Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 174

<174>

The movements of the Arya Kingdom were unusual.

Information that was accessible through the [Library] one day would often be erased by the next.

It was clear that ‘records’ were being deleted.

Not all ‘records’ were gone. That was impossible. They couldn’t just burn all the documents of the Arya Kingdom overnight.

Things like the submarine they were developing or the blueprints for the Titans couldn’t be discarded either.

Of course, there weren’t enough RP [Reality Points, a form of currency or resource] to access those anyway.

In any case.

Just because the secrets of the Arya Kingdom couldn’t be easily grasped through the [Library] didn’t mean we could stand by idly.

Most of the agents from the currently quiet Hamel Empire were redirected to the Arya Kingdom, and their operating funds were dramatically increased.

In addition, I kept an eye on the [Library] whenever I had the chance, scanning the traces left around the information that the Arya Kingdom had discarded.

In the midst of this.

I had a reason to be convinced that something big was about to happen.

The name of Yandersia, the infamous serial killer who murdered the former Second Queen and seven Arya royals, had disappeared from the [List of People].

It was clear that he had been offered as tribute to Etrim [likely a deity or powerful entity].

From that day on, I put aside other matters and poured all my efforts into monitoring Arya’s movements.

And this morning.

Julian rushed to my office in a fluster.

-The Queen is in danger!

Some agents operating in the Arya Kingdom had heard eyewitness accounts of ‘shining birds flying in flocks across the night sky.’

It was Arya’s airship fleet.

These were the guys who had tried to kidnap Schuetz, who was developing a cure when the Red Star Fever swept the world.

Their habits wouldn’t have changed.

“We found them! We finally found the Golden Dragon!!”

I am currently in the situation room of the medium-sized airship, Black Wyvern.

The observer couldn’t help but exclaim.

I don’t know what the islanders did, but communication with the Golden Dragon had been completely cut off.

“Displaying the screen!”

At the observer’s words, the screen lit up.

The Golden Dragon, surrounded by a magical shield that seemed about to disappear, was being chased by Arya’s airships.

“So it really was this way!”

“How did you know?”

Some of the people in the situation room looked at me with surprised eyes. They were surprised because we found the Golden Dragon on the first try based on the route I had indicated.

Even if it was impossible to locate them using communication, I had the [Library]. If the crew writing the flight log recorded it properly, the location of the Golden Dragon could be tracked in real time.

“What are you doing! Can’t you see the Golden Dragon is in danger!”

The captain’s roar made the crew immediately turn their heads. The speed of the Black Wyvern, which had been pushed to its limit, increased a little more.

“We would have been in big trouble if we were any later.”

Julian said, looking at the Golden Dragon’s shield, which looked like it would disappear at any moment.

His expression wasn’t bright.

The reason was obvious.

The first task of joining up with the Golden Dragon was successfully completed, but the aftermath was also a problem.

After Julian’s report, I made a bold and quick decision to launch all available airships into the sky.

Six medium-sized, including the Black Wyvern, and 46 small-sized.

Clearly inferior to Arya’s airship fleet. To make matters worse, the Golden Dragon on the screen didn’t seem capable of participating in combat.

It was a situation where we might be annihilated in the sky together after coming to rescue them.

***

“An unidentified fleet has appeared!”

“What!”

Lichid, who had been expecting the Golden Dragon to explode spectacularly just before its shield was broken, jumped up from his seat.

“I, it’s the Lionel Kingdom’s airships! Six medium-sized and about 40 small-sized!”

The observer continued his report.

Lichid’s hardened expression softened again.

Their forces outnumbered them by more than double. Moreover… He glanced at Sapian.

It might be a good thing after all.

If they annihilated the airship fleet that appeared to rescue the Golden Dragon on this occasion, the Lionel Kingdom, which had been soaring high, would be plunged back to the ground.

Yes.

There was no need to be fighting among themselves in the narrow archipelago.

If they occupied the Lionel Kingdom as an opportunity of this event, and after a brief reorganization, invaded the Hamel Empire, which was in very bad shape, it would only be a matter of time before the Arya Kingdom transformed into an empire.

If that happened, it was not a dream for him to become a duke in the territory of the Lionel Kingdom.

Having finished his thoughts, Lichid looked at the captain.

“Send the approaching Lionel Kingdom forces to the afterlife as well.”

“Understood! Signalman, relay His Excellency the Duke’s orders to the entire fleet!”

***

The airship fleet that Evan brought unleashed a barrage of fire at the gnats that were harassing the Golden Dragon.

Bang! Kwaang! Kwaaaang!!

Explosions erupted from all directions.

“Your Majesty, let’s go inside now. I don’t think there’s any great danger at the moment.”

Reyna nodded at the knight’s words.

There was nothing more she could do even if she stayed on the deck. She put her sword back into its scabbard and moved to the situation room. Fran was being treated, his upper body covered in blood.

“Sir Fran?”

Reyna’s eyes trembled slightly.

“It’s mana exhaustion. Fortunately, emergency measures were taken in time, so his life is not in danger.”

Reyna breathed a sigh of relief at the captain’s words, who was also a 6-star mage.

Among the many screens floating in the situation room, the Black Wyvern with its black hull caught her eye.

She could feel Evan was there.

She was saved by the one she had to protect. Reyna felt a subtle emotion that she couldn’t explain in words.

She looked at the captain.

“Captain, what’s the current situation?”

“We received a communication to continue retreating towards the Midra Triangle.”

“I see…”

Reyna turned her gaze back to the screens in the situation room.

Bang! Kwaaaang!

Kwaang!

The Lionel Kingdom’s airships were holding their own in the artillery battle despite their small numbers.

Thanks to the newly improved magic cannons.

The Lionel Kingdom was the first to start improving magic cannons using the magic superconductor, Lac-K [a fictional material].

The magic cannons of the airships that Evan brought were all replaced with the latest models. They had greater range, were more numerous, and were stronger than those of the Arya Kingdom.

However, Reyna’s expression was not bright.

It was because of the two large airships of the Arya Kingdom that the people in the situation room were glancing at and paying close attention to. The magic cannons mounted on the large airships were different in size from the start.

If those magic cannons started to shine, the situation would change in an instant.

“Captain! We need to slow down to maintain the magic shield!”

“What? Absolutely not! If we slow down, their large airships will catch up right away!”

“B, but without a magic shield…”

Kwaaaang!!

The sound of a shell impacting the Golden Dragon’s magic shield at that moment sounded like thunder in the ears of the people in the situation room.

Reyna looked straight ahead and estimated her current position.

‘Around here…’

She seemed to have found what she had to do.

“Captain, remove the magic shield 5 minutes after I leave.”

“Yes?”

Reyna left those words and turned her back to leave the situation room.

“Your Majesty! Where are you going, Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty!”

The knights hurriedly chased after her.

Reyna came out on the deck.

She went to the highest point on the airship, the lookout post.

“Y, Your Majesty?”

The crew member guarding the lookout post was startled to see her.

“Could you go down for a moment? And I would appreciate it if you could tell the knights who are following me not to come up. It’s not as spacious as you might think.”

“A, understood!”

Reyna, who was left alone, surveyed the battlefield.

Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaaaang!!

It seemed that the Arya Kingdom army had noticed that the Golden Dragon was no different from a flame before its magic shield went out.

Instead of targeting Lionel’s medium and small airships, magic cannons began to be fired at the Golden Dragon.

Kwaang! Bang!

Kwaaaang!!

The allied airships took the hits instead.

Not good.

The allies barely managed to hit the enemy airships with desperate aiming, but the enemy could just shoot at the Golden Dragon and hit them.

But even that is now over.

Woo- Woo-

“T, the magic shield!”

“The magic shield is down!”

The magic shield was deactivated.

The captain followed Reyna’s words.

Reyna gripped the hilt of her sword and focused her senses. The noisy sound of magic cannons faded, and time slowed down.

Kwa-a-a-a-a-ang!

The allied forces move to block the magic cannon fired by Arya’s airship.

Too late.

That can’t be blocked by the allied airships.

The crew member of the Golden Dragon, who is in the position where the shell will fall, covers his face with his arms in terror.

Reyna put strength into the hand holding the sword.

Paat-!

The Imaginary Domain [a personal reality or power manifestation] that unfolded around her enveloped the Golden Dragon. The crew member, who had raised his arm and covered his eyes, slightly lowered his arm at the dazzling light.

He could see countless swords of light hovering around the Golden Dragon.

Swish!

One of them cut the magic cannon shell that was falling on the crew member’s position.

That was the beginning.

Swish- Swish- Swish-

The swords of light cut all the shells flying towards the Golden Dragon.

He stared blankly at the sight.

Guardian Sword Array.

It enforces a very simple rule that no one can harm the existence within the sword array without her permission.

That was the name of the Imaginary Domain that Reyna had awakened, wanting to protect Ian, Evan, and further, the Lionel Kingdom.

***

The pursuit battle had been sluggish due to the Lionel Kingdom’s superior magic cannons.

Lichid, who had thought that he would soon annihilate Lionel’s airship fleet, was frowning deeply.

In the meantime, when there were signs that the Golden Dragon’s magic shield would be deactivated, the corners of his lips turned up.

But.

“Imaginary Domain!!”

Lichid was shocked to see the Imaginary Domain covering the Golden Dragon.

They had been hiding it perfectly.

To think that the First Queen was an 8-star knight!

Lichid turned his gaze to look at Sapian.

‘Did he know…?’

While everyone in the situation room was in shock and looking at the screen showing the Golden Dragon, Sapian’s gaze was directed elsewhere.

And with a very frowning expression.

He didn’t seem to be interested in the fact that the First Queen of the Lionel Kingdom had deployed an Imaginary Domain at all.

Lichid followed his gaze.

‘Black Wyvern?’

A fairly famous airship that was once the private plane of the King of the Lionel Kingdom.

‘Why is he looking at that? Could the King of Lionel be there?’

Lichid shook his head, feeling absurd even thinking about it. Unless he was crazy, he wouldn’t have come along knowing that the airship force was inferior.

King, King.

There’s no way he would show up in a place where he might die.

‘No. Maybe he did come…’

He remembered that he had never missed an important battle, including the war to recover the territory that had been taken by the Hamel Empire.

‘That’s even better.’

The successor is a baby boy.

It would be enough to set him up as a puppet ruler of the colony and then remove him at the right time. Then, the Lionel Kingdom would be erased and a duchy would be established.

“Your Excellency Duke Lichid, if the current situation is maintained, Lionel’s fleet will enter the Midra Triangle.”

At the captain’s words, Lichid came out of his happy imagination.

He recalled the decisive moment when the power of the king, who had been suppressing the aristocratic faction of Arya for a long time, weakened.

The sinking of the Joe Beyli pirate ship.

No aristocrat didn’t know that they were the king’s privateer fleet disguised as pirates, although the king absolutely denied it.

Lichid also knew the process in quite detail.

‘Do you think I’m the same as that pirate Joe?’

He grabbed his magic wand in his hand.

An 8-star powerhouse was not only in the Lionel Kingdom.