Chapter 38: The Roman Empire’s Predicament and the Naval Battle of Isugard 

Simultaneously, in the Roman Empire’s central district, it was the scheduled time for the distribution of rationed food.

The Empire was grappling with an acute food shortage. The dining tables of nobles and landlords, once graced with cakes, were now bare. And the situation was far bleaker for ordinary peasants, with hardly a few loaves of bread in sight.

In these trying times, the central areas, stricken by drought, were under strict rationing to survive until substantial food supplies could be secured from Dreke’s port. This rationing also aimed to support the sustenance of the capital’s inhabitants, the port’s operations, and the nobility’s lifestyles.

Daily, each household received a ration of bread degraded with sawdust and soil.

For an average family of three, this meant one whole loaf, which boiled down to just two slices of bread per person for dinner. That was the extent of their meal.

These two slices of substandard bread with no side dishes or seasoning were hardly enough to stave off hunger. In some cases, those with delicate constitutions suffered immediate stomach ailments on the same day, let alone expecting these people to work.

Yet, in these desperate times, this bread became a treasured commodity for the famished people.

They were powerless against the soldiers tasked with distributing this emergency aid. But with the thought that these soldiers would soon move on to the next village, the destitute, driven by hunger, developed a grim plan.

As the soldiers departed, starving bandits, wielding clubs and farming tools, began stealthily advancing towards a nearby decrepit farmhouse.

Residing there was a family of three: a disabled veteran, his wife, and their daughter.

In the grip of severe hunger, the bandits had forgotten that the old soldier was once a defender of the Roman Empire. Driven by their desperate need for bread and warmth, they were indifferent to the fact that their targets were a former protector and his family. Their sole focus was on the bread.

Wielding clubs with heavy, labored breaths, they shuffled towards the ramshackle farmhouse under the veil of night.

Shrouded by darkness, they surrounded the house and, in a coordinated assault, they burst through the doors and windows amid a woman’s piercing screams.

The old soldier attempted to fend them off, but outnumbered, he was eventually overpowered and collapsed to the ground. His eyes were wide with shock as he witnessed his wife and daughter lifelessly sprawled in a pool of blood.

“Dead, huh,” one bandit muttered.

“Dead, indeed,” another repeated.

They glanced at the women’s bodies on the ground, then at the gravely wounded, disabled veteran. The leader, with a morbid pragmatism, suggested that since they were dead, they should be consumed to sustain them longer.

“But let’s not eat the man now. Cut his flesh, hang it to smoke over the fire. That way, we’ll have meat for the next month.”

The ringleader picked up a loaf of bread soaked in blood, taking a bite to stave off his hunger for the moment. Clenching his sickle, he cut through the clothing of the corpses and then aimed the sickle between the women’s thighs.

The old soldier, with eyes wide open, witnessed the horrific scene of his wife and daughter being savagely dismembered and consumed before him.

As the scent of roasting human flesh permeated the air, driven by extreme hunger, the old soldier inadvertently swallowed a mouthful of saliva in his final moments.

When one of the bandits raised his blade to the soldier’s neck, he hesitated, scratching his unkempt hair. “Dead. Seems he was scared to death.”

***

Simultaneously, on the high seas, the merchant fleet of Isugard was engaged in a fierce battle with pirates.

“Prepare the Eagle Mother! We need the griffins for air support!” shouted the commander overseeing the maritime trade from the bridge. “Target the Spearhead! These shit-eating Alese pirates, how did they end up allying with other races?!”

“It doesn’t matter who they’ve allied with. Our priority is to hold off their assault. Mages, launch the illumination spells!”

At the first mate’s command, the Isugard mages were ready. With a series of sharp, quick incantations, a sphere emitting bright white light soared skywards.

A brilliant flash illuminated a large area of the sea.

Bathed in this intense light, the Isugard fleet, consisting of ten merchant vessels, five old-fashioned ironclads, an experimental Spearhead class ironclad, and two wooden Eagle Mothers, now had a clear view of the enemies who had attacked them.

They faced a formidable pirate fleet of about 40 wooden sail warships, each bristling with crossbow launchers and bolt cannons. Peering into the depths below the pirate vessels, one could discern countless figures moving swiftly, resembling a swarm of fish.

Among the wooden sail warships, several steam-powered metal warships stood out, their shadowy outlines of cannons just visible.

The Alese pirates were formidable adversaries on the sea routes of Isugard. They hailed from the pirate nation that had risen in the southern archipelago.

Below the pirate ships was a school of fish comprised of ferocious, otherworldly race. 

In stark contrast to Isugard’s sirens or mermaids, these creatures were a bizarre amalgamation of lizard, human, and fish.

Though not highly intelligent, they were numerous and menacing. Lurking beneath the water, they posed an ever-present danger, poised to swarm onto ships and cause destruction at a moment’s notice.

The Isugard commander, witnessing this scene, felt beads of cold sweat forming on his brow.

The cargo-laden merchant ships couldn’t be abandoned. Their loss would mean not only the forfeiture of valuable goods and resources but also certain death for those on board. However, facing head-on combat was daunting. These merchant vessels lacked the firepower of military ships.

Was their only hope now resting on the Spearhead and the Eagle Mothers?

The commander, with gritted teeth, signaled his flagman to send the orders. Obeying his command, the Spearhead and two older ironclads detached from the main fleet, maneuvering to secure the advantageous T-head position to intensify their firepower against the pirate fleet.

Simultaneously, aboard the Eagle Mothers, griffins were being soothed and saddled by their handlers.

One by one, griffin riders prepared, each gripping a belt filled with glass bottles of flammable liquid and a crossbow, as they mounted their formidable winged steeds.

After completing their preparations, the griffin knights swiftly ascended into the sky. In under two minutes, they had organized themselves into an airborne task force of 40 griffin riders.

Their oil-based firebombs were a formidable threat to the wooden vessels, yet they were little more than minor annoyances to the Alese pirates’ metal warships, as ineffective as a mosquito’s bite.

“Direct the Spearhead and our ironclads to engage the pirates’ armored ships. Assign the aerial squadron to target the wooden ships and get the sailors ready for close-quarters combat and to repel boarders—Lady Nia?! This is no place for you, please return below deck!”

The commander’s voice thundered across the ship as he issued his orders. Just as he was preparing his crew for hand-to-hand combat, a striking figure emerged from below. A woman with black hair, dressed in a dark gown, her head adorned with long horns, and a dragon’s tail trailing behind her.

This woman was Nia. She studied the Alese pirate fleet with a solemn gaze, then addressed the commander, “Here, you are the commander, more versed in the strategies of naval warfare than I. I shall transform into my dragon form. Command me.”

“But Lady Nia?! If anything were to happen to you, not just the research institute, but even the President—”

“There’s no ‘but.’ If you lose, I will die too. So, let’s do this. While I, as a black dragon, can’t freeze the ocean like an ice dragon, melting the shell of one of those metal warships with my dragon fire and rendering it inactive for the day should be possible.”

With those final words, Nia leaped from the deck and transformed into a colossal black dragon, shrouded in a swirl of dark light, in mid-air.

The black dragon unfurled its wings and ascended into the skies. Its roar echoed through the air. 

In that moment, lit by the flares, the pirates hoisted their blood flag.

This was a declaration of a fight to the death, only one side would leave these waters alive in a relentless battle that would brook no surrender.

For the Isugard fleet, only the Spearhead armed with its 150mm experimental cannons, and the black dragon Nia, posed a real threat to the pirates’ metal warships. Conversely, the pirates’ metal vessels were the only ones capable of challenging the ironclads.

The pivotal point of this naval confrontation hinged on which side could sink the other’s metal warships first.

Griffin knights roared as they dove over the wooden ships, dropping incendiary bottles and crossbow bolts. The pirates, in response, fired javelins and harpoons from their ballistae at steep angles.

On the Isugard fleet, sailors armed with swords, bows, muskets, and even new rifles were locked in fierce combat with lizardmen from the sea.

Wooden pirate ships were periodically engulfed in flames and sunk, griffin knights occasionally fell victim to the piercing javelins and harpoons, and bodies of sailors and lizardmen were intermittently thrown into the sea.

In the distance, Spearhead having secured the strategic T-head position, unleashed its full firepower on the Alese pirates’ metal warships. 

Meanwhile, two older ironclads, lacking the new cannons, served as protective shields against the enemy’s artillery fire.

High above, the black dragon Nia circled, seeking the right moment to plunge into attack. Limited to three blasts of dragon flame per day, her combined assaults could, at most, bring down a single ironclad.

She knew she mustn’t squander this chance. Nia had to pinpoint the most formidable enemy ship, ideally taking down two in a single fiery assault, if fortune favored her.

But which one? Which vessel should she target in her dive? Consumed by urgency, Nia was on edge. And just then, the mage’s flare died out, shrouding the sea in darkness. Chaos erupted among the pirates on the metal warships, but for Nia, a black dragon blessed with night vision, this was a golden opportunity.

“Die, damned pirates!”

With a thunderous roar, Nia dove from the night sky, hidden by the darkness. Her throat, aglow with accumulated fire, pulsed visibly, veins standing out starkly. She inhaled deeply, hovering over what seemed to be the most substantial of the ironclads.

In that critical instant, Spearhead unleashed a fierce volley, striking the bridge of another metal warship.

As the pirates’ cries of terror filled the air, Nia released the inferno she had been harboring.

In the split second of fiery eruption, she caught sight of a massive ballista on another metal warship, aiming right at her.

“Damn!” she cursed inwardly.

Only then did she notice the colossal, barbed javelins loaded on the ballista, each as thick as an adult’s leg. She cursed again.

As a whooshing sound filled the air and the metal warship below dissolved into molten ruin, a spear struck Nia’s body.

Yet, the naval battle raged on.

When another flare shot up into the sky, even the elven rangers on the shores of the Elusia Continent could discern the intermittent bursts of ‘suns’ in the distant waters.

***

“Quickly report to the great Fen!” the leading elf shouted. “Then, the rest of you come with me. We’re going to build an observation post along the coast. This isn’t within the Roman Empire’s territory, and as elves, we have every right to investigate this anomaly.”

“Yes, but, great-grandfather, are we going to walk back, or—”

“Idiot! Use magic. It’s bad enough our family has one who favors javelins over longbows, but to forget about magic too?”

“Great-grandfather, remember, I only know Earth magic among the four elements.”

The younger elf shrugged, while his exasperated great-grandfather, almost at his wits’ end, pulled out a scroll. 

“All because you’re always buried in the ground playing ambush games! Fool, fool! Quickly now! I’ll lead the others. We can’t let those Roman brutes get ahead of us.”

“Yes!”

The elf adept with javelins used the scroll’s spell to relay the maritime anomaly to the Ranger Master in the Sky Garden Fingal.

Upon receiving the message, the Ranger Master immediately informed Kenna, hoping she would quickly pass it on to the great Fen to decide their next move.

Kenna took on her new assignment. As she quietly opened the door to the conference room, she heard Fen’s somewhat cheerful voice. 

“So, would you be willing to assume the role of Regent of Gaparia as payment for the rescue of the little empress and the former chief judge?”

It seemed this room, too, had reached a pivotal moment.