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Chapter 5: The Lord’s Turntable That Does Not Turn
Eternal Sun was a piece of territory just as was shown in the game. The territory had a surface area of 1,000 square kilometers, located on the edge of the Otago Region and leaning against the Southern Alps of New Zealand. It faced the Canterbury Plains which were filled with fields and small hills. The soil was fertile, and the scenery was beautiful.
The reason why the place had ‘Lead’ in its name was because it was within a part of the Noble’s territory in New Zealand.[1]
As everyone knew, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and India all belong to the British Commonwealth of Nations. In the past, they were colonies of the United Kingdom and although these countries have been independent for many years, they still have some of the United Kingdom’s mark on them. Nobility Territories are precisely some of this mark.
New Zealand emerged as a part of the Nobility’s Territory in 1840, very early on by most standards. The British people used military force to compel the aboriginal Maori people of New Zealand at the time to agree and sign the 《Treaty of Waitangi》. In accordance with the rules set by the treaty, the Maori people sold their land to the Royal Family of the United Kingdom and afterwards, new immigrants arrived in New Zealand to buy the land from the United Kingdom’s Royal Family. At that time, there were also some wealthy Nobles that had paid and bought a large area of territory. These lands were the early territories of the Nobles.
New Zealand gained its Independence shortly afterwards, but the government did not ban the Noble Territories. This was because while the new government was being established, they’d obtained the aid of many conscientious and upstanding nobles. In order to express their gratitude, the new government then maintained these supporters and supported the Nobles in New Zealand.
However, thanks to the 《Constitution Act of 1986》, the Noble’s privileges were greatly restricted within the territory. Now these territories were merely equivalent to lands that the Nobles had bought and nothing more. The power to station troops, conduct foreign affairs and collect taxes from residents were all stripped away.
Eternal Sun naturally is just a piece of those territories of which formerly belonged to the Roberts Family. However, the last Head of the family who was also the last member of the family, Howard Fezalan Roberts, had died ten days ago. Before he had died, he had assigned the right of inheritance of his territory, and that person is Wang Bo.
Speaking up to this point, Charlie asked with a face full of suspicion to Wang Bo: “What relations do you have with Sir Robert? Why would Sir leave behind your information in his will?”
Wang Bo did not answer, because he did know how to answer. He mentally calculated, the day Robert assigned the right of inheritance to the territory is coincidentally also the day he started the game. This truly was a little weird!
Charlie later wanted to ask him about it again, but Wang Bo evaded it by saying he was tired. When they arrived at the hotel, he directly went to his room. Charlie was a smart person, seeing that he didn’t want to answer, he just shrugged and kept from asking the question again.
Sleeping for a night in Wellington, Charlie took him to a ferry on the second day to go from the North Island to a small town named Blenheim on the South Island. Then from there, they drove a SUV to a city called Christchurch. Finally, the bird shotgun was replaced by a cannon[2], Charlie took him on a helicopter and went Southwest.
Along the way, Wang Bo experienced transport by sea, air and land. Flowering viewing from horseback[3], he still experienced the beautiful scenery of New Zealand that was like a picture. It was November right now, his hometown was in the middle of the screaming cold winds, yet this country was getting ready to enter the height of summer. As such, everything he saw along the way were green trees and red flowers[4], blue sky and green grass.
He already knew of this before he had come to New Zealand. Using the Maori people’s language of calling this country, this country was called Aotearoa. Translating it over again, it was called The Country of Long White Clouds.
Previously, he did not understand why. But at the present moment while he was experiencing New Zealand’s azure sky and white clouds that were without a speck of dust, he has finally realized the meaning of the name. This place indeed had the most beautiful white clouds of the dry lands (as opposed to the sea).
The helicopter was flying at high speeds in the air, and towards evening, Charlie suddenly reached out a hand and tugged Wang Bo a little, pointing at something outside for him to look at.
Wang Bo subconsciously looked outwards, at this moment, the sun had set over the western hills[5]. The afterglow of the setting sun, the light brown of the summertime sun illuminated this piece of Mother Earth. The ends of the horizon seemed to have a sparkling and translucent large lake, gently reflecting the rays of it’s light.
Surveying this scene from their position, the silhouette of a towering and continuous mountain range appeared from the distantence. Verdant and lush tall trees extending from the hilltop the whole way, extending out from all directions. With a blow of the wind, the leaves would move as if it was a green sea.
The helicopter continued to fly toward the towering mountains. Halfway up a mountain, a faintly discernible Medieval Ancient Caste was revealed. Seeing this castle’s grey bricks and the red roof tiles that were hiding amongst the lush and tall trees, with it’s surrounding void of any other structures and revealing a cold and simple atmosphere, it really gave off the impression of a stubborn elder.
Wang Bo was just about to exclaim in admiration before he was hit by a call to wake up. Momma’s egg! Why does everything around here seem so familiar? Especially this castle, he seems to have seen it somewhere before!
Immediately after, he remembered the beautiful dream he had on the same night he registered for the game. He looked at Charlie in shock and said: “Heavens, this is my territory!”
Charlie’s complexion was slightly peculiar and asked: “You came here before?”
Wang Bo didn’t answer, he was entranced looking at the land outside. Bathing in the gentle glow of the setting sun, Summer on earth did not seem so irritable. An eyeful of green that seemed to be able to discharge water out of it, to a person like him who has been wrapped up in city steels and cement, this is something far more than just refreshing!
“How do you know this is Eternal Sun?” Charlie asked with a smile.
Wang Bo muttered: “I know, I just know, because this belongs to me!”
Of course he knows, not only this castle, the hills, grasslands and forests on this territory, he was all too familiar with it——Who knows how many times he had seen all of this, not only had he seen it in his dreams, he sees the Lord’s Sandtable everyday. Everything here is merely the super-sized version of everything on the Sandtable!
If it was the Lord’s Heart that allowed him to have such a vast and beautiful territory, then he didn’t need to be so alarmed before,he should be happy and excited instead!
Thinking up to this point, he called out the Lord’s Heart that was hidden within his chest.
The green Lord’s Heart first bravely came out, then it changed into two parts, one small part and one large part. The color of the larger portion of the Lord’s Heart quickly faded and morphed into the Lord’s Sandtable. Meanwhile, the smaller portion remained floating in front of him and quickly turned into a crystal and translucent turntable.
On the turntable, there was a dense green arrowhead which was divided into five lattices. On top of each of them, they each say the Territory’s Heart, Strengthening Center, Wealth Center, Spirit Center and the Mystery Center[6].
Furthermore, the originally crystal clear sandtable now had an extra layer of thick mist. But this mist wasn’t white, rather, it was a light green and was drifting about as if there was a wind blowing around. It was incomparably odd.
He reached out a hand to touch the turntable, but the turntable remains motionless: saying in his mind ‘Turn’, the turntable still didn’t turn. He tried ‘Raffle’, but it remained as motionless as before. This guy seems to be a decorative item, he tried everything he could think of, yet it still remains motionless.
Seeing this, Wang Bo was once again at loss. Why did the Lord’s Heart suddenly change? What is the meaning behind that light green mist in the sandtable? And what’s going on with these lattices?
He couldn’t help but recall the time when he first came into contact with the Lord’s Heart game and the directions he had read. He remembers that within the game directions, it mentioned the Territory’s Heart and the whatnot. But back then he hadn’t taken note of it; now that he doesn’t have the directions anymore, he can only fumble about with anything that he didn’t know.
There weren’t any more shops past this village, opportunity knocks but once. Wang Bo expressed that this was truly a tragedy.
The helicopter found a slice of smooth meadow and slowly descended. This type of place wasn’t easy to find; although this piece of territory isn’t short of plains, it lacks management. The ground was filled with tall weeds, and from a helicopter’s point of view, this kind of environment was very harsh.
Jumping off the helicopter, Wang Bo looked around him as he asked: “Charlie, this place, this entire territory is considered mine?”
Charlie shrugged his shoulders and said: “Of course, of course mate. This is your territory, but you still have to handle some docûments. As soon as you accept this place as yours, this place will be your territory.”
Charlie noticed his change in expression and asked: “Hey, Wang, what’s wrong?”
Wang Bo shook his head and said after getting back his state of mind: “Oh, it’s nothing. Just that I haven’t seen this kind of beautiful scenery in a long time, so it was quite a shock!”
Charlie also nodded in agreement: “Yes, it is truly a beautiful scenery, I was also shocked. Oh, by the way, you said that you haven’t seen this kind of beautiful scenery in a long time? Does that mean you have seen it before?”
Wang Bo nods his head. Charlie looked at him with expectations, and then he said: “I’ve seen it before in my dreams.”
What he said was the truth, but Charlie obviously didn’t believe him. He did not believe he was an ordinary person.
In actuality, looking at this land normally, it is just piece of wasteland and could be considered a pretty piece of wasteland at best. Weeds were all over the land, there were no roads through the forest, no electric circuits, and even more so, no network. In spite of everything, only a castle existed within the scope of the 1000 square kilometers; calling this place a desolated wilderness was more appropriate.
He asked Charlie how it had happened and Charlie just shrugged his shoulders, saying that the previous Lords of the territory, the Roberts Family, were all very strange. They refused to develop their land, and since it was their private land, others could not get involved in it.
As such, the area 150 kilometers south of Eternal Sun was the place best known as the world’s number one most beautiful small town, Queenstown, while this place was really only a wasteland.
Footnotes:
[1]Lost in translation – Eternal Sun 日不落领 the Last Character is Lead.
[2]Idiom for meaning Equipment improved enormously
[3]Idiom for A fleeting glance in passing
[4]红花 – > Red Flowers, also the Chinese name for Safflowers
[5]Idiom for the day that is approaching its end.
[6]心 – Which I’ve been translating as Heart, can also mean core, center and stuff. So although all of those should probably follow the (name)’s Heart format, I changed it. It may get changed again in the future -_-ll
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Meatbun delivery~
Thank you for the chapter ( ●w●)
Dream a little Charlie~
XD
Thanks for the chapter!
i really want to play this game in real life