Rhode temporarily put aside the matter regarding Ion and giving Erin an official job title was simply his first chess move against Ion. Since Ion decided to plant Erin over at Rhode’s side to hold him back, Rhode couldn’t be blamed for using Erin to intervene with the political affairs of the Country of Darkness. Rhode was incredibly clear of Ion’s intentions, which was why he made this move. He also decided that if Ion continued playing his game, he would proceed to send Angelina over during this period of time, support her in defeating the Vampire Countess, Ashvril, of the four legendary generals, and get Angelina to take over the vampire forces.
Since you want to find trouble with me, don’t blame me for returning the favor, Your Majesty Ion.
During this period of time, the Void Territory was incredibly crowded as emissaries and representatives from all over the continent entered Grandia. Most of them were from the Country of Light’s neighboring territories. After witnessing the plight of Casabianca, the territories under the Light Dragon’s soul protection were terrified. The natural disasters caused by the crumbling of the dragon soul protection left them breathless. After hearing the declaration from Rhode and Lilian, they quickly sent out representatives to express devotion to Lilian. They shed tears while complaining about the parliament’s atrocities in the past, describing how terrible their lives were when the parliament was in power, how inhumane the parliament’s violence was, and also how satisfied they were after the parliament perished. As toward Lilian, they expressed how much they respected her from the bottom of their hearts… Since there were no two ways about it, they might as well think of ways to express goodwill toward her. Any perspicacious person could see that the Light Dragon was unwilling to remain lonely. From the lessons learned from Casabianca, who wouldn’t treat her words seriously now?
Lilian wasn’t in the mood to be bothered by those people. Ever since she witnessed the demolition of Casabianca, she had been preoccupied with her thoughts. This was why she left the cumbersome diplomatic affairs to Sonia instead. Fortunately, Sonia became Rhode’s card spirit and didn’t need to consume food. Moreover, with her ‘hinting’ ability as the Illusory Elf, she saved a lot of time and effort in interactions. But even so, there was still a long way to go in restoring the Country of Light.
After all, the entire higher system of the Country of Light almost entirely crumbled after the war. There was also no news about Boulder and Serene after their battle. Rhode reckoned that Boulder had sneaked back to the abyss through the Chaos Gate after he found out that the situation was far from good. On the other hand, Serene almost succumbed to her injuries. If it weren’t for Rhode who reminded Alice to pull Serene back from the battle the instant she decided to exert her utmost strength, perhaps her tombstone would have been set up by now. But even so, she was still gravely hurt and resting in the Golden City for now. For the time being, she couldn’t offer any useful help.
Rhode also heard from her about the reason why Serene and Boulder left Lilian’s side. A while before the incident happened, Serene received intelligence that someone in the Country of Light was secretly summoning devils. As an archangel, she knew how dangerous devils were. In order to avoid turmoil, she personally led the battle angels in investigating the matter. For the sake of safety, she made Boulder stay behind in Casabianca to protect Lilian. Serene initially thought that the small-scale ritual would summon only a few devils, but she didn’t anticipate it to be a trap meant to capture her. Thereafter, not only did the space get imprisoned and disrupt the strength of Order in the entire region, but she also faced the projection of a powerful, higher devil. She had never expected a human from the main plane of existence to go this far and was caught off guard. Even though she was one of the archangels, she was the one who relied on Order the most. Unlike Lydia and Boulder, the Order that Serene needed was like an intimate existence to her. Therefore, after Order was disrupted, she suffered from strong restrictions in power. On the other hand, the higher devil was tough to deal with and she had to go all out to defeat it, which resulted in her serious injuries. If she didn’t realize the strange happenings of the dragon soul protection and crises in Casabianca, perhaps she wouldn’t have returned in time.
As for why Boulder left Lilian’s side… there was no need to consider this question anymore. It was apparent that Boulder had a certain agreement with Chaos and this was enough to clear all doubts.
Not only that, but Casabianca’s destruction also caused the collapse of the five largest financial groups. Although their forces were spread all over the Country of Light, their most important cores were located in Casabianca. They were completely powerless against the disasters knocking on their doors. Even if they colluded with either demons or devils, they would be useless in the bloody battlefield. Before they brought out any substantial resources, they were entirely doomed under Rhode’s cannon blasts and the demons’ attack. Meanwhile, the five largest financial groups’ branches in other regions were in chaos due to the lack of leadership. It was extremely difficult to regain control of the Country of Light from the top down.
Apart from that, many people had shifted their attention to Rhode. But unlike the emissaries who sought forgiveness from Lilian, those people were more attentive to Rhode’s magic warships.
Magic warships were first produced by the Munn Kingdom, and its first prototype was built using the techniques from the Wisdom Deity Warden inherited by the Senia Family. However, due to the long years apart, most of the techniques were lost and this was why the initial magic warships required the energy of the winds in order to sail in the air. As a result, ‘air transport’ wasn’t advanced. As winds constantly blew in the entire Munn Kingdom, floating boats could only be used within the Munn Kingdom. On the other hand, winds in the Country of Light were limited, which was why even though other territories were green with envy of the Munn Kingdom, winds were a natural phenomenon and they could only admire the natural scenery like mountains and rivers instead.
On the contrary, Rhode’s magic warships were entirely different and almost everyone knew about it. His magic warships invaded Casabianca’s core through the back before blasting their cannons. This was why Casabianca couldn’t react in time. After all, there were no constant winds, so no one expected the magic warships to enter from the back, which was why Rhode faced no obstacles on his way in. If he entered through the course of wind, he would more or less face some resistance.
This was the reason that left the entire continent trembling in fear. In terms of the strength of a country’s ‘air force’, the Country of Darkness’s gargoyles, bone griffins, and wyverns were naturally dominant. However, they basically relied on quantity to win and had limited strength overall. On the contrary, the three magic warships from Rhode were enough to destroy Casabianca. The strength was appalling and if he were to build a dozen or a hundred more magic warships and went wherever he wanted, nothing could stop him. He would be completely invincible!
It was due to this mentality that many forces sent representatives to find out more about the secrets in building the magic warships or negotiate with Rhode about purchasing them. It didn’t matter to them if the magic warships weren’t as powerful as the ones used to destroy Casabianca. After all, these warships could get to any destination freely and even if they weren’t equipped with attack mechanisms, they were still useful for transporting soldiers and goods. Moreover, some people had already noticed the possible change in trend toward the future of the continent with the emergence of these magic warships.
But for now, Rhode was helpless toward the requests as its building process was far more complicated than the floating boat’s. For instance, the hull and structure made from thick, heavy steel, and the energy crystals used to transmit magic powers required a lot of refinement and purification. Not only that, but they also needed a series of industrial upgrades for the minerals, processing, and steel. The logic was the same as how a country without a highly sophisticated production system couldn’t build spaceships. Rhode’s territory was only getting started and the enhanced materials used to build the magic warships were all forcefully refined by Karin.
If it weren’t for the sake of destroying the parliament and shocking the Country of Darkness as quickly as possible, he wouldn’t have agreed to let Karin leave his territory in holes like craters on the moon’s surface. And since he couldn’t build any magic warships for the time being, he wasn’t in a hurry to get into some huge ‘resources-consuming’ projects. Therefore, he turned a blind eye to the requests and left them to Marlene. As for Lydia, Rhode revealed the bottom line and got her to upgrade the industries in his territory as soon as possible. After all, the Munn Kingdom was different from a backward territory like the Void Territory, where all industries were already formed. With the design blueprints and energy structure, it wasn’t tough to process and modify the materials. Besides, considering the fact that Rhode might need the Munn Kingdom’s help in their battle against the Country of Darkness in the future, he didn’t keep this a secret. On the other hand, Lydia apparently understood the stakes behind it and agreed without hesitation.
Just like this, the continent entered a period of peaceful and busy days. But no one knew if the endless, eternal night on the other side would stop entirely.
