The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

To his dismay, Jester was unable to have decent fun in Tulva. The kids he picked up on the way were too terrified to be helpful, so he had to get rid of them. He wasted two weeks hauling them to Arcadia and giving them to the first patrol he found. Fortunately, the patrol was made up of Death Heralds, so it went as smoothly as possible without any stupid questions. So there he was, back in Tulva once again. It wasn't like last time when Lady Elisabeth actually needed his help, so he was allowed to do as he pleased. He moved from town to town, creating minor chaos and freeing slaves. That last part was always funny since the freed slaves always wreaked as much chaos as possible. Sometimes they managed to flee, and sometimes, they made a heroic last stand, killing as many Bernans as they could. Jester rarely interfered because he strongly emphasised that they should just run each time. Most of the time it worked. So he roamed the borderlands and visited every city on his way toward the shore of the northern sea. Jester never paid any attention to the names of cities or towns, which was true this time as well. He walked down the street of one such place with his hands crossed behind his head and looked at the sky until he bumped into someone.

"Watch where you are walking!" The bulky man turned towards him with fury in his eyes.

"Eeee?" He groaned angrily as he glanced at the large man who suddenly stepped back and lowered his gaze. "I thought so..."

While the intimidated man ran away, Jester was preoccupied with a nearby building. It was, without a doubt, an arena. Arenas were always fun to visit because they usually had combat slaves to entertain the masses. Arenas also had weapons for the slaves, which in turn always made it fun to set them free.

"Ohhh? Interesting..." he said after seeing a large poster depicting a giant Orc fighting some monsters with his bare hands.

The most special agent of His Royal Highness entered the building without any problems. He ignored the inconvenient obstacles like guards or staff and walked to the basement where the slave pens were located. All Bernan buildings had underground holding cells, making everything dull. There was no thrill of search, no anticipation of what's behind the next doors. Nope. Enter the building, go down, and find some slaves; it couldn't have been arranged any easier. He killed the guard, who started making a fuss about Jester being in an off-limit area. He crushed the man's throat, silencing his annoying babbling, and pulled the locked knob off the doors to the prison. Jester shrugged and tore down the heavy wooden doors with one smooth motion. The commotion he made alerted only the slaves inside.

"Oh, this actually might be worthwhile." Jester giggled when he spotted the largest Orc he had ever seen. "What's your name, big guy?"

"My name?" the Orc replied with a deep bass. "You are the first human to ever ask for it. Very well. My name is Gorrak the Magebarian."

"Excuse me?" Jester was caught off guard. However, that sounded like he just struck gold, so he continued digging without allowing anyone to notice his real feelings. "Have I heard that right? The famous Gorrak?"

"Indeed!" The Orc stood up, barely fitting into his cell, towering over Jester. "Have you come here to mock me, human?"

Gorrak slammed the bars of his cell, not leaving a single dent in the thick bars. However, Jester stood unfazed, mere centimetres from the Orc's fist. His eyes were shining from excitement. Forget about gold; this is orichalcum! Now, calm down, calm down... He needs to recruit this guy. The other slaves looked at them, scared or possibly resigned.

"Hey! Did you kill the guard? Who are you?" the slave closest to the doors suddenly asked. "Will you help us?"

"So maaaany questions..." Jester sighed and ruffled his hair. "Soooo... Have any of you heard about the Kingdom of Arcadia or the Lady Elisabeth Berna?"

"I heard about her!" one of the Elves replied with overflowing hope. "She overthrew her father, the Patriarch, and has already taken over most of the Berna!"

"Don't spout nonsense..." someone else hushed the Elf.

"That one is true." Jester shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and shrugged. "Anyway. I'm in service to King Theon Avalon of Arcadia, the greatest king, and so on."

"I heard the rumours about him too! Everyone in his Kingdom is equal, and Lord Jarred branded him as a heretic." the same Elf as before shouted in excitement. "I heard that he married many Non-Human women."

"Yeah, yeah..." Jester waved disinterestedly with his right hand over his head and grabbed the cell bars holding Gorrak. "Will you work for me if I let you out?"

"Hahaha! Do you think you can set me free? Despite my strength, I was unable to open my cage! Hahaha! Go on! Set me free, and I will follow you!"

"Dispel," Jester almost whispered as he closed his left hand over the scroll and pulled the bars, which instantly gave up with a loud metallic snap.

"Oh..." Gorrak blinked furiously several times as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

In the meantime, Jester opened the remaining cells. He shredded through the solid metal bars as if they were made of paper. The Dispel he had previously cast was from a scroll made by Queen Luna. He giggled when he realised that the entire city was affected by the spell, cancelling every magic effect, whether permanent or cast in the moment.

"All right... We should be going now. If you flee south from here, you will have a chance to reach Arcadia. Just leave Tulva, and you will be in Arcadia." Jester waved his hand and noticed that Gorrak was picking up pieces of stone and hiding them in various crevices of his slave rags. He looked at the Ork and realised there was no possibility of finding clothes fitting this giant. "Anyway... You can call me Jester."

"As you wish, sir Jester," Gorrak replied, making one impressive step towards the doors. "I have to retrieve my weapon."

"Ummm, you sure? I can always get you as many new weapons as you want..."

"No! Must take back my magic sword!"

"All right... Lead the way." Jester eyed Gorrak and realised that the Orc wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. His speech sounded artificial, even strange, and if you were close enough, you could see how much effort he put into every sentence. He smirked in anticipation of the inevitably approaching show and looked at the rest of the slaves. "You should wait for a moment when the Bernans will be busy and then flee as fast as you can. Don't look back."

They left the room before the slaves responded and headed towards the main entrance to the arena. Jester killed at least a dozen guards on their way before the Orc even noticed them. They reached the broad corridor in no time, and Gorrak went straight towards an unassuming crevice in the wall. Jester stood stupefied, looking at the classic sword stuck in stone, and barely held back his laughter. The Magebarian, however, firmly gripped the handle and raised the sword over his head.

"Hahahahahaha! I knew it! I knew you were special!" Jester couldn't hold anymore. He was laughing maniacally without a care in the world.

"It's an ancient blade whose name was lost to the ages! It was said that whoever can take it is worthy of being a Hero!"

Jester leaned his back over the wall and started clapping. That was a masterpiece. He couldn't make it up even if he had been trying for a century. The King would have a field day reading his reports from now on. Forget about orichalcum! This guy was pure mithril. Through his tears and laughter, Jester observed the visibly proud Gorrak wielding his sword along with the rock it was stuck into in one hand, resting it nonchalantly on his shoulder.

"Stone bullet!" The Orc raised his other hand in a flash, and Jester almost lost it.

The head of the guardian who had just entered the corridor to check the commotion popped like a balloon. There was no magic involved, and Jester was more than sure of it. That guy was so strong that he lifted the entire sword in the stone and probably used it as a club, judging by the dark stains covering it. He also threw rocks so hard and accurately that it could slide as magic for most people.

"Hahahahaha! This is going to be FUN!" Jester held his stomach, still laughing, barely catching his breath. The Orc looked at him, and only then did Gorrak notice at least five soldiers lying dead or bleeding out near Jester.

•••

Dauntless had to make a brief stop above the Iceleonian city. It was the first time the crew had a chance to use the main batteries on a real target, and they were eager to check the results. However, the absolute destruction of the only path to the city made everyone, even Admiral Sparrow, feel slightly guilty. Fortunately, they had a load of wood in their cargo hold. While it was debatable if they could spare it, the officers and the admiral agreed they couldn't leave the city cut off. One Dragon Rider quickly descended and unloaded enough wood from the holding space to make quite a sturdy bridge. Without any problems or being spotted, he returned swiftly to the airship that had already gained speed. Janet was sure that Queen Hestia would understand that they had to share the marked wood that was supposed to be used to build the temple. With that problem solved, they could leave without a sense of guilt. When they were about to level the mountains the next day, Janet noticed the slight unrest among the bridge officers.

"Who the hell is Nephele, Ma'am?" For the last day, that was the main question that made rounds over the battleship and finally made its way to the Admiral's ear.

Janet looked at the tactical officer and blinked. She rubbed her chin and thoughtfully rested her cheek on her hand. Her gaze shot instantly towards the ceiling, where Nephele was napping on her fluffy cloud. The Elf sighed and looked down on her officers without finding the expected insight. "Are you asking seriously?"

"Sorry, Lady Sparrow, but who is she?" the tactical officer replied as respectfully as possible.

"I promise you all, once this war is over and we return home, every single one of you will return to the Academy." She rubbed her temples. "For you, she is Lady Nephele. Some of you might even be unaware of her existence, but most of you should be more than acquainted with her. She is the personification of the Fog of Avalon. Nephele is not a scion, nor is she just a simple monster."

The bridge was silent for a moment, but soon enough, it drowned in collective gasps of shock and exclamation. Janet shook her head in disbelief. The only person unfazed by the situation was the Marine on guard duty. She looked at him and raised her brow.

"Ma'am." He saluted seeing her attention. "Every Marine on bridge guard duty onboard has full knowledge about anyone entering the bridge, Ma'am!"

"I feel ashamed now." Janet sighed, but she smiled softly. "It looks like Ban put far more effort into your training program than I managed with the sailors. Well, it's time to fix that, I guess. I am going to consult the training program with him once my shift is over. Hopefully, we can adjust the educational program right away."

"Contact! Contact! Contact!" the sensor officer shouted. "Six unidentified ships are thirty clicks northwest, heading south. If we or they won't change course, we will intercept them in twenty minutes."

"Bernans?" the tactical officer asked, already preparing firing solutions.

"We don't know for sure. They’re flying at the maximum altitude available for Bernan airships, with a speed of five knots, also typical for the Bernan Navy."

"Do we have visuals on them?" Janet asked.

"Not yet, Ma'am, the clouds obscure the vision."

"Combat alert," Admiral Sparrow commanded.

"Aye, aye!"

Janet looked at the floating screen in front of her and became serious. The technology and magitech of Dauntless were nothing short of terrifying. The King was absolutely right; this ship was built to rule the oceans and skies. Their enemies were sure that they were hidden in the thick clouds, but in reality, Dauntless had detected them long before they could have a chance to spot them. Not so long ago, she would have laughed at the mere suggestion of something like that. But now, she humbly accepted the reality that some of her knowledge was simply obsolete. She would master this ship, learn everything she could, and write the books anew. She had been entrusted with the entire Royal Navy, and she knew that staying open-minded was the only way of adapting to the changes brought by King Theon. The ships they spotted were as good as doomed. They were already in the range of the main cannons, but most importantly, Dauntless was more than eight times faster than their current speed. They couldn't run, they couldn't outgun, and they couldn't hide.

"We have the first visuals, Ma'am! Starboard spotters glimpsed the unidentified ships through the gap in the clouds using their Eagle Eye skills!"

"On screen." Janet pointed at the main tactical display normally used as the front widow.

The picture was a bit blurred, but it was obvious that no one had seen such ships before. The officers discussed the unusual ships in hushed tones. However, Janet immediately recognised what she was looking at.

"Ugly bastards..." She cracked a smile seeing the confused gazes of bridge officers. "To quote His Majesty, 'Janet, as you might imagine, there is a huge gap between the sailship and ships like Dauntless. However, that gap isn’t empty; it is full of failed experiments and cumbersome constructions, but they were never a waste of time.' The ships we are looking at are called ironclad ships, officers. If we had fought them in HMS Victory, we would have been disadvantaged due to their thick, metal armour. I imagine they laced it with magic-dissipating runes or at least something that enchants its endurance. They also fly the banners of Tulva, so we don't have to bother further guessing their allegiance. For them, those ships are the pinnacle of magitech, the most powerful ships that ever roamed the skies of Aderon. For us, they are just slowly moving targets. I know you expect me to order them simply to be destroyed, but we will do it the hard way. These ships carry a significant amount of resources that we desperately need to expand our Navy. Let's take them home, Boys and Girls!"