Emperor of Steel

Luke had left Lamer city two days ago with his fleet.

A smile caught his lips when he looked at the vast sea. It was because he remembered the talk he had with Reina and Karen in the morning through magic communication.

-Be careful. I wish you come back victorious.

-Cheer up! Daddy, you can’t lose!

The encouragement from those two who wanted Luke to win, Luke thought he should stop by at the Holy Palace once this was done.

‘But it has to be done before Arsene can fully regain that power of his…’

Luke was convinced that Arsene was behind the war.

It was because he knew that simultaneous invasions in the north and south could never be a coincidence.

In addition, according to a report from the intelligence, there was a person who saw Margareta in the Grenada Kingdom just before King Drake died, so Luke’s doubt turned into suspicion.

‘No matter what it seems like, they don’t want me to go over to Libiya Kingdom. For now, I need to remove the fire at my feet and then discuss it later with my retainers.’

No matter how confident he was in defeating the Libiya capital all by himself.

It would turn tough to deal with Gigants and monsters that could rush over to defend the royal palace.

In addition, there seemed to be a high possibility that the people of Libiya Kingdom, who were innocent, would be the ones to take in damage.

Therefore, Luke decided to defeat those in front of his eyes and then discuss the other matter with his retainers.

‘Anyway, I have plans ready. There is no way that things are going to happen according to your plan, Arsene!’

What Luke learned after he became the king from being a lord was that even if he was smart, ruling over a nation wasn’t that easy.

In the Southern Continent, it was called ‘The king in a war is someone who does ten thousand things’, and it wasn’t much different from how the kings in Rhodesia work.

Luke took advantage of that and secretly carried out an operation to put Arsene on a tight leash.

It was because as long as Arsene was disguised as Shaikan, he wouldn’t be able to ignore the duties of a king.

‘If he neglects the responsibilities, some people will turn angry. And if the angry people start to cause unexpected trouble…’

The greater the conflict, the more disorderly the nation of Libiya would turn into, and Arsene’s control over the nation would decrease.

In severe cases, it would deal with noble rebellion or civil war.

For that to happen, Luke was in the process of shaking up the economy of the Libiya Kingdom by moving the Grain Chamber with the information he managed to obtain from Zehart on Thanatos Island.

‘Since it is still the early days, the problem isn’t that huge, but sooner or later, something is going to happen.’

Luke glanced up at the sky with a sly smile and asked, “How is the war in the northwest going on?”

Sebastian, who was waiting to be questioned, answered right away, “I’ve checked in a while back, and it was said that Marquis Rogers is doing good in stopping the monsters.”

When Rogers announced that he would stop the monster legion in the mountains rather than on the plains near Verange Castle, Luke wanted to know the reason for the change.

However, after the detailed explanation which followed, the operation got changed right away.

Even if the monster legion was defeated, the people didn’t have to be sacrificed for it.

However, Luke stopped being concerned when the operation was changed all of a sudden.

However, like a well-seasoned commander, Marquis Rogers seemed to be doing well against the monster legion.

“It was said that the installation of the traps of the engineer unit is done, sooner or later, there will be a mess.”

“Nice. And where are the Song Empire and Yemaek fleet right now?”

“They are hiding in the reefs near Gregg Island, just as we asked them to. They decided to attack them as soon as they come in.”

Gregg Island was an island that was located between the trade routes between Grenada and Symphonia Kingdom.

It was a place where tired sailors would take a break in the uninhabited island and rest.

There were hundreds of rocky island reefs around it, which was where Luke asked the Song Empire and Yemaek’s navy to hide.

The operation was carried out by communicating it through Zen telegrams.

Zegal Soha created a scepter that could communicate with Yemaek and the Song navy.

For Luke, who was still clumsy when dealing with Zen users, magic communication seemed a lot easier. However, as the Southern Continent didn’t have the right equipment, he had to ask Zegal Soha.

“How about the installation of submarine cables?”

“Just finished.”

“Huhuhu, it feels so good to know all the preparations are done on time.”

Honestly, even Luke wasn’t confident if he could beat the 1,300 ships that were coming for them.

Just 1,000 ships were enough for any nation to lose, but Grenada was bringing 1,300 ships!

In order to win over such a fleet, they had to think of things that were never done before.

Luke came up with several strategies, one of which was to use the complex reef as a battlefield.

Of course, to increase their odds of winning, they developed new submarine cables and Wing Suits.

‘The newly developed iron-clad ships will play a huge role. No matter how large the enemy ships are, this is a war they can’t win.’

While Luke was feeling good, the magic communication crystal in his hand began to vibrate.

‘What could this be?’

When Luke infused mana into it, Marquis Volant, the commander of the 5th army, the Navy, appeared.

He was aboard the front line, and as soon as Luke answered, he spoke.

-Your Majesty, the scout ships have contacted us, and they said that they saw the enemy’s ships approaching us.

“Really? Which side?”

-Around 6 o’clock to the southeast. If we move at the same speed, we’ll meet around 3 pm.

“Hu hu hu. The time is right for us to meet.”

-Yes! Order taken!

Marquis Volant took the military command from Luke and ended the communication.

After a while, the leader of the fleet thought that things would become a mess, and more than 50 fast-paced ships began to go ahead.

An operation that would be recorded in history and would be called the Battle of Gregg had begun.