The Privateer's Path
Jincheon had toyed with his women in all manner of ways using the Crypters, but the leisure time granted to them was far from generous, and he could not indulge for long.
Even now, allies would be locked in fierce combat across other star systems' battlefields. If he meant to tip the war's balance even slightly in their favor, he had to push on to the next theater at once.
And so, though Eirin's forces had seized Galantid 4, they were allowed only about four days of rest before they had to return to the front.
Had this been a war against foreign enemies, they would never have fought at such a relentless tempo. Within the Giranlek Empire's territory, accessible through the hyper network, fortresses stood ready—against outside foes, one could reorganize and rest at leisure between engagements.
But this was a civil war. The longer it dragged on and the more the empire's interior was bled dry, the greater the risk of foreign invasion. There was no room for ease.
And so came the third night.
"Haa… haah…"
"Hff— hff—"
"Nngh…"
This time he had kept things simple—driving into them hard and deep with his cock until all three women were painted in his seed. Jincheon lay satisfied atop the bed. Heliane and Calsira flanked him left and right; Eirin sprawled across his body, gasping for breath.
"Tch. One side feels empty. A meat blanket made of bitches really needs four to get the balance right."
Jincheon always arranged four women to occupy his left, right, and top. After Hwan-gol-tal-tae had rebuilt his frame to such imposing size, four was exactly the number needed to cover him properly.
"I… I'm sorry…"
"No need to apologize. If you could cover me alone, I never would have made you my bitch in the first place."
"Hehehe."
"Aren't you being a little too honest?"
At Eirin's apology, Calsira stifled a laugh while Heliane lightly scolded him for being so bluntly frank.
"Honesty is one of my countless virtues. Beauty isn't just about the face—the body matters too. The only reason you three get to be here is because you fit the standards of beauty I set."
Jincheon stroked the heads of Heliane and Calsira, who rested against the arms he had stretched out to either side.
"Mm…"
"Nnh…"
At the warm touch of his hand, they rolled their heads like cats, coaxing him to stroke them from every angle.
"Eirin."
"Y-yes! Darling…!"
Still carrying guilt over her inability to fill every place he wanted occupied, Eirin startled at his call and answered at once.
"I'm asking now because I don't think the chance will come again…"
He began the question he had long wanted to put to the woman draped across his chest—starting from his desire to roam the cosmos freely, then working through how he might satisfy Heliane and Calsira's ambitions while claiming Eirin as well.
"Fufu. What a greedy man you are. To insist on claiming even me on top of everything else."
Eirin was honestly delighted by his greed—by the way he meant to have her too, no matter the constraints. At the very least, she could feel his iron will never to abandon them, whatever the circumstances.
"In that case… what about becoming a privateer?"
"…A privateer?"
Jincheon blanked for a beat at her answer, then responded a half-second late.
Wasn't that a thing from the Age of Exploration?
State-sanctioned pirates. More precisely, pirates hired by a nation. As Jincheon understood it, privateering had spread widely from the Age of Exploration onward, and had even been used strategically to cripple rival powers.
"Privateers…!"
"That was an option all along!"
The two women nestled against him also remembered the existence of privateering a moment late, and cried out in recognition.
By the twenty-first century, privateers had vanished completely—but in this universe, most nations actively fostered them through letters of marque. Such privateers could plunder the trade routes of a targeted region to weaken rival states, and they were equally useful for unofficially seizing critical cargo. At this point, not employing them was the stranger choice.
"But the Giranlek Empire doesn't have many privateers," Eirin said.
The empire had succeeded in controlling its commoners, which was how the monarchy still stood. That same control, however, made privateers drawn from its own citizens impossible. Having studied how countless monarchies had fallen throughout other nations' histories, the empire poured every effort into absolute control of the common people.
The problem was that this made issuing letters of marque—which would put power in civilian hands—deeply unpalatable. Hiring foreign mercenaries offered no certainty they would honor their contracts. And as for the nobility doing it themselves? Every last one of them refused, insisting that no highborn aristocrat would stoop to something as vulgar as piracy.
Unofficial and immoral though it was, privateering was a necessity at the national level—and whenever unofficial force was needed, the empire felt the lack keenly.
"Privateers, huh. Then I'd get a ship of my own."
"Yes. But you would need to receive a noble title first, and only then become a privateer."
"Why?"
"Because only then can you expand your privateer fleet's scale without anyone objecting."
"Hahahahaha!"
Jincheon burst out laughing, clearly pleased by her explanation.
"Heliane, Calsira. What do you think?"
"Mmm… not receiving territory is a bit of a shame, but it wouldn't be bad."
"I don't mind either. We have the Crypters anyway—let's grow the pirate fleet as huge as we want!"
Heliane and Calsira both nodded, clearly taken with the idea of becoming a pirate band with a nation's unofficial backing.
But the greatest problem remained.
"Eirin. What about you?"
"Me? I've become a body that can't live without you. How could I stay behind alone?"
Covered in seed, Eirin offered a bewitching smile as her fingertips traced sensual circles across Jincheon's firm chest and abs.
"What about your child?" Calsira asked.
Eirin laughed softly and answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"That child was simply the product of a political marriage. Let him manage on his own. I'll bear new children with this man and live happily."
"…"
Calsira was left speechless that Eirin would abandon even a child she had carried and birthed, so thoroughly had she fallen for Jincheon. But she could not fault her for it. If she herself became Jincheon's bitch, she would make the same choice. To them—to his women—Jincheon was more precious than anything else in existence.
"When a suitable opportunity arises, I'll stow away on the ship. My disappearance will cause an uproar, but that's nothing we need to concern ourselves with."
"Mm… but about that."
"Yes?"
Jincheon hemmed for a moment, then delivered a statement that struck her like a bolt.
"I'm going to make your little sister Beatrix my woman too."
"…"
At first she wore a blank look, not quite grasping what he meant—then:
"Pfft. Puhut! Ahahahaha!"
She could no longer hold back her laughter.
"Haa. You really are something else. Not content with me, you mean to take my sister as well?"
"What, you don't like it?"
"No. I like it. We'll be together for the rest of our lives—having my sister with us would make it far more enjoyable."
And so, with Eirin's blessing, Beatrix became a woman Jincheon was free to conquer.
From Jincheon's perspective, privateering with the Giranlek Empire as a final refuge was not a bad arrangement at all. The empire would be busy with internal cleanup for the foreseeable future, and would have no leisure to pester him with constant contact. Later, once the empire stabilized and started issuing orders, he could obey or ignore them as the situation demanded.
"As thanks for solving my dilemma so nicely, I'll fuck you senseless."
"Wha—? Kyaaah!"
Jincheon seized her waist and hips, forced her upper body upright, and drove his cock into her pussy.
Schlick-schlick!
"Hhaah~~♥ Kyaaah♥"
Her emerald hair—beautiful as a polished jewel—whipped through the air as her full breasts bounced obscenely. Eirin poured out happy moans, drowning in Jincheon's love.
Heliane and Calsira could only watch with envy as she received his grace—she had offered a solution neither of them could have imagined.
Having won at Galantid 4 and completed their rest and reorganization, Eirin's fleet set course at once for their next objective: Galantid 6.
The rebel numbers there exceeded those on Galantid 4, but without any out-of-spec mecha like the Culvest, a week of siege warfare was enough to take the planet. Naturally, conquering an enemy world in so short a time owed a great deal to Jincheon and his companions—now known among both friend and foe as the Red Reaper.
But Beatrix, unwilling to lose to Jincheon, drove the Imperial Guard rather hard and carved out considerable military merit of her own.
After several more days of rest on Galantid 6, Eirin's fleet turned toward the Galantid system's final target: Galantid 1.
Galantid 1 was a planet much like Earth—sixty-five percent ocean, two continents, and a great many small islands. As the last rebel world in the Galantid system, they changed their strategy this time. They would smash the enemy space forces first, then ride that momentum to link up with ground troops and exterminate the rebels. With the forces that had taken the other two planets now gathered as well, they had decided it was better to secure one front thoroughly than to attempt a half-baked planetary drop.
"All units, deploy!"
Eirin sortied every allied mecha early, aiming to crush the enemy space force's morale. With the legions from the other two planets added in, the sight of hundreds of warships and over a thousand mecha arrayed in formation was nothing short of spectacular.
"This is your final warning. Surrender now and you will be treated under the terms of the prisoner accords. Ignore even this offer, and I will show you what fate awaits traitors!"
She issued the ultimatum to the enemy space commander—but whether from fierce loyalty to Galdorn or sheer stubbornness, they answered by deploying their own mecha in advance. A posture of fight-to-the-death.
"If you insist on a foolish choice, then mercy ends here! All forces—attack!"
At Eirin's command, allied warships opened fire with main cannons already charged. Mecha equipped with long-range laser rifles and cannons joined the assault, and a colossal volume of light-mass streaked toward the enemy fleet and fortress.
A circular space fortress dozens of times larger than a battleship raised its shields, and most of the main-cannon fire slammed into them and dissipated. In answer, countless laser batteries on the fortress opened up, and light began to gather in the hollow space at its center.
"Enemy fortress cannon incoming! Scatter!"
The fleet had barely begun to disperse when the fortress cannon fired.
KRAAAAAA—!
Even with wide dispersal, the vast, sweeping blast sank or crippled dozens of ships. The sole mercy was that a cannon of this class required at least several hours of cooling after a single shot. If such weapons could be spammed every few dozen minutes, the option of waging war against other nations would simply not exist in this universe.
"Assault units, sortie!"
The order went out to the mecha forces, and the units designated as assault groups began to move.
"By Her Majesty's command! Let's go!"
Jincheon, who had been waiting for precisely this moment, floored the accelerator and charged to the front of the line.
Pilots who could not help but marvel at Jincheon's flight watched the long red trail he left behind. At first they had felt jealousy—but after witnessing his combat firsthand, they learned that even jealousy itself was exhausting, and began to regard him with awe instead.
And behind him, a silver-white machine surged forward.
Beatrix, determined not to lose to Jincheon, was trying to rack up merit to match his—but the other pilots watched with concern. They would have preferred she remain faithful to her true duty of protecting the Rastold Silverion and guarding the Empress Dowager; that would have given them far more peace of mind. The other pilots respected Beatrix deeply—but blinded by hostility and jealousy toward Jincheon, she failed to read the mood around her.
This again. Tch. What is she going to do if she gets herself into real danger?
Jincheon clicked his tongue quietly at the sight of Beatrix trailing in his wake. She was a conquest target of his—if she suddenly died, the hollow frustration would be enormous. During the Galantid 6 campaign she had pushed herself so hard that he had silently broken out in cold sweat more than once.
She's got ace-level skill, sure—but she hasn't learned martial arts, so I can't relax.
Telling her himself would do no good. The best he could do was cut down as many enemies as possible and reduce the attacks that would come her way, even a little.
Pikiiing! Thuk-kak-kak-kang!
Enemy mecha opened fire on Jincheon at the head of the charge. Naturally, he weaved through it with Z-pattern evasions and raised his lance-gun to counter.
Piking! Kwa-kwang!
A laser lanced out and punched through one enemy mecha's flank. Reflexive evasion kept it from being shot down in a single hit.
These days, the moment they see me they start dodging first.
As Jincheon's fame spread, rebels began evasive maneuvers the instant they spotted the red Gareld. As a result, one-shot kills at long range had all but vanished. Artificially boosting laser velocity would solve it—but that lay outside a pilot's capabilities.
Then I'll just close the distance.
Jincheon laid down suppressing fire with the lance-gun as he narrowed the gap. At closer range, the rate at which enemies exploded began to climb.
"Another productive day's work—hm!?"
In that instant, Jincheon felt a fierce killing intent from dead ahead. He zoomed the main monitor toward its source. Incoming attacks in the meantime he sensed through his martial awareness and slipped past.
"That is…?"
With the main monitor at maximum magnification and Inner Qi poured into his eyes to further enlarge what he saw, Jincheon spotted a small transport ship at extreme range. Moments later, a mecha emerged from within it—and he knew the source of the killing intent.
Projecting killing intent like that from so far away?
Jincheon tilted his head at the mecha saturated with murderous intent aimed at him, despite a distance that would take several seconds even for a laser shot to cross.
Well. Maybe I killed a sibling of theirs somewhere along the way.
He had slain so many that it was entirely possible someone harbored a fierce desire for revenge.
Fast!
The moment he saw the enemy mecha closing rapidly on the main monitor, Jincheon's easy expression hardened at once.
It was flying faster than his own Gareld.