The black sun hangs high

Chapter 394 Departure and Farewell
The sword-wielding hermits from the Legal Committee do not venture into every household in these villages or towns; their manpower is limited, and their schedules are extremely tight.

What they had to do was use the expensive secret equipment distributed by the Legal Committee to conduct the most efficient inspection of the target path and eliminate potential threats.

Along the way, they have successfully cleared out a total of six Black Sun Society strongholds and three dangerous ritual sites hidden in villages or important areas. For this, the special team consisting of five sword-wielding hermits and twenty spellcasters has paid a heavy price.

Now, all five swordsmen are wounded, and of the twenty spellcasters with rich battlefield experience, only fourteen remain.

There are many such squads.

They were like sharp blades, advancing steadily toward the Black Sun Society's true defensive line, while behind these pioneers followed another slightly different team.

"Click...click".

The metal flagpole was erected with great difficulty, and as a gust of cold wind blew by, an unfamiliar and peculiar flag began to flutter.

The villagers who had previously been hiding in the houses spying on the sword-wielding hermits now looked at the soldiers with even greater caution.

Their uniforms looked somewhat old. Some villagers who had served in the army discovered that the soldiers' clothes were actually made from old military uniforms discarded by countries such as Votel and Deland. The national insignia on the original uniforms had been removed and replaced with more practical structures. The only things that could be considered decorations were the patterns and badges on their hats, capes, and chests.

"Is this the army of some duchy? I've never seen this kind of pattern before, with gears, hammers and guns... and even books, it's very strange."

"Who cares where they're from, they'd better not stay here any longer... Go, go, get the crystal gun. If these guys dare to steal anything, we'll fight them to the death!"

In one of the houses, an elderly couple was whispering to each other.

However, the old woman refused to carry out her husband's orders. She shook her head and said, "With your broken gun, you'd have a hard time even taking down a bear. Look, there are even mages among these soldiers, and they're using all those new gadgets. Don't go throwing your life away!"

As they were talking, many of the soldiers who were lined up in neat rows came out, carrying weapons on their backs, and slowly walked toward the surrounding houses.

Meanwhile, the villagers who had been hiding indoors and had lived in the Isa River basin for generations were surprised to find that those who came before them were all young people from the North. Their hair color, eye color, and facial features indicated that they were either from Saint Steel or had strong Northern ethnic ancestry.

The villagers were even more surprised when these young soldiers spoke.

They primarily speak the dialects of the Isa River basin, or a common language with a strong local accent.

Along the way, the young members of the Dawn Society had accumulated a great deal of experience. Following the previous methods, under the protection of the protective ritual, they carefully arrived at the houses where people were hiding and boldly put down their guns and weapons.

After demonstrating that they harbored no hostility, they began to explain their origins to the local villagers and the specific objectives of the Dawn Army's arrival.

“Grandpa, you can trust us. We will never take anything from you. Weapons and food are all yours to keep... We just need some places to set up camp.”

As locals, these young people were very familiar with the mentality and thoughts of the villagers. They did not repeat themselves or go to great lengths to explain. After introducing the most basic situation, they began to appropriately show their impatience and contempt, as Mr. Darswell had instructed.

This contemptuous attitude was not directed at the local residents, but at what they currently possessed—weapons, food reserves, livestock, and perhaps the few remaining meager assets.

Some of them deliberately raised their voices and loudly expressed their disdain for the villagers' valuables, which naturally attracted the attention of officers in the distance.

Inevitably, these hot-blooded young soldiers were harshly reprimanded by their officers, most of whom were punished on the spot. The strict officers demanded that they pay the price for their rudeness.

They were asked to repair the houses and level the ground for the offended villagers, and to fetch water and hay for them, awkwardly feeding the emaciated livestock.

And so, in this subtle and peculiar atmosphere, the army that called itself the "Dawn Society" settled down temporarily in the village. The promises they had made seemed to be effective. No one offended the residents, and no one broke into their houses or courtyards. They didn't even touch the empty rooms, preferring to stay in their marching tents.

Finally, some elderly women couldn't bear to watch the young men's clumsy movements while feeding the livestock any longer. They boldly left the house, took the water and hay from the soldiers, and quickly finished the task. The young faces who had spoken rudely earlier seemed to have indeed learned their lesson.

With flushed faces, they forced themselves to complete these "embarrassing" tasks, managed to say a couple of difficult apologies, and then returned to their unit to enjoy their meal with their comrades.

The aroma wafting in the wind seemed to confirm what the soldiers had said earlier—their uniforms only looked a bit old; in reality, their food rations and weapons were excellent, and their discipline was very strict, making them far more professional than the armies of some unknown small principalities.

In fact, the daily meals provided by the Dawn Division were nothing special, and could even be described as somewhat rough. They consisted mainly of hard bread, magically dried vegetables and meats, and a small amount of canned food and beverage powder.

However, the Dawn Society absorbed a great deal of valuable experience from the military rations of the Kingdom of Water and the Kingdom of Delan.

Before setting off, the Dawn Society personnel in charge of logistics, following Mayer's suggestion, "obtained" a batch of unpopular highland candies from the Votel military. The most typical of these was the "goblin teething stick" that Mayer had frequently "enjoyed" when he was with the Fifth Jaeger Regiment.

As a scholar with extensive medical experience, Mayer believed that these cheap, cloyingly sweet candies, which no one would normally touch, could provide considerable assistance to the military in cold environments.

In addition, the Dawn Society, under the pretext of acting as the "vanguard," purchased a large quantity of Delan Orchid Tea, a specialty of the plains, from the Kingdom of Delan at a low price. The quality was naturally not high, but these dried petals were very convenient to carry. Even though the taste and texture were average, adding a little to hot water in winter was enough to bring the soldiers multiple comforts, both physically and mentally.

There are many, many more cases like this.

These seemingly minor details, less important than weapons, vehicles, and the number of spellcasters, combined to create a surprising effect. Thanks to these preparations, the Dawn Army, having successfully crossed the Isa River, displayed a truly impressive sight. Even the Votel military, familiar with the "St. Steel Foreign Miners' Legion," was puzzled.

Despite the fact that the Akatsuki was already astonishing enough, Votel, who considered himself a "veteran military power," was unwilling to believe that someone could transform a third-rate foreign legion into such a force in such a short time, not to mention that they had even increased its personnel!

After a while, they could only attribute this terrifying potential to the strong feelings the people of St. Steel had for their homeland.

Their judgment wasn't wrong.

This is indeed one of the most important factors; those who have been away from their hometowns for a very long time are now burning like a blazing torch.

Their hostility toward the Black Sun Society, their loathing for the Saint Steel royal family, and their longing for that cold yet beautiful land intertwined. They desperately hoped to use their own strength and the weapons in their hands to rescue their suffering compatriots and liberate them forever from the control of the Black Sun and that corrupt royal family.

……

At dawn, Blue Algae Harbor.

A special mixed fleet is anchored here, ready to depart.

The fleet consists of elite main warships from several coastal duchies, including the Duchy of Burt. The vast majority of these ships are large armored vessels that have been modified and equipped with many new "weak magic" devices and weapons.

The "Aurora Goddess," belonging to the Akatsuki Society, was also among them.

Beside it, another large armored ship was docked. Compared to the "Aurora Goddess", this armored ship was slightly smaller, but its appearance could be described as "beautiful". This was the most important "spoils of war" obtained by the Dawn Society after successfully eliminating the Black Sun Society's influence around the Duchy of Bult.

In order to gain control of this ship, the Akatsuki also spent a considerable amount of money.

Fortunately, at this critical juncture of financial hardship, the Dawn Society received support from several plains dwarf clans. In gratitude for Hugh Ernst's assistance to the dwarf mission aboard the Windless, the dwarf clans finally decided to provide "limited" financial support to the nascent Dawn Society.

Two veteran weapon craftsmen, more than twenty professional dwarven war technicians, and a batch of "new gadgets" modified from old shipborne weapons enabled the Dawn Order's second large ship to gain combat capability in a short period of time.

It was named "HMS Listener" and operated as a sister ship to "HMS Aurora".

Thus, escorted by more smaller escort ships, this large fleet composed of various forces officially departed from port. They will travel along the southern route, resupply at ports such as Emerald Harbor, and eventually arrive at "Silent Bay" outside the Kingdom of Hein, which is the area most likely to become the Black Sun Society's new naval front. The Hein Fleet is now in a state of full combat readiness.

On the other side, the combined fleet of the Kingdom of Delan and Merlinle will depart directly from the cold bay of Merlinle, their target being St. Steel Bay north of Watchtower. When the battle on land begins, this fleet will also launch an attack on its target. If they can successfully control these important northern ports, the allied forces will have the ability to send more troops into the heart of the Kingdom of St. Steel.

On a ship of the Legal Committee, Meyer stood quietly by the window and saw that the docks of Merlinle and others were crowded with people, all of whom were local residents, including many refugees who had fled there.

They were shouting, waving, waving banners and flags, or kneeling on the cold ground to pray.

Sally carried the documents she had just organized into the cabin and whispered to Mayer, "Teacher, I saw many mages from the Law Committee crying..."

"Yeah, I saw it too."

Meyer responded, picked up his water glass, took a sip of the hot tea, and casually asked, "Sally, what do you think is the reason they're crying?"

"It's definitely not because of fear... They are actually very brave and strong, so I think it must be related to these residents, right? Because their families are among them?"

"That's not entirely accurate."

Meyer smiled and put down his cup. He pointed out the window: "Look, come and see what those banners say..."

Sally curiously leaned closer, squinted at the direction of the dock, and then read the words aloud: "May the warriors of Vann be victorious, may our loved ones return."

"It's not because their relatives are seeing them off, but because those seeing them off are the ones who bestow the title of 'relatives' upon them."

Mayer remarked with emotion, "I suppose these mages who have always lived in Merlinle and the inner city never imagined that one day they would receive such a title from ordinary people who should only fear them?"

Listening to her teacher's words, Sally stared blankly at the distant dock.

She remembered that when she set off with the group, the refugees from Seren, who were settled in the Duchy of Burt, looked just like this.

The ship shuddered, and then a loud whistle, accompanied by billowing magical steam, pierced the sky. This was the signal for the fleet to depart, and also Vaan's declaration of war against the black sun once again, after traversing a vast timescale.

On the distant sea, a vast expanse of mesmerizing colors, drifting with the current, trembled slightly before ending its observation and silently sinking into the depths of the ocean.

(End of this chapter)