Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 640 The Emperor's Tacit Approval

"Your Majesty, this is the battle report from the Western Frontier sent back from Arid. Please take a look..."

Harvey took the transcribed report from his guard, quickly glanced through it, and found that the content mainly consisted of a report on the military operations in Rilke and a post-war summary.

As he had predicted, the operation against Arid was progressing very smoothly. The Northern Army deployed only three battalions, along with a 100-man airship combat squad, and easily captured the neighboring capital in less than a day. To avoid hindering post-war reconstruction, they did not even use high-explosive bombs to bombard the city from the air, but instead used a small number of long-range artillery pieces to break through the city gates, making portable artillery and machine guns the main force on the battlefield.

Even when they were forced to engage in close-quarters street fighting with the enemy in the city, they encountered almost no effective resistance. Count Westwind and the remnants of the Divine Punishment Faction were completely powerless to fight back.

The report was written in a formal and rigorous style. Harvey could tell at a glance that the first half was written by Vaughn himself, while the second half was obviously supplemented with details by the military staff, but the content surprised him slightly.

"Bring me that strange pill mentioned in the letter."

The guard quickly held the wooden box with both hands and respectfully placed it in front of Harvey. He then used his fingertips to pry open the lid and took out a dark, finger-sized ball from inside.

A familiar feeling stirred within him, and he immediately ordered, "Summon Health Minister Egno to come see me."

After waiting for about half an hour, the extremely busy hybrid elf hurriedly arrived at the palace and rushed into Harvey's office.

“Take these pills back and try to conduct pharmacological analysis. The battle reports from the front lines mention that after mortals take them, they will temporarily stimulate the bloodline power that is originally difficult to awaken, greatly increasing their strength and making them immune to pain. I want to know how the Divine Punishment Sect made them, and what the specific formula is.”

Egno carefully picked up a pill, brought it to his nose and sniffed it. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Your Majesty, I can now confirm that this thing is different from the Demon Clan's Blood-Calling Elixir. At least it does not contain any magical creature's flesh or blood."

"Could it be... that the Church used the properties of the newly formed fragments to catalyze their creation when it previously controlled them?"

Harvey shook his head, finding it strange himself. "There are indeed some magical fluctuations in the pill that I find familiar, but the characteristic of the new rules is to heal and grow, which does not help to stimulate bloodline abilities. So I suspect that the Divine Punishment faction added other strange magical materials into it."

He paused, then patiently explained to Egno, “The ingredients of this pill seem to have extremely severe side effects, but if we can successfully crack and improve the formula, I think it can be applied to those who previously underwent the bloodline awakening ritual but ultimately failed, in an attempt to reactivate the bloodline talents within them… In this way, the number of superhuman soldiers in the special operations team can be directly doubled.”

Egno's spirits lifted, and he quickly picked up the medicine box from the table, bowed to Harvey, and said, "Understood. I'll go and arrange for a pharmaceutical research team to analyze the pill's ingredients!"

……

After Egno left, Asdaren and Pierce walked into the office almost right on time. Harvey raised an eyebrow and smiled, "So, what do you think of... Vaughn and his team's decisions in Rilke this time?"

"Your Majesty means... ordering the burning of the caves where the defeated were imprisoned, and the execution of all the noble prisoners and believers of divine punishment in Rilke?" Pierce asked tentatively, looking somewhat uneasy.

“Don’t worry, I have no intention of holding anyone responsible. You two can speak freely.” Harvey shrugged and waved for the two to sit down and talk in detail.

Pierce breathed a sigh of relief and explained frankly, "Although I did not give the order directly, after receiving the report, I believe that Vaughn and the others' decision was correct... The nobles and believers who have completely submitted to the Church's Divine Punishment faction need to be wiped out completely with swift and decisive measures. Any remnants left behind will be like rats in the sewers, causing trouble for us at any time."

Harvey stroked his chin and teased, "Vaughn is indeed someone you personally trained; his style is direct and brutal... I originally thought Asdaren would instruct you to send those people to the Holy City, to mingle with the moderate believers, and jointly carry out the Watchdog Plan..."

Asdaren chuckled and said, "Your Majesty did indeed anticipate my previous plan. The General Staff originally planned to relocate all the remnants of the Papacy and believers in Rilke to the Holy City... but after our spies learned about the enhancement pills, I changed my mind."

This enhancement drug, secretly controlled by the Divine Punishment Faction, seems to have failed to play its due role in this battle... But if the pills were to secretly spread, or even unknowingly flow into Saint Valen and fall into the hands of the radical remnants of the Papacy lurking throughout the kingdom, it would likely cause unrest in the local areas. The municipal officials painstakingly trained by the Ministry of State are powerless and would find it difficult to resist the suicide attacks of those who take the drug and perish together with them.

Harvey nodded and said, "That's right. I have already ordered the Ministry of Health and Welfare to start analyzing the drug's ingredients, but we shouldn't let our guard down. Intelligence agencies in various regions need to be more vigilant than ever before and keep a close eye on any clues about this enhancement drug."

Pierce whispered, "Your Majesty, so...you really don't intend to hold Vaughn and his men accountable for their abuse of power?"

More than three thousand prisoners—perfect candidates for forced labor and slavery. If this were Xinghuo City, which was in dire need of labor in the past, the city hall would have torn them to pieces even if the emperor himself tacitly approved, upon learning that the army dared to massacre so many surrendered soldiers.

“Using swift and decisive measures when necessary is not unacceptable,” Harvey said calmly. “It’s just that they acted too hastily and didn’t leave any valuable intelligence-gathering prisoners for interrogation. When they move on to the surrounding areas to wipe out the remnants of the Divine Punishment, things probably won’t go as smoothly as they have now.”

No matter how much the news is suppressed, the actions of the Northern Army in Rilke will eventually be known. The Northern Army's stance of not accepting surrender and exterminating the Papacy's Divine Punishment faction from top to bottom will inevitably arouse more intense resistance from the scattered remnants of Divine Punishment.

Fortunately, Asdaren was prepared for this. "Your Majesty, please rest assured. The General Staff and the Intelligence Section have anticipated this situation. Secret police and intelligence personnel have been deployed to neighboring countries in advance. To deal with these radical remnants of the church, we can also keep the enemy in the open while we remain in the shadows."

Harvey hummed in agreement, putting that minor concern out of his mind.

"Inform Ash that I plan to meet with two sea creature delegations from the southern seas tomorrow afternoon."

(End of this chapter)