Chapter 1308: The Great Evacuation of Archduke Island

Via the flying animal courier, the evacuation command rapidly spread outwards from Cage Mountain.

The instructions were carried out to the maximum capability wherever there were Graycastle forces. There was no prevarication or fooling around. Over half a year under Roland Wimbledon was enough to make the nobles who chose to serve him clear about the way he did things.

Honestly, they were shocked by the unexpected “power” they were exhibiting themselves—going all out in the current situation, they were achieving demands they used to think impossible. When they encountered a complex problem, they thought about it and then solved it. Although they were still the same group of people, they produced vastly distinct results under a different governing system.

Baron Jean Bate was one of these people.

Jean Bate felt conflicted as he watched the busy scene inside his mansion. Originally, he regarded his family as an insignificant family lacking in both ability and ambition. It was only because he posed no threat to them that the King of Wolfheart, Tusk and Redstone allowed him to perpetually manage Sedimentation Bay, thus maintaining the fine balance between the noble families.

Now, his scholars and subordinates were responsible for planning the movements of tens of thousands of people and thousands of ships. Even though a large number of those were fishing ships, they were under his jurisdiction nevertheless as even the smallest of ships needed to be docked before they could be unloaded. Tens of thousands of people was equivalent to the total population of a large inner city in the continent and the number of ships he now controlled was more than all the merchant ships docked on the shores of Wolfheart added together.

Ordinarily, the baron would never believe that his family could manage a project of such immense scale. If someone had suggested it prior, he would have thought that they were either joking or didn’t understand the complexities of management at all.

Now, Jean Bate realized that not only had he underestimated his own abilities, he had underestimated his clan’s.

As long as they were given a hard push, and led via appropriate methods and regulations, astonishing potential could be squeezed forth from the people.

In the beginning, he mostly served Graycastle because he had no other choice; after all, the fate of his family and assets had been completely in Graycastle’s hands; disobedience was not an option. Gradually, however, he found himself taking a liking to this feeling. Thousands of people moved just from a single command of his, accomplishing their given task with high precision and efficiency. Perhaps this was the true essence behind power.

Even though he had many more superiors above him compared to the past, the power he held in his hands was now far more physical and tangible, and he was certain from the energetic expressions on their faces as they rushed about that his subordinates shared his sentiments.

Leading one hundred intelligent people surpasses leading ten thousand idiots by far.This was probably the most memorable lesson the baron got out of this.

This governing regime, which was polar opposite to the “aristocrat way”, could turn not-so-bright people into clever ones. Then what would be the potential of people who were naturally geniuses?

Jean Bate no longer held any doubts that Roland Wimbledon would become Emperor over the four countries.

—That is, as long as humans could survive the Battle of Divine Will.

…

Reminiscent to the higher-class managers, the situation among the civilians was also hectic.

What Graycastle had demonstrated in the past—that they were true to their words and always repaid their debts—caused their evacuation announcement to be held in high esteem. Upon hearing that the First Army was handing out a munificent reward to all who helped transport soldiers and weapons, everyone who had the ability actively participated in order to get a share of the spoils.

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People who relied on the sea to make a living were the first to respond. The sailors had been searching all over the place to borrow carriages in hopes of transporting goods on the mainland to earn a living. Now, they were all returning to their main professions.

Following them were the fishermen. The value of the reward given by the First Army was calculated by the number of people and weight of cargo transported. Because the strait separating Archduke Island and the mainland was not wide, people were bringing out their sloops and even their heirloom dinghies. If they didn’t have sails, they used paddles. Just one round trip across the strait earned them several gold royals. Anyone could do the math.

Thus, in order to hold a larger number of people and supplies in one go, civilians even created multi-bodied dinghies and dinghies connected to each other in a train-like formation. To them, it was still worth it even if their creations broke apart after one or two voyages.

The First Army only made one requirement: “Boats are forbidden to contain any sort of shade that would block falling snow”. Aside from that, all other floating apparatuses were accepted without a question. Within a short period of time, the sea was covered in boats of all sizes coming and going from the shore. From afar, they looked like the migration of ants to different nests.

Of course, the Witch Alliance was not idle either.

“Seagull” was the most effective transporter out of all the transporting apparatuses. Within a day, it made almost fifty round trips between the two shores. Lightning and Maggie accompanied the Aerial Knights in patrolling the western side of Archduke Island, fighting away the occasional beasts that were scattered around the area. Molly and Hummingbird, coined the “ultimate pair”, made the originally extremely time-consuming labor of unloading a breeze. It could be said that without their help, it would have been impossible to undertake such a large-scale moving operation, especially when the handling capacities of a few harbor city wharfs were considered.

People, weapons, construction equipment… What had taken several weeks to transport onto Archduke Island were all transported back within a couple of days. Most people had expected such a hasty evacuation to end up in a catastrophe. It would have been unsurprising if over half of the paraphernalia went missing; in fact, managing to transport all the people back alone would have been a great feat. But reality proved that pretty much all of the objects came back in the same way they were delivered on the island. Excluding the abandoned construction materials and some insignificant tools, the losses incurred in items such as weapons and explosives were less than ten percent. The shockingly efficient management of this whole event reminded everybody of Graycastle’s prowess once more.

Just when the evacuation was nearing completion, Sylvie sent a warning of the highest threat-level to the command HQ!

Traces of a huge number of demons had appeared in the red haze!

…

At almost the exact same time, Hackzord “saw” the observer through the parasitic Eye Demons. It was as if she had suddenly materialized in his mind; her every single movement was clear and precise.

She was a female Awakened with long, curly green hair, the one described in Ursrook’s report as the key extermination target. With her extremely expansive wide field of view, she was strategically a huge threat to the demon race. Only a God’s Stone could stop her.

He silently remembered her appearance and looked away from her.

She was staying in the center of a highly guarded city. Getting rid of her was a good suggestion, but it was not something he needed to do personally. He was the King’s most important asset, his right-hand man. If he was harmed, it would be an indelible pity for the whole race. Thus there was no reason for him to put himself in danger.

What’s more, Hackzord had a more important target right now.

According to the reports of his sentries, the humans had been moving about a lot near the coast of Wolfheart, especially around Archduke Island. Clearly, his enemy had set their eyes on the strait and was not ready to hand it over to him on a silver platter.

Without question, the humans were going to pay a terrible price for their mistake.

According to the intel he acquired from the nobles in the Kingdom of Everwinter, the Graycastle’s army numbered in the tens of thousands. If he could devour all of the defending troops on Archduke Island in one fell swoop, it would deal a huge blow to the humans.

He was going to prove to all the other demons and grand lords that he, the Sky Lord, was also a grand lord that could lead the western front to victory!

With this in mind, Hackzord summoned the first distortion door!