CHAPTER 456: CHAPTER 356: WHALE TECHNOLOGY? THE GOD DAGON?

Black Tide Island is located between the boundary of the north coast of the New Continent and the southern boundary of the Celestial Orbital Belt. It shares the same stretch of water with what seems to be the abandoned "Fortress Bridgehead," as well as a dozen or so other islands with similar circumstances. It is also not far from Luanyun City, the abode of the Old Gods, half submerged in water, half on land, half in reality, half in dreams.

The modestly sized Black Tide Town is the only human settlement on the island.

But contrary to what outsiders might imagine, this place is not like those primitive-looking indigenous city-states of the Bantaan Archipelago with only extremely backward technology. Nor is it a hell on earth filled with bizarre creatures, evil spirits, and Affiliated just because it is close to the abodes of the Old Gods. Instead, it continues with the gentlemanly style of Yemengade with its suits, top hats, gold-rimmed glasses, and walking sticks.

The town’s stone buildings are tightly packed with triangular gables; the dark green tiled roofs are lofty, and the eaves protrude. Axle-wheel shapes or fan vaulting can be seen everywhere. There are turrets fashionable even on the Old Continent, balconies with columns around the doorframes, squared chimneys, and so forth. Apart from the environment being a bit too humid, even for a seaside town, everything seems very pleasant.

Most crucially, many households have black wrought-iron gates and floral windows, proving their technological level in metallurgy is not inferior to the Old Continent, which is currently in the Black Iron Age. Even on a production scale, it is slightly superior. At least in the homes of ordinary town residents in the Old Continent, this kind of luxury of using iron for doors and windows is not seen.

This Black Tide Town turns out to be surprisingly... uh, advanced!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!...

As the exquisite clock tower in the center of Black Tide Town chimed six times, the time reached six o’clock in the evening.

With dusk gradually falling, a young man dressed in a blue uniform and wearing a round cap came to a black cast-iron lamppost on the street corner, carrying a ladder. He had skin slightly tanned like the natives but also a pair of blue eyes characteristic of the Bayfolk, seemingly a mixed-blood of a Bayfolk and a native.

The young man leaned the ladder against the street lamp, climbed up nimbly, opened the glass cover, and lit the whale oil lamp fueled by Mei’s Leviathan Whale Oil with a silver firebox in his hand. The flame, tinged slightly with blue yet exceptionally bright, instantly illuminated a large area of the street.

This fuel, rich in Source Material, was obviously extremely efficient and only needed a little to burn for several days, which is not a luxury in this whaling town.

Black Tide Town’s hereditary "lamplighter," Nils Henrik, looking at the steadily burning light in front of him, seemed to have his face light up as well.

He muttered a prayer:

"Thanks to Dagon for granting us whale oil technology, and to the sacrifice of the marine sprite Whales, may your spirits return to the Sea of Origin Matter soon."

After lighting a street lamp, he carried the ladder to light the next one.

Ever since Nils took over this job from his father, he would walk through the streets and alleys to light every street lamp in the town when night fell. Year after year, day after day, regardless of the weather.

However, after Nils Henrik completed his work for the day, he would devoutly add a sentence to his prayer:

"I hope Dagon’s gaze falls upon me, witnessing my diligent and hard work, and allows me to return to the sea and become... a great member of the Kin, just like my father after I retire!"

He would then gaze longingly at the pitch-black sea beyond the town that swallowed the sun, seemingly able to see his father’s figure.

Clearly, the "return to the sea" that he spoke of was not as simple as it sounded literally.

"Young Nils, what are you daydreaming about? Quickly go help with the ’Fish-Eating Festival’ after you finish today’s work. Manpower is needed everywhere, whether it’s at the slaughterhouse, the public kitchen, the whale oil refinery, or the docks."

A somewhat sticky, sharp voice suddenly interrupted the young lamplighter’s thoughts.

He turned around to see a middle-aged man in a dark green suit with a red tie standing behind him. However, compared to the young man’s own normal mixed-blood appearance, this middle-aged man’s ancestry seemed to have other unknown elements mixed in. The distance between his eyes was unusually wide, and his mouth was excessively flat. His teeth, revealed when he spoke, were dense and sharp. Behind his ears, several shiny, fish-scale-like things seemed to shimmer.

Nils, however, was not surprised, let alone afraid.

Because this appearance precisely symbolized the beginning of the "Ascension" he longed for; it was a great boon, meaning he would soon be qualified to return to the depths of the sea.

After coming back to his senses, he tipped his hat and bowed to the middle-aged man, first reciting a fixed prayer from the Church:

"We thank our Lord, and the Lesser God Dagon, for everything bestowed upon us."

Then he greeted the visitor:

"Good evening, Mr. Mayor! Congratulations on your upcoming ’Ascension’ to become a great Kin who follows behind Dagon, serving our Lord."

The man he called the mayor, however, waved his webbed right hand and corrected him sternly:

"No, I have just received Dagon’s oracle. He is very pleased with the sacrifices we have just captured and has decided to bless every adult resident of Black Tide Town. So, the person you should congratulate is not just me, but also yourself and every adult resident of the town. This time it is an overall ’Ascension’ for Black Tide Town, just like the ancestors of ’Fortress Bridgehead Town’ hundreds of years ago!"