Chapter 68: | 068 | Aftermath
The Operation Hammer of Dawn ended in the victory of the United Navy. The island of Crescere was cleansed of magibeasts, bringing about human dominance over its entirety. Though, it wasn't without a price.
Fortunately, however, the price wasn't in the form of naval personnel's lives. It was merely resources, which was used as the fuel of the special operation.
But as said before, the special operation was paramount for the stability and survival of the United Navy. It was something that needed to be done. Otherwise, the United Navy will be heading to eventual collapse.
After all, they wouldn't be able to exploit the natural resources of the island, making their supply continue to be net-negative.
With the ensured authority of the United Navy over Crescere, they would have no worries about building anything they wanted. They wouldn't need to be anxious about random assaults happening throughout their forces on the island.
Following the victory of the United Navy was the aftermath. Numerous construction and mining vehicles were being sent into the northern plateau and eastern grassland.
In the eastern grassland, they were constructing over a dozen oil wells for resource collection. It shouldn't take long before the oil wells would become operational and their oil supplies would stabilize.
On the other hand, on the northern plateau, they mined a quarry at its apex. Various escalators, trucks, and mining vehicles were sent into the northern plateau as its minerals provided them the materials needed to be used for manufacturing.
It was going well for the United Navy and the days following Operation Hammer of Dawn were calm. The highway was also slowly being turned into an actual one with asphalt roads. However, it will take time for the asphalt reinforcement to be completed.
But these weren't the most amazing things that happened after the special operation. The beastfolk refugee camp had expanded farther into the island.
With the guidance and assistance of the United Navy, the beastfolk were able to construct a modern suburb for themselves. It even had its own center, which was currently being used for outdoor education.
The second project after the modern suburbs was the construction of a school for the beastfolk refugees. The moment the school project was completed. It wouldn't take long before the beastfolk integrated into the United Navy.
Though… Speaking of the beastfolks, their relationship with the United Navy was growing. Abraham could clearly see it through his perk. Most of them shone with golden light, signifying their admiration and loyalty towards him and the naval force.
Naturally, this brought pride to the Fleet Admiral. After all, who wouldn't? Being respected because of your hard work was something appreciative of. Even the most stoic ones wouldn't resist it.
Other than that, things were going well for both the beastfolk and the United Navy.
But, things were different with the prisoners of war. A prison camp had recently completed its construction and most prisoners were sent to work there.
Most of the jobs they had were woodcutting as wood was something the beastfolk refugees incredibly needed. It was quite interesting to have free workers to be honest.
Other than giving them food and shelter, you didn't even have to spend wages. Though, while it was intriguing, none inside the United Navy planned to open up slavery.
It was too against their ethos to be initialized. And most naval personnel considered slavery as disgusting. The war prisoners were merely given a temporary solution.
In truth, no one in the United Navy wanted to keep the prisoners of war. If possible, they would have thrown the men to the sea and left them there. Sadly, they couldn't as it was their duty to imprison surrendering enemies.
After various interrogations, the xenophobic sentiments went deeper than expected. They practically thought of the beastfolk as animals destined to be owned by humanity.
It was a horrifying thought process, but sadly this was the common sense of humanity in this world. The discovery of this singular fact ensured something inside Abraham's mind.
The United Navy and the humanity of this world would never see in terms. While temporary peace was probable, it shouldn't take too long before conflict explodes.
In case this does happen, the only thing he could do was prepare for the inevitable. Luckily for them, humans weren't the only sapient race in this world. Other than the beastfolks, there were the elves, dwarves, orks, and seafolks.
The usual fantasy races.
According to further interrogation, the elves were the progenitors of magicraft before humanity picked it up. But the elves were hidden in Yggdrasil, a giant tree somewhere in this foreign world.
Those who did leave the tree were incredibly powerful mages. Even human countries would have to be hospitable when meeting one as they have wisdom ranging over thousands of years.
Abraham wanted to meet a member of this race. After all, he never saw an elf personally with his eyes. It would be interesting to see one.
However, it might take some time and take a lot of work. The relationship between humanity and elvenkind was far from peaceful. The humans were considered savages that tainted magicraft, which was understandable.
After all, the moment humanity unlocked its potential for magic. They went deeper into the path of nepotism, arrogance, and conquering.
He would probably have to prove that the United Navy was far different, but that was for the future. After all, it wasn't clear that there were elves in the Ferus Sea.
Even the captured prisoners of war merely heard them from rumors. Nothing more, nothing less, which was somewhat unfortunate.
Nonetheless, it makes one look forward to the future.
After all, this was a fantasy world.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the high seas, dozens of wooden debris floated atop the blue water. It was the leftover of the escort ships and the slave-trade merchant ship, Pinguis Arca.
Most of the debris had floated off into far distances, awaiting to land on some random beach. Those that were left behind were nothing more but parts of the keels, rudders, and masses.
The tide was calm, despite the untold destruction warned by the wooden debris floating about in the high seas. But this calm would soon be disturbed.
Nearby the debris field was the distortion of the air. Mist soon emerged out of nowhere and shrouded the once-clear waters of the high seas. Following the white mist was the howl of wood crunching onto one another, and after it was shadows.
One gargantuan shadow made its appearance, and the second one followed. Sadly, it wasn't the end. Many more shadows emerged, each of them massive in size.
They resembled ships but were fairly bigger than anything else ever seen before. With a wooden mass reaching over a hundred meters and a lion figurehead on its bow, it presented itself as dominant and monumental.
These ships soon sailed out of the mist, unveiling their true colors.
All of them were gargantuan battleships reaching a length of 150 meters each. This was the expansionary fleet of the Colonial Dominion of Terra. Amongst the greatest fleet sailing the Ferus Sea, a symbol of humanity's dominance over the ocean.
It was the Fleet of Principatus Humanum.