Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 752 - 751: Growth

No matter what changes may have occurred to the divine status of the God of Storms, it’s clear that Gawain won’t get any answers from the deep-sea heretic god currently fiddling with the tip of its tail.

In fact, it seems like the entire sea demon race is still in a state of confusion.

He couldn’t help but pinch his chin, leaning back in the high-backed chair, allowing his fluctuating thoughts to drift.

The news brought by Tiel sparked an irresistible impulse within him, prompting him to venture to the deep sea, to the other side of the Endless Sea, to the land of sea demons to see for himself, or to personally verify his judgments at the Storm God’s remnants.

However, he couldn’t do it—not only because he couldn’t leave his newly established Empire willy-nilly but also because the Cecil Empire currently lacks the maritime technology to cross the Endless Ocean.

Thinking of ”maritime technology,” Gawain couldn’t help but recall another troubling issue: the Cecil Empire currently lacks a suitable sea outlet.

Most of the Cecil Empire is inland, with no coastlines in the southern, eastern, and western regions. The only coastline lies in the extreme northern parts, beyond the northern range, a place that remains undeveloped due to harsh weather, mountain barriers, and oceanic dangers, which the Anzu Kingdom has disregarded for centuries.

But it can’t remain abandoned forever.

Gawain raised his head, his gaze moving past Tiel’s swaying tail tip to focus on the mainland map not far away.

Beyond the northern ranges of Anzu, the coastlines to the further north aren’t empty.

Across a narrow strait, one can first see a massive island, home to the Mage Nation, Violet Kingdom, while to the east of Violet Kingdom, the Sacred Dragon Kingdom’s territory juts out of the Loren Continent like a horse’s head and forms a peninsula that also looks out towards the northern mountains.

In the era of Anzu, northern regions were essentially synonymous with mystery and distance. The feudal kingdom’s inherent closed nature, combined with inconvenient transportation, made cross-region communication exceedingly rare—maintained primarily by border aristocrats and a few civilian trade caravans. The so-called ”international activities” of the old era were limited to this.

Take the Violet Kingdom, for instance. The mysterious Mage Nation and Anzu were separated by merely a narrow ”Northern Strait,” which belonged to the safe zones of the Endless Sea and was free from storms and magic turbulence. Yet, there were no regular ”sailings,” and interaction depended solely on adventurer-like captains daring personal voyages or transcendents directly crossing the sea.

As for the Sacred Dragon Kingdom, the situation was slightly better because land connections existed between it and the Cecil Empire. However, it guarded its mysteries even more fiercely than the Violet Kingdom, to the point where outsiders from the Sacred Dragon Kingdom were scarcely seen within Old Anzu. In contrast, Violet Kingdom’s visiting mages occasionally appeared in various mage organizations within the royal capital.

Most of these mages journeyed directly across the strait using transcendental powers, while a few arrived via private ships to the Loren Continent.

In the old days, this was the norm.

But under the new order planned by Gawain, amidst the upcoming surge of international trade, study abroad fever, and Northern Continent traffic network layout, such scenarios would eventually change.

He’s already attempted to lay railways in the tribal country of Augari in the west and plans to open the tightly shut doors of the Sacred Dragon Kingdom, while the Violet Kingdom is also targeted for Cecil Empire’s trade activities, aiming to bring them aboard the ship dubbed ”Cecil Settlement.”

The Magic-guided Train can solve terrestrial transportation issues, while restarting the northern continent route from seven hundred years ago is another consideration for Gawain.

Even without the plan for the Cecil Settlement or the need to establish maritime ties with other nations, challenging the ocean is a step the Cecil Empire must take.

Humanity can’t remain landlocked forever, especially when the presence of sea demons and dragons continuously reminds Gawain—the world is much larger still.

...

”The world out there is vast indeed!”