Gasi

Chapter 1 – The Fleet's Decisive Battle.

Part 1「Good grief, it's truly foolish for someone to not know their place!」

Several days after the army that was led by Trystovy Dukedom's great general Olten and Answerer Kingdom's general Mikhail departed to Continerri.

The dukedom's crown prince Bernardi was laughing in a good mood inside a room of his private residence in the capital Millianna.

「The dukedom will never submit to a savage who descended from beastman's blood!」

Bernardi was continuing to stand at the forefront in the dukedom's effort against Baldr to display his presence no matter how shoddy it was. Just the other day he personally welcomed the reinforcement from Answerer Kingdom was a part of that.

That wasn't the only thing he did. Recently Bernardi was energetically doing his activity even more than Archduke Jack as the heir of the dukedom. There were a lot of young nobles who placed their expectation on his future.

──But at the same time that action also placed him at the forefront in receiving the resentment of the populace.

It was also Bernardi who reacted the most sensitively toward the insurrection of the populace at Continerri.

The class system that was the foundation of Trtystovy Dukedom was on the verge of danger once again.

His father Jack destroyed the kingdom in the past and took control of this country was for no other reason than to not allow the commoners to grow impudent like the merchants who ruled Mulberry.

As the heir of this dukedom, he had to plant the image of being even harsher than the archduke. It would be the end if a politician got underestimated in the world of politics. That too was certainly a definite truth.

Bernardi had enthusiastically created a bloodbath in his commoner hunting.

Commoners couldn't possibly match the regular army that had been thoroughly trained. This principle could only be overturned if the commoners within the army seceded from the chain of command and turned into enemy.

The number of commoners who got executed as example until now had increased until several thousands. The amount of assets that were confiscated from the commoners had also reached a considerable amount.

Due to the severe punishment, the movement that tried to contact and work together with Baldr's kingdom army had quieted down.

When Olten came back with victory shortly after this, the hope of the people who placed their expectation of Baldr would also be smashed to pieces. That was the only way the dukedom could continue to engrave their existence in history from here on too.

The only remaining problem that was worth mentioning was only how they would negotiate with Answerer Kingdom after getting indebted to them this time.

「──Your highness's performance is truly splendid.」

The one who praised Bernardi shrewdly was the son of Count Valerie Ost, Batista.

Bernardi was thinking of this man who originally should have succeeded after his father's position since a long time ago as his confidant in the future.

Bernardi trusted him as the symbol of the new generation and as someone who wished for his ascend to power more than anybody else.

Bernardi too had only gotten permitted by Jack to move on his own initiative just before the battle against Baldr began. Before that he was nothing more than a convenient decoration for the dukedom.

He would definitely make Batista obtained his peerage at the dawn of his ascension to the position of archduke.

The creation of that promise between the two of them could be traced back to several years ago.

「When this war is over──」

It was possible that the archduke would also retire wouldn't it?

The worry of Jack recently was so striking that Bernardi could harbor such convenient delusion.

「There is nobody who can deny your highness's achievement anymore.」

Batista's expression was also loosening laxly seeing this perfect chance to remove his father Valerie.

As expected even Valerie surely wouldn't be able to oppose the command of Bernardi when he became his lord as the archduke.

Now that it had been made clear to him that his influence was inferior to his father, the only way Batista's wish could be granted was only through Bernardi.

「Umu, Batista. I promise that won't forget everything you have done for me.」

「...It's my honor.」

The force that was entrusted to Olten was an unprecedented large army that had never been seen before in the history of the dukedom. In addition they had even taken the risk of getting reinforcement from Answerer Kingdom.

Not to mention the two of them had directly experienced Mikhail's overwhelming aura of violence when they met him. They never even considered the possibility of the dukedom losing.

「Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!」

Bernardi's loud laughter echoed inside the room.

Certainly the dukedom's populace had lost their fang of resistance due to Bernardi's harsh policy.

The dukedom had applied a thorough system of guilt by association. Anyone who resisted wouldn't only have their family executed, even the whole village would become a target of purge.

Right now the commoners could only obediently wait for Baldr's liberation. If not they would be annihilated before they could be freed from this oppression.

In front of such untouchable armed might that the commoners couldn't possibly win against, the brand of despair had been pressed on them.

Although, it wasn't difficult for human to endure if there was even just the slightest hope remaining for them. After all that was also how they had overcome all their hardships until now.

But unfortunately exception was something that existed everywhere.

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Part 2──Somewhere, there was a knight.

His strength as a knight was quite high.

He was someone with unusual background. When he was still a child, he caught the eye of a knight who didn't have a child and got adopted by him. He then grew up and became a knight, even so he was unable to get used to his life as a knight because he was originally just a mediocre son of a farmer.

Luckily or unluckily, the father and mother who became his adopted parents had died from sickness last year.

When that happened, the nostalgic scene of his birthplace crossed the man's mind.

His living situation had certainly become far more luxurious compared to a live at a rural area.

However he knew the luxury that a knight could enjoy was nothing much compared to the high class nobles.

Even though life in the village was poorer, there family and neighbors would lean on and help each other to continue living resolutely. The knight felt that such living was far more charming than his current life.

And then one day, the man was reunited with his childhood friend who had grown up to be a beautiful woman.

It didn't take that much time until the two of them felt attraction to each other as man and woman.

In order to marry his childhood friend, the man begged his superior to take his childhood friend as that superior's adopted daughter and wedded her to him.

The superior told the man that he would think about it if the man raised achievements in battle. The man was fired up and performed a conspicuous service at the battle of Mulberry.

The battle itself ended in defeat, but when the army retreated, the man beheaded several enemies even while he was seriously injured.

「──And yet!」

The man was liberated from the hospital bed with hope filling his chest. But what awaited him was the absolutely despairing reality.

The village where he was born tried to switch side to the enemy camp due to the village chief's incitement. Then the village ended up being trampled down by Bernardi's royal guards.

Not a single one of the villagers was allowed to live. The man's biological parents and his beloved childhood friend also got tortured to death.

He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it.

Perhaps his childhood friend alone managed to survive due to some kind of miracle?

The man tried to cling on that small hope, but a single casual word of his coworker destroyed even that.

「It seems the commoners' heads are lined up at the plaza you know?」

Of course the man didn't know.

That an old man who was controlling the dukedom from behind the scene was prioritizing for the heads of the family of the commoner knights including the man to be sent to the capital.

.

「──There is no way that no distortion won't appear after such excessive action.」

Valerie who was watching over Bernardi and Batista plunging forward through the road of destruction on their own initiative from the shadow of the tragedy was holding a wine glass in one hand with his wife Idunn beside him while laughing in pleasure.

「As always, you are a really nasty person.」

Idunn also drank her wine with an exasperated expression while saying that.

It was Valerie who guided the archduke and Bernardi so that the credit for the feat was given to the youngsters.

It was Valerie's miscalculation that it was his son who was at the lead in following Bernardi, but it was still within his expectation.

In Valerie's plan, House Ost was also something that would be erased without a trace from this world. Rather it would save him the time to have Batista disappear too at this point.

Valerie mocked himself. He was truly an irredeemable existence for thinking of something like that.

If it was for the sake of his objective, don't mention his son, he wouldn't even hesitate to sacrifice his beloved Idunn.

When he looked back at the number of corpse that he had piled up until now, it would be too audacious for him to harbor human feeling at this late.

「...I love you exactly because you are this kind of awkward person.」

「Wha-?」

Valerie unintentionally raised his voice. Then he averted his face sullenly. Idunn laughed triumphantly seeing that.

「I decided to accompany you until that world because I know the root of your inhuman acts.」

「Hmph, who is the awkward one here. Damn fool.」

He didn't have any intention to stop his heart that was heading toward destruction at the slightest, but he felt like his heart had lightened thanks to Idunn. It was truly embarrassing for Valerie.

.

A mere knight didn't have any way to possibly learn about the unseen force that was at work in the shadow.

He wanted to make sure. He didn't want to make sure.

Pushed by those contradicting urges, in the end the man came to the plaza of Millianna.

「OO...OOOOOOOOOOOO-!」

Hundreds of heads with blank gaze were lined up carelessly.

The man's body shook and he let out a low moan seeing there were several familiar heads among them.

(O god! Please I beg you, don't show me her head here!)

The wish that came from the man's soul got trampled very easily.

At the other side of the heads of his acquaintances, there was the head of his beloved childhood friend that was frozen in the expression of wailing.

Perhaps the heads of his parents were also nearby there.

But even accepting the death of his childhood friend was already beyond difficult for the man.

「──I'll kill him.」

Crying or screaming wouldn't become any consolation at all.

There was only one thing to do for the man. To take revenge for his beloved childhood friend. He had no need for other action and emotion than that.

After that the man didn't remember how he got home.

However he felt like his mind was clearer than usual.

Killing the crown prince Bernardi.

Only that resolve didn't change at all even after he regained his awareness.

The man wasn't a member of the royal guard, but fortunately he had quite a high position within the knight order. Although he couldn't join the expedition to Continerri because of his wound, he would be given the rank of company commander the next time he was dispatched to the battlefield.

When the man returned to work, he was ordered to guard the capital. He used that rare opportunity to start gathering information.

Strangely Bernardi's security was full of holes.

When he went out for official business, more than a hundred royal guards would be assigned to him, but the security of his private residence was less than twenty people.

Such security could only be said as extremely insufficient for a country's crown prince.

Was he thinking that the commoner couldn't do anything to him?

The man's stomach seethed.

But, although the security was less than twenty people, the man was still one person.

What should he do to outmaneuver the guards?

A perfect chance came to the man faster than expected without even any time for the man to wrack his brain.

That day he was ordered to guard the eldest son of Count Ost, Batista. Their destination was Bernardi's mansion.

The other person who was appointed to guard Batista together with him was his trusted colleague. It wasn't to cajole him.

Perhaps this was what they called divine aid.

As soon as they arrived at Bernardi's private residence, the two of them were led to an antechamber. There his colleague pretended to have stomach ache and excused himself.

For the man who had nothing more to lose, he couldn't think that this kind of chance would come to him anymore.

(As I thought, god is telling me to kill the crown prince. There is no other explanation than that!)

The man was convinced of that after he caught a maid and asked Bernardi's whereabouts.

Unbelievably, the majority of the guards were kept at distance because Bernard was going to play with the beautiful women who had been prepared for him.

His hateful enemy was right over there──.

「Die. For the sake of my beloved who shouldn't be needed to be killed.」

.

The door was opened violently. An expressionless knight was standing behind it.

Batista remembered that knight. Or rather, this man should be an excellent knight of the dukedom's knight order who guarded him until this place today.

「Insolent! Just what is your business?」

「Shut up.」

The man cut down Batista with a single downward swing.

Batista crumpled on his feet without even being aware of what had happened. Bernardi was bewildered seeing that.

He never even considered that an allied knight would betray him. The background and personality of his royal guards should have been strictly investigated.

「You bastard! Do you understand what are you doing!? This high treason isn't something that you can atone for with just your one life!」

「My fiancée, my family, my relatives, all of them have been killed by none other than you! Who else can you make to take the blame now?」

「D-don't tell me...you are a family of the rebels?」

This time terror made Bernardi's whole body to feel goosebumps.

He didn't have anything that he could use to convince the man.

His absolute authority as the crown prince wasn't of any use here. The armed might that he surrounded himself with also wasn't nearby right now.

Bernardi regretted sending away his guards in order to play an indecent act with beautiful women together with Batista.

「S-someone help! I'll give my savior any reward they ask for!」

「You bastard have gone too far. That's why god is handing down his judgment to you.」

「S-stop! You are going to erase the future of the dukedom with this!」

「I don't give a damn to the dukedom's future.」

「I can't die in this kind of place! There is no way I can die here!」

「How about testing whether you will be forgiven or not when you say the same thing to the people you killed in that world?」

Unfortunately, god wouldn't punish human. It was always human who punished human.

Bernardi felt the white blade digging into his shoulder without any way to know who gave the order to the beautiful women who were presented to him and the knight who vanished by pretending to have stomachache.

.

Archduke Jack was furious by his son's murder.

For Jack Bernardi was his only son.

He had three daughters, but everyone had been sent out to marry his retainers, so normally they wouldn't be able to become his successor.

With Bernardi's death, the decline of the dukedom's unifying force would be unavoidable no matter who he appointed as his successor next.

Even without taking that into consideration, Jack had great hopes for Bernardi. No matter what anyone else said, Bernardi was the son Jack was proud of.

Jack who unconsciously feared Baldr had stepped aside from the limelight by entrusting matters to Bernardi who was being motivated as the crown prince, but seeing his son dead like this made him realized that doing that was a mistake.

(If only I stood at the forefront and managed all the domestic affairs by myself, would Bernardi stay alive even now?)

At this point asking that was pointless.

「Massacre the family, no, all the relatives and friends of the culprit!」

「T-that's, it seems that the family and relatives of the culprit has already been executed...」

「Then kill all the people in his village, leave none alive!」

「By your will!」

The government official bowed his head so low it might touch the ground with how angry Jack was acting. In this situation he couldn't possibly say that the village had also been exterminated beforehand.

It would mean his death if he carelessly say something here.

「We mustn't let Bernardi's death to end in vain! All the populaces of the dukedom has to be taught a lesson so that they won't dare to go against the dukedom forever!」

Was this really that Archduke Jack?

The retainers of the royal court felt cold on their back seeing their lord's frenzy.

Jack's personality was mild-mannered as a ruler although it was originally caused by his feeling of guilt from killing his elder brother in a coup d'etat.

The retainers were harboring an indescribable anxiety of what would happen to the dukedom from here on. And then the worst finishing blow arrived in this timing.

「──I understand very well just how pained your majesty's heart must be right now.」

The true identity of this old man who was enveloped in a dangerous air like a revenant was a meritorious retainer who helped built this country and the power in the shadowfixer of this country. Those in the know all knew it.

「Oooo! You are here Count Ost!」

Jack hugged the visiting Valerie with a deeply moved emotion.

「You are the only one who understand what I'm going through right now. It's really wretched what happened to Batista. Even though he is a promising talent who will shoulder the future of the dukedom...」

「No your majesty. My son is a failure who was unable to protect Crown Prince Bernardi. Dying for his blunder is the least that he could do to make up for it.」

「No, your son is blameless in this matter. It's those lowly commoners who are in the wrong for not knowing their place.」

Batista was attacked while his guard was down. His wound was deep from being slashed from his shoulder until his heart. He died instantly.

There was also the fact that not a single one of Bernardi's royal guard had died. It made Batista's violent death to be even more precious.

At the very least he was the only one who put himself in harm's way to try to protect the crown prince. Even if he died because of his poor luck due to that, there was no way for his devotion to not be praised.

Not to mention that Batista was Valerie's heir. If he wished for it he could even become the dukedom's prime minister in the future.

A noble with promised bright future sacrificed his life instead──.

It was only natural for Jack to feel sympathy for Valerie as fellow father who lost their son.

「Your majesty. As a father, I swear that I will definitely make up for my son's failure!」

Jack involuntarily flinched due to Valerie's intensity. He was radiating a dominating aura like in the past when they rose in revolt against the kingdom.

Valerie who had retired on the surface was saying that he would come back into the limelight once more for the sake of the dukedom.

There was no ally more reassuring than this for Jack.

「──That's truly heartening Count Ost. No, Marquis Ost. Stay at my side and work fo rthe dukedom's sake.」

When he noticed Jack already grasped Valerie's hand.

「I swear, I will use this life until it run out for this country.」

Valerie sneered without anyone realizing it.

Setting aside for whose sake he was going to work for, he was saying the truth when he said that he would strive forward in order to accomplish his objective until his life ran out.

The next day, the dukedom government raised the rank of Ost House to be marquis and appointed Valerie as the prime minister. Olten who was hurriedly called back from the battlefield of Continerri was appointed as the great general as well as the field marshall. It was the proclamation that the dukedom was united than ever before.

As expected even Olten who felt that Valerie was suspicious didn't even consider that he would go as far as scheming about his own son's death.

With two heroes of the country's formation standing up as the center of the government, the internal condition that was shaken by Bernardi's death and the successive defeats of the dukedom army regained its stability for the moment.

On the other hand, the oppression toward the commoner was gaining even more strength──.

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Part 3Going back slightly in time.

Right after Baldr was victorious in his duel against Mikhail, he was hit by the explosion of rocket arrows and his figure vanished inside the smoke. Gitze yelled with a shaky voice seeing that.

「This is the greatest blunder in the life of this Gitze Mannerheim!」

The elevation of his morale from the victory was instantly blown away.

The beastman corps and the kingdom army would crumble without Baldr's existence. What happened forced Gitze to realize that Baldr's life was the greatest weak point of the kingdom army.

「UOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! Our king! Please be safe-!」

Gitze charged into the dense smoke while ordering his subordinates to deal with the culprit of this attack.

「Go secure that abominable weapon!」

「Ou!」

With a fierce rage that only beastman could understand, a unit of cavalry assaulted the force of Europa Church.

「Destroy the relics without leaving any trace! Hurry!」

「WHO ARE GOING TO LET YOU DO THAAAAAAT!」

The church soldiers tried to destroy the rocket arrows that they still hadn't used up, but they didn't have any time at all for that in front of the speed of the beastman cavalry that was beyond their imagination.

「Glory to the great name of Europa!」

The church soldiers gave up destroying the relics in a safe way and exploded themselves one after another together with the rocket arrows.

That fanatical act made even the beastmen who held firm loyalty toward the beast king to be astonished.

「Shit-! There is no medicine to cure stupidity...」

However the beastman cavalry that charged forward even at the risk of their life succeeded in finishing off several church soldiers before they could self-explode. And so the secret of the rocket arrow that Europa Religion was hiding now fell into the hand of the kingdom army.

「Our king! Are you safe!? Please respond if you are safe–!」

The scene that was reflected in Gitze's eyes was despairing.

The ground was scorched by a great heat.

There were the plants and trees that were felled and carbonized. Also some lumps that were previously human.

Gitze would commit suicide without any hesitation if one of those lumps of meat was previously Baldr.

「O beast god Zoras! Please grant your strength to our king!」

Baldr himself at that time was under a rock that was located several hundred meters from Gitze. He was grimacing due to the pain in his whole body.

At the moment of the explosion when he thought that this was it for him, Baldr strengthened his body to the limit and used the magic Friction Zero to escape without decelerating at all.

It was an escape method that was possible because magic was still usable even when the power of King's Gate was sealed.

Thanks to that he crashed on a rock with a speed of several hundred kilometers per hour. He would die if he landed just slightly wrong, but Baldr won the bet.

「...Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch! As expected it was dangerous doing that without braking...」

「My king-! I'm glad that you are alright-!」

「I'm not really alright though.」

The wound on his forehead was deep and blood was continuing to flow even now, on top of that his bones had broken in at least five places. It was most fortunate already that he still kept his life.

(There is no time to leisurely recover from my wound in this kind of place though...)

It was the best Baldr could do to keep his brain running. Then Baldr's consciousness was cut off with Gitze's approaching face as the last thing in his mind.

「P-please hang in there! Our king-! NIOOOOOOOOH!?」

Gitze jumped down from his horse to help Baldr who slumped down limply. There he stepped on a round object and he slipped up slightly.

「Eeeei, dammit! What the hell is this-!」

He found something blunt and sooty, but it was clearly a handicraft that was out of place here.

It was a silver metal cylinder that was engraved with complicated patterns.

Perhaps it was the same kind of item like the rocket arrow. It would be too problematic to leave this thing here.

「I'll bring it with me just in case! My king, please endure it for a bit right now!」

Gitze suddenly held up Baldr in his arms and jumped on the back of his horse ocne more.

They didn't know. The cylinder object that they only thought as an extra of their spoils of war was actually the object to seal the King's Gate.

It would take a bit more time until the existence of the church's holy relic got exposed in front of Baldr along with the rocket arrow.

.

The heavily wounded Baldr was swiftly carried back to Mulberry.

The wound on his head was especially deep. There was a risk that there would be after-effect even if he regained his consciousness.

In the worst case that Baldr died, the kingdom army would be effectively destroyed at that moment. But it also didn't mean that everything would be peachy as long as he kept his life at least.

Unfortunately Silk didn't have the strength required to consolidate the kingdom army if she was left behind alone.

Mulberry's maritime guild also didn't have the political strength and justification to conquer the dukedom. They had to make Baldr recover completely no matter what.

「Gather all the famous doctors here!」

Even the young leader of the Seven Elders who usually acted mildly, Augusto was raising his voice and yelling to his subordinates. From there it could be understood just how chaotic the situation was.

The situation barely stopped from devolving into a panic was because the information network that Baldr created was providing accurate information to Mulberry.

The network used the radio that was created with the knowledge of Baldr's previous life, Oka Masaharu. The movement and wellbeing of the beastman corps under Baldr's command, Silk's main force, and Ramillies's Antrim army were reported back in real time.

Without this information, Augusto who hadn't taken the post of the chairman of Seven Elders for long would be hindered in his management of Mulberry.

But, that information was getting harder to be obtained with each passing day.

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Part 4A member of the intelligence unit that Baldr formed, Cameo Transin was bewildered.

He was a veteran intelligence agent whose age had passed 50. Previously he was a private informant who sold information to mercenary and bandit.

He was invited to Antrim with Zirco's introduction and he had worked for Baldr for several years. He was an initial member in the organization and he was counted as one of the seniors.

The reason of his bewilderment was because the information network that was laid out throughout Trystovy Dukedom had been torn to pieces and suspended during this several days.

If it was just the disappearance of one or two people then he could think of it as mere coincidence, but when the number had surpassed ten then he could only see this as man-made disturbance.

But it was suspicious that his spies got found out in so short time like this.

From the beginning Baldr didn't expect his spies to be able to do sabotaging action or stealing secret information.

Of course there would be nothing better if they could do that, but Baldr's information network was focusing their effort in gathering information like the circulation of goods and money and rumors among the people as fast as possible.

In other words his spies had little need to dirty their hand with illegal activity. Because of that the possibility of them getting found out by enemy was low.

The majority of the informants that got increased since last year didn't even know that they were participating in the intelligence activity of another country.

「Just what is going on...my head can't think up of anything...it can't be helped but I guess I'll withdraw.」

Perhaps it had been more than ten years since the last time Cameo was this shaken up. Most likely Cameo's identity had also been found out by the one who was doing this.

It was vexing to abandon the information network that he had spent much effort to build, but it was more important to save the life of his precious intelligence agents.

Cameo hurriedly destroyed the documents that were written with cipher and classified information and also the radio equipment, the secret technology that was more precious than anything that only Baldr's faction possessed.

The equipment could be created once more, but having it falling into the enemy's hand was something that had to be avoided no matter the cost.

「──Looks like I'm just a step late.」

「Who-?」

The regretful low voice of an old man resounded just when Cameo finished destroying the radio equipment thoroughly.

He was unable to feel the presence or even sound of anyone until he heard that voice.

Someone like Cameo who was highly experienced as an intelligence agent sensed that this old man was a terrifyingly skilled person in the same business with him.

「It's too bad, I have a business with that very strange device.」

「Hou, so then you won't be able to overlook me?」

Cameo observed the opponent's approach. He wouldn't be able to win here if he fought head on.

As expected the opponent wouldn't just quietly let him leave, but he should have killed him already if his purpose of coming here was just to kill him.

Perhaps he would capture him alive to interrogate him for information.

If that was the case, then he had a chance to win even if the opponent was more skilled than him.

「Yes, I don't mind overlooking you. That's why can I ask your hand to let go of that dangerous object?」

The old man shrugged when Cameo glanced at the switch for the poison gas that he had prepared as his final trump card and also for his suicide.

That unconcerned behavior of the strong made Cameo finally recalled.

To think that he would encounter such big shot here.

「I never expected that Caolila Basque will personally come for me.」

「No no, I'm already at this age as you can see. I'm just an old man who is nearing his retirement.」

「That's...a joke isn't it?」

Certainly this man's age might have crossed 70. However this old man had mastered something inexplicable that youth wouldn't stand a chance againt.

People called this old man as 「Ost's Shadow Blade」.

He was a legendary assassin who had sneaked through many heavy security and assassinated many political enemies.

This wasn't an opponent that someone like Cameo who fundamentally wasn't good with fighting could match. If this old man felt like it, he would be able to kill him without him ever being aware of it in the first place.

What Cameo could do when in the presence of someone with absolute strength over him was just negotiating using his life as betting chip.

「And...what kind of stroke of luck there is that you will overlook me? I have never heard of you having the compassion of ordinary person though.」

When speaking of Caolila, his name was the synonym of terror that anyone in the know would be aware of.

The number of spies who had been killed by him was innumerable. Many of his subordinates who had stopped contacting him during these several days must have also gotten killed by him.

「Of course, I'm not going to overlook you because of compassion.」

He could be killed anytime, but it would be troubling to kill him right now.

In the end this was within the category of pastime or perhaps a game, but Caulila thought that his lordValerie's childishness for this kind of thing was amusing.

This should be forgiven as a secret amusement of someone at the end of their life.

「First, I wish to entrust you with a message for his highness Baldr.」

「Message?」

What was the reason for this person to expressly ask him to do that for him?

In the first place what kind of message a member of the dukedom's intelligence agency could have for the prince of an enemy country?

「...Well, I can do that.」

No matter what Cameo thought within his heart, it was a cheap request if his life could be saved with that.

Cameo replied while putting on a mask of composure as much as possible.

Caulila wasn't someone who couldn't see through that, but the bold front of a man was something that always had to be respected. It was even more so when it was done by someone risking his life.

「Then, I ask you to convey the words of my master Count Valerie Ost. Your highness's strength is magnificent, but you are still lacking malice. Watch and learn from my malice. That is the message.」

「If it's malice then I think his highness has seen it thoroughly though...」

The harassment from Mauricia Kingdom's bureaucrat noble, and then the prejudice toward the beastman blood that was really hard to erase. Baldr had overcome all of those. Cameo couldn't imagine that Baldr would be shaken at this point just from learning the malice of a single noble.

Caulila felt that frank impression of Cameo as something radiant and precious.

In the past he too believed that Valerie and Viktor would sweep away the outdated notions of the kingdom and built a new era.

Valerie had sank into a whirlpool of malice where even the bottom of abyss was lukewarm compared to it due to his best friend's death. It was too much asking for other people to understand it.

「My lord's malice is relentless just so you know. But my lord also hope that his highness won't be swallowed by that malice.」

It went without saying that the man called Baldr wasn't someone with the disposition of stooping into malice.

Even if someone irreplaceable to him was killed, he would surely continue walking the righteous path without falling to the inhuman path.

He wouldn't be able to be fit as a hero if he wasn't like that.

However from Caulila's perspective, Baldr was still making light of other people's malice too much.

「In short, tell his highness to resolve himself.」

Though he believed it would be completely impossible to avert the harm from Valerie's malice no matter how resolved Baldr was, but some things were better left unsaid.

「I will definitely convey that message to his highness. Although I think it's your side that should be resolved here.」

Caulila didn't give any reply.

If it was resolve then he already had it since a long time ago. After all a certain malice that had reached its peak wouldn't even be allowed to destroy itself and could only wait for someone else to destroy it.

(Aa, my pitiful master. Your suffering will soon be rewarded.)

That reward would be in the form of none other than death that was smeared by malice.

Caulila had no intention of yielding the role as the outrider of that path to anyone else.

.

Part 5Baldr was staring in a daze at Mulberry's port from his bed.

It seemed he had been in a really critical state for a moment there. As expected, heabdutting on the spear that was filled with all of Mikhail's strength was simply an act that had gone far beyond recklessness.

He was disqualified as a commander that was in charge of a country by getting into the verge of death like this.

However Baldr thought that it was exactly because of that reckless act that he could survive like this when by all rights they should have killed each other together in that battle.

Baldr's previous previous live Oka Sanai said at that time 「To win against the resolve to die, ye hath to face it with an even stronger resolve to live」. It was now that Baldr was able to truly understand the meaning of those words.

The sea breeze was getting stronger, so Baldr lifted his body to close the window. But in the middle of that an intense pain ran through his chest and he grimaced.

「Ouch ouch ouch ouch!」

Other than the laceration on his head, his broken ribs and shoulder blade were his heaviest wounds.

Of course his broken arm and fingers and fractured bones were also a problem, but his ribs and shoulder blades became filled with intense pain just from him lightly sitting up.

Silk entered inside the room carrying a water jug while Baldr was curling up in pain.

「You shouldn't do that! Your body still must not move!」

Silk hurriedly held Baldr's shoulder and rubbed his back in concern, then she slowly laid him down on the bed.

「Sorry, I thought that I could at least close the window but...」

「The wound in your internal organs is only barely closed with magic, so you must not force yourself like that!」

Silk puffed up her cheeks in anger.

At that day, Silk and Satsuki pulled back their troops in order to join up with Ramillies. The message that Baldr was heavily injured reached them at the next morning of that. Because they hadn't learned of Olten's retreat at that point of time, they were forced to follow the strategy to join up with Ramillies.

Then when they finally free to return to Mulberry, they found Baldr in a critical condition. It couldn't be helped that the girls were excessively worried.

Even so──.

「Here, say aaaah.」

「Silk, I'm just going to drink water. There is no need for that right?」

Baldr who was under not a little amount of stress was protesting because he could guess how things would develop from here.

「I won't allow it! You have promised that you will be obedient and listen to me until your broken bones are healed!」

「Uuu...if you tell me that...」

When Baldr recovered his consciousness, he got severely scolded by Silk and Satsuki.

The general was personally getting into a duel, and in the end he headbutted a spear and his bones were broken everywhere before he fell into unconsciousness. The girls' argument wasn't without reason.

Baldr understood that. He understood but....

「AAAAAAAAAAH! Not fair nya! It should be my turn to take care of Baldr today nya!」

Satsuki ran into the room with teary eyes at that timing.

For some reason there were scratches and bruises all over her body. Just what had she been fighting?

「Oh, is that true? I thought that you wouldn't be able to move after training with Gina-sama.」

「Lies nya! I heard it from Gina-sama nya! It was you Silk who asked her to train me hard without holding back nya!」

「Tsk...」

The maidens who were hungry for skinship were getting out of control.

Especially Silk who had gotten away from the watching eyes of her father Marquis Randolph here. She had even thrown away her aspect as a young lady who was naïve of the outside world to the wind and ended up like this.

「...Silk-sama, don't you think that you have overdone it a little?」

「Uu...I'm sorry! I don't know where did the idea come from!」

Even so when Gina appeared with an exasperated expression, as expected Silk gave up because there was no way she could get away with lying in this situation.

Silk's shoulders dropped despondently. Satsuki snatched the cup away from her hands and enthusiastically held it out toward Baldr.

「Here! Say aaaah nya!」

「Sorry, I already drank.」

「No way nyaa~~~~! Then what about food? Have you eaten dinner?」

「It's still three o'clock you know, Satsuki...」

Gina watched the two's flirting in delight before she threw a bomb in the middle of them.

「You have taken in enough liquid Baldr, so now you need let out what need to be let out...」

「Eeeeeeeh? Gina-sama, what are you talking about?」

「Who are you calling Gina-sama? Can't you see this chamber pot that I'm holding?」

「Gina-obaachan! Please spare me just from that! T-that will put my dignity as man into danger!」

──*Gulp*

Baldr got a bad premonition and fearfully moved his gaze. He found two maidens breathing roughly with reddened face standing there.

「T-this is the right...no, the duty that is given to me as Baldr's first wife in the future!」

「Silk still haven't become Baldr's wife yet nya. And so I absolutely won't give up my preferential right today nya!」

「I'll do it myself carefully no matter how long it take! Let's do that!」

「Baldr, you have no right to speak.」

「There is no need to worry nya. T-this, will be the first time for me, but I'll work hard if it's for Baldr nya.」

After that, about whether Baldr was able to protect his dignity as a man or not, all the people involved kept quiet and wouldn't say anything about it.

.

「──Just now, I got the feeling that delicious chance just got snatched away from me.」

To be more specific, a great feeling of lost as though she had just lost a chance to be able to have sexual contact with Baldr was filling Urraca who was far away at Marmara Sea.

「Please get your head into the game properly. I'm relying on you here.」

Jose looked troubled and remonstrated Urraca who was suddenly pouting.

Jose highly evaluated Urraca as a sailor more than anyone, but it wasn't the case when it came to her relationship with Baldr.

「I don't hate being relied on, but because of that the time I can spend at Baldr's side is really little! I demand for equal opportunity!」

The information that Baldr was seriously wounded wasn't brought to Urraca.

As expected even radio couldn't reach a ship on the sea.

If Urraca learned about that information, she would definitely rush to Baldr's side no matter what she had to leave behind.

「Spare me...」

Jose wouldn't be reluctant to support Urraca's love life if only there wasn't this war, but it was too impossible for that at the present situation.

「To be honest that weapon is cheating. At the very least it's impossible to dodge it with my ability as sailor. I would have died in Riga if I was unlucky. That's just how dangerous this new weapon is.」

Right now Jose's name was reverberating throughout the world as the first admiral in history who successfully launched a surprise attack toward a navy's base using a fleet.

The loss of Riga's function as military port meant the death of the dukedom navy.

Even a fleet couldn't continue to sail indefinitely on the sea. All ships had the need for resupply and maintenance at the port. And a navy base was a place that possessed the whole knowhow for all of those necessities.

If there was a ray of hope for the dukedom side at this matter, it was that the human casualties from the attack had been suppressed at minimum due to the dedication of the old admiral Bonifatio.

Even if the facilities had been burn to the ground, it was possible to recover somehow as long as the people in it were still alive.

After all training skilled worker who was thoroughly familiar with every nook and corner of a ship could easily take ten years.

However there were the practical problems of how Riga had mostly lost the ship spare parts, weapons, food, reserve personnel, unloading facility, and many other things. It couldn't be used as a base anymore.

The dukedom would need a lot of time whether they wanted to rebuilt Riga or moving the base to other place.

Anyone who had the experience of commanding a fleet could easily guess that the dukedom had no such leeway time wise.

Therefore it was the natural development for the dukedom to muster all their strength for a decisive battle between fleets.

The first thing Jose did after returning triumphantly from Riga was to link up with Urraca because of such circumstance.

「To put it simply that weapon is a projective weapon right? Something like an arrow that is flying by spouting fire behind it.」

「It's a dangerous arrow that can sink a ship with one shot though.」

「As expected it will be a pain to not allow even a single arrow to hit the ship...」

Even so Urraca didn't say that it was impossible. As expected from her.

The first thing Jose did after the linked up was reporting the existence of rocket arrow the enemy used.

Bonifatio had certainly did the best he could to protect Riga, but he still wouldn't be able to avoid the criticism of being thoughtless in regard to how he showed the existence of their secret weapon to Jose.

When Jose imagined him getting into the fleet decisive battle without knowing about the rocket arrow's existence, he felt a chill as though his spine had frozen.

「If we are careless, we might get annihilated five minutes after the battle start. I can understand now why the enemy is still assured of their victory.」

「Good grief, I wish I can push this troublesome battle to Baldr at least this time. The range of our flamethrower is short after all.」

「It won't even be a fight if we can't close the distance. Our side would also prepare a countermeasure if only we knew the enemy has that kind of weapon.」

The information regarding Baldr's secret technology was being made available bit by bit. At Sanjuan Kingdom the development of firearms was hastened up due to their cooperation with Baldr.

Even among all of them, Jose believed that the existence of「cannon」 would greatly change the shape of sea battle.

However unfortunately the creation of those weapons was still at the testing phase. The time wasn't enough for those weapons to be usable in this decisive battle.

「Well, we can only do everything we can. It will be better the greater Baldr's debt to me become.」

The compensation of Urraca's help would naturally be Baldr's body. She would collect the debt by all possible means when the war was over.

「Uhehe...just you wait Baldr...guhihi」

Urraca showed a predator smile that a maiden must not show to other people. She wiped her drool that almost trickled down.

She wouldn't demand to monopolize Baldr for herself. It would be fine if she could just borrow him for a bit. She was going to search for a common ground with Silk and the other girls around that.

She would be able to fight for thirty more years if she could just have a sweet memory with Baldr and a child who shared their blood.

Urraca was a count of Parma House who served as the active navy minister of Majorca Kingdom. The matter whether it was alright or not for someone of her status to become an unmarried mother was set aside for now.

「There is no better chance than this to make Baldr indebted to me.」

The pressure from Urraca's wild delusion made Jose sensed danger instinctually as a man. It even made him questioned whether it would be alright for them to win the battle like this.

(Sorry...I'll pretend to not know anything about this matter.)

Jose himself was far from being able to be called a wise general when it came to interaction with woman.

May god gave Baldr happiness──Jose prayed as though this matter was completely unrelated to him.

.

Part 6Answerer Kingdom's fleet was sailing on the sea several hundred kilometers to the southwest from Mulberry. The gentle sea breeze was carrying the warm air from the south.

There was a rumor that the continent that was located to the south of Aurelia Continent was so hot that the people there were living without clothes. This heat made one unconsciously wanted to believe that rumor.

「You look like you are in a bad mood, admiral.」

「Those dukedom bunch, they should be ashamed that we have to go into a decisive battle because of such foolish reason!」

The humid air seemed to have gotten to the fleet admiral Percival. He spat out in irritation in respond to the joking words of the ship captain Domitory.

He himself was wishing for a decisive battle from the beginning, but he couldn't believe how the dukedom's navy had lost their base in Riga that had existed since the beginning of Trystovy navy.

In the first place, it was also unbelievable how the dukedom only had a single navy base.

Answerer Kingdom had four large navy bases. Percival's fleet belonged to the base at Sevastopol that was located at the northwest.

At the large island to the west of Nedras Kingdom, there was an important base called Novorossiysk there that was in control of Galeares Sea that had violent seasonal winds.

And then there was the home port for the main fleet that was located near the capital that was called Konigsberg. While Arkhangelsk was where the north fleet was using as their base. Those ports were known as the bases of Answerer Kingdom's navy.

Trystovy navy too didn't only have Riga as their only base. Orignally Mulberry should function as a secondary base, but Riga became the only base as the result of Mulberry rebelling against the dukedom.

It was impossible for the dukedom to spare money and manpower to develop a new home port for the navy while fighting a civil war.

Even so now that Riga had stopped functioning like this, they should have done anything they could to establish a military port at Taranto at the west before it came to this.

Taranto was a small trade city at the western part of the dukedom that was relatively near to Kadiros Kingdom. The port there was small but it was quite developed.

Even if it was somewhat small, if there was a military port at Taranto then it would also be easy to send aid from Answerer Kingdom.

「Although it's impossible, if by any chance we are defeated in this decisive battle, both the dukedom and us will lose control of the sea. We won't have any hope to take it back.」

Now that they had lost Riga, in case they were defeated here Answerer Kingdom's fleet would be forced to return to the faraway Sevastopol.

The dukedom fleet would also have to surrender to the kingdom or sought asylym to Answerer Kingdom. They had to choose one of those two options.

It would also put Answerer Kingdom's national strategy at great risk if the dukedom navy had to withdraw from the dukedom.

「──There is no more point to keep talking about it. Let's just focus on winning the battle before us.」

Percival finally finished venting his anger after Domitory admonished him so.

Percival himself understood that. However he couldn't erase his distrust──his doubt toward Trystovy Dukedom's navy and couldn't treat them as an equal ally.

The admiral of the dukedom fleet Federigo who got such distrust directed toward him wasn't simply venting his anger anymore. He was completely infuriated.

「This wouldn't happen if only they placed a uselessly big ship like Gigante to defend Riga!」

What a negligence, what a foolishness, what a disgrace.

The dukedom navy that allowed their home port to be burned to the ground would be branded with the stigma as incompetent for several hundred years from now. For a navy allowing their home port to be burned was no different from allowing their homeland to be burned.

He couldn't help but feeling how unbelievably stupid they were for allowing Riga to be almost completely empty just because such attack was completely unprecedented until now.

That wasn't all. Bonifatio who whipped his old bones and died splendidly was Federigo's ship captain when he was still just a new soldier.

Even now Federigo still remembered his admiration toward Bonafatio who he saw as an example of how a man of the sea should be. No matter what he couldn't come to an acceptance at how he helplessly allowed that man who had returned back on land to die like that.

「──Pathetic. In the past our navy rivaled not only Sanjuan Kingdom but even Answerer Kingdom. But now we are treated as a minor actor even in our own sea territory.」

This was the other half of the reason why Federigo was enraged.

There was no doubt that they were at their own sea territory, and yet the dukedom navy had gone through many defeats and reduced in number. Because of that they ended up handing over the command of the combined fleet to Answerer Kingdom.

Without the assistance of Answerer, far from being able to secure the power to fight the forces that had gathered in Mulberry, they wouldn't even be able to preserve their existing fleet.

Answerer also had more ship than them. In addition the secret weapon that could overturn the sea battle from its foundation was also provided to them through Answerer.

At this rate even if they won this battle, the dukedom navy would only be placed under Answerer Kingdom's navy. Their worthlessness would place a great burden not just on themselves but also to their descendants.

「...It become like this also because those people in Mulberry are borrowing the help of outsiders like Sanjuan and Majorca! Those damn traitorous pigs!」

If the enemy was just the maritime guild, they would be able to repel them without even any need to do something like borrowing the help of Answerer Kingdom.

The more Federigo thought that, the more Federigo's chest was flooded with anger that was burning him inside.

「Just watch right now! I'll show you all that the dukedom navy isn't inferior at all compared to Answerer Kingdom! I'll bring back a proclamation of victory to the late Admiral Bonifatio!」

The first fleet of dukedom navy under the command of Federigo was the last sea power in the dukedom's possession.

If the coast guard and the ships that survived from the defeated fleets were excluded, the moment the first fleet was defeated would be the moment that the sea power called the dukedom navy was eliminated.

Of course the rage that Federigo harbored was genuine.

However, as a human rage was the emotion that provided them with the most aggressive energy. Without that energy, he would have been crushed under the heavy pressure. That too was also a fact.

.

「──I guess the battle at sea will begin soon.」

「Indeed. In this season, the battle will be carried out today or tomorrow as long as the weather isn't too bad.」

Caulila poured a hot mint tea in front of Valerie with a perfect and elegant movement without any pause at all. It was the tea that Valerie loved since his youth to change his mood.

After taking a gulp of it, his body relaxed and reclined on the back of his chair. He rubbed the corner of his eye tiredly.

The exhausting work as the prime minister of the declining dukedom was enough to sap the energy from Valerie's old body.

Recently his sight was becoming blurry and his sleeping time was getting shorter. It wasn't because of the particular habit of people with old age to be early to bed and early to rise.

Currently Valerie was so exhausted that his sub sympathetic nerves weren't working normally.

Even so, when he thought that this would be the last time he mysteriously became able to push himself to do his best. He couldn't possibly cut corners with the culmination of his lifework just before he was tired.

「If the dukedom lose in the sea right now──」

「It will be checkmate for the dukedom.」

Unlike the army, the organization called the navy was difficult to rebuild. If Federigo's first fleet was destroyed, the revival of the dukedom navy would need more than ten years.

Although the dukedom wouldn't have the budget for that, so the possibility of the rebuilding itself would be gone.

The dukedom's capital was located inland, but the nature of the country since its formation was as a maritime nation.

If the merchants and technical experts who were affiliated with the dukedom learned that the dukedom lost their sea force without any possibility of recovery, the rate of their escape would be accelerated.

Even at the present time, the escape of the commoners because of the heavy tax that was levied on them was in the process of becoming a societal problem.

Even if the dukedom wanted to prevent that, the border was connected by land without anything to block the way so it was fundamentally impossible to prevent the escape of the people.

However if Baldr became victorious gradually like this, it wouldn't be possible to wipe away the dregs of the dukedom's evil that had been accumulated until now.

「And, how is Baldr doing?」

「His life was in grave danger for a brief moment but...as expected from a hero. He has already recovered to the degree where he can walk around.」

Surprisingly Caulila had an accurate grasp of Mulberry's information.

His information network had inferior speed compared to the information network of Baldr's faction that was using radio, but his was superior in accuracy instead.

In this kind of intelligence activity, connections with many people that had been cultivated for many years meant everything.

No matter how excellent the organization and personnel someone had, it wasn't easy to oppose the connections that had been created by spending much time and effort.

The spies from the kingdom's side had gotten swept clean from the center of the dukedom was also because of the work of the sweeper of the intelligence agency that Valerie had built.

Of course this wasn't because Baldr's information network was inferior.

It was because fundamentally the intelligence agency that Baldr needed had the concept of learning information that anyone could learn faster than anyone else. His intelligence agency didn't put much focus on unlawful information war.

「Winning completely against an army of 20000 under the command of that Mikhail with only 3000 men, and recovering within several days even after getting seriously wounded. A hero is really something terrifying.」

「Truly. There won't be any objection even if we called that unreasonable.」

Caulila was smiling calmly even while saying that. That was because he noticed that his master was in a good mood.

Valerie believed that there wouldn't be any problem if it was Baldr. Even so he was unable to discard the doubt that there might be the one to ten thousand chance of something going wrong.

Even with Valerie's discernment, he was unable to gauge the strength of the man called Mikhail Kalashnikov who was the pride of Answerer Kingdom.

He didn't doubt Baldr's victory if it was a king, but what about as a warrior?

Even if Baldr could win the battle, what if he got dragged into a duel?

Perhaps Valerie's recent exhaustion wasn't just because of the exhausting work as a prime minister, but his worry for Baldr's well being was also playing a large part to it.

Even Caulila who possessed the skill as first-class assassin of his generation would beg off from being ordered to take on a beastly genius like Mikhail.

Baldr faced such genius and won by himself even if he got seriously injured doing it. As expected Baldr's caliber wasn't that of an ordinary person.

With this Valerie too would be able to sleep peacefully from tonight.

「──But a hero can misread the caliber of the small people exactly because they are a hero.」

Valerie put on a ferocious smile that was filled with his heartfelt malice.

It seemed that he was immediately inspired with a new serpentine wisdom as soon as he felt relief.

Although with Valerie's style in showing parental affection, he wouldn't be satisfied by merely pushing someone into a ravine, he would also drop a rock, pour oil, and lit a fire in addition. From where Baldr was standing it wasn't something that he would be happy at all to receive.

The master that Caulila knew wasn't someone who would think to sleep and rest his body leisurely after feeling relieved by any means.

「Don't laugh.」

Valerie sulked sullenly seeing Caulila's expression, but Caulila didn't pay that any attention and courteously bowed before raising a corner of his mouth as though he had waited for the timing.

「How about another cup of tea? Today we have just obtained a good quality tea that is the first pluck of the spring.」

「It's also a servant's duty to make their master look good you know?」

「Of course, I intend to do everything in my capability to treat my lord reverently no matter the time. Valerie-sama is truly a master who is worth serving.」

「Hmph. Since when it's the job of a servant to look at his master with a warm gaze as though he is watching a family member blundering around?」

「Pardon my rudeness Valerie-sama, but isn't a servant who has been an accompaniment for dozens of years is already no different than a family?」

Valerie became speechless by Caulila's insolent words.

「...You are malicious at heart just like your master huh.」

「Well well, to think that I will receive the seal of approval directly from my master. That means that my effort in learning from my master hasn't been in vain.」

「However you are still lacking diligence, Caulila. I am a man who is kind to my family.」

This time it was Caulila who was taken aback and speechless by Valerie's completely unimaginable words.

「...I see, this Caulila is still completely not at my lord's level when it come to maliciousness.」

.

Part 7Sanjuan Kingdom and Majorca Kingdom's fleets had joined up with the maritime guild's fleet that was commanded by Admiral Barbarino. Their fleets then formed a beautiful three lines of ships.

The warm wind from the south shook the sea surface and the long foaming waves on the wake of the ships looked as though they had been painted by brush.

It was the first meeting of Admiral Jose and Sanjuan Kingdom's fleet, but Barbarino had already experienced joint naval operations many times with Urraca. Their cooperation with each other didn't show any shoddiness at all.

The skill of Admiral Barbarino who had protected Mulberry from the dukedom throughout so many years could only be described as splendid. It made Urraca understood how the maritime guild that was nothing more than a gathering of civilians could protect their self-autonomy until now.

Also, the fleet of Sanjuan Kingdom was already like a sibling for Urraca. The fleet of Majorca Kingdom was running at the lead of the trident formation as the cornerstone of the cooperation between the three forces.

「I don't know anything about the admiral of Answerer Kingdom, but Federigo of the dukedom is a tough opponent.」

Barbarino rode a small boat to board Admiral Jose's flagship to have a war council with the others. He was folding his arms with a bitter expression.

He and Federigo had contested each other for the control of Marmara Sea until now. They considered each other as worthy opponent.

Barbarino had a slight superiority when it came to commanding a fleet, but Federigo was outstandingly skilled in reading the battlefield's atmosphere.

The two of them always wanted to settle the battle between the two of them one day, but that chance had never come. However today would be the day they would settle things between them.

Unlike before where their main mission was to keep hold of the sea lanes, this time the battle would be genuinely a decisive battle between fleets.

The option of fighting only when it was possible to win and running away from a losing battle didn't exist this time.

That was exactly why Barbarino couldn't help but feeling excited with the prospect of facing his rival.

「It seems the admiral of Answerer Kingdom is also someone with bright future prospect you know? It seems the one with the right of command at their side is this admiral.」

「You are saying that Answerer Kingdom is taking command of Marmara Sea!?」

Originally, when a navy was fighting on sea, the navy who made that sea territory as their turf would be prioritized to hold the command. Barbarino thought of how frustrated Federigo must be and felt enraged.

Although Barbarino was allowing Urraca's fleet to lead at the forefront, Barbarino's maritime guild's fleet held the higher rank of command. That should be the custom of navy.

「That's because the dukedom's navy can't even maintain itself anymore without the support of Answerer Kingdom...」

The dukedom that was at the verge of ruin didn't have the power to make demand as an equal to their ally.

Jose felt pity toward his enemy due to that fact.

There was no doubt that this result was brought about by the situation where the dukedom had to secure Answerer Kingdom's patronage no matter what.

「How displeasing! Let's teach them that this Marmara Sea isn't so accepting to outsiders.」

Although not as much as Barbarino, Urraca was also not amused that Answerer Kingdom was making a move to their turf here in Marmara Sea.

Naturally they were brimming with fighting spirit to beat up the enemy thoroughly.

「Umu, as expected from Tormenta Negra. It's exactly as you say.」

Barbarino nodded enthusiastically in complete agreement.

Sailors by nature were a type of people with strong attachment to their turf.

In that sense, both Barbarino and Urraca weren't simply ally, they were sharing empathy with each other as fellow sailor who was raised in Marmara Sea.

「I also have no objection. The problem is the weapon that is in the possession of the enemy fleets.」

Jose had been doing nothing but thinking up a countermeasure for that since a few days ago.

Against rocket arrows, they had no chance of victory in long range battle. They had to compensate for it in other way.

If they faced the enemy head-on with only the firepower at hand, it would be hard to win even with Jose and Urraca's skill.

「Admiral Barbarino, do you have what I asked with you?」

「I came here with that thing loaded up in my ship just like you asked but...what use something like that have?」

「This kind of haphazard method isn't fitting with my style but...it can't be helped because we don't have time to test it before the real battle.」

It was Jose's style to remove the uncertain factors as much as possible and did everything he could to win.

He was ashamed to rely on this kind of improvised idea, but it couldn't be helped because he couldn't think up of any other good idea.

「It looks like we will be able to witness the magic trick of the wise general Jose Liberiano huh?」

Urraca laughed teasingly. Jose faced her with a serious expression.

「The best that I can do is only to confuse the enemy alright? But to make use of that confusion to bring us to victory, it will depend on your ship handling skill, Urraca-san.」

It was an expectation that was really heavy depending on the person, but Urraca accepted it as though it was only natural.

「I too have no intention at all to show mercy to Baldr's enemy.」

It seemed the enemy was using a troublesome weapon, but sea battle wasn't decided by just the quality of weapon. She wouldn't allow that to happen.

She would educate the fool from foreign country just how terrifying and brutal a sailor's skill could be.

Her violent resolve pushed her to laugh. Jose secretly sent his sympathy to the enemy that he still hadn't seen seeing that.

(Don't think badly of us okay? It's just that your opponent is too bad.)

.

Answerer Kingdom's fleet under the command of Percival and Trystovy Dukedom's fleet under the command of Federigo were sailing with the trajectory of a loose curve in two rows.

Looking at the wake of water that the two rows of ships left behind, as expected the dukedom had the slight superiority as the sailors who were familiar with Marmara Sea.

In such condition, the dukedom's fleet looked like it was going to overtake Answerer Kingdom's fleet. It pained Federigo's heart that he had to slow his fleet and matched the pace of their ally.

That feeling was also conveyed to his subordinates.

They questioned why did they need to listen to the order of a navy that was less skilled than them. Why did they have to be ordered around by outsiders in the sea territory where they were born and raised in?

In the first place it was the fault of the higher-ups of the dukedom that wasted the navy without any clear national strategy, but the sailors wouldn't have any place to vent up their resentment unless they thought like that.

「...Fore spanker, let go of the wind.」

「Aye sir.」

Federigo gave another order for the nth time to his subordinates to drop the speed. He gritted his teeth with a gloomy feeling.

At this rate it was clear that their fleet's movement would fall behind that Tormenta Negra.

「...Certainly that thing's power might be abnormal but」

The rocket arrows that Answerer Kingdom provided to them, he knew that it was a terrifying object that would overturn the traditional concept of sea battle.

The flamethrower that was reported as being used by Sanjuan Kingdom's fleet was also a great threat for a ship, but the rocket arrow was superior as a weapon in range and quantity.

His heart danced when he imagined his long time enemy, the maritime guild's fleet and Sanjuan Kingdom's fleet to blaze up in flame helplessly under the barrage of rocket arrows.

However a small part of his heart was also thinking this.

Federigo. Are you going to feel satisfied by winning like that?

「...Stupid.」

As a navy officer, he knew that there was nothing more important than victory. But if, if it was possible, he wanted to settle things before that kind of weapon existed.

Originally the dukedom and maritime guild should gather all their fleets when there were just them without any outsider where ships would crash on each other and they would clash with sword and arrow in a battle like the olden men of the sea.

If they did that, they wouldn't need to be led around by the nose like this by other country and relied on unknown weapon.

「Let's fight with all our soul at the very least. And then we will bring back victory to our homeland.」

Meanwhile Percival was completely unconcerned with the traditional pathos of sailor that Federigo felt.

「We will make them pay for the other day. And then from today our Answerer Kingdom will become the ruler of the sea!」

Right now the era where sea battle was decided by sailor's strength in boarding enemy ship was going to end. And then the era where ship's performance and firepower ruled everything would arrive.

The blueprint of that was already forming at the back of Percival's mind. Of course the glorious admiral who would command that fleet would be himself.

「I'll show those out-of-date pirates!」

The ship captain of the flagship Pavel, Domitory notice that Percival was starting to counting his chickens before they were hatched. He knitted his eyebrows slightly without anyone noticing.

If he was allowed to express his opinion, the best place for Percival to show his strength would be at military administration at the rear that was far away from the frontline. He was still immature as a battlefield commander.

Of course Percival had also showed considerable skill as battlefield commander, but he would be in disadvantage if his opponent was a super first class admiral.

A person with half-baked intelligence tended to overlook that unskilled person could greatly lose their focus just from a bit of mood change.

Even now when the new weapon rocket arrow had made its entrance, the strength of veteran sailors was still necessary in sea battle. And sailors could display their strength fully depending on their morale, their heart.

That was Domitory's belief as a sailor.

Despite that, it didn't mean that he was evaluating Percival lowly.

Domitory didn't have the ability or even imagination to think about how military and politic mixed and affected each other.

It was right for someone like Percival who could take that into consideration to stand on the top, but it was also true that there was a need for such person to experience the battlefield before that.

There would be no problem if he followed up for Percival with fine points of real battle. Depending on the situation he also wouldn't hesitate to punch Percival to make his point.

「...The wind's direction has changed.」

The wind that was strongly pushing the fleets from southwest slightly changed direction to northwest.

As though they had waited for that, *gun*, the enemy fleets accelerated. Percival saw that and let out a loud voice that resounded from the bottom of his stomach.

「Starboard!」

「Sir!」

「Don't let them take the upwind! Tell the dukedom fleet to also follow after us!」

「That's too slow! You idiot!」

Federigo threw his command baton on the deck when he saw the flag singal that said「Follow me」 from the flagship of Answerer Kingdom.

There was no one who could read wind better than Tormenta Negra.

Exactly because of that they shouldn't match their movement with the opponent, rather they should direct the opponent to match their movement with them.

Federigo wanted to punch Percival who was trying to subdue Urraca which such measure that was taken too late, but he suppressed the urge and followed behind Answerer fleet with heartrending grief.

「Starboard」

「Starboard, sir!」

They had allowed Answerer fleet to get ahead of them. If he moved as he pleased at this juncture, it might lead to an instant defeat for them.

The decisive different of the navy with the army was that there was practically no defensive effect from the terrain at sea.

In other words, the difference of number and training would be translated into the difference in battle strength without any other modifier.

Although Federigo didn't like it, he had to keep up with Answerer Kingdom's fleet movement because of such reason.

And then as expected, Urraca's fleet caught the wind first and accelerated, securing the upwind position.

The fleet movement was smooth without any sluggishness as though the ships were gliding on the sea. As expected even Federigo couldn't help but feel admiration. If he was asked whether he could do the same thing, Federigo would answer in negative.

The movement was able to make him feel an artistic level of genius to such degree.

「Shit! So there is no denying those guys have the slight superiority over us in Marmara Sea. Even though that won't be the case if only this battle is in our sea!」

「Should we take some distance for the time being?」

Domitory asked if they should get a fresh start. Percival shook his head in respond.

「No, it will only be a waste of time if we start from the beginning again right now. I don't think that they will let go of the upwind advantage once they get a hold of it.」

It seemed that Percival had regained his composure. Domitory patted his chest in relieve seeing that.

If the commander was lacking composure when the opponent was that Tormenta Negra, then as expected he would feel cold in his guts no matter how groundbreaking the weapon they had in their possession.

「Then, are we going to veer to bring our ships at their side?」

「Umu, it's frustrating that they have taken the initiative from us but, in the end things are still going just as planned.」

The number of ships of both sides were almost equal. The joint fleet of Answerer Kingdom and Trystovy Kingdom just slightly had more ship.

From the start Percival didn't intend to do any battle with boarding action that tended to become a war of attrition.

The reason why this battle had historical meaning laid in the fact that Answerer Kingdom would show the world a new way of doing sea battle.

「──What? 」

Behind Urraca's fleet that occupied the upwind position with magnificent maneuver, Sanjuan Kingdom's fleet under Jose's command accelerated and overtook them.

At the same time the fleet of the maritime guild that was led by Barbarino changed course to bite at the rear of the dukedom fleet.

Both Percival and Domitory couldn't guess what kind of meaning that maneuver had.

Percival asked Domitory who he trusted with his gaze.

「What they did just now...I heard it was Sanjuan Kingdom's fleet that used the weapon that spew out fire in Riga. Perhaps they are trying to have a head start to use that.」

It seemed that Domitory's conjecture was something that Percival could accept. He scoffed to look down on the opponent.

「Certainly it sounds like an interesting weapon but...they won't be able to approach until the range where they can use it.」

The range of the rocket arrow was far longer than flamethrower.

And Percival believed that this range would become the decisive factor in sea battle from now on.

In the ability of military administration to manage weapon procurement and deciding tactic for a weapon, Percival certainly possessed the suitable caliber to become Answerer Kingdom's navy minister in the future.

But he wasn't in navy headquarters in the capital right now. He was in the middle of the enemy turf. What's more the enemy was that Tormenta Negra.

「Sanjuan Kingdom's fleet is approaching!」

A nervous yell came from the watcher. Percival's chest trembled in excitement thinking that the fateful battle would finally open its curtain.

Even Domitory who perceived himself as a solemn sailor couldn't suppress a hot passionate feeling to well up inside him from being able to standunder the limelight of a sea battle in this scale.

「Prepare to fire!」

Really, what wise general. This Admiral Jose actually wasn't much.

Percival sneered at Sanjuan Kingdom's fleet that he thought was merely charging forward without any plan at all.

Perhaps the sea battle in the past was decided by firing fire arrows at each other and boarding the enemy ship to subdue the ship, but the sea battle would be different from here on.

I'll teach that to all of you fools!

The enemy fleet would enter the firing range soon.

Percival's slowly lifted up his right hand. His hand was turning pale because he was unconsciously clenching his fist so hard that his blood flow was obstructed. And then at the instant he was going to swing down his hand.

「T-the enemy fleet changes direction! What's that? The enemy goes up in flames!」

「What did you say!?」

「Is it fire attack?」

There was a reason why Percival thought that.

If one read up the history of past battles, there would be several records where such tactic was used. Percival too was able to recall some of them.

But most of the times such tactic was used when the fleet was fighting inside a bay or rivers where ships couldn't move freely.

Around a hundred years ago, a fleet that secretly sneaked in the dead of night set their advance ships on fire and sent them toward the harbor. Such battle once happened.

There was also a battle in Valga River, the largest river in Answerer Kingdom, where a rebel army connected ships together to form a bridge. The record said that the kingdom army used fire ship to burn this bridge.

But as expected, launching a fire attack at a moving fleet in a battle that was carried out in the middle of ocean where there was nothing to obstruct the fleet movement could only be called as an act of suicide.

But that doubt changed into even deeper bewilderment.

「What? ...What's that smoke?」

The warship of ocean navy would be painted with tar to prevent rot. Even so the amount of smoke from the ships that were on fire was clearly abnormal.

The smoke was rising with intense momentum. Not only it covered Sanjuan Kingdom's fleet, Majorca Kingdom's fleet that should be behind them also started to get covered from view.

「Don't tell me...this is their aim?」

Percival finally realized Jose's aim and watched dumbfounded with his face losing color.

In this era there was no tac6c of laying out smokescreen from warship.

Although it was because of the urgent need, Jose who managed to reach to such an idea by himself was definitely worthy to be called a wise general.

Percival only noticed after this late that this tactic could only be used when the fleet was at upwind position. He regretted that his reaction before this was slower than the enemy that allowed them to carry out this tactic.

「Lord admiral! Should we fire into that smoke?」

Domitory asked Percival with a loud voice as though to scold him.It made Percival came back to his senses.

「N-no...like this we won't hit anything even if we fire into there.」

Although rocket arrow's range was excellent, it wasn't a weapon with high accuracy by any means.

In the first place a weapon's accuracy would decrease in proportion with how great the range it had.

Not to mention that they were on a ship that was always shaken by wave. There was no way they could hit anything if they fired into the smoke.

Above all else, the number of the rocket arrows in their possession wasn't infinite.

「However at this rate, we will permit them to approach until their weapon's range you know?」

Domitory thought that they should fire here to hold back the enemy even if they couldn't hit anything.

When both sides were at a state of fumbling around like this, it was important to take the initiative.

「B-but, they also won't be able to move within such thick smoke!」

Percival ordered the fleet to change direction to slightly south in order to avoid the smoke.

Even so the speed of the smoke spreading was faster, but the possibility of the enemy fleet realizing their change of direction from inside that smoke was low.

「There is a chance the enemy will ,ale a bet of all or nothing and charge forward!」

「There is no way they will do that when there is a chance they will crash on each other and self destruct.」

A proper tactician would never adopt such tactic.

At the very least Percival would refuse to do something that left one's luck to heaven like that.

But a sailor from the old generation like Domitory knew that there were crazy reckless sailors who would take such bad odd. There was also no guarantee anywhere that the enemy wouldn't use such method.

At the same time, Domitory also understood that a normal commander wouldn't choose such method.

──Dammit, who is the one designing this kind of absurd plan? Is it Jose? Or Tormenta Negra?

.

「Fuu, it's working well somehow for an improvised preparation.」

Jose wiped the sweat on his forehead and sighed in relieve.

In the first place smoke screen was a tactic that was often used on land battle for attacking castle or unconventional warfare.

But even throughout the long history of this continent, Jose was the first one who thought to use this tactic on sea.

What Jose procured was peat that was produced in Nordland Empire. By mixing this with special fat, it would make a thick smokescreen.

However it was a fact that this was an all or nothing bet.

First the wind had to be in moderate strength without blowing too strongly, if not the wind would blow away the smokescreen immediately.

In addition there was the problem of securing the upwind position. Although it was easy for Urraca, it was unknown whether Jose would be able to secure the upwind faster than the enemy.

It was also greatly helpful that the weather was sunny with no rain. If the weather was stormy then the smokescreen's amount would also be halved.

Although there were the helps of several fortunes like that, Jose managed to win the bet.

──Yes, the bet here was whether he could form this smokescreen or not.

With the success of the smokescreen's formation, what would happen from there wouldn't even become a bet.

「Starboard easy.」

「Sir!」

「Tell the fourth and fifth ship that they are falling behind. Sixth ship and below are to maintain their present situation.」

「Aye sir!」

Jose continued to take command of the whole fleet from slightly upwind of the formation of Sanjuan Kingdom's fleet.

This was a strategy that could be taken because they were at the upwind.

Only Jose's flagship that was moving alone at the upwind could have visual confirmation when the field of vision of both fleets was blurred due to the smokescreen's effect.

「I'll leave the rest to you, Urraca-dono.」

.

Domitory who was a veteran sailor instinctually felt a danger almost at the same time when Jose was talking to himself.

The enemy's blade was already polished behind that smoke screen.

Their field of vision had already been limited until a hundred meter ahead. In this state it was impossible to judge how near the enemy fleet had gotten.

However Domitory was convinced, that the enemy was coming near even though there was a risk they would collide on each other by doing that!

「We should fire right away!」

「How can we fire our precious rocket arrows when we don't even know where the enemy is!」

If the enemy had changed course at the other side of the smokescreen, they would only waste the rocket arrows. Depending on the situation, the enemy might also be aiming for that so they could approach while this side was preparing to fire the second volley of rocket arrow.

Percival was hesitating because his calculation ability was half-bakedly high.

Domitory himself was also completely aware that he was saying something rash. He didn't have any proof to back him up except his instinct.

But whether it was in the past or now, a sailor who couldn't treasure his instinct couldn't be called a sailor.

「Please believe on my instinct!」

Percival thought for a bit when Domitory spoke with such unusual stubbornness to him.

A sailor had to entrust most of their fate to the mother nature. The instinct that they unconsciously cultivated from that was something that couldn't be underestimated. Percival was also aware of that.

Furthermore when it was the instinct of a military man at Domitory's level, that instinct was already no different from a premonition.

In the worst case that instinct was wrong, Percival wouldn't be able to avoid being criticized as a coward. However compared to getting people pointing at him behind his back because he was hesitating in making a decision in this historical great battle that would decide Trystovy's fate....

Now that things had reached this point, Percival completely threw away his over-optimistic calculation about the glory and success he could get after this battle.

「All ships, face toward that smokescreen and fire all at once!」

「Aye sir!」

As expected from the caliber of the one who had great expectations placed on his shoulder to bear the weight of Answerer Kingdom's navy in the future.

Deeply moved, Domitory saluted Percival with a perfect posture as though he was saluting the king himself when he was inspecting the navy.

──But, that decision was just slightly late, it was really only slightly late...it was too late.

At that moment when the marines were aiming to fire the rocket arrows toward the smokescreen, Urraca's La Mancha broke thorugh the smoke and appeared.

.

Fundamentally there wouldn't be any obstacle to block the view on the sea. For the field of vision to be blocked to this degree never happened.

If there was a thick mist, it was common sense to drop the anchor and stayed in place. Even for a navy officer, this was their first time experiencing an enemy ship suddenly appearing from the distance of less than a hundred meter.

「They show up! It's Tormenta Negra! Fire!」

「Sir!」

「...Don't think that this me will just honestly charge straight!」

The terror from the sudden appearance of the enemy ship.

And then because they had finished their firing preparation, each ship started firing one after another at La Mancha.

Several hundred rocket arrows rose up all at once with orange color. It was a sight that even made anyone looking it to feel sublimity from it.

「Hard port!」

Urraca's transparent voice resounded sonorously. From her voice they couldn't feel any intention of her trying to close the distance as much as possible even though there was only several dozen meters more until she reached her target.

「Ma'am!」

The helmsman rotated the wheel without even a beat in between.

「Fore topsail, let go of the wind!」

「Ma'am!」

「Mizzen spanker whole out-!」

「Ma'am!」

La Mancha made a small rotation smoothly as though it was gliding.

「Match the trim!」

「Ma'am!」

Without pause La Mancha accelerated and succeeded in slipping out unahrmed from the rain of rocket arrows that were raining down from above like magic.

「T-that's impossible...!」