One ship, two ships, three ships, four ships, and twelve ships…
The Great White Shark fleet left the secret cove one by one and formed a U-shaped formation as they charged toward the Adunyadet Battleships.
‘They’re finally out,’ Siegfried thought after spotting the Great White Sharks.
He immediately called the six other Aqua Runners on standby nearby.
The six Aqua Runners were packed with Stone Island Sailors and Gringore.
“Scribe Gringore!”
“Yes, Your Majesty…” said Gringore, sounding hoarse.
“I need you to push yourself for the last time. We will only be able to capture those battleships with your help, Scribe Gringore,” Siegfried said while pointing at the twenty-five empty Adunyadet Battleships.
The soldiers manning the battleships had already plunged into the sea, so these battleships were basically free for the taking. However, it was going to be impossible for them to stop the sirens from singing if Gringore wasn’t there.
“I… I shall carry out your command, Your Majesty…!” Gringore said. He didn’t dare to refuse Siegfried’s command, even though his voice could barely be heard with how hoarse he sounded.
After all, who would dare to refuse their king’s command?
Besides, even though Siegfried was abusing him to his very limits, Siegfried was not doing all this for his own personal gain but for the benefit of his kingdom.
In addition, Gringore had always been a patriot down to his very bones. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have stayed in his hometown, the Proatine Kingdom.
Why?
His artistic talents alone were enough for him to be eligible to become a naturalized citizen of the empire. He could have also debuted as a celebrity as well, which would have guaranteed him a life of fame and wealth.
Gringore’s patriotism alone was more than enough of a reason for him to obey his king’s command.
For the king!
For his hometown, Proatine!
The scribe gathered every ounce of strength he had remaining to sing.
“Oooh~ Oooh~ Oh oh oh~ Lalala~ La~ Oooh~” Gringore’s voice reverberated.
‘Wow… There are really those who have it all…’ Siegfried clicked his tongue in envy at Gringore’s beautiful song. Siegfried was surprised that Gringore could still sing beautifully despite his hoarse voice.
As a matter of fact, his voice not only sounded beautiful, but his voice was also loud and commanding enough that it easily overpowered the combined voices and songs of the fifty sirens onboard the battleships.
‘Wait a minute… I don’t have time to stay here.’
Siegfried knew that it was his turn to do his job rather than stand idly by in awe of his scribe.
Tremble… Tremble…
Gringore started to tremble uncontrollably as he approached his limits.
Siegfried had to go and kill all of the sirens before Gringore could no longer hold on.
“All forces! Board the battleships!” Siegfried shouted.
The ten Aqua Runners immediately sped through the waters and headed toward the battleships.
“Boarding the battleship!”
“Boarding!”
The Stone Island Sailors followed Siegfried’s command and hurled ropes to climb up the battleships.
“Siren neutralized!”
“Neutralized!”
The Stone Island Sailors easily killed the sirens thanks to Gringore’s song.
With the defeat of the sirens, their songs slowly vanished. When the sirens’ song could no longer be heard, Gringore’s song disappeared as well.
Thud!
Gringore collapsed from exhaustion after singing the last note.
A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.
“Navigation officers! To your positions!”
“To positions!”
“Gather the marbles from the sirens’ bodies and go to your positions!”
“Marble collected! Going to position!”
The Stone Island Sailors moved busily around the battleships and got into their positions.
“Give all of the marbles to Scribe Gringore! He needs to recover!” Siegfried shouted.
“H-Hiiik!” Gringore gasped in horror right before he lost consciousness.
‘Is he going to make me eat that disgusting marble again…?! There are fifty of them this time!’ Gringore inwardly cried in horror after remembering the torture of eating those marbles.
The fishy taste of the marbles, coupled with their chewy texture, made them feel like the most disgusting thing one could ever ingest, and the fact that they would release a ton of gas after landing on one’s stomach made them even worse to consume.
In fact, it was so bad that some sailors compared its taste to that.
What was that? One could only imagine what that was…
“Scribe Gringore! Eat these and get well soon! I will take responsibility for your well-being!” Siegfried exclaimed with a bright smile. His smile didn’t contain even a hint of pettiness in it. He looked genuinely concerned.
‘I should take good care of him since he worked so hard. Fifty of those marbles would be—wow… They say that many a little makes a mickle, but that’s a crazy five thousand additional mana! Wow! He sure is lucky!’
The Siren’s Voice would increase the user’s mana by a hundred points, their singing by ten points, and their charm by five points. This meant that Gringore was going to gain a whopping five thousand additional mana on top of the other benefits as well.
The five thousand mana was tempting even to Siegfried because lack of mana had long become a chronic problem for him. However, he decided to give every marble to his scribe rather than consuming them for himself.
‘This would have been impossible without Gringore, so I have to give those marbles to him. I can’t be so stingy to my own subordinate, right?’ Siegfried thought.
“Y-Your… Majesty… please… just kill me…” Gringore groaned in agony.
However, it seemed that Siegfried’s graciousness was agonizing for Gringore.
***
The Stone Island Navy sailed back to the island to replenish their forces after obtaining twenty-five battleships for free, thanks to Siegfried and Gringore’s efforts. After all, they needed soldiers to man the battleships after capturing them, right?
The battleships sailed for Stone Island, leaving behind the drowning Adunyadet Soldiers.
Nobody bothered to save them. There was no reason for the Stone Islanders to save the invaders who had been blinded by greed.
After they were done regrouping, the Stone Island Navy sailed the sea confidently with their twelve Great White Sharks and twenty-five captured battleships in search of the Adunyadet Navy.
An hour later, the Stone Island Navy and the Adunyadet Navy clashed.
“Aim cannons!”
“Fire!”
The Great White Sharks and twenty-five battleships simultaneously spat fire.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Adunyadet Navy encircling the island couldn’t even retaliate before their ships were sunk.
At last, the Adunyadet’s blockade was shattered for good.
“Huh? This isn’t good... How am I supposed to catch the culprit if their ship sinks?” Siegfried grumbled while thinking of the culprit behind the shelling of Stellarlumen Mine.
‘I’m going to bash that person’s skull in even if that’s the only skull I get to bash this time!’ he grumbled inwardly before driving his Aqua Runner behind enemy lines.
What he was doing was an extremely dangerous thing to do.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The thundering of cannons filled the air, and he could end up getting shot down by friendly fire if he were unlucky.
Despite the risks, Siegfried didn’t hesitate to go behind enemy lines.
‘I will bash your skull in no matter what. I can just avoid the cannon fires and jump onto other ships…’
Siegfried had belief in his control, but his actions could still be considered recklessness.
He had been blinded by anger, and his mind was filled with thoughts of avenging his late subordinates, so he took the risk to personally go and punish the culprit.
However, his recklessness actually plunged the Adunyadet Navy into further chaos because they didn’t expect to receive a visitor while locked in a fierce clash against the Stone Island Navy.
“Enemy spotted!”
“An enemy has come aboard!”
“Kill him!”
The Adunyadet Soldiers raised their arms and charged at Siegfried as soon as the latter boarded their ship. Of course, the number of soldiers who managed to fight him for more than five seconds could only be counted on one hand.
It was an expected result because these soldiers were sailors trained to operate ships rather than fight in close-quarter combat.
Pukeok! Pukeok!
Siegfried made quick work of the enemies, and he quickly found and made his way over to the enemy ship’s commanding bridge. At last, he finally found the alleged culprit.
Bam!
Siegfried kicked the commanding bridge’s door down
“Was it you?” he shouted at the Adunyadet Kingdom’s navy commander.
“W-What do you mean?”
“I asked you if it was you!”
“What do you mean?!”
“Were you the one who gave the command to bomb Stellarlumen Mine?”
“Stellarlumen Mine? We have already neutralized that place in the initial round of artillery fire, so—”
“Then, no?”
“I have no idea why you are asking this, but no, it’s not me.”
“Really? Tsk…” Siegfried clicked his tongue after failing to find the culprit. He then asked, “Then, do you know which ship was the one that fired at Stellarlumen Mine?”
“Hmm… the ship that fired at that mine…”
The commander fell into deep thought, and he snapped his fingers when he emerged from his thoughts.
“I remember! It’s that one! Over there!” he exclaimed while pointing at another ship in the distance before saying, “The commander of that ship mentioned that they misfired yesterday!”
“Really?”
“Yes! He said that they missed their target, and the shot landed somewhere else…”
“Okay, thank you for the precious information,” Siegfried said with a nod.
“Are you going now?”
“What? Did you expect something more? Do you want to die? It’s bothersome, but I can do it in one blow. What do you think?” asked Siegfried while showing his bloody hammer.
“N-No! I refuse your offer. I do not wish to die just yet!” the commander vehemently shook his head.
“Really? All right then. I’m going now.”
With that being said, Siegfried finally left the commanding bridge.
“Haa…”
The commander let out a sigh of relief and calmed his heart which was still crazily pounding against his chest.
“Why is he looking for the person who shelled Stellarlumen Mine? Is he really going through all of this trouble just because of a collapsed mine…?”
He couldn’t understand the man’s actions, no matter how hard he thought about it.
“Don’t tell me… Was he an investor that invested in the—”
Kaboom!
A mortar shell shot by the Stone Island Navy blew away the entire bridge, and the commander died while wondering about Siegfried’s true identity. He managed to avoid being killed by the man thirsty for vengeance, but he didn’t manage to avoid Stone Island’s mortar shell of vengeance.
