Chapter 120

Napoleona held a deep admiration for the existence known as the Pirate King.

This wasn’t simply due to visible achievements.

Initially, she knew almost nothing about him, but as she formed a connection and began to move alongside him, she decided to revisit the records of the Pirate King in the royal archives.

As a result, she discovered the astonishing feats accomplished by the Pirate King.

The records of the Pirate King and his subordinates, who had continuously triumphed both at sea and on land, made it impossible for Napoleona, as a commander of a nation, not to be impressed while also raising a question.

No matter how strong the Pirate King himself was, many of the victories he achieved could not be explained simply by his strength.

He consistently overcame overwhelming numerical disadvantages and not only claimed victories but also inflicted almost no damage on his own forces.

Napoleona, as a general leading an army, well understood that this was something that couldn’t be explained solely by individual combat abilities.

Unable to resist her curiosity about this fact, Napoleona posed a question to the Pirate King.

“How is it that you always win so perfectly, your majesty? Even against larger numbers of enemies?”

Her question was filled with hope that there might be some secret only the Pirate King possessed.

To this, the Pirate King made a strange expression for a moment before responding with a smile.

“No, I have always won against a greater number with fewer people.”

“Excuse me?”

Napoleona couldn’t comprehend the Pirate King’s answer.

Then he spoke, looking as if he found it interesting.

“Indeed, the enemies I faced in war always outnumbered us. But I always fought in situations where I arranged to be outnumbered before confronting them. You probably experienced this too, during the battle the other day.”

“Ah…!”

A memory from Sicily suddenly came to her.

At that time, the allied forces clearly had superior numbers over the Pirate King’s strength.

However, when Napoleona confronted the Pirate King, the troops around her were not only inferior in numbers but simply too few to confront him.

It was understandable, as they tried to escape due to internal division rather than battle; ultimately, both Napoleona and General Garden, who was by her side, became captives of the Pirate King, unable to even mount a proper resistance.

And the same was true for the subsequent battles.

Later, she learned that the Pirate King had sent spies in advance to sow discord among the coalition forces, and in the end, those divided forces were unable to put up any real fight and became easy prey for the Pirate King.

“I understand what you mean… Truly impressive.”

“It’s nothing. This is all thanks to you.”

“…Excuse me?”

For a moment, Napoleona couldn’t grasp the meaning of the Pirate King’s words.

However, he didn’t elaborate further, merely smiling at her.

That smile seemed to carry something complex yet… a quiet joy.

*

– KWA-BOOM!

“Ugh…”

As bombardment and gunfire rained down from the hillside, Wallenstein frowned slightly.

“Their brains aren’t entirely mush, are they? They’re not going to fall for the same trick twice?”

The Frantz Kingdom Army had constructed a defensive position by cutting trees and digging up the ground.

Though she couldn’t tell from afar, seeing them up close, they were clearly determined to fortify their defenses.

If they had merely set up a makeshift barricade like before, a single swift attack could have broken through, but to shatter the thoroughly prepared enemy, the allied forces would have to endure some degree of sacrifice.

“What should we do, Commander?”

“Hmm…”

However, this didn’t mean they could leave the enemy unattended. Even if there might be casualties, the situation was far from hopeless. After a brief contemplation, Wallenstein made a resolute decision.

“We break through. After all, it’s just a flat ground they’ve erected this defense on, and above all, their numbers are less than ours. Let’s move forward with ‘those’ at the forefront as before.”

“Yes, Commander.”

With that decisive command, Commander Wallenstein prepared to issue the attack order.

Then…

“C-Commander! Commander!!!”

“Hmm?”

“What is it, what’s going on?”

A messenger rushed in on horseback, looking frantic.

Seeing him covered in black soot, Wallenstein felt an ominous premonition and asked.

“What’s happening?”

“Enemy ambush… an ambush from the enemy! The Frantz Kingdom Army has appeared and is ravaging the main base!”

“What… what did you say?”

Caught off guard by the unexpected news, Wallenstein turned around.

What he saw was…

At that moment, flames were rising from the main base.

*

“Wh-what is this? What’s… what’s going on?”

General Pretzel dashed out of the barracks in a panic.

He had been awoken from pleasant sleep by the smell of gunpowder and the sound of screams, and before his eyes unfolded a scene that felt as if he were still dreaming.

A truly… horrifying nightmare.

“Ugh!”

“Damn it! Come at me, you snail bastards… AGHHH!!!”

He witnessed soldiers dying right before his eyes.

And… within the ranks of the badly beaten allies, he saw the flag of the Frantz Kingdom.

In a situation where the enemies who were supposed to be under attack from his forces on the hill were rampaging right before him, General Pretzel’s face was hardening in real-time.

“General!”

“You need to escape! The enemy is ambushing!”

“Escape? Where should I escape to? This is the main base! Go fight! If we can’t defend this place, we’ll all die!”

“Uh… Yes!”

“Understood, General!”

Under his command, the subordinates started moving frantically.

Immediately after, General Pretzel hurriedly mounted the horse he had kept ready in front of the barracks and raised the flag.

It was an attempt to rally the scattered allies amidst the chaos and somehow regroup their formation.

Of course, as he appeared prominently to his allies, he also drew the attention of the enemies, but as a Grade 7 Intermediate Warrior, he could block a certain amount of attacks with his bulwark.

“Gather here! Your general is here!”

His clear voice rang out amidst the chaos.

The Empire Army quickly began to converge towards where he was, and rallying those gathered troops, General Pretzel started doing everything he could to drive the enemies back.

*

“Ugh!”

– THUD!

The Holy Empire Army fell before him.

As if sweeping through like weasels in a henhouse, Pretzel and the cooking team, including Franklin, were steadily pushing deeper into enemy territory.

However, even while obliterating every enemy in sight, Franklin’s expression was not bright.

“What’s wrong, sister? Is something bothering you?”

“Me? Ah… no, it’s nothing.”

Franklin tried to fix her expression at Ambasha’s question, but no matter what, her face just gave off the feeling of a ghoul smiling; however, among those who were already used to it, no one felt afraid.

Yet despite this situation, Franklin couldn’t shake off the feelings swirling in her heart.

“Captain is really… alone in such a dangerous place. I wish he would have at least allowed me to be there…”

At this moment, the Pirate King was drawing the enemy’s aggro, accompanied only by a small number of infantry and artillery from the Frantz Kingdom.

The front lines appeared formidable, but in reality, the number of troops there barely reached a thousand.

On the other hand, nearly 30,000 troops had been thrown into this place, literally grinding through less than 20,000 of the Holy Empire Army.

Strategically, the situation was a complete success, yet aside from that, Franklin was deeply worried about the Pirate King left all alone in that dangerous position.

If the enemy decided to launch a determined attack, the defense line would break like an empty eggshell.

Moreover, no matter how strong the Pirate King was, it was said that there were 12th-grade strongmen among the enemies.

In such a situation, whether he could escape safely…

Franklin carried strong worries as a lover… and a feeling of discontent.

“If only I could be of some help, no matter how little…”

That person, who always undertook the most dangerous tasks.

Because of that, the allies could consistently achieve victory with minimal casualties, but from the perspective of someone receiving help, she couldn’t help but feel a debt of gratitude.

Especially in situations like now, with so many irritations present.

“Sigh… well, worrying about this right now doesn’t mean anything…”

Thinking that, Franklin turned her gaze back to concentrate on the battle before her.

At that moment…

“Huh?”

“W-wait, that guy!”

In that instant, the sudden voices of two people… Magellan and Elkana reached her.

Unlike usual, there was a palpable urgency in their voices.

“What… what’s happening?”

“That’s him! The one riding away on a white horse is Duke Ocleang!”

“N-no?”

A chubby man in a noticeable white horse urgently crossing the formation behind him.

And behind him…

There were two black knights who seemed to be his escorts.