Chapter 1481: Financial Holy Sword Unsheathed: Netherland Kingdom, Prepare to Die!

Woo woo woo…

The cold wind mixed with fine snowflakes whistled as it arrived, with the North Sea Region at a higher latitude welcoming winter earlier than other places on the continent.

The main fleets of the North Sea Empire, including the assorted Security Fleet, had already begun to assemble.

The Interdiction Cruiser Fleet that had been deployed earlier seemed truly manipulated by the Orthodox Alliance’s strategy, forced to abandon the blockade of ocean routes to return home for support.

The Iris Kingdom, newly under the Empire’s banner, also responded actively.

First, they were slaughtered by the Orthodox Alliance using the “Red Wedding,” nearly wiping out all Protestant high-level officials.

Then, by a stroke of fate, they became members of the Empire Where the Sun Never Sets, receiving immense benefits on the spot, even having a seat awaiting them in the Demonic Banquet Council, causing their mood to fluctuate greatly due to the drastic contrasts.

The naval officers and soldiers all held their breath, eager to prove their loyalty to the Empire’s Emperor!

Though the two nations had loved and fought for thousands of years, they certainly wouldn’t leave the Empire now, even if pushed.

The tense atmosphere was transmitted through collective subconsciousness, from nobility, ministers, generals, soldiers to merchants, civilians… the entire East Coast of the Silver Continent was grim and murderous.

Contrary to what many outside imagined.

Saint Byron, who never passively endured attacks, actively played to his subjective initiative, pre-arranging everything, was not as tense as his ministers and generals; rather, he was quite leisurely.

He was sitting in a garden full of Red Roses and tulips, drinking exquisite afternoon tea with his two Queens.

Though winter was approaching outside, the Ganquan Palace remained a warm and pleasant spring.

Three pseudo-gods, only a step away from being demigods, had long resided here; without active transformation, the divine aura on them subtly turned this land into the top secret realm of the Silver Continent.

Byron sipped the red tea brewed by his sister, and took a bite of the scone Violet sent to his mouth.

He was flipping through the [Key of Omniscience] bound with sugar cane paper, analyzing the latest battlefield intelligence for his two Queens:

“The Orthodox Alliance’s elite scouts have determined to disperse into the icy domains of the Eternal Night Peninsula, carrying numerous explosives with a target being large cities, preparing for terrorist attacks. This is the old craft of the Monetary Restoration Party, deemed as the ancestors of terrorist attacks, never viewing other ethnicities as humans, specializing in killing civilians, with countless life-saving benefactors assassinated by them. All an inexplicable sense of superiority, no one knows its origin. Earlier, using the divine rooted for millennia in the North, through the Royal Iron Law enshrined in human cities, I instantly locked their location. Gus and his Storm Cloak, Amita and her Assassin Sect, along with the local Bayfolk Berserker and Frost Wolf Knight have converged, ensuring they will bury them in the Northland’s coniferous forests.”

Catherine and Violet had already met in Ganquan Palace with the [Ugliest Princess] Amita, also just short of a Promotion Ceremony to ascend as a demigod.

Knowing she was more suited for this task than Gus, hearing her name brought no surprise.

“As for those three expedition fleets at sea. The Netherland Kingdom fleet assembled the fastest, with Amsterdam Port right at our North Sea’s doorstep, yet they did not rush out to be the first. They likely aim to join the other two expedition fleets before taking action.”

“The largest military port in the northern Holy Silver Empire: Walnemunde Wilhelm Port, although still under the Habsburg family’s control, requires bypassing through the Kattegat Strait to enter the North Sea. It will probably converge with the Netherland in three days. However, there’s no ruling out it accelerating the fleet in advance should any emergency arise, powered by the ancient Legendary Warship [Holy Mother’s Immaculate Conception] that rivals the [Dragonhead Ship Valhalla].”

“The final fleet is the main force, the Pyrenees Empire’s Invincible Fleet departing from Seville Port in the South Peninsula, normally taking a week journey. However, they possess the Sacred Relic [Sextant]. By holding the sextant and using a nautical chart for positioning, they can leverage the solar and lunar star formation’s power for instant movement within sixty degrees each of latitude and longitude across the planet’s surface. Yet, there’s one drawback: they must ‘tread solid ground’ for an equally long stretch within three months after use, and should anyone perish in battle without doing so, their soul and body are destined to rest eternally on the Moon or Sun.”

If the Fleet Commander goes all out, breaking the pots and sinking the boats, they might be first to descend upon the North Sea…”

Byron, holding the [Key of Full-time], not only had exact intelligence on the Orthodox Alliance but also had clear insight into all documents exchanges, military maneuvers, and personnel relations.

He might even understand the expedition fleet better than the Chief Commander, King of Aragon [True Believer] Ferdinand II.

Sugar cane paper deserves huge credit.

Over time, many organizations have switched from storing books on short-lived parchment to transcribing them onto longer-lasting paper books.

Numerous technologies, cultures, arts… all have been passed down and developed further thanks to sugar cane paper.

It’s fair to say that the significance of papermaking and printing would definitely not be less than modern society’s lithography machines.

Without them, there wouldn’t be efficient knowledge storage, transmission, and a civilizational explosion, nor would there be a leap from backward agriculture to advanced industrial nations.