Mystery: A Spark

Once Bernadette makes a strong comeback to Intis, without her having to do anything special, a certain degree of chaos will inevitably occur in Intis's political arena.

If she were to combine this with some political maneuvering, then Intis would be unlikely to send troops in the short term.

As for the Kingdom of Feneport, given Arthur's close business ties with them and the influence of the Church of the Earth Mother, as long as Rune doesn't show any signs of weakness, the probability of Feneport sending troops is not high.

Chapter 290 The trial begins

Of course, even though the probability is low, it's still necessary to take precautions.

However, if diplomatic means could be used to prevent the two countries of Fein from sending troops, it would be a huge benefit for Rune.

As the saying goes, the best strategy is to attack the enemy's plans; the next best is to disrupt their alliances.

Thinking you can challenge the whole world with the power of one country is something only an idiot would do.

Anyone with a sound mind would avoid putting themselves in a situation where they have to fight on multiple fronts.

As for how to reverse the war situation with Fussac, Arthur already had some ideas in mind.

First and foremost, of course, is to have sufficiently superior military equipment.

After all, as far as Arthur knew, there was only one army that could win despite being significantly outmatched in equipment.

The reason that family was able to win was not only because they had an extremely strong fighting spirit, but also because they had a god-like commander.

The "Four Crossings of the Chishui River" alone can fully illustrate the point; it is a famous war scene that cannot be replicated even in a retrospective analysis.

The fact that the bald man could hold out for so many years under these circumstances shows that it wasn't because he was bad at the game, but because his opponent was truly exceptionally strong.

The fighting spirit of the Rune army is naturally inferior to that of Arthur's iron army in his previous life, and it is unlikely that there are any bug-level figures like the instructor among its generals.

Therefore, Arthur could only compensate with equipment, attempting to reverse the disadvantage in the war through advanced military equipment.

His confidence stemmed from the protective umbrella company he had been working on for a long time.

Today, Umbrella Corporation has grown into a behemoth within Ruen, with businesses all over the country.

The most crucial of these is the large cluster of factories located in Ahowa County.

More accurately, it is a large cluster of psionic factories.

County Ahova is located on the south bank of the Tasok River, from where you can easily reach County Between Seas and County Winters by going upstream.

Furthermore, the area between here and the Horachis Mountains is a vast plain, meaning that supplies can be easily transported to the border between Rune and Intis.

Whether Rune is at war with Fusak or with Intis, the psionic factory cluster in this area can provide ample support.

Once this place starts producing military equipment at full capacity, it can give the enemy a small shock in terms of production capacity.

This is also the source of Arthur's confidence in starting a small-scale war with Fursac.

Unfortunately, George III's disastrous actions completely disrupted all of Arthur's plans, leaving him seething with resentment.

But no matter how much he hated, it was all in vain. After all, the person was dead, and Arthur could only look forward.

Ahova County can solve the problem of arming the Rune army, but it cannot solve another key problem.

That's a warship.

The navy in the Interseas has lost most of its strength, and it can't even muster a complete force. This has left Rune only able to passively take hits and unable to organize an effective offensive.

The Fusaks, on the other hand, could take the initiative through their naval superiority and even use the cannons on their warships to strike the land.

According to the intelligence sent back by Sharon, the army on the front line of Rune was forced to adopt a conservative and passive defense due to the threat of warships, and dared not take the initiative to attack the Fusak position located not far from the sea.

This situation clearly cannot last long.

Therefore, if Arthur wants to make a change in this war, the naval issue must be addressed.

"Bebe, do you think it would be a good idea to recall the navy from the Sunia Sea and the Southern Continent?" Arthur asked uncertainly after thinking for a while.

“It’s not a good solution,” Bernadette replied without hesitation. “It means that Rune is giving up its colonies in the Southern Continent and its control over the Sunia Sea, which will send a dangerous signal.”

"Moreover, the Fusaks also have considerable power in the Sunia Sea, so it is not advisable to tear down the east wall to repair the west wall."

Just like being injured and bleeding in the sea, it will inevitably attract the attention of a group of sharks.

"Yeah, I'm a little confused." Arthur pinched his temples, then couldn't help but curse, "Damn you, George III!"

The person who was most angry about this was not him, but the Church of Storms.

Because all of Rune's naval forces have intricate connections with the Church of Storms.

With so many being sent away at once, the hot-tempered old pigeons of the Storm Church might just want to drag George III out and skin him alive.

After a moment of silence, Arthur suddenly spoke, calling out:

"Alsace".

"Hey, I'm here." The little white dog appeared silently on the table in front of Arthur.

It had been observing from the shadows the whole time, since its presence would somewhat spoil the atmosphere when its master was with Bernadette.

But now that Arthur has called it, it can't let that delay its business.

"Invite the 'Deep Blue High Priest' Radar Valentine of the Church of Storms for me." Arthur reached out and patted the dog's head.

"Should I just go straight into the Cathedral of Holy Wind to find him? Won't I get struck by lightning?" Arthas was a little stunned.

"No, you can go."

"OK then."

……

A short while later, with a gust of wind, Radar Valentine, with his short dark blue hair, thick beard, and black robe, flew directly into the room through the window.

As soon as he landed, he saw a figure that was completely unexpected.

"The Mysterious Queen?" Looking at the woman massaging Arthur, Radar Valentine thought he was hallucinating.

Bernadette glanced up at him, ignored him, and her body vanished into the room like bubbles.

“Ahem, Archbishop Valentine, please have a seat. Due to some special reasons, I cannot provide you with proper hospitality right now. I hope you don’t mind,” Arthur said, sitting up straight.

“…I don’t mind,” Radar Valentine said, sitting down and shaking his head.

Letting him have such a juicy piece of gossip today is more delightful than any kind of hospitality.

"Let's get down to business." Sensing the atmosphere was becoming a bit awkward, Arthur decisively changed the subject. "The Archbishop is surely well aware of the current situation. What I want to ask is, does the Church of Storms still have enough power to contend with Fursac?"

“It’s impossible to fight back. At most, we can only call on a small number of naval forces from other places to harass them,” Radar Valentine sighed in frustration.

After the Backlund air raid, he first took charge of the defense of the Cathedral of the Holy Wind, and then immediately communicated with the bishops of other dioceses to determine the extent of damage to the Kingdom's navy. He didn't even have time to cause trouble for George III.

After dealing with all the troubles in the church, George III had already died, leaving him with a belly full of anger and nowhere to vent it, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

"So you mean to temporarily relax control over the Sunia Sea and the Southern Continent? Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Arthur asked.

“There are risks, of course, but if we want to regain the initiative in the Interseas, this is the only way,” Radar Valentine said in a deep voice.

Silence fell over the room. After a while, Arthur slowly spoke and asked:

"What if we defend against Fusak with only the army and airship forces, while the shipyards in the rear ramp up production?"

“No matter how fast production is accelerated, it will still take a long enough time and a large enough quantity to be of use. What’s the point of having one or two more?” Radar Valentine shook his head.

"Is the Fursac still primarily composed of sailing battleships?" Arthur suddenly asked a strange question.

"Yes, we are the only ones in the world who have built the only ironclad warship, the USS Pritz. They are still far behind."

After saying that, Radar Valentine seemed to realize something:

"You mean we should abandon sailing battleships and form a fleet entirely of ironclads? That's impossible. A single ironclad has already consumed a lot of our resources and energy, and we don't have enough time to rebuild a fleet from scratch."

“That’s because our past production methods were too outdated.” Arthur tapped the table lightly.

“I know you’re talking about psionic power. In fact, some of our shipyards have already undergone psionic modifications, but as I said before, we don’t have enough time to build a fleet consisting entirely of ironclad warships,” Radar Valentine said seriously.

“We don’t need a fleet, just a few ships will do,” Arthur said with a smile.

He has found the key to getting out of this predicament.

“Ironclad warships can’t do that. Although they are powerful, they can’t control a sea area with just a few ships.” Radar looked at the young man in front of him and felt that the other party was having some unrealistic ideas.

“I’m not talking about ironclad ships,” Arthur said, leaning forward slightly. “I’m talking about dreadnoughts.”

"A dreadnought?" Radar Valentine asked, somewhat puzzled.

The name sounds impressive, but the problem is I've never heard of it before.

“That’s right. I can draw her appearance and data for you. With our current production capacity and the assistance of extraordinary individuals, we should be able to build her.”

After saying that, Arthur took out paper and pen and started drawing on the table.

It took him quite a while to finish drawing those few pages of blueprints.

“Her name is ‘Vanguard,’ and when she and her sisters go into the water, that will be the time for us to establish our maritime dominance,” Arthur said with a subtle smile.

“Her?” Radar Valentine asked, somewhat surprised.

“Don’t worry about the details,” Arthur said with a smile.

Radar Valentine nodded and picked up a few pages of drawings from the table to look at them.

The more he looked at it, the more alarmed he became. Based on his years of experience with ships, he knew that if this warship was successfully launched, it would inevitably have a dominant advantage over all other forces at sea.

“I’ve taken these blueprints. I’ll find a way to get shipyards around the world started as soon as possible, and I’ll also cooperate with the Steam Church.” Radar Valentine left decisively.

After he left, Arthur leaned back in his chair, sighing to himself:

"I never imagined that the information I looked up out of curiosity when I was playing mobile games could still be of such help to me now. Life is truly unpredictable."

Yes, the drawing he just made came from a four-character mobile game he played in his previous life. He found it out of curiosity after drawing a certain colorful ship.

The colorful boat was called "Avant-garde," and it was a blonde, mature woman wearing a white cape and a long, openwork dress.

Of course, the most important thing was that she was wearing white stockings, which was the main reason Arthur was interested.

Ahem, let’s get back to the topic.

The term "dreadnought" is a general term for all-heavy gun battleships, and represents the next stage in the development of ironclad ships on Earth.

Although it was only one stage of advancement, its combat effectiveness had made a tremendous leap.

To put it bluntly, without the influence of extraordinary abilities, a single dreadnought could easily destroy a fleet of wooden sailing warships.