Chapter 361
Chapter 361
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 361
"Weigh anchor!"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ships of various sizes, not standardized in any way, began hoisting their anchors in unison and heading out to sea.
Though each pirate fleet retained its own command structure, orders were relayed organically with Gerard's ships at the center.
"Hmm."
Gerard and Jang Bogo, peering down at the sea chart, wore expressions of deep gravity.
They had spoken to the captains as if the matter were nothing, but Gerard himself knew this was not something to take lightly. Of course, they were sortieing only after exhaustive deliberation and meticulous planning, but actual battle always unfolds differently.
"Commander-in-Chief, all ships have departed."
"Good work, Fleet Commander Jang."
Since Pale, who was always at Gerard's side, was nowhere to be seen, Jang Bogo could not contain his curiosity and asked.
"Where has Pale gone?"
"Scouting."
"Already?"
At Bogo's question, Gerard nodded, his eyes still fixed on the chart.
"We're not just one or two ships. A force this size could easily be spotted."
"Well, that is true."
Who spots whom first.
This is always a critical factor in victory or defeat in war.
In this regard, the Gauri navy inevitably held an advantage over the imperial fleets. The Gauri navy's situation was, for the moment, unknown, whereas the Empire Coalition fleet was already as fully exposed as it could be.
Moreover, merely by having Pale and a small number of sirens who had formed bonds with Gauri people carry out reconnaissance beneath the sea, Gauri possessed an advantage that the empires could not match.
"What of the advance force that departed days ago?"
At Gerard's question, Bogo answered without a hint of worry, pointing to one side of the chart.
"They have already arrived and begun camouflage work."
"They weren't caught by enemy scouts, I assume?"
The place Bogo indicated was a region close to the Holy Empire's coastline. Yet the Holy Empire's fleet was nowhere to be found. That was because it had been completely dominated by the Empire Coalition. At Gerard's concern, Bogo smiled as if there were no problem whatsoever.
"Normally, reconnaissance focuses mainly on the Holy Empire’s northwestern coast, so the route from the Central Sea to its western coast is relatively lightly guarded. Even I wouldn’t waste a fleet guarding this far out."
"Right. They'd better be. Who'd imagine a bunch of pirate riffraff would dare to jump them. Puhaha."
At Bogo's words, Gerard wore a bratty grin.
* * *
Beneath the blazing sun, rippling bronze muscles writhed.
"Shit!"
And curses flew freely as well.
"If you've got time to curse, get moving faster."
"First you had us chopping nothing but wood like lumberjacks for months, and now what the hell is all this?"
When a man carrying a large, leafy tree branch scolded him, the man who had let out the curse aired his grievances. At the sight, the man who had given the scolding let out a small laugh.
"Word is, all this is so we live."
"Dammit, in twelve years as a pirate, I've never done anything like this."
"You think the rest of us have done it a bunch of times?"
One of the two pirates who had been chattering suddenly opened his eyes wide as lanterns, brought a finger to his lips, and gave a warning.
"Silence!"
"Hup!"
In that instant, the men who had been hauling large branches nearby stopped moving, held their very breath, and stood as if they themselves had become trees.
How long did it last?
Only after white flags were waved from various spots did everyone exhale forcefully and begin moving again.
"Dammit, that took ten years off my life."
"Let's move faster."
"Goddamn, a straight-up brawl would be way easier...."
"You rotten bastards, you think any of us likes this? Stop bellyaching; before long you'll get all the brawling you want, so quit worrying!"
The pirates, who had been grumbling a little, heard someone bark at them from somewhere and began moving even faster than before.
"Tch. Worthless scum."
Chunsam, having watched the pirates only start moving in earnest after hearing the lecture, climbed the watchtower and surveyed the surroundings.
The sight of countless fleets packed tightly together had now begun to resemble a single thicket. Here and there, a few spots of deck still showed, but even those were rapidly being camouflaged with branches.
It was truly a massive undertaking.
The ships gathered around this area alone numbered close to a hundred. All these vessels had pulled up against a pre-selected island and were now disguised as parts of that island. Ships had been inserted wherever the island featured deep recesses, initiating an unprecedented naval ambush at sea.
"Dammit, for me too, archery is easiest."
Chunsam also glanced at the bow strapped to his thigh and spoke with a sigh.
Still, there was no helping it. They were already at war.
* * *
At Count Hail Selmier’s death, Marquis Millium had raged as if ready to charge straight in, but he quickly regained his composure. He knew well that in a war of this magnitude, letting emotion take the lead was a certain recipe for defeat.
"Judging by troop numbers, pressing forward now would be best, but with subordinate commanders this lacking...."
Duke Shuo's regretful words cut deeply into Marquis Millium's aching heart.
After all, the dead bear no responsibility.
Count Selmier's irresponsible death had resulted in weakening Marquis Millium's standing. The battle itself could perhaps be called a victory, but with the commander-in-chief and the majority of low-ranking commanders wiped out, tactically it was closer to defeat than victory.
After all, the outcome of a war wasn't decided by one or two battles.
In that sense, the practical advantage had been seized by the Holy Empire. Moreover, the fact that Koyo Blamir had ultimately joined hands with the Holy Empire could only impose yet another burden on them.
"First, once these reinforcement troops and supplies arrive, we will need to press them once more. At that time, I intend to personally lead the army."
At Marquis Millium’s calm explanation, Duke Shuo looked considerably surprised.
"Personally, you say?"
When he asked again for confirmation, Marquis Millium nodded and answered.
"Two Masters have been confirmed in the enemy camp, so it seems better that I take the field directly. Duke Shuo, I would be grateful if you could assume command of the main camp headquarters."
At Marquis Millium's words, Duke Shuo nodded. It was also better for raising allied morale. For the soldiers especially, the existence of a Master struck far deeper than those Masters themselves perhaps felt.
Even a being of absolute, unbridled martial might is limited in what he alone can accomplish. But from the soldiers' standpoint, it was different. For them, the mere fact that such a being existed in the enemy camp forced them to shrink back.
Why?
Because it was an irresistible existence. However, if their own side also possessed beings called Masters, the troops were unconsciously reassured. Because they trusted that a Master would block the enemy's Master.
"Marquis Millium's words hold merit. And should we not also restore the damaged honor of the Empire Coalition?"
It was a remark by Duke Shuo that implicitly raised the matter of responsibility for the previous battle's failure, but Marquis Millium was not particularly bothered. He had no words to refute it, and as the duke noted, such thinking in fact lay beneath his decision to step forward himself.
"Do not worry. Who could have imagined at the first battle that Blamir, that fellow, would intrude into a clash between empires? When we mentioned him before, even Your Grace did not foresee it at all."
"Ahem, indeed."
As Marquis Millium began talking about Blamir, Duke Shuo took a step back.
If the matter had not been mentioned at all, it might be different, but this was the very Duke Shuo who had told Marquis Millium not to worry when he had lamented that he could not draw Blamir in.
Knowing that further jockeying for the initiative would do no good, he had no choice but to nod at Marquis Millium’s words.
"But now it is different. There is a vast difference between being struck while aware and being struck unaware. In the beginning, we did not fully know the enemy's hidden strength and intentions, but now that we know everything, there will be no repetition of that outcome."
"That should be so. In truth, did the enemy not push themselves so hard in the first battle precisely because they knew such tricks would not work twice?"
Both Marquis Millium and Duke Shuo were convinced that the Holy Empire's tactics from the first engagement would no longer work.
Didn’t the situation after the battle show signs everywhere that the Holy Empire had pushed itself too hard?
"Hahaha, in any case, if only to repay Duke Shuo for placing his faith in me once again, I must certainly win."
"What a thing to say. Are we not allies?"
Marquis Millium’s words contained genuine sincerity. Though he was in charge of the ground battle, he could say nothing if Duke Shuo held him responsible for the outcome and curtailed his command authority. Perhaps sensing that sincerity, Duke Shuo smiled back.
"Then we will prepare for sortie as soon as the supplies and troops transported by the fleet that arrived this morning reach this place."
"Do so."
The conversation between the two commanders of the empires continued deep into that night. For the sake of yet another battle.
* * *
Roughly six hundred warships were advancing, filling the sea.
Their leisurely course under the flags of the Maritime Empire and the Federal Empire was such that anyone could read the ease in their progress. Yet the sea they were presently sailing was not the doorstep of the Maritime Empire or the Federal Empire.
Rather, they were in waters close to the Holy Empire, with which they were at war.
"This hardly feels like a war's on."
A sailor who had been scrubbing the deck propped his mop to one side, looked out at the undulating sea, and murmured. After the initial landing, the first thing the Maritime Empire's fleet had done was neutralize the Holy Empire's remaining forces. While it was impossible to capture every single vessel sailing the open sea, the major military ports were another matter.
The ships remaining in the harbors were practically annihilated by the Maritime Empire's surprise attack. Ordinarily, even the Holy Empire, whose fleet was weaker than the Maritime Empire's, would not have collapsed so feebly, but they had no further combat power remaining due to the ships expended in the Gauri expedition and the large-scale engagement with the Empire Coalition's fleet.
Thus, for the time being, the Holy Empire's fleet had ceased to be a threat to the Empire Coalition.
"Just how long is it going to take to scrub all this?"
The sailor, who had briefly let his hands idle while lost in peace, picked up the mop handle again and sighed. On this broad deck, the only people present were the handful of crew members necessary to operate the ship. After sighing, he looked out at the escort ships sailing around them.
"Dammit, next time I've gotta ask to be assigned to an escort ship. This thing, once the cargo and personnel are all off, it's completely empty...."
Because it was a transport, the ship looked even emptier after its cargo and passengers had been offloaded. It continued drawing away from the Holy Empire amid the sailor’s grumbling.
There is a phrase: staring as if to bore a hole through it.
Gerard had been staring at the sea chart on the wall for hours, as though trying to determine whether those words were true. Then a sound drew his gaze away from the chart.
"Pale has returned!"
Jang Bogo rushed into the commander’s cabin, with Pale entering behind him still dripping with water.
-I'm back.
"Oh! Pale, good work."
Gerard approached the visibly exhausted Pale and clapped him on the shoulder.
The ones working hardest in his fleet right now were surely Pale and the sirens handling reconnaissance.
-The Empire Coalition ships finished offloading all their supplies and have come out to sea.
"Position?"
When the answer he had awaited came from Pale, Gerard's face brightened and he asked.
At that, Pale walked toward the chart on the wall and pointed to one section.
-They are passing through here. They are using a route that does not greatly differ from what was expected.
Gerard's and Bogo's faces lit up as they gazed at the spot Pale had indicated. Having already identified the route the Empire Coalition's fleet would use and even camouflaged roughly a hundred ships against an island, Gerard had been worried that by some remote chance they might take a different course.
"Good."
As Gerard quirked the corner of his mouth upward in satisfaction, Pale shook his head as if his own report was not finished and came forward.
-We have a problem.
"A problem?"
When Pale brought up the problem with a slightly graver look, the small smile that had briefly formed at Gerard's lips vanished.
-The number of ships is higher than expected.
"By how much?"
-It was not exact, but they appeared to number about eight hundred. Of those, roughly three hundred looked to be pure combat vessels.
"What?"
"Three hundred?"
At Pale's words, Gerard's and Bogo's faces crumpled in an instant.
-Yes. It looks like their numbers increased while they were in port.
"Dammit, why? They definitely entered with about five hundred ships, only a hundred of them combat vessels...."
If the enemy had three hundred combat ships, the two sides were comparable in scale—no, the enemy actually held the advantage. And even empty, five hundred transport ships could not simply be ignored.
"We can’t wait any longer. If we don’t strike this transport fleet, we may not even get another chance. Now is the best time."
Concern was evident even on Bogo's face, but he addressed Gerard in a voice that spoke of inevitability. At Bogo's words, Gerard deliberated briefly, then lifted his head as if reaching a decision.
"We've already decided to fight the Empire Coalition anyway. They might have increased by two hundred or so, but those are surely exhausted troops after the last war and sweeping the surrounding seas. Looks like they're trying to rotate forces quickly. If not now, it only gets harder."
"That's right!"
At Gerard's resolute declaration, Bogo bit his lip and nodded. Gerard, meeting his eyes, called out to the wizard standing by at one side.
"Transmit the updated enemy information to each fleet now!"
"Yes!"
"After that, issue an order to all fleets receiving the update: ahead at full speed!"
"Understood, Commander-in-Chief!"
As the wizard began relaying the message using the communication orb, Gerard approached the window, looked out at the darkening sea, and declared.
"We'll strip them bare. Down to their very lives."
The seawater, illuminated by the sunset glow, felt as though it were the color of blood.