Chapter 1361: Cover The Skies Of Solterra With A Single Hand Thirteen shook his head. "It won’t be that easy. The last mission will be the most dangerous of all. Frankly, I believe the God of Wanderers is betting everything on this chance to overturn whatever the Celestials or Fiends are planning in Solterra." The young lady didn’t quickly make any comment. Instead, she once again shifted her attention to Maple and Cinnamon, who were happily eating the third serving of omelet that Thirteen had cooked for them. Suddenly, she heard something that made her wonder if she was hearing correctly. "Wow, I’m full!" Maple patted her belly. "Cinnamon feels full too!" Cinnamon imitated her sister into patting her own belly. "Big Brother’s cooking is really the best. It’s so flavorful!" Thirteen couldn’t help but smile after his cooking was praised. The main reason why he didn’t mind cooking for the two little dwarves was because only the two of them could understand how perfect his cooking was. "Well, then. What do you plan to do, Stella?" Thirteen asked. "I plan to go with you," Stella replied. "Are you sure?" "Yes." "It will be very dangerous, you know?" Stella smiled. "I have already seen Demigods, Pseudo Gods, and Gods. What can be more dangerous than that?" Thirteen looked at the young lady. Until now, her background remained a mystery. However, based on everything she had said, it couldn’t possibly be ordinary. After all, she dared to casually talk about Demigods, Pseudo-Gods, and Gods. "Very well, you can come with me," Thirteen said. "But unless I’m taking a break and until we reach our destination, you will be staying inside the Mobile Fortress, okay?" "Understood." Stella nodded. "I will follow your orders." "Good." Thirteen cracked a few more eggs and placed them inside his frying pan. "You want some?" "Maybe next time," Stella replied. She then watched as the teenage boy prepared another omelet, which he planned to eat since Maple and Cinnamon were already full. Although he didn’t want to admit it, the journey to the Fortunate Isles wasn’t an easy journey even with Camazotz’s help. Having a companion during that time would allow him to have someone to talk to, aside from the Death Bat, who didn’t know that he had been so close to being eaten by the little girls he had tried to scare. After spending an hour with Thirteen, Maple and Cinnamon finally bade their goodbye. "It’s time for us to visit our future husbands!" Maple said. "See you later, Big Brother. Please take care of our sister!" "Cinnamon will see her fiance!" Cinnamon smiled happily before taking out a milk bottle. "I made sure to bring some milk for him! Sister, be careful, okay?" After bidding their goodbye, the two little girls opened a portal and stepped into it at the same time. Thirteen and Stella watched as the portal disappeared right before their eyes. "They sure are a handful, but both of them are good girls," Thirteen said. "But do they really have marriage partners?" "I don’t know," Stella replied. "My father also wants to know who they are, but Maple and Cinnamon said that their husbands are still babies at this time." Thirteen didn’t know if he should laugh or not after hearing Stella’s reply. But Maple’s and Cinnamon’s future partners weren’t his business, so he decided to drop the subject lest things grow awkward between him and Stella. An hour later, Camazotz returned, and they continued their journey Just as they had agreed on, Stella entered the Mobile Fortress while the Death Bat carried Thirteen in his arms, resuming their journey to the southern sea where the Fortunate Isles were located. ———— Somewhere in Solterra... Taiga, whose real name was Percival, looked up at the dark clouds forming in the sky and frowned. "Brother, are you sure about this?" Taiga asked his brother, Anwir, who had already formed his own private army, as well as a vast intelligence network that spanned across the human and beastkin cities in the center of the continent. "Zion has been preparing for this moment for many years," Anwir replied. "He also left me a letter with instructions on what I should do." Before he was sent to Solterra, Thirteen visited the Celestial Realm and asked Laplace Demon to send letters to some of his allies. Since they needed Thirteen’s help, the Laplace Demon agreed to personally deliver these letters. Anwir was one of the two who received the teenage boy’s letter. "But... this is a very dangerous mission." Taiga insisted. "That’s a Fiend, you know? The same being mother used in her stories to scare us into obedience." "Taiga, I think you are misunderstanding something," Anwir said. "Zion isn’t asking me to do something dangerous. He only wants me to spread a message in the places my hands can reach. "Of course, I find this message quite odd as well. However, Zion never does something without a reason. I believe that since he is willing to take a risk, I should also take this risk with him." Taiga frowned. "So... you’re not actually going to put wooden boards on mountain paths, right?" Anwir snorted. "Of course not. Zion’s not stupid, and neither am I. Something that obvious would attract Celestials, Fiends, and every curious idiot in Solterra." Taiga sighed in relief. "Good. Then how are you supposed to spread the message?" The Villain whom Zion raised tapped the table lightly, as if considering his words. "There are other ways," Anwir replied. "Better ways." Taiga blinked. "Like what?" Anwir raised a single finger. "Traveling storytellers." Taiga stared in confusion, failing to understand why traveling storytellers were needed to accomplish the mission that Zion had given his brother. Anwir almost laughed out loud after seeing his brother’s reaction. However, he kept it all in and tried to explain his plan as simply as possible. "I’ve already hired bards, wandering musicians, tavern drunks who talk too much, and caravan escorts who gossip worse than old aunties." Anwir grinned. "By tonight, a ’rumor’ will spread across several towns, and that rumor will be ’If you want your problem to be solved, no matter what it is, whether you are a Human, a Jinn, a Fiend, or Celestial, search for the boy called Zion Leventis. He will solve your problem for you!’" Taiga’s jaw dropped. "You’re using... gossip?" "Gossip is faster than any magical bird," Anwir replied smugly. "And impossible to track. By the time our enemies try to trace where the rumor started, fifty different people will claim they heard it from someone else." Anwir lifted a second finger. "Whisper networks." Taiga blinked again. "Whisper... what?" "Information brokers, thieves’ guilds, couriers, smugglers, beastkin traders, healer clans," Anwir explained. "Places where spoken words move faster than footsteps. Quiet channels that carry truth and lies in equal measure." He then raised a third finger. "And coded messages in merchant ledgers." Taiga scratched his head. "Coded... what?" "Page margins, small ink dots, patterns in numerical tallies. Only merchants and spies would ever see them. Hidden... yet everywhere." Anwir smiled. Taiga gave his brother a long look. "...You’ve become scary." Anwirl chuckled. "Zion asked me to spread a seed. Of course, I have to make sure it grows." "What exactly is the message again?" Taiga asked. Anwir’s expression turned thoughtful. "It’s simple... almost too simple." He whispered the words as if the shadows themselves were listening. "Dantanian, look for Zion Leventis. He has what you are looking for." Taiga shivered slightly. "If this Dantanian person is really a Fiend... shouldn’t we be more cautious? What if the rumors attract the wrong people?" Anwir nodded. "It definitely will. But Zion already accounted for that. He wants this message to spread far and wide—to draw certain eyes... and mislead others." Taiga hesitated. "Why would he want to be found by a Fiend?" "That," Anwir said quietly, "is something only Zion understands. But if he thinks this is necessary, then I’ll trust him." Thunder rumbled overhead as the dark clouds thickened. "...And besides," Anwir added. "a rumor is difficult to erase but also impossible to prove. A perfect tool for someone like him." Taiga swallowed hard. He suddenly realized that the most dangerous thing in Solterra wasn’t a Fiend, a Celestial, or even a God. It was Zion Leventis, quietly pulling strings from the shadows. And the most scary thing was that he didn’t even need to be there for it to happen. The relationships and connections he had nurtured during his short time in Solterra were more than enough to do his bidding. The seeds he had meticulously sowed had now grown, willing to carry some of his burdens so Thirteen could cover the skies of the world with a single hand.