Chapter 248

Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes

Patricia’s Report

「They appeared in the seas east of Dew Roke about two months ago . 」Patricia, the Supreme Leader of Vireocean, started . 「Their ships were huge, twice as large as the ones that we own, and beautiful, of a kind never seen before . 」

「They are that huge?」Kaglai frowned .

Patricia nodded . 「This is information we received from a merchant ship that somehow managed to leave Dew Roke and made its way to Ville Zentra . Fortunately, it didn’t have much cargo, so it could sail faster and managed to escape . 」

According to her, all the other vessels were seized by the invaders . That proved just how fast the enemy’s ships were .

「For the first eight days, they simply surrounded the island . We sent ships to scout but none returned . 」

「So they were seized as well?」Kudyastoria asked .

「It would appear so . 」Patricia answered matter-of-factly . Contrary to her tone, however, her fists on the table were shaking . 「On the ninth day, they made their move . A black smoke lingered above the island and Dew Roke fell on the same day . 」

A simple fortress was actually built in Dew Roke, but the island couldn’t really withstand a siege . But still, Patricia didn’t expect the island to fall in just one day . After that, she ordered the navy to take back Dew Roke .

「I thought the size of their ships didn’t matter . I believed our navy was stronger than them . But we lost . We suffered a crushing defeat!」

Their ships sank before they could even get close .

「They’re that powerful?」Marquedo sounded genuinely surprised .

「I don’t know… But they clearly possess weapons different than ours . 」

「What kind?」

「Queen Kudyastoria might not know about this, so I’ll explain it first . The Vireocean navy doesn’t engage in close combat . We end things before our enemies even get close . 」

Since Ponsonia didn’t have access to the sea, it didn’t have a navy .

「We fire Spirit magic at a distance . For that we need two kinds of Mages—」

「Lady Patricia, anything more you say is highly classified information . 」Patricia’s aide warned .

「You idiot! It didn’t work against them anyway . There’s no need to keep it secret . 」she said . 「I apologize, Queen Kudyastoria . When you’re at sea, there’s only the water and the sky . So we mix both air and water Spirit magic . 」

「Mixing magic?!」

It was no secret that combining two types of magic was possible, but applying it was extremely difficult, for Spirits repelled each other most of the time . The perfect balance of mana was necessary to pull it off .

After studying it for a long time, Vireocean was able to compute the proper mix ratio . The Mages must’ve practiced countless times .

「Of all the armed forces in the continent, only the Vireocean navy can use this technique in the frontlines of battle . 」

Peering through the skylight, Hikaru nodded, impressed .

That was interesting . Can my revolver use a mixture of magic too? I should write Professor Katy a letter .

Kudyastoria looked impressed, but the frown still remained on Kaglai’s face .

「You lost even with such a technique, yes?」the Emperor asked .

「Exactly . It has a 300-meter range, while they attacked from more than twice that distance away . 」

「What?!」

「A black smoke rose from their ship and we heard loud noises that seemed to tear the very air apart . Then a flying ball of fire destroyed our ship . 」

「What kind of magic were they using?」

「We don’t know! We don’t even know if it’s magic… I see . So even you have no idea . 」

Patricia thought that Kaglai, a Man Gnome, might know something . Unfortunately, she was wrong .

「I haven’t heard of a magic item that could do that either . 」Marquedo said .

「Me too . 」Kudyastoria added .

Up above, Hikaru wracked his brain hard .

No way… One thing came to mind . A cannon? They have a gunpowder-powered weapon? In this world filled with magic?

Kaglai spoke, breaking the heavy silence that filled the room . 「It is fine if we do not know anything about their weapon . So the navy fought them once, suffered defeat, and you sent us a message . Is that right?」

「Yes . Actually, I was on board one of the ships to observe the battle as well . 」Patricia said . Her aide didn’t seem pleased at all, an indication that she went despite the people around her disagreeing with the idea . 「It was too one-sided . It wasn’t even a battle . More like a massacre . With their weapon, they could target this building from way out there . 」

A few of the guards gave a jerk and looked outside the window .

「Oh, it’s fine . There are complex reefs in the bay . Even local ships sometimes capsize when they hit them . Huge ships like theirs wouldn’t make it through . 」

「So… What do these people from the Ruined Continent want?」

「This . 」

A fishing vessel was released after the battle . The crew handed Patricia a letter .

「Allow me to take a look . 」

It was beautiful white paper, a kind that Kaglai had never seen before . He scanned the contents, closed his eyes, and passed the letter to Kudyastoria who was seated beside him .

「I see… It was their message specifically . “You will pay for what you did 500 years ago . ”」

「Yes . That’s when I realized they were from the Ruined Continent . The slightly crude choice of words, but clear handwriting suggests that they asked someone from Dew Roke to write the letter . 」

Patricia also thought that no one survived among those who migrated to the Ruined Continent . But then they appeared before them with their powerful forces . It was nothing short of a nightmare .

「But that’s not all . According to a crew member…」

Suddenly, Hikaru’s Mana Detection picked something up . Someone was coming closer, someone climbing from below .

They’re coming from below? It looks like they’re scaling the wall, but it should be in plain view from a watchtower .

The person was not coming from the balcony side . They climbed up all the way up to the roof were Hikaru was positioned .

Hikaru blinked a number of times . With his Mana Detection, he could sense that the person was about five meters away from him . Even his Life Detection could sense them . But he couldn’t see the person with his naked eye . It felt like the air warped .

Wait, what?

He couldn’t believe his eyes . A crack appeared in the air and a hand came out . The person was covering themselves with some kind of a cloth for camouflage .

No way! Is that optical camouflage?!

It reeked of actual science . But Hikaru’s shock didn’t end there . The color of their hand was purple .

「＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊、＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊」

The person muttered something in a language unknown to Hikaru and chuckled . Their cheeks were purple, their hair silver-colored, almost close to being pure white . As Hikaru watched them pull out a memo pad and a pencil, he was convinced . This person was a spy from the Ruined Continent .