Chapter 1252 - 1177: War Is Coming Again
"Sea monster attack? Isn’t this a common occurrence?"
The second day of the wedding, inside the Saint’s Grandson residence, mountain villa of the ry Court Barracks.
Horn yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, his face unable to hide the fatigue.
He was wearing pajamas, his legs trembling slightly as he finally steadied himself in the chair.
Facing René, who wore a serious expression, Horn was still somewhat unclear, merely focused on pouring coffee for himself.
"That’s not the important part." René handed another report to Horn.
Picking up the report, Horn had only glanced at it when his sleepy eyelids suddenly lifted.
"No way?!"
This sea monster attack didn’t damage Dam City as much as imagined.
Because the sea monster only wreaked havoc around the port, it didn’t go ashore at all.
Sea monster attacks are quite rare for the Empire, but haven’t reached legendary status.
Basically, every century, there would be sea monster attacks on ports, mostly occurring after storms or undersea earthquakes, targeting smaller islands.
Attacks on ports on the mainland are relatively rare.
As for the reason, mostly they are washed ashore by the tides and then startled by too many humans.
Damage to the port of Dam City affected the Empire’s maritime shipping, but not as much as imagined.
On the surface, it seemed like nothing, just a minor natural disaster.
But if considered with another piece of news, it’s different.
Dam City is the anchorage of the Falan Navy, with at least a third of the Falan Navy stationed there!
Though there hasn’t been much talk from Falan, both Cheka and Saint Father’s Association have heard that this third of the navy is basically wiped out.
It seems as if this sea monster was targeting the Falan Navy specifically.
Could it be...
"Speaking of which, there’s a little curiosity about this attack." René flipped to a page in Horn’s report.
"This sea monster, after attacking the port, left, but before it left, whether intentionally or unintentionally, someone witnessed it taking away a spice ship bound for North Norn..."
Realizing this, Horn noticed: "Is this Serafe’s handiwork?"
"That’s what we’re guessing."
Putting down the report, Horn leaned back in his chair, hands crossed beneath his chin.
In the past, Horn might have suspected it was a coincidence.
But ever since knowing Serafe’s existence, he felt this was definitely not a coincidence.
Manipulating sea monsters by the Royal Court is very rare, but if it’s Serafe, who might be the woman blessed by Lilith.
It’s truly troublesome.
With the sea monster as a powerful weapon, it would put sail warships at a disadvantage in sea battles.
From this, the Holy Alliance’s naval construction also needs to be adjusted.
But in this era, ironclad warships are still a bit lofty, need to think of other means.
Or simply, in a certain sense, abandon the navy, or rather set up minefields outside the naval port?
Go back and tell Hilov, see if her engineers can provide some good solutions or new inventions.
"Your Holiness, what do you think?" Petier, responsible for recording, had his hand raised for quite a while, yet Horn hadn’t given instructions.
"You know, I feel like this is just the beginning." Horn sat up, "Notify someone, let’s head to the Holy Seat Mansion for an emergency meeting."
As Horn expected, this event was just the beginning.
Soon, the news about the destruction of a third of the Falan Navy spread out.
In these times, unlike Horn’s homeland, you can’t just launch warships like dumplings.
A sailing warship at least means several century-old trees, not to mention the time needed for drying.
This third of the navy, without a decade, can’t be rebuilt.
With such heavy damage, based on Charlie’s personality, he naturally wouldn’t let this rest.
Without Horn providing much intelligence, he himself focused on the Royal Court, which was too obvious.
What Cheka, an outsider, could investigate, Charlie, as an insider, surely could as well.
This time, he took it seriously and completely implemented the continental blockade policy.
Regarding the Royal Court and Empire’s smuggling, initially, he turned a blind eye.
After all, he relied on the Royal Court’s cheap grain and precious metals to suppress domestic traditional aristocratic groups.
This time, due to the loss of a third of the navy, he decided to show the Royal Court some color.
Even gave substantial discounts to the Holy Alliance to replace imports.
The agriculture in the soon-to-collapse Kasha County was revived by Charlie’s strong intervention.
Initially, Horn thought of taking this opportunity to eliminate the old conservative forces in Kasha County, but now, it has to wait.
But this stance didn’t make the Royal Court yield; instead, they continued advancing in North Norn, turning many Great Monarchs into vassals.
On the seas, they were even more provocative frequently.
In March 1458, the sea monster, quiet for two months, attacked Falan ports again and destroyed two docked warships.
In April, the sea monster attacked the treasure ship of the Falan Royal Family near the coast, causing thousands of pounds of treasures to fall into the sea.
The same month, the sea monster attacked the Falan naval port in the frontier but didn’t succeed, instead getting injured by clockwork cannons.
July was the month with the most frequent sea monster attacks, totaling four different ports attacked, causing nearly a hundred thousand pounds of loss to Falan.
In August, the Royal Court dropped all pretense and started setting up tax posts in the Xilan Islands.
Unable to tolerate further, Charlie summoned the frontier fleet back and gathered most of the navy.
He also united with Leia’s navy, hired numerous merchant ships, assembled the Empire Navy, and marched towards the Xilan Islands aggressively.
But the Royal Court’s navy was weak, relying only on the advantage of sea monsters, continuously maneuvering with the Empire’s fleet.
From September to December, the Royal Court’s navy got caught a few times, suffering heavy losses, but there was still no victory.
Charlie continued pouring money to maintain naval engagements.
With the year-end approaching, both sides quietly paused, not much news coming out.
As for the ry Court Barracks here, besides close attention, they provided support beyond that.
The Holy Alliance Navy was basically non-existent, how could they help?
But these changes brought Horn a lot of extra tasks, the days of slacking off like before were gone.
Various Falan discount policies or chaotic affairs flew like paper sheets, piling up on His Holiness the Pope’s desk.
After a morning of labor, Horn stretched and stood up, walked to the cupboard by the door.
He didn’t call for a Secret Monk, but poured a cup of cappuccino for himself.
The white porcelain coffee cup was raised to his lips, but before he could drink, he heard hurried footsteps.
Accompanied by the footsteps were apologies for "excuse me" and "let me by" outside the door.
Before the voices entered, Horn directly opened the office door: "Any new news?"
Petier, about to knock, retracted his hand and looked gravely at Horn: "Your Holiness, we received news, the Falan naval main fleet had a decisive battle offshore with the Royal Court fleet."
"How was it?"
"After three days of battle, the Falan killed a unicorn whale sea monster and a sea serpent sea monster." Petier swallowed, "Falan claims it as a major victory, but the fleet has returned to the mainland from the Xilan Islands.
According to reports from the Xilan Islands, the Royal Court’s navy has already occupied the Xilan Islands and issued announcements for peace."
The entire office fell silent, even the sound of pens on paper stopped.
In this tense atmosphere, Horn remained calm, sipping the coffee: "What do you think this means?"
"The Xilan Islands are the Empire’s border under the ’Century Truce Ordinance,’ unlike the ambiguous areas of North Norn..." Petier licked his lips, "If the Xilan Islands are controlled or occupied by any force, it means the Royal Court has declared war on the Empire."
Horn nodded, turning away to walk further into the office.
Arriving at the window, he gazed at his own reflection on the glass.
Compared to before marriage, he had grown stubbly, with a more weathered expression, not to mention the two dark circles under his eyes.
Compared to the past young man, despite little change in facial features, his demeanor was entirely different.
Much like the Holy Alliance, seemingly unchanged from the past, but fundamentally transformed.
This war, while anticipated by Horn, came sooner than expected.
Thinking back to the last Holy Alliance war, it was in the previous instance, 1449.
Now, it’s already early January 1459.
Ten years, fate granted the Holy Alliance ten years of peace, now it’s time to verify the results of this decade.
"War is coming again."