Chapter 839

After about ten minutes of discussion, the officials of Hestela had to admit that their opposition couldn’t stop the plan to assault Ordos. Even the regent Eleonora and the administrative chief, equivalent to the Empire’s chancellor, Lambert, had no choice but to step back, saying, “There’s no way to persuade her; it’s impossible to reason with her.” How could the lower-ranking officials possibly overturn my decision?

If they doubted my strength, I declared I’d let them experience it firsthand. The stubbornness of the strongest in the current era. They all looked desperately at Joshua, hoping the renowned strongest of Landenburg would step in and convince me… but…

“Ahem.”

Joshua avoided their pleading gazes and simply cleared his throat. Unlike the officials’ misconception that, as fellow heroes, he might stand a chance against me, Joshua, being a hero himself, understood the vast gap between us better than anyone.

Frankly, if I activated Reversed Heaven and closed the distance within the time limit, taking him down in one strike wouldn’t be difficult. To counter Reversed Heaven, one would need to either maintain a distance so I couldn’t close in within five seconds, be fast enough to keep up with it, or have the durability to withstand my strikes. Joshua had none of these.

Joshua’s Heroic Tale, the Giant Hunting Sword, was a ranged attack technique, but… it was nowhere near enough. Unless the sword grew to over a hundred meters, a mere ten-meter range wouldn’t stop me, as proven in numerous sparring sessions.

Thus, Joshua remained silent. Once I made it clear that if they had a problem, they could challenge me, stopping the assault on Ordos was impossible. Even the justification was on my side.

“According to reports, Ordos has fallen into the hands of sorcerers—Eastern magicians. And not just any magicians, but those preparing a large-scale ritual involving human sacrifices.”

The enemies in Ordos weren’t just Ka`har warriors.

“Human sacrifices…!”

“Those heretics deserve to burn…!”

As expected, Adamante and Bethania from the Astraea Church Order reacted passionately to the mention of human sacrifices. Like Pavlov’s dogs conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell.

Of course, it was a natural reaction. The core doctrine of the Astraea Church was to capture and burn such heretics. While other churches preached grace, love, mercy, and sacrifice, the Astraea Church’s first doctrine was the extermination of evil spirits.

After all, the concept of order governed by Goddess Astraea meant a world purged of all evil, peaceful and quiet. Having grown up in such a church, Adamante and Bethania couldn’t stay silent upon learning that the enemies weren’t just evil but heretics engaging in human sacrifices.

“Grrr…”

Their eyes had already changed. The expressions that once questioned the need to take risks now looked ready to turn Ordos into a sea of flames at the first command.

Truly exemplary judges and priests.

“Whether it’s a form of soul extraction or part of an evil god worship ritual, we can’t know without seeing it firsthand… but there’s no doubt it’s heretical. As the Saintess, I can’t ignore this now that I know.”

“Your words are just, Lady Astika!”

The justification as the Saintess to eradicate heretics. Opposing this would be akin to aiding the heretics.

In the end, all the officials present had no choice but to agree to the assault on Ordos.

—

After unanimously passing the Ordos assault plan, I gathered the members of the attack force to discuss the details.

With only Ima-ra’s information, we couldn’t fully grasp the situation in Ordos, so the discussion boiled down to “how to enter” and “how to exit.”

“How about borrowing cloaks of concealment from the Empire?”

“At most, we’d get six or seven. We could hide our presence, but not the horses.”

“What if we disguise ourselves as a slave caravan? I could play the role of a slaver, pretending to sell Western slaves in Ordos…”

“Impossible. The warriors of Ordos would recognize Ja-han’s face. Even if they didn’t, a single warrior leading over ten slaves would be suspicious. You’d need at least six or seven warriors to pull that off.”

Sadly, no brilliant ideas emerged.

“Guess it’s a frontal assault then… What a headache. You, Your Majesty, would have no problem, but I’m not confident I can move around undetected. If caught, I’d be like a rabbit in a hunting ground.”

“I’m more concerned about the retreat. Even if we reach Ordos undetected and take down the sorcerers, we’ll face fierce pursuit. I doubt we can shake them off.”

“Good point.”

I nodded slightly, agreeing with Joshua’s concern about securing a retreat path. As he said, once we caused trouble, all the Ka`har warriors would swarm us. Only Ja-han and I could outrun their pursuit with our horsemanship.

“So, you, me, and Heinrich will play crucial roles. Your Heroic Tale can easily break through encirclements, and Heinrich’s Heroic Tale is perfect for shaking off pursuing cavalry.”

Add Rune Flame to that, and no matter how skilled the Ka`har’s horsemanship is, they won’t be able to counter. Even if they break through the sea of flames, they’ll be caught in the earthquake Heinrich creates, and if they somehow survive that, the Giant Hunting Sword will swing at them the moment they get within twenty meters.

“You understand, right? Don’t fight at full strength; conserve your energy. You should be able to activate your Heroic Tale at least three or four times.”

That should be enough to temporarily shake off the pursuers. Once we create some distance, it’ll take them time to close in again, and we can recover our Power of Feats while continuing to flee, ensuring a safe retreat to the barrier.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Thus, we planned to swiftly take down the sorcerers, including Mei-harin, in Ordos and retreat before being surrounded by thousands of warriors.

And then…

“…All that worrying for nothing.”

We wrapped it all up in two days.

– Vroooom!

A far superior means than anything we had devised came flying into Landenburg Territory, cutting through the sky.

“What on earth…?!”

The knights stared up in shock. Those from the Imperial Capital were less surprised, having seen it before, but the locals were utterly dumbfounded.

“A… ship?”

A strangely shaped sailing ship, cruising through the blue sky.

The Airship.

True to the playful name given by the Mage Tower researchers, the pinnacle of Imperial magitech, the second airship, Larmes de Sang (Tears of Blood), descended with a heavy engine roar.

—

The Empire’s Mage Tower’s second airship, Larmes de Sang.

The omission of “Tower Master” from the name might imply that more people in the tower were shedding tears.

After losing the prototype with its unfortunate name, they still didn’t learn their lesson, blatantly naming this one “Tears of Blood.” Honestly, it was ridiculous.

The flaw of not enduring extreme environments like the Sky Mountain Range remained, but by generously using the dragon remains I provided, they enhanced the armor’s defense while reducing weight.

Moreover, as if a technological revolution had occurred in the Imperial Capital while I was stuck in Hestela, this airship was equipped with something like cannons, unlike the previous one, which only had dragon-slaying crossbows.

“What’s this? Did the dwarves finally reveal how to make gunpowder?”

“Haha. No way. Those stubborn dwarves would rather shave their beards than give up their secrets.”

The mage operating the ship proudly introduced their new weapon, the Magical Cannon.

Similar in appearance to dwarven cannons, but instead of gunpowder, it used pure magitech.

By overloading mana stones engraved with Runes of Fire and Enhancement with mana, they caused explosions to launch projectiles.

While the basic principle of using explosive pressure to fire projectiles was the same, since it didn’t use gunpowder, even the dwarves couldn’t complain.

Though it required mages to operate and the cost of one mana stone projectile could make fifty cannonballs, it effectively introduced artillery to humanity here.

“This is pretty good…”

I smiled contentedly, stroking the cannon’s barrel. To think they developed such a weapon in just a few months.

Now I understand why Leopold squeezes the Tower Master and researchers so hard.

If pushing them to the brink without sleep produces such masterpieces, how could he resist?

If Floheta were here, I’d hug her and kiss her cheek. I was that pleased with the result.

Moreover, the Mage Tower’s new weapon wasn’t just the Magical Cannon. There was another equally astonishing weapon.

Inspired by the accident where the mana engine’s explosion blew away Pailoon Castle’s outer wall, they created small mana reactors, each the size of a human torso.

Designed to overload and explode, these mana bombs were stacked under the airship, ready for carpet bombing.

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