Emperor of Steel

An hour later, the servants all gathered in the King’s office, they couldn’t help but jump up at Luke’s words.

“Majesty! It isn’t a neighboring nation, you are going to the Southern Continent!”

“No matter how good the conditions are in our Kingdom, Your Majesty shouldn’t be gone for such a long time!”

It was never good for the King of a nation to be away from the nation for a long time.

It was because there would always be nobles and people who have unclean minds.

And Luke wasn’t talking about just visiting the outside continent, he was about to participate in their war!

They knew about Luke’s power, however, if he was struck by a blind arrow, it would be a huge deal for the nation!

Which was why most of the retainers opposed it.

However, some didn’t.

Hwang Bo-sung, the Commander of the Guard Knights, was the first to approve of it.

“Master, I believe in your decision.”

Hwang Bo-sung knew about the future where the Rhodesia Continent would be destroyed.

Which was why he thought that the Song Empire shouldn’t be allowed to dominate over the Southern Continent.

“Count Hwang Bo-sung, what are you even saying? You are in favor of His Majesty going all the way to the Southern Continent with just a handful of escort knights?!”

Hans half-yelled at him.

But then, Bentley, the finance minister, sided with Hwang Bo-sung.

“Even I agree with His Majesty’s words. If the Song Empire dominates the Southern Continent, it will turn into a major blow for our home with the trades being stopped.”

If the Song Empire, which in case unified the entire Southern Continent, monopolizes the trade routes, then it would cause a huge friction within the Symphonia Kingdom.

Well, there was a high probability that the Song Empire would take over the trade matters into their hands.

Which would mean that making huge profits would be impossible for the Northern Continent?

“You want to bet your Majesty’s life for money?!”

Hans yelled at Bentley, however, Bentley didn’t back down.

“Don’t you realize that money can make or break a nation? People are hungry for it.”

“Well, but…”

Symphonia Kingdom’s southern side was the most financially stable place, the trade was the main income source for the nation.

If there was any disruption in the trade activities, the nation’s finances were bound to be affected.

Wasn’t the situation with the Undead attack a few days back a clear example of what would happen if the trade ports were damaged?

“Currently, Castia, Grenada, and the Libiya Kingdom are trying to attract the Southern trade ships to their sides. If we don’t take this opportunity, we might lose out the share of trade in the future.”

“Which is why Your Majesty will have to go and stop the Song Empire from settling and establishing a strong relationship with Yemaek. Then we won’t be facing any problem in the future.”

At the words of Rogers, Bentley nodded his head.

That was when it made sense for a few, yet, Hans and a few more didn’t seem glad.

With what Bentley had said, Luke knew that he didn’t have to persuade them, so he spoke with a smile.

“Don’t worry too much. I won’t be taking a few escort knights like the last time, but I will be taking an army of knights.”

“Huh? An army of knights? Then, it would take a lot of time for them to be dispatched.”

Duke Hans was confused.

From what he knew, the Southern Continent didn’t have any long-distance teleport gate.

Even the time when Luke had come back from the Southern Continent, he returned with the help from the mysterious Saint Nanda.

Which meant, the only thing left was the sea route, and no matter how fast the ships advanced, it would take a week or two to reach the destination.

However, in order to carry food and military supplies like Gigants to the Southern Continent, it was necessary to take the ships.

Though slow, ships would have to be used for carrying all that load.

Which meant that it would take a lot of time for them to get moving.

“There is one solution for that.”

At Luke’s words, Hans wasn’t sure.

“Eh? A solution?”

“Yes.”

Luke showed his retainers a picture.

It was the blueprint of Hyredin which had been captured from the Grenada Navy in the last war.

“That is…?”

“It has been studied and written by the technicians who were repairing it.”

Luke looked at Hans and the other retainers confused faces and explained with a smile.

“As you know, Hyredin had been captured a year ago, and was being repaired and renovated.”

Hans and the others knew about it.

Luke had told them about how large and powerful battleships were needed to protect their trade routes with the Southern Continent and the need for the battleships to prevent the invasions of the pirates and foreign enemies through the sea.

So, while repairing the battleship, they managed to study the Hyredin, which was captured during the war.

“The Hyredin sailed on a large machine wheel with six masts and four magical steam engines. However, the method was rather inefficient.”

The masts weren’t just useless without the wind, but also slowed down when the winds came against them.

In addition, if they were broken during the battle by shelling, the sailors on deck would take severe damage.

The same was true for any such ship.

If one or two of the masts were broken, the shop wouldn’t move forward, but keep circling in the same spot.

“Which was why I removed everything and put a Screw on the bottom.”

“Screw? For what?”

It was their first time hearing it, and all the retainers were shocked.

“It is like a pinwheel, spinning inside the water. It was said that it was commonly used during the ancient Mado time.”

During his time as Saymon, Luke had learned about the Screw from the records of the ancient Mado civilization.

Ships in the Mado times, whether military or merchant ships, moved only with a vane that circulated underwater, not with the sails or steam engines.

Would it be possible for a small metal Screw to move such a large ship?

There were questions as such, but during the ancient times, such questions didn’t matter.

It was because, during their times, they didn’t need to build their own navy fleet.

However, in the current time, the navy training was important.

“I applied it to a small ship, and the speed is three times faster than before.”

“Oh! Three times faster?”

The retainers were shocked.

It was shocking that the speed of the ships didn’t double but tripled!

Luke nodded and continued.

“So I applied it to Hyredin right away. The magic steam engines were also replaced right away with a large core engine that had enough power to rotate the Screw.”

Unlike the core engine applied to the Gigants, the large core engine for ships had a simpler structure and much better efficiency.

Unlike the Gigants where the movement was complicated, all the core engines of the ship had to do was rotate the Screw.

“According to the report from Marquis Volant in the Navy, it was said that it boasted a very high speed on the test.”

“T, that was done?”

“Huhuhu. It was conducted in secret so the spies wouldn’t know about it.”

“Uhm, then…”

Hyredin itself was a ship with tremendous power.

However, it was more useful with the fact that it could carry a hundred Gigants and supplies on it.

Even with such heavy metal on board, it was able to keep the enemy at sea, Grenada Navy had shown them what the Hyredin could do in the war.

“Well, our navy is like a chick which broke out of its shell. We don’t have the experience for a large scale expedition, but would it help Your Majesty…?”

As the retainers were concerned, Luke didn’t shake from his decision.

“This opportunity will give them a lot of experience. Moreover, many of the sailors are made up of the crew members of the trading ships, so they will be familiar with sailing, I don’t think that sailing would be such an obstacle.”

No one could refute to those words, it was like they had nothing more to ask.

However, Hans couldn’t get rid of his worries, so he said.

“Even after you leave the place, you will have to keep your security close to you.”

“Of course. There is also a good replacement, you don’t have to worry so much.”

When it came to a replacement, Hans thought of Sebastian.

He was someone who always took the King’s place in Luke’s absence, but Hans was anxious because of Sebastian’s temperament.

Even then, he decided to go along with it as Sebastian had always played Luke’s role without any problems.

“Well, the decision has been made, so hurry up and prepare for the exhibition. Pay special attention to the expeditionary force.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

And thus, the first Southern expedition of the Symphonia Kingdom got decided.

Luke, who sent out his retainers, prepared his own weaponry.

In order to defeat Arsene, who might come or not, he didn’t want himself to be too cautious or neglected.