Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 881: Boarding The Iron Trident

The celebrations were hastily put to an end, and the very day, as Nerva’s appearance–Mono was back atop the spire with her students ready by her side and reporting to Regalia, Mercedes, The Twin, and Reina, all four of them. The iron tridents–the flying vessels were expedited with the help of the entire working force of Elenaris working on a single project, and alas, they managed to finish a total of fourteen such ships. All were equipped with flying mechanisms powered by the mana in the air, as well as teleporting abilities, as long as a gateway for the teleportation was present.

”We have four thousand soldiers from Athenia currently, the rest of the twelve thousand should be ready to at least try their hands on some real battle in a few months.” Looking through her checklist, Regalia tapped the back of her pen and sighed. ”Damn it, even with all the other cities chiming in, we don’t break ten thousand.”

”Why not add some automatons to the mix?” The Twin asked, and all eyes turned to Mono’s group. But instead of the leader, the first to talk was Shamisha, followed by Lutz.

”Someone would need to mentally connect with thousands of automatons and give them orders. Unlike work robots, fighting module automatons might need split-second decision making–which, without their souls and minds intact, isn’t possible.”

”Besides,” stretching her arm sideways, Shamisha gestured towards Lumine–the spy standing not too far from them. ”Like her, we’d need to augment prosthetics. Require multiple iterations of those, and even then, there’s a chance of failure. And despite all of that, it’s better to augment a living person who already knows how to fight to keep them going instead of making a fighting module automaton that can actually control itself.”

”So you can make it, but it would turn out like Avarice?” Reina asked, and Shamisha nodded right back.

Clicking their tongues in frustration, everyone turned their attention to the ships being boarded, and once more, Regalia began ledgering everything.

”Out of the fourteen, seven will be in the active army traveling with us. Two go to the cluster of islands by Lantherem, Aranuvia, and Lululalia. Then one for Aesteradia, one for Eclanor, one for Inktuas, and one for Elenaris and Athenia each.” Watching as the soldiers were being rationed into each ship by those under her, Regalia’s eyes narrowed as she wondered... ”Some civilians are going with us to ensure their safety and prevent blackmail, but is it such a good idea to bring them along? But then again, leaving them can cause problems of their own.”

Being nudged on the side by Reina’s elbow, Regalia lowered her gaze and shifted her attention to the blacksmith.

”Our task is to handle the ship and keep a headcount, don’t overthink it, redhead. The less you think, the better you’re gonna do at what you’re supposed to do.” Squinting her eyes, Regalia’s gaze lifted to Reina’s trimmed red hair. She wanted to say something about her comment, but before she could part her lips, Raven’s voice came from her teleportation ring.

”Regalia? I’ll be sending Rose and the other girls to you now. Look after them and make sure they are comfortable on the ship.” His voice was tinged with palpable concern; after all, the mothers who’d just lost their kids were being sent off into Regalia’s hands. ”I... I will be there soon, just clearing up some last-minute concerns. Be safe, and look out for those invisible king’s guards–kill them, no need to capture any of them alive.”

”Got it,” she whispered back, certain that Raven never heard her response.

Standing still in the silence, her mind drifted back to the mothers–but more importantly, it lingered on one who had lost her living child. June–rarely had anyone heard from her since that night, but Aradin’s group was apparently taking care of her. They were also meant to board the ship soon, right after the soldiers.

’Speaking of troubled girls...’ Noticing Jenna standing much closer to the ship with a clipboard in her hand, Regalia attuned her hearing to her and listened closely. ’You won’t cause any trouble, will you?’

”Seven fish, nine fish–no...” Blinking her eyes, Jenna crossed the word fish on her clipboard. ”People! No fish! I need to stop thinking about food~.”

Her stomach growled with hunger, making Regalia flinch and turn her head away from her. Quickly bringing herself back to the crowd around her, she found that everyone else was already discussing the rest of the details about managing, maintaining, and sailing the ship through the air.

Mono’s twin would be the maintenance worker. Reina and Regalia were both taught how to sail the flying vessel, and both Lutz and Shamisha were to accompany the helm of the fleet in case some anomaly came up, and prevent the ships from working as intended.

”You’re not coming then?” The twin asked Mono.

Shrugging her shoulders, Mono shook her head.

”Grace wouldn’t let me. Plus, I’ve had enough experience in war to know not to stick my head out where I’m not needed. Not to mention, I can serve the army better by working on my inventions right here in Elenaris.”

”As for me, I just want a vacation from her.” Dropping her shoulders, Shamisha placed a hand on Lutz’s head. ”And this guy will come with me, I do not want to leave him with her alone. Already talked to his parents. They were reluctant to let him go first, but I managed to convince them.”

”More like gaslighting them into believing that his staying with me is more dangerous.”

”AM I WRONG?!” Turning around with a jerk, Shamisha screamed in her master’s face. Retreating a little, Mono let out a nervous laugh and quickly looked away, whistling.

”Fine! Fine!”

”Enough talk, we should–” Right as Regalia tried to speak, a beam of blue light erupted behind them. As it disappeared, all the quarrel came to an end. For before them stood the women who’d lost their children–and in comparison to their woes, whatever quarrel they had was nothing but trivial. ”Let me... take you guys into the ship.”

And so Regalia did. Before long, the seven ships meant to head out to enemy territory would be ready to soar through the skies and instill fear in the heart of fear–the horrors, it was only a matter of time. And from the looks of it, Raven was ready to fly as soon as the ships were loaded with people and the cargo that was necessary. Then would come the bane of horrors, an army traversing their world and beaming down onto their heads, like the wrath of heaven.

One more day, that’s all that was left. Not too long, and yet with a child missing and many other dead, it felt like a lifetime passing by in slow motion. At least to the mothers and the father of the dead children.