Chapter 880: The Front He Fears Most

Troops from Peace Haven's Eastern District and Sundike, the sixth prince, now hold half of the Misty Forest Expanse Front.

Ogiro, despite having more than forty main-force legions, is responsible for only the other half.

Even so, tree wraiths occasionally lead small forces through Ogiro's section and into the regions to the south and west.

The alliance has stationed the Mobile Strike Group near Warmflow City so it can reinforce the Misty Forest Expanse Front at any time.

And through all of this, Diversion Bay's nobles still spend their nights feasting and carousing.

Peace Haven's people can only sneer. Those nobles are all but inviting conquest once the war ends.

The arrival of the Ninth Imperial Expeditionary Legion in Diversion Bay has made them even more comfortable indulging themselves.

Large numbers of troops are protecting the area around Diversion Bay instead of containing the enemy along the Misty Forest Expanse Front.

They pay no attention to Billie's warnings.

As the fighting intensifies, the Billie Kingdom is finding it increasingly difficult to contain the Raging Tide Maelstrom.

Scattered forces of the Tidal Pirate Legion have begun ravaging Ogiro's coast.

When the coast begs for help, Ogiro merely orders its fleets to defend the major cities and ports. Everywhere else is left to fend for itself.

There will be no great maelstroms here, and thus no enemy reinforcement points. The tidal pirates cannot build up a large force and can advance at most fifty kilometers inland.

Ogiro's coastal population pays the price. One horror follows another along the shore.

Peace Haven's Second Fleet, stationed in the expeditionary zone under Barbosa, has repeatedly seized on the chaos to go ashore and plunder.

That is why Henwell sent the Fourth Combat Battalion of the Lord Iron Guards to the expeditionary zone.

Clarke is there to bring the old pirate back into line. Barbosa seems to have forgotten his place.

The fleets now fighting off Ogiro's coast belong not to the kingdom, but to Peace Haven.

Each of the two fleets has a steam-powered ironclad displacing more than four thousand tons as its flagship. They battle tidal pirates and sea monsters out on the blue sea.

Both ironclads are seaworthy and heavily armed. They are still slow, though.

Neither has an all-iron hull. Iron armor has simply been added over a wooden hull.

Steam-driven propellers provide their main propulsion; sails remain as an auxiliary power source.

Had rubber fruit not made better sealing rings possible, steam engines would still be only an auxiliary source of power.

The two ironclads are mainly testbeds for the technology, but they are still heavily armed.

Their steam ballistas and mechanically drawn ballistas number more than a hundred in total.

Their range is laughable compared with modern naval guns. Even so, these ships qualify as battleships.

When the fleets concentrate their fire, they can send the tidal pirates fleeing in panic.

The fleets have already driven tidal pirates from many coastal positions and liberated numerous human towns.

Peace Haven does not give back its spoils. It simply sends men to garrison and defend the towns.

Officially, it is helping defend Ogiro, of course. It is not setting up bases to occupy the kingdom's territory.

The two fleets have begun taking turns on regular patrols along Ogiro's coast.

Meanwhile, the expeditionary zone's Third Fleet is being formed.

Once it is ready, Ogiro will have no chance of reclaiming those places, even if it tries.

A few scattered tidal pirates worry Henwell far less than the prospect of losing control of the Misty Forest Expanse.

The forces in Peace Haven's Eastern District have kept growing over the past two years.

The formal organization remains unchanged, with only two legions.

But each now has six warbands under its command, and the number is still increasing.

The expeditionary zone also has two legions stationed at Saltwater City.

Now that Lumir has yielded the territory south of the Livel River, the zone must send two more legions to garrison it.

That leaves only one regular legion available as a reserve.

With five regular legions, the expeditionary zone now commands more troops than any other Peace Haven district.

Including its garrison warbands, its strength exceeds one hundred and fifty thousand.

Even that force is beginning to look stretched as the Calamity War intensifies.

Back in Peace Haven, Henwell has no troops left to redeploy except those in the Western District.

That makes the legion sent by Kosen Kingdom particularly useful.

The northern soldiers certainly struggle with the heat and humidity of the south.

They are professionals, though. After six months to a year of training in Peace Haven, the legion should still be useful.

In winter, he could use them as a strike force and give some of his elite units a chance to rest and rotate out of the line.

Even now, with troops stretched thin, Henwell cannot touch the Western District's main forces.

It is not that he thinks Ika Kingdom would dare turn against him and attack at a time like this.

It is the Empire and the Church he is watching. They talk readily enough about the common cause, but he does not dare trust them completely.

The Western District's troops must also be able to reinforce Kriye City if the fighting in the west becomes critical.

The Grand Princess has already promised him Livos. In Henwell's mind, it is his, and he will not let the Lightchasers or Fury Spirits tear it apart.

The Western Federation is holding the Lightchasers back. With the Empire and the Church supporting it, that front should not face too much trouble.

As for the Fury Spirits, Ika has the reserves of a long-established power to draw on.

With the Northern Mountain Front stable, it no longer needs to detach large forces to help Vorry as it did in previous Calamity Wars.

Half of Ika's army, more than seventy legions, is now fighting desperately in the Great Wasteland to the west against Fury Spirits and wasteland cavalry.

Each battle group consists of ten legions. Four battle groups are at the front, and three are held in reserve.

Fred, the Grand Princess's husband, leads one of those battle groups and is fighting fiercely.

Keeping the wasteland cavalry out of the heartland is already a considerable achievement.

The battle groups proceed methodically, gradually narrowing the front.

Ika appears unlikely to have trouble. This Calamity War is a millennial calamity, yet the situation looks considerably better than during a centennial calamity.

As long as the major strategic fronts hold, Henwell can devote more attention to Peace Haven's technological development.

He already senses that the Empire and the Church will not tolerate him for much longer.

He must use this opportunity to make further advances throughout Peace Haven. Otherwise, the situation that follows will be very difficult.

Just as Henwell thinks everything is on course, Cumberland, director of the Military Intelligence Office, rushes in, panicked.

Henwell's heart lurches.

Shit!

Something has gone terribly wrong!

Nothing less would make his intelligence director lose his composure like this.

Cumberland does not even stop to salute. "My lord! Disaster! The enemy has counterattacked on the subterranean waterway front!"

"More than three hundred thousand subterranean elites launched a sudden attack. The Seventh Imperial Expeditionary Legion was careless and walked into an ambush!"

"The forces caught in the trap were the Seventh Imperial Expeditionary Legion, the Twelfth Legion of the Western Federation, Lumir's Water Fairy Knights, and the Fifth, Sixth, and Thirteenth Legions."

"They were ambushed by more than one hundred and fifty thousand subterranean elites."

"They've all been wiped out!"