Book 10: Chapter 8: Lying in a Trap

Book 10: Chapter 8: Lying in a Trap

The bridge of Liam's ship, Argos.

There, Theodore was laughing inwardly while trying to keep her face expressionless.

(To see it crumble so quickly, Liam's faction's unity was fragile.)

The faces of the aristocrats of the Cleo faction were projected in the air on the bridge.

They were all indignant and blamed Liam.

"Count Banfield, this is your fault!"

"Remember that when you get back."

"I am disappointed in you."

Six months after the war began, the tide had turned completely in favor of the Calvinists.

The allied fleets were falling back, having lost most of the territory they held.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

Some of the fleets even fled.

Some of the nobles had turned to the Calvinists.

Now the nobles are hanging Liam.

But...

"Is that all you have to say? Then get the hell out of here and go home. I'll play Calvin on my own."

-Liam, still young and full of blood, had misjudged the moment to pull out.

He was unable to stop his allies from defection, and he was intimidating those around him with his anger.

By all accounts, the game was up for grabs, and he was still determined to win.

Theodore was happy.

(Yes, he was. So, limp and bleed like that. When this battle is over, I will make sure that you will never be able to oppose His Highness Cleo again. A fitting end for a count-born boor.)

Looking around, Tia and Marie are looking down with bitter faces.

"Liam-sama, this is only going to cause more damage."

"The game is won. We should retreat or begin negotiations."

The two competent knights offer advice, but Liam refuses.

"Shut up! All you are allowed to do is to lead me to victory. --Tia, Marie, you two have been failures since the war started, haven't you? I'll leave it to the incompetents who can't follow me to transport the wounded."

They are given the role of putting together wounded people and weapons on the battlefield and letting them go.

This resulted in both Tia and Marie being removed from the battlefield.

Finally, Klaus admonishes Liam.

"Liam-sama, this is as far as you go. The main planet of Baron Glynn is waiting behind us. Even if we were to defend ourselves, the enemy outnumbers us more than four to one."

In response to the advice, Liam cites the battle against space pirates.

"That's not a problem. I've turned the tables on them before. This is acceptable."

"But!"

"--Klaus, if you can't follow me, you back off."

Theodore takes action at the sight of Liam removing all of his capable entourage.

(That went quicker than I thought it would. Still, what an expedient thing to do, to keep his most trusted men away from him.)

Alone on the ship, Theodore connects with Baron Glynn on the communication.

If he leaks information to the enemy, he will be noticed, but if he sends a communication to his allies, he can make excuses if he is blamed.

The conversation is a report of the situation, but the important thing is to use the words that had been decided beforehand.

"We are in a critical situation here. Baron Glynn should be prepared."

Baron Glynn's narrow eyes widen at this line, which is not strange in this situation.

"I understand. I will resist as much as I can."

It's a conversation about a backed-up situation, but it's one that was decided beforehand.

The translation is: "Liam is backed into a corner. Prepare to surrender."

Baron Glynn, who had no intention of fighting from the beginning, intended to surrender as soon as the Calvinists came on board.

Theodore gives final confirmation.

"The Banfield family sent a defensive force, didn't they?"

"Yes, they will do their best. It was worth the trouble I went through to borrow them."

There is a fleet that was forcefully borrowed from Liam because the defense of the main planet was not strong enough.

After surrendering, we planned to hand it over to the Calvinists, but if they resisted, we were going to pincer them.

"I will end this communication now."

"Take care of yourself, too."

When the communication ends, Theodore smiles a lowly smile.

"Now I can be a real nobleman."

One year after the war began.

Calvin sat up from his chair when the news arrived on the capital planet.

The young nobleman who brought the news has moistened eyes.

Calvin asks again.

"Did you really win?"

"Yes, Your Highness! Our forces have defeated the forces of the Banfield family and captured Baron Glynn's main planet! Baron Glynn surrenders. The remaining troops on the ground, sent by the Banfield family, continue to resist, but we are assured that they will soon be subdued."

If the main planet of Baron Glynn was conquered, the battle would be an unqualified victory.

"But it was too stupefying. Shouldn't Count Banfield have had a right-hand man, Klaus?"

Our spies report that Banfield insisted on winning despite Klaus's admonitions.

Would Liam do such a thing?

Calvin becomes more anxious than relieved.

"--How is Cleo doing?"

The young nobleman switches his frivolous mood and reports back with a serious face.

Kurt glanced once at the acolyte and saw a succession of small allied ships disembarking one after the other.

From there, armed soldiers descended one after another to begin the ground battle.

"Don't forget to cover the ground troops. It is an important mission to rescue Baron Glynn!"

"Ha!"

Rescue - as he said this, Kurt let out an inward sigh.

(I'm sorry to lie to my men who are fighting for their lives.)

It was a land battle group led by Tia that invaded the acolyte.

"Where are you~, Mr. Baron!"

Tia, dressed in a pilot suit with power suit functions, carried a rapier-type weapon in her right hand.

In her left hand she carries a pistol, and when an enemy jumps out at her, she shoots him instantly.

Inside her helmet, she smiles, then her eyes bleed.

When she found enemy soldiers resisting by setting up a barricade, Tia kicked the ground and jumped over the barricade.

When she landed in a place full of enemies, she swung her rapier and slashed through them.

The blade of the rapier easily cut through the enemy's armor.

Then, Tia approached one fallen soldier, who luckily survived, and held him down with her foot on his chest.

The enemy soldier threw down his weapon and raised his hands.

He said, "Help me! I was just ordered to fight!"

"Where is the Baron?"

When Tia asks a question while threatening her rapier, the enemy soldier replies.

"Oh, that one got out of there right away. I don't even know if he's hiding or if he escaped. I just told him to give us time to escape, even if it kills us."

Tia kicks the enemy soldier unconscious and orders her men to restrain him.

"Capture this guy. Can you confirm the vehicle that got away up in the sky? A small ship, anything. Just find out."

When the correspondent checked, the answer came back immediately.

"He said he had them all in custody, but there was no sign of the baron among them."

"Yes. Then he is hiding. --Liam-sama will make sure he pays for his crimes."

Tia leads a group of knights and land troops to storm the mansion.

Then one soldier noticed something.

"--This is it."

The soldier found a nondescript shelf, but it was the entrance to a hidden room.

However, it seemed to have some kind of mechanism.

"It's an elaborate contraption."

"Oh, yes."

Tia listens to the soldier and kicks the shelves to forcefully discover the hidden room.

There was Baron Glynn, frightened in the corner of a rather luxurious hidden room.

"Hiccup!"

A pile of rare metals piled up.

The numerous antiques and other items are probably the property of Baron Glynn.

When Tia sheathed her rapier, Baron Glynn was relieved to see what she had misunderstood.

"Did you come to help me, by any chance? Oh no, thank God. I wondered what would happen when the Calvinist nobles caught me."

"That's good to know."

Tia smiled and slammed her fist into Baron Glynn, who stood up and approached her.

As Baron Glynn, blown away by the blow, crashed into the wall, she approached and grabbed him by his long hair.

Then she utters a deliberate line.

"Ahhh, what a mess! We rushed in to save Baron Glynn, but we didn't make it in time to let him die!"

"You didn't make it in time!?"

Knowing that Tia had not come to save him, Baron Glynn tried to escape, but he was unable to escape Tia's grip.

There are people waiting for you. The people who destroyed their home planet because of you. They hate you. You are nothing like Master Liam.

As it is, they take Baron Glynn out and throw him in front of the lords and ladies that the land forces have brought with them.

They had talked beforehand--these are the lords who resent Baron Glynn.

Baron Glynn tries to escape, but is stabbed in the calf by a weapon held by the lords.

"Ouch! Help me! Get me out of here!"

When the lords surrounded Baron Glynn, all of them hit him with their weapons - not firearms, but swords, spears, and other tools.

These were displayed as ornaments in the mansion.

"What's hurting you? It's your fault we're--"

"My family is dead because of you!"

"What reforms? It's your fault we're here!"

Baron Glynn's political skills are so bad that he is transformed into a terrible figure by his tormented subjects.

Even if he had a sturdier body than his subjects, there was no escape when he was surrounded by Tia and Liam's soldiers.

Tia's discomfort was evident on her face as she watched the scene.

The second-in-command questioned Tia's discontent.

"What's your gripe?"

The deputy is concerned that Tia is angry, even though it is an operation, because the people are killing their lords - an act that would not be tolerated in the empire.

But Tia was angry for a different reason.

"--I just wanted to fight up there anyway, if I could, I would have taken care of Theodore."

I wanted to kill Theodore who had caused me so much pain - Tia was not happy about that.

Her second-in-command shrugged.

"I'm sure Klaus-sama will organize things well over there."