Chapter 50.5- And so the Dragons Danced

XXXXX- NATSU WU

“I maintain that this was a foolish idea” Grandfather said as the carriage plied the paved streets down to the colliseum.

“Objections noted and recognised” I said with a sigh.

“But not taken into account”

“No. I’ve made my choice.”

“A foolish choice”

“The right choice. I have no blood connection to the throne. If I want this nation to respect my legitimacy, then I must give them something to look to. Deeds in a war an ocean away matter little. I must prove myself, and for good or for ill, one thing all children of Agni respect is power.”

“The only issue with this is that your entire rule becomes predicated on being the strongest. What happens when you grow old? Or what happens if your children are less powerful than you are? Would you see our line supplanted from the throne by grasping lackwits because they might have more martial power?” I wondered if I could tell him that I didn’t care much about shit that went down after I was dead. If my kids were too weak to keep a hold of what I fought for, then that was their problem, wasn’t it?

“We can solve that when the time comes. What matters for now is that I need legitimacy beyond just being the one to put an end to the war. Speaking of that, how is the planning going?” I asked.

“Logistics are going to be the major bottleneck. The liaison from the Arsenal says the Airships are not rated to carry enough resources and rations to provision an army across that distance. So the fleet of Air shops would have to be accompanied by actual ships holding resources. The Liaison says they have balloons capable of ferrying troops from the ships to the airships. The only problem is that the ships can not be expected to keep pace with their airship counterparts” He said.

“And I’m sure you collection of geniuses have found a solution to that problem” I said, studying the drawings that he handed over.

“The route was mapped extensively for Zhao’s folly. If ships are sent out today in batches and groups, then they will be able to array themselves in such a manner that the airships would be able to stop to resupply at two different points in the journey.” He said, passing m another drawing that had the route scaled down. I nodded at the supply points.

“And the ships will be in position on time? When would we need to leave?”

“In five days”

“Good. Then I have time to finish with this” I said as the carriage came to a stop. The noise of the crowd was something else. The coliseum was filled to the brim again.

“We might have to consider charging for entrance” I said as I could see the line stretching out from the building into the streets.

“They’d riot” Toji said with a chuckle, appearing next to me.