Gravel City did not hold them up for long.
With Dragon Knights and Magicians personally leading the plundering, the pace was blisteringly fast. Anthony split off part of the knight order to continue advancing inland along the Scalding River, intending to loot every surrounding town—towns around Gravel City were surely all built to serve shipbuilding.
Liszt did not take part in the remaining mopping-up operations. Once the family fleet had been loaded with shipbuilding craftsmen and a small number of knight captives, he swiftly sailed for the next port.
According to intelligence, the Eagle Kingdom had built three large port cities along the coast: Gravel City, Sea-Calming City, and Soaring Eagle City. The shipyards were basically distributed around these three cities, though there were also many large and small port towns used to berth ships.
On the first day, Gravel City was cleared out.
On the second day, they continued south and cleared out the surrounding port towns.
On the third day, Sea-Calming City was cleared out.
On the fourth day, they continued south and cleared out the surrounding port towns.
On the fifth day, it was Soaring Eagle City's turn to be cleared out.
For five consecutive days, under Liszt's protection, the Sapphire fleet cut a bloody path from the Scalding River all the way to the Wild Plains. Though farther south still lay within the Eagle Kingdom's sphere of influence, vast tracts of land were uninhabited by humans, and no ports dotted the coastline.
"So, Father, how much did we gain from this naval war?" Riding Loki, the Landwalker, Liszt descended onto the Tulip Family's flagship.
Marquis Oxtail poured two cups of New Moon Wine and handed them to Liszt and Messiro. "We captured virtually all the shipbuilding craftsmen—more than ten thousand shipworkers, most of them young and