「They appeared in the seas east of Dew Roke about two months ago.」Patricia, the Supreme Leader of Vireocean, started.「Their s.h.i.+ps were huge, twice as large as the ones that we own, and beautiful, of a kind never seen before.」

「They are that huge?」Kaglai frowned.

Patricia nodded.「This is information we received from a merchant s.h.i.+p that somehow managed to leave Dew Roke and made its way to Ville Zentra. Fortunately, it didn't have much cargo, so it could sail faster and managed to escape.」

According to her, all the other vessels were seized by the invaders. That proved just how fast the enemy's s.h.i.+ps were.

「For the first eight days, they simply surrounded the island. We sent s.h.i.+ps to scout but none returned.」

「So they were seized as well?」Kudyastoria asked.

「It would appear so.」Patricia answered matter-of-factly. Contrary to her tone, however, her fists on the table were shaking.「On the ninth day, they made their move. A black smoke lingered above the island and Dew Roke fell on the same day.」

A simple fortress was actually built in Dew Roke, but the island couldn't really withstand a siege. But still, Patricia didn't expect the island to fall in just one day. After that, she ordered the navy to take back Dew Roke.

「I thought the size of their s.h.i.+ps didn't matter. I believed our navy was stronger than them. But we lost. We suffered a crus.h.i.+ng defeat!」

Their s.h.i.+ps sank before they could even get close.

「They're that powerful?」Marquedo sounded genuinely surprised.

「I don't know… But they clearly possess weapons different than ours.」

「What kind?」

「Queen Kudyastoria might not know about this, so I'll explain it first. The Vireocean navy doesn't engage in close combat. We end things before our enemies even get close.」

Since Ponsonia didn't have access to the sea, it didn't have a navy.

「We fire Spirit magic at a distance. For that we need two kinds of Mages—」

「Lady Patricia, anything more you say is highly cla.s.sified information.」Patricia's aide warned.

「You idiot! It didn't work against them anyway. There's no need to keep it secret.」she said. 「I apologize, Queen Kudyastoria. When you're at sea, there's only the water and the sky. So we mix both air and water Spirit magic.」

「Mixing magic?!」

It was no secret that combining two types of magic was possible, but applying it was extremely difficult, for Spirits repelled each other most of the time. The perfect balance of mana was necessary to pull it off.

After studying it for a long time, Vireocean was able to compute the proper mix ratio. The Mages must've practiced countless times.

「Of all the armed forces in the continent, only the Vireocean navy can use this technique in the frontlines of battle.」

Peering through the skylight, Hikaru nodded, impressed.

That was interesting. Can my revolver use a mixture of magic too? I should write Professor Katy a letter.

Kudyastoria looked impressed, but the frown still remained on Kaglai's face.

「You lost even with such a technique, yes?」the Emperor asked.

「Exactly. It has a 300-meter range, while they attacked from more than twice that distance away.」

「What?!」

「A black smoke rose from their s.h.i.+p and we heard loud noises that seemed to tear the very air apart. Then a flying ball of fire destroyed our s.h.i.+p.」

「What kind of magic were they using?」

「We don't know! We don't even know if it's magic… I see. So even you have no idea.」

Patricia thought that Kaglai, a Man Gnome, might know something. Unfortunately, she was wrong.

「I haven't heard of a magic item that could do that either.」Marquedo said.

「Me too.」Kudyastoria added.

Up above, Hikaru wracked his brain hard.

No way… One thing came to mind. A cannon? They have a gunpowder-powered weapon? In this world filled with magic?

Kaglai spoke, breaking the heavy silence that filled the room.「It is fine if we do not know anything about their weapon. So the navy fought them once, suffered defeat, and you sent us a message. Is that right?」

「Yes. Actually, I was on board one of the s.h.i.+ps to observe the battle as well.」Patricia said. Her aide didn't seem pleased at all, an indication that she went despite the people around her disagreeing with the idea.「It was too one-sided. It wasn't even a battle. More like a ma.s.sacre. With their weapon, they could target this building from way out there.」

A few of the guards gave a jerk and looked outside the window.

「Oh, it's fine. There are complex reefs in the bay. Even local s.h.i.+ps sometimes capsize when they hit them. Huge s.h.i.+ps like theirs wouldn't make it through.」

「So… What do these people from the Ruined Continent want?」

「This.」

A fis.h.i.+ng vessel was released after the battle. The crew handed Patricia a letter.

「Allow me to take a look.」

It was beautiful white paper, a kind that Kaglai had never seen before. He scanned the contents, closed his eyes, and pa.s.sed the letter to Kudyastoria who was seated beside him.

「I see… It was their message specifically. “You will pay for what you did 500 years ago.”」

「Yes. That's when I realized they were from the Ruined Continent. The slightly crude choice of words, but clear handwriting suggests that they asked someone from Dew Roke to write the letter.」

Patricia also thought that no one survived among those who migrated to the Ruined Continent. But then they appeared before them with their powerful forces. It was nothing short of a nightmare.

「But that's not all. According to a crew member…」

Suddenly, Hikaru's Mana Detection picked something up. Someone was coming closer, someone climbing from below.

They're coming from below? It looks like they're scaling the wall, but it should be in plain view from a watchtower.

The person was not coming from the balcony side. They climbed up all the way up to the roof were Hikaru was positioned.

Hikaru blinked a number of times. With his Mana Detection, he could sense that the person was about five meters away from him. Even his Life Detection could sense them. But he couldn't see the person with his naked eye. It felt like the air warped.

Wait, what?

He couldn't believe his eyes. A crack appeared in the air and a hand came out. The person was covering themselves with some kind of a cloth for camouflage.

No way! Is that optical camouflage?!

It reeked of actual science. But Hikaru's shock didn't end there. The color of their hand was purple.

The person muttered something in a language unknown to Hikaru and chuckled. Their cheeks were purple, their hair silver-colored, almost close to being pure white. As Hikaru watched them pull out a memo pad and a pencil, he was convinced. This person was a spy from the Ruined Continent.