The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 794: Chapter 0791: The Sea Battle Concludes (First Update)
 

Shattered Stone City didn’t delay much time.

With the Dragon Knight and the Archmage personally leading the looting, the speed was incredibly fast. Anthony dispatched a portion of the Knight Order to continue inland along the Scalding River, attempting to raid all the surrounding towns—every town around Shattered Stone City was essential to shipbuilding.

Liszt didn’t participate in the remaining purges. He had his family’s fleet loaded with shipbuilding craftsmen and a small number of knight captives, then swiftly set sail for the next port.

According to intelligence, the Eagle Kingdom had built three large port cities on the coast: Shattered Stone City, Zhenhai City, and Xiongfei City. The main shipyards were distributed around these three cities, but there were also many small port cities for mooring ships.

The first day, Shattered Stone City was cleansed.

The second day, they continued southward, cleansing the surrounding port cities.

The third day, Zhenhai City was cleansed.

The fourth day, they continued southward, cleansing the surrounding port cities.

The fifth day, it was Xiongfei City’s turn to be cleansed.

Over the course of five days, the Sapphire fleet, under Liszt’s protection, swept from the Scalding River all the way to the Savage Plains. Further south, although still within the Eagle Kingdom’s sphere of influence, there was a vast expanse of uninhabited land, with no ports along the coast.

“So, father, how were our spoils from this maritime battle?” Liszt, mounted on the landwalker bird Loki, landed on the flagship of the Tulip Family.

Marquis of Bull Tail poured two glasses of Crescent Moon Wine, handed them to Liszt and Mesiro, and said, “We’ve basically captured all the shipbuilding craftsmen, more than ten thousand shipbuilders, mostly strong youths—we didn’t find any elderly craftsmen… The Bull Family didn’t show themselves, all the shipyards rose up in Alonso’s name instead.”

The shipbuilding industry of the Eagle Kingdom began with the Bull Family; this was incontrovertible, as only the Bull Family could have introduced shipbuilding techniques to the Eagle Kingdom.

Liszt had previously thought any elderly craftsmen would likely be from the Bull Family.

Yet here, most of the craftsmen were young adults who spoke the Wind Language and couldn’t understand a word of Serpent Script, so there was no proof they had any ties to the Bull Family.

It seemed the Bull Family had vanished without a trace.

“Liszt, why are you so determined to search for the remnants of the Bull Family?” Mesiro, after taking a sip of the wine, asked. This ordinary Sky Knight had become increasingly bold of late.

In past Pioneer Mandate wars, his position was quite awkward; during combat, he had to rely on several Sword Saints from his family, lacking the clout to speak assertively. But now, all he had to do was sit on the ship and enjoy his wine—his followers would fight fiercely without any instruction.

This wasn’t the prestige brought by Princess Angela, but that of his nephew, Liszt.

Liszt swirled the fine wine in his glass, “It’s not so much about being determined. I just want to see if the grandson of Marquis of the Bull is indeed as talented as they say.”

Andre Sapphire, the grandson of Marquis of the Bull, became an Iron Knight and crafted Mithril Armor at the age of twelve. Advancing to Sky Knight would be as easy as drinking water for him, and if he joined the Dragon Knight candidacy program, he would certainly stand out. By now, he should be seventeen.

“No matter how talented, he could never surpass you,” Mesiro laughed loudly.

Marquis of Bull Tail joined in the laughter.

Liszt was but eighteen when he became a Dragon Knight, only nineteen now, and already working on establishing his own kingdom. Even if that Andre was exceptionally gifted, how could he compare with Liszt—and besides, the Bull Family had rebelled against their own Noble Landlord, a stain not easily wiped clean.

It’s likely the Royal Family of the Eagle Kingdom wouldn’t want such a person meddling with dragons.

Liszt also smiled.

With the help of the Smoke Mission, the talent he demonstrated was truly invincible.

“Father, Uncle, these shipbuilders are very important, I hope to take their families with us too, so in the coming period, I will need you to take extra care… You can tell these shipbuilders and their families that, once they get to my territory, they will be allotted houses and land, and after I establish my kingdom, they will all be made freemen.”

“You treat these serfs so well, I believe they will be very happy to follow you overseas.”

“Ensure that the ships transporting the serfs take good care of these shipbuilders and their families, it would be best if no one dies. Treat them as if they were captured knights, not serfs.” Liszt’s mood wasn’t very high, as he abducted the shipbuilders under the pretext of destroying the naval power of the Eagle Kingdom.

But essentially, it was still kidnapping serfs, doing the same dirty business as those mercenary corps.

For a noble Dragon Knight to be doing such things, he always felt a burning shame, so in the upcoming cleansing battles, he had no plans to show his face. Unless Nobles or Landlords participated in the battle, he would intervene to avoid excessive casualties and capture them—unfortunately, whether the news had leaked or not, he saw very few Sky Knights along the way.

Over the course of several days, he had only captured eleven Sky Knights, two of whom were Sword Saints, and among them, only four held the rank of Earl, the rest were Viscounts—They had hoped to achieve great deeds upon the high seas, while the local great landlords probably did not wish to risk danger.

After the failure of the Dragon-slaying battle, the great Nobles of the Eagle Kingdom realized that the seas were not a place for them to gallop across.

Only those small Nobles who had strength and ambition but lacked status were willing to take the risk of sailing in hopes of gaining illustrious military achievements.

…

The war continued, and Liszt remained comfortably aboard the Flame Number every day.

The arrangement for the shipbuilders’ families was left to Li Weiliam and Mesiro. Among the few Sky Knights, seven had written letters ready to be given to their families at the end of the war to pay for their ransoms—ordinary Sky Knights needed one Little Minor Elf, and it had to be grains or Magic Potions; Sword Saints required two Little Minor Elves, also in grains or Magic Potions.

There were also four Sky Knights who, unable to pay or unwilling to pay the ransom, simply requested to follow Liszt directly, to mix with this Dragon Knight.

The behavior of these four Sky Knights was within expectations.

“You may follow me, but you need to prove your worth. Go and fight alongside my Knight Order, take the surrounding castles, and I will tally your military achievements,” Liszt said to these four Sky Knights, needing their sincerity.

Derec Iron Armor, Joyce Dandelion, Spark, and Fernal Ink.

Therefore, they personally participated in the sieges, confronting the Knight Order of the Eagle Kingdom as a gesture of defection, meaning from now on, they could no longer find footing in the Eagle Kingdom and had to follow Liszt to the bitter end.

He accepted their surrender, gave them time to gather their belongings, take their families, and board the large ships of the fleet.

Liszt continued to protect the Sapphire fleet, repeatedly cruising the coastal waters, sweeping the remaining ships of the Eagle Kingdom.

After one and a half months of conquest.

There were no signs of any Dragon Knights from the Eagle Kingdom participating in the war, leaving the Sapphire fleet free to completely sever the Eagle Kingdom’s first foray into the seas.

Wuuu wuuu wuuu wuu!

The horn sounded, announcing the end of the battle at sea. The elated Sapphire Knights, having captured a large number of knight prisoners and craftsman serfs, began boarding the ships to leave the coast. Those ships of the Eagle Kingdom that could sail did so immediately; those that could not were scuttled at sea.

The crushing war thus came to an end.