Despite the coup army outnumbering them, they were intimidated by Yamato’s main cannon and had become nothing more than a disorderly rabble. Forces that had gathered purely for Ranel’s cause also joined the battle, turning the tide of the conflict into a one-sided affair. The power of the Musou Iron Cavalry’s Magicrafts was on a different level entirely, and warriors like Nanami and Nagisa instilled so much fear that enemies fled at their mere approach.

As the battle reached its conclusion, with victory all but certain, Ranel began to call out through Yamato’s external loudspeaker system.

“To everyone present here, I am Ranel, the first president of the Amuria Federation. Please listen! Why must people of the same country fight each other? What is the purpose of this battle? It’s not for the country, it’s not for asserting principles, and it’s certainly not a fight to protect our families. Such a battle should be stopped immediately. Act on your own judgment. You no longer need to follow your superior’s orders. As president, I promise here and now that those who surrender will not be punished.”

Ranel’s words delivered the final blow, and the coup forces, already at a disadvantage, began to change. One after another, soldiers raised white flags and surrendered. This wave of surrender spread throughout the coup army, leading to the entire army’s capitulation.

“It’s over, for now,” Jean muttered as he watched the post-battle cleanup.

“What do you mean, ‘for now’?”

“The coup forces that came here were only a small part of the whole. Things may have settled here, but the rest of the federation is still in complete chaos.”

“That might be true. We can’t be sure of the situation with communication still down…” Ranel said, his voice tinged with worry. Jean, apparently struck by a new idea, made a suggestion.

“Yeah, even if we want to calm things down, we can’t start without fixing the communication system. Our first priority should be dealing with the jamming.”

“Can we do that?”

“According to Rafishal, there’s a device somewhere that’s causing the interference. If we destroy it, communication should be restored.”

“Do we know where it is?”

“Don’t worry, we have an excellent source of information.”

“Oh… the king, huh?”

King Harrison was likely to have some valuable intel. And since he was completely terrified of Jean, he would probably talk easily.

As expected, information from King Harrison revealed that the device causing the communication jamming was located in the central part of the federation, within the Holy Nation of Temira. Of course, the coup army was well aware of the importance of this location and had stationed a large force to defend it.

“We’ve absorbed some of the surrendered troops into our ranks, so we now have around a thousand Magicrafts. However, according to our source, the defending force is at least double that number.”

“Twice our numbers, huh? We can probably manage that, right?” I suggested, basing my confidence on our performance in the earlier battle. But Jean scolded me for being too optimistic.

“Weren’t you listening to Ranel’s speech earlier? The coup forces are still part of the same federal military. We should avoid unnecessary bloodshed.”

“So, what should we do then?”

“Our goal is to destroy the device causing the communication interference. There’s no need for a full-scale battle.”

“Oh, I see. So, we just need to sneak in with a small team, destroy the device, and get out.”

“Exactly. It would have been ideal to use Emina’s Artemis for a stealth operation like this, but we’ll have to be a bit more forceful this time. Yuta and Nagisa, you two will lead a direct assault instead.”

Jean was right in thinking that stealth wasn’t an option for me and Nagisa, but it still irked me that he seemed to see right through us.