Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2479 Developments in the situation

Young Sector 99—Seventh Day of the War—Headquarters

Knock Knock

The door to Emilyʼs office was being knocked on, again, the familiar sound reaching the otherwise unusually quiet room.

Writing something with her attention focused almost entirely on the pages before her, Emily raised her head for only a moment and said, ”...Come in.” Then, without wasting another second, she lowered her gaze and immediately resumed writing as though the interruption had barely registered.

Creak A man entered carrying a thick bundle of papers in one hand and several luminous discs in the other, carefully balancing everything as he stepped inside. ”A new report on the state of the war, my lady, along with new recordings from every front. Shall I begin the presentation as usual?”

Because there was no Soul Society network in the Young Belt, the Shadow Swords were forced to purchase recordings of the interrupted broadcasts and then personally deliver them all the way to Nihari every single day. If not for the necklaces and other pieces of equipment they possessed, each of which could cost tens of millions on its own, they wouldnʼt have been able to deliver even a single report within just one week!

”Not now.” Emily replied briefly without lifting her attention from what she was doing, looking extremely focused on the writing before her.

”.....?!” The messenger standing before her was greatly surprised by the unexpected answer, clearly not having anticipated such a response from her.

Emily always inspected every single recording that reached her without missing even a moment and carefully read every word of the reports concerning the things that hadnʼt been recorded, all so she could form the most accurate overall picture possible of what was happening there and prepare whatever support was necessary, or at the very least understand the situation well enough to know exactly what she needed to do for the next step.

Emily always inspected every single recording that reached her without missing even a moment and carefully read every word of the reports concerning the things that hadnʼt been recorded, all so she could form the most accurate overall picture possible of what was happening there and prepare whatever support was necessary, or at the very least understand the situation well enough to know exactly what she needed to do for the next step.

Every single time he brought the reports and recordings to her, Emily would immediately drop whatever she happened to be doing and send everyone out of her perpetually crowded office so she could devote herself entirely to reviewing the new information... but today she didnʼt seem to care about them nearly as much, and... now that he thought about it, why was the office completely empty?!

”...Is there something special about today, my lady?” the messenger finally asked in confusion, unable to suppress his curiosity after noticing both her strange reaction and the unusual emptiness of the office.

”...You could say that.” Emily lifted her pen from the book for a few moments and remained still as she thought, then released a quiet breath and returned her attention to the pages before her with the same intense concentration. ”...You can give me a brief oral report on the contents. Iʼll dedicate part of my consciousness to listening to you.”

”....?” The messenger was greatly surprised once again, but faced with such a direct order, he naturally didnʼt refuse and quickly began giving his report. ”The war zone has expanded until it now encompasses half the Sector, just as the War Council expected and just as they planned. The different enemy groups have been drawn away from one another in order to alleviate the problem created by the numerical disparity between us, while at the same time maintaining free teams that can move to support whoever requires assistance and maintaining constant communication between everyone through the interstellar communication network.”

”...This strategy has gradually transformed the battle from a direct clash of muscle and numbers beside the buffer zone into a long-term war of attrition spread across a much broader area, and because the Spacetime supply network His Majesty designed for us continues to operate efficiently between all our Sectors, allowing supplies to move through our territory as intended, then as far as attrition itself is concerned, the advantage is on our side.”

”...While the Shadow Swords continue gathering supporters for us and shipping more fleets and experts toward Mid Sector 90 from across our entire territory, which extends all the way to Sector 117 to the west, the enemyʼs numbers are systematically decreasing as the war continues. Their supplies and their numbers of pearls wonʼt remain at such high levels forever either, and of course, the Phantom Shadow vessels and Rapid Intervention Vessels wonʼt allow them to successfully land.”

Then the messenger smiled slightly as he continued, ”Especially the Rapid Intervention Vessels loaded with the Imperial Guards. Any enemy fleet that attempts to occupy a solar system and establish a defensive position there in order to gather resources or lay claim to the land will immediately have Lord Holak and the rest of the Guards intervene to wipe that entire area clean by land, sea, and air. Their constant presence, combined with those swift and decisive interventions whenever an enemy tries to establish itself somewhere, has kept the battle, to this very day, confined exclusively to space.”

”...This has prevented the enemies from reaching any new resources they could use to sustain their forces, prevented them from refilling the air inside their vessels whenever their existing reserves begin to run low, and prevented them from declaring control over any portions of Mid Sector 90. So far, the entire Sector, down to every last detail within it, remains firmly under our complete control.”

”...The Dominator battles are also proceeding exactly as expected and planned. The Silent Farewell has only been launched twice throughout these entire seven days, which clearly proves that the cooling down and the expansion of the battlefield have borne the results we wanted. Although the enemies possess twice as many Dominators as we do, the preparations and planning carried out over the past three years have largely neutralized that numerical advantage through the use of defensive formations and strict plans for dealing with their forces, especially when it comes to the Syndicate Dominators.”

”...The greatest obstacle weʼve encountered so far, and the location where those two Dominators fell, is the battlefield of Lord Arkail and the Relativity Behemoth Asteron. The enemy is applying tremendous pressure there, and Asteron himself is extremely powerful. He dismissed the Syndicate Dominators from his battlefield so that he and his own followers could fight by themselves, while Lord Arkail did the same on our side and refused any outside intervention. In addition to the two Dominators who fell there, an enormous number of Nexus States, World Cataclysms, and fleets have also fallen during the fighting... It can safely be said that their battle is currently the most isolated of all the major battlefields, while also being the bloodiest.”

”...Up until this very moment, the Council of Thrones Dominators and the Tyrantʼs sons still havenʼt seriously intervened in the fighting, and Lord Hedrick hasnʼt seriously intervened either. He remains in the Sector for nine minutes at a time to make sure they continue maintaining their neutrality, then returns to Mid Sector 113 to make sure the truce there is still holding and remains in effect, and then repeats the same process again and again~”

Emily nodded a few times as she listened, her eyes remaining unfocused as most of her attention stayed on what she was doing. ”Thereʼll be a major problem if the truce collapses for some reason.”

”Without a doubt...” The messenger felt his blood run cold merely from considering that possibility. ”The War Council built the entire plan around the ten-year plan, and only three of those years have passed so far. If the truce ends now and weʼre suddenly forced to deal with another 250 Dominators on top of the enemies weʼre already facing, while the Destroyer Helmor, his army, and those monstrously powerful sons of his start moving again as well, itʼll be a catastrophe... and thatʼs without even considering any additional reinforcements that might reach them afterward.”

”....” Emily nodded again after hearing his assessment. ”Thatʼll be for the War Council and His Majesty to decide.” Then, still writing with those same unfocused eyes and without allowing the possibility to distract her any further, she continued, ”More importantly, did the supplies and weapons reach their destinations?”

”With infinitely precise accuracy, as usual, my lady.” The messenger answered immediately and bowed slightly.

Emily was undoubtedly one of the Empireʼs geniuses, and at the same time one of the secret keys behind its ability to continue enduring under the immense pressure until now.

Calculating the available resources with extreme precision and delivering them to carefully selected locations at exactly the appropriate times had made everyone gradually begin to regard the supply lines as something that could simply be taken for granted, to the point that they had almost forgotten there was ever any need to worry about whether those supplies would arrive where they were needed.

”Good... good...” Emily released a long breath after hearing the confirmation and finally lifted her pen away from the pages.

Then, Poof, she closed the book she had been working on.

”Thatʼs what matters.” Emily revealed a strange smile as she looked at the closed book. ”As long as I perform my own role efficiently, and everyone else performs their own roles efficiently as well, then everything will be fine.”

”....?” The messenger looked at her strange expression in confusion, unable to tell exactly what he was seeing. ”Is that expression worry or relief?”

”...Maybe both.” Emily sighed softly, then reached out and pressed a button.

Creak Another girl wearing glasses entered after being summoned, stepping into the office before addressing Emily. ”Your orders, my lady.”

Emily raised the untitled book she had just closed and handed it directly to the girl. ”Go personally and deliver this to Commissioner Billy Burton.”