Chapter 273: Expedition
It was nearing the end of summer. The floating winds gave people a sense of refreshment, but Ronning’s heart was still filled with lingering irritation. Since his setback in attacking Fort Maxine, he had waited more than a month to reorganize. He was continuously waiting for information from Han Jin, but he still didn’t have a messenger.
Guevara, Ronning, and Alexandre all sat together quietly. Guevara’s experience was known by the others; Alexandre was a well-known general of k.u.mai. Ronning, though new and rising, as the leader of the Riptide Regiment Knight Conrad’s half son, he received attention from Knight Conrod given Reg’s lack of interest in the military, and was even taken as the inheritor. With instructions from Guevara, he progressed extremely fast.
They each had knowledge about the military, and knew the meaning of the current deadlock. Zaganide had only sent The Abyss Magicians to a.s.sist with the protection of Fort Maxine, and did want to attack, provided that he was stuck with more things to handle. As the saying goes, ‘Attack is the best defense.” As such, the best course of action was to immediately seize Fort Maxine and target the underground city of Zaganide. If he ever had spare time and resources, it would already be too late.
However, there were still only so many troops in the Riptide Regiment; given their current shortage of resources and the lack of organized magician units, they didn’t have the resources to fight more than a hundred Abyss Magicians. The magicians also hid in thick fog; Ronning was unable to think of a counter attack and had to wait helplessly.
Attacking at all costs? It was only worse! Influenced by Guevara, Ronning’s vision was already beyond the current city. Their future enemies include Dismark, Depew City, Cold Shadow City, and maybe even Wild Willow City. If he lost all of his troops, the leaders approaching their lands would have no problem seizing the results of their hard work.
Ronning was a bit pessimistic. He originally intended to send a few more envoyes but was stopped by Guevera. Per Guevara, they had already a.n.a.lyzed the future risks; Han Jin should’ve already known what to do. If he was forced to act by pressure, he would ultimately lose to the others, which wouldn’t be much different from losing to Zaganide right about now.
Ronning still intended to ask for a.s.sistance from the Chamber of Commerce a.s.sociation and the Mercenary a.s.sociation of Isolated Cliff City, but was again rejected by Guevara. The Chamber of Commerce a.s.sociation had already helped enough to fulfill their moral duties. They also really wanted to see the fight between Han Jin and Zaganide to verify their previous judgments. They didn’t even have to put all their eggs in one basket and use their bare arms to fight. What if Han Jin were to lose to Zaganide? Who could withstand his fury?
That fact that they couldn’t do anything for the others but wait silently felt really bad.
Just as Ronning sighed, random sounds suddenly echoed from outside, increasing in a continuous fas.h.i.+on, roaming through nearly the whole camp. Ronning then frowned; the soldiers of the Riptide Regiment were not random soldiers, and were all well trained.
At that moment, a general tore open the curtain in a rush and dashed in, “General! Quickly… please get out and have a look! You…” Before he could finish his words, under the knife-like stare from Ronning’s eyes, the general promptly shut up and took another step forward, yelling, “General! I have an emergent military situation!”
“Don’t bluff.” Guevara smiled and stood up, “Let’s get out and have a look.”
Guevara walked out first; Ronning and Alexandre also got up out of their seats and followed Guevara one by one. Though all mentally prepared, they were still fully stunned by the unimaginable sight ahead; a giant s.h.i.+p was hovering above the camp, covering everyone, Ronning and his fighters alike, under its shadow.
At this point, the camp was somewhat chaotic. The knights all took out their longbows and pointed towards the giant s.h.i.+p. They didn’t know if their arrows could create any effects, but they were still their only method of attack. Should the s.h.i.+p carry evil intentions, they needed to defend somehow.
The magicians ordered the soldiers to adjust the magical crystal artillery. The magical crystal artillery gave them a sense of security, but the extent of their security was limited—-the s.h.i.+p could move around at any point, but the artillery couldn’t follow the target as it moved. If a conflict actually broke out, the artillery would have to fight pa.s.sively.
“What’s that?!” Ronning said, gazing into the sky.
In fact, n.o.body could answer Ronning’s question; even Guevara was dazed. s.h.i.+ps flying through the sky? Such a tactic was completely new to the defenders.
The giant s.h.i.+p then made a slow circle, maybe due to the insufficient s.p.a.ce in the camp, then made its way away from the camp, landing on the ground no more than a hundred meters away.
At that moment, Guevara and others each took long breaths of relief; by landing, the huge s.h.i.+p at least proved that the people on the s.h.i.+p’s deck carried no evil intentions. The soldiers then rushed out of the camp; such a ridiculous s.h.i.+p deserved more investigation!
Behind Ronning, the soldiers of the Riptide Regiment poured out from the camp. The slave fighters under the direct control of Alexandre still maintained strict order, standing in a phalanx quietly. Without direct orders from Alexandre, they would never move.
A long ladder was thrown down from the s.h.i.+p’s deck. Moments later, a person climbed down the ladder, flipping through the sky at around seven or eight meters in the air, then landing on the ground steadily.
“It’s the marshal! It’s the marshal!” A few soldiers with good eyesight yelled. They then looked towards Ronning timidly, without daring to yell anymore.
“Reg… how…” Ronning couldn’t believe it. It took him a moment to realize, “Where is Master Raphael?”
“Raphael’s waiting on the s.h.i.+p. Follow me up.” Reg said quietly.
“The s.h.i.+p…. the s.h.i.+p is…” Ronning was barely able to organize his own words.
“Of course, this’s Raphael’s masterpiece.” Reg smiled. His eyesight then scanned through the soldiers, quickly returning to Ronning, “How is it? It’s stunning! Haha… in fact, we weren’t any better than you when we first saw it.”
“Let’s get up.” Guevara hit Ronning’s shoulder forcefully, finally pus.h.i.+ng him back into consciousness. He then turned back around and said to the generals behind him, “You will all follow me.”
After more than a month of preparations, there were many more dimensions to Han Jin’s giant s.h.i.+p. More than forty selected maid slaves handled the ch.o.r.es like cleaning and organizing. The ch.o.r.es had to be done —- with more people came more trash. The most detrimental beings, however, were the more than one hundred little thunderbirds. Just a few days without constant cleaning rendered the deck into an unusable trash field, filled with feathers of all kinds, and bird feces. Compared to that, the hundreds of Gargoyles that Hogan carried were far more adorable—- without orders from Horgan, they were nothing more than statues, without the need to eat, drink, or move.
In addition to the maid slaves, there were also more than a hundred slave warriors, responsible for hard labor. Each slave warrior carried a longbow as well; the s.h.i.+p was no ocean liner, and the possibility of deck combat was nonexistent. They only needed the ability to carry out long-range attacks.
The base of the Reaper Mercenary Team in Isolated Cliff City was nearly emptied, as everyone who could make the trip was on the s.h.i.+p. It was a true expedition!
On both sides of the s.h.i.+pboard laid more than a hundred magical crystal artilleries, with their muzzles fixed. The unprecedented magical tool Han Jin built created major reactions within the Chamber of Commerce a.s.sociation and the Mercenary a.s.sociation. What Hogan wanted was quickly realized.
There were more than one hundred and eighty rooms, which was sufficient s.p.a.ce for all—- of course, the maid slaves and slave warriors were not given even a single room.
Onboard the s.h.i.+p, Yalina built a makes.h.i.+ft lab combining both magic and alchemy, right next to her bedroom. Yalina also asked Han Jin for another door. From then on, she was able to research magic in the lab at any time and place, even without combing her hair or was.h.i.+ng her face; and if she was tired, the bedroom was just a door away. Everytime Yalina thought of this, she got a feeling of pleasure, which made her body shake!
It was her perfect dream. In the Capital of Elements, such a thing was not possible; given the dangerous nature of magical labs, they were usually built in remote locations. The Archduke of Solomon never allowed Yalina to risk the collapse of his palace with her mischief.
A while later, Reg brought Ronning and the generals of the Riptide Regiment onto the deck. Han Jin was sitting down in a chair placed in the center of the deck; powerful fighters surrounded him on both sides like stars surrounding the moon.
Any fighter such as Jeddes, Majordomo Gail, Yalina, Dwightsteel, Winston, or Gibran would be beguiled by the various powers. Yet onboard, they were just the green leaves setting off the red flower!
In fact, Han Jin is a pract.i.tioner, not a careerist. The purpose of his chair was to relieve his body and heart, and a.s.sist his mind’s concentration in order to control his magical tools. Just as the saying goes, ‘A standing person inevitably needed to use mental power to maintain their balance,’ Han Jin never expected such an effect.
Ronning then took in a deep breath and approached Han Jin, taking a knee on the ground around 10 meters away, “Master, you are finally here.”
Reg was stunned, Guevara was stunned, even Han Jin was stunned. Though Han Jin had a tacit understanding of Reg, he had always seen him as a friend, and never expected a kneel.
The second person to kneel down was Alexandre. The effects from his kneel were far less stunning; everyone knew that it was Han Jin’s advocacy that freed Alexandre and the slaves. From both his emotional and rational capacity, Han Jin deserved his kneel.
The generals of the Riptide Regiment stopped briefly, then kneeled down. Moxinke, Cessacioun, and the others’ worries had vanished due to these kneels; everything was now settled!
Guevara carefully observed Reg’s facial expressions. Seeing that Reg resumed acting normal after being briefly stunned, Guevara let out a breath of relief. Suddenly, he felt someone examining him; he then turned to his side, and was caught in a stare off with Jeddes.
Jeddes nodded with a smile as a greeting, then gazed off elsewhere.
“Ronning, get up.” Han Jin said quietly, “Let’s discuss Fort Maxine in great detail.”