The military parade was at its climax, and the appetizers had already been served—it was only natural that now would be the main course.The dragonbone airs.h.i.+p pierced through the clouds in the air. As it arrived, it was accompanied with a pitch-black mist and the shock of the members of the audience.
What surrounded this gigantic dragonbone airs.h.i.+p weren"t clouds but the pure magic power of death. Unlike the Borealis, which was purely constructed of metals on the surface, its dragonbone and the power of death gathered in the black mist was the best evidence of its ident.i.ty—an Undead Battles.h.i.+p.
Its sails were constructed with skeletal bone bodies and pitch-black magic, and they were both important characteristics of Undead Battles.h.i.+ps and Soul Battles.h.i.+ps.
Compared to the Borealis, which had its own system and only used an undead system to reinforce and control it, the Mizar used a similar design and technology. Undead magic would simply replace any places where engineering and technology standards weren"t up to par.
There weren"t enough specialized alloys that were specially suitable for floating airs.h.i.+ps? Let"s just use dragonbone instead, which was st.u.r.dy, long-lasting, and an excellent medium for undead magic. Although its outer appearance was a little scary, wasn"t all this white dragonbone beautiful in its own special way…? However, I knew that most mortals wouldn"t appreciate it like I did.
Not enough resources to construct the mana pools and mage towers of a floating battles.h.i.+p? Actually, ghost towers and soul towers weren"t bad either; it was just that there were a few too many souls. All the mana produced would be for undead magic, and it would be a fatal amount of undead energy for any living person… Yet since the Mizar ran off of undead magic and living personnel were unusable, let"s just use undead personnel, instead.
The energy sources let off black smoke and fire? Polluting even the skies that they pa.s.sed by? That was correct—why would an undead magic powered airs.h.i.+p produce any other color? As for the soul mast on the deck and the shades blowing at the soul mast… it was all too normal—that was the typical method an undead battles.h.i.+p would use to increase its speed.
It naturally had its own corrosive domain and aura of fear? It was an undead battles.h.i.+p made of dragonbone to begin with; activating these two racial talents was perfectly normal. As it didn"t possess a draconic aura, the Mizar could be considered to be a little lacking, but they were positive effects that were useful on the battlefield.
Perhaps, in the eyes of normal people, the only difference between the Mizar and a certain legendary ghost s.h.i.+p on the seas was that the Mizar was made of higher-quality materials and was able to fly.[1]1
Thanks to a certain person"s terrible hobbies, the completed form of the Mizar resembled a tremendous flying bone dragon. Its vicious appearance was especially enhanced, making it appear to be the personal battles.h.i.+p of some demon king.
At this moment, this several-hundred-meter-long dragonbone airs.h.i.+p covered the sky, and brought a dark wind with it. Dark clouds gathered, and when it fully appeared in front of everyone, it brought both fear and shock.
The visitors from the Holy Church had the biggest reactions. They had always viewed the undead as their mortal enemies, so the ones equipped with swords instantly drew them, while the priests raised their staves and prepared Divine Arts. Even Estrada himself put his hand on his mace and seemed to be considering an attack.
"This is the Borealis squad, second battles.h.i.+p: Mizar. Everyone already knows the #1 battles.h.i.+p Borealis already, but our industrial level is rather low in East Mist, which is why we had to use some small tricks to make up for what we lacked."
"…You evil undead mages…"
One Holy Knight couldn"t bear it anymore and angrily started shouting but was suppressed by his comrades. This was obviously no time for them to turn on me, but all the priests and Holy Knights had unpleasant expressions. This was an evil representation of undead magic and was obviously beyond the limits of their tolerance.
In fact, if it wasn"t for the Crimeless City repeatedly "emphasizing" that these high-level undead were harmless, and also for Cardinal Soros repeatedly emphasizing the importance of what they were here to accomplish, a conflict—or even all-out battle—would have erupted.
"Hmph."
But this was exactly the effect I wanted. I had long since viewed the Holy Church with displeasure, and since it wasn"t convenient to fight with them out in the open, let"s just ignore them for now.
There was only one Borealis, and due to certain rumors that the origin of the Borealis wasn"t proper, no country would conduct business with us regarding battles.h.i.+ps; they would all hesitate. But don"t look at how repulsed they all seemed to be on the surface after I displayed the Mizar; as long as I truly proved that we had the ability to produce medium to large airs.h.i.+ps, the orders would come to us on their own.
"Although we still haven"t mastered the techniques to create large-scale airs.h.i.+ps, and must use some replacement materials, we"ve already mastered small-scale airs.h.i.+ps. Everyone, take a look. Those snow-white painted small airs.h.i.+ps are our newest "Snow Eagle" cannon airs.h.i.+ps."
The Mizar opened up its hatch to reveal a squadron of new Snow Eagle cannon airs.h.i.+ps that flew out from within. They flew circles in the skies, which caused various exclamations.
They had been painted snow-white, and only their heads were painted with the sign of a white eagle.
We were pressed for time and we also lacked technicians, so we were unable to change the technology. The only difference of the Snow Eagle cannon airs.h.i.+ps from the Auland Vulture ambush airs.h.i.+ps was probably the color of the paint on the outer sh.e.l.l. The most pitiful part of all was that I had originally wanted to name them "Snowstorm" cannon airs.h.i.+ps, but it was rejected because "your name sounds like it will bring a curse of catastrophic bad luck."
"The Snow Eagle cannon airs.h.i.+p typically requires four people to operate: a pilot, a cannoneer, a commander, and a messenger. This number can be adjusted based on the situation; for example, an extra cannoneer or a mage can be added, and each Snow Eagle cannon airs.h.i.+p can maintain combat for sixteen hours. At this auction, we shall sell two Snow Eagle cannon airs.h.i.+ps. Afterwards, we"ll still accept orders, but as we still need to obtain various rare materials, not only will we require that you pay seventy percent upfront, delivery may be somewhat delayed."
Not only would delivery be somewhat delayed, but we would have to take care of numerous requirements first, such as obtaining materials and upgrading the industrial level to be able to ma.s.s produce them. Plus, we had to fill our own needs and the Mist Alliance member countries" orders first, so even if everything was super successful, the first batch of cannon airs.h.i.+ps wouldn"t be s.h.i.+pped out to other countries for at least one or two years. And, by that time, all the airs.h.i.+ps I needed for my Borealis squadron would be complete.
As for requiring seventy percent upfront… considering that these prices were inflated even further because this was an auction, that would be no small number. If we obtained more than ten countries" orders at once, even if we didn"t do anything at all for the entirety of next year, we wouldn"t have to worry about not having enough money to supply food for East Mist for the next several years.
However, despite the fact that everyone was getting pa.s.sionate about this, someone surprisingly expressed their dissatisfaction directly.
"Hmph! What"s so incredible about that? Isn"t it merely the ability to fly? In front of we Holy Blade Knights, what do those puny airs.h.i.+ps matter?"
Aivla had an immensely dissatisfied expression; she made it seem like floating battles.h.i.+ps were nothing before her at all. However, I knew that what she said was indeed the truth. The Holy Blade Knights had a special squadron that consisted of solely Holy Knights with the bloodline of angels.
In front of high-level Holy Knights with the ability to fly, these small airs.h.i.+ps indeed didn"t amount to much. Even if I estimated conservatively, these Snow Eagle cannon airs.h.i.+ps would be nothing more than floating targets for any Holy Knights at Saint rank or above.
However, untimely bragging would always attract lots of enmity. I didn"t pay any heed to Aivla, while everyone else was already glaring at the idiot that she was. They didn"t say it out loud, but what they were thinking was obvious: "You members of the Holy Church have a huge organization and so many strong members, so you don"t think floating battles.h.i.+ps are important. But that doesn"t mean everyone else can be like you."
Aivla seemed like she still wanted to say something else, but the sudden huge shadows that descended from the skies shut her up. Or, more accurately, perhaps I should say that she was scared to the point that she couldn"t even close her mouth anymore.
Those shadows belonged to thirteen huge dragons; they consisted of eight red and five black dragons. Although most of them were rather young dragons that lacked experience, dragon knights were an exceedingly rare job cla.s.s in this current generation. Many dragons acting together was a rare sight in the past several hundred years, and this definitely shocked the world.
"I have a pretty good relations.h.i.+p with the new Dragon Queen of the Underground World, so she rented out some of her dragons to me. Although the rent is unbelievably expensive, it"s indeed an excellent combination with our aerial battles.h.i.+p. Don"t you agree?"
This was a naked display of our military might. No matter how strong your angel bloodline Holy Knights are, could they compete with dragons? Only with Elder Dragons protecting these large airs.h.i.+ps would they be able to operate at full power, and the reverse was true as well. With such an excellent platform like a huge aerial battles.h.i.+p backing them up, the dragons would be able to be at their mightiest as well.
On the surface, the various gem dragons and colored dragons typically each had their own individual territories and very little contact between themselves. They had basically no mortal enemies, and "dragonslayer heroes" were typically just a synonym for "idiots." Only in the Underground World where high-ranked strength was so common did dragons form a large family and support system for themselves, which was how Little Red had such strong power to command them.
Unlike the Underground World, where they would be limited in their ability to fly around, these huge dragons could instantly vanish in a flash on the surface. Unless they were willing to risk ambush attacks on their capital once every two or three days, even the human megempires wouldn"t dare to make an enemy out of a dragon.
Of course, even if they were only young dragons, making dragons listen to a human"s orders was doubtlessly "an insult to dragon pride." Even though Little Red was now the Dragon Queen, she had spent so much effort and compromises on my behalf in order to accomplish my request, successfully allowing me to "rent" them.
And, it was precisely the appearance of the dragons that made all those who intended to obtain our products via either force or other means to cancel their plans.
"…Is this the legendary Roland? He actually has a connection to the Dragon Queen, and can even get dragons to listen to his orders? It would seem that applying pressure or threatening him won"t be able to succeed."
In order to be a successful arms merchant, apart from the ability to obtain excellent products, what was more important was enough power backing the merchant up so that they would not have to fear underhanded means.
Of course, when using force or threats wouldn"t help them obtain what they wanted, they would naturally have to pay up in gold and silver.
Perhaps they wouldn"t be able to a.n.a.lyze any useful technology by just obtaining one small airs.h.i.+p, but the long-term abilities to scout or ferry important personages were quite valuable and difficult to obtain from a strategic standpoint.
The dragons were merely the background to the Snow Eagle cannon airs.h.i.+ps" performance, but everyone"s faces had paled. Even under the Dragon Queen"s command, the prideful dragons weren"t very obedient. They were quite displeased at how they had to perform in front of ordinary humans and be stared at by everyone, so they merely circled around twice before they left.
However, everyone was already in a hubbub.
"Can you clarify just how long of a delay there will be in delivering goods? Can they be delivered within three years? Do you take pre-order payments right now?"
"Considering the relations.h.i.+p between our countries, could you give us extra orders? We can give your country the absolute best prices on all the materials that you need."
"Your Highness, this seems like it has a small conflict with our private agreement. If you"re in need of gold, the Auland Empire can…"
Many advantageous conditions were set in front of me. It seemed that this bait was sufficient enough that they were willing to pay anything in order to purchase an aerial battles.h.i.+p.
"…Could I ask if you accept even higher-level orders? Such as for that Mizar up above. San Antonio is willing to trade for it with equal-level technology…"
There were even those that had their sights set on the Mizar. However, this was obviously beyond a certain group of people"s ability to handle.
"Athlod! You dare to get involved with undead magic!?"
This time, Cardinal Soros was the one who roared out in anger. However, San Antonio was a country that had already obtained firsthand information on the Borealis" capabilities at Red Maple Castle. How could they back off so easily from the chance to obtain a national treasure level weapon simply because of pressure from a cardinal?
"Cardinal Soros, this is just a misunderstanding. We simply seek to purchase large-scale aerial battles.h.i.+ps. Since you seem to object, we shall temporarily set this matter aside."
Although it seemed that Athlod had given up on the surface and that he was obviously preventing a clash with Cardinal Soros, judging by that pa.s.sion burning in Athlod"s eyes, he wasn"t even slightly intending on giving up. He probably simply intended to not have a conflict with Cardinal Soros in the open, and would contact me again secretly.
Of course, the higher-ups of the Holy Church also saw through the fact that various countries" representatives were only paying them lip service. But what could they do about it? Not interfering in other countries" domestic affairs was one of the most basic rules of all the G.o.ds" churches, yet simply watching undead technology spread like this was nothing but an insult to the teachings of the Holy Light.
However, since even the True G.o.d Wumianzhe had recognized the right of these undead to be here, they couldn"t possibly use this excuse to start a conflict.
"Roland! Your lies to me before were an insult against my personal honor! In order to protect my personal honor, I challenge you to a duel! If you lose, you have to give up spreading these evil things."
The white-winged angel half-blood Aivla stood up and intended on using my previous making a fool out of her as an excuse to challenge me to a duel. Amongst the n.o.bles, these types of duels for various mysteriously small issues over honor were quite common, and anyone that didn"t accept would be looked down upon. However, I merely shrugged and smiled as I looked back down at everyone below the stage.
Although I did this action with no obvious fireworks, "intentional ignoring" was always even more insulting than condescension. What I didn"t say out loud was quite obvious to everyone, and the spectators around us were already beginning to secretly laugh.
"Who do you think you are? You have the right to challenge me?"
"I…"
Aivla was angered to the point that her entire face reddened, and was about to explode on the spot when Estrada stopped her with a wry smile. The "Strongest Holy Knight" lifted his mace which was surrounded by Holy Light.
"Roland, I should be more than enough for you. Perhaps today is a good day to clear out what we owe each other. But, I will only challenge you to a duel between teacher and student, not a battle to the death. If you lose, please promise to abandon selling undead airs.h.i.+ps. This is too unacceptable, too evil."
Without realizing it, Aivla had helped him out greatly. I had been hiding from him all these days, and today was our first meeting since he arrived. There were so many things that needed to be discussed.
And, if it wasn"t for this somewhat hot-tempered and rash female Holy Knight, he wouldn"t be able to ask for a duel so conveniently. For Estrada, the spreading of undead technology was actually something insignificant, and protecting the honor of the Holy Church was just an aside for him. Using this chance to uncover Roland"s ace cards and motive was most important.
"Undead are considered evil? Who made that rule? The G.o.d of Holy Light? Or you yourselves, the Holy Church?!"
Note:
1. Although I"m not sure, this may be a reference to the Flying Dutchman.Although I"m not sure, this may be a reference to the Flying Dutchman (Davey Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean).