Chapter 138 - 131: The Dawn City Airship and the Eager Bishop

Dawn City.

After the first Underground City expedition with one hundred people, York rested well for a night following the banquet.

The next day, just as York was getting out of bed, he received a report from one of his men.

So, York immediately headed toward the military barracks in the lower part of the City Lord’s Mansion grounds.

In the barracks, located on the lower half of Dawn City’s mountainside, several Airships were currently parked in an open area.

There were forty-eight of these Airships in total.

All of them were spoils of war seized from Copper Hammer City about ten days ago.

They were all intact, not a single one missing.

York still remembered when he had led his soldiers to Copper Hammer City. Inside that Giant Demon City, everything had been eerily silent.

Aside from the thousand-plus Giant Demons left behind by His Majesty to test the soldiers of Dawn City, there wasn’t a single living soul left in the entire Giant Demon City.

The state of the Giant Demons’ corpses was incredibly bizarre.

It was as if every last one of them had died completely in their sleep.

It was an absolutely terrifying sight.

You have to understand, although Copper Hammer City wasn’t particularly large and didn’t have that many Giant Demons...

...it still had a population of over fifty thousand.

Yet all those Giant Demons, including even a few High Tier Giant Demons, had all died bizarrely in their sleep.

Such an Ability was truly frightening.

Fortunately, after learning that this was all Lince’s doing, both York and the soldiers of Dawn City felt more of a deep sense of awe and excitement.

During the subsequent transportation process, Dawn City moved practically everything that could be moved from Copper Hammer City.

Anything that couldn’t be moved was ultimately burned to the ground.

The forty-eight Airships, some Airship workshops, and even some unknown Magical Creatures from Copper Hammer City—anything that could be moved, Dawn City had the Demon Beasts help bring back.

The entire process took about three days.

Afterward, the Airships and other Magical Creatures became research subjects for a group of Mages under York in Dawn City.

And now, today, good news had arrived!

When York arrived at the open-air barracks where the Airships were parked, three Mages immediately rushed over to greet him with joy.

"Lord! Great news!"

"We can finally operate these Alien Race Airships!"

"Please, take a look!"

The Mage, Milton, looked exceptionally excited. As he spoke, he glanced behind him.

At that moment, a Mage inside one of the Airships placed his hand on the center of a ring-shaped sigil at the front of the vessel.

The next moment, as the air around the Airship began to stir with the breath of the Magic Wind, the vessel slowly lifted off the ground.

Although it wasn’t fast, only rising two or three meters...

...that was only because they were afraid of causing damage through improper operation on the first try. So, after that brief demonstration, the Mage quickly controlled the Airship to slowly land back in its original spot.

"Excellent! This is indeed great news!"

"Sir Milton, well done. But could you tell me more about these Airships in detail?"

"We’ve never seen anything like this on the Oakland Continent. It’s truly fascinating."

York was visibly pleased. Satisfied, he immediately asked his question.

Hearing this, Milton began to explain in an unhurried manner:

"Indeed, such a creation has never appeared on the Oakland Continent."

"However, in principle, this thing is quite similar to Alchemy."

"It’s just that, compared to the Magic Items created through Alchemy, this thing is far more advanced."

At this point, Milton paused to build the suspense.

"But before that, I’d like to have you guess, my Lord. In your opinion, what Tier of Magic Item would you say these Airships are comparable to?"

York was taken aback, then he carefully considered it.

"It shouldn’t be any worse than a Middle Tier Magic Item, right? After all, it’s such a huge thing and a primary tool of war. If it didn’t have the Power of a Middle Tier Magic Item, there’d be no point in it existing."

"Besides, it looks like something used for transporting troops through the air, so I imagine its Power is mainly focused on transportation, correct?"

"But perhaps it’s more than just that?"

"It’s a shame. If not for the need to avoid any threat of exposing Dawn City, we could have kept a few members of the Giant Demon Alien Race alive. We could have just asked them."

"As for those human slaves and servants, they had no access to these things, so it’s even less likely they would know anything."

"And based on the estimates from the humans we rescued from the settlements, the so-called Magic Cannon’s power shouldn’t exceed the Middle Tier, in my opinion."

York slowly voiced his speculation.

But the Mage, Milton, just smiled and shook his head.

"My Lord, your guess isn’t entirely wrong."

"But you have completely underestimated the power of these Magical Creature Airships."

"Under normal circumstances, the power of the Magic Cannons these Airships can produce is indeed within the Middle Tier range. But that’s just their normal state."

"Through our careful sensing and inspection over the past few days, we’ve discovered that the core Magic Power Energy of these Airships is immense. At the same time, by observing the Magic Power output from the Magic Seals, we’ve determined that these Airships can definitely fire a blast comparable to High Tier damage."

"However, this process requires time to gather Magic Power, and it can’t be fired continuously. But still, this is a magical Power similar to the High Tier!"

"Not to mention, these Airships are actually quite simple to operate, though it requires adaptation and learning."

"To become fully proficient at controlling an entire Airship, we estimate it would likely require the cooperation of at least ten or more Entry Tier Mages."

"Furthermore, it requires Energy similar to a High Tier Magic Crystal to charge these Airships."

"And that brings us to another of the Giant Demons’ creations: the many spire-like buildings we saw, and the High-Demon Magic Power Crystals stored inside."

The Mage Milton began to slowly reveal everything they had learned from their research on the Airships.

He even shared the conclusions and results his colleagues had reached over the past few days while analyzing the Giant Demons’ Magical Creatures.

Magic Airships.

Mage Towers condensing Magic Crystals.

Dawn City had managed a preliminary analysis of the Giant Demons’ industrial methods, which combined these two elements.

But an analysis was just an analysis. To completely master this technology, let alone manufacture Mage Towers and Magic Airships, would clearly require a lot more time and study.

Regardless, this was incredibly good news for York.

’Forty-eight Airships?’

’Does this mean that Dawn City now has the equivalent of forty-eight High Tier existences?’

’Even if they’re slightly inferior, it’s more or less the same.’

’However, the fact that the Airships require a sufficient number of Mages to operate is definitely a problem.’

’In theory, one ship needs ten Entry Tier Mages, but that’s just the theory. It might even need more.’

’And forty-eight ships would require four hundred and eighty Entry Tier Mages?’

’Are you kidding me?’

’There’s no way Dawn City can muster that many right now.’

’Of course, not being able to do it now doesn’t mean we can’t do it in the future.’

’After all, the Underground City has appeared.’

’As long as York and Dawn City are given enough time, maybe it’s just a matter of a year or even half a year?’

On the Oakland Continent, a Knight is similar to this world’s Professional Warrior.

And a Mage is similar to this world’s Mage profession.

In one year, over thirty thousand humans could be awakened.

Setting aside lifestyle and other professions, and considering the difficulty of advancing one’s class at Level Ten in the Underground City...

’...getting over four hundred Entry Tier Mages still seems a bit difficult,’ York thought.

’After all, the Underground City isn’t a charity. Advancing one’s class involves life-or-death challenges.’

’But no matter what, I definitely have to give it a shot.’

Thinking this, York began to ponder how to cultivate enough Mage Professionals in the shortest time possible.

’According to the old rules, I’ll start by mass-awakening a sufficient number of Mage Professionals.’

’For now, I’ll set a target of one thousand Mage Professionals.’

’Once I have a thousand, I’ll have them focus on leveling up in the Underground City.’

’And with that, they can continuously attempt the class advancement challenge.’

’If one batch isn’t enough, then I’ll just keep training more.’

’But still, in a lower-level Underground City, the death rate shouldn’t be higher than fifty percent, right?’

’One thousand Mage Professionals should be enough, one way or another.’

With these thoughts in mind, York didn’t stay in the barracks for much longer.

In short, he offered some encouragement to the Mages present, then returned to the City Lord’s Mansion to begin preparing a city-wide recruitment order for all citizens of Dawn City to venture into the Underground City.

York had far too many things to keep him busy.

In short, he currently felt like there weren’t enough hours in the day.

But while York was busy working hard to actively strengthen Dawn City, on the other side of things, on the Oakland Continent, Lucia had run into a headache in the Swamp Territory a short while earlier.

The fact that York and Lucia were leaving the Swamp Territory to switch shifts every three months had already attracted the attention of the Bishops from the Truth Church.

At first, they might have been able to restrain themselves from asking.

But it had been over a year now.

They hadn’t received a single Oracle, yet the Lord and Lucia frequently received them.

It was too strange.

Anyone with eyes could see that Lord and Lady York must be doing something in secret.

It surely involved the Deities, so it wasn’t their place to ask, but that didn’t mean they lacked ’ambition’.

As devout Believers in Truth, the fact that ’Lince’s’ Oracles were leaving them, the Bishops, on the sidelines, was becoming unbearable.

So, after a few probing attempts, on this particular evening, all six Bishops came to see Lucia.

"My Lady, we mean no ill will by coming here. As Believers in Truth, we simply wish to share the burdens of our Lord and His Majesty. Is even that asking too much of you?"

"Of course, if this is His Majesty’s will, then we have nothing more to say. But we ask that you please understand our feelings, My Lady."

"For over a year, you and the Lord have been busy with His Majesty’s Oracles. We have all seen it, and there’s no need to speak of the hardships."

"But, if it’s possible, we ask that you put in a good word for us before His Majesty. If it is truly too difficult, then please, My Lady, convey to His Majesty our desire to also share the burdens of our Lord and Him."

One of the Bishops looked at Lucia with a helpless expression, his face even showing a hint of pleading.

Hearing this, Lucia felt just as helpless inwardly.

She could understand the Bishops’ feelings, but the matter of Dawn City was of grave importance, and it even involved Demon Beasts and the Dragon Race.

’Is this something I can let these Bishops know?’

If these Bishops had been vicious and threatening, Lucia could have asked Lince to ’grant them death’ without any burden on her conscience.

But these Bishops weren’t wicked. They had even worked diligently and conscientiously to protect the Swamp Territory for over a year.

This put Lucia in a very difficult position.

However, her dilemma happened to be witnessed at that very moment by Lince, who was surveying his territory with his consciousness after finishing a private chat on the forum.

Thus, although Lince couldn’t notify Lucia directly...

...he immediately sent the Forest Wolf stationed at the Swamp Territory’s mining site to handle it.

’At least two of them are High Tier. These Bishops are idle anyway, so they can be put to good use now.’

’So, let’s use them. It’s just a matter of wasting a little breath to spin a story.’

"..."