Everything Follows Lord Nelson's Plan
Whoosh.
Thud!
Anne threw a pirate's head.
It was a pirate drenched in tears and snot.
How neatly sliced his neck was. The white bone was clearly visible.
"Lord, this guy seems to be the leader."
"Hmm, good job."
"Hehe! Should I impale it on a spear and hang it in the harbor as a warning?"
Anne smiled brightly, eyes sparkling with anticipation for praise.
Her face and the sword were smeared with blood.
The contrast between her innocent smile and the blood made it even creepier.
"Hmph! Hmph!"
The captain shot me a look.
Like, are you just gonna leave it like that?
Got it. I understand. So don't worry.
I suppose I should warn her a little.
Anne covered her excessive coldness with a sharp gaze.
She was an adult with excellent age, body, and abilities.
But her mental state... not so much.
Her dependence on me was too strong.
She came to me every time she wanted me to cut off a pirate's head and praise her purely.
"Anne, what if we let the pirates and the ships bleed like this?"
"Ah, I'm sorry."
Anne, still looking for praise, deflated like a beaten puppy.
"I thought you would be happy..."
"No. You did well. From now on, we'll eradicate every pirate."
"Hehe! I'll do it!"
The captain glared at the back of my head.
Hey, why are you looking at me?
Come to think of it, you were the instructor.
I only sponsored them. Personality education was your job.
When Anne's around, my heart softens.
Maybe because I sponsored her since her difficult times and raised her.
It was hard to scold her with those teary eyes.
Was this the heart of a father?
"By the way, how was my swordsmanship? Did it work well against the pirates?"
"You've really gotten stronger. You match or even exceed Captain's level."
"Ehehe~ I'm ten times stronger than Captain."
"Anne, I'm right here."
"I know."
...The captain's treatment was really pitiful.
But I couldn't deny the facts.
Anne's skill had already far surpassed that of a knight from a small territory.
"People said they call me your sword."
"...If I have to say, I want to become Lord Nelson's sword sheath."
"Cough! Cough!"
The captain kept giving me looks.
"Um..."
Can't I just move on with the praise?
Every time I fought, she would get carried away. That was a problem.
Even for stable life ahead, I should give a warning.
"Anne, but you know the saying that the more wheat ripens, the more it bows its head."
"Wow. That's an amazingly good saying. Did you think of it?"
"Let me assume you did."
It was probably a proverb that didn't exist in this world.
"Anyway, the stronger a swordsman is, the better they are at hiding their strength. Remember that always."
"The stronger you are, the more you hide your strength..."
Anne nodded as if she had gained enlightenment.
"Indeed. It means to induce the enemy's complacency, then strike with a surprise attack."
"No, it's not that..."
"Such a... no, an efficient method. Lord Nelson's teachings. I will engrave them in my heart today as well."
...Well, whatever.
The result of hiding strength was the same.
Anyway, since Anne is my bodyguard, I can control her.
Fortunately, Anne followed my words unconditionally.
Stop if I say stop. Kill if I say kill.
It didn't matter if it was a pirate or a civilian.
Even in the middle of battle, I could control her if she was with me.
"Lord! All the pirates' nest has been wiped out!"
A soldier came running to report.
"We'll escort them all to the territory."
"Good. Good work."
Even though we caught over seventy pirates.
That number excluded the ones Anne had massacred.
"...Impressive that you captured so many."
"The scouts captured the captain as a hostage. Everyone must have been scared after seeing Anne's swordsmanship."
Too many to load onto the ships.
An embarrassing situation unfolded where we had to escort the pirates on the pirate ships we had seized from them.
This time, the profit won't be small.
First, we got two decent ships.
Also, it was said that the pirate island had a considerable amount of treasure.
All the recovered items belonged to the estate's property.
Combined, it was an enormous amount.
"No casualties on our side. We did a proper hunt."
"A hunt... Well, the world is dangerous, so pirate hunters do come out."
The captain hesitated and asked about the pirates.
"What should we do with them?"
"Release the innocent ones and let the rest be decided by trial."
In this era, many are forced into piracy due to coercion.
It wasn't right to kill even them.
The captain smiled as if he approved.
"...It will take a while. A generous judgment."
"Well, since the goal isn't to kill the pirates."
If that were the case, we would have finished it in naval battle.
We could just dump the troublesome corpses into the sea.
There was no need to force it.
"Lord, can I ask one thing?"
"What is it?"
Anne asked while listening to the conversation.
"I trained hard to become Lord Nelson's sword."
"Good. I'm proud of it."
"...Hehe."
Anne fidgeted with her fingers, shyly.
"H-but I still don't know which direction my sword should point. What is Lord Nelson's goal?"
"Goal."
Anne's question made me look at the sea instinctively.
I remembered the first moment I saw the sea in front of the estate.
It was peaceful.
The sunlight was dazzling, and the birds were chirping.
The children were running and laughing.
A peaceful beach where the waves kissed the shore.
Thinking that this place would be burned by pirates' hands was terrifying.
After that, my goal was only one thing.
"This sea..."
To protect the peace of this sea forever.
To create a territory where everyone, including myself, can live well.
That was my goal.
"The sea?"
"Yes, as long as I can keep looking at this sea. That is enough."
"...I see."
Anne nodded.
"It truly is a wonderful goal."
"Thank you for understanding."
Well, I raised a good daughter.
Strong, beautiful, and she even respects her father.
"All right, let's set sail!"
The pirates were safely exterminated.
Now it was time to return to the estate.
When I get back, I have to interrogate the captain right away.
The Black Cow Pirates were not just a concern because they were nearby.
There was a person who would become a future pirate.
She might have clues that this guy had.
SWOOSH!
The ship slicing through the waves as it returned to Nelson Estate.
Anne stood on deck, letting the wind blow, lost in thought.
"The sea."
Lord Read said.
His purpose was to have the sea in his hands.
What an enormous goal.
Anne had never thought of such a thing.
Of course she hadn't.
The sea was an infinite abyss.
A place teeming with pirates, monsters, and disasters.
On it, humans were like dust.
To take and rule it?
Even an ordinary person couldn't imagine it.
Lord treated it as if it were only natural...
It wasn't the look of someone chasing an unreachable ambition.
It felt like he was going to find something already his.
Like recovering a treasure kept somewhere.
Presumably, within him was already a grand plan to conquer the sea.
If it were anyone else, I would have thought it was ridiculous delusion.
But Read Nelson was different.
What he said was always right.
He never erred.
What Lord Nelson said was always correct.
Because of what he showed me until now.
He saved Amy who was about to die.
Anne saw the talent of the sword I didn't even know she had.
He predicted the epidemic and saved people with medicine.
Every business he touched succeeded.
He planted spies because he anticipated the pirates would come.
If it were a normal person, none of that would have been possible.
Read had realized all of it.
At this point, I had no choice but to believe.
He saw the future in his eyes.
This island, the people, the sea.
Everything in the world was in his palm.
We were all just organisms moving within his grand plan.
To go with Lord toward that grand goal.
Anne's hands trembled.
Her face was full of joy.
She couldn't hide the thrill in her chest.
"Ah! What a great and beautiful thing!"
Lord Read Nelson.
The man I loved and respected most.
The grand dream of having the sea in his hands!
The one and only true emperor who rules the sea!
If that was Lord Nelson's dream, I had no choice but to walk that path with him.
No matter what, even Lord couldn't easily rule the sea.
There were enormous strong ones in the sea.
The lords ruling each island and surrounding waters.
The pirates wielding great influence from the sea.
We had to defeat them all to say we had the sea in our hands.
In other words, the emperor of the sea.
It would be a difficult road even for Lord.
People who targeted Lord would definitely appear.
"...So you chose me."
I needed a sword to protect me from my side.
Lord raised me as his ultimate sword.
One year ago.
From the moment he saw me, the future was already set.
No, maybe even enlisting in the army was Lord's plan.
"I will definitely fulfill Lord Nelson's dream."
But I was still lacking.
I boasted that my swordsmanship was quite strong.
But I wasn't strong enough to rule the sea yet.
"First, I should become a Sword Saint and become the strongest swordsman on the sea."
But I couldn't do it alone.
Even if strong, a single person had limits.
More importantly, I had to protect Lord's side.
Partners to rule the sea together were essential.
When that thought reached me, it felt like lightning struck my head.
"...I see. So that was the meaning of 'partners'."
When Lord first appointed me as his bodyguard, he said it.
Become my 'partner'.
At first, that word was a bit strange.
I only guessed that a reliable subordinate would be called a partner.
Now I understood the true meaning.
"Special talents to conquer this sea together. They would be called 'partners'."
Meaning, I was the first partner.
And in the future, partners would keep being added.
The lord's status and knights were like a smoke screen.
The real people who would conquer the sea together were the partners.
"I am the first."
Just knowing that fact made Anne smile brightly.
After all, it meant Lord had hired me first.
"...Then who will be the second?"
Quite some time had passed since I became his bodyguard.
It was almost time to recruit the second partner.
No matter who, it would be a genius with immense talent.
That person would probably also lack compared to me at first.
But soon they would become the top expert on the sea.
Because Lord chose them.
It was a 'natural' thing.
"If the talents who will join Lord's great undertaking aren't that good, it's a problem."
Anne braced her heart, imagining future partners.
And just as Anne expected, the journey to find the second partner soon came.
Indeed, everything went according to Lord's plan.