Above The Sky
Chapter 712 - 712 2 Ironwing Dragon Group

712: Chapter 2: Ironwing Dragon Group 712: Chapter 2: Ironwing Dragon Group The Rebellious Mountain People had long shown signs of unrest.

Unlike the Redwood Natives, who considered The Empire to be nothing more than a larger tribe and the struggles between them a mere tribal conflict, the Mountain People had a past unified under the faith of the Dragon God and always harbored calls for ‘independent nation-building’ due to their greater numbers.

These Mountain People believed that the proud descendants of the Dragon God should never be vassals of The Empire; even if they could not gain independence, they should still strive to create a large Mountain People’s Autonomous Region akin to the Icebound Fortress Cluster, led by the powerful among their ranks.

They refused to pay taxes to The Empire, living scattered across the forests of the Bison Mountain Range, adhering to ancient traditions and leading lives separate from the rest of the world.

Since their living area was barren of natural resources, The Empire never had an interest in exterminating them.

Even if there were occasional goods worth trading, they merely conducted trade with these rebellious Mountain People through the autonomous regions and several colonies, exchanging grain, salt, iron, and various tools.

Most importantly, The Empire had stripped the Mountain People of their Inheritance to achieve the Third and even Fourth Energy Levels, the Rebellious Mountain People had always existed, but lacked the foundational power to change anything.

Conversely, although The Empire had taken away the Mountain People’s own Third and Fourth Energy Level Inheritances, it did not discriminate against them.

In the Azure Cloud Knights, there was even a Mountain People Great Knight of the Third Energy Level serving as a law officer, holding a position of great esteem.

However, this Mountain Person’s sense of self-identity was ‘a Tribe of the Mountain under The Empire,’ not a scion of the Bison Dragon God.

This wasn’t surprising.

After all, the Bison Dragon God had been gone for too long; no matter how steadfast and ancient the faith, it would fade and eventually become myth and legend, a collection of stories.

Many had come to terms with this a long time ago.

Elder Mantle was one of them.

Although it might sound strange, based on his conversations with Elder Mantle, Ian could tell that despite the elder’s talk of the Dragon God faith, he was in reality more focused on pursuing power.

He considered The Empire as a more advanced form of civilization.

There was nothing wrong with joining them, and his desire to reclaim the Book of Silver Radiance was essentially aimed at obtaining a Bloodline True Form Inheritance not limited by The Empire, and to secure more benefits for his tribe from the hands of the Dragon Worship Cult.

Of course, Ian also believed that Elder Mantle harbored a desire to ‘use the Book of Silver Radiance to command the Mountain People.’ He wanted to reunify the now fragmented Mountain Tribes under the authentic radiance of the Dragon God.

But this was different from the Rebellious Mountain People’s aim of establishing an independent nation.

Elder Mantle’s goal was to gather the Mountain People, become one of the significant political forces of South Ridge, and thereby influence South Ridge’s political decisions.

Therefore, it was certain that the insurgents were not Elder Mantle’s group of Mountain People.

Then, how had the Rebellious Mountain People, lacking the Third Power Level and adequate resources and organizational strength, managed to create such a rotten situation in South Ridge?

“It’s Fiery Flame Land.”

Captain Piman stated with conviction, answering Ian’s doubts: “Fiery Flame Land has provided those rebellious Mountain People with resources and arms.

They even have alchemical cannons and trained firearm squads.

The militiamen from the autonomous regions are no match for them.

Only the Ten Thousand Spirits know how long they’ve been planning this.”

This was similar to the way they supported the Redwood Natives.

Remembering the armed Natives he had killed around Harrison Port, Ian nodded and said, “The timing of their uprising was also quite ingenious.

The General and the head of the Azure Cloud Knights are in the Imperial Capital, and there was never any hint of this beforehand; there must be traitors within the Governor’s Mansion.”

“The officer sees far!” Piman looked up to him with admiration.

“The Colonel said the same thing, which is why we are investigating all sorts of leads!”

The Colonel referred to the son of Marquis Barton Hennil, Mayowa Henliel, the deputy commander of the Nineteenth Legion, who took charge of matters related to South Ridge after Marquis Barton went to the Imperial Capital.

“So, the investigation led to a pastry chef, whose father was killed by people from Fiery Flame Land?” Ian glanced at him, speaking calmly: “This isn’t your primary duty, and don’t take it too seriously.

Where are the other Inspector Knights?”

“Uhm…” Piman clearly couldn’t answer this question.

How could he possibly know the movements of the other Inspector Knights?

Ian believed that this related to the true reason the Rebellious Mountain People dared to revolt—without a single Fourth Level, even with support and armaments from Fiery Flame Land, those rebellious Mountain People couldn’t possibly withstand an attack from Marquis Barton’s Knight Order or Inspector Knights.

Not to mention that the Southern Ridge Worship Dragon Sect was The Empire’s ally, and the King of the Mountain, due to Sio’s incident, had deep-seated hatred for Fiery Flame Land.

“Take me to the Governor’s Mansion.”

With his thoughts swirling, Ian raised his head, signaling the guard knights to leave: “I have something to report to the Colonel.”

Since there were orders from above, Piman certainly would not insist on continuing to bother the pastry shop’s owner—it was a task from higher-ups, after all, and they were just carrying out their duties as assigned.

The pastry shop owner, still rattled, watched as the team of guard knights obediently left under Ian’s reprimand.

He knew his source of raw materials was somewhat miraculous, but he had never imagined it could be linked to spies from Fiery Flame Land.

But this had become the norm in South Ridge.

The spies from Fiery Flame Land, who appeared and disappeared without a trace, greatly disturbed the normal production and work in the surrounding areas of Nauman City.

Though it sounded somewhat ridiculous, they would indeed sabotage waterwheels and mills, castrate bulls, dig up canals, and pour salt on crucial farmland.