Unprecedented Enemy

Translator: Cinder Translations

...

To deal with the pirates occupying Westport, the Crystal Glare region and its surroundings were urgently mobilized. The festive atmosphere prepared for the Holy Day vanished without a trace, replaced by the anger of the people who cursed the damn pirates that had suddenly appeared.

A force of nearly 3,000 men was organized, led by Harrison Abbott, the eldest son of the Abbott family, preparing to march west to annihilate the pirates.

The families stationed in Westport united to petition the kingdom's government, urging His Majesty the King not to rush into battle after dispatching troops to Westport. Their relatives' fates were still unknown, and they might be suffering at the hands of the pirates. Of course, they were not against sending troops to quell the pirates; they just requested that the King first negotiate with the pirates to ransom the captives. After all, pirates are only interested in wealth.

To appease these people, King Rodney agreed to their request.

On the morning before the army was scheduled to depart, the guards of Crystal Glare, still bleary-eyed, opened the city gates to welcome the new day. Suddenly, they saw a thin horse galloping towards the gates with a rider, and the guards, sensing something amiss, immediately raised their spears to stop and question the person.

"Let me through!" the rider gasped, looking disheveled and somewhat frantic.

"I am Viscount William Dylan, the King's… the King's envoy to Westport. I… I have important matters to report to His Majesty the King."

He was unshaved and smelled as if he hadn't bathed in a month.

"Viscount Dylan?"

The guards were puzzled. They knew of the Dylan family from Crystal Glare, a fairly prominent noble house, but the appearance of this person was far from presentable. As for Westport, wasn't it taken over by the pirates? Where did this envoy come from?

The guards insisted on shackling Viscount Dylan first. As a noble, Dylan could not bear the indignity and struggled violently. His days of hardship had left him emotionally distressed, and he started to curse the city gate guards.

As the angry gate guards were about to use force, their commander arrived to check on the commotion. Recognizing the noble Viscount Dylan, he intervened to help him.

"Quickly, take me to His Majesty the King. Magic! Oh my God, they use magic!" William Dylan grasped the captain's sleeve desperately, pleading.

The captain filtered out the confusing parts of Dylan's words, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Relax, Viscount Dylan. I'll get you a good horse to take you to the palace. But you can't go meet His Majesty looking like this. Clean yourself up and change your clothes first."

Half an hour later, freshly bathed Dylan mounted a prepared horse and galloped away at full speed.

"Are you sure you won't go home first?" the city guard captain called out after him.

"No time!"

Once he arrived at the kingdom's capital, Viscount Dylan quickly gained permission to meet the King. He was led by palace attendants to the King's council chamber.

King Rodney the Seventeenth, along with Earl Rupert, Earl Merlin, and other ministers, were already seated inside. Upon learning that an envoy from Westport requested an audience with the King, Rodney, eager to know the situation, immediately agreed. They halted their ongoing discussions and awaited Dylan's arrival.

"Your Majesty!"

Dylan, a bit nervous, bowed to King Rodney. As a relatively low-ranking envoy, he had met the King only a few times.

"No need for formalities. Someone, bring a seat for the Viscount."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Dylan hurriedly expressed his gratitude.

"Viscount Dylan, how did you escape? What is the current situation in Westport?"

Dylan looked a bit embarrassed. "Your Majesty, I… I was actually released by the pirates. They let me go with a message saying that a sufficient ransom must be paid to release captives of noble status."

He then produced a paper listing the ransom amounts for various captives, which was not surprising given the nature of pirates—they were just after money.

What concerned everyone most was the pirates' strength. Dylan was asked to explain the situation on the day of the invasion in detail.

Dylan's face showed signs of fear. "I am in such a hurry to meet Your Majesty because I need to report what I saw that night. My account might be somewhat disjointed, so I hope Your Majesty and the ministers will forgive me."

"One personal opinion I wish to share is that we are facing not just any ordinary pirates. We must be fully prepared for the battle ahead."

His speech was somewhat disjointed, causing the audience to frown.

"The night of the pirate invasion, because the front lines were being pressured, I was leading the envoys and some city guards in directing the transport of supplies in the warehouse district. Upon discovering that the port was under attack and that pirates were invading, we immediately prepared defenses in the warehouse district."

"But then a mysterious figure suddenly appeared in front of us…"

Dylan's pupils widened as he spoke.

"He… oh Father in Heaven… he was indeed the legendary wizard!"

"Wizard?" King Rodney and the ministers were astonished, recalling the recent discussions about the fire in the granary and the navy assassination case. Now, someone was talking about a mysterious figure?

"Yes, Your Majesty, esteemed lords, I swear on the Light Lord that I am not lying or mistaken!"

"When he appeared, Captain Mark tried to shoot him with an arrow. The arrow hit his chest, but it passed through his body as if it was a mirage."

Hearing Dylan's description, the ministers' expressions grew graver.

"...The pirates then surrounded us, and when we refused their unreasonable demands, a fireball suddenly appeared…"

"This…" The ministers exchanged glances. Earl Merlin asked, "Are you sure it wasn't just a torch already there?"

"No!" Dylan's denial was somewhat frantic. He covered his head with his hands, terrified, "I definitely did not mistake it. It appeared suddenly, out of nowhere. I absolutely did not see wrong… I definitely did not see wrong…"

Dylan's final words seemed like muttered self-reassurances. The ministers looked at him with some sympathy, as if the young noble had suffered a severe psychological impact.

"And then it grew larger and larger… and then, with a bang… it exploded!"

"Due to the close proximity, most of the soldiers fell immediately, and even I was affected from a distance!"

"At that time, my side was burning painfully, my ears were ringing, I couldn't hear anything clearly, and I only saw a sea of pirates rushing towards us… That's the last thing I remember from that night."

Dylan continued recounting his experiences, including being tortured by the pirates and how he was released to convey the ransom message.

After the young Viscount finished his account, the council chamber fell into silence.

Eventually, it was King Rodney who broke the silence.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we can now assert that legends have become reality. The Aldor Kingdom faces an enemy we have never encountered before—an enemy completely unknown and unfamiliar to us."

(End of the Chapter)

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