Chapter 93

“Cough! Hack… Ugh…”

Gilford was on the floor, bleeding.

As I looked at him, the Pirate King dusted off his clothes and spoke in a low voice.

“Not bad, to get dirt on me with that mere 9th grade body. I’ll give you a compliment.”

There seemed to be a hint of mockery in his words, but Gilford knew this was no jest.

Even after giving it his all, getting dust on the Pirate King’s clothes was the extent of his limit.

It would have been impossible without the sacrifice of a fellow warrior who had become a corpse at the 8th grade level.

A powerful being with overwhelming strength.

While he felt the sensation of a sky that he could never reach, no matter how much he struggled, Gilford spoke with pain mixed in his voice.

“Kill me…”

“Don’t worry, that’s exactly what I was thinking. But first…”

With those words, the Pirate King approached the fallen Gilford.

Displaying a starkly different demeanor from earlier, he spoke with a chilling voice.

“I’ll ask you one last time, where is Ambasha?”

“…I don’t know.”

Gilford answered sincerely, as it wasn’t a provocation but truly something he didn’t know.

And then.

“…Ha… I see. Understood.”

—Snap!

After taking a deep, heavy sigh, I stomped on Gilford’s head, shattering it.

The sticky sensation at my feet.

While his final act of loyalty towards his master was somewhat commendable, I had no room for such sentiments now.

From my perspective, knowing the circumstances, this guy was merely scum who defended a perverted bastard who had kidnapped a girl barely an adult.

Loyalty can only be highly regarded when the object of loyalty is a properly upright human.

Moments after tidying up the situation, I looked at Napoleona, who was dealing with the remaining henchmen, and spoke calmly.

“How is it going over there?”

“They’re a bunch of nasty ones. Not a single one opened their mouth until the moment of death.”

Napoleona said, throwing down the last member’s corpse with a hint of annoyance.

I slowly nodded and glanced at the now motionless meat chunks that were Duke Ocleang’s subordinates.

‘Well… Despite everything, it seems Ocleang manages his people quite well.’

I know that throughout human history, even those considered monsters or scum were often sweeter than anyone else to their own.

It’s only natural, since one can’t maintain power without handling the people around them well.

Of course, there’s also the frequent scenario of being swayed by tightly-knit subordinates later on or falling into a pitiful downfall due to personal greed.

Anyway,

Although he received a rather poor rating among the Revolutionary Forces, I concluded that he was certainly no ordinary individual and thought about wishing to see his face as soon as possible.

“However, honestly, that’s a surprise… Personally, I thought he would possess quite a formidable combat ability, but to think he’s just a normal person.”

“To be precise, his physical capabilities don’t even reach the level of an ordinary person. He’s quite overweight, struggles to move, and wobbles like he’s about to fall over. He may be decent at horseback riding, but he’s completely lacking in swordsmanship or magical power manipulation.”

“Is that so… Well, I suppose that might be possible…”

For someone like me, who had to strain every muscle post-transportation to enhance combat prowess for survival, it was inevitable to develop skills in combat.

In reality, related quests had similarly unfolded.

On the other hand, Duke Ocleang had been a high noble since birth, so it was entirely feasible he’d spend his life basking in comfort and leisure.

‘For someone like that, the overall combat ability, including his subordinates, isn’t astonishingly strong… Well, I suppose it’s not unreasonable if living comfortably post-transport leads to this.’

When someone has everything in abundance, they tend to become lazy, procrastinating today’s tasks until tomorrow.

No matter how much knowledge about this world’s transportation one might have, it’s utterly futile unless they’re diligent in obtaining their goals.

From that perspective, the individual relentlessly targeting Ambasha had indeed made quite an effort, but it was already quite late.

Of course, this was largely due to overlooking the variable that I represented.

‘Ultimately, acting diligently based on the information and quests possessed is crucial… Gather the protagonists as quickly as possible, and if I slack off on collecting special items… those who fail to do so will inevitably fall, even if they start with better conditions.’

In a sense, perhaps the future I could have faced depended on my choices right after transportation.

With the thought that such a lazy lifestyle could pose a significant threat in this new world,

I resolved that I shouldn’t pause my training.

At that moment…

“Pirate King, are you not sensing anything in your Circle of Magical Power? If only we could catch the presence of Duke Ocleang or the King…”

Napoleona asked cautiously.

However, I slowly shook my head.

“I’m afraid that no matter how much I try, I cannot pinpoint the location of those I’ve never seen before. It would be different if they were with us. There’s no strong presence that might serve as a hint…”

“I see… Then it can’t be helped; we’ll just have to wait since I’ve set loose my subordinates in the surrounding area.”

It would have been great if I could sense at least Ambasha’s presence, but since they aren’t fools, they surely wouldn’t simply leave an ambush-ready Ambasha unattended.

They likely sealed off any signals to prevent detection, such as with magical binding chains.

With that thought, I was about to move again.

At that moment…

“! Pirate King, over there!”

“!”

A group of people began to come into view.

Napoleona’s dispatched subordinates,

And between them was…

A small figure dressed in splendid attire—a woman.

Seeing this, a deep smile began to spread across Napoleona’s face.

“That person! That is the King of this country… Queen Louis!”

“That woman?”

While I was extremely concerned about the absence of Duke Ocleang, I quickly followed behind Napoleona, who was running toward them.

As we moved closer, I could see the problematic queen more clearly.

In the original work, I’d only seen a faint silhouette…

And even then, only the severed head was visible, which was quite different from my impression.

She seemed to be in her mid-20s, younger than I had anticipated,

And the way she anxiously glanced around, fidgeting, triggered a sense of pity.

To say it nicely, she had a delicate impression,

But to say it poorly, her fragile demeanor was not fitting for the monarch of a nation—Queen Louis.

Watching her, Napoleona politely bowed and said.

“I am Napoleona Bonaparte. I wish to speak with Your Majesty.”

“…”

Despite Napoleona’s greeting, the queen only stood there, fidgeting.

However, rather than waiting for an answer, Napoleona spoke with a tone that seemed to convey a notifying message.

“You’ve endured quite a bit to come this far. But do not worry; there were orders from General Rafael to escort you back to Pare.”

“…R… Rafael, you say? Wh-where is he? Is he here?”

“He is not. The general is waiting for you in Pare. Now, please, let us move. I will escort you.”

“…Ex-excuse me!”

Raising her trembling voice slightly, Queen Louis caught Napoleona’s attention.

Napoleona stopped walking and looked back at her.

“What… are you going to do with me?… Are… you all really… is General Rafael going to kill me?”

“What are you all doing? Hurry and escort her.”

“Yes, Admiral!”

“Ex-excuse me!”

—Bam!

Napoleona’s subordinates shoved the queen inside the cart without answering her question.

Immediately after, Napoleona looked at the two who had brought the queen.

Clearly, they had been named Janglan and Myura, and she smiled broadly at them.

“Thank you for your hard work. Honestly, I was quite worried, but to think you would safely bring the queen back! This achievement shall never be forgotten!”

“Haha! It was only our duty.”

“On the contrary, we would like to thank you, Admiral, for trusting us with this task.”

The two smiled broadly at Napoleona’s praise.

At that moment, I asked them in a serious voice.

“But… what happened to Duke Ocleang? And what about his remaining subordinates?”

“Hmm…”

“That… is…”

The expressions of the two went cold, contrasting sharply with their earlier joy.

In response, Napoleona spoke soothingly, as if to comfort them.

“It’s alright; capturing the queen alone is more than sufficient merit. You have nothing to fear regarding any repercussions, so please tell me.”

“But… that is…”

“In fact… it is…”