Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 209

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 209. The Heavenly Demon’s Most Terrifying Aspect Is Indeed Having a Different Worldview (1)
Once our altitude stabilized after takeoff, I noticed our military’s warships swarming together like a hive. This operation deserved the name “total offensive”—we’d mobilized an overwhelming amount of firepower. Two aircraft carriers, fifty cruisers, eighty destroyers, plus fast attack craft, escort vessels, and battleships totaling two hundred ships. If we couldn’t conquer the Capital with all of this, I’d abandon the Princess and be done with it!
“Your Majesty, Commander-in-Chief, if you’ll just sign the contract, we can sortie immediately.”
“….”
“….”
So he really did bring that. Father and I stared reluctantly at the contract the Air Force Master Sergeant had produced. When we insisted on conducting the air assault, the Nobility Council had demanded that if the operation failed, the Imperial Palace would bear all the expedition costs—that was the proposal we’d reluctantly agreed to.
“What’s the estimated expense?”
“At minimum, approximately one hundred trillion Lakma.”
“The Princess and I will each cover fifty trillion.”
Just you wait, you nobles. Just you wait, Duke Alset, head of the Aristocratic Assembly. Once next year comes and Larima comes of age, I’m going to pressure you to hand over the dukedom to her.
“I don’t care! I’m not paying! If we fail, I’ll just settle somewhere near Astiages!”
“Ha, so you’d end up like the Teutonic Order State?”
What’s that supposed to mean? I don’t know—he’s a history enthusiast. History buffs always seem to assume everyone else shares their obscure knowledge.
Since I couldn’t understand what Croa was joking about, my eyes went wide, but Croa just looked at me like I was the strange one and calmly brought up another unfamiliar reference.
“You do know about the Brandenburg-Prussia merger, don’t you?”
“Nanakda, how are the warp stones coming along?”
“All green! Ready to activate whenever!”
“Excellent! Let’s go!”
The moment I gave the signal, Nanakda radioed coordinates to be locked in, and the super-calculator connected to the warp stone began radiating intense heat like mad. This thing isn’t going to explode on us, is it?
“Didn’t this originally require a cooling system? Is this an improved version?”
“It’s disposable, so it doesn’t matter if it breaks!”
Huh? They’re using something this expensive as a single-use item? The thought processes of wealthy people are incomprehensible. I tilted my head in confusion, but Father and Shirley seemed to have realized something—they both frowned as if deeply troubled. What is it? What can intelligent people figure out from this that I’m missing?
“Activation in ten seconds. Prepare for the shock after warping.”
“Open all channels! After warping, there may be physical shock and dizziness, so have all soldiers prepare!”
I issued orders to the entire force and gripped the safety rail in the bridge. It was amusing watching the untrained Chief Chamberlain and Croa cling tightly to Father and me respectively.
“Ugh.”
After a brief moment of dizziness, we were transported to the airspace above the Capital of Astiages, and radio communications flooded in.
“Two Heracles-class cruisers have gone silent!”
“Multiple escort vessels on the perimeter are lost!”
“Both aircraft carriers have been successfully relocated!”
“Message from the Army! One hundred fifty light tanks and one hundred heavy tanks relocated with zero casualties!”
Hmm, as expected, measuring range during aerial displacement isn’t perfect. Still, we only left some equipment behind in Kisomalos—at least nothing materialized halfway or got split between locations above Astiages, so that’s fortunate.
As casualty reports continued coming in, the final tally showed that over ninety percent of our prepared forces had been successfully relocated. This warp stone technology is genuinely excellent. With just the intention to move, we can launch surprise attacks from anywhere, right? The stability is outstanding and troop preservation rates are favorable. If I demand the technology be handed over, they’ll never comply willingly, so maybe I should just have Nanakda arrested and tortured to extract the warp stone manufacturing method and how to build the super-calculator?
I was thinking exactly that and about to summon the military’s interrogation officer when Nanakda beat me to it.
“The coordinate calculator—we destroyed everything from the blueprints to the factory. As for the warp stone creator, they took their own life for world peace.”
“….”
So that’s why Father and Shirley had looked so reluctant earlier. They’re saying they’ll cooperate this once for their revenge, but they won’t allow warp technology to be used in warfare.
“Hmph.”
I shot Nanakda a glare and radioed orders to the rear Army Engineers to establish wireless communication base stations first.
That Nanakda, claiming they “took their own life,” but given their nature, they probably wouldn’t kill someone so easily—they likely gave them escape funds and told them to hide for the rest of their lives. I can only hope and conduct a search based on that possibility, though of course, if Nanakda deliberately hides someone, finding them won’t be easy.
“Pisha.”
Shirley gestured for me to watch the battlefield. True, there was no point worrying about Nanakda now. I’d anticipated what he might do, but I hadn’t expected him to lay such groundwork from the very start.
“All aircraft squadrons, launch! Once we break through this line, the city is ours!”
Occupying the city would be a breeze. It wouldn’t even take half a day.
We advanced cautiously against anti-aircraft fire, unleashing emetic agents first as planned, then dispersing chemical weapons. One volley of this and everything below would go silent. Completely silent.
I checked the area below through the bridge’s viewport and the binoculars distributed to each officer, then looked ahead. I could see airships hastily launched from the Capital of Avestha. A fleet battle was about to begin.
“Tank units! Order them to take an alternate route! We still have gas!”
“Yes, sir!”
Well then, perhaps I should spend this moment praying that stray bullets don’t reach the rear units. I was actually thinking of begging Grant for salvation, given that the Cult Leader was here too, when an odd transmission came from the forward units.
“Two o’clock! An unidentified flying object is approaching!”
An unidentified flying object? Was there something flying around besides aircraft and airships?
Wondering if it was Astiages’ new technology, I picked up the telescope and saw something genuinely strange approaching.
“What is that?”
“I have no idea?”
“A flying… plate?”
“Astiages has technology like that?!”
“Intelligence division! No, Nanakda! You know what that is and didn’t tell us?!”
“Don’t blame an innocent person! I’ve never seen anything like that either!”
But that’s your sister! Your sister rides in that thing and you’re saying you’ve never seen it?! Suspicious, I grabbed Nanakda by the collar and shook him roughly, when his five subordinates appeared and seized my arms, pulling me away.
Let go! This reminds me of Gyeol and puts me in a foul mood!
“Please calm yourself, Your Highness!”
“We truly knew nothing of this!”
“One thing is certain—Astiages does not possess such technology!”
“Could it be related to… Astiages herself?!”
“That’s it! The First Princess of Astiages suddenly changed her hair and eye color, so it could be connected!”
The First Princess of Astiages wasn’t originally black-haired with red eyes?! Now that I think about it, she didn’t have those colors when she was younger! All her siblings have silver hair and golden eyes, so it was odd that she alone had black hair and red eyes!
“Wait, hold on.”
Something’s nagging at my memory.
“That thing… didn’t Kirke say that when Astiages people change like that, they become a Heavenly Demon or something?”
“Oh! I remember now! She said it was a side effect of learning Demonic Arts!”
What are Demonic Arts?! Wait, now that she mentions Heavenly Demon, something else is coming back to me.
“Croa, Croa, do you remember? That prophecy my Aunt made with magic!”
“The Heavenly Demon, so… when the Heavenly Demon returns? The Ten Thousand Demons shall bow? And when the Sacred Flame burns, the Demonic Way shall rule the world? Something like that, I think!”
I didn’t understand any of it back then, but Croa is fluent in Southern languages! Croa was always strong with languages!
“What exactly is a Heavenly Demon!”
Didn’t they say the continent would be drenched in blood when it appears? Isn’t that incredibly dangerous?
“F-Fire! Barrage fire, now!”
Still, it’s a person, so it should die if we shoot it, right? I turned each fleet’s gun turrets toward two o’clock and shouted “Fire!” at the unidentified flying object.
With a thunderous explosion and black smoke billowing up, the flying object remarkably pierced through and advanced rapidly toward the Kisomalos fleet.
“Annihilation!”
The woman’s voice thundered across the heavens, reverberating in all directions. Something felt profoundly wrong. Humans simply couldn’t do this, could they? How could mere words alone strike such terror into an opponent’s heart, make the very air tremble? Choco possessed the ability to project her voice across vast distances while speaking softly, yet even that fell within the realm of what we’d consider humanly possible—barely.
Crack!
The First Princess—no, the Emperor of Astiages—roared like thunder itself, and genuine thunder answered her call. Dark clouds coalesced overhead, and a crimson aura erupted from the Emperor’s blade with a piercing shriek.
Crash!
Even witnessing it, I couldn’t believe my eyes. A single cruiser—cleaved in two by the energy unleashed from a single sword stroke. The airship, split vertically down its length, plummeted earthward with a deafening roar.
“…Any warp stones left?”
“None.”
It seemed like a good time to retreat.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————