Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 433 Don’t you dare look into my eyes?
A wild-looking steam locomotive turned a corner and stopped abruptly with the deafening roar of the engine. The tires rubbed two black and hot tracks on the ground. Then the door opened, and His Majesty Fei Er, the chief judge of the Balance of Order, jumped out, took off his dark red goggles, and sighed with relief: "I haven't had such a good time speeding in a long time. It's so cool!"

The four ship stewards of the Scarlet Nightmonte immediately left the vehicle, but at this moment they all looked pale and frightened. Even the most muscular Durahar was no exception. If you looked closely, you could see that his calves were shaking constantly. It was hard to imagine what kind of inhuman torture he had experienced in the past half hour.

To be able to make these ship officers, who were driving the speeding Feiyemente as if it were flat ground, show such expressions, His Majesty Fei'er's driving skills are still as superb as before.

Dickens sighed in his heart.

Fei Er closed the car door, took a look at the battle scene in the swamp, and asked, "It looks like it has already started. Am I late?"

"No." Dickens smiled and replied, "You are just in time, Your Majesty."

"Yes." Christian said seriously, "You are one minute and thirty-six seconds behind the estimated time of arrival, Lord Fei Er."

The two people's answers in unison but completely different made Fei Er a little embarrassed. She scratched her cheek, chuckled, pointed at her Chief Political Officer and said, "You are a little too smooth, Dickens."

Then he looked at his chief clerk: "As for you, you are a little too serious, Christian. Are all your clerks like this? I am almost annoyed by Minte. She must include my swearing in the meeting - ah, I mean, some not-so-nice words in the report. She won't listen to anything I say. Did she learn this from you?"

"Conference reports are important archival materials, and their completeness and accuracy should be given top priority," Christian said meticulously. "So I think Minte's approach is absolutely correct."

"Here you go again." Fei Er sighed helplessly: "Didn't I tell you that I'm just here to cheat and get a grade? Why do you all want me to work? This is true for my elder sister and Melquiades."

"You have a point, but there is only one thing I can do, and that is to trust my subordinates." Fei Er muttered, and at the same time picked up the Super Vision Assist plug-in and briefly observed the battle situation in the swamp. A huge dark blue crystal wall field visible to the naked eye covered the entire swamp, and irregular shapes were drawn along its edge. That was the "blockade field", which was equivalent to a cage. It can effectively prevent targets with violent magic reactions from leaving the battlefield. In other words, targets above demigods. If this thing had been there when we fought against the Earth Mother Spirit God-Titan in the Salia Field, I'm afraid we wouldn't need the help of that group of unknown guys.

Fei Er shrugged.

Dickens smiled slightly, not caring about Her Majesty's evaluation of him. Instead, he handed the Super-Vision Auxiliary Plug-in in his hand to her and said, "Sir Andrew has arrived at the front battlefield in person. The combat command of the troops will be handed over to you, Your Majesty Fei Er. With you here, the morale of the soldiers will surely be higher."

Dickens put it succinctly: "He who can do more will do more, Your Majesty."

The bombardment left charred marks, and the lush branches and cold mud began to burn. The blazing flames broke through the dark night, and seemed to set off the enchanting blood moon in the sky. The moonlight mixed the blood and mud, dyeing them the same color. Corpses were everywhere, and panic and wailing spread like an infection, but they could not move the hard hearts wrapped in steel armor.

"Well, I can't argue with you."

Inside the swamp, rumbling steam chariots were lined up in a row, and were being pushed forward into the depths of the swamp by the magic furnace and steam engine. The dirty water and soft mud could not stop these track-driven heavy-duty vehicles. The bodies wrapped in steel and Orichalcum alloy were like prehistoric beasts, knocking down countless ancient and tall trees along the way, leaving behind a devastated scene. The magic beams gushing out from the muzzles were like dense light rain all over the sky, and falling into the forest and fog were the symbol of death.

The fully armed magic knights moved inwards in coordination with the chariots, gradually tightening the blockade and forcing the fleeing aliens to the expected bombardment area. In the fog, teams of silver-white crows could be vaguely seen flying in the sky. They were in neat formation, spewing star-blue flames from behind. Every time they turned or accelerated, they would draw a beautiful arc trajectory in the blurred and heavy fog particles. In essence, the mecha troops were crossing the sky battlefield and launching attacks from a high position.

But their targets were not the swamp creatures driven away by the chariot and knight troops, but the huge shadows in the fog, like black monsters, lurking in the depths of the tide and forest. They had been standing here for hundreds of years, and they thought they would not change for thousands of years to come, but the bombardment from the sky instantly shattered their hard shells, causing all the earth, stone and wood buildings to collapse, burying countless traces of the old times.

"The mecha troop is demolishing the illegal buildings in the swamp." Dickens said softly, "Most of these buildings were built by the alien families who fled into the swamp, led by the five major families of Motosh. They may have arranged various secret rituals or magic arrays in their last hiding place to resist invaders. It would be troublesome to check them one by one, so I ordered the mecha troop to demolish them directly and destroy them on the spot to ensure that the subsequent Doomsday Fire can play the greatest effect."

"Not a bad idea." Fei Er commented.

Conrad, the third ship officer of the Feiyemente, was quite regretful: "I heard that the five major families of Motosh have a long history and have been deeply assimilated into human civilization. From the Middle Ages to the present, they must have collected a lot of rare treasures or works of art. Now they are all burned. It's a pity." Fei Er grinned: "When did you like to become so mercenary, Conrad. Losing some insignificant things in exchange for a hearty victory, isn't it great?"

“No, Master Fei Er, you misunderstood me.” Conrad said seriously, “I just thought that if we could get the collections of the five major families and the wealth accumulated over generations, maybe Master Melquiades wouldn’t have to worry about the financial report of the Fei Ye Men Te next quarter.”

Because Melquíades is the unlucky guy who is in charge of the financial affairs of the Scarlett Johansson, and what's even more unlucky is that he has a boss who spends money lavishly and likes to make impulsive purchases.

Fei Er immediately turned around and asked Dickens seriously: "Is it too late to withdraw the order now?"

Dickens: “…I’m afraid it’s a little late.”

"Okay, next time you encounter this situation, you can tell me in advance." Fei Er gave up the idea depressedly and put his attention back to the business: "How is the situation of the end fire?"

"It's still on the way, but it should be delivered within the expected time."

"Well, tell the escort team to be careful. That stuff is dangerous. Don't burn my airship by accident. By the way, the factory that makes these end fires is the Rutal Steam Engine Factory, right? I heard that the Valenhild family in the Port of Sad Rain has colluded with the aliens?"

"We deliberately put out the bait, and they took the bait."

"That's great. The person responsible will be sentenced to death, and the others will be exiled. All the property of the Valenhild family will be nationalized. The Rutal Steam Engine Factory will be responsible for producing steam machinery and magic devices for the Holy See. As for those manors, lands and mansions, some will be converted into orphanages, and the other part will be converted into schools. Let my colleagues in the Initial Sect start the work of popularizing compulsory education in the Harbor of Rain as soon as possible. In this way, Sixth Sister will probably be very grateful to me, hehe."

Dickens had to cough lightly: "Lord Fei Er..."

"how?"

"The battle is not over yet."

This starts to make us consider what to do with the spoils?
"That's right."

Fei Er regained consciousness, put down the Super Vision Assist plug-in in his hand, turned his head to look at his ship officers, and said, "Although I am here to take the test, I still have to give the Special Assessment Bureau a face. Let's do something to prove that I have contributed. So, Ashelila, you will command the knight troops; Dulahar, you will command the tank troops; Langning, you will be responsible for commanding the mecha troops; Conrad, you will coordinate in the rear and control the battle rhythm. By the way, make a list for the logistics department and count what supplies need to be replenished."

She gave the order in an orderly manner. The four ship officers did not come to the Siqilia Peninsula for the purpose of getting the test score. If they just watched, they would feel bad, so they readily accepted this arrangement. Christian, on the other hand, watched silently for a while, and suddenly asked, "Lord Fei Er, you are not too lazy to command, so you gave the task to others?"

"Haha, of course that's impossible! What made you think that, Christian?"

"In that case, why are you avoiding my gaze?"

"Uh!"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)