Saint Luen Lake, Malen Town.
In just over a year, Malen Town had developed at breakneck speed. What had once been a barren little fishing village had now grown into a small city. More than twenty thousand permanent residents, nearly a hundred thousand hired workers, and five thousand elite garrison troops stationed nearby had filled this former small town with vigorous life.
The massive shipyard outside the town, jointly established by the Bluefin Salmon Chamber of Commerce and the Caesar Empire, had drawn the attention of every nation with maritime interests in the northern seas—not only the Caesar Empire, but the entire Western Continent.
Over the past year or so, this massive shipyard had already built a super-heavy warship nearly three hundred meters long. It was a colossal warship the Caesar Empire had never seen before. The flagship of the Caesar Empire Royal Navy's First Fleet possessed only a third of this new vessel's overall capabilities, and perhaps not even a quarter of its actual combat power.
Because the shipyard had been jointly founded by the Caesar Empire and the Bluefin Salmon Chamber of Commerce, the Caesar Empire Navy Ministry acquired this brand-new warship for a price that left them over the moon: a mere 1.8 million gold coins.
Three months ago, when the warship began its maiden voyage on Saint Luen Lake under the protection of more than a dozen medium-sized warships, three Gallic Empire Royal squadrons lurked watchfully nearby. Had Holy Light I not restrained himself, the two nations' navies might well have erupted into full-scale conflict that very day.
In short, Malen Town was no longer what it had once been. This shipyard alone had turned it into an immensely important stronghold on the Caesar Empire's military map. And the Bluefin Salmon Chamber of Commerce that supported