Chapter 86

–Kwa-kwang!!!

The door, making a deafening noise, was utterly shattered.

General Rafael immediately gave orders to his subordinates.

“Everyone, advance! We shall seize Bastion Prison!”

“Whoa-aaah!!!”

“We did it! It’s our victory!”

Soldiers, overwhelmed with excitement, rushed into the prison.

Although they hadn’t officially received the enemies’ surrender, with the main gate smashed, the outcome was already pretty much decided.

The defenders had lost their advantageous position and were vastly outnumbered.

At this point, surrendering was the only option for their own survival, and the situation indeed warranted it.

“Good. Napoleona, head north right away to secure military supplies and food. Fiora and the rest of you come with me to suppress the defenders in the south.”

“Yes, General!”

“I will follow your orders!”

Napoleona and Robes Fiora responded with voices even more excited than usual.

Thus, the divided Revolutionary Army immediately set out toward their targets.

“Now that we’ve conquered Bastion Prison, dragging out that Ocleang guy is just a matter of time.”

Robes Fiora spoke with confidence, but General Rafael’s face twisted into a bitter smile as he replied.

“Indeed. At last… I can wash away the wrongs of the past.”

“Please don’t say that, General. After all, it was Duke Ocleang who led the charge. You were merely executing His Majesty’s orders.”

“Even so, this was clearly my blunder. If I hadn’t fallen for his schemes, this country wouldn’t have plummeted like this…”

General Rafael spoke with regret. However, he soon shook off his memories and focused on what lay ahead.

A group of military forces appeared before them.

Within them were their targets: Captain Gilbert and his subordinates.

“I appreciate it. You’ve saved us the trouble of searching. Are you here to surrender?”

“…”

The stiff postures of Gilbert and his subordinates suggested they weren’t there for battle.

Feeling a mild suspicion, General Rafael continued speaking to the silent group.

“The tide has already turned. If you surrender peacefully now, I will spare your lives.”

Still wanting to show mercy as they were fellow citizens of the Kingdom of Frantz, General Rafael waited.

Then…

“Keuh…kek!”

“?…?”

Captain Gilbert suddenly started chuckling.

With a cold expression, he spoke to them.

“Who do you think you are, babbling such foolishness? We are the glorious warriors of the Kingdom of Frantz. We will never bow to filthy rebels like you!”

“…Haah…”

General Rafael exhaled a deep sigh at the expected response.

He knew all too well what kind of person Gilbert was, so he was aware from the start that he wouldn’t surrender willingly.

“That’s unfortunate. It’s quite a pity to see someone like you be led astray by the wrong master…”

“Go to hell! You filthy traitorous scum!”

“…Huh? What do you mean…!”

At that moment, Captain Gilbert’s incomprehensible words were followed by a sudden, radiant surge of magical energy from beneath their feet.

General Rafael’s face hardened instantly.

And then…

–Kwa-kwang!!!!

*

“I found it! Right here!”

Napoleona and her group rushed toward the voice of one of her subordinates.

On the north outer wall of the prison, there stood a warehouse much larger than Napoleona had anticipated.

It was a place made of solid bricks, reeking of something that hinted treasures might be stashed inside.

It felt like a treasure trove, and thinking I can’t let this go. Let’s get it open!, Napoleona issued orders to her troops.

“We’re going in. Open the door.”

“Understood, Admiral Napoleona!”

As soon as the command was given, her excited subordinates moved quickly to open the door.

However…

What greeted them inside was far more ordinary than they expected.

“Here’s some flour.”

“This side has military equipment. There’s quite a bit of ammunition too. This is surely enough to meet our expectations.”

The sacks of flour stacked high for military provisions, and numerous military weapons ready for use lay before them.

Considering their purpose for coming here, the situation couldn’t have been better, but the discoverers felt rather lukewarm about it all.

“Isn’t there anything else? It is a warehouse, after all. How about something valuable…?”

“Umm…”

“It seems there’s nothing like that.”

“Tsk… What a pity. It would’ve been nice to have some extra funding for our war chest.”

They held a slight hope that, being a warehouse, maybe there would be at least a stash of valuable gold. However, disappointingly, there was nothing of the sort.

As soon as the excitement of opening a treasure chest turned into the realization of the mundane, Napoleona quickly ordered her troops.

“Well, at least we’ve achieved our main goal. So now, let’s transport these supplies. Deliver them to the cooks to feed the citizens. Let’s arm ourselves with sword guns.”

“Yes, Admiral!”

With the amount of flour piled up, it was certain everyone present would have enough to eat.

Of course, the cooks would have quite the workload ahead of them.

‘Getting help from that scary-looking pirate lady wouldn’t be so bad. I remember her cooking looked pretty good last time I saw it…’

She wasn’t particularly liked, but since they were in the same boat for now, a request wouldn’t hurt.

As Napoleona pondered, she watched her subordinates carefully carrying items outside.

“Ah, you! Be careful over there; if the ammo box falls, it could get troublesome…”

–Kwa-kwang!!!

“?!”

At that moment, a sudden heavy tremor struck.

Those who were transporting items froze in place, and Napoleona’s expression stiffened.

“What… what’s happening? What is this all of a sudden…?”

“Ad-admiral!”

Some of her subordinates rushed in, wearing expressions of shock.

“Something… something terrible has happened, Admiral!”

“What is it? What happened?!”

“General… General Rafael! He… he went in that direction!”

“…!”

Seeing her subordinate unable to continue, Napoleona dashed toward the exit in panic.

Right after, her eyes fell on the southern outer wall, directly opposite where they were.

The same place where the most citizens were clashing and where General Rafael had gone to deal with Captain Gilbert and his subordinates.

What she saw rising from there was…

The sight of a massive pillar of flames.

“Could it be… that madman Gilbert?!”

“Ad-admiral, what is that?!”

“Dammit! Everyone, follow me! The remaining troops may be in danger!”

Leading all her forces except those still transporting goods, Napoleona began to move.

As she did, she realized their blunder.

‘I forgot… this is indeed a prison… and quite an old one…’

The ground level served as both a fortress and military warehouse for the defense of Pare, known as Bastion Prison.

However, true to its name, underground were indeed facilities meant to confine prisoners.

And according to the outdated traditions of the Kingdom of Frantz, this prison was constructed with a particular magic inscribed within it.

Of course, over recent years, this was deemed madness and had been discarded. But…

Over 200 years since its establishment, remnants indeed remained…

A crazed romantic ideal of an unknown insane individual, put in place as a last resort against mass escape and rebellion of prisoners.

Self-Destruction Magic!

Despite those who built it not being complete psychos, the area of storage was designed to be outside its influence, but the rest of the areas—especially the southern section right above the prison housing—were totally within its grasp.

In fact, due to using unnecessarily high-quality stones, the magic circle inscribed remained fully functional even after 200 years.

And thus, the collaboration of some lunatic’s artisan spirit and the decision of the captain to annihilate the enemies until the end resulted in the southern area of Bastion Prison engulfed in flames.

*

“Uhm…”

The sudden massive flames.

Since it erupted from inside the walls, there was no real harm to those of us outside, but I started to feel something ominous rising within me.

“Captain, what is that?….”

“I’m not sure, but it seems something has happened.”

From what I heard, Gilbert, the one guarding this place, wasn’t terribly strong in combat.

He would barely rank as a 7th-grade bounty warrior.

The occurrence of such an explosion, facing off against someone like him, made me think something was seriously amiss.

‘I hope we aren’t about to get into a really annoying situation…’