water...

"What happened here?"

"Hey... Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?"

Luke ignored Nash, Liam, and Spencer's words and started to look around the area. It's like they are at the seaside. It's quite surprising that Jasper managed to hide this flood from the other kingdoms and still manage to trade their remaining crops properly.

It could be related to the people's unwavering faith in their dependable king.

Luke's gaze was drawn to the steadily rising water in front of him. Even though they are still miles away from the dam, the water has already reached this distance. That must have meant that the places near the dam must have been flooded already.

"Young Master Luke."

Luke turned around and saw Jasper's stone-cold face walking towards him. Luke stared at him. As expected of the king that can solo almost everything, despite his young face, you could tell that he went through all sorts of stuff by how intimidating his face looked.

Well, of course, Luke doesn't care about that and would rather just focus on the prize ahead. With that thought, Luke broke into a bright smile and bowed to the king. Spencer and Liam also did the same and bowed respectfully to Jasper.

After bowing, Luke straightened his body up and looked at Jasper's cold stare head-on. He was itching to get this task done, so he decided to be proactive.

"Do you want help to stop the flowing water at Holly's Dam?"

Holly's Dam is a famous historical build like the Magic Tower in Paliath. According to history, the Flor kingdom was once a large sea that was also the home of the Merfolks. But not until war broke out, causing the sea to be polluted and making the Merfolks go away. Following the war, the people realized that the Merfolks had fled and constructed Holly's Dam, with the first king of Flor claiming what the Merfolk had left behind.

If Luke didn't know the reason for this flood, he would just assume that things were returning to normal and let this place flood, but because there is a cheat power here and he knows why this is happening, he can't just let this opportunity pass him by.

Jasper's eyes twitched. He did not expect Luke's straightforwardness. But, with everything that is going on around him, he doesn't have time to greet Luke properly or drink tea with him.

"Do you have any solutions for how to solve this? Considering how calm you look, you must have at least one solution."

"Indeed, and the solution I have is the right solution, your majesty."

Jasper flinched and looked at Luke in shock.

"You do?"

"Indeed, your majesty."

Jasper looked at Luke without saying a word. Luke noticed his reaction and smiled at him. Luke then spoke again, but his words shocked Jasper and even the people around him.

"There appears to be an active water portal at Holly's Dam."

"What?! Water portal?! You mean that spell from ancient times?!"

Luke smiled calmly at the shocked Jasper beside him. If someone else was beside Jasper, they would surely die from a heart attack. His voice is too loud.

Water portal. It is a portal that channels a huge amount of water to a certain location without stopping unless the user or the caster demands it to be stopped. It is also the highest grade spell that no ordinary magician can pull off, except for the Archmages. Water is not the only element that could be created; there is also fire, earth, wind, and wood. These portals were often used in wars in ancient times to create natural disasters, but they were soon forgotten since peace has ruled over this world since then.

And Luke exactly knew who put that portal into Holly's Dam. It was the empire, to be exact, the Duke of the Arram Empire.

The current empire has only one ruling emperor, but he is still too young, as he has no siblings and all of his parents are deceased. So the young emperor had no choice but to be the ruler of the empire and let the Duke support him. But since the Emperor was still too young to rule, the Duke handled all of the empire's affairs.

The king is just a puppet and the Duke is the one pulling the strings. That Duke was also a total maniac and started to experiment with ancient spells and magic, secretly, behind the Emperor's back. And as you might guess by now, the overflowing of Holly's Dam was also caused by him and his freaky experiments.

"Yes, that is right, your majesty. I studied history and ancient spells as a humble hobby. And I also have a companion with me who is very talented at doing magic. If I could teach him how to disassemble it, then the water portal might stop and disappear."

Luke then put his hand on Spencer's shoulder and Spencer flinched. Luke simply smiled at his perplexed expression and looked at Jasper, who was staring at him.

"Please trust us on this one. You personally called for our help so we will truly do our best to help you."

Jasper was silent for a moment before slowly speaking.

"What do you want in return? Tell me, so I can immediately give it to you after your help."

Luke stopped himself from raising his eyebrow at Jasper and just continued to smile at him.

'As expected, he really is prideful. He doesn't want to be indebted to anyone so he immediately asks me for what I want.'

"Nothing."

"Excuse me?"

"We don't want anything in return, your majesty."

Spencer and Liam looked at Luke with surprised faces. Spencer was about to talk back, but Luke just squeezed his shoulder tightly, causing Spencer to quiet down.

"Are you playing with me? Tell me what you want. I won't ask again."

Luke looked at the serious and menacing face of Jasper in front of him. He looks pissed after his offer got rejected by Luke in his face. Luke just internally sighed and just threw a random and fast reward that he could immediately get.

"Well, if your majesty says so, then, can you please tell me who made this mess?"

Jasper stopped moving and looked at Luke for a few seconds. This action made Luke confused and he squinted his eyes in suspicion.

'Wait... Don't tell me he already knew?'

Luke was baffled for a bit, but he stopped thinking when he saw Jasper starting to speak.

"It's... The Dark Eye."

"Yes- what?"

Luke looked at Jasper in disbelief. His eyes were wide from shock and his mouth was slightly open. He could not believe his ears.

'Excuse me? Who the fuck did this? Dark Eye? Whaaat?'

Luke was confused and baffled for a bit, but he snapped up when he heard Jasper speaking again.

"Do you need anything else?"

Luke was silent for a moment before asking Jasper with an uneasy face.

"Who told you about this information, your majesty?"

"... I don't know either. A random person in a white robe came to my chambers a few days ago with an envelope full of evidence. And I also recently heard that Dark Eye just attacked Reece, which strengthens the proof that Dark Eye really did this."

Luke frowned in disbelief.

'Oh my lord- what? Is the man he was referring to a member of the other enigmatic organization? Evidence? Is there a more legitimate source of information than the novel? Does that mean that the information in the novel is false? Impossible! Wait, wait- what if...? No way...'

A sudden strike of realization just comes into Luke's mind. It was so sudden that it almost made him laugh out loud. Jasper's and the novel's information was coming at him at an alarming rate.

"Your majesty... Can I ask for a copy of the document later?"

"...Sure."

Luke nodded while sighing. What a mess he got into. And all of this is just from getting a damn single cheat power. Luke spoke again with his head facing in the direction where he assumed that Holly's Dam was located.

"Don't you worry; I and my friends over here will stop the water from overflowing and let the kingdom be at peace again. Let's go."

Liam and Spencer nodded and Luke spoke again.

"Flight magic."

Jasper then butted in with a surprised expression.

"Hold on! You are going already? Shouldn't you prepare first? Just how do you plan to go up to the dam? Even the warriors can't get up in there because of the strong water currents!"

Luke smiled at Jasper's shocked face.

"We need to hurry, or else the whole kingdom will drown. And I am already prepared enough when we are traveling. Stay here with the people; they need someone to reassure them now."

"W-wait!"

Jasper wanted to stop him but Luke, Spencer, and Liam already flew up in the air and darted towards the direction where Holly's Dam is located. While looking at them leave, Jasper was perplexed.

Luke simply sighed and asked Nash who was on his shoulder.

"Nash, do you remember what I asked you last time?"

"Yup! It'll be difficult because it's my first time, but I'm confident that I can pull it off!"

Luke nodded and spoke to Spencer.

"Spencer, you heard that? You must now keep an eye on him to learn how to deactivate an ancient spell."

"I know that even if you don't tell me."

Luke ignored Spencer's sassy reply and spoke to Liam.

"Liam, go with them. They might be washed away by the water currents so protect them."

Liam then asked in confusion.

"What about you?"

"Me? I'll look around to see if there are more water portals. Who knows? There might be two or three of those."

'That's a lie. I'll go find a cheat power while all of you are working hard to stop the water portal.'

Luke was nervous because Liam squinted his eyes in suspicion, but Liam nodded at the end.

"I understand."

"Good."

Luke and the others continued to fly and then finally saw the tall and wide stone dam in the distance. Its height and width are comparable to those of a large mountain. He then saw water gushing out of the dam like a heavy waterfall. It would look beautiful if not for the fact that it's flooding the kingdom.

He then also saw the flooded village near the dam. All of the houses were completely submerged, and some were even destroyed. Luke focused and then flew to the top of the dam. He then looked down and saw strong currents of water flowing. They followed the opposite flow of the water and finally saw it.

"There it is."

Luke took a look at a large amount of water spewing from a large hole in mid-air. The water it's releasing is no laughing matter; if they're not careful, it could blow them away in an instant.

Luke then saw a large blue magic circle behind the flowing water. He then looked at Spencer, Liam, and the invisible Nash and signaled them with his thumb.

"Go."

The group nodded and flew past him and rushed towards the magic circle. Luke looked at them for a second before flying away. He knows that they can handle that without him. He then started to fly close to the edge of the dam. He then started to look around. The vast amount of water was all he could see.

Luke then stopped when he heard a frustrated, unknown voice. He then looked down and saw two white-robed men holding an oval-shaped item covered in cloth. Luke immediately hid from them once he realized who they were.

'Shit! What is the Dark Eye doing here?!'

Luke frowned and peeked at the two people from the Dark Eye. He then accidentally overheard their conversation.

"Ah, man! Why do we have to do this?! I want to go back with our liege!"

The man beside him scowled at him.

"You are too whiny. Be happy that our liege got another power from a magic container. Didn't you see how happy he was?"

Luke stopped moving and tried to process what the man had just said. Once he realized what he had just heard, he then clenched his fists tightly and frowned. He is trying his best not to blow his top.

'What? New power?! Do you mean the power I'm after has already been taken?'

Luke gritted his teeth. He felt anger boiling inside him. He came here to save a kingdom, and for what?!

Luke stopped focusing on his anger when he heard the man holding the unknown item speak.

"Haa, you are right. But I can't believe our Lord personally came here to see if the empire's water portal was still here. "

"Hey, don't judge our liege. He needs to come here personally because of his relationship with the empire. He said that he sometimes needs to be a good dog owner."

Luke squinted his eyes and frowned. Although he already knew this from Jasper, he still couldn't believe it.

Luke could feel a headache brewing inside his head. He felt like he had heard something useless again. At this point, he just wants to go home and pretend that this never happened.

Luke then saw the man throw the item inside the cloth into the water and turned around. He then spoke to his companion.

"Let's leave, we better not make our liege wait. Hey, the next target is Gron Kingdom right?"

"Yeah, I heard our liege is going to dump all of the failed experiments in there."

"There are quite a lot of failed experiments this time. They will be dumped next month, right?"

"Yeah, poor barbaric bastards. They'll all going to die."

"That is not our problem. Anyways, we better go."

The two nodded at each other and then cast teleportation magic. After they left, Luke blinked a few times in frustration. He is hearing too damn much.

Luke then glanced at the water where the item was dropped. He was silent for a moment before immediately diving into the water and swimming towards the item that had been thrown to the bottom of the water. Luke tried to reach the item and removed the cloth covering it.

He then stopped and flinched when he saw what the item was when the cloth was removed. It was an orb with a green necklace inside.

Luke wanted to inspect it more, but he felt like he was running out of air and immediately grabbed the orb. He has no idea what this is, but if the Dark Eye's liege wanted to get rid of it, it meant that he needed to get rid of it right away, either because it was dangerous or a threat to him.

Or it's something completely useless.

"Gasp! Cough! Cough!"

Luke activated his [Guardian Wings] and flew up into the air. He then went to the ground nearby to catch his breath. He then sighed and looked at the orb in his arms. It is about the size of an ostrich egg. He then frowned.

"Just what the hell is this?"

Luke opened the orb and grabbed the necklace inside. He then saw a green pendant hanging from the black lace. He then frowned but put the necklace inside his pocket anyways. This might be something that would turn out to be useful later. He then flew away from the empty orb and went back to his group. He then saw the group had already finished disabling the water portal. He flew towards them and greeted them.

"Good work you guys."

Nash then flew towards him and puffed up his chest.

"That was easier than I thought!"

"Yes, yes, good work. Here, have some candy."

Nash's tail waggled as Luke passed the candy to his fluffy paws. Luke smiled, but his face immediately turned serious. He then faced Spencer and Liam's confused voices.

"I saw some members of the Dark Eye earlier."

The group's eyes widened. Liam then asked in worry.

"Did they notice you? Did they hurt you? Is that why you are wet?"

Nash realized what was going on and spoke in an angry voice.

"Those bastards.... I'll kill them all!"

Luke sighed and stopped them.

"Relax, they didn't catch me. I did, however, overhear their conversation earlier. "

Luke's face turned extremely serious and the group started to get nervous. They then heard Luke speak.

"Dark Eye will target the Gron Kingdom next."

"What?!"

The group all exclaimed. Luke nodded his head and rubbed his temples. He was under a lot of pressure.

"Let's talk about this later. For now, we need to tell Jasper that the water portal is now disabled."

The group nodded and flew back. They then saw the dam finally stop flowing into the water and everything calmed down. They could also hear people cheering everywhere around them. Luke and the others flew back to where Jasper was with a calm look.

Luke was very calm, but he stopped when he saw Jasper and the people gasping while looking at him. Luke frowned and asked in confusion.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with my face?"

He then saw some people kneeling down while grasping their hands together. They were all looking at him like he was some sort of miracle. This started to creep Luke out, and he had no idea what was going on. He then heard the people's cries.

"Oh! Hero!"

"Angel! An angel has fallen on us!"

"God has mercy!"

Luke then flinched when he finally understood why they were looking at him like that. Luke frowned.

'Damn it, I forgot about this.'

Luke immediately deactivated his wings. He then gently landed beside Jasper. Jasper finally snapped out of zoning out and looked at Luke with admiration and gratitude.

"Thank you. Thank you for saving our kingdom."

Luke smiled. He wanted to go home, but he felt he needed to do one more thing before he could go completely unbothered.

"Not yet."

"Excuse me?"

Luke then flew again from the ground thanks to Nash's flight magic and flew into the middle of the flooded kingdom. He then activated [Bending Water].

'I am someone who finishes what he started. So if I am going to save a kingdom, I might as well do it all the way.'

Streams of water started to flow up into the air. All the people around looked at this with shock. Even Jasper's mouth couldn't stop from opening wide. The streams of water then slowly started to gather on top of Luke's head. It then soon formed a massive shining water orb. It was so clear and shiny that light was reflected everywhere.

Once Luke gathered all the water around him, he then flew towards the wide farmlands that were far away from Holly's dam and the flooded areas. There was a decent man-made mini dam made of stones and twigs around the farmlands to keep the water away if the flood ever reached that area, but it also dried out the plants because people couldn't work because their houses were drowning.

The people and Jasper followed behind him while looking at him and him only. They then saw Luke snap his fingers and the water orb started to spread and sprinkle around the dry plants that hadn't received any water for days. As the sprinkled water fell towards the plants, it created a rainbow. Luke smiled while looking at the peaceful and green farmland in front of him.

Jasper saw Luke's smile and felt his heart pounding wildly. He suddenly felt glad that he had asked Luke for help instead of the others. Luke's smile indicates that what he has just done is a major accomplishment for him. And indeed it was.

He is not even a citizen of this kingdom, but he looks happy to save a foreign kingdom. This fact made Jasper happy for some reason. Jasper smiled proudly and shouted out loud.

"Now that the flood is gone! We can now salvage our crops and homes!"

The crowd began to applaud. It is an extremely loud cheer. Luke heard their cheering and sighed. Now that he has completed his task, he can go home peacefully now, right?

But Luke then stopped moving when he felt something coming out of his mouth.

"Cough!"

Luke looked down and saw streams of blood flowing from his mouth. The cheering immediately stopped and he saw Liam and Spencer rushing towards him. He then heard Nash's worried voice.

· Hey?! What is wrong?! Why are you coughing up blood again?! Hey?! Hey!!! Luke!

Luke frowned and his vision started to blur. He then heard a mysterious voice in his head. Again.

· Idiot, that's too much. You have just recovered and now you are pushing yourself. Tsk, tsk, you should exercise. Your body is too weak.

Luke frowned and gritted his teeth.

'Doesn't that contradict the reason why I wanted to get cheat powers?! Like hell I'll exercise!'

Luke frowned and eventually passed out.