Book 11: Chapter 10: Escape
The general flagship of the High Kingdoms Army.
The massive 6,000-meter class battleship looks like a moving fortress.
On board the ship of Aluna, the soon-to-be High King, there were cheers as she sensed the movement of the Banfield family.
In the bridge, Aluna stands up from her seat as commander-in-chief, her body trembling.
There is no fear there.
Her cheeks were slightly red, and she was looking at the fleet of the Banfield family - as if she were a maiden in love - who was coming toward them.
"I thought the Imperial Army didn't have the heart of a warrior, but it seems the Banfield family is different. Good. You're the best, Liam!"
To fight Liam, they dispersed their allies and laid siege to the city.
But instead of being chagrined that it wasn't necessary, Aluna and the others rejoiced.
The soldiers on the bridge, and the knights, shouted.
"As expected of the brave men of the empire!"
"He is too good for the Empire."
"A true hero!"
The fierce men of the High Kingdoms were excited.
Aluna pointed both hands at the enemy fleet displayed on the monitor and clenched them.
"Come, I will crush you!"
However, in front of Aluna and her team - the Banfield family fleet was seen to be moving in a disturbing manner.
One eyebrow twitches as she is offended.
"What is it?"
The reason for the low, irritated voice is that part of the Banfield family's fleet is breaking off.
If that was the plan, Aluna would accept it, but no matter how you look at it, the enemy fleet is deserting.
Just when she thought she would be able to fight the Banfield family as a united force, she felt like she was being dragged down by water.
"Liam and Klaus are at this level if they can't get their forces together."
Liam's reputation in Aluna's mind dropped slightly.
Meanwhile, Marie was stunned on the bridge of her ship.
"They escaped?"
Marie's reorganized fleet had added tens of thousands of vessels to its command.
The sight of some of them deserting was momentarily incomprehensible.
But Marie is also a first-rate commander.
As soon as she learned that there were deserters from her fleet, she ordered the fleet under her command.
"Shoot down all deserting vessels!"
Soon, she attacked her allies and the deserted naval vessels were destroyed.
However, the number of naval vessels attacking the allies is small.
Only the 10,000 naval vessels led in this battle and the pure Banfield family fleet carried out the order.
The second-in-command quickly rechecks the fleet under his command with a bitter look on his face.
They were all fleets that were based on armies absorbed from other families.
And the number of naval vessels fleeing begins to increase.
"Trash."
Marie understood everything at the words of her second-in-command, but she could no longer turn the tide.
Thirty percent of the fleet under her command had deserted.
Looking at the other allies, 20% of the fleet led by Tia had also deserted.
The fleet of Liam and Klaus was the only one that was barely holding together.
Their fleet is made up of the elite or pure Banfield family fleet.
That is why there are so few naval vessels deserting.
But it doesn't change the fact that they had deserters from their own fleet.
The blood drains from Marie.
The reason why the Banfield family's military has been able to be so strong and produce results until now is because they have been able to control their forces.
Due to the adverse effects of rapid expansion, control was being lost.
Liam would have built up a strong army with time, but this time there was too little time.
"Kill them."
"What?"
The second-in-command couldn't hear Marie's voice, so he asked her back.
Marie grabbed him by the chest.
"Kill them all. If we allow any more desertions, we will lose before we can fight."
The Banfield fleet was about to be defeated before it could fight the High Kingdom.
As the second-in-command was about to give the order, he received a transmission from Liam.
"Marie, leave the deserters alone."
Over the communication, Liam looked calm and unhurried.
He sits in his chair and acts as if nothing is wrong.
"But, Liam-sama, this will make our army crumble before we can fight!"
"What about it? Now concentrate on the fleet in front of you. You follow my orders."
Marie clenches her hands as the communication is cut off.
"--Liam-sama's orders. Halt your attack on the deserted ship."
The Banfield family's 500,000-strong fleet.
Of that number, as many as 100,000 allied ships had begun deserting.
Elysia, who was watching the situation on the bridge of the flagship Argos, broke out in a cold sweat.
(The gap in strength between us and the enemy is only widening.)
If it were just an opponent with a large number of ships, the fleet of the Banfield family would defeat them.
However, the opponent is the High Kingdom.
It is a fleet of 600,000 highly skilled soldiers with state-of-the-art weapons.
Elysia could not imagine a future in which she could win, but the bridge of Argos was calm.
She was filled with a sense of tension, but she had not yet given up on the game.
(What is it with these guys?)
It was hard to believe that they could remain calm in a situation where victory or defeat seemed to have been decided.
Liam was watching his troops on the monitor with a sore throat.
Elysia approached one of the general staff on the bridge and called out to him.
Around them, the commanders and chiefs of staff were hurriedly discussing the situation, but the chief of staff's role was to stay by Liam's side.
"Excuse me."
"What is it, Major General?"
Elysia asks the colonel, one of the general staff, about the state of the bridge.
"The bridge is looking very calm, isn't it? What's your trump card?"
"A trump card, ma'am? Liam-sama may have a trump card, but I don't know of any."
"Then how can you be so calm?!"
The colonel, who had been accused by Elysia in a whisper, turned his gaze toward Liam.
"We have been watching Liam-sama since his first battle."
The colonel seemed to be remembering Liam's first battle.
"He is always fighting against a huge enemy."
"But you've never been in a disadvantageous situation like this one, have you?"
"No way--when Liam-sama was in his first battle, he fought more than five times as many enemies and won."
Elysia realizes that Liam has the absolute trust of the army.
But she is not optimistic.
"There is no end to the number of ships deserting from our side, though?"
"It's deplorable. Thanks to this, our superiors are in a panic."
This is why the commanders and chiefs of staff assigned to the general flagship are so busy.
Elysia glares at the colonel.
"We could lose this battle before we even get a chance to fight it."
"--Wouldn't you agree?"
The colonel's gaze fell on the flustered chiefs of staff.
Elysia also looked in that direction and saw that one of the chiefs of staff was talking with one of the fleet commanders.
However, the content of the conversation was not what Elysia had imagined.
"Are you sure there are no deserters from your fleet?"
"No, not a single deserter from our fleet. Don't lump us in with the rest of the ungrateful."
"Ungrateful?"
"Our homeland was saved by Liam-sama. If we are so ungrateful as to flee here, we are no better than traitors back home."
"If there are no deserters, so be it. Let your fleet fight under the command of Her Excellency Christiana's Third Army."
When the communication breaks down, another conversation with a different commander begins.
Many of the vessels have deserted, but still there are allies who remain.
Elysia can't hide her surprise and her eyes widen.
(You're lying. In a case like this, every time there are more ships deserting, they should be running away before us.)
The Banfield family's fleet had just barely maintained its fleet despite the many deserters.
The colonel muttered to the stunned Eurycia.
"Liam-sama is as popular as ever among the territory's citizens, isn't he? He is also highly favored by the people of the newly acquired planet."
At that time.
Tia saw an unbelievable sight.
The fleet was holding.
The number of deserted ships continued to increase, and they expected to be defeated before they collided with the High Kingdom's army.
However, the fleet of the Banfield family remained, although it had been reduced to 400,000 ships.
Nearly 20 percent had deserted, but they were still in a fighting condition.
Tia burst out laughing on the bridge.
"As expected of Liam-sama, should I say?"
At one point, Tia was prepared to ignore the order to let Liam alone escape.
But that would no longer be necessary.
The second-in-command asks Tia for instructions.
"Tia-sama, the ship is in line."
"Concentrate on the task at hand. We're about to collide with the High Kingdom's army."
"Ha!"
Tia glanced at the group of deserters on one of the monitors.
I'd like to kill them with my own hands if they survive, but that's not going to happen.)
The ships that deserted from the Banfield family fleet gather to form a makeshift fleet.
The fleet is commanded by a man who once served as commander of another family.
From the bridge of the battleship, he watched the fleet of the Banfield family assaulting the main force of the High Kingdom's army.
"They're a bunch of fools. They can't win if they keep charging like that."
The second-in-command asked the commander anxiously.
"Can they escape like this? All around us are the fleets of the High Kingdom's army."
"We can target a small number of fleets and smash through them. That kid Liam is really an assault fool, honestly aiming at the general's head. If you're going to aim, you should aim at the weakest part of the enemy's fleet."
"Right! The commander is dependable, after all. He is very different from Liam."
The smooth-talking second-in-command flattered and flattered the commanding officer.
They have no loyalty to Liam.
One of the reasons is that they were absorbed from another family's army, but they did not receive the reeducation they were supposed to receive.
They learned how to cut corners in other families, and how to cheat the nobles and make things easy for themselves. These were the soldiers who thought only of such things.
The fault is not solely theirs.
It was also the result of the nobles treating them coldly.
It was the result of years of experience that had taught them that loyalty was meaningless.
The commander talks about the prospects for the future.
"Fortunately, our equipment is state-of-the-art. With such a scale, there is no doubt that we will be successful as pirates. From now on, we will be able to threaten the nobility and live in luxury."
The man who once had aspirations had become corrupt after years of working for the nobility.
His second-in-command reports to him.
"Commander, we have discovered a fleet of 10,000 ships. If we can defeat them and get past them, we can break through this siege."
"The people of the High Kingdom are idiots, aren't they? They are spreading the siege too wide. We can easily break through with this many ships."
When the breakaway fleet launched an assault against the 10,000 ships of the High Kingdoms' army - the situation changed drastically.
At the moment when the fleet approached a combat-ready distance of 10,000 ships - the High Kingdoms' naval vessels appeared from both sides of the fleet in a short-range warp.
The number of ships numbered in the tens of thousands.
"What!?"
To the surprised commander, the commander of the High Kingdoms army opened a communication.
"You great fools! The cowards who have tarnished the fighting spirit of Her Highness Princess Aluna will be exterminated right here and now!"
The High Kingdom's army, which was gathering one after another, was furious at the deserted fleet for some reason.
A small number of fleets are decoys.
The strategy was that if they attacked the fleet, their allies would immediately rush in from the surrounding areas and surround them.
Liam did not target the small fleet because he understood that it was a trap.
The commander did not see it coming.
The commander realized his defeat and immediately offered to surrender.
"Wait! We surrender!"
Then the enemy commander looked at him coldly.
"--You shall be the trash of the universe right here."
The breakaway fleet is thus destroyed by the High Kingdom's army.
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