Chapter 316: The Hurricane Fleet

For a while, nobody spoke.

Gold shone from every ship in the pile. Beside them lay several Navigation Skill Books Cassian had bought with the vessels. Those were Legendary too.

Months earlier, House Frost had gone to considerable trouble to obtain a single Legendary warship for Darian. Cassian had just tossed a hundred or so onto the ground.

Darian finally found his voice.

"If my father hadn’t checked for himself, I’d swear you were working for a god. Are you sacrificing Aether and getting ships in return?"

"I know!" Tobias said suddenly. "Your World Wonder is a shop, isn’t it?"

Several faces brightened with understanding.

Elara still looked doubtful.

"Even a Mythic shop wouldn’t have this many Legendary warships in stock."

"What if it grants wishes?" Nessa suggested. "Like the Sunbough Tree."

Cassian let them speculate. None of his guests knew that his Wonder was the Five Elements Temple. Edran was still the only outsider he had shown it to. Whatever conclusions the Frost patriarch drew from the ships would have to be his own concern.

"Five each," Cassian said with a smile. "Take them through the Gate at my Domain, out to the fleet off Sunhaven. Activate them after you arrive."

Unactivated models could pass through a Gate without difficulty. His older Ghost Carriers already had registered links to the Gate at home. With the passage paid, delivering the models would be simple.

The nineteen guests took ninety-five ships between them. As they examined their new possessions, another discovery set them talking again.

Every vessel favored speed.

A Legendary fleet like this could choose when to attack—and when to leave. Catching it at sea would be another matter entirely.

Elara worked through her available Battle Essence. Her smile grew wider.

"I still have several billion. Enough to bring all five to Level twelve."

"Then these ships will form Divine Province’s Second Fleet," Cassian said. "The Hurricane Fleet."

Preparations began at once. The ships went through the paid Carrier route as models and were activated in the waters off Sunhaven. Darian also used the Golden Behemoth Sigil he had received after the naval battle. He paid to recruit another twelve and raised their Levels with his own Battle Essence, bringing his two squads to twenty-four.

Three days later, Western Beacon reached an agreement with the other nations.

Each Province could send ten thousand Lords to hunt on the island where the Firstborn Gate stood. The price was ten million Aether a day per Province.

To maintain order, Western Beacon announced, it would bring down a Peacebringer.

Cassian looked at those terms with undisguised envy.

"Four months of this could bring in hundreds of billions. What a business."

The Crown’s other twelve Provinces had declined. They might not know the precise plan, but they could guess what lay behind Western Beacon’s sudden hospitality.

"Sensible enough," he murmured. "Though it means giving up their chance in this ranking."

He transferred a hundred million Aether to Sunhaven’s Governor. ℴ

Ten days paid in advance. He could afford the fee, and he saw no reason to give them an excuse over such a small sum.

Divine Province’s Channel was much less calm.

[Ten million a day isn’t the problem. What if they’re setting us up?]

[Would they really attack invited guests? Who would trust them afterward?]

[Have you forgotten the Fortune Temple?]

That reminder quieted several defenders of Western Beacon’s reputation. Its allies had already stabbed them in the back once.

[So we just give up on the ranking?]

The question left a sour taste. After everything Divine Province had achieved, surrendering a contest without even trying was hard to accept.

Cassian opened the Channel.

[Cassian Vale: I’ve paid the fee. Anyone willing to go to Sunhaven and hunt for First-Age Coins can volunteer with Mira.]

[Cassian Vale: We’re taking quality over numbers. Epic Heroes and troops or better. Leave everything below that at home.]

For a moment, the Channel went still.

Then the replies flooded in.

[Count me in!]

[If the Governor is going, so am I.]

[I’ve got a squad of Epic troops. Where do we assemble?]

The same Lords who had been worrying about betrayal now competed to sign up. They understood the danger. They simply trusted Cassian more than they feared it.

Applications quickly passed ten thousand. Every applicant had at least a squad of Epic troops. Lords who could not go offered their own Epic and Legendary fighters to support the expedition.

Mira organized the ten-thousand-Lord contingent permitted by the agreement. Cassian posted the assembly routes.

[Cassian Vale: Gate IDs: 12383558454...]

Dozens of entries followed. These were their gathering points at home. From there, the expedition passed through his Domain’s Gate to the registered Ghost Carriers off Sunhaven, the links opening in turn as the transfer fees were paid. The Hurricane warships waited nearby to take them aboard.

[Cassian Vale: Expedition Lords, Heroes, and troops may begin transferring.]

Messages of astonishment soon came back.

[We’re in Sunhaven’s inner waters already?]

[Look at these ships! They have to be Epic at least!]

[The Governor brought a whole fleet here before we even signed up!]

Hundreds of thousands of kilometers from Divine Province, the Hurricane Fleet filled with troops.

A video request arrived from Estelle Harcourt.

"Lord Cassian. We’ve received your payment for ten days. Please have your Lords use Gate 845833244. Our staff will receive them and complete their registration."

"Thank you," he said pleasantly. "But we’ve already arrived."

Estelle stared at him.

At that very moment, ninety-five huge warships were drawing up along Windward Isle. Hundreds of thousands of Epic and Legendary fighters poured ashore.

Local Lords reported the landing immediately. A blurred recording, taken from far away, sent Western Beacon’s senior officials into an uproar.

"When did Divine Province’s fleet reach Sunhaven?"

"Is the Ghost fleet here too?"

"Every unit in that recording is Epic or higher."

"And those ships... Those are no ordinary warships."

Estelle issued an official protest in the Homeworld Channel.

[Estelle Harcourt: Lord Cassian, Sunhaven has not permitted foreign warships to enter. Withdraw your fleet immediately.]

[Cassian Vale: These are two separate matters, Governor.]

Before she could ask what he meant, his next message appeared.

[Cassian Vale: The army that just landed consists of the guests you’ve agreed to admit. Please give them a proper welcome. As for the ships...]

He paused before posting the final line.

[Cassian Vale: You can treat Divine Province’s fleet as invaders.]

The Homeworld Channel erupted.

Western Beacon’s leaders were furious.

"He wins one naval battle and thinks he owns the sea!"

"Last time, we sent the navy stationed on the Dawn Coast. Sunhaven is our strongest naval base. Does he understand the difference?"

"Gather the fleets. Destroy those ships."

"We have to. With that Artifact of his improving their drops, Divine Province might actually make the top ten if we let them keep hunting here."

Even Odette was startled by Cassian’s audacity.

Sunhaven’s standing fleet included three Legendary Meridian cruisers. After the previous naval defeat, Congress had approved more than a hundred Meridian Dockyard Blueprints to counter Divine Province. Forty of those Dockyards were in Sunhaven alone.

The Province now had over a thousand Epic Meridian cruisers, countless other warships, and an Epic submarine fleet.

Cassian was strong. Surely he could see that this was more than a distant naval detachment.

"Wait."

Gavin’s voice cut through the angry proposals.

"Let him enjoy himself for a few days. We act after the Peacebringer and the next group of older-sector reinforcements arrive."

Estelle recovered her composure.

"Lord Gavin is right. Every day gives our naval Lords dozens more Epic warships. Time favors us."

To the Homeworld’s astonishment, Western Beacon held back.

Divine Province’s ships continued hunting in Sunhaven’s coastal waters. Cassian kept the expedition’s access fees paid, and its army hunted ashore. Everyone watching knew the argument had merely been postponed.

Strong Lords from the Black Banner, Golden Lion, Gaul, the Dawn Coast Confederacy, and the Thousand Isles arrived in turn. Windward became a gathering place for rival powers. Disputes over monsters and hunting grounds grew steadily more frequent.

More than twenty days passed.

First-Age Coins were painfully rare. Even with hundreds of thousands of powerful fighters and Cassian paying for Dragon’s Blessing during their hunts, the expedition had gathered only eight hundred and eighty thousand.

Then Odette called again.

Her voice was urgent.

"Lord Cassian, the Peacebringer and the new reinforcements have just arrived. There’s still time to pull your fleet and army out of Sunhaven."