Chapter 106

“Cock-a-doodle-doo~”

“Umm… Early morning. Queen Louis rubbed her eyes and got up to the sound of the now-familiar chicken crowing.

It was at least three hours earlier than she used to rise as a queen, with the sun yet to make its appearance.

However, knowing that a pile of work awaited if she didn’t get up now, she quickly washed her face with the water she’d left out yesterday, changed her clothes, and stepped out of her room.

“Yawn… Did you sleep well, Chomski sister?”

“Yeah, I slept well.”

Ambasha greeted her while rubbing her eyes, still looking a bit tired.

After responding to the name Chomski, which she had become entirely accustomed to, Queen Louis headed straight to the kitchen with Ambasha.

What awaited her in the kitchen was the usual scene: the bright light of the kitchen illuminating Franklin, who had already woken up and was pulling out ingredients from the pantry, and a fluffy, white beast curled up on her head… the little furry creature, Zebby or something like that.

“Sister, we’re here.”

“Welcome, could you please prepare today’s ingredients over there?”

“Sure.”

“Got it.”

Queen Louis naturally sat down and began to work with her hands.

Although her movements were adept now, it wasn’t without its share of complications to get here.

At first, she had trouble, starting with onions, chopping up an apple while including the seeds, and almost throwing in the sprouts while preparing potatoes.

She had nearly made several mishaps, but after some time, those little mishaps were no longer a problem.

Having finished the morning preparations and cleaned up the breakfast, Queen Louis then left Franklin and Elkana, who had arrived just after, and entered the Second Kitchen, though in truth, one kitchen was more than enough, that place was currently left to itself, where she lit a fire in the stove.

From this moment on, it was time to work with something other than food.

To do that, Queen Louis took off her apron and grabbed a hammer and tools.

“Chomski, take a look at this sword. It seems like it’s lost its edge.”

“The gun is acting up and isn’t firing well… could you check it out?”

From simple knife sharpening that anyone could do to a bit more complicated gun repairs.

However, for Queen Louis, who could already create complex contraptions like locks and watches, this was merely easy work.

In fact, she once even made a key-gun, a weapon the size of her finger that combined a key and a pistol, so she could immediately tell what was wrong with the firearms just by looking.

Thus, spending time fixing the weapons and tools of the people… or rather, the pirates, until dinner, Chomski felt a calm settle over her.

No matter how much they talked about the Pirate King, associating with criminals was something she had never imagined she would do.

Moreover, even considering the workload excluding lunchtime that Magellan and Elkana brought, she was working continuously until evening, but…

Even so, Queen Louis felt profound happiness in the current situation.

Even when sitting on the throne, she had continuously been waiting for the moment to work with metal.

She couldn’t have honed her blacksmithing skills to an expert level just being a queen for nothing.

And now, doing what she loved, Queen Louis wore a genuine smile of gratitude and appreciation, unlike the forced smile she once displayed under uncomfortable gazes.

No one had ever praised her blacksmithing skills or accepted them as pure positive experiences throughout her life.

‘… After all… I am better suited to be a country blacksmith than a king…’

Experiencing genuine happiness in this moment, she concurrently thought about wanting to keep living like this.

With black iron dust smeared on her face, Queen Louis busied herself, just like always, fixing the pirates’ belongings while wearing an innocent expression.

“All done. Let’s check it out.”

“… Hmm… Looks good. Should work just fine.”

The assassin from the pirate crew gave a satisfied look after swinging the finished dagger a few times.

Feeling a surge of pride at another companion’s satisfaction, Queen Louis took a brief moment to put down her hammer and rest.

At that moment…

“Umm…”

“! Ah… Pirate King… sir.”

In walked That Man.

Though she had mostly gotten used to Franklin’s face, her heart still raced in this man’s presence, and she politely bowed.

“What brings you here? Do you have something for repair?”

“No… that’s not it. However…”

“… However?”

The Pirate King had an unusual expression.

Seeing this, Queen Louis instinctively realized something was amiss.

“… What’s going on? Did General Rafael order you to bring me back…?”

“…”.

The Pirate King slowly shook his head at her words.

At this, Queen Louis let out a deep sigh of relief inwardly.

She had already grasped the underlying situation over the past few days, and she knew she would have no choice but to return as queen whenever General Rafael called for her.

If that happened, her happy time here would come to an end.

She would have to sit back on that wretched throne. But with the Pirate King’s response indicating otherwise, Queen Louis felt slightly reassured.

“Then what’s going on, Pirate King? Don’t tell me… you just wanted to visit me…?”

With a hint of hope, Queen Louis tossed what sounded like a joke.

However…

The next words from the Pirate King were beyond her expectations.

“War… has broken out. A war with the Holy Empire.”

“… W-what did you say?”

*

“I… War? Is this true?”

“No doubt about it, my lady, I saw it with my own eyes.”

“We confirmed it directly from our position in the Loren Region. The Holy Empire Army was swarming like ants across the river.”

“Damn… So they really…”

General Rafael grimaced at the words from Charlotte and Maraang.

The fact that the Empire Army was gathering at the borders by Loren and facing the Palts was something that left no doubt about the coming war, even before an official declaration had been made.

“Surely this is that Ocleian’s doing!”

“That filthy schemer is clearly stoking the flames with exaggerated claims to the Holy Empire.”

“Grr…”

Charlotte and Maraang expressed their wrath, and General Rafael couldn’t help but grind his teeth in agreement.

At that moment.

“General, let’s send a messenger to them, after all, you didn’t spare Louis’s life to have this happen, did you?”

“A messenger?”

Even in the middle of chaos, Napoleona spoke calmly.

“While they haven’t officially declared war, their justification is crystal clear. If we can just prove that Queen Louis is still alive, we might avoid war or at least delay the enemy’s movements.”

“Hmm… That does sound logical.”

Agreeing with her fairly reasonable suggestion, General Rafael nodded.

“Then I shall personally visit the enemy camp. General, please summon the soldiers. A letter from the king should make it easy to muster the forces.”

“Understood. I will do just that.”

Thus, the Revolutionary Army started to respond immediately.

However… despite the discussions, deep down, Napoleona honestly believed that stopping the war itself wouldn’t be easy.

‘According to Charlotte and Maraang, there are at least thousands of visible enemies… If they gathered that many soldiers in such a short time, their main force should be in the tens of thousands…’

Even just assembling and mobilizing soldiers would consume an enormous cost.

The provisions needed for thousands of people would require sums that could stagger an entire city’s foundation.

In this situation, simply stating, “The king is alive, so please go back” wouldn’t yield much hope for the enemy retreating…

Yet even so, Napoleona felt she had no choice but to take action personally to deliver the message.

To determine the enemy’s exact movements…

And above all…

To see whether ‘that person’ would join the fray…

‘If… that’s the case… could the Pirate King hold him off?…’