Chapter 318 318:- The Shadow Islands; Thunder Bay Leaf
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The Shadow Islands Empire,
The Empire is located at the very west of the Western region. The Shadow Island Empire was built upon 9 big islands. Each island is about 2 times bigger than the Capital city of the Istarin Empire; The Azure city.
The word shadow came from the thunderclouds that hover above the 9 islands of the Empire. Thunderclouds would prevent the light of sunlight from ever reaching the Shadow Islands. Only during the month of December, do the Shadow Islands find some sunlight. Storm clouds are covering the sky of the Shadow islands 11 months throughout the year, but it very rarely rains on the islands even though they are covered in thunderclouds.
There were about 5.8 million people who lived in The Shadow Islands Empire. Out of the 5.8 million population, about 3 million of them were humans. There were around 1.1 million beast-race people who lived throughout The Shadow Islands Empire. The remaining 1.7 million population were Vampires, succubus, werewolves, and fallen angels.
The Shadow Islands Empire was the only Empire in the Dying Isle continent to have such a high number of Demon-race people.
There is a reason why the Demon-race people's population was 1.7 million. And this reason has connected to the thunderclouds that block the sunlight for almost 11 months throughout the year.
A certain special kind of herb grew in the 9 shadow islands. This herb cannot grow in the presence of sunlight and in places where the temperature reaches above 20 degrees Celsius. When this herb reaches maturity, the pills created using this herb can help the Demon-race people in increasing their cultivation speed. It takes around 6 to 9 months for this herb to grow and reach maturity.
Only Demon-race people can benefit from this herb. Whether it was Succubus or Incubus Or Fallen Angel or Werewolves, all Demon race people desired this herb. To them, this herb was as precious as gold.
The name of this miraculous herb was 'Thunder Bay Leaf'. And The Shadow Islands Empire was one of those only few places in the whole world where the Thunder Bay Leaf grows.
The people of the Shadow Islands Empire even call the Thunder Bay Leaf their green gold. One reason is that the Thunder Bay Leaf is considered very precious and is exported to many other parts. The fact that the Shadow island Empire is the only place within the Entire Dying Isle continent where green gold which is the Thunder Bay Leaf grows, makes it very valuable.
The Great Emperor and the royal family of the Shadow Islands Empire built their enormous wealth just by selling Green gold to foreign Empires and continents. The Shadow Islands Empire knows the value of the Thunder Bay Leaf and which is why more than 10,000 soldiers are dispatched to guard the Thunder Bay Leaf fields.
The Emperor does not share any profits that he earns from selling the Thunder Bay Leaf with his eight dukes even though around 80% of the entire Thunder Bay Leaf herbs are grown in the Dukes' territories. When the Thunder Bay Leaf herb matures, the Emperor just takes the green gold from the dukes without giving them any penny.
If the eight Dukes were allowed to sell the Thunder Bay Leaf herb on their own, most of the profits to go directly into their pockets and would make the dukes even more powerful. If the Duke of an Empire becomes too much powerful then there is a chance that the Duke might revolt against the Royal family and overthrow the Emperor. This isn't something that the Shadow Islands Emperor and his royal family wanted to see happening. This is why, the dukes were never given the right to sell Green gold on their own.
Around 90% of the Shadow Island Empires' yearly revenue is generated from exporting Thunder Bay Leaf herb. Despite being an Empire that is made up of 9 big islands, the Shadow Islands Empire was able to become of the seven great Empires in the western region with the wealth that the Emperor gained from exporting Green gold.
The territory of the Shadow Island Empires is made up of 9 big islands. Every nine islands are twice or maybe even bigger than the current size of the Istarin Empire's Capital; the Azure city. Ashcour Island is the main and center island. Ashcour Island is located at the center of the Empire. The Ashcour Island alone produces 20% of all Thunder Bay Leaf Herb of the Shadow Islands Empire. The city of Zion is the capital city of the Shadow Islands Empire.
Aside from that, Ashcour Island is also the place where the Emperor of the Shadow islands Empire lives with his family. While the other eight shadow islands are governed by Dukes, the Royal Family directly controlled Ashcour Island. Among the 9 shadow islands, the Ashcour Island is the richest and also the most prosperous Shadow island within the Empire. Around 1.9 million people of various races live on this island.
When the Shadow Islands Empire was formed, the Emperor had appointed 8 noble families to look after the eight islands. The head of each noble family is the Duke who is responsible for governing one of the 8 shadow islands.
[The names of the Eight islands are -
1. Summermond Island
2. The Enchanted Holm
3. Weyden Island
4. Stoneminster Holm
5. The Starfish Island
6. The Pearl Chain
7. Brisburg Island
8. Langboia Islands]
Every eight islands are special for something. For example, The Langboia is not just one big island. The Langboia islands are hundreds of small islands located very close to each other. The Brisburg Island is the second largest Shadow islands. The Enchanted Holm is the biggest among the shadow islands. The size of The Enchanted Holm is around almost 5 times the size of the Azure city.
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As the Darkness of the night consumed the entire Shadow Islands Empire, the Dragon Monarch arrived within the capital of the Shadow Islands Empire.
As Aditya stepped out of the teleportation array, the guild master of the Zion city stepped forward. The dark elf offered a bow to the Istarin Empire.
"Welcome to the City of Zion, Your Majesty." Having the goddess of wealth as an ally was one of Aditya's biggest strengths and also advantages. Since Alicia had managed to open branches of her Seekers of Impurity guild all over the Dying Isle continent, it had become very easy for Aditya or anyone from Shadow guardian division to Infiltrate an Empire or a Kingdom.
Each branch of the Seekers of Impurity guild is connected to each other through the teleportation circle. Alicia allowed Aditya and the Shadow guardian to use the teleportation circles.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Aditya walked up to the dark elf man who is the guild master of Zion city. Aditya patted the dark elves right shoulder. "Thank you for providing all the information in such short notice." After returning to the Dragon Palace, Aditya started making plans on destroying the Shadow Islands Empire.
'I don't need to destroy the entire Empire. I just need to remove the Royal family and the Emperor.' Before tonight, Aditya didn't know much about the Shadow Islands Empires. He thought the Shadow Islands Empire to be another ordinary Island Empire. But from the information that he received through Alicia and the information that the Shadow guardian division had managed to gather, Aditya now had become interested in conquering the Shadow Islands empire.
Aditya was especially attracted to the Thunder Bay Leaf Herb. The political structure of the Shadow Islands Empire wasn't that strong. It was the Emperor who held the eight dukes together. If not for the Emperor, by now the eight dukes would have fought each other in multiple bloody wars. From experience, Aditya knew, that these kinds of Empires are really easy to conquer. There won't be any protest from the people even if Aditya removes the Emperor and the Royal Family and takes the whole Empire under the Istarin Empire.
Aditya could have invaded the Shadow islands with millions of his troops and the Dragonians but that would attract too much attention and would alert the other two Western Island Empires. The aim was to conquer the Shadow Islands Empire as soon as possible and then go to the other two Empires. He wanted to do this before the Echo Nexus Empires declares war on the Istarin Empire. If it was before Aditya never would have dared to make such a risky move. But now he wasn't afraid. He can defeat any Peak 5th-order cultivator on this continent. After reaching Peak 3rd-order his powers have soared. Now no Peak 5th-order cultivator can even harm him.
"This humble servant isn't worthy of your praise. I haven't done much. I merely provided the information that I already had gathered." The dark elf man knew the relationship between the Guild Leader and the Istarin Emperor. Although he wasn't 100% sure he has been hearing some rumors about the Guild leader being the Istarin Emperor's fiance.
Aditya nodded his head. "This is my first time coming here. I want to walk around Zion city." The dark elf respectfully nodded his head. He knew that this would be anything but a normal walk around Zion City.
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Hello, everyone I hope you all are doing well. First of all, I want to let you all know that I am currently sick. I was planning on uploading two chapters per day but unexpectedly I now have high fever and also runny nose.
Also Ramadan has started, this makes things even more difficult for me. Today I am feeling a little better than yesterday and day after yesterday. If I get well soon, I will release two extra chapters for missing two days.