Once a war began, it would often be a competition of who made the most preparations. Those who fought immediately would usually die a pitiful death.
It was obvious that this joint battle wouldn't be done hastily.
Many countries would coordinate with each other and create a strategic command center. They would then split up the two battlefields and simultaneously tie down the Mage Country's forces. The Ottoman Empire's fleet would then forcefully land on the Mage Country's main forces and directly attack Asolivis.
The final battle that the humans hoped for was a pincer attack from both sides, gradually eating away at the Dimensional Doors until they finally broke through Asolivis and destroyed all those damned Dimensional Doors.
Such a large scale operation involving so many countries and species definitely wouldn't be something that could be accomplished by chatting and drinking tea in Bardi. Not only would it take only a month to prepare, I felt that it would take at least a year to prepare.
Asolivis was like a malignant tumor growing on Bardi's chest. If Asolivis wasn't completely eradicated, it would always be a major problem.
And now, Bardi had decided to completely eradicate this wound that was constantly leaking pus and blood at all costs.
If one really wanted to investigate the root of this plan, it would probably be traced all the way back to Emperor Bardi's reign.
Back then, Orloss Mossavoy St. Miran didn't care about anything as he furiously expanded his territory. Everyone believed that he had either lost his rationality due to his ambition or that he had gone completely insane.
Normally, expansion would be to swallow and digest everything, gradually using methods such as population migration, cultural upbringing, and religious corruption to completely erase all traces of the old country. Then, one or two generations later, the new country would be completely swallowed up.
However, while Orloss was in power, he swallowed up other small countries every year. In just 30 years, he managed to multiply Bardi's territory by several times.
Perhaps it looked very impressive, but those who truly understood politics and history were all waiting for him to fail. One couldn't become fat with just one mouthful of food. If one blindly ate without caring about their health, they would only end up bursting themselves to death.
Actually, back then, some people had already started calling Orloss "the Foolish Emperor".
But now that I looked back, the truly foolish ones were the "wise ones" who had called Orloss "the Foolish Emperor" before me.
"Orloss did that for the sake of expansion. He did it to seek medical treatment for Bardi."
Back in the day, the undead had taken over the gigantic Bardi Empire's body. Aso himself was the incredibly difficult person to deal with. Orloss didn't even have the power to directly fight against this ancient Undead Emperor who had a spell that could control his life and death.
And so, Aso secretly supported the Southern Sect, which was the natural enemy of the undead. He also thought of a way to obtain the Mist Kingdom's holy artifact, the Crown of Thorns, and transformed himself into an undead, freeing himself from Aso's undead control. At the same time, he "very irrationally" brought the flames of war to the Mage Country's borders.
Now that he looked back, he could understand his good intentions at that time.
He knew that the only people capable of directly fighting against the undead and Undead Emperors were the Cloud Tower's mages. However, these mages were famous for not caring about anything.
"Fine. Since you guys are so high up and don't care about worldly affairs, I'll throw trouble at your doorstep. Let's see if you guys care about it."
Back in the day, the undead had chosen Victoria Harbor as their base of operations partly because of Orloss's influence. The sly old scorpion had disguised himself as a half-undead who admired the Undead Emperor. He would do whatever the Undead Emperor told him to do. He had been a "loyal" traitor for thirty years, waiting for an opportunity to betray the undead.
This also explained why the Bardi Empire had been so irrationally provoking the entire world back in the day. Not only did they have a falling out with the Holy Church, but they also declared war on the Mage Country. If the Mage Country still didn't care, Orloss really would have launched an all-out attack, drawing the Holy Church and the Mage Country into a pincer attack, forcing the undead to reveal themselves.
"At most, we'll just die together."
But now, the situation had changed greatly. The most obvious change was Roland's arrival, which prevented the Bardi Empire from fighting to the death. Aso being forced to commit suicide could be said to be a miracle blessed by the heavens. This also allowed Bardi and Orloss to swiftly break free from the undead's control.
In the end, Orloss, who had reached the end of his life, once again sacrificed both his reputation and his life, causing the Hades faction to owe him a huge favor. That sacrifice was an opportunity to create the current alliance of three major countries.
If Orloss was still treated as a foolish ruler because of this, it was likely that more than 99% of the world's population was mentally retarded.
And today, Orloss's plan was still in effect. Bardi's border with the Mage Country had become an unavoidable obstacle for the invaders from another world.
Even the most aloof mages wouldn't be able to ignore the threat right under their noses.
That was why things were still the same as before. It was just that the imaginary enemy from back in the day had changed. The devils had taken over the undead's mess, and they would also have to face attacks from many sides.
And with the current grand strategy, even I wouldn't be able to directly go against the alliance's orders. After all, I was no longer a lone commander who didn't need to worry about food anymore.
"Actually, I'm a pacifist, pure and simple."
I sincerely praised 'Long live peace', but the people around me still looked at me with expressions that said 'you're kidding me' or 'your joke isn't funny at all', just like in the past.
"Actually, I've always been telling the truth …"
But sometimes, the truer the truth, the less people would believe it.
Actually, I was becoming less and less interested in this battle. However, I had no choice in the world. If I ran away now, it would likely be quite troublesome in the future, especially since what they wanted me to do was incredibly important.
To the west of the Forest of Dreams, the Ottoman fleet was still suppressing the devils and undead with intermittent firepower in order to protect their frontline troops from successfully landing on land.
However, the frequency of the Ottoman fleet's cannons had drastically decreased. If they had been the true masterminds of the battle yesterday, today they were probably only showing off their own existence.
The enemies still had doubts and didn't dare to approach the coastline. Most of the Ottoman fleet believed that this was because victory was already in their grasp. Only a few Ottoman fleet captains knew that the true reason for the cease-fire was … that they had run out of ammunition.
In this generation, mana was a type of energy resource that could be regenerated. There would also be professionals calculating the amount of arrows that could be used. However, the magic cannons used by the battleships not only required a tremendous amount of mana, but they also required all sorts of magical ores and ammunition for the cannons.
Yesterday's ambush had been quite fun. However, in order to maintain the pressure on the battlefield, especially against the devils and Undead Calamity that only existed in legends, the first-generation captains of these ordinary battleships didn't give the order to hold back their firepower. Instead, they kept on shouting:
"Denser the cannons on the port side! Get out of the way, let me personally fire the cannons! "
"Big is beautiful, and many is justice. Let the entire world witness the teachings of the truth of cannons!"
"Ahahahaha, blast them all! Why are you so slow? Didn't you guys eat? Whoever dares to drag me down again, I'll toss them into the cannon and shoot them out! "
Alright, even though the lines were probably bullsh * t, the craziness was real. If there was anything better than firing cannons, it would probably be firing cannons at moving targets without having to worry about being attacked by the targets. However, after an entire day of pleasure, an inexplicable sense of emptiness troubled these guys with excessive testosterone.
"… We've used up more than half of our ammunition in just half a day."
"I thought that I could continue firing for three days and three nights, but in the end, I've become useless in just one day. What a useless thing."
When new weapons and equipment were thrown onto the battlefield, it wasn't just the weapons themselves that needed time to perfect. How to use and operate them, as well as to create effective manuals for using the weapons, all of these required the accumulation of time and experience.
In the past, the captains of the battleships had never enjoyed the pleasure of being bombarded by hundreds of cannons. Just the combination of solid and hollow lead bullets and gunpowder stores, as well as the high reloading speed and firing speed, meant that they didn't need to worry about using up all their ammunition in a short afternoon battle.
It would be quite easy for such a problem to occur if they used their past experience with new toys.
The entire battleship fleet only had about 40% of its ammunition left. This was still fine for regular battles, but if they had to engage in a large-scale invasion to provide cover, it was likely that they would run out of ammunition in just half a day, and everyone would become spectators.
Fortunately, this wasn't a problem that would occur in direct combat with enemy forces. They wouldn't need to pay a heavy price to make up for it.
"… The prerequisite is that we can resupply in time."
It would take more than a month for the Ottoman Empire to resupply by sea. However, it would only take two and a half days for the airships to arrive in a straight line from Bardi.
However, if the airships took a straight line from the east to the west, even if they didn't pass through Asolivis, they would still pass through Asolivis's borders, which would be the equivalent of a suicide mission.
It wasn't impossible to take a detour, but that would definitely miss the Mage Country's large-scale invasion that was scheduled to take place in three days, which would ruin their entire offensive plan.
In order to distract the undead on both sides, the eastern battlefront also began their offensive. If the western battlefront failed at this time, it would be the equivalent of the pincer attack becoming nothing more than food. This was absolutely unacceptable.
Helplessly, the command center decided to forcefully resupply the undead at all costs.
Unfortunately, I was the one who had to do this unfortunate task.
"Welcome the airships? Help you protect them? Are you sure? "
"… I think that you should reconsider. If you let this man who can summon misfortune follow the airships, those airships will likely head directly for the Hades."
Although Harloys's words were rather unnecessary, I didn't refute her in a way. I tacitly agreed to this situation.
However, Harloys continued to insist, and I refused. After all, I was nominally a higher-up in the Mist Alliance. In the end, the messenger told me the truth.
"Actually, there are two airships coming here. One of them is going in a more direct direction. There aren't many crew members on it, and there aren't many goods on it. The other airship is going on a smaller path around the mountains, so it'll arrive slightly later …"
"Haha, you're the bait!"
I missed the silly cat's cat form more and more. How fun would it be to grab her by the neck, shake her until she fainted, and then toss her out?
At this point, everyone knew what was going on. Harloys was telling me to receive the bait, and then do their best to attract as much firepower and attention as possible so that the real supply airships could pass through.
"Who came up with such a strategy? You're using everything to the extreme. You can even use a jinx in such a way? Amazing!"
I really wanted to toss this silly cat who was giving me a thumbs up into the sky. However, I was also looking forward to her answer. Yep, I definitely didn't intend to blacklist this person. It was just that Harloys understood me so well, so I wanted to toss that person into the sea to practice swimming. Revenge? Was I such a petty person?
[You are.]
I ignored my System, which was doing its best to increase my existence. I also received the answer I expected.
"… Actually, it's Her Majesty Renée of the Mist Alliance."
Alright then, as expected, this silly girl was making trouble for me again … making trouble for me again?
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