Emperor of Steel

Thump! Thud!

In the time where everything around was dark, low dull rumblings could be heard upstream from San River.

Moving the ark were dozens of golems and hundreds of beavers.

“Fast, fast, move fast.”

Luke’s slave, the vampire, Belfair, talked to the beavers who were breaking down the trees.

Belfair, who was in the form of a bat, was looking at the beavers.

Every time the beaver would laze around, Belfair would electrocute them with its red eyes, and the beavers would get back to working again.

“That is a demon trick.”

At the words from Erwin, who was watching Belfair overseeing the beavers, Luke explained further,

“It is called the Dominator’s Eye. It is possible to compel creatures who are inferior to the being.”

The Dominator’s Eye of Belfair was one of the specialties of the Vampire race.

Vampires who were one of the weaker demons, would use their tricks to monitor the other demons, gather information or make them do labor.

Luke was making Belfair use the ability to build a dam upstream of San river.

In the way how the dwarves made mine from generation to generation, the beavers built dams in the woods, they were the best lumberjacks and dam builders.

The giant trees over 30 centimeters in diameter, could be cut down in 10 minutes, and huge reservoirs of hundred meters in length could be constructed.

Luke added the power of the beavers with the labor of the golems, and magic of himself and Erwin to create a huge dam.

When Luke and Erwin were holding the water with their magic, and the golems diligently stacked the wood which had been cut by the beavers on the riverbed.

Stacked woods were once again reinforced with soil and rocks, they were increasing the height.

“You are planning to make a water attack.” Asked Erwin.

“Yes, after we have gathered enough water, we can blow down the dam with either magic or gun powder and wipe out the Volga army.”

At the explanation from Luke, Erwin’s expression turned cold.

Luke fully understood her reaction. Erwin too was from Volga Republic.

She was helping in making a trap for her homeland soldiers to suffer, and it wasn’t normal.

‘However, I can’t refuse.’ Thought Erwin.

No matter how much she hated it, Erwin had to completely help Luke until he could uncover the secret of the locket Luke held onto.

Otherwise, she would be asked to leave right away.

However, there was another reason for her cold look.

“Are you by any chance stupid?”

“I’m stupid?”

“Yeah. Sweeping tens and thousands of water down would require huge quantities of wood, and it would take a lot of time to build a dam that can hold so much. No matter how many beavers use wood, the golems labor, and mobilize magic.”

“Those words of yours are right. No matter how soon we try to act, it will take another five days.”

Luke had begun to build the dam for four days.

The border dispute with the Volga Republic was well anticipated.

Therefore, as soon as he had been appointed as the commander, he set up explosion mines and trained the Fortress troops very actively.

But what Luke didn’t realize was that the Republic would mobilize troops for an all-out war.

No matter how thorough the preparations of the Torlot Fortress were, it was impossible to stop an enemy who had ten times the force.

In fact, it could be considered as a miracle that the Fortress was still standing up till then.

Luke sought last resort.

And it was handmade right away.

However, the dam wasn’t a one-day or two-day project.

Luke’s answer made Erwin asked another question,

“How are you going to hold on for another five days?”

There was no sign of the reinforcements coming.

The enemy troops were just ahead, and the supplies were exhausted with every coming day.

“Are you planning to buy time by deception once again? They won’t be deceived twice.” Said Erwin.

“Right. That is why…”

Luke told Erwin a plan on how to buy five days.

Erwin was surprised to hear the plan and frowned.

“You have gone mad.”

“I knew you would say that.”

However, Luke hit his chest and continued,

“And that crazy thing will bring us success. I can bet on it.”

“…”

“So, what do you think? Want to bet on it?” Asked Luke.

Looking at Luke’s confident expression, Erwin shook her head.

“I’ll just watch. You’re the crazy person who can bring in success with crazy things.”

“Was that a compliment?” Asked Luke.

“You can think as you please.”

Looking at the cold expression and attitude of Erwin, Luke couldn’t help but have a bitter smile on his face.

Looking at the uncomfortable woman in front of his eyes, he could understand how sweet princess Reina was.

‘What could Reina be doing right now?’

Luke who was missing the princess once again immersed in the dam construction.

If he could do what he had to do, he would be able to reunite with the people whom he was missing.

“Belfair! Can you speed it up?”

“Yes, master!”

Belfair, upon receiving the orders from Luke; approached the beavers and made them speed things up.

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“Could Sir Luke doing well?”

Reina suddenly looked up at the northern sky as she was thinking of something.

It was because she hadn’t received a letter for more than two weeks.

“Princess, don’t worry. Sir Luke would return back safely without any damages.”

“You think so?”

At the words from Pavel, she nodded her head.

Reina had heard the story from a merchant who had visited the city of Krom the day before the battle in Torlot.

He said that it was a place where the army was sent over for exile, and there was no quiet day. Also at the front line, where the Volga Republic was constantly looking for a battle.

However, Luke constantly told her that he was fine, so she had no choice but to wait and place belief in him.

Reina and Pavel were talking about Luke and his well-being.

When suddenly, soldiers came into the chambers.

“Huge news! The Volga army has invaded the border!” He stated.

“What did you say?!” The two of them asked.

The two of them were so surprised that, they asked the soldier for more details.

But all that soldier knew was that the Volga army had invaded the border.

“I can’t stay here. I need to see Sir Hans right away.”

She got up and went to meet Hans who was at Lamer’s permanent residency. He was the one in-charge of land, so he should have known something.

And her thought was right.

The office of Lamer’s Lord was very noisy with the sudden relay of information.

“Sir Hans!” Reina called out.

“Ah, Princess Reina is here.”

Those discussing the measures got up from their seat and offered one to Reina.

Sitting down, she asked about Luke’s safety, for which they had answered,

“We are using our abilities to see what is happening at the Torlot Fortress, but we haven’t been able to figure out anything as the Imperial army is controlling all the information flow.”

The new findings of Hans and the retainers were that the number of Volga army was very large, unlike the fights in the previous years.

Naturally, the fort had been attacked, and the situation of the Torlot Fortress was likely to be very dangerous.

“Can’t we help?” Asked Reina.

“Are you talking about sending reinforcements?”

“Yes, if soldiers and infantry are tough, then let’s send the knights and the Gigants and think about sending the reinforcements.”

But it wasn’t easy to send forces from the South to the North.

In addition, according to the Imperial law, the army of one territory doesn’t have the permission to enter another land without the consent from the Emperor and Imperial assembly.

“If we ignore the law and cross the land, we will be charged with treason.”

“If so… then how about we disguise them as mercenaries?”

“Although we are looking for multiple ways to send help. We can’t just decide to send in the army without knowing what the situation was the Torlot Fortress.”

The retainers were in talks.

No matter how large the invaded Volga army was, the work and law of the empire had to be followed.

The imperial forces could be trying to block the Volga republic from moving ahead. If that wasn’t the case, Luke could have safely retreated.

“It would be nice to at least know some information about the Torlot Fortress.”

Hans was thinking that it was no coincidence for the war to break out in such a situation. No, it was no coincidence, it was the Emperor’s conspiracy.

If not, why would a war break out shortly after Luke had been assigned to the front?

Even if he was scared of what might happen in the war, he had the responsibility to stay calm and think.

While Hans was feeling frustrated, Reina asked,

“Can we know the information about the battlefield?”

“Sorry?”

“If we know the information about the battlefield, can we help Sir Luke?”

At her question, Hans firmly responded to her,

“If our Lord is in crisis, we will all run over to save and help him, even if it means for us being considered as traitors.”

Luke was their Lord and the only successor to Rakan.

If Luke died, there was no future family.

Reina, with a smile on her lips, got up from her seat.

“Then, I’ll get the information somehow. Please wait.”

Reina left the office in a hurry.

Hans was grateful for her actions and feelings towards Luke, seeing that he gained some confidence.

‘I have liked the fact that our estate has grown by a lot, but I haven’t done anything about warfare. I shouldn’t be doing this anymore. In order for this family to flourish, we need to build strength against the Imperial family…’

Hans felt the need to build power and decided to invest in warfare once everything would pass.

After a while, Reina went to a small mansion which was outside the city of Lamer.

There was a group of people who had been staying in the mansion that was located on the outskirts, and they were fairies.

“I am worried about my face.”

Erenes, who was lying in bed, saw Reina who was coming in through the door.

That day, when it was confirmed that Reina had possessed the Earth’s Tears, he woke up five days after the fainting.

Since then, Erenes had numerous conversations with Reina whenever she had some free time. Most of them were about the World Tree and the spirit world.

Reina listened to the stories with great interest as she was always interested in ancient history, myths, and legends.

That allowed the huge gap between them to turn into a new friendship.

“A few days ago, the Volga Republic has invaded the empire.” Reina said.

“It looks like the president has pulled out his last knight.”

The war was a defense invasion for the Republic.

However, Erenes determined that the war was going to be a stage for the next major play.

He knew about the ambition of President Vladimir.

He cried out for the equal rights of the people and fairies during the revolution, but the president wanted to conquer the continent and rule it.

Reina bowed to Erenes who was worried about the wind that was supposed to blow the continent.

“I need to you tell me more information about the war.” Reina asked.

She thought that since the information wasn’t coming in from the Empire, it would be possible to gather information from the Volga Republic’s side.

In addition, she felt that knowing the information wouldn’t be impossible as the visitors had considerable influence in the Volga.

At the request from Reina, Erenes looked at her with a curious expression.

“It looks like you have an important person on the battlefield.’

He knew that Luke had come to rescue her when the Dark Elves had tried to kidnap her.

“Yeah. He is more precious than my life. If you can let me know that he is safe, I will actively cooperate in opening the door to the Spirit World.”

Till then she had been friends with Erenes, however, she constantly refused to help in opening the door to the Spirit World.

Victor did tell her that the Earth’s Tears were handed down from generation to generation in the Royal family, and the power had been used several times in the past.

Exposed to the tremendous energy flowing in from the Spirit World, the person using it had gone crazy or the personality and appearance of the person had changed completely.

Erenes too admitted that it was true.

It was the side effect of borrowing power for a while, and he couldn’t even imagine what would happen if the person fully opened the doors.

Reina had taken the stand to help Luke and stay by his side, and from her standpoint, it meant nothing in exchange for the information.

She kept on refusing, and all of a sudden she had accepted.

“You really mean it?” Asked Erenes.

“Yes. I promise on the Goddess of Earth, Belize.”

“You can go crazy or change into a completely different person. You may even lose your life. Do you still want to cooperate?”

“Yes, if he can be safe…”

Seeing the truth in the eyes of Reina, Erenes accepted her request.

“Okay. The princess has shown her will, so I will help actively.”

Erenes smiled with joy.

His life was at the bare bottom, like a burned tree.

Still with the will to live, but his life was going to be short.

Yet, he couldn’t just force open the doors to the Spirit World, so he had been trying to look for ways to persuade Reina.

Erenes, summoned the Dark Elves, Hyrun who was his escort.

“What is it?” Asked Hyrun.

“Ask Sylvia to send us the information about the war that is going on.” Said Erenes.

“That would be a little…”

“The destiny of us fairies is hanging on it.”

Hyrun, who was troubled by the request, resigned from the room without any more hesitation.

Reina was relieved at that, she prayed for the information of the war, and for luck to be on Luke’s side.