Another week has passed on my deconstruction site.

Through my diplomatic skills I convinced the count and several other nobles to sign some surely-not-shady agreements with me, Elina was the first to sign such an agreement. Each of the signatory nobles has sent me some workers and started supplying me with stone and wood for the construction site.

The count also sent me his best architect, who started sorting through my plans and drafts to create myself a good home. His first drafts made me delighted. From my bitty drawing he managed to develop an actually nice project.

In the end my home will be a multi-leveled castle with a palace on its second level. The third level will be a tightly protected sanctuary with a small Japanese house for me and my closest servants. The first level will be a small town where the people will live. A medieval-styled wall and towers would be surrounding the first level, while the second and the third levels would be more like the japanese-styled castles. The project took in consideration both topology of this cliff and my preferences. It is an actual fortress and simultaneously a majestic palace.

The construction of the fortifications will only take several months because the project was well-prepared. The actual buildings will be finished within 6 months after the fortifications. As soon as the project was approved, I sent the commissioned workforce to start the earthworks to set up the foundation for the first level.

Together with the successful first steps at building myself a nice house, I also succeded in making the local nobles take me into consideration. But because I was not too keen on dealing with them, I started preparing for Elina to be doing the inter-noble politics in my stead.

However, to make my puppet duchess an actually viable puppet I needed to make the nobles completely agree with me. While there are many ways to convince the lascivious greedy nobles, I chose the fastest.

I scheduled a small gathering for the local nobles, including those who did not align themselves with me, and offered them to show off their power in a peaceful seaside town. It was one of the main maritime trade hubs and its harbor was so large that it could even fit the carrier. I expected the nobles to bring their available or hired fleets to show off. After all, a noble coming to this port would pay no fees for docking their ships.

I did not miscalculate, and the day the gathering started, all nobles who had at least some money hired or sailed the most powerful of their warships, but the nobles that sided with me brought nothing but shabby old scraps. Despite that, the harbor was filled with ships to the brim and it looked like a fleet gathered for a major naval offensive. Since it was a matter of honor, I also gathered myself a small fleet of 3 triremes.

[This will be an interesting show.]

My grinning must have been so apparent that some of the nobles started whispering amongst themselves. They started to think that I sailed those 3 splits here thinking that I can impress someone with my ‘might’. Unsurprisingly, the pocket duchess was the one to shoulder this.

“You have a wonderful fleet, lady Elina.” One of the nobles approached Elina and ironically said that to her.

“Oh, sorry, those are not my ships. You don’t need to worry, the ships are a curtsy of sir Dervin. Fuji asked them to sail here.” I did not tell anybody the reason for those ships to arrive here, though it was clear, for the people related, that I did it with nothing good on my mind.

“Ha-ha-ha, this 'lady' can not even walk without her 'master's' approval. They are so poor. Why did we even waste our time on this?” Some of the nobles started laughing at my sacrifice to the goddess of seas, or god, whatever.

But, as we all know, the one who laughs the last...

When a lot of nobles gathered on the pier, I stopped idling somewhere in an armchair and prepared for a short speech.

“Welcome to the conference where I will put forth the next duke of Caliga. I don’t know what lowly creatures such as humans like, so I decided to give you a little show.” A clamor arose when the nobles were insulted right into their faces by whom they consider to be lower than them.

"How dare you?! Not only a commoner, but also a beast?!"

"Go away, you and your petty excuse of a noble!"

"You are lower than the ground, stop talking big, before I skin you!"

I was pleased with their reaction. That was exactly what I needed.

“You dared saying something?” I said that in exaggeratedly calm voice, and eyed the entire noble crowd.

The entirety of the nobles were taken aback by my 'brazen' and 'impudent' attitude. The confusion did not last long, since some of the nobles stepped away from the main crowd. Those were the ones who understood that the brown mass was about to hit the fan. The rest of the nobles started glaring at me and plotting to send their guards at me. Only one of them had the guts and accepted the challenge. He walked out towards me with his sword aimed at me.

“COME HERE, I WILL END YOUR MISERY!” He was so enraged that his saliva started dripping.

“Oh my, come at me, lowborn.” At my taunt the noble went berserk.

Now that was completely legitimate™ self-defence. I created some weakened foxfires and launched them into his face.

‘AAAAAAAAAA’ The noble's head was caught in flames and his face got burnt.

While the count's servants on stanb-by were taking away the maimed, I once again looked at the nobles with indifferent eyes.

“Anyone else?” And with the same indifference I asked them.

“I am surprised that such lower beings as humans keep acting all that arrogant in front of me. It looks like you are yet to learn your lesson, since you still dare to stand in front of me. Then let me show you the vast difference in strength between us." I flicked my fingers.

‘VROOOOM’ ‘VROOOOM’ ‘VROOOOM’

On my signal, the humming noises of my dive bombers and their escorts filled the surroundings.

One by one, all of my bombers flipped in the air and started falling down like eagles which found their prey. The bombs have landed on top of the prides of those nobles and torn apart the mighty hulls of their wooden ships.

While the nobles trembled at the sight of destruction, in the distance lurked silhouettes of a large group of torpedo bombers which began their attack run. One by one they descended to an altitude where they barely avoided the waves, and dropped their torpedoes.

‘VROOOOM’

Then, with a deafening noise they flashed above us.

The remaining scrap wood was sent to the bottom of the harbor by the torpedoes.

When the waves settled around the sinking ships, I turned my head towards the nobles and asked with a frightening voice.

“Does anyone else of you want to test my powers?”