West Zenid Sea

"Fucking imperials!" cursed an old man, activating the Reinforced Ship and Absorb Explosions.

It was still enough as the cannonballs hit the ship, with wood flying everywhere.

On top of that, enormous waves are crashing against the ships hard. making it even harder to control.

The imperials weren't supposed to attack them. There is no benefit to that.

Attacking them is making another enemy.

After the death of the emperor, the imperial armada had scattered. Princess Orelen had gathered what she could, but she only had a quarter of what it was.

They weren't supposed to be here, much less attack them.

"It's the merchant!" spat Captain Versuna.

The tall, dark women, holding a saber, looking at enemies with anger and frustration.

Her ship had sunk a few minutes ago. She was barely able to save her life but wasn't in good shape.

"Those bastards!" the old man cursed.

They had seen the merchants' ships earlier. They followed us but didn't do anything.

They didn't enter the imperial waters as we had expected, but who would have thought the imperial navy would have been waiting for us?

Till now, they have sunk eighteen ships and are still attacking. They are responding to imperials attacks with cannons and mages, but the bastards are prepared.

They shouldn't have been this prepared or willing.

This is reeking of the smells of merchants. The bastards would never get their hands dirty. Instead, they would provide money and resources to others to do the job.

They are doing the same ship on the island.

It is one of the reasons, why they had difficulty in conquering the entire island.

Bang!

The cannonball hit the ship, not far away from the old man.

Blowing tens of undead and people to pieces; the only reason, the old man survived was because of a shield appeared in front of him.

Hun!

The dust hadn't disappeared when he heard another bad news; another ship had been sunk.

This is the fourth submerged ship, that had sunk. It is much harder to achieve than those on the surface.

"Another load ship had been sunk," informed Versuna., taking the number nineteen.

"Were you able to find out, who is leading the fleet? Is that Anderson?" I asked, naming the Grand Admiral of the imperial navy.

Though, I heard, he is with a Crown Prince.

This is also not his style. He likes to fight bloody, ram the ships, occupy them, and massacre anyone on the enemy's side.

The old man shudders whenever he remembers that battle.

The one who attacked us didn't get close. They are maintaining the distance.

Bombarding us with spells, cannons, and ballistae.

"They are saying, it is someone called Rear-Admiral Medeiros," she replied.

Saying, an unfamiliar name, that he didn't recognize.

He was about to ask for details when he saw a huge ballista bolt appearing in front of them and immediately tear through the shield spells that appeared to protect them.

A horror appeared in their eyes.

He knew the ballista bolt well. That fucking purple tip tore through his superior six years ago and gave him command of the ship.

It's from a merchant state, the purple tip is proof of that.

If he focused, he would even be able to see the familiar emblem on it.

It tore through all three shields and reached Versuna. She is directly in front of me; it will be my turn after it tore through her.

"Water Swerve!"

She screamed and the water came from the wave crashing against them.

It formed a kind of slide, on which the ballista faintly changed its direction.

Rip!

He felt the sharp cut on my shoulder as the bolt moved past me.

Boom!

It crashed into the ship in the front, piercing it inside before exploding. Killing the undead as well as the people.

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The ballista had a powerful explosion effect. It will explode after tearing through the targets.

"Fucking hell!" he cursed and looked at Versuna, who was bleeding through all her orifices. She is Lv. 30+ powerhouse, but the bolt put great pressure on her.

Boom Boom Boom!

He opened my mouth when another volley of cannonballs crashed against the ship.

We had defended against the most, but some hit the ship, including the hull.

Patched Recovery.

He activated the skill; he had been holding back and focused it on the hull.

Hull is important. If not fixed, it will slow down the ship and even sink it.

'Scatter!' 'Command: Reach The Shores Of Renwell,'

The command rang, infused with the power of the skill. I reacted immediately, changing the course of the ship.

He had been wanting to do that since they had started to sink our ships. He doesn't know, why that bastard had waited, till now for this command.

If he had given this before, we might have been able to save, more ships.

Maybe, he thought, he would maneuver out of it, but that Real-Admiral Medeiros is a smart man.

From the start, his ships maintained the distance and kept blasting us with long-range attacks.

Their numbers are smaller than us, they have only around forty ships, but those ships are fast and packed with an arsenal that they are blasting us with.

While all our ships are heavy with undead.

There are enough defenses, but the energy had come well prepared. It's clear, they had prior intelligence.

Scattering is the best option; more ships will sink, but more will also survive. With the number of ships, they have; they won't be able to follow us all.

He was thinking that when another cannonball shot past me, hitting the water and exploding.

Bang Bang Bang!

Seeing us scattering, they upped their offensive.

Sending the hair cannon balls and spells at us without care, that within a minute they had sunk three ships and damaged more.

He could see many ships moving to chase them, including five, coming toward the group, he was leading.

"Captain of stadhale is dead. I am moving to take the command," said Versuna.

Before I could say any word. She leaped from the ship and moved toward the ship on the left.

She was targeted before she even landed on the sea. Cannonballs came at her, along with arrows and spells.

Everything was smoky and watery for several seconds, and I feared the worst when I saw her running across the water and heaved a sigh of relief.

However, that sigh was short-lived as I saw an arrow sticking into her shoulder.

The archer is really good at being able to hit her.

Versuna is a Combat Captain. It is really hard to hit her, when she is at sea, even the ballista wasn't able to hit, but this archer did.

She reached the ship, and I felt her taking over the command.

I gave the command to my group as I led them toward the continent. Our target is the Renwell region, preferably, Ashton Harbor.

The second option would be Gailhorn or anywhere between the two cities.

These bastards will make it hard, but there is no other choice.

I led the group while bearing the attack from imperials. They have sunk one of my ships, but we are moving.

We have moved further enough, that I could see no other ship. Even with the spyglass.

It made me relieved.

I have to deal with five ships; they are dangerous but could be managed. They have used a lot of ammunition if I were to guess, nearly 75%.

At least 60%, which gives us good options to survive. I like these options.

…

"The desumara plant forms an invisible layer of energy around the flower. It will destroy the flower and absorb its nutrients if it feels a threat to the flowers,"

"It requires a special mana technique to harvest the flower," explained Mage Irgal as a human woman in her early forties, gently and cautiously plucked the flower.

She placed that flower in a wooden box, in a specific mold, beside the other three flowers, before moving to pluck another.

Today, we are harvesting four plants. These desumara flowers being one of them.

I am watching it with Mage Irgal and a few other people.

I love to watch. The experience and skill needed to do this is really something.

It might not seem like it, but the woman who is plucking the flowers is a Lv. 30. Four of sixteen people are that level, while others are pretty close to it.

According to the agreement, half of the people, that will work on the plant will be mine.

It will be their responsibility to teach them. The timeline is five years, as these skills couldn't be easily taught and also because I couldn't get them to take the timeline any lower.

One by one, she had plucked all eighteen flowers. Half she gave it to me, while the other half went to Mage Irgal.

He was supposed to leave, but he decided to stay or ordered to stay, I don't know.

I don't want him here, given his power, but also glad he is here, given his expertise.

I looked at the flowers. They were beautiful. They are also expensive, but I am not going to sell them.

I am only selling 20% of plants. The rest, I am keeping it for myself.

These plants would play a big part in my plans.

They were about to start two days ago, but got delayed by the intelligence brought by the merchant state.

"Lord Silver,"

I was admiring the plants when Zela called my name. I turned to her and the smile on my face vanished.

"There is a news?" I asked, and she nodded. I sighed and turned to the man beside me.

"Take care of plants, Mage Irgal," I said to the man. "Best of luck, Lord Silver," he wished, understanding what was happening.

"Thank you," I thanked with a smile and walked away.

Ting!

Soon, I was in the elevator, going down. A few seconds later, it stopped in the lobby, and I walked out.

I could see the people around me.

The lobby is the most crowded space in the whole tower. It is an art gallery, with many famous pieces. After the opening, many offered the pieces from their collection.

Including those who had rejected my request first.

Some bowed as they saw me and I nodded to them, before walking out calmly out of the lobby.

There is no need to scare them. It won't be long, before they know, what is happening.

Till then, let them enjoy themselves.

Click!

The carriage was already waiting for me, and I sat down in it.

"Have they reached the continent?" I asked. She shook her head. "No, they are currently engaged with the forces of Princess Orelen," she replied, surprising me.

"Her forces are fighting against the undead?" I asked to be sure, and she nodded.

This shouldn't have been happening. She wouldn't fight the undead; it didn't suit her plans.

It will embolden her in conflict, she could easily stay away from it.

She wouldn't do it to protect the region. She has bigger priorities.

As for the duty? No. From what I know, the woman is pragmatic. She wouldn't let her sense of duty come between her goals.

Unless someone had offered her something, that would make her take such risks.

She could do it for the essence, but I am not giving her enough to make her to do it.

There is only one other reason, I could think of them.

"Merchants," I muttered.

They love to pull strings from shadows.

They hate Vris'alud. Not because they attacked the neighborhood, but because they destroyed the trade with one of the lucrative markets for them.

The mayhurst island.

The merchants love money and are rational, but they can be petty and vengeful, at times.

I might be wrong, but I don't really care. I care about what is happening in the sea.

"Is it a big battle?" I asked. "The imperial navy had sunken twenty-three ships. That undead decided to split into several parts and move toward the region.

"How many ships are there?" I asked. "They were saying, it was around hundred and fifty," she replied.

If it had been people, it would have taken over a thousand or two thousand ships to carry numbers of the undead they are carrying.

With the undead, it is much easier. They can be stuffed with any clothes; they do not feel discomfort or pain or anything; they are undead.

If the necromancer is powerful enough. He could disassemble all the skeletons and assemble them after reaching the destination.

It's one of the things that makes these undead dangerous.