Chapter 71 ─ Rosenberg Household vs. Anti-Rosenberg Faction

Reluctantly Eli agreed to let Regulux and the others board.

The airship─ Rosenblat took off and they headed for the Tola Mountains, where the battle would happen.

◇◇◇

After a few hours they arrived.

A floating mountainous region was the site of the battle.

From the Rosenberg duchy some ships together with their flagship took off.

Small and large acres of what was once a huge mountain and forest now floated in the sky.

This phenomenon was caused by a mana zone. The strange thing is that there were never such mishaps here.

On one side was floating some stands, where witnesses would be watching the duel. It was covered by several cups of magic spells and even court mages who were going to protect the witnesses.

But beyond, in the background of that beautiful blue sky, a large enemy fleet was approaching.

Eli screamed when she saw that large fleet.

"What's with that ridiculous number of ships?"

The number of enemy ships was 800. While the number on the Rosenberg Household side was only 300.

It was supposed to be a little more, to reach 450 ships. But there were still many more to go.

As Eli was puzzled by the situation, the captain of the flagship informed her.

"E-Elize ojou-sama there are problems!"

"Which ones they are?"

"We received a report recently, our other allies won't be able to come on time as they had a problem. We told them not to delay, but now we have been informed that the magic stone of their airships was destroyed."

"Excuse me?"

The magic stone is not only used to provide electricity and magic tools.

It also serves to enable airships to fly.

Because it is just a large glowing stone, it is placed on the highest part of an airship, airships are created to hide it so it is difficult to locate where it is hidden.

The magic stone distributes its power through a configured spell that absorbs its power and placed it on the hull of the ship.

It is totally different from that RPG game where the magic stone went to the bottom of the ship.

Eli demanded to know why they haven't changed the magic stone on their ships and come.

But the captain informed her...

"I'm very sorry, but everyone said that their reserves were destroyed."

"..."

(The noble houses that are missing to come are using excuses... or did someone really destroy them?)

Magic stones are fragile, that's why they are kept in safe locations, but for them to break or crack is due to a greater force... like a human hand.

Eli thought about how weird this was, but there was no turning back.

"Tell the allies to enlist, and to inform the enemy flagship that we've arrived."

"Y-Yes."

Eli trembled as the numerical advantage was ridiculously large, and even the size of the ships was just as large.

◇◇◇

Inside the flagship of the Anti-Rosenberg faction, there was Grin smiling wickedly.

"The day has come for the Rosenbergs to pay for what they did to me."

"Just for this day I asked for help from a friend in a certain place."

"Tell the enemy forces to ignore the other ships, to focus on the flagship."

Grin listened as Eli reported that they were ready. His sinister smile only grew darker.

"Tell Bayman he can have some fun while the super battleships advance."

The flagship was escorted by three super battleships, warships that were created to resist attacks and destroy their enemies with their powerful cannons, the length of the ship was a thousand meters.

Grin knew he had won without lifting a finger.

◇◇◇

"So what do we do?"

Regulux and the others were on the deck discussing.

Apparently, the battle would soon begin as the airships were slowly taking off.

"The whole point of this battle is to defeat the enemy flagship. We must shoot it down or conquer it."

Regulux said as Cid replied with affirmation.

"You're right, but how will we make it there?"

Regulux smiled confidently and went to a far part of the deck where some objects covered by sheets lay.

As he removed the sheets, a nostalgic memory came to Cid's mind.

"These are the same ones from that time."

Some hover boards similar to the warhorses they used in their duel were here.

Regulux brought them when they went to see Eli, brought them in when she was given permission.

"We'll use these and approach the flagship and conquer it."

"Sounds like a good plan, but you're overconfident."

Cid said, and Oscar seconded him.

"It is as Prince Cidfert says, Your Highness. The enemy cannons will kill us before we get in close."

"For that reason we will take different routes. Since there are six of us, we'll split in two to get these guys up. And with that─"

"Hey, where's Bellange?"

Jake turned to look as did the others, but they couldn't find him.

"That's weird this, he was supposed to be behind me."

"Would he have gone to lunch?"

"At a time like this!"

"This is Bellange we're talking about."

"..."

Regulux sighed and said, well, it'll just be us. Let's inform Elize of what we'll be doing.

The five headed to Eli's to report the situation they would do, but it was too late.

A beam of light struck a nearby ship.

"What was that?"

The attack had begun.

Several beams of light approached and the ship was destroyed, but without killing anyone, it only destroyed the magic stone and was slowly descending until it hit the ground.

Regulux didn't understand that until he saw someone on a ship pointing.

"What's going on here?"

◇◇◇

In the cabin of the flagship, Eli and the others were shocked.

"Why are they attacking us?"

Some of the aircraft were attacking them, they were not the enemies but from their side.

"Are they betraying us right now?"

Betrayal during a war game was forbidden, but unless it was a false betrayal and they were always their enemies.

That was allowed since it was before the declaration of war.

Allied ships that were now enemies were firing on the allies.

Eli ordered the captain to attack.

"Deploy the cannon, quickly!"

"Aye, aye!"

According to the manual, hidden on the deck was a double cannon.

It was large enough to cover almost the entire forward part.

The cannon moved close to a ship that was firing at them.

"Fire!"

Shouted the captain and a large cannonball was fired, despite being covered by defensive magic spells, the ship exploded.

Quickly it moved to fire at another.

But the enemies were not going to give them time.

"Captain, the enemy fleet is closing fast!"

Small ships and a super battleship were slowly approaching to begin the attack.

Eli bit her lips as she shouted what her heart held in her heart.

"Damn you all!"

◇◇◇

"The situation is very bad because of the Rosenbergs, don't you think so instructor?"

"Yes."

On the stands, a small portion of the witnesses sent by the imperial palace were watching everything.

Among them were the sword saints.

A beautiful blonde-haired elven woman with green hair tips and closed eyes, Christina was looking at the situation in annoyance.

The man next to her, a young man with flaming red hair and a round face, Goredolph, the sun saint.

And to the side of him, a man with light blue hair was looking at himself in the mirror instead of the battle, Lucius, the saint of mercury.

The three saints were forced to come even though they were working.

Christina was the most irritated but not by coming but by her enemies.

"Attacking from their own side and then a large enemy fleet coming to back them up, no matter how you look at it is unfair."

"I'm surprised you'd say that when your eyes are closed."

A vein marked on Christina's forehead.

"Just because they're closed doesn't mean I can't feel the magical power of the air and thus visualize the idiotic situation."

"Sorry, hahahaha."

Goredolph chuckled a bit maliciously, instead Lucius only replied what he heard.

"Even if that's the case, on the battlefield enemies are everywhere. It is very careless of them to think that in their own ranks there would be no enemies, a rookie mistake."

Christina was annoyed and as she was about to lecture Lucius, she was rendered speechless by what she "saw."

"...?"

From the sleeve of his white shirt a tentacle came out and he started to brew some tea.

After making all the preparations for it, he tapped the cup lightly indicating it was ready.

Lucius took the cup as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Christina after making an idiot face, turned her head from side to side to make sure she wasn't crazy.

Upon "seeing" Lucius again, he asked what was wrong.

"Is something wrong?"

"No... nothing."

(What was that?)

The battle continued with intensity.

◇◇◇

"Wipe out the Rosenbergs!"

"A duke's family is a target for elimination!"

"Kill them all, gyahaha!"

The voices of the sailors that could be heard were weird.

Despite the sound of the cannons echoing in the sky, their cries of wanting to kill them all were much clearer.

It was then that Celia said something that puzzled them further.

"The vulgar way they talk, doesn't it sound like pirate language to you?"

"Pirates?"

Evelyn asked since she didn't know that word, Celia was the one who explained what they were.

"Criminals are usually called bandits, but when they are on land. When they are on the heights, whether they have revolted or mutinied, they are called pirates to differentiate."

"I see, it's very odd indeed."

"That may be, but the question is not that. Otherwise, why did they mutiny? It's odd all."

The Rosenblat's guns were still firing at their approaching enemies.

"Don't hesitate, finish those little shits off!"

"Take the head of the Rosenbergs' daughter!"

"Baron Grin promised us a large sum of money to whoever brings him the head of that bitch!"

Several veins were marked on Eli's forehead.

"Hoh? So that Grin guy is the one responsible for this...right."

Eli turned and walked out of the booth, the girls were right behind her.

"Fufufufu... hahahahaha!"

Eli started laughing strangely, as if she had gone crazy.

"These idiots betrayed us for money! Hahaha! What do you idiots think!"

"My future husband used all that bounty money from that monster to pay off our house debts!"

"He'd rather save us than be rich! That's a real man and not you!"

"I'm glad Razel isn't here, so I can kill them myself!"

From Eli's hand a magic circle manifested, from that circle grew several spears of fire almost five meters long.

"The spears of fire were shot straight at a nearby ship and ignited it."

"What is this, help uwaah!"

The voices of the traitors were obliterated as the ships exploded.

Lily looked at Eli with sad eyes.

"Eli-chan..."

Celia tapped her shoulder as she shook from side to side.

"Leave her alone, she's angry since the situation is bad."

"Just let her get even."

Evelyn asked Celia as Eli continued to laugh as she attacked the traitors.

"Celia-chan, where would Razel-san have gone?"

"Who knows. He said he had something important to do and we'll take care of it."

"Seriously, leaving some defenseless girls at a time like this... he's really the worst if he wants to give us a chance to show off since we couldn't do much at Lautreamont."

"If Razel-san were here, would things be different?"

"I'm sure it would be him and not the princess who would be attacking the traitors."

The girls were talking about what Razel would do if he were here, at that moment footsteps approached.

Eli stopped attacking to focus on two presences that were near Lily.

She pointed her hand, but the two presences raised their hands in surrender.

"Please stop, we are not enemies."

"I've never seen you before, who are you?"

One of them, a young woman, with short, neck-length, plum-colored hair tied in a ponytail in the back with chin-length bangs and light purple eyes.

She wore armor that covered her shoulders and a skirt with metallic edges.

While the one standing next to her was someone in full armor that even her eyes hid, she was a bit rusty and had fractured horns on her head.

The girl spoke.

"A pleasure to officially meet you, daughter of the Duchess Rosenberg. I am Emily Crossbell, one of the twelve candidates for sword saint."

Eli lowered her hand at the sound of that name.

"True, Glenn informed me that among all the new knights we recruited, there was someone who stood out the most, with that being you... but what about you?"

She was now addressing the person in rusty armor, who spoke in a tone distorted by the acoustics of the helmet.

"My name is... Richard, the knight errant."

A man's voice echoed, Eli felt odd for a moment.

"Richard?"

"Yes, that's my name. Glenn-dono and I are old acquaintances, he asked me personally to come and support you."

"I'm of use, please give me orders, Miss Rosenberg."

Eli was still confused, but the battle against the faction that hates them had already begun.

"I don't care who you are as long as you're not an enemy."

The errant knight put his hand over his heart to make Eli feel even more weird.

"Don't worry, because of my friendship with Glenn-dono, I will fight to my last breath for Rosenberg Household."

(How weird, despite this being the first time we've met. I feel like this has happened before.)

In Eli's memory, a man with a face covered in black appeared, holding out his hand to her when she was still small.

(Could it be someone I knew when I was a little girl?)

Emily said to Eli.

"Please let me go fight."

"But who will you fight?"

Emily pointed to a certain ship, from which several lights were coming out, hitting the defenses of other ships.

"Whoever does that, I know him. He'll keep attacking until he's not defeated."

"If I'm going to fight that person, it will give the allies a break."

"... Fine, but how will you go?"

"Don't worry."

Emily placed her hand on her chest, stepped back a little...

"Since I came back from Lautreamont I became stronger to see him again!"

And she ran with all her might to use physical reinforcement magic, which made her strength gain a great strength.

She took a leap straight at one ship and then at another.

When she was close to the enemy ship that was firing in all directions, she drew her sword.

A beautiful sword which was called Lost Treasure, a magical object left by someone or something in the past.

"... Roar with all your might, Apollonia!"

With that battle cry, the sword was covered in a great golden light and impacted against the ship.

An object leapt through the debris and both that mysterious figure and Emily, landed on a floating island.

Emily pulled out her shield and pointed it in the direction of a person standing up.

His clothes were white with green stripes, he wore black boots and white gloves.

His hair was red like his eyes, combed all the way back and pulled back in a small ponytail.

The long-faced, serious-faced man looked at Emily graciously.

"I never expected to find you here, Crossbell."

"I'm not Crossbell anymore."

"What did you say?"

"Since what happened at Lautreamont, my family kicked me out of the house. My older brother wanted an excuse to do it, now I'm a knight without a name or a house."

"But now I went in to work for the Rosenberg─"

"Hahahaha!"

As Emily gave her emotional introduction, the man burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, you're serious! Are you serious? Hahaha!"

"What's so funny?" Said Emily annoyed.

"Hahaha...I used to be a Rosenberg knight."

The man made a stately introduction as he introduced himself.

"The current great head of the Bayman family, Jusis Bayman, was part of the Rosenberg knights. But when the stupid duke ruined everything, I had to leave, that's the usual."

"And now, you're telling me you work for them? And in this situation?"

"You're an idiot aren't you?"

Bayman was part of the twelve candidates, a man in his thirties who believed that the era of swords was outdated.

The real revolution would begin with him, the era of magic bows.

From his pocket he took out a small object similar to a golden bow.

The bow shone and grew.

"It's normal for a talented knight to work in a worthwhile house! I was going to rot if I was with those losers!"

"Even if it's as you say, it's a knight's duty to follow his master! That's our duty!"

"Old-age bullshit!"

"The old era knights were idiots who thought that serving a master was forever! The new era of knights is to go with the highest bidder! And that case for me is the second prince who asked for my help!"

A golden phantom rope appeared, Bayman's fingers stretched it.

"I have nothing against you, I don't even consider you a rival unlike those three. But I must defeat you to end this quickly!"

"Three Arrows!"

Three golden colored arrows were shot as Bayman released the phantom rope.

Emily used her shield to block the attacks, but the impact was so strong that she was propelled backwards.

If it wasn't for her sword pinning her to the ground, she would have fallen to the ground. A fall of hundreds of meters with no chance of escape.

Using her own strength she climbed up and stood firmly on the surface of the island.

"Not bad girl."

Bayman complimented Emily for resisting his attack as he approached.

"This doesn't mean you can hurt me, for one thing I will be the one to become the next sword saint."

Emily and Bayman were about to fight in earnest.

◇◇◇

"The situation requires us to act quickly."

Regulux and the others would watch as Eli and the cannons destroyed their enemies.

They could waste no time now.

The super battleship was getting closer and closer.

"Lux, I can't find Bellange anywhere, we must go no matter what."

"... Alright. Everyone, we'll go in this order."

"Jake will drive and Oscar will use his wind magic to avoid incoming cannonballs."

"Lambert, you will go with Cid as your reflexes will keep them out of trouble."

"I will go alone since I can defend myself with my whip─"

"Wait a moment Your Highness, why can't I go with you?"

"Huh?"

Without warning, Lambert asked Regulux his concern.

"What do you mean, why?"

"I already said you have good reflexes and so─"

"My duty is to watch His Highness's back."

"... I'm sure Cid needs more protection than I do."

"Prince Cid can create ice shields worse you can't..."

The three watched as Lambert refused to go with Cid.

Then footsteps approached them.

"Excuse me."

"...?" X6

Richard approached them as he overheard their conversation.

"I overheard what they said unintentionally, I'd like you to let me join if that's not a problem."

"Err, who are you?" Regulux asked, then Richard introduced himself.

"I'm Richard, the knight errant. An acquaintance of Glenn-dono, please allow me to come with you."

"I don't understand who to speak of, but you must be from Rosenberg Household. In that case you are our ally, go with Cid."

"Thank you."

Richard approached Cid who climbed into the hover bike.

They put all their fingers and a mechanism sucked his magic power to boot. Since it had a magic stone inside, they could stop sucking the pilot's magic power.

Jake and Oscar as Lambert and Regulux were the first to take off.

And finally Cid and Richard last.

Eli watched as the six of them headed into the enemy camp.

"What are they going to do?"

The boys were heading off to fight for Rosenberg Household─ which has Lily on its side.

Unintentionally or by the work of fate, the fight of the capture targets for her was still going on.

Richard reported to Cid as they dodged cannonballs.

"Prince Cidfert, please leave me on the deck and then circle around several times until I'm done."

"Huh? Are you saying you'll be able to do this by yourself? Defeat an entire crew alone?"

"Yes. Please come closer."

"... All right."

Cid had only just met Richard, but thanks to Razel, he knew better than to judge someone's strength by what they looked like.

When he jumped onto the deck, a group of pirates were waiting for him.

"Hah? Who is this idiot?"

"Not interested, kill him."

"I hear the Rosenberg women are beautiful and full-figured, I want to have some fun with them, gehehe."

Richard clicked his tongue as he pulled his sword from its sheath.

"Despicable scum that have human form, I'll be sure to send them to hell for having such disgusting thoughts."

The pirates were closing in on Richard... but he in one swipe wiped them out of this world.

Sounds of liquid and objects falling to the ground echoed.

As he walked in that red puddle, more pirates approached.

"Die!"

"Don't think you're a big deal!"

In the same manner as with the previous ones, Richard cut them down without blood falling on his armor.

Despite the sword being rusty and a bit dull, he could cut through bodies like butter.

After taking out the pirates on the deck, he positioned himself like an Olympic athlete and then hurriedly ran inside after breaking the door with a kick.

Upon entering, he set about mowing everyone down and after a few minutes, he reached the cockpit where more pirates were.

"Who the hell is that─?"

The pirate couldn't finish speaking as Richard cut his throat and then the others.

He moved the rudder and brought the ship to crash with other smaller ships that were his allies.

A large explosion was slowly occurring.

Richard jumped out the window and giving a few acrobatics reached the ground, the height was thirty meters and without a scratch.

Cid was circling the ship as he watched the explosions, Richard saw him and took a big jump straight to the hover bike.

"Let's go to the next one."

"Err, yeah..."

(Who is this guy?)

(How come he can move like that?)

The boys were heading for the second super battleship approaching.

Hundreds of pirates were approaching.

◇◇◇

"What the hell was that?"

In the cockpit of the flagship, Grin was shocked.

He watched as a dozen ships and one of their escorts were destroyed without issue.

"Don't fuck with me!"

"Despite the fact that the pirates are prisoners released from the Babel Tower thanks to Minister Olgren! These idiots have the luxury of killing them!"

(What's worse is that Bayman finds himself fighting someone, despite the fact that we told him to eliminate the escorts, he goes and does as he pleases.)

(But it doesn't matter, we still have two more escorts. We can win without any problems).

Grin, who was nervous, calmed down when he remembered that victory was his.

A servant brought him some coffee with milk.

Only the members of the flagship were civilized people, the other ships had pirates taken from the only prison in the country.

A servant informed Grin.

"My lord, your guest has arrived."

"Guest?"

"Yes, he says he is the Rosenberg traitor."

"Oh, yes, yes, I called him to drink together as those idiots will fall."

"My fault, I forgot. Tell him to come in."

The servant went to the door and as he opened it.

"Hello."

Ludger was smiling smoking his cigarette.

◇◇◇

"...!"

At the Rosenberg mansion in the capital, Desmond had just awakened.

The way he woke up was so abrupt that it seemed as if a nightmare had awakened him.

He stepped out onto the balcony and began sniffing... he smiled in a sinister way.

"I smell someone powerful over there, magical power is very great... no, it's his natural power. Someone like me who has great physical strength by nature. someone worth killing!"

She jumped off the balcony and landed on the lawn.

Claude was watering the flowers while Barbara rested, Glenn still not back.

He watched Desmond approaching a tree.

"If I'm not mistaken, that's the guest of the future duke, isn't it?"

He set the watering can on the ground and called to Desmond as he approached.

"Excuse me, can I help you?"

Desmond ignored him and with his fingernails cut the top of the tree, including its branches.

The top part looked like a stake.

He firmly grasped the body of the tree and then cut off the lower part.

With one hand he lifted the tree that was ten meters long.

Claude could not believe it.

Being close to where the smell was strongest, Desmond decided to act.

"Looks like there's a big party going on in that place and nobody invited me! Gijiji!"

"I won't spare them!"

He threw the tree into the sky and it flew in a straight line as if it were a missile.

Desmond leaned back his legs and in one great leap reached the tree that was soaring through the skies, it looked like it was surfing on the clouds.

Claude was speechless at the sight of it.

"Exactly... who is he?"

◇

When I left the girls to go get Cordelia, I had a little snag.

"Get away from me, come back!"

"No, you're into something weird again!"

Being several miles away from the mansion, I noticed Bellange was following in my wake.

How was it possible for her to be following me when I'm using Raijin phase 1?

It must be because he is a huge muscular gorilla and his legs are highly exercised.

Even though I tried to lose him, Bellange was hunting me like an animal following its prey.

He would always find me.

The location I had to go to was an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of the capital.

I arrived and unfortunately Bellange was behind me.

We went inside, I told him not to move, but the idiot didn't listen to me.

An arrow pointed to a bookcase in the living room, which when moved had a secret entrance to go down.

We went down, I told him again to stay or at least to stay far behind me.

This idiot is very foolish, I should punch him and knock him out, but that veiny neck looks like it is very tough.

When we got to the bottom, we found some ruins, it looked like someone used this place as a hideout.

It was a cave, but there were small houses and electrical installations.

By the way, the electrical installations are just magic stones that give energy and are placed every twenty steps diagonally.

There in the center was Cordelia tied up. She seemed to be unconscious as she was lying on the floor.

We approach, the first thing Bellange does is prove to be an idiot.

"Hey that maid is hurt!"

"You idiot, don't talk loudly!"

"Sorry!"

"..."

When we arrived at Cordelia's, she woke up, she looked confused as she looked from side to side.

"Hey, where am I?"

"What are we doing here?"

"No time to explain, we have to go─"

"You're not going anywhere..."

A somber voice interrupted me, I looked to see who it was, but no one was there.

Bellange said something that made me turn to where he was looking.

"Bartlet look over there! What's that?"

"Where?"

Near where we came down, a shadow on the ground was growing.

From the shadow a silhouette emerged, it was a person covered with a black cloak.

In different places many pools of shadow appeared and from them different black figures emerged.

Near a pile of rubble, the largest shadow emerged.

A black cloaked figure was talking to me.

"... We told you to come alone."

"This guy came on his own."

"You disobeyed the order."

Bellange looked surprised as if he just understood what's going on.

"Don't tell me this is why you ran off!"

She slumped to the ground as if the revelation of what had happened had left her with a huge emotional scar.

"Damn it... I screwed up. I'm so sorry."

(Hey, don't talk nonsense. Better get up and help me fight.)

"It doesn't matter anyway, we only wanted you."

I asked the guy with the grim voice.

"Who are you?"

"... You don't need to know."

I could count that there were about a hundred mysterious figures── but now there were 99.

One of them appeared behind me as I could feel his presence from before.

It brought its knife close to my throat, it was a black knife, it looked like a military man's knife.

Then I quickly grabbed its hand and brought it in front of me with a single movement.

None of them seemed to understand how I did it, but no matter.

I raised my foot and then in one motion I crushed this idiot's head.

Something broke, it appeared to be a mask as remnants of something resembling clay and blood were mixed on the ground.

From the face that was visible, it looked like I killed a woman. Her skin was dark, but of an almost violet hue. Her hair was white like the iris of her eyes.

The guy in the center was saying to me.

"Interesting, this is the first time in our entire existence that something like this has happened. Congratulations, you have earned the right to taste the full power of the Dark Shadows."

The figures took off their cloaks, their bodies visible. Light armor covered their bodies and among them the leader, he was the one that caught my full attention.

His armor looked more like a black biohazard suit.

A strange black sphere in the center and his mask unlike the others who were similar, this one was almost like that of a dog with a long hair which I think is his hair.

His feet pressed hard on the ground as he slowly approached.

"My name is Zoro─ Zoroaster, the leader of the Dark Shadows, the guardians of the dark side of the empire."

"The dark side of the empire!" Cordelia said in shock.

"They were only supposed to be an urban legend!"

"Don't worry woman, we won't take your life or that other young man's, but we will surely avoid your memories of what happened. The future duke's life must be eliminated as the order we received."

That annoyed me a little.

"Order? From whom?"

"You don't need to know, as you will soon die."

I smiled wickedly at that threatening answer.

"Oh yeah?"

"Too bad, since I'll be the one to erase you."

I slowly approached too, after all....

"Who says I'll be the one to die and you won't?"

I swore I would avoid my death, so no one will kill me. Let's kick these idiots' asses.