The fleet of sky arks the Samsaran Expeditionary Force was furnished with were inferior to the top-of-the-line vessels that the Aizen Kingdom had, but they were still flying at about the same speed as a modern plane.

  Which was still incredibly fast by this world's standards, not to mention how sky arks didn't need to land just to refuel every so often. With that in mind, they had covered quite a lot of distance these past few days. They were traveling above the clouds to lower the chances of being struck or discovered too.

  ‘As if it needed any more confirmation, I suppose this world is a lot bigger than Earth, huh?’

  Not that it mattered too much to him, of course.

  It had been a useless bit of trivia left over from his past life, but he remembered a novel character mentioning that it took a commercial plane about two days to circumnavigate the Earth. Yet, four days of flight at roughly the same speed didn’t even get Reivan’s ship from one end of the central continent to the other.

  Of course, he hadn’t been on planes a lot as a child, so perhaps he was simply understating a plane’s speed. Maybe the sky ark wasn’t traveling that fast, and he was just making a big deal out of nothing.

  Regardless, Reivan leaned against the sky ark’s railing as he stared down at the landscape below. And as his eyes scanned the land that once belonged to one of Sentorale’s greatest nations, he wondered what the hell he was going to do to fix the place up. It was just far too banged up for him to be optimistic.

  ‘I can’t see a single damned bird anywhere.’

  It went without saying that wildlife on the ground had been wiped out, but he couldn’t even find any birds either. Fish and other marine life that could have been found in inland bodies of water were extinct because those waters dried out too.

  Essentially, the lands of Arkhan were bereft of wildlife. All kinds of wildlife.

  Not even Aizen did that. Sure, they got rid of all the monsters that could take out villages by themselves, but other wildlife had been mostly left alone.

  You’d still find rats and cockroaches where rats and cockroaches should be found—which meant basically everywhere dirty enough. The northern forests close to the Wolf’s Jaw were known to have deer and squirrels, with bears and even tigers if you went deep enough. Sometimes, houses near rivers would find a snake had snuck into their home. Naturally, there were all kinds of birds too. Hell, flies, ants, and mosquitoes were still around.

  Even though the kingdom’s civilization had advanced, it refrained from totally wiping out all other inhabitants, despite there being some small risks involved to them.

  Reivan didn’t understand why they did that, truth be told. But Arkhan no longer had the option of whether to do so or not. The choice had been made for them.

  ‘In these barren lands, only humans remain alive.’

  “I am not looking forward to fixing this place up.” Reivan looked to the side to find Jiji standing beside him, also looking down at the scenery below.

  “Me neither."

  "But it has to be done. At the very least, someone has to try.”

  She smiled. “Of course, Your Excellency. And I am more than happy to help.”

  “...Good,” he grunted, turning away from her to resume gazing below. Not because he had more to look at, but just because he wanted a reason not to look at her.

  ‘This little minx has been getting really aggressive.’

  Reivan groaned quietly. Even if he wanted to ignore Jiji’s feelings, he wouldn’t be able to do so. She had been making very obvious advances these past four days, though they were so light that he would rather call them “probes” than advances.

  Still, this was his adopted sister. Even if she was nice to look at and invited the looking, he did his best to evade her. Though she seemed to respect the distance he wanted to maintain to a certain extent, he was still justifiably troubled by her very clear intentions. The subtle glances and the very unsubtle way she eliminated distance whenever they talked... it was a little overwhelming.

  All this time, he'd considered Jiji a child or a slightly younger adult. But away from his eyes, she'd seemingly learned to weaponize her charms.

  ‘Wait... maybe she's known how to do that for a long time. Just that she hasn't pointed it at me for real until now?'

  In any case, how the hell was he going to explain this to his mother…? Or did she know already? Honestly, that may have been the case.

  Suddenly, someone landed on the deck of the sky ark, attracting everyone’s attention. It was Lady Iselle—who had fulfilled her promise and reunited with the fleet together with the rest of the darkin—and a battlemage who seems to have been carried by the scruff of his neck.

  The sorcerer spent a moment to gain his footing before hesitantly announcing his purpose under the scrutiny of more than a dozen knights. “I’m here to report…”

  Reivan and Jiji both walked up and he gestured for the mage to continue.

  “Your Excellency,” the mage bowed before continuing. “We—that is to say, the darkin and a few capable battlemages—have gone ahead of the fleet to attempt contact with the Golden Gear at their base.”

  “And the results?”

  “They are gone.”

  Jiji crossed her arms as her gaze sharpened. “Gone?”

  The mage gulped down a mouthful of saliva and nodded hesitantly. “All of the golems and a vast array of their equipment are gone as well. Not all of it, but everything significant is missing.”

  Reivan groaned and massaged the bridge of his nose. “So there’s a possibility that the empire has already taken everything, including both people and equipment, for themselves? Is that it?”

  ”There were no signs of resistance, Your Excellency.” Lady Iselle chimed in.

  Not a beat later, the sorcerer nodded in agreement. “We surmised that the Golden Gear’s personnel have simply taken the initiative to move elsewhere. Taking all the golems they can with them.”

  “That’s better, I suppose…" Reivan admitted quietly with a sigh of relief. "What about signs of imperial forces?”

  “My sisters and I have searched from the sky.” Lady Iselle reported. “But there were none to be found. At least not anywhere nearby. But maybe we can find something if we fly further up north.”

  “That sounds fine, but only do so at night. So you can hide yourselves better.”

  Reivan asked if there was more, but dismissed the messenger when there was apparently nothing left to report. Lady Iselle smiled and bowed before grabbing the sorcerer and flying up to… well, wherever she wanted to, he supposed.

  ‘Alright. Now what?’

  He had amassed a small but highly capable army and flew them across a great distance just to rescue some golem pilots. But then the golem pilots went off to who-knew-where. Obviously, he couldn’t just pat himself on the back and call it a day, returning to Lageton with nothing to show for it.

  “Hm.” Reivan turned to his sister. “I think we should set ourselves up somewhere while we track down where all the people from the Golden Gear went. Golems are large and heavy, they can’t go far without leaving traces. We can also amass surviving citizens and bring them with us on the return trip. What say you?”

  “A sound plan.” Jiji nodded. “Also, since we’re in the Southwestern part of Arkhan now, shouldn't you consider sending some people to Pentagoria?”

  “Pentagoria…?” he echoed, rubbing his chin in thought. “What for?”

  “For one thing, you can send them as envoys to announce your nation. Naturally, you have to include that Samsara has the endorsement of Aizen.”

  “Right…”

  “Also, any organized group of survivors with enough resources would have considered sending people across the Great Blue so they could seek asylum in Pentagoria. It’s even farther away from Arkhan than Aizen is, so I’m assuming it wasn’t affected by the Sage King’s assassination. The principalities would also welcome any information they can get.”

  Reivan struck his palm. “You’re right. Hell, maybe they're just staying on a boat near the coast far away enough so the heat doesn’t reach them.”

  “Mhm. That’s also a possibility. Go far enough out to sea and it’ll be infinitely more comfortable than the mainland.”

  ‘Better than them heading off to another continent altogether.’

  While searching the nearby waters for any anchored ships would be difficult depending on the scale of their search area, it would be even more troublesome if Reivan had to chase the Golden Gear all the way to Pentagoria. After all, even if they accepted his employment offer, he would still need to bring them back to Samsara, which would now take even more time because the distance had increased.

  Comparatively, they’d be easier to rescue if they were still on land, but would also be in significantly more danger and discomfort.

  ════════════════════════════════

  Reivan and Samsara’s fortress chose the Golden Gear’s abandoned base as their camp for now.

  It wasn’t a city so it wasn’t rich in abandoned buildings they could use. But it at least fulfilled the condition of being close to the shore, so if push came to shove, everyone could just continue sleeping on the ships.

  Though mainly flying vessels, sky arks were roughly shaped like ships. They were sufficiently buoyant and quite seaworthy. So to give the enchantments some rest, they were set down on the water and anchored so they wouldn’t drift off somehow.

  More than a hundred large ships arrayed along the shores made for a stunning sight, each one capable of comfortably housing at least a hundred people with room left over in case they had to bring home some Arkhanian survivors.

  ‘Oh, wow. It’s cold here.’

  Reivan pleasantly let the chilling air wash over him as he stepped into some kind of giant underground warehouse. Producing freezing winds himself was nice, but the natural stuff was still the best.

  In any case, most of the Golden Gear’s base seemed to have been built underground, with a magically concealed entrance hidden in the cliff face right by the shores. Said entrance was extremely large, to the extent that multiple War Golems—otherwise known by knights as “the big ones”—could walk out of the tunnel side by side.

  Notably, however, it seemed that the base was designed so you could only leave it by boat. You could also only take stuff out by boat. The lack of said boats anywhere nearby was giving credence to the theory that the Golden Gear’s personnel escaped together with their golems and other equipment.

  “This is the deepest warehouse, Your Excellency,” Elder Voltares of House Demoscene explained deferentially from somewhere behind Reivan, kept from coming too close by Sir Xander’s presence. “It is kept cold to prevent humidity from deteriorating the golems and various spare parts stored here.”

  “The golems that were stored here,” Reivan corrected with a hint of mirth. “In any case, Elder Voltares. It seems as if we didn’t manage to fulfill our deal about your clan using your whale spirit beasts to secretly transport us through the sea.”

  Voltares merely smiled and shook his head. “No plans survive the first encounter with the enemy, Your Excellency. Changes to plans are par for the course.”

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “I’m glad you understand.”

  “Of course. However, if my house can be of service in other ways, please let us know. I won't even ask for a ship this time.”

  Reivan smirked in amusement. “I actually have just the thing.”

  He then explained how there was a possibility that the Golden Gear’s people were hanging around somewhere close to the shores to avoid the heat. And that he needed people to find them.

  ‘I’ll need everyone capable of flight to scour the land for signs of the empire and to suss out any survivors.’

  Those who couldn’t fly would focus on fortifying their little base. They could potentially spend a lot of time here after all.

  Because of the current state of affairs throughout the world, any survivors wouldn’t necessarily be shouting for help twenty-four hours a day. Anyone who managed to survive until now should have realized that hiding was the best strategy.

  Unfortunately, this would make them harder to find, and hence, more difficult to rescue.

  In any case, with his arial troops and landlubber troops occupied, that left his maritime specialists free. Most of said maritime specialists were actually members of House Demoscene—one of the Four Magus families and whose bloodline is blessed with the [Water] attribute. That was why he was talking to their family head.

  “I accept your commands, Your Excellency.” Voltares bowed. “If they are truly somewhere at sea, we will find them.”

  “Thank you.” Reivan smiled then pulled out a sealed letter, presenting it to the elder. “And be sure to send this to someone important in Pentagoria if your search takes you close to there.”

  The head of House Demoscene received the letter carefully, looking up to Reivan with some hesitation. “And if our search doesn’t take us close…?”

  ‘He’s so careful about having his head chopped off it’s actually starting to get hilarious.’

  With a shrug, Reivan chuckled. “Don’t worry. A delegation will be sent sometime down the line. So that’s just a bit of an advanced announcement. It’s fine even if it’s never sent.”

  “I see… Then I will prepare to depart, Your Excellency.”

  “Right. Blessings of war be with you.”

  “And to you, Your Excellency.”

  When the old mage finally left, Reivan turned an amused glance at his guardian knight, whose eyes were scanning the expansive chamber and taking measure of its reinforced walls. “Did you know about this place?”

  Xander shook his head. “I am sad to admit that I did not. Though I did have an inkling that there was something strange about golems and how they were supposedly automated.”

  “They hid it well, that’s for sure.”

  “This may sound like an excuse, but it wasn’t very important information back when Ascendants were still factors in warfare. Golems were a strictly mortal implement. The big ones in particular were just massive targets for ranged elemental attacks.”

  Reivan made a noise of agreement as he peered inside a mostly empty crate, except the one he peeked into had a great many bits and bobs. He picked one up and noncommittally examined it. “Funny, how a new ruleset makes previously irrelevant things so useful.”

  After scoffing to himself, Reivan carelessly tossed whatever it was he picked up into the crate and turned around, heading back up to the surface.

  ════════════════════════════════

  What was initially intended to be a quick stay gradually turned into a prolonged one.

  Seven days since they made camp, yet the Demoscenes had not found anything in the waters yet. They’d made regular reports of their lacking results, which unexpectedly made a good impression on Reivan because not many people would shed light on their failures. He preferred to be abreast of everyone’s situation, however, so what they were doing was truly the right thing.

  That said, he didn’t blame the battlemages of House Demoscene. If the Golden Gear did not, in fact, camp their boats somewhere in the seas, then they would obviously not find anything, for there was nothing to find.

  And because of their lack of success, it was growing increasingly more likely that those evasive golem pilots-slash-engineers went somewhere through land routes. Of course, it could also be that they journeyed to Pentagoria, but Reivan didn’t want to entertain that possibility just yet.

  Now, when one looked at War Golems and their gargantuan forms and marveled at their understandable heaviness, one would think that they would leave some sign that they passed through. Especially if said War Golems were in large numbers. If even animals could make an animal trail over time, a small horde of War Golems would flatten the terrain they passed through.

  Yet, there was nothing.

  Fortunately, they were finding some success through the discovery of more surviving communities—and with them, were the battlemages that kept those communities alive somehow. This was a big boost in morale for the battlemages in Samsara’s service, who were obviously happy to rescue their troubled countrymen.

  Every single party of survivors was full of malnourished individuals, mundane and mage alike. They had most likely rationed whatever food they squirreled away before everything went to shit.

  Though it would have been more practical, Reivan chose not to have his pet World-Devouring Serpent eat them all to save on space and supplies. And speaking of, Zouros had revived already, so he could have also had it spit out all the rescued Arkhanian women from the imperial camp. But he chose to refrain since it was better if they waited until after they got back to Lageton.

  There was a very obvious difference between treatment, but he hoped that nobody gave him any flak for it. He didn’t have a choice on how to deal with the women because he lacked time and options at the time. Meanwhile, the survivors that his forces rescued now weren’t in such a dire situation.

  ‘Man, being the guy at the top can get pretty boring sometimes…’

  Reivan impatiently toyed with a golden pocket watch as he waited for some good news. The Golden Gear’s former base had more than just the giant warehouse, they obviously had plenty of living spaces for their pilots and engineers. He had taken up residence in one of them and was now thoroughly fed up with doing nothing.

  But in his heart of hearts, he knew that this was exactly what he should be doing right now. Just another pair of eyes wasn’t going to be much help up there, but his staying here meant that any findings would reach him more easily.

  Plus, it meant he didn’t need to be guarded as much, so he could send more knights out for the search instead of fortifying the base. Like Xander, for example, who was quite good at finding stuff that Reivan asked for. Really, that fellow was much too useful to be a mere bodyguard. Xander was better utilized by sending him out into the field.

  As if to prove this, Reivan’s pocket watch—specifically, the dream crystal embedded into it—thrummed with the familiar vibration that meant someone wanted to send some telepathic message his way. And lo and behold, it was Sir Xander.

  Of course, Reivan didn’t tarry for even a second. “You have the look of a man that has something for me.”

  Xander’s confused thoughts came through. “You can see me, Your Excellency…?”

  “No, it’s an expression. Nevermind. Do you have something for me though?”

  “I do. I have, indeed, found something.”

  “Fantastic. What is it?”

  Reivan accepted the small flood of information that Xander passed through.

  Apparently, Xander had found a few battle golems—affectionately called “the little ones” by the knights—nearby. They were out of commission, but they hadn’t been downed for long. The ashes still had live embers, for one thing. And not enough dust had accumulated on the golem’s surface.

  Also, judging by the melted parts of their body, it seemed they were felled by a small Lava Demon. Yet, there were no tracks around the battlefield.

  ‘I suppose this confirms that the Golden Gear are somehow covering up their tracks.’

  Screw them for their competence. Couldn’t they have been negligent just this once so Reivan could find them already?

  “At least this means they’re roughly around that area, then. That’s a lot better than nothing. Could you look around the vicinity for me? Don’t do it alone. Round up some support from nearby allies.”

  “Understood, Your Excellency.”

  “Right. Well, good job, Sir Xander.”

  Not one for accepting praise, Sir Xander offered a perfunctory response along the lines of it being his duty to serve.

  Reivan then proceeded to relay the discoveries to every relevant dream crystal he could reach, telling them to support Sir Xander’s search as much as they could. His orders were immediately met with a barrage of affirmative thoughts, which, he noted earlier, should be avoided next time. He didn’t need hundreds of people shouting “Yes! Your Excellency” into his mind every time he gave out orders.

  When that was done, he sighed as he was once again stuck in waiting. Thinking that some fresh air would do him good, he headed outside, near the mouth of the yawning cave that offered a view of the ash-contaminated seashore.

  ‘Yeah, there’s no fresh air to be found here…’

  He wanted to enjoy the breeze or perhaps the salty smell of the open sea, but the air was stagnant and it smelled like soot. To be fair, he should have known it would be like this since he'd passed through the entrance numerous times. It's just that he hadn't been paying attention because his mind was elsewhere.

  'I guess I'll turn back...'

  Just as he was about to turn back inside in disappointment, his pocket watch did the thing again. And this time, it was Lady Iselle.

  Immediately accepting her request to communicate, he received the news as soon as he popped the lid. And as he parsed more of it, his face gradually fell.

  The darkin had found an imperial army similar in size to the one they faced east, encamped to the far north. Except this one seemed a lot more ready for knights to show up.

  ‘Shit. I was hoping the forces farther away from us were less prepared.’

  Apparently, all around the imperial camps and even a fair distance out of it were glowing motes of light that banished just about every shadow. All tents were dyed a deep crimson too, though some were bigger than others. There were also strange contraptions positioned all around the camp that, while Lady Iselle didn’t know of, were quite obviously ballistae. Their supplies were spread out too, so one couldn’t just blow all of them up. Furthermore, there were more homunculi here than the other army—500 homunculi, to be specific—and each of those hulking monstrosities likely contained a staggering amount of supplies within them too.

  ‘There’s more of us now, but…’

  Reivan’s numbers had swelled when compared to his first engagement with Argonia. He now had a thousand knights with him and nine thousand mages—some of which weren’t contracted with spirit beasts, but were still capable spellcasters in their own right. At the very least, they had learned basic military-grade spells that could help them dominate mundane soldiers.

  But previously, his small group had been extremely mobile. Hit, run, hit, run, hit, run. Again and again. There was nothing the enemy could do against it because they didn’t have the implements to deal with them.

  This time, however, that was not the case. There were mundane citizens, who he could have Zouros temporarily eat if push came to shove, and then there were battlemages and ordinary mages. In this instance, there was a “weak link”. It was a very useful link, of course, but one that the empire could strike.

  And strike they would.

  ════════════════════════════════

  While the imperial army was a looming threat, one had to be glad that they were still “looming”.

  Meaning they weren’t much of an issue right this instant, though Reivan supposed he should warn everyone about espers suddenly popping up out of nowhere. Especially since their current base was underground. Those phantom menaces could come out of literally everywhere. The ceiling, the walls, and the floor were all wide-open entrances to those creatures. They could even pop out of toilets while someone was taking a shit.

  ‘Good thing we’ve started sleeping on the sky arks.’

  Espers apparently had no trouble breathing water—probably because they didn't need to breathe—but at least they could be seen while they were swimming around down there. In that state, they could be dealt with.

  Surrounded by the underground, however, they were almost undetectable.

  It was fortunate they had ditched the Golden Gear base now. Of course, it was to prevent the very scenario he was fearful of, but it was also because he wanted everyone to be ready for departure at any time.

  As for the rescued citizens, he had Zouros eat all of them for now, much to the dismay of the battlemages. He assured them that it was safe, but Reivan didn’t miss the doubt in their eyes.

  So to demonstrate, he’d knocked out one of the battlemages and had Zouros eat the guy before spitting him back out half a day later, in pristine condition. That had ruffled some feathers, understandably, but what else could he do when they didn’t believe him?

  In any case, all the non-combatants were accounted for as long as Reivan himself didn’t die, which arguably ensured that the battlemages would endeavor to protect him from harm instead of looking for a chance to hex him from behind.

  All in all, things were going well.

  Reivan, of course, didn’t really care about the empire for now. What he really cared about was finding those damned golem engineers. As long as they did, Samsara’s forces would have their options expanded.

  Flying back to Lageton after taking out as much of the imperial army as they could was one. They could also stay and fight, keeping retreat at the back of their minds. And of course, there was the terribly unwise choice of going full ape on the imperial army, charging in and taking out as much as they could even at the cost of lives.

  The last was extremely stupid, but it would be an option.

  Without the golem engineers at hand, Samsara’s forces were stuck in an indecisive rut where some would say they should stay to continue looking while some would opt to abandon the engineers due to the lives that would be lost to continue a search.

  Such a polarizing division would rip their already fragile unity to shreds. Some of the mages might even sabotage the whole operation, though he highly doubted that because they had families back in Lageton. Imperial chains around their loved ones’ necks didn’t seem very appealing for anyone.

  Reivan waited in his ship’s cabin, his leg bouncing up and down in impatience. Just when he decided that an extra pair of eyes would be of help to the search and was about to join in, he once again received a communication request from his guardian knight.

  “Your Excellency. I have found the Golden Gear.”

  “Great!” Reivan stood up with zeal, pumping his fist. “Have you talked to them?”

  “Not yet. They might not be receptive to an Aizenian, so I have called in a few of the battlemages to establish communication.”

  “Fantastic. Wonderful. Amazing. Really. Stupendous work, Sir Xander.”

  “I am just doing my job, Your Excellency.”

  Reivan heaped on the praises as he climbed up on deck, finding Jiji nearby. She seemed to have been in the middle of taking Sen out for a walk, so Reivan pulled her along too.

  Zouros appeared in all its glory, scaring the shit out of some spirit beasts nearby but that wasn't anything new. Together with his sister, they all flew to where the Golden Gear supposedly was.

  ‘It’s good that the empire didn’t get to them before we did. Now, if I secure them in time, we can just book it without having to waste resources on those fucking assho—I mean, the Argonian army.’

  Or at least, he could send them home on House Demoscene’s whales. Though he supposed the golem pilots could also help out in a fight by using their golems. Either way, he was just happy to have finally found the purpose of their trip to this corner of Arkhan.

  That said, part of him wanted to tear those Argonians a new one. He couldn’t hope to annihilate an army of such scale. But he would make them bleed. And he could also rescue any prisoners the enemy army had—which they likely did because Argonians loved slavery like Reivan loved a nice juicy pair of tits.

  First things first, he really had to get those damned engineers.

  ‘Sormon help me if these guys don’t end up joining us after all this shit though.’