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Chapter 282 Part 2

「Hm… Maybe thirty minutes will be too short. Oh, nah, thirty minutes is enough, but what would your estimate be?」　

Christina made the gauge of thirty minutes based on the assumption that she sought to avoid deaths in the fight and chose to let the enemy troops live. Hence, she would have to disarm them and leave them incapable of fighting before sending them back with minimum food. The other option was to toss them into a prisoner-of-war camp. Considering Bern’s current food production and labor force, she would have to do so even if the enemy might pick up arms and attack again. 

On the other hand, constant attacks also meant a constant supply of enemy rations and weaponry. If the enemy was sent off with the right methods, they could easily replenish Bern’s supplies semi-permanently. Though, this was certainly an idea that anyone would point out as ridiculous.

However, the more problematic issue than Christina’s thought process was the fact that there were with multiple individuals with enough power to cause destruction with the most foolish tactics. Christina corrected herself and then consulted her aide, someone who she considered the most dependable in the world, with an amused tone. 

「Well, hm… Excuse me for this, but it would take you under thirty minutes even with Elsparda alone. If you resort to using Dreadnought as well, it would really depend on how far you wish to go with your might.」　

Elsparda was certainly a masterpiece of modern magic smithing, but Dreadnought was a superweapon designed to battle Ancient-Celestial Dragons. Sacurabus, the ancestor of the demon lord and war god, would be a fitting opponent for it, but it was too overwhelming for his descendants whose spirituality had been reduced to earthly standards. 

The soldiers at Fort Nerodim, including Sinista, were wondering if their superiors were joking with each other. They were at a loss as to whether to take these comments seriously or pass them off as a joke.

Arkrest Kingdom had a precedent of sole might in the form of Merle, the Arc Witch who had more power than an entire army. However, these soldiers had no idea that the two individuals before them were unfathomably more powerful than Merle.

「As far as I can tell from here, there are four ships with a total of about 1,200 soldiers on board. Well, this is all just theoretical speculation since we have yet to grasp the exact functions of the warships.」　

In fact, even if they were to attack a fleet fully prepared and informed of an incoming offensive, the result would be the literal annihilation of the fleet by Christina alone in the time that the two had mentioned or even less.

Even so, Christina and Dran were rather thrifty in a sense, often choosing to retain whatever would be of use. If they could, they would certainly take great pains to capture the four Megyn-class land warships with as little damage as possible.

Christina concluded that Dran would offer no useful opinions at this point. She turned to the other two who could offer thoughts on single-handed victory over the delegation.

「Selina, Diadora, I would like to hear your thoughts on this. I know that I have been making speculations without any knowledge, but I would still like to know your opinions on the matter.」

Diodora was unaffected as she fell into contemplation after muttering, “Well, about that…”

As for Selina, she had been tense to the tip of her tail over the upcoming war. The unexpected mention of her name made her jolt in shock.

「Huh? Me? U-Um… From what we can see now, the hull of the warship is pretty thick and reinforced with two or three layers of magic. So…」

Selina’s watery blue eyes were glazed over like the moon as she gazed intently at the land warships through the window. The eyes of this young lady who had been feeding off the spiritual energy of an Ancient-Celestial Dragon for a year were not beyond the ordinary serpent eyes of a Lamia. In addition to her vision, the bewitching and hypnosis abilities of her magical eyes had been boosted to a realm of the supreme. Even without transforming into a Dragon Snake or a Dragon Succubus form of a Dragon Lamia, her powers had already reached such heights. If she were to unleash those powers in full force, she would certainly be capable of destroying an entire nation. 

「Hm… Oh, but Jaraam would be enough to penetrate the hull, so there’s no need to worry about the exterior being impenetrable to all attacks. I’m not sure of the power of the cannons on board, so I can’t say much about their defense, but I’m sure those on the ships can be dealt with using my snake eyes. As long as we can get close enough, I’ll manage somehow.」　

「Yeah, we have a rough estimate of the caliber of the cannons based on the soldiers tailing them, but we can’t ascertain the type of gunpowder they’re using or what kind of shells they will fire. Still, I don’t think it’s as bad as an Ancient Dragon’s breath or dragon spells. Selina, even you won’t need to put up a full defense.」　

「That’s true, this isn’t as terrifying as Vaje’s glare or Liu Yuu’s water spears!」　

Seline replied to Christina with a smile, but it was rather strange to hear her answer with confidence that she was fine as long as she was not facing off one of the strongest dragons of the most superior species in the world; this was simply beyond the general standards of comparison. 

That being said, Christina and Selina were not wrong with their statements. Right now, Selina would be a match for a dragon of average intellect even without her transforming into a Dragon Lamia.

By the time Selina had finished with her reply, Diadora had also finished organizing her thoughts. She started with a hypothetical situation in which she would have to take on the delegation’s fleet single-handedly. 

「Selina has grown mighty. I’m not so great at upfront offensives, so fragrance and poison would be more befitting of a flower spirit like me. Just like the fight with the goblins, stopping them in their tracks with thorns from the ground and then knocking them out with poison would work. I’m only capable of that much.」　

「But your poison can easily render the entire enemy troops unconscious. As far as I can see, they have no detoxification magic or spells for poison resistance on the ship. It would be much easier for you to neutralize them than me or Christina.」　

「Well, my thorns are strong enough to stop those ships’ power, so boarding the ship and wrapping everyone up gently in thorns would be feasible once that’s done. It would be nice if things were that easy, but we’re just waiting for now. In a real battle, there’s no telling whether they would conjure wards to fend off poisons or curses. It would be wiser to assume that several of their troops are skilled in such fields.」　

Diadora was absolutely right. The assessments by Christina, Selina, and Diadora were based on the assumption that those land warships had no outstandingly competent fighters on board. In fact, the fleet’s leading Megyn-Gil did not just serve as the main body of the fleet. It was also manned by two of the six demon generals, Quince and Vengitta. Annihilation of the entire fleet would certainly be far less simple than their speculations. 

「Heh heh, I’m relieved to see that the vassals of Bern as thus dependable and fearsome. Well, let us not observe them at their leisure from right under our noses for the next two days.」　

Christina’s heart was racing at the prospect of her first foreign negotiation as a lord, but she did her best to put on an air of composure as she prepared for the meeting. 

The members of Bern took full advantage of the two days they had to gather detailed information on the delegation from Mundus Carnus. Their eventual meeting with the delegation was to take place at a hastily constructed site midway between the fleet and Fort Nerodim. 

This arrangement was the result of Bern’s compromise with Mundus Carnus, who were reluctant to let any Bernese personnel inside their state-of-the-art land warships. As for the Bernese, they did not want potential enemies inside their frontline defense fort either.

In the summer heat, patches of green scattered about the wilderness. Several iron poles and sheets of cloth had been used to create a meeting space. An unspoken understanding hung between both parties that if the need arose, the fleet or the fort would summon artillery fire or rescue personnel. 

Approximately twenty individuals, including military escorts, attended the meeting. Christina and her team had already discussed with the governor-general regarding the correspondence with Mundus Carnus. Even as the lord of Bern, she would not accept an official letter from the demon lord. In the eyes of society, Christina was just one of the many remote lords in the countryside. She was too low in rank to formally convey a wish for diplomatic relations, even in name. 

On the day of the meeting, Christina stepped into the camp with no signs of uneasiness to those present. She seemed to maintain her composure toward the unwelcome guests from the Dark Wilderness. 

While she had left Dramina in Bern village, she had brought along Selina and Diadora with her in order to show their opponens the coexistence of humans with other races in Bern. More importantly, it was to reveal that Lamias, who were treated as demons, were part of their community. 

Even though Christina understood that war was inevitable, she felt that it would be good to display her governing attitude. One other reason was the consideration of a possible outcome of the war, where they had to bring down the demon lord’s army and force Mundus Carnus to surrender. It would best for these opponents to know that Bern treated Ajins and demons as equals with humans, in hopes that they would refrain from adopting a full-out offensive. 

Although Christina never uttered a word about her true sentiments, she did lament that it was still too soon for her to be involved in matters of a national scale. Rather, she wished that she could have accumulated adequate experience to stand firm in such a situation. 

Despite having a comrade and a lover beyond the standards of mere dependability, Christina still felt nervous. She might have a spirit and body far surpassing an ordinary human, but her heart still comprised of many human-like qualities.

「Well, shall we proceed?」　

With that, Christina gently removed the Agrilia’s Bracelet around her wrist before the meeting. 

Christina and Dran had warned those with them that they should never look at Christina when she was without the bracelet. Even with their gazes down, Sinista and the others could sense that the world around them had changed. It was not a fading of the world’s color, or the stagnancy of the wind, or the cooling of the sun’s rays. 

Yet, the world seemed to have sprouted once more, only to shine brighter than ever. Sinista intuitively realized that this was due to Christina, who was walking slightly ahead of her, and slowly lifted her eyes.

Diadora was the one to intervene and stop Sinista. The captivating spirit of the black rose was looking straight ahead, but her eyes were narrowed as if to blur her vision. 

「No, never lift your eyes. If you wish to do your part, keep your eyes on your feet. Don’t worry, you won’t be criticized for a lack of propriety as our opponents will not have the luxury of sparing such attention.」　

It was a strange piece of advice that was hard to comprehend, but those words were filled with genuine concern and caution. Sinista understood these sentiments fully and hurriedly returned her gaze to the ground. Those around her who were about to look up followed suit. When Diadora noticed that those with her had returned their gazes to the ground, she finally let out a small sigh.

In the event that anyone from Bern rested their gazes on Christina, Dreadnought would project a false vision for them. However, there was still a chance that they would be at risk. After all, this was Christina they were facing.