171. Attack at Sea

Without staying long in the forest, Mo Fei returned to the Empire of Death.

In truth, it was difficult nowadays to draw a clear line between the Empire of Death and the Elven Kingdom. Nor had any foolish soul ever suggested demarcating borders; no one had brought it up since the day the alliance was forged.

The ordinary elves of the Elven Kingdom were no longer confined to the forests. In the capital of the Empire of Death, for instance, elves frequently engaged in the trade of small commodities. Their goods were surprisingly popular, which encouraged more and more common elves to step out of the woodland. Besides, for sheer safety, no place could rival the Empire of Death. Who would dare to cause trouble on the territory of the Empire of Death now?

The citizens of the Empire of Death treated these elves venturing out of the forest with profound respect and courtesy. What a joke—the Imperial Consort was none other than the Elven Princess! If any incident occurred on this front, given the Emperor's tender devotion to Consort Eirene, who could bear the consequences? Furthermore, everyone knew what kind of person the Imperial Consort was. The commoners in the capital had frequently received her help, and out of affection for her, combined with the fact that these pointed-eared elves were exceptionally polite, the people of the imperial capital found them utterly endearing.

Mo Fei had been "expelled" back to the empire by the Elven Queen. The Queen knew that internal affairs within the empire were currently settled, but the wars of external expansion and subduing opponents were far from over. It was hardly appropriate for Mo Fei, as an emperor, to linger in the kingdom for too long. Though the Queen herself rarely managed to catch a glimpse of her precious daughter in ordinary times, the situation was vastly different now—her daughter was carrying a child, which made the Queen all the more reluctant to let go.

Accompanying Eirene back to the Empire of Death, alongside six thousand elite wood elf warriors, were seven elderly female elves. Their sole responsibility was to attend to the daily lives and well-being of Eirene and Vivian. The Queen knew Mo Fei far too well; in such a massive imperial palace, there was surprisingly only a single cook—no matter how one looked at it, that felt profoundly wrong. Two of the seven elven matrons who came along this time were master chefs from the royal palace. With Eirene and the others expecting, Mo Fei would no longer be allowed to do entirely as he pleased.

Mo Fei could only look at the Queen with an apologetic smile, leaving the arrangements entirely in her hands.

"Brother, I know you have a lot of matters to handle lately. Now that we have the others to take care of us, you can go ahead with peace of mind. We will be fine," Eirene said as soon as they returned to the palace, noticing that Mo Fei seemed eager to leave yet hesitant to do so. "Mother said, however, that I can no longer travel out with you. Take good care of yourself, and wherever you go, you must return before the baby is born. Otherwise, don't blame me if the child refuses to recognize you."

"Of course not, rest assured, I will stay with you both." Holding Eirene and Vivian now, Mo Fei did not even dare to use too much force. The mere fact that they had conceived had made Mo Fei terrified with anxiety.

"All right, you should go attend to the empire's affairs first. When we came in just now, Elder Vider looked quite anxious; it seems something has come up again."

"Mm, then I shall go, and I'll be back shortly to keep you company. You may go out of the city to play, but you are not allowed to run around with those youngsters anymore. Remember, you are Imperial Consorts now, and you are carrying children."

Watching Mo Fei turn to leave, Eirene stuck out her cute little tongue behind his back, looking utterly mischievous. She had originally planned to wait until Mo Fei left so she could slip out of the city and play with her companions, but she had not expected him to see right through her.

The moment Mo Fei's back was turned, Vivian and Eirene immediately slipped out of the palace through the back door. They had no intention of obeying whatever Mo Fei had said, though they would refrain from being as reckless as before.

Behind Eirene, ten dark elves materialized briefly, sighed softly, vanished into invisibility, and followed after them.

………………

"Your Majesty..."

The moment Mo Fei stepped into the council hall, Vider walked straight toward him.

"It seems Eirene's intuition was right."

"Eh? What was right about Eirene's intuition?" Vider asked, momentarily caught off guard.

"She said you had something to tell me and told me to come over."

"Ah, I see." Vider had not expected that simply because he had been a bit anxious, Eirene would have noticed it at a glance. "Well, there is indeed a matter."

"Judging by your expression, it doesn't sound like good news." Mo Fei walked behind his desk and sat down. "Go ahead. We've weathered even worse storms as an empire; could there really be anything left that could frighten me?"

"It is like this," Vider said, organizing his thoughts. "One of our small fleets returning from the Diamond Continent encountered a fleet of unknown origin and came under their attack."

"And the outcome?"

"Our fleet was transporting a cargo of ores back. They suffered no casualties, with only a few warriors sustaining minor injuries, and two warships suffered slight damage."

"Oh? Even our warships sustained damage?" Mo Fei's expression turned grave. For an opponent to approach or inflict damage on the Invincible Warships, they could not be simple adversaries.

"It was only minor damage," Vider hastily added, knowing that Mo Fei might be overestimating the situation, much like his own initial reaction upon receiving the report. "It happened because our warships were overloaded with ores and failed to evade in time. Meanwhile, our fleet sank three of the enemy vessels and crippled six. If our warships hadn't been burdened with so much cargo, those enemies wouldn't have been able to escape."

"If that's the case, then it's fine." Mo Fei breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed matters were not as dire as he had imagined. "Have you sent people to investigate where those ships came from?"

"I have already dispatched scouts, though whether we will get any news is hard to say—that is the open sea, not solid land," Vider said. "Your Majesty previously ordered the construction of a fleet of a thousand ships. I inspected the progress yesterday, and it is nearing completion!"

"So soon?" Mo Fei was somewhat surprised. "It has only been a little over forty days!"

"Your Majesty, Elder Ovus expanded the shipyard at Doma Garden by more than double long ago. That shipyard is now nearly as large as our current capital. Since it was Your Majesty's direct command, they have been working around the clock. In just a few days, Your Majesty's thousand-ship fleet will be ready to take to the water."

"And what about the crews?" Mo Fei suddenly remembered. He had only given the order to build the ships; he seemingly forgot to order the training of naval personnel. Having ships was useless without men; that would be a laughingstock.

"Rest assured, Your Majesty. The moment you issued the command to build the thousand-ship fleet, I drew a batch of personnel familiar with navigation and aquatic combat from the empire's original fleet to train the men for this newly formed fleet."

"Good, very good." Mo Fei finally set his mind at ease.

"Your Majesty..."

"I know what you want to say." Mo Fei smiled. "You want to dispatch this fleet out to sea. First, to track down the origin of the warships that attacked us, and second, to take the opportunity to temper these newly trained warriors. Am I right?"

"Your Majesty truly guesses everything." That was precisely Vider's intention.

"Mm." Mo Fei stood up and paced around the hall. "Tell Dordo that he will command this fleet first, and he will be in charge of this voyage. Tell him to bring back some capable talents for me; otherwise, he needn't bother stepping off the ship."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Vider had previously feared that Mo Fei might not appoint Dordo to lead the fleet, but now he was thoroughly reassured.

"Also, Uncle Vider," Mo Fei called out as Vider was about to leave. "Integrate Dordo's original fleet into the empire's coastal defense fleet as a reserve mobile force. From now on, whatever is shipped back from the Diamond Continent should be transported using those retrofitted cargo vessels—their speed isn't much slower anyway. Imperial warships are strictly forbidden from transporting such goods in the future. I do not wish for us to encounter such an incident again. Next time, our warriors might not be as fortunate."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I shall issue the order immediately."

"And another thing."

"There's more?" Vider simply walked back. "Then I'd better wait until Your Majesty has finished."

"I simply wanted to say that your handling of these matters has been exemplary. In the future, if you deem something appropriate, go ahead and do it directly. You don't need to consult me about everything; I trust that you can handle things brilliantly."

Vider, having walked back, had not expected Mo Fei to say this. "Your Majesty, I..."

"Let us dispense with overly sentimental words between us. The empire does not belong to me alone, nor have I ever regarded it as exclusively mine. It belongs to all of us—the result of our collective hard work. We all wish for it to stride forward more steadily and brilliantly, do we not?"

"I understand, Young Master. I am off." Vider said no more, dropping the imperial title for Mo Fei.

"Go. Tell Dordo that I will equip every single ship with marine combat troops. Find out which continent is responsible, and tell him to send scouts ashore to investigate thoroughly and uncover everything we wish to know. When the time comes, we will dispatch a grand army over to play with them and let them know the consequences of provoking us."

"Understood. Anyone who dares to cause us trouble will be taught a lesson they won't forget." Vider turned on his heel and strode out of the council hall without looking back. Vider had overlooked one minor detail: if a thousand warships were genuinely to be manned with land combat personnel, deploying every single soldier in the empire would still not be enough. One thousand men per ship, multiplied by a thousand ships...

……………………

The Diamond Continent was currently embroiled in fierce warfare. Having endured years of endless conflict, their naval capabilities had long since deteriorated to mere coastal defense. Venturing out to sea was virtually impossible for them.

Gazing at the documents on his desk, Mo Fei fell into deep thought.

It was certain that the attack on the imperial fleet was not perpetrated by any faction on the Diamond Continent; they lacked the naval strength. The bear-kin had the strength, but not the audacity. Mo Fei believed Udos was incapable of committing such a foolish act. Furthermore, ever since the empire withdrew its forces from the Dark Continent, Udos must have been busy cleaning up the remaining enemy remnants and could not possibly have extended his reach so far. Then who could it be?

The empire had never dispatched a fleet southward from the Diamond Continent, whereas imperial fleets had traversed all other directions. This mysterious force likely hailed from some continent or island group directly south of the Diamond Continent. The fact that they dared to launch an attack on warships vastly superior in size indicated that this continent also prized martial prowess. Could it be that they...?

Mo Fei vigorously shook his head, desperately trying to banish the terrifying image of the Dark Continent from his mind. If that continent was anything like the Dark Continent—where people could not survive unless they fought their way out—then the problem would be immense.

According to intelligence brought back by scouts and verified through several major battles, Mo Fei knew that the military forces of the Dark Continent numbered a horrifying ten-plus million.

Meanwhile, the combined forces of the empire and its allied nations had not yet surpassed two and a half million. If not for the enemy's miscalculation, the previous war might not have concluded so simply.

It seemed the current scale of the Imperial Allied Forces was still far too small.