Chapter 1664 - 232 - Preparation Done (1)

I took a deep breath and relaxed, feeling a strange but pleasant warmth lingering around my waist after having sex with Maya, Amon, and Sara as the exhaustion finally began catching up with me after everything I had done.

For a moment, I simply stayed there and enjoyed the quiet, because moments like this were surprisingly rare when my days were usually filled with training, planning, fighting, and dealing with one ridiculous problem after another.

After that, I went to take a bath, letting the warm water wash away the fatigue from my body while I tried to enjoy whatever little peace remained before the responsibilities of the following day inevitably came crashing back down on me.

The quiet atmosphere was probably the closest thing I was going to get to an actual vacation, although calling it a vacation would have been a little generous considering how exhausting the night had been.

Still, I couldn't really complain about it.

***

The next day eventually arrived, and with it came the inevitable reminder that my break was over and it was time for me to get back to work again.

Training the heroes was waiting for me, the Kingdom still had its problems, and the coming war wasn't going to conveniently disappear just because I had managed to enjoy one peaceful night.

I let out a tired sigh as I prepared myself for another long day, already knowing that whatever happened next was probably going to be just as exhausting as everything that had come before it.

***

The preparations for the war had finally started moving forward at a much faster pace, and I could slowly see the plans we had discussed turning into something real right in front of me.

At this point, the three nations had gradually built up a defensive system that could protect them against an incoming attack from either the Republic or the Empire, which was something we desperately needed.

"Fufufu," Agneis chuckled proudly as she looked over the enormous barrier that was now covering the three nations. "Are you surprised by just how magnificent my creation and design turned out to be?"

"I was... actually quite surprised by it."

Honestly, I was far more surprised than I wanted to admit.

I had only given Agneis the basic concept behind what I wanted, and somehow, she had taken that simple idea and turned it into something far more impressive than I had originally imagined.

After that, her people handled the actual implementation of the design, gathering the necessary materials, organizing the construction, and somehow managing to put everything together in an amount of time that still felt completely unreasonable to me.

The result was a massive barrier that expanded across an enormous radius, covering enough territory to protect the lands belonging to Milham, Viritoginy, and Bethlan.

The sheer size of it was already impressive enough, but the part that surprised me even more was how strong it had become.

A large number of researcher in the Leonamon, Zoey and Chloe included, had already begun learning the essence of Barrier Guardian, and because of that, the barrier we had constructed wasn't simply some ordinary magical wall that could be broken after a few powerful attacks.

Its strength was, in essence, comparable to that of the Guardian itself.

That was exactly why I had decided to call this barrier the Guardian version 2.0.

"I honestly didn't think you could manage to pull something like this off so quickly," I told her while continuing to stare at the enormous barrier surrounding that was now activated and you could see it up above the sky, which right now literally encompasses three nations at once..

"Well, with a little bit of effort and enough work put into it, I think almost anything is possible," she replied casually, as though she hadn't just helped create something capable of protecting three entire nations.

Effort, she said?

I wasn't entirely convinced that something like this could simply be accomplished through effort.

There was a massive difference between working hard on something and somehow creating a defensive system of this scale in such a short amount of time.

Still, I supposed that was just how Agneis was.

If I gave her an idea, she would probably take it, improve it several times over, and then return with something that made me wonder why I had ever doubted her abilities in the first place.

"Not only that, but the things you asked me to prepare are already being worked on as well," she added while turning her attention toward another section.

The things I had asked her to prepare were probably the weapons I had commissioned from her and the dwarves, since those weapons were supposed to give our soldiers a considerable increase in firepower.

Dwarves were well known for creating things that were practical, useful, and efficient, and they were especially talented when it came to designing weapons.

It was admittedly a little cliché that dwarves were supposed to be incredibly good with their hands, but after seeing what they could actually accomplish, I couldn't exactly argue with the stereotype.

They really were that good.

Honestly, seeing their work was impressive enough that I almost wished I had given them more ridiculous projects just to see what they would come up with. Well, the Guardian version 2.0 itself was already ridiculous, I guess...

"Take a look at these," Agneis said while gesturing toward the weapons displayed nearby.

She showed me several swords and other weapons that were so ridiculously high-grade that calling them merely high-class equipment felt almost insulting.

The weapons were on another level entirely.

Even the ordinary high-class weapons currently being used by the heroes weren't remotely comparable to these.

The difference was honestly a little ridiculous.

I reached toward one of the swords and considered picking it up, but for some reason, I suddenly felt like Ayuru and Samui would become jealous if they saw me casually carrying around another sword.

That alone was enough to make me reconsider.

"Why aren't you touching them?" Agneis asked while looking at me curiously. "Are they simply not to your taste?"

"Well, it isn't really a matter of whether they're to my taste or not," I replied while looking over the weapons. "It's more that holding another sword when I already have two perfect swords of my own would feel like I'm cheating, to be honest."

"Cheating is probably the last thing I would associate with you," Agneis replied with an amused expression.

She paused for a moment before giving me a knowing look.

"In fact, I don't think the word 'cheating' is even in your vocabulary, considering how many women you seem to have."