Save 20 - Garbage Knight

I made up my mind what I was going to do from now on.

I was organizing the special equipment that Ixion had brought from my room on the cruise.

He had gone to search those girls' rooms for evidence about what Liam said for when this one was all over.

I had taken a few rifles and ammunition to that island in case there were hidden magical beasts or technology from ancient mankind that these people didn't need to find.

I was right after all, it wasn't paranoia on my part.

For out there there were a lot of aircraft and of the fighter type it seems.

Only they seemed to be ancient compared to the ones when I was alive.

These ones had a propeller on the front, I vaguely remember from the war games where old planes like that came out. It was a fight between some guys who wanted to dominate a whole continent under their flag with a mustache-brushed leader exactly like the coconut head.

My head is spinning trying to remember, let's finish up here and go to the surface.

Ixion handed me some healing potions before leaving.

I was walking making big footsteps, it wasn't because I was upset but because of the special boots I was wearing, they weren't normal boots but special ones that came with a unique outfit I was also wearing.

The clothes were similar to those worn by hazardous waste maintenance men. It had shoulder pads, elbow pads and knee pads for flexibility and damage if someone caught me.

The color was mustard green, it looks very tacky, but it was to camouflage me on that island so no one would notice me if they saw me.

I heard the voices of people in a room, I put my ear close to hear what they were saying.

"Is there no way to contact the kingdom?"

"The communication devices were destroyed, there is no way to call for help!"

"The bomb will go off in a few minutes!"

It was in that sentence that with a strong kick, I kicked the door down to enter.

All present were sailors like the captain, teachers and students in white uniforms who must be the ones with the highest status.

One of them, purple hair saw me and said "Bradford, what are you doing here?"

I didn't let him finish as I shot him to shut him up.

They all freaked out and watched the idiot who hit me earlier go down.

I calmed them down in a calm manner.

"Shut your mouths you idiots. He's alive, use a blanks bullet so only his stomach will be swollen for a while."

I had a bullet in since I wanted to do that to someone.

Let's continue.

"I want you to round up everyone, both students and cruise ship employees."

◇

The sailors didn't want to listen to me so I got rough and after a while of waiting finally everyone was on top of the cruise ship.

We were outside to make sure whatever I said carried more weight with them.

For some reason, Liam saw me and got happy and was now standing next to me ready for whatever I was going to say.

I'm not one for motivational speeches so I'll say the most necessary thing in this situation.

"Listen up you pieces of garbage. I don't give a fuck about your lives, whether you live or die is not my problem."

Just as I expected they are furious, let's annoy them more.

"This is called karma! You allowed that girl to be taken hostage by you, now for wanting to save your skin you're going to die!"

Their faces were red with anger or shame. Let's go up a level.

"How the only one who tried to defend her can I say you're scum, no! You're scum yourselves!"

Their looks gave me killer intuitions. Let's end my motivational speech.

"I have the right to escape from here and leave you dying here! I can and I want to do it, but I don't have time to escape anymore. So I decided not only to save her, but also you guys, it makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it."

I spat on the floor to show how bad the thought of saving them represented to me.

"I have proof of my magnificence for you!!!"

I pulled a part of the bomb out of my pocket and everyone was shocked at it.

I tossed it in their direction for them to check.

"It's real!"

"Even the smartest guys here couldn't do it!"

"This guy did it alone?"

They were still examining it. Let's get to the other subject.

I pulled out of my other pocket a letter, some girls were looking in my direction and got scared when they saw the stamp on the letter.

"You already know there is a mole among us, I already found him so don't worry, you will get out of here alive, but after you return and when Duke Bismarck finds out you will wish you and your families were dead."

No matter the world or the time, betrayal is unforgivable.

"Wait!"-I shouted a girl to tell me "you went into a girl's room? You're the worst." The girls' voices whether or not they were his accomplices echoed the same.

I did my best smile to tell them "so?" also "is there a problem with that? "They were silent from astonishment.

"The deal of whatever it is they agreed to brought us to this situation. They should be thankful that after returning home they ended up as slaves to some old charmer and not on the gallows."

"At this moment I am a baron and you of superior rank to me, but at the same time I am the only one of knightly rank contrary to you. So in the absence of some authority of superior military status I proclaim myself as the commander of this place!"

Everyone's voices shouted at my proclamation.

They are imbeciles, but they should understand that heeding me is the only solution to get us all out alive, but their stupidity prevents them from seeing something as simple as that.

Their idiotic voices echoed around the place.

"Don't fuck with me you fucker!"

"Who would want you to be the boss!!!?"

"I'm the son of a margrave, I have more authority than many here!"

"The prince should be in charge."

I was about to calm them down when someone else did.

"Silence you fools!!!"

It was a woman's voice, it was a very loud tone, but it seemed her voice was a bit low for a woman.

I could hear footsteps approaching from the back.

Students were moving out of the way for someone who was coming.

Their voices were very clear.

"I didn't know she was on this cruise?"

Footsteps could clearly be heard approaching.

"She's Count Roseblaire's daughter isn't she?"

Only the sound of her footsteps could be heard coming.

"The juniors were on this cruise too?"

The last student took off and I could see her clearly.

She was a taller girl than me, but she wore heels in her white uniform so she must be no taller than Alicelotte.

Her hair was a bluish cyan color with the ends in curlers, the front part reached her shoulders while the back part reached her back, fuchsia pink eyes with piercing gaze that indicated she appeared to be a wild predator.

His lips were painted the same color as his hair, even his eyebrows were the same shade.

I shouldn't be surprised by those weird colors in a fantasy world.

But without a doubt what strikes me the most about her is what is resting on her crossed arms, they were two large fleshy masses that seemed to be something a teenage girl shouldn't be able to have.

What kind of strange fortune do I have to find women with breasts like that?

After stepping out of the crowd he walked to the front until he was about three feet away from me.

I decided to step down from the platform I was on to face her since she seems to be a troubled woman.

After being half a meter away from her, she stuck out one of her arms that held her large breasts to point the fan towards me.

Her other hand remained in the crossed position to hold those fleshy masses.

Thanks for the view, but this is not the time for fan service.

Her lips twitched and a strong womanly tone came out of her mouth.

"I am the eldest daughter and heiress of the household Count Roseblaire! Eleonora von Roseblaire of the third year, because my father is a knight of middle rank that makes me a more qualified person to be the commander!"

When she uttered that, the idiots screamed in happiness, don't fuck with me you idiot!

(You're messing up my plan to make these idiots fight for their lives! Why are the idiotic and troublesome women after me?)

I reached out my hand to grab her shoulder and tell her not to screw up when out of nowhere my arm was grabbed by a hand from someone who wasn't there before.

"Wait please."

I was about to scream as a tall thin man came out of nowhere.

I screamed in panic "who are you?"

He opened his mouth and a very low, husky tone of voice said....

"I'm sorry to scare you like this. My name is Madarao of the Kurogiri clan from the Kanie region, the island they went to in shorter words."

"Ehhhhh!"

You're kidding!

This guy just appeared out of nowhere like he was a fucking movie ninja!

"I forgot, I'm a shinobi."

There it iiiiiiiiiiis.

The cliché development of a fantasy world. My head will hurt if I try to figure out what the hell was going on here.

I'd better continue on about her instead of the guy who gives it away his black outfit in tights, red scarf, serious face, eyes and black hair which reaches his shoulders while the front looks like the upper jaw of a carnivore thanks to his hair combed back.

"I won't do anything to you, I just wanted to yell at you for doing something you shouldn't have."

Her eyes looked at me firmly, but she reassured him.

"Madarao calm down, I'm partly to blame since I didn't give him time to talk."

No, it's not because of that. Nobody sent you to open your big mouth.

The guy let go of me, but he just stood there, the girl here seems to be his boss.

"Sorry about that, he's a subordinate I got recently on this trip since I saved him from mission failure suicide."

"Hey, don't tell me about his life or yours."

"What I care to know is why you object to me being in command, I'm doing it so that you survive."

"..."

"Your name, age, and rank." -She told me this arrogant girl.

Okay.

"I am sixteen-year-old Rudel van Bradford, third son of a country baron."

"I'd heard about you, you seem a little different from what the rumors say."

"Thank you. But more importantly, could you remove your proclamation as commander?"

"...Why should I? I'm very serious about it, if you want to initiate an attack on them it seems idiotic to me what you're planning."

He's right.

"I'm not going to allow a madman like you to want to get others killed for an attempt at a harebrained scheme. "

What I'm planning is stupid and without any chance of victory.

"As I become commander I will try to dialogue with them to ensure a way of escape for us."

I am afraid of course I am. What I am going to do is suicide.

"The palace will not be silent in the face of this."

I'm one man, no, a simpleton teenager from the countryside. I'm looking for a fight against three dozen warships. Fighter jets from my old life, and according to Liam who told me when he was standing next to me and is still standing in that same position. A group of elite mercenaries who have terrorized the world since WWII, and their captain is supposedly a monster.

It's obvious that without Brunhilde or Battler I wouldn't get out of this alive. I want to run away, I should, but I don't. Since... I wish to rescue that girl and tell her not to do idiotic things to her face!

"How do you see, it's for those reasons that I must be the commander, I hope you understand."

I didn't hear almost everything he said, but one thing is for sure and that's that if I decided to pick a fight it's because I'm sure I'll win.

I raised my face and looked at the girl to tell her how I felt.

"Shut that damn mouth of yours."

The ninja and her were shocked, but I don't care since....

"I'm not asking for your permission, cotton candy."

...I'm determined to act.

"Cotton candy!" -She said in amazement.

"What's so weird? I said I would be the commander so I will be. I'm not asking for your permission. What I want is for all of you to follow a simple and straightforward order from me."

With that, I won.

"Die for me."

"I'll go fight those guys whether they want me to or not, so they will in retaliation attack this ship and you will be cannon fodder."

There was an awkward silence before explosive voices of insults rang out at me.

"Don't fuck with me you fucking bastard!!!"

"This fucker will get us killed, we have no choice but to fight!"

"Bring weapons and prepare the magic shields!"

The students, servants and sailors turned to go get ready to fight.

The third year girl watched them as they screamed for wanting to live, then turned to me with eyes that said they couldn't believe their eyes.

"Did you do this on purpose..."

With some embarrassment I looked away to answer.

"I-I can't help it, I'm not good at motivational speeches, if I had tried to do it the right way, these idiots would have perhaps used me as a sacrifice. Desperation makes idiots more idiots, so I chose to show them a selfless and selfish act to make them care about surviving."

"I'm sure there must have been a better way to achieve the same result." -She said, her ninja accompanied her sentence with another response to me.

"As a warrior, a talk before a mission is vital as we don't know if we will live or die, but that was certainly the worst thing I could have heard."

I turned my head to look at them and with a smile I said "I partly wanted to tell them that too. The desperation on their faces was my revenge for beating me up earlier."

"You don't behave like a gentleman you know that?" -the curly-haired senpai said to me.

Liam came running up from behind and before he got there I answered these two with another of my charming smiles.

"That's why I'm not a gentleman like the others, I'm the trash among the trash, I'm... yes, I'm a trash gentleman."

I was saying that with a confidence that would make anyone feel like punching me.

Just as Liam arrived...

"Bradford!"

...He gave bad news.

"Look at the sky!!!"

I lifted my head and a lump rose in my throat.

"Hey hey hey, come on please tell me it's a fucking lousy joke..."

◇◇◇

Right after Alisa was captured she was taken to a different ship than the one Askewell came from.

The reason was unknown to her as the ship she was on was very different on the inside.

There were untrustworthy and vulgar looking men doing different activities on deck.

They drank alcohol, ate large mountains of meat, slept half-naked among other horrible activities.

Askewell held his nose to keep the smell out. Thanks to his clothes and his medals, Alisa could recognize what kind of man he was since it is not at all uncommon for there to be nobles who abuse other nobles of low rank, for that kind of people commoners were insects they didn't want to touch. It was the kind of nobles that were found in Altfode, for that reason she defended Rudel as there would have been a tragic development if she did not.

Alisa and Askewell's group had arrived at a room that was not dirty and very clean, it was the only room that looked comfortable.

Only Alisa sat down while Askewell stood with a few soldiers from his fleet.

The black armored ones on the other hand were outside, Alisa was silent as she didn't know what they wanted.

After several minutes of waiting the old man arrived and after chatting quietly with Askewell the latter became enraged and shouted.

What do you mean!!! That bastard is sleeping right now?!? He was awake before we arrived!!!!"

The old man with his hands raised so he wouldn't scream tried to calm him down.

"Commodore-dono, I understand why you are upset, but it can't be helped."

"The captain is someone that if he is busy with something or relaxing he won't do anything until he is satisfied. We just have to wait until he wakes up which will probably be in a few minutes...maybe an hour since he ate a feast before he arrived, but I guarantee he was excited about this."

Askewell's face was red and several veins were forming on his face before he burst out and then calmed down.

"Fine!!! I will wait for that dirty bastard to wake up to start the plan, remember this well, his Majesty the Young King wants this plan to go perfect as it will be part of our country's future, do you understand well, Bacchus ?"

Alisa listened calmly to their conversation and different things came to her mind.

(Captain?)

(Isn't this man the captain of the Black Ouroboros?)

(He fits the description of someone scary and strong like the rumors say...)

(What are they planning...)

Alisa paused her thoughts, but resumed them after a brief pause.

(And more importantly, what will you do to get out of this situation, Rudel?)

◇◇◇

The minutes ticked by more and more until Askewell stood up while screaming.

(I can't take it anymore! The time for the end of those damn Altfodian kids has come and that bastard is still asleep!!!!! Somebody go wake him up, but already!!!)!

The soldiers in the room became nervous as Askewell yelled at them to get a move on.

"What the hell are they waiting for, somebody go get that dirty bastard up!!!"

One of the soldiers who outranked the others stood in front of the commodore and said.

"I'm really sorry Count, but... but... but...!"

"But what, did a mouse eat your tongue or what?"

The panicked and frightened man spoke the following from the bottom of his being.

"I'm very sorry Count, but neither I nor the men want to go see that monster!!!"

Alisa was left with a strange feeling by the word "monster", more soldiers were still talking.

"I once watched him throw a servant overboard just for bringing him his soup too hot."

"I heard screams from a maid one night when we were at the palace, the next morning I learned that she had resigned."

"That's nothing! I saw with my own eyes how a soldier for interrupting him in his drinking, had his genitals ripped off and made to swallow them!"

Askewell's men were panicking at the order to go wake up this mysterious person.

Alisa didn't understand what they were afraid of, but from their faces she knew it was very bad.

Askewell annoyed did something no one imagined.

"Ahhh, very well!!! Let's see if with this that wretch wakes up once and for all!!!"

He pulled out a small remote control with a single button and looked at Alisa as he smiled.

"This was going to happen anyway."

Alisa didn't know about the bomb Askewell's minions had secretly planted when she was taken away.

Pressing the button, Askewell acted strange.

"Hey, what's wrong, I don't get it, there should be a sound of a big explosion!!! Does this crap not work?"

More times he pressed the button and nothing was heard. Then annoyed he threw the remote control to the floor smashing it to pieces.

"Fine!!! Anyway, I don't trust those thaumaturgists. I'll use the plan B that his Majesty originally authorized me to use."

Askewell turned around to leave as he shouted.

"Order everyone who knows the hypnotic melody of the demonic flute to play them before releasing them!"

Alisa was stunned at what he said.

(Demonic flute!?!?!?!?!?!?!)

(Hypnotic melody?!)

(Don't tell me. These guys are using ancient forbidden magic!)

(Do they know how dangerous that stuff is? No wonder they are forbidden for sale and use worldwide. What are they really planning to do?)

A few minutes later a strange sound like a rusty tuba being played by a hippopotamus rang out.

Alisa's eardrums ached at that horrible noise. After that sound ended she watched through a nearby window as a horde of flying magical beasts exited the ships heading towards the cruiser.

Alisa could only do one thing....

"Rudel! Airi! Noooo!!"

...Scream for her friends.

◇

I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Tell me it's a fucking joke, please."

A large number of flying monsters that seemed to darken the sky were coming straight towards the ship.

This is bad. I never imagined something like this would happen.

I immediately shouted out a name.

"Ixionnnnn!!!"

From inside the cruiser, Ixion and some drones I had brought to the island and kept hidden in the luggage storage came.

I gave a quick order to this guy.

"Protect the prince. Use all resources short of human lives to do so."

"Understood. And what will you do?"

I flashed him a mischievous grin as I pointed to the large horde of monsters coming.

"They're not ready yet. I'll go buy them time while they get ready, don't let him set up a mobile knight and hand him my katana just in case."

Liam heard that and tried to refute what I said.

"Wait, Bradford! I'm going to fight too, my life as much as yours is at stake here!"

After hearing that nonsense I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him enough to my face.

"You're an idiot, but don't be one now! Your survival is priority for me, if you die and I come back, they will kill me. You will fight for sure as no one can stand by and do nothing."

His dumb child face was stunned at what I said. I don't understand why, idiot stuff must be?

I turned to the cotton candy hair girl to tell her the same thing.

"As a gentleman's daughter, I'm sure you know you're in danger too."

Without changing her expression she replied.

"Madarao, I charge you with this top priority mission. Protect His Highness even if it costs you your life."

That would sound very strong, but in this situation it was the most appropriate thing to do. The ninja didn't smile, but in a serious manner he knelt in a position that looked submissive and answered his mistress.

"This Madarao, swear it in the name of the late shogun, of my destroyed clan and above all on the weapon of my family that is inherited to the next clan head, there is Kairi. That I will protect your Highness even if I lose my limbs or even if you laziness my lady."

The curly-haired senpai smiled at her honesty.

Come to think of it her name was Eleonora, wasn't it? Another ridiculous situation from my old life I remembered and that one was about a female boss who came from overseas.

She was a strong character, anti-bribery and indomitable personality. She said her name represented her personality and apparently she wasn't wrong.

I gave her a smile as well to express my gratitude.

"It seems you are quite the lioness as your name indicates. If we make it out alive, I'll invite you to one of my meetings."

She heard that and was for some reason taken aback. I don't understand what happened, but it doesn't matter.

"Ixion, give him my katana and teach him how to use it, also protect the ship, I'll leave now!"

After saying that, I waved my hands and ran out to an edge of the cruiser where there was a big hole showing that there was a lifeboat there.

I listened as Liam and the senpai screamed at the top of their lungs.

"Bradford! Have you lost your mind?"

"That kid after saying all that is planning to kill himself!?"

I'm a few feet from the edge, I quickly directed my right hand to a button on the side of the heart and my equipment started making a sound of engine turning on. And, I jumped.

◇◇◇

Liam watched Rudel as he headed for his death....

"Doooon't."

...Or so he thought.

A few seconds after jumping he watched as Rudel literally flew into the sky.

Liam couldn't believe such a thing was possible even in his imagination.

There were flying ships, mechanical knights that also flew, and wind magic. But something as literal as a human being flying was insane without a doubt.

That's what anyone would think if they didn't know Rudel.

Liam stood watching as Rudel flew and a light, but visible trail of prana came from his boots.

He was heading all the way to the horde of magical beasts and then....

Boom!!!

Boom!!!

Sounds of shotgun blasts and small grenades rang loudly in the sky.

Liam once again felt his heart shrink because of the unique crazy things that man was doing.

More sounds of gunfire and explosions were generating in the sky.

Ixion approached Liam and handed him a black katana in his hands.

He proceeded to quickly explain to him the workings of said weapon.

Liam's head was still in mind of the amazing feat happening above him even now.

More sounds of gunshots and explosions were occurring.

Suddenly he heard voices from behind. It was the sailors and students ready to fight. There were some who had mobile knights.

After nodding at Ixion's question if he understood how they worked, Liam pulled a letter out of his pocket.

(I wanted to tell you about this, but it's no longer necessary.)

Liam crumpled the letter to tear it up and threw the remains on the floor as he stretched.

After finishing his stretches he watched as Rudel returned after leaving the monsters confused and in disarray.

Before Rudel returned, Liam thought.

(Please my angel, give me the strength I need for the fight I will carry).

Then he pressed a button on the katana and it drew its edge.

Madarao was amazed at the beauty of his row he unintentionally shouted with starry eyes "that's a Muramasa tachi from the master blacksmith Kaneshige right?!?"

Ixion looked at him and immediately destroyed his innocent illusion "a human could never reproduce that beauty, I am the one who made it, worship me if you want and maybe I can make you one."

Madarao was once again amazed at the floating spherical figure of Ixion, contrary to his mistress who seemed not to care as she thought it was just a rare thing of a rarer kind.

Upon arrival Rudel demanded that Ixion resupply him with ammunition.

The students and sailors were ready to fight.

The monsters seemed to have organized again and were again heading for the cruiser.

Liam got into a fighting stance.

Madarao pulled out a black blade called a kunai and moved into attack position.

Eleonora stretched out her fan and a green magic circle appeared and generated a small tornado.

The students and sailors screamed ready to fight.

After resupplying the ammunition Rudel grabbed other shotguns brought by the drones that were also armed with machine guns.

Then.

"All right, good luck to everyone."

He flew off.

After a few shots at the incoming monsters. Liam and the others went in for the attack.

Eleonora used her fan to generate a small tornado that grabbed a few monsters and turned them into mincemeat while with her other hand she generated a wind bow and arrow and fired them at other monsters. He kept repeating that pattern until one monster came at him and he dodged it by darting to the side.

The monster was destroyed thanks to a sailor using a shotgun that was near her.

The students also fought.

The girls used usual magic spells like "fireball", "gust of wind", "water blast!", while the boys shot with the weapons at hand, others used swords, spears or axes to cut or pierce the monsters.

Sailors and servants fought in the same way.

There was not a single place on deck that was not in combat.

Meanwhile Liam...

"Haaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!"

...He was living up to his title as a close combatant.

He was running back and forth cutting monsters like butter thanks to the chainsaw side he had.

A monster in the shape of a sheep with the legs of a horse was coming at him overhead as he galloped flying.

Then something happened that was never seen in the game and that was....

"Ninja art: water edge!"

...A ninja technique.

Madarao ran towards the monster and his kunai filled with water from a magic circle that formed at the tip and it cut the monster's hard wool.

Liam turned around and thanked and then went ahead and cut monsters.

Madarao stayed at a bodyguard distance and cut anything that was not cut by Liam.

Ixion watched them as his drones used their machine guns on the oversized monsters to keep them away.

"Fascinating. The gun uses the aether to spin the blade, but he didn't press any other buttons and the gun is filling up with aether like there's no limit whatsoever."

Ixion's red eye stared at Liam as a large orca with deer antlers moved in to eat him.

A drone alerted him and Ixion only turned for a few moments to launch a laser beam from his eye and took out the monster looking back at Liam.

"No doubt that boy is an oddity, I'd like to dissect him and find out how the aether works in the body and more so the sheer amount he emanates."

Suddenly he turned his eye to the sky to see Rudel reloading ammunition from some drones that flew towards him.

"That equipment was still a prototype and it's giving excellent results. I created it based on their nonsense of wanting to do something similar to the floating ships, but on a minuscule scale. The suit sucks aether out of the air through small holes in the shoulder pads, elbow pads, knee pads and it flows straight to the center where it distributes it to the boots."

A drone delivered Rudel a visor and some sort of ear communicator.

"Show me more interesting things master."

◇

I was fighting in the sky for the second time.

I took a slight break thanks to the drones guarding the surroundings.

I could hear from a great distance the sound of gunfire from bullets and magics.

"You can tell they're having fun down there."

Despite my sarcastic phrase, I was actually at this moment about to wet my pants.

There were no monsters around me anymore. There was only one enemy besides the enemy fleet.

I could hear them the sound of their engines in the distance.

They were the real threat here.

I was scared about the new humanity finding weapons technology from the past.

Luckily they are very old aircraft. But that doesn't take away from the fact how dangerous they are.

Ixion notified me that there were fifty of them, divided into groups of five containing ten units.

They give a round about every fifteen minutes to the cruiser.

One group is approaching as it is time for them to arrive.

I can feel my heart going out. I want to go home. I want to sleep in my bed and be cared for by my servant-slave.

But I can't, I must save these idiots, save the kidnapped princess and get my ass in the coconut-head's face.

They were finally in my range of vision and fortune smiled on me as the clouds are increasing making their density very hard to see.

"Now you're talking..."

I was flying towards their direction to start the most idiotic suicide attack of all until Brunhilde arrives.

"...Let's kick their asses."