Chapter 94: Reporting

The imperial patrol boat pulled them out of the water fast.

The sailors were terrified. They had seen a giant metal bird drop three floating canopies from the sky and fly away without flapping its wings. When they saw Captain Daniel, they panicked even more.

The patrol boat rushed them straight to Port Solis. From there, the royal mages used high-tier teleportation scrolls to send them directly to the capital.

Five hours later, the three of them stood in the imperial throne room.

Golden light shone through the large windows.

Goddess Viona sat on her white velvet throne. Beside her was a table with cakes and sweet berries. She looked relaxed, chewing on a snack while reading reports about the other summoned heroes.

Prime Minister Belis stood next to her in red robes, holding a scroll.

Suddenly, the golden doors opened.

"Your Divinity! Minister Belis!" a guard shouted. "Survivors from the western ocean have returned! Captain Daniel, Hero Ayanokoji, and Hero Miyuki!"

Viona stopped eating. She looked up, surprised.

The three walked down the carpet. Their clothes were wet and dirty from sea salt. Daniel held his injured ribs and walked with a limp. Miyuki looked down, nervous. Only Ayanokoji looked completely calm.

Daniel dropped to both knees and hit his head against the marble floor.

"Forgive me, Lady Viona!" Daniel cried out. "The fleet is gone! All galleons were destroyed! They sank to the bottom of the western sea!"

The whole room gasped. Priests started whispering in panic.

Viona set her food down. Her golden eyes turned cold. "Silence."

The room went completely quiet.

"Speak clearly, Captain," Viona said. "Ships blessed by my light do not just disappear. Did the Wallachian Empire attack you with ironclads?"

"No, Lady Viona!" Daniel yelled, shaking. "It was not the Wallachians! It was worse! Ships made of solid iron without sails! Flying metal birds that threw fire from miles away! We could not even fight back!"

Belis frowned. "Metal birds? Captain, are you out of your mind? If it wasn’t the Wallachians, then who was it?"

Daniel was trembling too hard to speak.

Ayanokoji stepped forward. "Allow me to explain."

Belis turned to him. "Hero Ayanokoji. Tell us what happened."

"Captain Daniel is shaken, but he is telling the truth," Ayanokoji said plainly. "The fleet was not destroyed by beastkin, monsters, or the Wallachian Empire."

Ayanokoji looked directly at Viona.

"The fleet fought a country from our world. The United States of America."

The hall went dead quiet.

Belis blinked. "A country from your world? A world without magic? How can they be here?"

Viona scoffed and leaned back. "That is impossible. Only I know the summoning ritual. It takes months of mana to bring forty souls here. An entire nation cannot cross over."

"No, it’s not really literally a country, it’s like a similar one," Ayanokoji explained and continued. "It’s like an island nation, smaller compared to the original country but possessing the same armaments. And the man leading it, is the man you banished, Hero John Smith..."

The name hung in the air like a curse.

Viona froze. Her golden eyes widened, and the slight smirk on her face completely died. Her mind raced back seven months to the grand summoning circle in the cathedral.

She remembered forty confused Japanese students standing on the marble floor. And she remembered one boy with short blonde hair who stood out like an ugly stain. Zero mana pool. Zero elemental affinity. A status plate that read Rank: E. She had looked at him with sheer disgust, called him defective trash, and casted him down the Abyss.

"John... Smith...?" Viona whispered, her voice faltering for the first time. "The anomaly? The boy with no mana?!"

"Yes," Ayanokoji said, his voice flat and steady. "The boy you threw down the pit to die."

Miyuki took a small step forward, her voice trembling slightly. "It’s true, Lady Viona. We saw him with our own eyes. He is alive. He survived the dungeon, and he rules that island base. He has an entire army of modern soldiers under his command."

Whispers exploded through the throne room. Priests and paladins looked at each other with wide, frightened eyes.

"Preposterous!" an elder priest yelled, his face turning bright red. "The Dungeon has no bottom! It is infested with high-tier calamity beasts that devour even sacred inquisitors! A boy with no magic could not survive ten seconds down there, let alone build an island army!"

"He did not use magic to survive," Ayanokoji countered smoothly. "He uses technology. In our world, power is not measured by mana. It is measured by industrial production, automation, and ballistic weaponry. Your status plates were designed to evaluate magical talent, so they registered him as zero. That was your analytical error."

Belis pressed a trembling hand against his temple. Sweat broke out across the old minister’s forehead. "Wait... Hero Ayanokoji, are you telling us that this boy—this John Smith—is the reason Grand Inquisitor Valerius failed to send reports?"

"Yes," Ayanokoji answered. "When the vanguard fleet reached the western shore, Valerius began burning native beastkin villages and taking slaves. John Smith had already formed an alliance with those tribes. He viewed the expedition as an unprovoked invasion. He destroyed all Solarian forces."

"What of Valerius?" Viona demanded, her voice rising in sharp anger. "What of Hero Sato?! Sato possessed Shadow Assassin blessing! He could slip through any physical barrier!"

"Valerius and Inquisitor Corvin were taken prisoner," Ayanokoji said plainly. "And Sato is dead."

The words hit the chamber like a hammer blow.

"Dead?!" Viona snapped, gripping the arms of her throne so tightly the velvet dented. "A summoned hero died to mundane iron?!"

Viona slowly rose from her throne, her divine aura flaring with intense golden light. The temperature in the hall spiked instantly.

"How insolent..." Viona hissed, her voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling with terrifying pressure. "A defective mortal dares strike down my holy ships? He dares execute a hero chosen by my hand?! Does he think a handful of iron toys can challenge a god?!"

"He does not just challenge you, Lady Viona," Ayanokoji said, completely unbothered by her divine aura. "He sent us here with a message."

Viona glared down from the marble steps. "What message?!"

Ayanokoji met her golden eyes without flinching.

"The United States has formally declared war on the Holy Solarian Empire."