novelA History of One or the Other >> South Atlantic Civil War of Emergency Succession (2)
| ← Ch.090 | Ch.092 → |
There were five hundred ships, but they came in all shapes and sizes. The biggest were the Rose & Lily and about ten other cruise ships that rivalled an aircraft carrier in size. The smallest were more like wooden river-crossing boats with plastic roofs. Some had such simple designs that taking them out to sea would clearly be suicide, but the cruise ships likely supplied water, food, fuel, and other materials like they were air refueling tankers.
The hundreds of ships were packed in over only a few kilometers, so it looked like a boat bazaar filling a river. It grew difficult to continue on even with the rubber boat. Quenser and Heivia climbed from the boat to a ship and jumped from ship to ship from there.
"That's weird. I don't see anyone. They're all launching their fireworks without anyone onboard."
"That's convenient. They're probably all gathered on the cruise ships. A panic here would cause the ships to start running into each other and they're all packed full of fireworks. Who knows how far the damage would spread."
The world-class fireworks craftsmen had likely known what would happen to radio signals when they launched their products, so they were mostly being launched by timers or wired connections.
"More importantly, where are we supposed to go!? Tell me already!!"
"To that!"
Quenser pointed into the distance where a giant structure seemed to lean over several ships.
"The wreckage of the acoustic weapon's peacock feather the Princess tore off! It's a giant speaker, so it has to have giant magnets inside. And a ton of them!!"
The Destruction Fes mixed large quantities of iron sand in with the seawater to fire it out like a railgun or coilgun.
Quenser wanted a large number of magnets.
Therefore...
"This is everything we need. Now we just need to set it up."
"Wait a second!! Watch out!!"
As soon as Heivia cried out, a blinding light swept across the ships.
It was the Destruction Fes's low-stability plasma main cannon. A fair distance from the two idiots, it slipped between a few of the cruise ships, yet dozens of the smaller ships vanished in the light. Some had simply been vaporized and others had been set alight by the intense heat, igniting the fireworks.
A chain reaction of large explosions followed.
Flowers of unnaturally colored flames meant for entertainment blossomed here and there. For the ones the size of a small fishing boat, the explosive force of the fireworks must have overpowered the ship's weight because they were launched into the night sky like rockets. As their silhouettes fell apart in midair, a few of them approached Quenser and Heivia.
"Shit! Jump in!!"
Quenser reflexively crouched down, but Heivia grabbed his collar and threw him into the dark sea. As soon as they both plunged into the thick water, a muffled explosion and a blinding light erupted overhead. The fireworks in the falling boat and in the one they had been standing on must have ignited.
The explosions continued with no sign of ending, so the flames may have spread to the neighboring boats.
Quenser tried to rise to the surface in search of air, but Heivia held him down and forced him along. They only surfaced after diving below another ship and reaching a spot that seemed to be shielded from that ground zero.
"Bwah!! Cough, cough!! Cough, Cough! Ohaheh!!!!"
"I have no idea what you're trying to say, but I'm not accepting any complaints. This spot won't be safe forever either and we have no idea which ship will blow up next. If you have something to do, then hurry up and do it!!"
"Cough! Cough, cough!! Ugh... But if the Destruction Fes's stray shots are finally ending up here..."
"Yeah, the Princess isn't perfect. She's gradually being pushed back this way. If she wasn't protecting that final line, that probably would've been a direct hit on the cruise ships!"
Part 10
The Vanderbilt lady left the Rose & Lily's server room, walked down the corridor, and quickly doubled back after turning the first corner.
Men in black clothes and sunglasses were clearly headed her way. They were still walking rather than running, but they were clearly hurrying toward a certain destination. Plus, they either had special armor or mechanical strength enhancements because their suits swelled out from within and their feet sank deeply into the carpet.
She pressed her back against the wall by the corner and took a breath.
The wall and floor were trembling from the sounds of the fireworks and an unpleasant sweat appeared on her brow.
Just as she prepared to turn around and take another path, an elderly male face appeared nearby.
"Hyah!!"
"Pardon me, lady. I did not mean to frighten you."
He was gentle-mannered, but he wore the same black clothing. White gloves covered his dried twig-like fingers and he held a small handgun with a silencer attacked.
He held it close enough that the muzzle nearly touched her belly and he smiled.
"Please come with me, lady. You will understand why soon enough."
"Surely you aren't planning to take me to His Excellency of the Eggnog family. These are not my formal clothes and my family insignia is in my room. I doubt I would be given permission to have an audience with him."
"Do not be silly. Do you really think we would put His Excellency or his honor in danger, lady? This will all fall under the category of 'I have no memory of that. My secretary or butler did it all'."
"..."
As expected of a royal servant, he was well trained.
(Now, will they tie me up and sacrifice me to Azureyfear or will they directly silence me while disguising it as the former?)
She placed a confident smile on her lips, but she was filled with anxiety on the inside.
There truly was nothing more she could do.
However, her pride as a member of the Vanderbilt family did not allow her to let it show.
She took her first unwilling step at the insistence of the silencer-equipped gun.
A moment later, she heard a few muffled gunshots and the old man collapsed to the floor after receiving some powerful blows to the back.
The Vanderbilt lady had no idea what had happened, but the situation did not wait for her to catch up.
"Lady, please get down."
She heard a dignified female voice.
Someone gently slipped past the young lady as if clearing the way for her, but then she fired another shot into the head and heart of the collapsed old man. The woman held a fully-auto machine pistol. It of course had a silencer equipped. She pulled the slide back, poured a bit of mineral water into the gun through the ejection port to increase its airtightness, and did not hesitate to poke her head out from behind the corridor's corner.
Flag Eggnog's pawns had been rushing this way, but they were eliminated almost too easily. Those royal bodyguards had been a little lacking in skill due to their overconfidence in their equipment, but making it look that easy showed just how skilled this woman was.
The muffled sound was much quieter than the fireworks outside, but it squeezed at the young lady's heart much more. Those blasts were meant to summon death, so they were fundamentally different.
The woman had silver hair and wore a chic maid uniform with a long skirt.
The eyepatch covering one eye and the machine pistol were dangerous looking, but something else caught her attention.
"Oh? That maid uniform... Isn't that the kind used by the maids that serve a Winchell family manor?"
"My apologies, lady. I still haven't introduced myself, have I? I am Karen I. Winchell. Not only have I seen you a few times at our residence, but I believe I handed you a glass of nonalcoholic champagne at the party earlier."
"Oh... um..."
"Do not worry about it. I am merely a maid. While I have been graciously named a member of the Winchell family, it means nothing on the bloodline front. My middle initial stands for 'imitation' and the Winchell name is a title awarded me by my master."
A few more maids wielding guns joined her.
As someone who was constantly being escorted, the Vanderbilt lady could tell this was a bodyguard arrangement.
She thought for a moment.
"I have a few questions."
"Ask away."
"First, I advocate disarmament and strive to resolve the Legitimacy Kingdom's internal and external problems with words rather than weapons."
"We are aware this is not your preference, lady. But we will do what is in the interests of our revered and beloved Winchell family as a whole. Losing you here would be a major loss to Winchell."
"Second, the people you defeated here are connected to the Eggnog family."
"Lady, there are always loopholes. They carefully created an environment that left no connection back to their master in case they had to dirty their hands. But that also means that their master cannot accuse whoever might strike back at them. After all, they have made sure he and the criminals are entirely unrelated. There is no chance whatsoever of a battle breaking out over revenge. The system prevents it."
"Three, are you prepared to oppose the overall will of Winchell and assist Vanderbilt, their official enemy?"
"I must admit, that one is harder to answer."
The eyepatch maid smiled a little, but her lips twisted fiercely as she continued.
"But if you kick the bucket here, that snot-nosed brat will cry. I'm saying I can't stand to even imagine that look on his face, lady. If it means protecting that smile, I'm more than willing to be branded a traitor."
That was all she needed to hear.
The Vanderbilt lady and the Winchell maid shook hands.
"Lady, we are your pawns. Please tell us what our next move should be."
The young lady also dropped her almost coldly elegant speech.
"Take me to my room. If Flag Eggnog is intentionally pitting our families against each other as damage control for his gaffe, he will definitely be monitoring my actions. I need to retrieve the wireless router he's tampered with and find the evidence linking back to him in either the hardware or software."
Additional insufficiently trained footsteps approached.
The maids from hell checked the remaining ammunition in their silencer-equipped machine pistols and poured mineral water in through the ejection port to increase the sound suppression.
"What shall we do about any obstacles on the way?"
"You should of course avoid combat as much as possible. I'm a pacifist after all."
The young lady's position had not changed.
But...
"And if that doesn't work, just slaughter them all! Slaughter every last person who stands in the way of my marriage with Master Heivia!!"
Muffled gunshots rang out.
A girl in love had endless possibilities.
Part 11
The main battle between the Baby Magnum and the Destruction Fes approached as Quenser and Heivia watched, but that did not change what they had to do.
They wanted the gigantic speaker used as an acoustic weapon. More specifically, they wanted the electromagnets inside.
The two idiots grabbed onto a nearby ship and climbed onboard again. They jumped from ship to ship among the eerily colorful explosions to reach the fallen peacock feather.
"If the lineup of fireworks is destroyed, won't the chaff vanish and won't the acoustic weapon come back to life?"
"Even if the fireworks completely stopped now, it wouldn't immediately eliminate all the metal in the air."
"Shit! The Destruction Fes is really pushing forward now. It's coming this way!! Is it trying to crush us by running us over!?"
"That's actually exactly what we need! Help me out, Heivia. Let's keep our work to a minimum!!"
They had finally reached the wreckage of the acoustic weapon leaning over several of the ships.
Even if it was made to be put together or broken down by human hands, Objects were made to withstand a nuclear blast and it would be difficult for the two of them to manually tear it apart. They spotted a speaker that had separated from the entire peacock feather due to the impact of the fall and Heivia lifted it up using a crane-like device attached to one ship to transfer cargo. Quenser dragged some plastic gas cans and metal drums from the nearby ships and attached those "floats" to it with wires.
"Throw it now! It won't sink like this!!"
"Damn this thing's scary. If I'm not careful, I think our ship might flip right over."
With a loud splash, they tossed the giant speaker – or rather, electromagnet – into the dark sea.
Quenser than borrowed one of the cables used to send signals to the fireworks.
"We don't have a power source to match an Object reactor!"
"We don't need one! The electromagnet will still work as long as it has power!... Yes, yes. The ship's large diesel engine will work as a generator. If I connect it here... !!"
The Destruction Fes arrived a moment later.
Dozens and even hundreds of ships broke apart as easily as styrofoam as it fiercely tackled them. It was going to skim right past Quenser and Heivia to hit the Rose & Lily in the center. And it would set off the fireworks and shrapnel scattered around it, so their human bodies could easily be turned to mincemeat.
The two idiots scrambled from ship to ship, trying to get as far away as they could.
But they made sure not to jump into the ocean and for good reason.
The Destruction Fes seemed to pitch forward as it rapidly lost speed.
The electromagnet had stolen all the iron sand it relied on for its speed.
The Destruction Fes mixed iron sand with the seawater to create the framework it needed to fire the water out like a railgun or coilgun for the massive thrust it needed. So what if a powerful electromagnet sucked up all the iron sand, leaving only the pure seawater behind?
The answer was simple.
The Destruction Fes could no longer use its boosters.
It arrived right in front of the Rose & Lily but could not take the last step, just like a fierce dog held by an invisible chain.
However, its target was a fattened luxury cruise ship.
An Object's main cannon could easily send it to a watery grave.
They had to settle this before the Object began thinking more clearly.
"Go, Princess..."
Worried for his fiancée's safety, Heivia ignored the fireworks going off all around him and raised his voice. With the metal for the colored flames acting as chaff, their radios did not work. His voice would not reach her, but he yelled anyway.
"Blow it awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!"
If the remote-controlled Destruction Fes was destroyed, Azureyfear's faction could no longer move. No matter how many stealth submarines, satellites, and soldiers they had, it all came down to this one Object. Without their ultimate bargaining chip, that pack of wolves would become a flock of sheep. He would no longer have to worry about his fiancée being exposed to that excessive firepower.
The Princess did just as he had hoped.
She took the optimum position while destroying the smaller unmanned ships and she prepared to fire her main cannons without damaging the cruise ships.
The main cannons' targeting lenses and sensor heads whirred, and...
"... ?"
Something caught Quenser's attention and he focused again on the Destruction Fes as it was lit up by the countless detonating fireworks. He grabbed a pair of binoculars from the leisure equipment thrown on the deck.
"What is it now, Quenser!?"
"This isn't right. What is this? What does it mean?"
He was looking at the main spherical body near the top. Specifically, at the entrance hatch. It should have only been for decoration on this remote-controlled model, but it was irregularly opening and closing like a goldfish's mouth or gills.
"Ah."
What if?
Unlike a manned Object, the fully remote-controlled Destruction Fes did not need an oxygen supply system. It did not need a circulation system like the Princess had that used caustic soda to remove the carbon dioxide from the exhaled air so it could be reused again and again.
"Ahh."
What if?
If the Destruction Fes was taking in oxygen, it would introduce a fair bit of risk. For example, if the dozens of bulkheads along the boarding tunnel to the cockpit could be opened and then closed one at a time in order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... n. That would carry fresh oxygen from one "room" to the next. Of course, without a filter, that method would not protect against a nuclear attack.
"Ahhhh!!"
What if?
Then why would the Destruction Fes even want oxygen in the first place?
Wasn't it unmanned?
And if not, who was onboard?
Part 12
The scent of roses filled the small cockpit.
That may have been because she had sprayed the wine of hatred on her skin and hair to cover up the rusted iron smell.
Azureyfear Winchell wore the kind of full-body skintight suits that Pilot Elites wore. Its design was reminiscent of blue mourning clothes with a long skirt. A thin smile could be seen on the lips covered by a translucent veil and a trail of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.
She was not a Pilot Elite, so she could not actually pilot the Object. The control system was still reliant on the Orchestra System that used tens of thousands of people in dozens of stealth submarines and satellites.
Normally, her presence there would have been unnecessary.
Pilot Elites had been thoroughly optimized in unspeakable ways, but not even they could endure the burden of the inertial Gs produced by the Destruction Fes. Boarding that Object was more than just reckless; it was suicidal.
Then why had Azureyfear done so?
She sat in that tiny and cramped cockpit with her limbs sprawled out limply and her breathing far too shallow.
Red blood dripped not just from her mouth, but from her nose, ears, and eyes too. Nevertheless, the Blue Rose smiled.
"Honestly, what a hopeless brother."
The conflict between the Winchell and Vanderbilt families could not be stopped.
It had continued for centuries and it would likely continue for centuries more.
She had no way of fighting that, so she had reached a certain conclusion.
"If he intends to push aside all the many other candidates and inherit the Winchell family, then he cannot be so indecisive."
A hint of happiness filled the Blue Rose's face.
"Winchell or Vanderbilt? Your own sister or your lover? The time has come to choose."
If she had simply brought the issue to him directly, Heivia would likely have insisted that he would protect it all, that he would not lose his family or his lover, and that he did not care if that made him indecisive.
But that gray decision would create many enemies. He could easily find himself ostracized by both Winchell and Vanderbilt.
She could not let that happen.
She had said from the beginning that she was taking on the decision her brother should have made.
"Now, brother. Please work towards your own happiness."
She did not have the courage to publically celebrate his marriage.
Unlike her brother, she could not boldly claim she would bring an end to a centuries-old tradition.
Nevertheless, she had made her decision.
Since her indecisive brother would not, she would choose his lover over her in his stead. If the son of Winchell risked his life to protect the daughter of Vanderbilt, he would have the starting point he needed to make an attack on his seemingly impossible task.
"Kill me and continue forward!!"
Part 13
And...
And...
And...
"Finally..."
Quenser removed the binoculars from his eyes.
He was not even listening to the exploding fireworks or the screams of the small ships being blown away around him.
"Finally."
He looked to the Baby Magnum and Destruction Fes as they were lit by the multicolored flames.
"Finally!!"
His thoughts seemed to explode.
Quenser Barbotage ignored the awful friend by his side and yelled into the heavens.
"Yahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! It's here!! The Azureyfear purity and redemption fever is heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere!!!!!"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, " calmly cut in Heivia."You have no proof. That was all in your head!! And even if it is true, it doesn't remotely make up for the fact that my sister led a drug war, infected safe countries, shot her bought Black Uniforms to silence them, and blew up a fleet with her secret Object!! She's one of the biggest criminals out there! She's the perfect example of an evil girl!!"
"Shut up! I don't care about any of that! I won't rest until I get some punishment time with your sexy sister Azureyfear!! I'm not gonna let her quit while she's ahead by dying a noble death here. Let's do this!! Let's drag Azureyfear out of there!!"
The next thing Heivia knew, Quenser had attached a parachute harness to himself. It was likely a leisure item meant for parasailing from the back of the ship. He also borrowed a large emergency hand light that came equipped with a radio, a hand-cranked generator, a large capacity battery, and a rescue strobe light.
"Quenser!?"
"Oh, this'll affect you too, but no complaints, okay?"
He kicked the lever to get the ship started. Quite a few ships had been crammed together, but the Baby Magnum and Destruction Fes had cleared things out quite a bit. The ship scraped against the panels and chemical materials floating in the water, but it quickly exceeded 100 kph.
They could be crushed by an Object at any moment, but Quenser did not hesitate to pull the parachute's cord amid the intense wind produced by their speed.
"You might end up being my brother-in-law!"
"Now you're just creeping me out!!"
The wind struck the parachute and it opened wide. Quenser was thrown from the ship and floated twenty to thirty meters into the air.
The Princess's mouth had to have been flapping wordlessly as the parachute came into contact with the Destruction Fes while it took a sharp turn.
The cloth got tangled up on the base of the low-stability plasma main cannon and caught there.
Even if it had been slowed, the Destruction Fes was still moving at about 400 kph. That was faster than the Island Nation's high-speed rail system. It should have torn the human body to shreds.
But Quenser was wearing a parachute that intentionally distributed the weight and a harness that attached to various parts of his body. When skydiving – specifically, in the HALO jumps from extreme high altitude – the parachute was opened during a free dive of around 400 kph. In other words, when used correctly, he could survive that.
"Ha... hah... hah!! Gh... Ha ha!! Wait for me, you damn cutie! I'm not letting you quit while you're ahead. You're going to pay for tricking us, sinking our fleet, and blowing away the Oceanic Driver. I'll make you cry until your face is covered in tears and snot and you rue the day you were born! Let's introduce ourselves to each other again, young lady!!"
He clung to the base of the main cannon, climbed up, and cut away the tangled parachute that was acting as a lifeline. Once freed, the idiot relied on the emergency hand light to begin moving atop the spherical body.
The Baby Magnum had lost its chance to fire, so it was simply moving back and forth with quick footwork. He had a feeling it was aiming a main cannon right at him, but he figured he was imagining things.
He only needed to move about ten meters.
However, he felt like his organs were being squeezed out of him and his vision quickly narrowed from every direction. He gave up on choking and found it was easier simply not breathing at all. This truly was not an environment conducive to human life. If he let his guard down even a little, he thought he would be thrown out into empty air.
Entering the Destruction Fes was easy.
To obtain oxygen, it was opening the bulkhead hatches in order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... n. One would open and then close, then the next one would. That brought the fresh air in from small room to small room.
But that method allowed foreign objects in as well.
"Cough... cough!!"
He coughed up some blood and barely managed to arrive at the hatch.
He wiped some blood up with his trembling fingertips and wrote something next to the hatch. Then he tied the hand light's strap to a protrusion near the hatch and activated the rescue strobe light on the side.
"Let's do this, you piece of shit. I'll teach you just how cruel society can be."
Quenser threw himself into the tunnel when the hatch automatically opened and then leaned against each consecutive bulkhead. He continued moving deeper and deeper toward the cockpit.
It may have lost the boosters that used iron sand and seawater, but it could still produce the speed and inertial Gs of a normal Object.
It squeezed at his organs and he could see the edges of his vision growing red. He also felt an intense urge to vomit. He doubted he would last even a few minutes in this environment.
But that few minutes was all he needed.
Once he reached the cockpit, he only had to do one thing: embrace Azureyfear who had chosen isolation and pull the ejection lever.
Part 14
Azureyfear Winchell breathed shallow breaths in the small, cramped space.
Her mind was like a narrow thread on the verge of snapping. She was using all her strength to remain conscious because dying in an accident would be meaningless. She needed for Heivia Winchell to kill her himself to show he was willing to cut down his own family to protect his family's old enemy if it was the right thing to do.
That would be the first step toward stopping the conflict between the families.
She was giving a push in the right direction to the boy who, unlike the Blue Rose, had taken Vanderbilt's hand and declared the conflict wrong.
Everyone else claimed it was justified because it was a centuries-old tradition, but her brother had followed his heart and announced that those centuries had been wrong.
That true hero had stood firm in the face of powerful opposition.
She was proud of him for drawing out that courage when no one else had been able to.
(And yet he's such a fool. )
Azureyfear had detected the foreign object.
Someone had grabbed onto the Destruction Fes and had successfully gotten inside.
(If he saves me, everything I have done will be for naught. He will lose the first step toward stopping the conflict between Winchell and Vanderbilt. His marriage will have to be put off even longer.... He knows that, yet he still makes the indecisive decision. That must be where his heart leads him. )
All of her efforts were being wasted, yet she felt her entire body relaxing.
Oddly, she had been waiting for this moment.
The final bulkhead opened and a boy in a Legitimacy Kingdom uniform rushed into the cockpit.
"Yahoo!! Quenser, your knight in shining armor, has arrived! Now, young lady, are you ready to fall in love?"
The Blue Rose of Winchell completely forgot about the pain from the intense inertial Gs.
All expression vanished from her face and she shouted at the boy who had realized the truth and come to protect her.
"I didn't want you!!!!!"
But Quenser was not about to let that get to him.
He replied with a sharp look on his face.
"I'm not saying I want to be your boyfriend or marry you or anything. I just can't let you off the hook after everything you've done! Some sexy punishment time is still waiting for you!! Should I go with ropes, whips, or candles? Hell, why not go with a little of everything!?"
"Are you an idiot!? No, really. Are you an idiot!? I prepared dozens of stealth submarines, satellites, and the fastest Object ever!! And you're here to trample on all that effort while thinking with your dick!?"
"Oh, get off your high horse!! After running a drug war, building an Object, sinking a fleet, and destroying the Oceanic Driver, do you really think everyone's going to go along with what you want!? You'll look much better with all your efforts ruined as you cry pathetically on the ground and beg everyone for your life!! More importantly, I'm pulling the ejection lever. We're getting out of here! This is finally over. Plus, we have to share a parachute, so I have an excuse to hold you in my arms!"
"You can't do that!! And what do you mean an ejection lever!?"
"Hm?" Quenser looked shocked."Can I, um, ignore that as the airheaded comment of an ignorant noble girl?"
"This isn't a cockpit." Azureyfear revealed a shocking truth."The control system is handled by the Orchestra System managed by ten thousand people scattered around the world's oceans. I had screens installed so I could monitor the situation, but this is only the box where the cockpit would normally have been installed. Why would they install a single button or lever?"
"..........................................................................................................................................................................."
His thread of hope had vanished.
The two hundred thousand ton Object continued moving at four or five hundred kph, applying intense inertial Gs that rivaled those of a fighter jet.
It was like a fierce compressor using artificial gravity.
And they could not get out☆
"We're deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeead!!"
As soon as Quenser gave his honest opinion, something happened.
The Destruction Fes finally came to a complete stop.
He did not know why.
There was nothing they could do inside that box and he doubted the Destruction Fes would stop for no reason.
"Kssshhh!!"
The reason arrived after a short delay.
The fireworks chaff was still in effect, but a transmission forced its way through using lasers or other methods.
That equipment did not belong to any unit Quenser knew of.
Nor had it come from the Baby magnum.
"... is the Legitimacy Kingdom's Organization for the Peaceful Use of Space."
He did not recognize the voice, but he knew it was someone who had been fighting alongside them.
"This is the civilian Venus-class space station named the Princess Nikolaschka. Can you hear this? We saw the signal from the rescue strobe light and read the writing in blood near the Object's hatch."
Part 15
Astronaut Marcus placed his hand on the station's exterior while looking down at the giant blue planet.
"The bloody instructions next to the strobe light were right."
An unused module had been attached to the battered station.
It was bigger than an industrial refrigerator and it had the Winchell family emblem on it.
"As I'm sure you can tell from this transmission, we're hitching a ride on your system. We finally managed to capture your satellite and work out the communications format you were using. That allowed us to interfere in your control system. You can't use your weapon anymore. That Orchestra System came back to bite you."
To cover the entire world with a large number of satellites, they needed a large number of contact points. That allowed someone to open the satellite's cover, plug in a new cable, and begin a cyber attack from within the system. There was nothing anyone on the surface could do about that, but things changed for someone up in space. Plus, they had all too much experience matching their relative speed and retrieving a satellite thanks to all their rendezvouses with multi-stage cargo rockets.
None of it had been difficult.
Before Quenser Barbotage had rushed into the cockpit, he had left some bloody "insurance" by the hatch. The space station's astronauts had read it from orbit and had perfectly carried out the task given to them.
The Orchestra uses submarines and laser communication satellites.
Take control from above.
He had summed it up with those short sentences and the astronauts had quickly located and retrieved a satellite with a receiver antenna and laser rod aimed at both the scene of the battle and the ocean.
"Brave Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers, thanks for providing a distraction and buying some time."
Robin asked him for a high five, so Marcus pressed his back against the station and complied.
Marcus watched his colleague spinning from the recoil and finished his statement.
"It's all over now. It's time you paid for bringing the earth's conflicts up into peaceful outer space. It's time you paid dearly."
Part 16
The fireworks continued exploding both in the night sky and near the water's surface.
On the Rose & Lily's outdoor party deck, the middle-aged royal named Flag Eggnog was sweating bullets.
What was this?
What had happened?
What in the world was going on?
Under Azureyfear Winchell's command, the Destruction Fes had been preparing to kill the members of the Vanderbilt family and everyone else here, but that monstrous weapon had come to a complete stop. That in itself was a good thing, but how many problems still remained? Wasn't there some other chain of bad news even after that thing stopped?
He received a whispered reminder from a servant whose black clothes were unnaturally swelling out from within.
"The Vanderbilt lady."
"Oh, goddammit!! That's right! She's trying to get that wireless router! If we don't get rid of that, it'll be analyzed and eventually lead back to me!!"
The bodyguard sighed because he had made sure to whisper the reminder and yet the gaffe machine had shouted loud enough for everyone to notice.
The royal seemed to be easily excitable and he had not noticed his mistake. In fact, he began muttering inside his fatty mouth.
"No, that isn't it. Oh, no. Oh, no. If I don't trigger a major incident between Winchell and Vanderbilt, I can't distract everyone from what I said at that press conference! That goddamn press conference! Why do they upload the same news to video sites so many times!? I'll hunt down and kill every last one of them!!"
"Due to the electromagnetic interference, we cannot currently contact the outside world."
"I can't believe thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!!"
Flag realized people were quickly distancing themselves from him. He was letting things slip left and right, but no one wanted to end up in a royal's sights because they had overheard his secrets, even if he was the one being careless.
Or perhaps they simply wanted nothing to do with a VIP who was on the decline.
"Ksshh!!"
That was when some unnatural static ran through the bodyguard's earpiece.
He was a truly loyal man.
"A radio transmission has come in for you, Your Excellency."
"How? I thought the signals were being blocked!?"
The bodyguard did not know the answer, so he could only answer with silence. He removed the earpiece and held out the radio itself he kept on the back of his waist. Flag Eggnog snatched it from him.
"Hello, Your Highness. Do you know who this is? It's one of the Martini Series."
"Oh! From the Information Alliance, you mean!?"
The bodyguard was just about ready to abandon the gaffe machine and run off. If it was found out a member of the Legitimacy Kingdom's royal council had a connection to their enemies in the Information Alliance, he would be charged with more than just treason. It was possible he would be executed right in the palace.
"H-how did you get this line through?"
"We are the Information Alliance. Do not underestimate our primary desire. But to reveal the trick, we used a directional antenna just above the ocean's surface to get a signal through despite the Legitimacy Kingdom's fireworks jamming. Ah ha ha ha. That should tell you we're hiding in the ocean quite close by, but is it in a fishing boat? Or maybe a cruiser?"
"Oh, oh. The Information Alliance is giving me some valuable information for free. Does that mean you still trust me enough to help me out?"
"..."
He received a short silence in reply, but he seemed unable to judge what it meant.
"If I can use the radio, that speeds things up. Contact my rear guard waiting outside of this place. With the Destruction Fes in that state, I need to start a war in some other way if I'm going to make up for my gaffe. Even if that means poking at these two hornet's nests."
"About that, Your Excellency. This is very difficult to say, but..."
"What is it? Out with it. We're on the same side, aren't we?"
"Well, if you insist.... Isn't it about time we stopped creepily pretending to be friends?"
He did not know what she meant.
His mind went entirely blank.
Finally, he let his emotions take over and shouted back with no real plan in mind.
"Y-you!! Wh-what!? What the hell is wrong with you!? Who do you think I am!?"
"Um, some bastard from an enemy nation we should probably defeat?"
He received what should have been an obvious answer.
"Your Excellency, the Information Alliance may have assisted you with the drug war and in the construction of the Plasma 177, that you're calling the Destruction Fes, but it was not to help you achieve your goals. We of course had something to gain there and we of course have obtained that. You could say that we've reached our quota, that continuing any further would only be a negative for us, or maybe that we chose the wrong person to work with.... Well, you get the picture."
"What... what are you saying!?"
"Sigh. This is one last favor, okay? You can think of it as payment for breach of contract if you like. The Information Alliance only ever wanted to gather, analyze, and store data on the micro-level mental structure of the noble Winchell family and on its macro-level opposition with the Vanderbilt family. You probably wouldn't understand, but for a project known as Perfect Browsing, we wanted to gather data on as many sample incidents and disasters as possible. However, we were talking about the nobles near the top of an enemy world power. They are too well defended to easily send spies or saboteurs across borders, so we instead contacted some fool who would open the gate for us from within. The puppet you gave us, Azureyfear, was a very, very, verrrrry excellent sample. You could say the twisted side of the Winchell family is concentrated inside her."
"..."
"Oh? So even someone as talkative as you can quiet down. Or did you finally catch on? We are experts at handling all kinds of information. Our privileged classes can manipulate stock prices with insider trading or rumors while the information illiterate will dry up and die. Spreading someone's careless gaffe across the internet to ensure a specific target is too panicked to make a rational decision is hardly difficult for us."
Flag Eggnog felt sweat pouring from his entire body.
This was not right. How could a royal be under someone else's rule?
But this girl was from the Information Alliance, so she existed outside the Legitimacy Kingdom's pyramid hierarchy.
"We had thought it might be interesting to gain your trust by gathering and controlling data on Winchell and Vanderbilt to use you as a spy within the royal council, your highest decision-making institution, but it doesn't look like it will be that easy. Not bad, Legitimacy Kingdom. Your ability to cleanse yourself is praiseworthy."
He sensed that the conversation was coming to an end.
He was not in charge here, even though he was a royal.
"But it does look like we'll get an interesting sample. Perhaps I should name the file, 'Full-Speed Collapse of a Royal's Life'. Royals are supposed to be thoroughly protected by the preferential treatment of horribly biased laws, so how does one fall to the bottom? The chance to follow the process in real time is suuuuuuch a rare opportunity. We will be making good use of you, Your Excellency. Thank you very much☆"
"Owaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
He shouted in anger, threw the radio to the floor, and crushed it underfoot.
He was beyond worrying about gaffes. He ignored the negative attention he was receiving and pulled a handgun from his sleeve. It was a strangely-shaped self-defense gun that resembled a miniature stapler and held only a single bullet.
"I'll kill you!! I'll kill every last person who mocks me!! Grab your guns and follow me. First is that Vanderbilt girl with her evidence! Once that's over and my position is stable, I can start a war with the Information Alliance to-..."
He trailed off and looked over with bloodshot eyes.
The bodyguard who had been standing next to him a moment before had vanished.
He then heard a loud splash as something heavy fell into the ocean.
"I'll kill them aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!"
Flagg Eggnog set off with the men who had failed to run off in time.
Part 17
The ferocious Destruction Fes was now as still as a cicada skin.
Heivia blankly stared at it while unable to share any information via radio.
"What? Did Quenser actually save the day with love and courage? With that violent sister??? Please no. Is he really gonna be my brother-in-law!?"
He was nearly crushed by unease, but then he noticed the Baby Magnum making some kind sign.
The chaff from the fireworks continued to provide electromagnetic interference, so the Baby Magnum could not use its radio. Instead, it gently changed the angle of one main cannon. It reflected the light of the burning ships like a mirror in the sun, creating a regular pattern of flashing.
(Is that a message in Morse code? We're getting pretty analog here. )
Something isn't right.
That was a worrying beginning.
Was the Destruction Fes going to split open from within and evolve into some hellish second form? Was there going to be some strange claim about this only being 10% of its power? Was it going to turn out it had ten bodies and could only be slain with a holy sword purified by god? Heivia did his best to pretend he had not understood the message, but the Princess said even more.
The cruise ship.
"What?"
I have too much firepower to intervene.
"..."
Heivia looked around and his eyes stopped on a certain point.
The Rose & Lily was supposed to be a safe zone where his secret lover waited. The Princess could observe that supposed safety with countless cameras and sensors and she had determined "something isn't right".
The look on Heivia Winchell's face changed.
With a manly expression, the noble grabbed the bundle of rope at his feet.
He pulled out a large knife and reflected the firelight to respond to the Princess.
He did not hesitate.
Help me out. I'll settle this.
Part 18
The Rose & Lily had a two-hull structure.
That meant it kept its overall balance with two hulls arranged like a sleigh. Its name came from the rose as a symbol of Winchell and the lily as a symbol of Vanderbilt. It had been constructed based on the desire for the two families to get along.
Although the peace it was meant to bring was being forever pushed off like the release date of an extremely largescale RPG.
Inside, eyepatch-wearing Karen and the rest of the Winchell maids protected the Vanderbilt lady as they moved along.
Karen I. Winchell had cleared the path to the girl's room.
After retrieving the wireless router in question, they had broken the window and escaped that way.
The Destruction Fes had stopped and they were on their way to the heliport to use the opened sky route to reach the Legitimacy Kingdom's 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion where they would be safest.
However...
The last leg of that journey was to the heliport atop the corridor connecting the two hulls.
That flat piece of artificial land had a sword stabbed into it in reference to the legend of the two families.
That was where they were finally caught.
A chubby man with many bodyguards behind him was illuminated by the colorful fireworks and a disgusting smile appeared on his face as he spread his arms.
He was Flag Eggnog, first prince of the Eggnog family.
He was part of the royal council and thus the poor man was targeted by the press as a gaffe machine.
As a royal, he was positioned even higher than a noble.
"Hello, hello, lady. You certainly are making this exciting."
"Oh? Do you have any idea how it feels to have assault rifles and even a shoulder-fired rocket launcher aimed at me just because I wanted to visit my own room? And I was fairly certain I still had awhile before checkout time."
"Even if you do, removing equipment from the room is bad manners."
"True. But what if it contains evidence of someone breaking some more important rules?"
The air strained under the pressure.
Several metallic noises sounded as Flag's bodyguards and the Winchell maids protecting the Vanderbilt lady aimed their guns at each other.
But the latter group had a disadvantage here.
There was very little cover on the heliport and the bodyguards had special armor and mechanical enhancements under their clothes. It was possible a handgun bullet would be useless except for a headshot. In a shootout, the maids would clearly be worn down faster.
But the Vanderbilt lady did not look concerned.
That did not mean she was not concerned, though. She was intentionally making sure she did not look that way.
"You cannot avoid banishment, Your Excellency."
She rejected him from a position of superiority.
"If you were innocent, you would not need to put together this sort of plan. I do not even need to check inside the router. You have already made your mistake."
"Know your place, little girl."
Whether out of confidence or panic, Flag Eggnog pried open his lips.
Poking him a little was all it took for "the usual" to spill from there.
"Don't you know how the Legitimacy Kingdom works? Royals are everything in this world! Our prosperity has already been assured!! I am merely playing my part. I may cause some slight trouble, but that is for the best. It fills the stagnant council with activity, leads them to a swift decision, and provides good fortune to the Legitimacy Kingdom's people. What could be wrong with that!?"
The eyepatch maid feigned ignorance and asked a question while aiming her silencer-equipped machine pistol.
"Pardon me, lady, but that was a little too difficult for a mere maid such as myself. What did he mean?"
"Hm? He was saying he's about to be charged with treason and inciting rebellion."
"Nonsense. The nobles are given their position so they might support the royals to protect the many commoners. So fulfill your duty! You are supposed to be knights that raise your swords to fight for your king!!!!"
At this point, one could only be impressed with his stupidity.
He was even simpler than a soda fountain that produced the desired drink at the press of a button.
He claimed his gaffes filled the council with activity, but most likely that was the only compromise the others had found to handle the immense stress he brought them. Doctors focused on making money were likely constantly prescribing those around this man with stomach pills, relaxants, sleeping pills, and another stomach pill for all the other pills they were taking. If those people had heard this, they would likely have applauded and immediately decided to banish him.
Of course, a storm of bullets would kill the girl no matter how emptyheaded the idiot was who had ordered it.
"This is over, little girl. You must pay for so arrogantly stepping onto this royal stage when you were born a mere noble."
"Lady, as an uneducated maid, I am very confused. Could you tell me what he is saying?"
"He's saying it's time for his silly skit."
"That's it!! Kill her nowwwwwww!!!!!"
The chubby middle-aged man shouted like he was throwing a tantrum, but the Vanderbilt lady still did not look concerned. She was not emotionless, however. She was intentionally sealing away her expressions and forcing a smile.
"You cannot do it."
"Like hell I can't, little girl!! How dare you object to the decisions of one with royal blood!!"
"After all, this is his battlefield."
She had nothing to base this on, but she spoke as confidently as a dreaming maiden.
"You seem to be mistaken about something, so allow me to correct you. There is a reason I fell in love with the gentleman I did. He is strong enough to pick a fight with the centuries-old rift tearing apart Vanderbilt and Winchell. Meanwhile, the Legitimacy Kingdom's framework is only about a single century old. My beloved darling has been fighting all alone against something several times that large, so did you really think he would falter before a newcomer like the commoner-noble-royal system!?"
"..."
"Don't make me laugh, you unwanted royal. You have so much social status and yet you're still a pathetic bachelor who never managed to win a single woman's heart, so don't underestimate the normal bonds between a man and a woman! He will be here. Even if the absurd surrounds him and the unreasonable stands in his way, he will come running if his fiancée calls for him! If I call for him as casually as asking for a drink, he would run through the apocalypse itself to come protect me!! There is no room for social status or bloodline there. If his woman is in danger, a man will silently make an enemy of the entire world. He will grab his sword, slay the dragon, and rescue the princess! It can be work, a war, a test at school, a contest, their first date, or anything else. Whether commoner, noble, or royal, they will envision that original image, grab whatever they see as their sword, find their princess, and face their dragon!! That is the driving force that ties together the Legitimacy Kingdom! And it is the framework you so definitively lack!! You utter fool!!!!"
She received no response.
No, she did hear an unintelligible cry.
The gun barrels protecting the Eggnog family and the Vanderbilt family began to move.
However, hadn't she said something important?
He will be here.
He will come running.
At that exact moment, the Legitimacy Kingdom's 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion's First Generation Baby Magnum moved unnaturally close to the Rose & Lily.
It also made a turn that made no sense from a tactical standpoint.
Finally, a long, long rope was wrapped around one of the countless secondary cannons covering its spherical body like a sea urchin or chestnut burr.
Something was hanging from the other end of that rope.
It was Heivia Winchell.
As he was swung horizontally around, he flew through the air with the rope in hand. He was pulled up to the nine meter height of the Rose & Lily's deck and he collided with the many bodyguards waiting behind Flag Eggnog.
The heavy kick was just like a bowling ball hitting the pins.
Those bodyguards wielded carbines and had special armor or equipment below their clothing, but they were all swept away. A particularly unlucky one crashed right into the helicopter warming its engine to the side. He collided with the rapidly rotating tail rotor and a red smoothie splattered everywhere.
Heivia ignored them, let go of the rope, rolled a few times on the hard heliport, and then got up.
He could not have known the exact situation at that point. He did not know that the conflict between Winchell and Vanderbilt had been intentionally exacerbated or that it had been done to distract everyone from First Prince Flag Eggnog's gaffes. Nor did he know that the Vanderbilt lady had hunted down the evidence to prove it or that she was working with Karen and the other Winchell maids.
But the noble boy did not hesitate.
He looked across the scene.
He saw his fiancée and he saw who was aiming a gun at her.
That was all he needed.
Heivia Winchell immediately made up his mind based on the rules of the world he believed in.
"Looks like you've got a death wish, rich boy."
Part 19
A strange voice filled the stopped Destruction Fes's cockpit(?).
"Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!"
"Stop it, Azureyfear! It's too late to start with the brother complex!!"
Part 20
The middle-aged man was completely left behind.
He simply stammered about some unrelated things on the heliport.
"I... I am a royal. I am First Prince Flag of the Eggnog family! Do you have any idea what will happen to a noble family that defies-..."
He came to a sudden stop.
Heivia had walked up, smashed the prince's nose with his assault rifle's stock, and grabbed the back of the middle-aged man's neck as he desperately held his explosive nosebleed.
"Ah."
He did not even have time to reply.
He was thrown forcefully through the air to move him as far from the young lady and the maids as possible. He rolled along, screeching shrilly, and finally found something to cling to with his bloody hands.
It was the sword stabbed vertically into the heliport.
It was mostly a decorative symbol of the two families' legend than anything, but it was still a hunk of steel. Even if it had no blade, stabbing someone with the tip would kill them.
"E-ee-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"
Half in a frenzy, Flag pulled the one-handed rapier from its pedestal and pointed the tip toward Heivia.
Heivia simply narrowed his eyes.
He threw his assault rifle and military handgun aside and quietly drew a large military knife.
"Nice. I was getting sick of cleaning up all the filth, but this is finally looking a little more 'noble'."
"Wh-what do you think you're doing?"
"We're doing this like a true king and knight."
"I am a royal! A mere noble dares turn his blade on me!?"
"You drew your blade first. Sorry, but this counts as self-defense."
"Wha-? But... I... !?"
"And aren't royals considered the top brass of the military from the moment they're born? Surely you didn't think you counted as a civilian. You're not a commoner, after all."
"..."
"I was officially ordered to stop this civil war. And now the man behind it all turns out to be a soldier, he's holding a weapon right in front of me, and he intends to harm Legitimacy Kingdom civilians. To be honest, I can't find a reason not to fight."
Flag belatedly looked down to the sword in his hand, but it was too late. Of course, when most of his senses were numbed from having his nose smashed and he was thrown over to that pedestal, it had been obvious what Flag would do.
Heivia heard a sigh.
It came from Karen I. Winchell as she rubbed her index finger against her temple.
She was entirely onboard with this.
"I am aware it is rude for a mere maid to say this, but according to Legitimacy Kingdom law, commoners are guaranteed the right to punish nobles and nobles are guaranteed the same right to royals.... If someone has gone mad with power, the people may stage a justified rebellion or challenge them to a duel."
"Did you really think I'd just go home after you threatened my woman?"
"Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu just had to ruin the excuse I'd given you, didn't you?"
Even as she pouted her lips, the eyepatch maid narrowed her eyes with a hint of happiness as she viewed her master's determination. She and the Vanderbilt lady both took a step back.
"A member of the Vanderbilt family would officially be impartial to both parties, so I would like to ask you to be the witness to the duel."
"Hey, wait."
"Oh? Are you sure? I am Master Heivia's fiancée, you know?"
"Wait, wait! Don't just ignore me!!"
"Not to worry. I know you will not judge him lightly, lady. After all, the Vanderbilt family and the Winchell family have long been enemies. Especially thanks to a certain someone. Isn't that right, Your Excellency?"
"Don't... don't ignore me and prepare to turn your swords on meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!"
It was too late.
A clear change came over the way Winchell's knight held his stainless steel knife. Instead of the style taught in military textbooks, he used one seen in sports. He stuck the blade forward, gently pulled back his empty left hand, and quietly pointed it at his target's face.
One was a knife and the other a rapier, but the latter's two or three times advantage in reach did not seem to matter.
The boy was prepared to kill in a single strike.
"En garde. I'll give your life the brand of loser it deserves."
(Why!? How!? I was perfect! There wasn't supposed to be anything to worry about!!)
The knight's duel used in the Legitimacy Kingdom was generally based around a training method known as phrase d'arme in which each side took turns attacking. One side would strike and the other would knock their blade aside and take their turn to attack. The process would then repeat with the attacker and defender reversed. The duel ended when one side surrendered or was knocked down.
There was no restriction on the weapon used.
The right hand generally held a rapier, but the length and weight could vary. The left hand could hold anything from a shield to a knife or gauntlet to block the attacks. As it was a fight rather than a sport, that was not surprising.
If someone insisted they would fight barehanded rather than use a sword, the duel would still be valid, even if it was basically suicide.
In other words, the duel would begin even if Flag refused to raise his rapier.
Flag tightened his grip on the hilt more because he was overpowered than because he was ready to fight, so Heivia grinned and made a suggestion.
"You can take the first attack, so come on. I'm a noble and the one who challenged you to the duel, so I'll show my respect for the royal who was willing to accept my challenge."
To translate that noble language into modern language:
I'll kill you with my counterattack.
I'll kill you with a triumphant smirk on my face.
(What do you mean I accepted your challenge, you fool!?)
Flag trembled without end.
He could feel the approaching wall of death. His decisions meant nothing. He felt like he had been ordered to build a bulletproof truck with all the modifications he might want and then ordered to drive it full speed off the roof of a hundred-story building. He could instinctually tell that an unreasonable fate was sealing off any effort he might make.
So...
So...
So...
(Don't joke with me, you worthless noble. You're nothing more than an errand-runner who has been lent social status and land by us royals! I won't die. I refuse to die here!! I have royal blood in my veins, so the Legitimacy Kingdom needs me! Without me, this thousand-year kingdom will come crashing down! So I will do whatever it takes to win. I am allowed to!! The god-given rights of a royal are absolute! Did you really think the likes of you could trample over them!?)
As soon as the middle-aged man's internal pressure passed its limit, something unbelievable happened.
The dry sound of bursting gunpowder came from Flag Eggnog's hand.
While he held the rapier in his right hand, he pulled a palm-sized stapler-like device from his left sleeve. It was a self-defense handgun that fired when squeezed.
The scent of sparks wafted up from the small muzzle.
The bullet had flown too quickly to be seen.
And no matter why a bullet was fired, it would still kill whoever it hit. Heivia was not a superhero from TV or comic books, so he could not spot a flying bullet and dodge it.
"A duel? Who cares!? This is a real battlefield! Only the winner gets to survive!! Just because a bug manages to crawl up a little from the dirt doesn't mean it's worth fighting properly. A vulgar and rude soul like yours deserves a pathetic death from a surprise attack!!"
It may have been because he was freed from the extreme tension or it may have been one of his usual gaffes, but the chubby middle-aged man shouted at the top of his lungs.
But...
"————"
"Eh?"
Heivia never collapsed to the ground.
He did not take a single step, his expression remained unchanged, and he had not shed a single drop of blood.
"Why? Why, why, why, why!? This makes no sense! You're supposed to be dead! What is this, what is this!? Are you saying you cut the bullet!? You're not some Island Nation samurai, so you couldn't possibly do that! You can't do thaaaaat!!"
"Sigh... Of course he couldn't." Karen I. Winchell interrupted him with an exasperated sigh."Not only was it a weak handgun bullet, but that self-defense gun is extremely short and has no sight to guide your aim. These guns you hide in your palm are at best supposed to drive off a thug at less than five meters. They're mostly just a decoration meant to scare them with the noise of the gunshot. Not to mention that you were shooting from the hip to make it a surprise.... The real surprise would be if it had actually hit."
There was no restriction on the weapon used for the duel.
Once he made some kind of attack, it counted as his turn. And Heivia had implicitly said the following earlier:
You go first.
I'll kill you with my counterattack.
"That's why..."
Heivia took a step forward.
He made sure to touch the tip of the rapier with his knife to signify it was his turn.
Flag squeezed the stapler-like gun a few more times, but he completely forgot it had only been loaded with a single bullet and it simply clicked in vain.
"... you're..."
Heivia focused on the tensed muscles of the arm he held forward as he approached stabbing range.
Flag threw the gun away and quickly raised his rapier. He no longer cared about the duel. He was clearly preparing to stab his approaching opponent, rules be damned. Even as panic and intent to kill filled his sweaty face, he formed a lowly smile and mouthed some words.
Wait.
I'll pay you however much you want.
"... a failure!!!!!"
With a dull sound, Heivia's military knife pierced the man's heart. It plunged in with enough force that the bloody blade stuck out from his back.
There was no need to hold back.
The corpse's expression was frozen in a smile and filthy blood flowed from the crescent moon shape like a drain regurgitating its contents. First, the rapier fell from Flag's hand and then Heivia swung his knife to the side to fling the filth from the blade. This threw the skewered man to the ground and Heivia returned the bloody knife to its sheath.
The Vanderbilt lady put her hands on her hips and spoke up.
"You're late."
"I made it in time for our date, didn't I, baby?"
The dragon slaying was complete.
In that case, the victorious knight could expect to at least wrap his arms around the princess's waist.
| ← Ch. 090 | Ch. 092 → |