21st Century Archmage - Chapter 192

“The preparations are all complete. Yaaawn…”

A certain mage who was called the Golden-Eyed Reaper on the Kalliant Continent finished issuing orders to the various corporations and companies he had nurtured on Earth. Aidal had amassed a wealth so massive that it could no longer be counted.

“Too bad I can’t take my gaming console and laptop with me.”

When using dimensional transport magic, you couldn’t bring any electronics. The archmage Aidal knew very well that a living body could handle the teleport, but all electronic devices would be destroyed by the waves of mana.

“Huhu, I’ll treat it like a vacation, I guess.” He was only intending on going there to play around a little, so he wasn’t too concerned. “I’ve already seen Avatara. There should be a new movie by the time I’m back.”

Aidal had a boatload of money and nothing to do. As such, he was deeply involved in the film industry and had propelled the creation of several blockbuster fantasy movies, including a series called the Liege of the Rings and a movie that had come out a few days ago called Avatara. The people of the world had no idea that all of these blockbuster fantasy movies were published and adapted into films by authors and directors Aidal had nurtured behind the scenes.

“Seriously, James Camera’s directing is pretty decent.”

After watching the Avatara movie he’d been waiting for, Aidal no longer had anything to do.

“Guess it’s time to set off.”

For the dimensional teleportation, Aidail had obtained a special-grade magic crystal. It was probably the one and only special-grade crystal on the entire earth.

Whirr, whirr.

Thanks to the special-grade magic crystal, the magic circle gathered enough fuel to have mana to spare even after using dimensional transport magic. With a contented smile on his face, Aidal strolled to the middle of the circle.

“He couldn’t have seriously died, right?”

As always, his disciple Kang Hyuk always came as an afterthought. The thought that he should have sent Hyuk off after teaching him a little bit more came to mind sometimes when he was straining on the toilet.

“Huhuhu. Kallian, wait for me… I’m coming.”

The mana gauge on the magic circle was perfectly filled up. Thinking of the Kallian Continent that would give him a warm(?) welcome, Aidal opened his mouth.

“Dimensional Teleport!”

Woooosh. Flash!

The activation phrase for the spell that spanned dimensions was truly simple. The great magic array responded to the phrase, exuding a great deal of mana glow. And then, there was no one left on the circle, just mana particles floating pitifully over the magic circle after exhausting all their strength.

* * *

‘Wooow~ that’s quite something!’

20 wyvern transport carriers was easy to say, but Kesmire was the only nation that possessed this much naval power. The sails of all twenty ships were taut and full of wind as the vessels surged over the ocean, with Bebeto and me in the skies above. I found it suffocating to be on the deck, so I had gone aloft with Bebeto.

‘20 wyverns on the big transport carriers, and 16 on the smaller ones, with a total of 300 wyverns.’

Even if I wanted to bring the Skyknights in Nerman, I couldn’t. Unlike the Kesmire Kingdom wyverns that had pretty much lived their whole lives on transport carriers, the wyverns and Skyknights of Nerman would definitely suffer seasickness. Of course, there would probably be ignorant wyverns like Bebeto that would be happy as long as they had females around, but there was no guarantee that the others would adapt while on the trip to the Laviter Empire, so I only brought the beastmen.

‘Seriously, expensive things are well worth their price.’

The Gold Wyverns the beastmen were riding showed no symptoms whatsoever, as if they were advertising their brand name. On both Kallian and Earth, money didn’t lie.

‘One week from now… wait a little longer, Emperor of Laviter. Huhuhu.’

Ever since Laviter became an empire, it had never permitted an invasion of the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately for them, the Imperial City located downstream of the Yukane River that joined the ocean had really met its maker this time.

‘I’ll be taking everything you guys owe me, plus interest.’

It was said that a massive amount of treasures was piled up in the treasury of the Imperial Palace. I was fully intending to get plenty of compensation for harassing Nerman.

Guoooooooooooooo!

Bebeto, a wyvern that truly deserved to be called the Ruler of the Skies, flew through the crisp sea wind at the head of a long string of wyvern transport ships.

“Bebeto! I see madir!”

In the distance was a school of flailing tuna. For the sake of nourishing our bodies, I flew Bebeto there. After all, we had to be full of energy for the undertaking coming in a few days: plucking out the last thorn that had been bothering Nerman.

* * *

* * *

“Hohoho, it is a pleasure to meet the legendary Lord Kyre. Greetings. I am Chrisia’s older sister, Elsia.”

‘Wow!’

I was told that the Reserve Fleet that was on constant standby for the kingdom’s defense, Chrisia’s 2nd Fleet, and the 5th and 7th Fleets that were active in the northern seas were the Kesmire Kingdom fleets mobilized for this mission.

As soon as I arrived, I was immediately granted a spot on the flagship of the 2nd Fleet that Chrisia commanded. And then, when evening came, the fleet commanders flew over on wyverns, having been invited for an evening feast and a strategy meeting.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am the Lord of Nerman, Kyre.”

“You are truly handsome. So much so that if not for Chrisia, I’d want to take you for myself. Hohoho.” Elsia continued to break out in delighted laughter.

“7th Fleet Commander, please control what you say a little more. This is not a private space,” Chrisia gritted out, staring daggers into her sister.

Chrisia was a beautiful woman you would never have expected from looking at her dad. And Elsia, with her bouncy figure and beautiful skin, was absolutely on par with Chrisia. She was so overwhelmingly charming that I might have actually fallen for her if not for Chrisia.

“Goodness, I apologize, Your Excellency,” said Elsia, feigning innocence with a smile in her eyes. She was a flower of liveliness in a battle that could have easily been a dreary affair.

“Everyone’s here, so let’s go right into the meeting.”

“Already? Can’t we do it after eating?”

“Sister!!!” exploded Chrisia, no longer able to endure Elsia’s continuous interruptions.

“Goodness, why so prickly, Your Excellency?”

‘Looks like this is the usual scene between them.’

A ‘this again?’ was written clearly in the eyes of the virtuous-looking 5th Fleet Commander and the Reserve Fleet Commanders as they watched Chrisia and Elsia. From the looks of the two cats duking it out in spirit, there was no doubt that the voyage wouldn’t be boring.

“Sigh… As the person who is one year younger, I’ll back down.”

“That’s right, good decision. Hohoho. This older sister just wants to have a good time with the little sister she hasn’t seen in a while.”

‘In a while? Guess that’s possible for them.’

The sea was a pretty large place, after all. Also, the Kesmire Kingdom was gungho about dominating the ocean so that they couldn’t lose their vested interests, so the fleet commanders probably didn’t have many chances to see each other.

“Please take your seats. The strategy meeting starts now.” When Chrisia, the leader of a kingdom fleet, said those words, her aura changed. “I am sure you have all received a secret missive from His Majesty the King upon departure. As you know, our current destination is the Yukane River tributary near the Laviter Empire Imperial Palace.”

Knowing the importance of this matter, the King had issued a secret missive. The fact he did so meant it was possible that imperial spies had infiltrated even the remote Kesmire.

“Even now, the only people who know this fact are the commanders gathered here. I ask that you keep this a secret up until the battle is over.”

‘Perfect, what a woman.’

Chrisia was saying exactly what I wanted to request. If it became known that we were attacking the Empire, it wouldn’t have a very good effect on the Skyknights and sailors. The Laviter Empire might be paper tigers on the sea, but once we got close to imperial land, it would be a different matter.

“I have a question.”

“Go ahead, 7th Fleet Commander.”

“Why must we attack the Laviter Imperial Palace? I hurriedly returned to the kingdom at His Majesty’s summons, but I departed without getting a proper explanation. I wish to know the reason now.”

As Elsia spoke, she looked at me. She had figured out that I was at the heart of this matter.

“Please allow me to answer that.”

An explanation was necessary anyway. If I were them, I wouldn’t be very pleased with the situation, either. Their first complaint was probably that I had only brought five subordinates with me despite boasting that we would attack the Empire, and the second complaint was that I was taking the vanguard and commanding role of that attack. I had no doubt that the King’s secret missive ordered the people here to actively help me.

“First of all, I would like to thank the Overseer of Fate, Romero, from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to meet the heroes ruling the seas in this manner.”

I needed the cooperation of these people, so I started off with pleasant words.

“As everyone here knows, Nerman is currently in a war with the Laviter Empire. The river of animosity between us runs so deeply that one must crumble for the other to thrive.”

Even though they lived on the seas, they were not completely unaware of the situation on the mainland. The people here were entrusted with the task of using lumikars to obtain or relay intel to the kingdom.

“As such, I asked His Majesty the King for help.”

“What impressive skill you have. Kesmire hasn’t mobilized its forces for a foreign nation like this in the entire history of the Kingdom.”

“Nerman is not a foreign nation, but a destined partner of Kesmire.”

I deflected Elsia’s barbed compliment, changing the phrasing to my favor.

“Lord of Nerman, are you sure you can achieve victory in this battle? If things go wrong, we could lose precious forces of the Kingdom,” asked the imposing 5th Fleet Commander who had introduced himself as Jeramik. 

“That’s why we are having a strategy meeting. Also, I will do my best to minimize the damage to the kingdom Skyknights while securing tremendous glory for Kesmire.”

“I’ve already heard of your skills many times over,” said Elsia. “But the Imperial Palace is not a place to be underestimated. The Skyknights of the Imperial Guard protecting the Imperial Palace alone number close to 500, and we know that the Skyknights in the nearby territories and the Imperial Capital are considerable as well. Even for a blitz, aren’t our numbers too low?”

Elsia continued to press me, her face serious. As a fleet commander, this was an issue anyone who valued their subordinates would have to ask.

“Thankfully, according to my intel, a great number of the Imperial Guard Skyknights are not in the Capital at the moment. For whatever reason, it’s said that at least half of them went out and have not returned. Also, a considerable number of the Skyknights normally stationed in the Capital have been moved in order to attack Nerman. As such, I believe we will have to face just 300 or so Skyknights.” 

“…”

The fleet commanders stared at me, made speechless by my flippant referral of “just” 300 Skyknights. Other than Chrisia, they all had expressions of “How can there be a guy like this?” on their faces.

“Judging from your confidence, the skills you are so renowned for must not be an exaggeration.”

“You will know when you see them in action.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Unlike Chrisia, Elsia was full of prickly charm.

‘I feel kinda bad for the guy who manages to woo her, whoever it is.’

She might be a commendable commander as far as the Kesmire Kingdom went, but as a wife, she was a bit intense. It was said that every rose has its thorns, but Elsia was a little too thorny for my tastes.

Chrisia spoke up from her silence. “I think there is a bit of a problem,” she began.

“What kind of problem?”

“We’ve lost contact with the intel agents we had in the Imperial Capital one by one, and since yesterday, we haven’t heard any news from them at all. The last thing we heard was that all contact with the outside world has been forbidden in the Imperial Capital.”

‘Were all the intel agents discovered?’

But that was ridiculous. There weren’t just one or two, but at least ten Kesmire intelligence agents. Most of them only had one contact each, so it was likely that the intelligence agents didn’t even know what the others looked like.

“That is indeed odd. I was also informed that passage into all of the Laviter Empire’s territories has been restricted, but to think that you have completely lost contact with your intelligence agents in the Capital…”

“Even in the Kingdom, very few people know the identities of the intelligence agents…”

At Chrisia’s words, the faces of the commanders darkened.

‘Did something happen? They can’t have all died from the plague.’

There was definitely something going on in the high and mighty Laviter Empire. They couldn’t just stop all trade because of a plague. Issuing a total lockdown when there were over a million people in the Capital who needed food and everyday goods to survive was an extreme act that could even lead to a revolt.

“Haha, such things can happen in life. Not everything can be perfect, right? Don’t worry. Even if I must give this body of mine, I will perfectly protect the Kingdom Skyknights!”

Chrisia’s news was a little concerning, but it wasn’t enough to make me back down.

‘First, we’ll butt heads.’

There was no point in worrying too much about the Laviter Imperial City that was suddenly locked down.

We would know what was going on once we got there, anyway.

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