Emperor of Steel

The Symphonia Kingdom troops, who succeeded in purifying the large Undead army, didn’t have any time to rest.

“Get up! Wake up, all of you!”

“Hurry up already! You fools!”

Knights and soldiers, who were tired of the long and endless battles, fell asleep in the field itself. Officers and commanders approached them and waked them up.

“It hasn’t even been 30 minutes, why are we being woken up!?”

“Ah, what is this?! Didn’t they say they would give us a good rest after the operation?”

Dissatisfaction erupted from everywhere.

It wasn’t like the commanders wanted to do it either. They were given orders.

“This isn’t the time to sleep so leisurely! The operation isn’t over yet!”

“2nd and 3rd squad, control the people of Libiya, and 4th to 7th squad, gather shovels and axes!”

“Move fast, you slugs! Hasn’t Her Holiness relieved you of your fatigue!”

Their physical strain had been relieved, but the mental exhaustion was still there.

Most of the soldiers thought so, but the commanders didn’t care about it.

The priority was to take care of millions of Libiya people who returned from being an Undead.

“Where is this place? The Symphonia Kingdom?”

“C-can we go back home?”

“Has anyone seen our son? He has red hair and freckles near his nose!”

“I am very sorry for asking this, but is there anything to eat?”

“Can I have some water…”

Millions of people, who turned into refugees, had various demands.

The Gram brothers, who were commanding the soldiers, frowned at the sight.

“Bloody this! This is the beginning of another war!”

“Just when I thought it was over, it stats again!”

The most despicable, Shaikan.

An evil man who turned his own people into zombies.

This was the kind of craziness that wouldn’t end even with death.

Not just the Symphonia army, but even the Libiya people, who heard of the situation, criticized their king.

But, the situation wasn’t due to Shaikan, but Arsene, who took over Shaikan’s body.

However, it was hard for ordinary soldiers and people to know about it.

While everyone was moving around busily, Luke was taking in the reports and issued appropriate actions and orders.

“Your Majesty, they are asking for water!”

“Ask the military wizards to dig wells.”

“We don’t have enough food and firewood.”

“For food, bring in whatever is left in the nearby forts and pick a few refugees to harvest grains or fruits from the fields. And let the Gigant riders go to a nearby forest to collect the firewood.”

For more efficient management, it was ordered to have administrative soldiers to investigate the status of the refugees and engineers to set up temporary camps.

When people saw the Symphonia troops run around sweating, the refugees made a longing expression.

“There were words that Symphonia’s king, Luke, was great, and it wasn’t just empty words.”

“Our king always called for war and turned people into the Undead.”

“Should we go to Symphonia?”

“What was that? Soon, Libiya will be conquered by Symphonia too.”

Whatever the refugees reacted, Luke devoted himself to helping the people.

Of course, he didn’t intend to stick to the process for long.

Since the Undead army wasn’t completely cleaned up, he was thinking of going over to save his allies once this mess was taken care of.

-Your Majesty, a large fleet of reinforcements and supplies from the Southern Continent will arrive soon.

“That so? Thank God.”

Luke sighed at the message sent by Prime Minister Hans.

According to Hans, the Song Empire sent 100,000 troops, and Yemaek sent 50,000 troops to aid the war.

Both nations sent reinforcements and military supplies even though they themselves hadn’t settled down since their last war, all because of the strong relationship they shared with Luke.

Also, it was because of the high possibility of Luke reigning as the emperor of the Rhodesia Continent in the future.

-On the other hand, it was said that young talented ones were sent on their expeditionary troops. And they asked for your permission to let them study at the Royal Academy or any other academy.

“Hmm, it must be their intention to learn new culture and skills.”

Marquis Albain formerly ran a prestigious academy in the Baroque Empire. He was the dean of the Royal Academy in the Lamer city and an advisor of the Symphonia Kingdom.

He was a very reform-minded educator, so he took over the educational policy that Luke handed to him.

Thanks to that, Luke who was busy with state affairs and war issues, didn’t have to spend additional energy on educational policies.

“About that, it has to be discussed with the Education Minister.”

-I will put this to him.

It was when Luke was sighing after cutting off the communication with Hans that another magic communication came in.

However, this time, it was Hudson, the Chief Intelligence Officer. It seemed like it was important as Hudson was rather stiff.

-Your Majesty, we have some bad news to deliver.

“Is it related to the Undead army?”

-Yes, the Volga Republic is at risk.

Hudson, who said so, gave a detailed report.

Luke’s face went stiff upon hearing the report. It was because the Ankara river, the final stop of the Volga Republic, got pierced.

It was said that the Undead who crossed the Ankara river were spreading around the cities and attacking people at random.

The Republic’s troops gathered quickly from all over the nations and were currently engaged in defense to try to annihilate the Undead, but the damage seemed too much.

The situation was so serious that shortly after getting the report from Hudson, Vladimir directly contacted Luke.

-King Luke, please save the people of the Republic!

As soon as the call was accepted, the president requested for the people to be saved.

Luke nodded his head right away.

“We will come there right away. By the way, did you receive the large magic circle and the relay tower blueprint sent by our court wizard?”

-We got it. After the Meister of the Republic Magic Tower is done searching for a suitable place, the magic circle will be installed and so will the relay tower.

“That is good to know.”

Immediately after completing the development of the large magic circle and the relay tower, Luke sent the blueprints to all of their allies.

To reduce the damage caused by the Undead, it was necessary to save as much time as they could.

If each nation had created their own magic circles and relay towers in advance, it would be easier for Reina to go there and immediately release her Spirit power.

-By the way, there were a few things which weren’t understood…

“They might be the Southern Continent’s zen skill. We will go and complete that part.”

-Please hurry.

Honestly, it wasn’t the first time that such a request had been made. Just the day before, the same request came from the Navarre Duchy.

Henry III was acting as if everything was getting ruined, but Luke didn’t believe his words.

If the Navarre Duchy was really in such danger, the intelligence officers dispatched by Luke would’ve been the first to contact him.

‘It is correct to help those nations which are in trouble. But it is strange that Castia didn’t contact us.’

According to the intelligence, the army of Castia Kingdom was relatively good at stopping their 2 million Undead which was invading the Baroque.

Maybe that was why they weren’t contacting Luke.

After talking with Vladimir, Luke went over to Reina.

She was exhausted because she used her power, and she was receiving treatment from Luke and Karen, so she was still resting.

She was fine but wasn’t completely recovered.

The amount of Aether she currently had was a lot lesser than usual.

“I don’t want to force you, but we are in a mix now. I think we should hurry over to the Republic.”

“I am fine. Let’s go.”

Luke felt horrible when he saw Reina getting ready to leave.

If she overdid herself again, something irreversible could happen.

However, as it is, the Volga Republic couldn’t be left to the Undead.

If the Republic collapsed, over 30 million people would turn into zombies.

And that meant a clear national disaster.

‘Me and Karen will support Reina but even that won’t be enough!’

Luke shook his head.

While thinking for a moment, Reina was done preparing.

Luke hastily moved to the nearest long-distance teleport gate.

And they were followed by not just Saint Guards, but Karen and other wizards. Even the Black Tower warlocks and Johas joined them.