Magic Industrial Age.

Chapter 429-427: Battle Damage and Invitations (Bonus Chapter 4)

Lion Estate

On the second floor, in the study, most of Luo Yi's high-ranking combat forces had already gathered.

Guardian Oliveira, Flame Sword Saint Otto, Scourge Mage Lady Palacios, and Magic Warship Captain Walter.

Hoover, the butler, led Mira Greenman to serve tea and snacks to the group.

Luo Yi sat behind her desk, her fingers tracing patterns on the numerous documents and information on the surface.

There were newspapers, letters, handwritten papers, and parchment scrolls...

In just over ten days, so much has been accumulated again.

The most eye-catching items are the seashells placed at the very beginning. There are so many of them that they are upside down, just like stacked bowls and plates!
This is a letter from the Siren King, with magical light shimmering on it, spreading outwards in gentle ripples.

But Luo Yi didn't rush to read it; instead, she took out a newspaper and quickly browsed through it.

In a maximum of three seconds, a page of information can be read, followed by letters, papers, and even more precious parchment scrolls.

This information was collected, organized, and summarized by DeepBlue, and finally expressed in plain language.

Luo Yi glanced at it and was immediately drawn to it.

Because the first document was a post-war loss statistics report.

On the Habs Empire's side, relying on the effectiveness of their magical weapons, they initially suffered almost no casualties.

It wasn't until the war reached a stalemate and the Allied forces began to resort to any means necessary that they suffered heavy casualties.

In particular, the appearance of the Undead Scourge has claimed the lives of many Imperial soldiers.

The greatest casualties occurred on the battlefield of the Marne.

Imperial soldiers' lives were thrown in like water, onto battlefields where ordinary people shouldn't have been, resulting in almost exaggerated losses.

The final count showed that the Empire lost approximately 200,000 elite soldiers.

Please note that the First and Second Army Groups suffered the most losses.

This is the ace of the empire, undertaking the most difficult assault missions in war and appearing on the most dangerous battlefields.

Their losses represent a decline in the strength of the main force.

Currently, the Empire has begun to replenish its ranks by drawing elite soldiers who have been battle-hardened from the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Legions.

Of course, the Empire suffered heavy losses, but compared to the Allied forces, it was nothing.

According to current statistics, the losses suffered by the allied forces are roughly three times that of the Empire.

In other words, at least 600,000 of their elite soldiers died from the barrage of magic-powered machine guns and the bombardment of artillery.

If the Empire only sheds blood in key battles, then the Allied Forces suffer enormous casualties at all times.

In the early stages of the war, they were still deeply immersed in the traditional tactics of knights charging and crushing all enemies.

Then, under the bombardment of the magic cannon, they were all reduced to mangled limbs.

During this period, the knights who died, the squires, and the apprentices were the most skilled fighters of the Bonaparte dynasty.

By the middle of the war, a large number of militiamen were sent to the battlefield.

Although the mission was to delay the Imperial Legion's advance and achieved its objective, the losses and prisoners suffered during the process are countless.

In the later stages of the war, during the Battle of the Marne, even the Imperial elite suffered heavy losses, let alone the Allied forces.

They had to send their most elite soldiers to the battlefield in order to stop the enemy's advance as much as possible.

At this stage, even third-tier extraordinary powerhouses became consumables.

In these three phases, the coalition forces were almost constantly bleeding, with casualties reaching 600,000, and this only counts the dead.

This doesn't even include the captured soldiers.

According to reliable sources, the Empire has captured more than 400,000 militiamen.

They were all poured into numerous construction projects by the empire, becoming the cheapest labor force.

Even Luo Yi's side purchased a batch of them from the mines within the Dome Mountain Range to serve as miners.

In other words, the Bonaparte Empire lost more than a million people.

Please note that this million people does not include men, women, the elderly, and children, but only young and middle-aged adults.

Their deaths or captures represent the shattering of millions of families behind them.

And this doesn't even include the losses of the Slavic Empire, the casualties of the Sardinian expeditionary force, the fighting on the Silver Sea, or the losses of overseas colonies...

During wartime, one might not feel anything special, as everything is solely for the sake of victory!

But if these numbers were laid out on the table, it would be difficult for anyone to remain calm upon seeing them.

And all of this is just to fulfill the ambitions of certain people.

In addition, from the Empire's side, there were vague rumors that the great Hohenzollern III was very dissatisfied with the retreat from the Marne.

The Emperor's anger always had to be borne by someone, and Marshal Moltke the Younger was thus blamed.

Many criticized him for not faithfully implementing the Schlieffen Plan, and for diverting too many troops to support the Eastern Front at a critical moment in the Western Front campaign.

It was precisely because the city of Luttia was not captured immediately that the allied forces had the opportunity to react, thus dragging the battlefield into a stalemate.

These accusations have some merit.

It was precisely because of this logic that Marshal Moltke Jr. bore immense pressure, and thus, the Imperial Military seemed to be plotting something even bigger to secure victory.

Meanwhile, the allied forces were not idle either.

The previous war was too hasty, and many things were not agreed upon. Although all three parties participated in the war, they could hardly be said to have any tacit understanding.

Therefore, this time, there are subtle hints of what's to come.

Once the fighting subsided, the three parties met at a certain place to have a proper talk and discuss the specifics of their cooperation.

There were even rumors that the meeting was hosted by the Church of the Sun.

Of course, the church vehemently denied this, declaring more than once that it would not interfere in secular wars.

But that's just something you can fool a fool with.

Their appearance at the Battle of the Marne already said it all.

Moreover, Loy knew that the Church of the Sun God must have participated in this meeting.

Because Luo Yi received more orders, in addition to weapons, she also needed a lot of processing machinery and firearms manufacturing technology.

Furthermore, news came from Grand Duke Carlisle that the sacred combat techniques that Roy wanted were on the horizon.

Therefore, although the Battle of the Marne had ended, it only signified the beginning of the next phase of this struggle for imperial supremacy.
Rather than the end of the war.

This struggle for imperial supremacy has only just begun!
Shaking her head to clear her mind, Luo Yi finally gathered all the documents and tossed them into the box next to her.

Then, he picked up the letter from Alexius, the Siren King.

The pure white seashell unfolded, revealing twisted black characters. After Luo Yi channeled her magic, the twisted characters reformed.

This is considered an encryption method used by the Siren tribe. Magic must be injected into these seashells beforehand to mark them.

Reading requires a person's magical qualities to activate it, somewhat like fingerprint unlocking.

Although some people can decipher it, obtaining the information within is not easy.

Luo Yi certainly didn't recognize the sea creature's script, but with Deep Blue's automatic translation, annotations appeared next to the black text.

Luo Yi, however, read on carefully, without showing any of her previous impatience.

He even waved his hand, breaking the silence in the room, and said, "Walter, why don't you tell everyone the basic situation?"

Walter stood up, first bowing to Loy, then slightly to the people around him, before clearing his throat and speaking.

"Alexius the Siren King, you should all be familiar with him, he is our ally among the sea creatures."

"He had already set off before the Imperial War, from the Silver Sea to the endless ocean, to find the governor of the northeastern province of the Naga Empire, Prince Antirochus."

And I am the liaison officer appointed by the Earl.

"To be honest, things are turbulent above the Silver Sea, and they're not much better below it either."

"Although the Siren King Alexius hired a guide, and the guide was quite capable, the journey was still fraught with difficulties!"

"Many times, I lost contact with them and thought they had met with some misfortune."

Fortunately, despite the difficulties, they persevered and finally reached R'lyeh, the legendary underwater city, located in the heart of the Naga Empire's northeastern province!

"Then they disappeared again, without revealing any information."

This time, however, I chose to wait patiently.

"As a result, I didn't receive a message from Alexius, the Siren King, but I did receive a tiger shark warrior who came to my door."

"His identity is that of a member of the royal guard of Prince Antirochus of the Naga Empire."

However, he was ordered to come here as a messenger.

"These letters were delivered by him."

"I've had a lot of dealings with the sea creatures lately and I've learned a lot about them, so when the tiger shark warrior was leaving, I gave him a lot of good stuff."

Many of the gifts, in particular, are extremely precious to the sea creatures.

"And that's when we got some information from him."

"The Siren King Alexius is not dead yet, and he has also met with a high-ranking member of the Naga Empire."

They weren't actually opposed to trade with land-based entities, but they didn't trust Alexius.

"They want to talk to the people behind Alexius."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's eyes turned to Luo Yi.

Otto, the Flame Sword Saint, chimed in, "Let them talk if they want. They can find an island at sea, sit down, and have a chat."

Walter gave a wry smile: "It's probably not that simple!"

"What do you mean?"

Luo Yi finally looked up, shook the seashell in her hand, and said, "They don't mean to talk at sea."

"They want me to go to the underwater city of R'lyeh!"

These words caused an uproar among the crowd. Even the usually composed Oliveira stood up abruptly, his face grim.

　Update, update!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)