Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Wetter was disappointed to discover that there was still no sign of any issues with the Pretender Emperor's health.

During the Castile winter hunt, the Pretender Emperor's personal achievements included two deer, one bear, and several foxes and wild boars.

According to the report, the Pretender Emperor only slept six hours a day, getting up at dawn to run, ride horses, practice swordsmanship, and then handle royal duties. At noon, he took turns having lunch with the Castile Lords, received petitioners in the afternoon, continued dealing with affairs in the evening, and finally went to bed. Every day during the winter hunt was like this.

The Pretender Emperor had no public entertainment activities and did not drink alcohol unless necessary. Even the report's author was amazed by the Pretender Emperor's seemingly endless energy and superhuman efficiency.

The only content in the archives that brought some joy to Wetter was the records of the Pretender Emperor's nightlife.

According to the report writer's records, apart from handling official duties, the Pretender Emperor had no nightlife to speak of. He also did not share a bed with the Empress, at least not once during the winter hunt.

Wetter couldn't help but smile, flipping back to the first page, wanting to see who had been observing the daily routines of the Empire's Royal Family so closely, but he only saw a code name - Desert Cat.

He shook his head, placed the files in front of Admiral Dandolo, and then took out another set of files from the box.

Opening the cover, as soon as he skimmed over the first line of text, Wetter's brow furrowed.

The second document he obtained was a statistical report.

A statistical report on the "logging permits" issued by the Empire's Northern Territory Governor's Mansion.

Six years ago, the Empire's Royal Navy had a fierce battle with the Flemish fleet in the Far East Sea, turning the waters to a different color and burning shipwrecks for a full day and night.

This time, the Royal Navy washed away the shame of thirty years ago, destroying the Sultan's fleet in one fell swoop and successfully reclaiming Rhodes Island.

In the Empire's official announcement of the victory, it detailed every Flemish naval vessel sunk or captured but remained evasive about the Royal Navy's losses.

Due to the main form of sea battle in the Far East waters being galley warfare, the main vessels of the Royal Navy and the Flemish Navy were oared sailboats and large oared sailboats, so victories were often achieved by the crew of one ship killing the crew of another, which was extremely brutal.

Based on post-war patrol situations, the internal assessment of the Vinetta Navy judged that the Empire's Royal Navy had at least lost half of its combat power; otherwise, it would not have stopped at Rhodes Island.

But that was six years ago. Establishing the current scale of the Royal Navy - more importantly, figuring out the future scale of the Royal Navy - was the pressing concern of the Vinetta Navy.

Any intelligence the Vinetta Navy wanted to acquire, the Empire's Navy Department would guard against thoroughly. Thus, thus far, the Vinetta Maritime Committee's investigation into the Empire's Navy Department's shipbuilding plan has been akin to the blind feeling an elephant.

Yet, here in the Army's confidential file room, this distinct "logging permit statistics" document caught Wetter Pisani's eye.

With the successive fall of the Northern Territory's kingdoms, the extensive primal forest treasures of the Narrow Sea's South Bank have entirely fallen into the Empire's hands.

According to army intelligence, over the past two years, the Empire's Northern Territory Governor's Mansion issued logging permits for at least sixty thousand centenarian oak trees, to "replenish the royal shipyard's timber reserves."

Another order recorded in the files indicated that the Pretender Emperor's Navy Minister had approved the First Royal Shipyard's request to "discreetly use timber not fully dried" to meet "His Majesty's schedule requirements."

Wetter had no doubt that those towering oaks and pine woods would ultimately become the Pretender Emperor's warships.

He roughly calculated in his mind, the Glorious of the Inner Sea fleet likely used about twelve hundred centenarian Paratu oak trees.

The logging of sixty thousand mature oak trees meant that at least fifty Glorious-class warships would be launched.

Moreover, the material standards for The Glorious far exceeded those of conventional warships. If warships were made using a mix of hardwood and softwood, sixty thousand oak trees could ultimately produce far more than fifty warships.

Furthermore, from the description on the second page, the army's statistics on logging permits were from the bottom up, not top-down. The actual logging permits issued would inevitably exceed the quantity counted by the army.

After the kingdoms at the Narrow Sea's South Bank fell, the "Heretic Kingdoms" at the Narrow Sea's North Shore also bowed their heads to the Pretender Emperor, meaning the Empire could also obtain high-quality timber from north of the Narrow Sea.

Wetter Pisani cleared his throat, handing the files to Admiral Dandolo.

"Sir," Wetter said, trying not to show any nervousness, "You need to look at this."

Admiral Dandolo silently accepted the files.

Wetter took the file from the Admiral's hand, as if merely swapping readings.

He quickly skimmed through the newly acquired army file, with a daunting description on the second page: Empire Foreign Minister Barleck De Champney, at the Pretender Emperor's request, presented an absolute secret memorandum to the Emperor regarding "Future Diplomatic Policy of the Empire."

Wetter swiftly read through the manuscript copy of the memorandum obtained by the army.

"[Old Language] Politics and trade imply that the Flemish (Saracens) are natural allies of the Senas Alliance," Champney wrote, "[Old Language] The Senas Alliance is situated on the continental edge, thus more easily able to gain interest from the continent's periphery. Therefore, the friendly relationship between the Senas Alliance and the Flemish can be expected. The Empire must return to its traditional policy of curbing Saracens' westward movements and splitting the Two Mountains Narrow Land. When future wars between the Empire and the Senas Alliance occur, it is essential to ensure that the Lords of the Broken Land become allies of the Empire..."

"Old clichés," Wetter smirked inwardly, thinking, "Nothing new."

He reclosed the cover, returning the army's confidential file to the archive box in his hand.

Meanwhile, Martino Dandolo had also finished reading the statistical report Wetter had submitted.

The Admiral took off his glasses, contemplated briefly, and looked at Carlo Qiao ahead with still bright eyes, hoarsely asking, "So, why are we examining these?"

The Admiral was met with the equally lively eyes of the Army General and his resounding answer, "To avoid making mistakes!"