Gunner, who was leading the army, saw this and sneered. These fools seemed to have forgotten that they were still wearing HoloBraces on their hands.
By thinking anything, Miranda could read their thoughts and discover the special channels they used to send out information, as well as who their masters were.
This was counter-espionage at its finest!
They were reporting what Safemoon would deem 'trivial information', which these spies mistook as 'vitally important'. Alas, by doing that, they had unwittingly given up every single piece of important information they possessed in exchange...
What a good trade!
Gunner led the team to board some troop carriers that were styled after modern ones, powered by Source Energy. They were large, comfortable, and fast. They had A/C, food, drinks, and entertainment for the troops on board.
Even though they had undergone 100-year training regiments, they were born with souls and so they had developed interests, emotions, and desires. The troop carriers also had VR helmets and conduits that could connect to the satellite, allowing the soldiers could train in virtual reality while they headed to their destination.
Gunner sat in a private tank, seated comfortably on a couch as the conditioned chamber glowed with a blue light. The driver before him handled the movement as he was at the head of the convoy, and any of his needs were met.
The half-giant was currently thinking about his lover Celia, and their child that should be on the brink of birth by the time he came back.
Darius had estimated that this first campaign should last about one month at most, yet both he and Gunner felt it would be resolved a lot faster.
The Itemancer had been careful in his estimation because he still remembered Vena's warning that the power level of Faust as a whole would rise.
Even though most things had seemingly remained the same, and no one's stats or powers had suddenly jumped as far as Darius could tell, he didn't find it wise to ignore a direct warning from the Goddess in this case.
The convoy moved towards Andrato and patrolled the kingdom over the span of three days, clearing out any rebel forces and cleansing the kingdom thoroughly while Gunner looked on coldly.
Blood rained in Andrato since many forces had infiltrated the place while Jeanne was away and focus was on Safemoon. In these three days, the 17,000 strong troops had ended the lives of nearly 500,000,000 different people, all who used to have lives, wishes, and dreams of their own...
90% of the noble faction had been wiped out, and about 2% of the civilians had also been exterminated. Andrato's army - which was in shambles - was reorganized by Gunner and conscripted forcefully.
These fellows had sat on their asses while Fraterina had played games, forcing Jorge and co to take action themselves. If that was the case, what was the use of their existence?
However, instead of outright ending their lives, they got used as cannon fodder for the next battle, allowing the lucky ones to pay paid off their debts for acts of omission.
The cruelty of General Gunner inspired the artificially created troops of Darius but chilled the entirety of Fallon who had begun paying attention to this matter.
Gunner then spent another four days in Andrato stabilizing the situation before becoming acting regent in Jeanne's place, since she had given him her royal symbol. The half-giant drastically changed the laws as he saw fit, and any who opposed him were gotten rid of within reason.
He mimicked the rules from Darius' former world, liking how the Earthlings had handled their laws, and he had been especially in love with how a certain country had advocated for freedom and justice at the cost of even their own lives.
Gunner abolished more than 99% of the powers of the nobles, practically turning them into commoners with a lot of money and land title, but now commoners could also acquire such things if they had the money.
The half-giant also introduced competitive capitalism, allowing the market to be controlled by only demand and supply and not in the hands of a select few powers.
He also distributed HoloBraces, creating a law that anyone above the age of 10 without a HoloBrace would be put to death.
That was why he could return after one week, having turned Andrato's entire existence on its had, because the AIs would perfect everything and make sure that things ran smoothly in his absence.
Now, he and his army of 17,000 'elite' soldiers and around 500,000 conscripts moved towards the lands of Fraterina straight up. They weren't even going to declare war or seek permission from the Fallon Continental Council because neither Darius nor Gunner recognized them.
This was important, because once you sought permission from another, you recognized them a superior and gave them the right to decide on your matters legally.
If they conquered half the continent and the Fallon Continental Council felt threatened, they could find some bullshit reason to legally prevent Safemoon from continuing.
In that situation, if Darius disobeyed, he would be seen as wrong by other parties, giving them a chance to denounce his conquest and remove their recognition of his sovereignty.
It was better to do their own thing and bulldoze through.
If you had enough force and military power, it became hard for those weaker than you to dare say they had control or jurisdiction over you.
In that situation, instead of sounding righteous, they would sound delusional and stupid. This was the kind of outcome Gunner was going for.
Their army was detected by Fraterina's spies long ago, and the kingdom was in full panic. They did not care about the trashy conscripts, as they had far more than that, but those 17,000 soldiers were like a noose around their neck.
When preparing their army, Fraterina had not collected their awakened or sparked because to mobilize them cost a lot. It could be seen in how these empires had only sent out a few Masters to deal with Andrato because they had lusted over their dungeons.
Only dungeons that had infinite resources could recoup the losses they had made. The problem here was that even if Fraterina's plan had worked and they had successfully sieged Andrato, they wouldn't get the rights to the dungeons with Safemoon there.
The situation had been murky as there were lines they couldn't cross.
Now, it was just a plain disaster.
