For half a month, the main force of Lord Arthur's Fourth Fleet had been held back in the waters off Snowforest Harbor.
Embarrassingly enough, fifty medium sailing warships, four large warships, and the flagship Thunder of the Wind had all failed to break through the Iron Tide Pirates' defensive line.
The gleaming green, turtle-shell-shaped shields around their hulls not only dispersed the impact of cannonballs, but also served as natural ramming prows, stopping the Vanguard Fleet's head-on assaults.
Had war not broken out across the Outer Sea, leaving everyone too busy to pay attention to other battlefields, Lord Arthur would probably have become one of Kul Tiras's biggest jokes of the year.
The senior officers of the Third Fleet would certainly have laughed the hardest. That was their specialty.
"My lifelong reputation, ruined by these turtles. They've turned piracy into hiding inside their shells. Even I'm embarrassed for them." Lord Arthur was so furious that his beard trembled.
But anger was useless in war. Strength and brains were what mattered.
The Fourth Fleet's existing warships really had no answer to Raul's Blacktooth Fleet. The enemy ships openly invited a beating, gritted their teeth, and insisted it did not hurt. There was nothing Lord Arthur could do.
When pirates attacked Drustvar, Lucille hurried to Snowforest Harbor at once.
She had spent half a month fighting alongside her father at the harbor, yet they still had little to show for it. She was growing anxious too.
"If Rowan's new fleet weren't trapped in the Inland Sea, we could very likely break the deadlock with the help of those new warships," Lucille agreed.
Lord Arthur's expression darkened. His daughter had been in Snowforest Harbor for less than half a month, yet she had mentioned Rowan dozens of times already.
Something was wrong. Very