Chapter 395 - The Hard Way 3

The battle raged on throughout the night. The Faustus Archduchy just wouldn't give in despite the Storm Howlers now firing down at them and destroying many of their sh.i.p.s during the initial stages of the attack.

Since the archduchy knew about the cannons, they naturally had some countermeasures for them. The Machina Reggio Empire was viewed as a threat to every kingdom of the Midgard Continent despite the empire not having any notions of invading the other kingdoms around them.

However, in the minds of these kingdoms, the empire's sky fortresses were a threat so each kingdom had their own ways of counteracting them. The Omnifaust Republic had created magic-tech shields to defend against them and since the Faustus Archduchy was once a part of the republic, they too had this technology with them.

In this war against the Goldenia State, when the archduchy had received word about the cannons from Emilie, they naturally prepared to use these shields against them. Once the Storm Howlers had fired their first few shots, multiple barriers began appearing around each of the Faustus sh.i.p.s which were able to block the Storm Howlers' mana missiles.

Both sides were now locked in a stalemate with the Faustus Archduchy being unable to land on the Goldfire City's harbor and the Goldenia Forces being unable to deal any more damage to the Faustus Fleet.

This stalemate continued for hours and just before dawn broke, the Faustus Archduchy's fleet retreated. Neither side won the battle. It just ended with both sides sustaining many casualties among their ranks.

When the Faustus Fleet retreated, the Goldenia side didn't let up with their cannon fire and was able to find one flaw within the Faustus Archduchy's magic barrier. If they concentrated a certain amount of mana missiles on the barrier, they would be able to break through the barrier.

They cannon teams were able to quickly see this and due to their quick reactions, they had sunk a few of the retreating sh.i.p.s just before they were out of range. When the sun finally rose on the horizon, the Faustus Fleet had fully retreated.

Katya ordered for the ice barriers to be brought down and the injured to be swiftly brought to the medic bay in the city to be treated. As for the able-bodied soldiers that were left, they were tasked with cleaning up the now destroyed harbor.

The harbor was in a really abysmal state. Bodies were strewn about and blood had dyed the entirety of the place. The fight was so bloody that at the center of the harbor, where Faustus's juggernaut ship had broken through their ice wall, the waters had become red with blood.

It was an appalling sight. When they tallied the numbers, about 2,000 people on their side were killed tonight and a few hundred more were missing and unaccountable. As for the enemy bodies, they counted no less than 3,000 of them.

They also had to take into account that time when the Faustus Archduchy's sh.i.p.s had fired down upon them and their allies, probably taking down an innumerable amount from both sides.

Statistically, they had won, but no one was happy on their side. With each loss of life, it meant that the Faustus Archduchy was one step closer to conquering them.

The soldiers from the NWR and UF that had come to their aid this time around hadn't joined in on the fighting just yet. It wasn't that she didn't want to use them, but there was a catch if Katya decided to use their help.

The NWR and UF wanted the Goldenia State to share their harbor with them and they also wanted to have the rights to the harbor as well. The Goldenia's would still retain the harbor, but only a portion of it. The rest of the harbor would be divided amongst the two other superpowers and the Goldenias wouldn't have any power over their parts of the harbor.

Compared to losing the war, it was a small price to pay, but Katya felt that if she gave in to those conditions, their power as a state would only dwindle as time passed by. The economy of their state might even be influenced by the two superpowers and she, as well as everyone else in the state, didn't want this.

For now, they kept the NWR and UF forces as backup and would only deploy them in cases of emergencies only. If the battle was still at the stage that they could still cope with, the Goldenia State's upper echelons all agreed not to use them...for now.

The Republic and Federation didn't mind this and only waited for their chance. After all, the war was far from over.

*****

Meanwhile, back in the Silvaria Kingdom, Cecil was currently sparring with his wife, Lucia, who had just gotten back from her secluded training with her mother.

Lucia came back stronger than ever and she wanted to know how she'd fare against her overpowered husband. She immediately asked for a spar and the results...were what anyone would expect.

She lost, naturally. However, with her newfound abilities to use more elements other than just fire and water, Lucia had put up a good fight against Cecil. It took him a bit longer to take her down after she started using wind, earth, lightning, light, and dark magic all of a sudden.

Of course, the magic that Lucia used wasn't anything too high leveled with her newfound elements, but even then, it was still enough to make Cecil use his Mana Burst at full power.

Lucia went back to training after she was defeated by her husband and promised him that she would come back to beat him in a rematch.

Cecil, on the other hand, continued to train himself while also taking some of his time to train Ren and the few trainee artificers of his kingdom. He had been feeling a little bit down lately since there was not much he could do.

The war at the Goldenia State that his butler, Quinn, was taking part in was not his business. He did receive the daily reports about it from his butler, but he didn't feel like joining in on the fight. Massacring other people wasn't something he wanted to do and the Goldenias already lost their chance at receiving his direct help.

Cecil turned his attention to the bit of information that the NWR's Leader, Viktor Livadia, had given to his father in exchange for the Storm Howler Cannons that his kingdom had sold over to them.

It was something about some ruins found deep within the No-Man's Lands area, not too far away from the NWR's territory. The NWR was situated pretty close to the core area of the No-Man's Lands and that's why they suffered from constant monster attacks.

There was a forest deep into the lands just north of the NWR territory and from where the border of the territory, one could see some sort of spiraling black construct rising above the forest treetops.

At first, the NWR's people thought that it was the dead trunk of some large tree, but after further technological advances and with the recreation of telescopes they were able to see that the 'trunk' was actually some kind of black substance.

Cecil was naturally intrigued by this small piece of information. These lands were supposedly untouched by the modern ages' human kingdoms, so if anyone could leave behind a ruin inside these lands, then it must be the Ancients.

He had a hunch that the tall black construct had a connection with Alterna's ancient races so he wanted to go there as soon as possible. He wanted to wait for Lucia and ask her if she wanted to come, but after some pillow talk, Lucia convinced him that she wanted to stay and train a bit longer with her mother.

Cecil didn't find that wrong and he even encouraged her to do that. Gaining more strength by training with her mother who was confirmed to be a Transcendent was good for her. Lucia did offer her husband a spot for the training, but Cecil declined, saying that her training probably wasn't going to be suited for him.

With that, their plans were made and all Cecil had to do now was convince Serilla. There was now a visible bump on his wife's belly and her mood swings due to her pregnancy had spiked a little.

There were times when she would just come up to him and berate him for something he didn't do or for something he had said to her in the past, but then there were times where she just wanted him to cuddle or spoil her.

Cecil found it complicated to deal with his wife now. He preferred the big sister-like Serilla instead, but when he did say that to her, it only earned him something along the lines of...

"So up until now you only thought of me as a big sister and not your wife?!"

"N-no, I didn't—"

"I want to be your wife, not your sister! Uwaaahhhh!!"

In the end, all she did was cry and bawl out for no reason and Cecil had to accompany her for the entire day to make her stop crying. It wasn't tiring for Cecil, but he was just bewildered and at a loss since he wasn't accustomed to such a Serilla who now acted the complete opposite of her usual character.

Today, he was going to go ask Serilla if he could go on the trip just after his training.

"Hopefully, she'll—"

"Cel~? Yoohooo~ are you in here?"

"And now she's here..." Cecil mumbled. "I'm inside, Seri. You can come on in!"

"Okay darling~"

Serilla immediately entered his workshop and searched for him on the first floor's gym room. Cecil had added in this room after he saw the training facilities that his father's dojo had installed in a separate area.

He wanted one for himself so he had the kingdom's craftsmen custom-make his before he added some runic arrays that enhanced their performance. It was obvious, but for Cecil, he needed to use some custom made equipment for it to have any impact on his training.

Since that was what everyone was currently doing, Cecil created his own specialized training room that had a runic array that could adjust the gravity inside of it. He put all of his equipment inside this room and trained here with 10 times the normal gravity of Alterna.

He did start with 10 times, but gradually, he upped the ratio little by little, and now, he was able to train in an environment that was around 50 times the gravity of Alterna. He didn't want to use any of his abilities when training inside the room and only relied on his body.

When Serilla came into this training room, the runic array had already been deactivated so there was no danger to her or their baby.

"What's up Seri?" Cecil asked after Serilla came in with a few towels in her arms.

"Nothing~ I just wanted to see you, darling~"

Serilla handed him a towel and kissed him before saying, "You'll get more of that once you've taken a shower~"

"Uhh, okay? Hehe, seems like someone's in a good mood today."

"Yup! Don't you like it when I'm in a good mood?"

"Of course," Cecil said as he hastily began wiping away his sweat. When he took off his shirt and began drying himself, Serilla couldn't help but send him a provocative look when she stared at his well-built body.

When Cecil saw this, he chuckled and said, "Seri, no. You know you can't do that so stop sending me those looks!"

"Hehehe~ I can't help it~ not after my husband just presented himself to me so willingly~"

"I'm only wiping my sweat, don't get any ideas."

"Okay~"

Cecil shook his head and finally asked, "So, what brings my wife here?"

"It's nothing important~ All I wanted to tell you was that I love you, darling~"

"Uhh, okay? Haha, was that all that you wanted to say?"

"Yup! Oh, also, no matter what, you can't leave me okay? You have to stay right beside me, every day from now on!"

"Huh?! W-why's that, Seri?"

"I dunno~ I just feel a little uneasy, like you're about to go somewhere far away for a long time..."

"..."

Now, his wife was a psychic. Just when Cecil was going to ask her for permission to go exploring, Serilla had to say this to him.

'Great...now how am I supposed to convince her...'