Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 490 Special Mission
Just as Anne was getting her work back on track at the research institute, Levi also had his own things to do.

He led the repaired Sky Eye to set off again, heading towards... Francis.

"Why……………"

Sitting by the window, sipping tea and eating snacks, Li Wei sighed silently. As he looked out at the boundless sea, he recalled the scene when the old steward assigned him a task at MI7.

"You want me to go to Francis?"

It must be said that Li Wei was quite surprised when he first learned about this mission.

"Francis has already surrendered to Krant, what am I supposed to do there? It can't be to negotiate, can it?"

"Your mission is to assist Francis's resistance forces."

"Does Francis still have any resistance forces?"

This really surprised Levi; he didn't think the Franciscans had that kind of perseverance.

"That's right, the specific situation is actually a bit complicated..."

The old butler also explained the situation to Li Wei—as he said, the situation was somewhat complicated.

After the City of Flowers surrendered, most of Francis's military forces were indeed disarmed, but a small number of resistance forces did not choose to obey the City of Flowers' orders and continued to fight against the army of the Kingdom of Krant.

After learning of this news, the Empire held discussions and ultimately decided to send people to assist the resistance army.

On the one hand, from a military perspective, maintaining the existence of Francis's resistance forces would prevent the Kingdom of Krant from mobilizing its forces to deal with the Empire.

On the other hand, according to rumors, the reason this resistance army was able to defeat the Kingdom of Krant's army several times was entirely due to their commander. The commander was rumored to be a young girl, and a saint at that. She possessed the blessings and power of the Holy Lord, and it was because of this that she was able to lead that ragtag army to repeatedly crush the Kingdom of Krant's offensives.

Moreover, there are rumors that this girl possesses noble blood—remember before this, Krant had also invaded Francis once, at which time Francis ceded a lot of land and witnessed the scene of the other party ascending the throne in his palace in a humiliating manner.

At that time, a saintess also stepped forward, leading soldiers to fight against the Kingdom of Crant and winning the battle. However, the Kingdom of Crant later threatened Francis's nobles to betray the girl, surrounded her, claimed she was a witch, and burned her at the stake.

But now, the girl has been resurrected! She has returned to save Francis!

In addition, the old butler gave Li Wei another piece of information.

At the time, the Empire suspected that this saintess was actually a descendant of one of Emperor Arthur's twelve knights. This was not because the Empire was making unfounded claims about kinship, but because, according to the Empire's records, there was indeed such a saintess under Emperor Arthur.

Her characteristics are very clear: in all descriptions of her, she is described as a young girl, a saint, possessing divine power bestowed by the Lord. Her most distinctive feature is that she may die, but she will always be resurrected. And when she is resurrected, she will still appear as that teenage girl.

Therefore, this saint was known as the Immortal Saint, and her family name was Dalque. The emblem bestowed upon her by Emperor Arthur was a phoenix representing immortality and a lily—the latter seemingly being the saint's favorite flower.

In this world's eyes, a young girl dying in battle and then being resurrected after a period of time is indeed considered a miracle. Of course, from a science fiction perspective, it can also be explained.

For example, this girl is a clone. She cloned many bodies, and then one of them died in battle, and another one appeared.

Or perhaps this girl is a robot who created multiple bodies, and then… (the same applies below)

However, the Empire doesn't describe much about the Darc family. Legend has it that the Saintess family is one of the most mysterious knight families among the twelve knights under Emperor Arthur. According to some fragmentary information, someone said that they had visited the family and found that everyone in the family, from the master to the servants, was a girl, and they all looked exactly the same.

Of course, the records about this girl say that she had sunny blonde hair and was as beautiful as the most perfect creation of the Creator. The people of the Dark family inherited this beauty, so they all looked unusually similar... Well, from a genetic point of view, isn't that a bit abnormal?

To be frank, Levi had reservations about this mission. He knew Her Majesty the Queen's plan was to wait for Krant to occupy Francis, then have the Empire eliminate Krant, thus smoothly annexing Francis. While a resistance army would indeed be helpful in tying down Krant's forces, was it really alright to do this?
What if we raise a tiger that turns out to be a threat? Besides, even if the other party is a descendant of the Dark family, one of the Twelve Knights, they might not necessarily side with the Empire.

"That's why we sent you."

Li Wei still remembers the old butler reaching out with a serious expression and pressing down on his shoulder.

"On the one hand, you are the one in the Empire who knows these mysterious phenomena best. On the other hand, the other party is a young girl, a lady."

As he spoke, the old butler smiled slightly.

“I believe this should be a piece of cake for you.”

Good grief, is she trying to use her good looks on me?

Li Wei silently rolled his eyes.

But no matter what, he set off anyway.

It's just a bit boring.

Li Wei looked at the sea, which stretched as far as the eye could see, almost nothing in sight. This was normal; the Empire had already reduced its shipping business with Francis, and after Francis's surrender, direct shipping between the two sides was completely severed. Now, there were no passenger or merchant ships from either Francis or the Empire visible on the stormy sea.

However, Li Wei did not oppose the operation. Most importantly, he also wanted to test the power of his mecha.

Indeed, after returning to Fog City, Li Wei handed the Sky Eye airship over to the military factory for another round of modifications, mainly focusing on improving the mecha it could carry.

In addition, the Eye of the Sky's own power system was also modified, changing from a purely steam-powered system to a steam generator invented by Dr. Tester. It must be said that the greatest advantage of Dr. Tester's invention is that it did not completely overturn the steam system currently used by the Empire, but rather adjusted its output.

如果以10为单位，以前的蒸汽机则是蒸汽9电能1，而现在的蒸汽发电机则是变成了蒸汽3电能7，而这其中的7电能所产生的动力比以往蒸汽机的动力高数倍以上。

This is precisely why Li Wei's airship can have several more spiral propulsion systems for air battleships added, and the thrust increased, which can offset the effects of placing the mech inside.

After all, mechs are quite heavy.

Although it is indeed fun to play.

Thinking about this, Li Wei couldn't resist the urge to take it for a spin. After obtaining the mecha, he naturally took it out for a spin and found it quite exhilarating.

Basically, after activating the jet engines installed on the mech, Levi's mech can reach a speed of Mach 0.8 and can maintain that speed for several hours. Of course, this is because, as the "Emperor Unit 1," Dr. Tester specifically installed the energy storage ore that he had previously told Levi about, which he had found at the base of those alien creatures.

Although it's only the size of a monitor, it stores enough electrical energy to power the mech for a whole day even if the steam generator can't be started.

Moreover, it won't go berserk even when the power is off, so it's very safe and worry-free.

It's fair to say that even without the Eye of the Sky, Levi could directly pilot his mech from the Empire to Francis. Of course, the cockpit environment clearly doesn't allow Levi to enjoy the scenery while having afternoon tea like he is now.

By the way, Li Wei also named his mecha "Night Raven"... Well, since it's all black, he can just call it whatever he wants.

Furthermore, in addition to the two main thrusters on its back, the Night Raven mech also has two auxiliary thrusters on each of its four sides, which can propel the mech to the left or right by jet streams.

As for combat capabilities, the mech's universal rifles and heavy machine guns are enough for Li Wei to deal with most enemies. If he encounters tough enemies, he can use a pile driver to make a hole in them. If all else fails, Li Wei's short-range missiles are not just for show.

Overall, Li Wei's evaluation of the mecha trial was quite good. Although it was still different from the mechas he had played in games and watched in movies, considering the current level of technology, being able to build a mecha of this caliber was already a blessing from heaven.

Li Wei didn't intend to ask for anything more.

However, this mission is really giving us a headache.

Recalling the details of the mission, Levi frowned, feeling it was extremely tricky and troublesome. The current situation of that resistance force was unknown, but Levi didn't hold much hope of reaching an agreement with them. The fact that these resistance fighters were still fighting after the current Franciscan regime had surrendered demonstrated their strong sense of national defense.

In this situation, it should make no difference to these rebels whether the opponent is the Empire or the Krant.

Clearly, the Empire might want to reach a cooperation agreement with them to jointly deal with Krant, but it's unlikely that they would agree to the Empire annexing Francis afterward.

Are there any other clues we can find?
Levi reviewed the intelligence gathered over this period. He was somewhat surprised by Francis's surrender, but not entirely unexpected. On one hand, the Franciscans were inherently boastful and not the type to withstand too much loss. The Imperials were more reserved and modest about their accomplishments. But the Franciscans were extroverted, or rather, fond of bragging; regardless of their ability to deliver, they would at least make their claims public.

This is one of the reasons why the two sides don't like each other.

The Imperials considered the Franciscans boastful and impatient. The Franciscans, in turn, considered the Imperials hypocritical and arrogant…

Besides these factors, another crucial point is the political situation in Francis. On the surface, Francis established a republic after the revolution, initiating a democratic system. But Livy knew that ultimately, Francis was secretly ruled by capitalists and religious figures.

Those parliamentary representatives and such were useless puppets, merely giving the Franciscans the illusion that they could decide their own destiny.

Religion and capital are borderless things. In other words, even if Francis disappears, for these parasites, it's just a matter of changing hosts and shifting their target from Francis to Krant.

So it's not surprising that they wanted to surrender, after all, Krant's annexation of Francis meant that their power could expand further.

But... what is Krant's attitude towards the Holy Bishop? And what about those capitalists?
Levi couldn't find any information on this, which made him somewhat uneasy. Logically speaking, Francis's surrender wasn't particularly strange; everyone thought it was only natural. But Levi felt there was something fishy going on. Perhaps this time, Krant hadn't swallowed a piece of fat meat, but a poisoned chalice.

However, he wasn't a Krant, and if the Krant really fell for the trap, Levi wouldn't care.

The question is, will this be directed at the Empire next?

Li Wei vividly recalled how, in the Imperial Treasury, the old steward had shown him the gift the Holy Bishop had given to Her Majesty the Queen—the three-piece set of faith that could turn people into fanatics. Li Wei figured that the Holy Bishop's expertise in this area meant it certainly wasn't the first time he'd done something like this.

Consider this: could they use this as a pretext to give similar gifts to the King or ministers of Cronte, turning them into devout followers of the Holy Bishop?

What about the capitalists? The Empire offers them no way out. Her Majesty the Queen's series of reforms should have made this clear to these It capitalists. Will they be able to get what they want in Krant?
Li Wei thought it was unlikely, but who knows? After all, capitalists have no bottom line when it comes to shamelessness.

"Perhaps I should shift my focus of investigation and take a look at the situation in Huadu first."

Li Wei gazed at the map, tapping on the markers. The Empire only had a rough idea of ​​where the rebel forces were located. With Li Wei's Sky Eye, finding them would be easy. However, Li Wei felt he shouldn't go looking for the rebels first, but rather assess the current situation in Flower City.

Especially the Holy Bishop and those Italian capitalists, what exactly are they planning to do? Are they just going to surrender obediently and do nothing?
Or have they already reached a private agreement with Krant? Indeed, Krant also has a motive, because the Empire still threatens Deburg, and they want to end the war with Francis as soon as possible so that they can concentrate all their efforts on dealing with a possible attack from the Empire.

In this situation, if Francis were to offer a conditional surrender, Krant might indeed agree under the threat of the Empire.

If that's the case, then Li Wei is even more curious about what these guys are up to.

Perhaps he can find the answer in Huadu.

(End of this chapter)