He did not manage to recapture Isabelle and Christelle.

– Tap, tap, tap, tap……

Simon de Sarnez tapped the table with annoyance. Today wasn’t the first day he was doing this. He had only been sleeping three hours a night since he lost the mother and daughter pair. He would frantically bother his finger like this for half a day whenever he sat in the study. All of his joints were bruised but there was no pain. It made sense since he was feeling a greater loss. The two individuals he cherished the most in the world had gotten out of his grasp.

“I should go capture them out in the water since they took off on a ship.” He quickly mumbled. His right eye, which was covered by a white mask, looked very sad and powerless. On the other hand, his left eye that had not suffered the burns was sparkling with ominous lunacy.

“Ship, port, ship, port, ship, port.”

– Tap tap tap tap……

The scheme had been simple. Make Prince Jesse Venetiaan’s honor drastically fall and then kill him. There was no need to dirty his own hands. After he had his beloved Empress cast the prince out, he just needed to hand him over to Werner Venetiaan. The prince was fated to die in that guy’s hands. However, Simon thought that making sure the prince closed his eyes for good in the Empire would be more beneficial to his family. As a result, he pushed forward a plan that was a bit of a risk. Rather than leaving behind any room for error, taking care of it cleanly was the way to prevent any future trouble.

“Isabelle, Christelle, Isabelle, Christelle, Isabelle……”

– Tap tap tap! Tap tap tap tap!

At least his great grandmother was someone who acted that way. She had schemed for the innocent Baron Haas to die under the former Emperor’s sword. She knew that not sacrificing him, not using her determination to make it happen, would have led to the end of the Duchy as well as herself.

“Why did they leave?”

“My lord.”

“They need my protection.”

“My lord?”

“They must not know how dangerous it is out there.”

“Young master Simon.”

Flinch. The Duke snapped out of his thoughts and turned his head. The Chief of Staff was looking at him with a benign smile on his face. The old man pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the bloody desk before wrapping the red fingers of his master with a napkin. Light returned to the Duke’s eyes.

“Will it be okay not to scatter the pamphlets again?”

“……Yes. A method that failed once is highly likely to fail again.”

The man’s voice calmly sank down. The old man nodded his head and placed a cup of strong coffee on the table. The Duke picked up the cup with his left hand that was shaking. He couldn’t taste it or even feel the temperature properly but this was one of the things he continued to do out of habit.

“Any news from the Port of Haas?”

“Yes, my lord. The staff of our Sarnez Shipping are looking at every ship that comes to port. However, they have not seen the madam or the young lady. Nobody has seen the pirate ship either.”

“……”

The Duke became silent. Based on what he knew, the wet nurse who ran away with them, Ellen, was from a fishing village. However, her hometown was too far from Sarnez, which was by the western sea. The prince’s territory, Sérénité, was the only place he could think of for the three of them to escape by ship. There was a large port by there in the free city of Haas, making him believe that they could throw away their ship, get to port, and hide in the Lord’s Castle.

But the three women had not shown themselves in the western sea for the past eight days. They disappeared without a trace as if their ship was a ghost ship.

“Go down the coast and see if anybody has seen them. Unless it got stranded, a large ship like that……”

His voice trailed off and he clenched his fist. His precious daughter had water attribute powers. Simon still thought of it as a curse, but he had never let that feeling show. That child had become overwhelmingly stronger than most people after waking up from her illness. There was no way she faced such a tragedy as her ship getting stranded.

“As you command, my lord. What about the prince?” The old man asked in a quiet voice. Simon made eye contact with him.

The Chief of Staff had been as active as him for this scheme. In fact, the Chief of Staff might be more serious about this scheme than himself. This was not him asking a question but more of him pressuring the Duke. The Duke weakly smiled. He already had a plan.

“The week before the new year starts tomorrow.”

“Yes, my lord.”

December 28th. This was the date for the Monday that kicked off the last week of the year. Celebrations happened all around the continent around this time every year for the new year. In the Imperial Capital, dancing, singing, and a parade started in Claire Plaza and spread out all around. Extremely cold weather and heavy snow never stopped the celebration. Riesterians, by nature, loved to gather together and celebrate. Wrinkles appeared on the Duke’s forehead. He seemed to be recalling a distant memory.

“Isn’t there something the commoners do around this time every year? They go on stage to condemn the territory lords and talk about any unjust treatment they received from them.”

“I do believe there is such a thing, my lord.”

“I have someone we can put up to do that.” The Duke raised his bloody hand and pushed a piece of paper that was on the table.

‘Results of the Investigation of Imperial Gift Embezzlement.’

The old man squinted his eyes. Under an Imperial Decree, the Duke looked into the wrongdoings that took place in ‘Le Siffre’ Inn last spring. It had been discovered that the innkeeper had extorted the gifts bestowed to the residents of the village by passing nobles. Prince Jesse and the Imperial Crown Prince’s group had been the ones to capture the wrongdoers. The culprit, Claudine Green, proclaimed that she buried most of the embezzled funds in the mountains. However, someone had already looted the cave by the time Simon’s soldiers had arrived at the location. He had kept a piece of evidence he had found at that place without showing it to the Empress.

He belatedly realized something after seeing the business card in the document. It was possible that he had been acting like the descendant of a spy since a very long time ago.

“……It is an extremely brilliant thought my liege, but do you think that person will do as you wish?” The old man quickly figured out his master’s thoughts and asked.

The Duke nodded his head. “People with something to protect become powerless. They will even do terrible things without any hesitation.”

There was only a slight difference between weakness and evilness. Simon scoffed. He realized he was basically talking about himself. He had committed this series of terrible deeds in order to protect his family. In just the coastal shipping business that the House of Sarnez has been building up until now, the Duke was responsible for thousands of people. His responsibilities grew exponentially when including the countless number of residents in his territory. He needed to do whatever he could to avoid the Empress grasping at his weakness.

He handed the document to the old man.

“Put this person on the stage and reward them handsomely. And…” He stopped for a moment. He drank the steaming coffee without any issue. He struggled to smile as he continued to speak. “Tell the Vice Captain of the Imperial Capital’s Garrison…… Tell him to strike the Duhem Lord’s Castle.”

A chilling silence filled the room. The two of them made eye contact. If the Empress’s soldiers started to move, the Knights Brigade of the March would have no choice but to pick up their weapons. That was what Simon was aiming for. Those knights would be moving to protect the castle and the residents, but they would not be free from the crimes of going up against the soldiers of the Imperial family. It would be easy to exaggerate the issue and package it as a rebellion as long as members of the Garrison shed blood at the sword of a Pair de Riester.

“We just need to say that the Lord’s Castle made the first attack. I’m sure we will be able to fabricate some evidence of it.”

“The Vice Captain should be capable of doing that.”

Johann Geens had already slaughtered dozens of the Imperial Guard. Adding this blunder by the March would put the prince, as well as François Duhem, in serious trouble. He had no ill feelings toward them, but……

“What have they said about her Majesty?” Simon gulped and changed topics.

The old man answered right away. “Her Majesty met with Duchess Cecil Blanquer, who came after the loss of her son, for a while. There are rumors that seeing the sisters-in-law getting closer supposedly made the Chief of Staff of the Imperial Palace tear up.”

“Good.”

The Duke nodded his head. It was good if that really was all that had happened.

Discharges from his burns dripped down under his chin.

*

Evening of December 28th.

– Swooooooosh……

‘No issues on the western coastline.’

The cover they made with remaining cloth horizontally flapped between two trees. The employees of the Sarnez Coastal Shipping Company were moving quickly as the cold made their breaths visible. The mercenaries hired at the company were patrolling with their weapons as well. There was basically no room at the port because of people getting on and off ships, personnel loading and unloading cargo, as well as the cargo itself. Everybody seemed slightly excited as the last week of the year started.

“How about a cup of Bénédictine at my place after work?”

“On a Monday? I knew you were a heavy drinker, but damn.”

“Who cares? It’s the last week of the year!”

“Yeah, sure. Wait a minute. Where did you get such a precious bottle of booze?”

“Ahahahaha!” Happy laughter filled the coastline. It was gloomy and cold but the different colored flags and decorations hanging around the coastline made people feel excited. Their superiors seemed tense about something but this was nothing new near the end of the year. The winter sea looked beautiful as the sunset mixed with the night.

“Laugh a little quieter. Everybody else is looking at us.”

“Eh, nothing new. Oh oh, there’s a ship arriving.”

The people chatting all looked out to the sea. They then frowned while looking at the approaching ship. The extremely sharp bow looked quite familiar.

“……I’ve seen this ship before. Maybe I’m wrong?”

“We see ships all day every day. It makes sense to get them mixed up.”

The employees whispered. They started waving the signal wands toward the familiar ship. Chhhh, chhhh……! The ship cut through the water and approached at a fast pace. Their bodies felt chilly for some reason and it made them feel odd. The heavily dressed employees subconsciously stood together to feel warmer. Everybody’s eyes opened wider as the ship got closer.

Someone raised their gloved hand and shouted. “Over there! Isn’t that a whale? It’s a large whale!”

“Right? I wasn’t mistaken. There are whales jumping up and down!”

“Whales following a ship? I haven’t seen a great spectacle like this in decades… eek!”

One of the employees looked completely stunned. There was no way the others didn’t notice it as well.

“That, that! Look at that thing! There’s black metal at the front of the ship!”

“Aaaaaaaaaah!”

“Oh Almighty God!”

Black metal at the front… That was the symbol of the pirate ships that crashed into the Riester merchant ships to destroy them.

“Pirates! It’s a pirate ship!”

“There are pirates!”

“Aaaaaaah!” The port instantly turned into pandemonium.

Some of the pale employees ran away farther inland. The experienced employees were scared, but still dutifully evacuated the customers and sailors in an orderly fashion. The person who had been talking about drinking quickly ran to the patrol station and rang the bell. Dang- dang- dang!

“Pirates! Everybody leave your stuff and run! Pirates! Everybody……!”

“Get lost!”

– Bang bang thump!

Someone pushed the employee down very hard. The woman rolled on the ground at the unexpected attack and gasped. Had the bandits already gotten off their ship…

“K, knights?!”

Her jaw dropped in shock. These were not pirates. The group clad in sparkling armor were different from the mercenaries, starting from the pressure they were giving off.

“The Sarnez Knights Brigade will take on the enemy ship from here. You go take care of your underlings!”

“……Yes sir, I understand.”

The woman clenched her teeth and ran out. The Knights Brigade was moving in perfect order after receiving a secret order from Duke Sarnez. The pirate ship was now taking a spot in the port. The whales who had looked as if they were guarding the ship had disappeared like bubbles and the bow was empty as well. Some of the knights looked quite familiar with this task as they grabbed ropes and started spinning them around. Wiiing, wiiiing, wiiiing!

– Swoooosh, click!

– Click, click!

Large hooks latched onto the front of the ship. They were making sure that the pirate ship could not escape. The Knight Captain confirmed that the civilians were running away like the tide before shouting loudly.

“Young lady Christelle! Please alight with the madam and your wet nurse immediately! Your father is extremely worried about you!”

“……”

He waited for a long time but did not receive a response. The knights exchanged confused glances. was definitely the pirate ship that their young lady had plundered from Margrave Moutet’s territory. It had not been long since they saw her get on and run away with their own eyes. was no way their young lady would be this quiet. ‘Is it possible?’

– Clang!

– Clang, clang!

The Captain pulled out his sword with a solemn look on his face. His subordinates quickly followed him and got ready for battle.

“Nothing changes if you are bandits in there! Alight the vehicle immediately! A mere pirate dares to intimidate the Duke?”

“Hoho, a mere pirate?”

They heard a clear voice. ‘Snap!’ They heard someone snap their finger. As the Captain’s eyes opened wide…

– Clunk!

– Splash, splash……!

The large pirate ship started to roar in all directions. It felt as if it was trying to get away from the hooks. The waves didn’t seem to know what to do as the ship flailed like a living creature. As the Captain gritted his teeth and fixed his grip on his sword…

– Paat!

A figure wearing a captain’s hat shot up onto the bow. This figure moved so quickly that they couldn’t really see the movement. The Captain swung his sword with his teeth clenched when pink hair fluttered right in front of him.

“Y, young lady!”

Craaaaaack! An extremely chilling sound cracked around him and his arms, as well as his sword, became completely frozen. His subordinates dropped their jaws in shock.

Christelle moved as smooth and efficiently as a strong current. Pow, popow! She used her long legs to kick one of them, used the recoil to spin kick the punk behind her, then created a sheet of ice underneath the rest of the knights who finally decided to charge at her.

‘Look at how well they are falling.’

“What is a pirate? A pirate commands the wind!”

– Swooooooosh!

“Aaaaaah!”

The soldiers attacking from the back flew like leaves at the strong gust of wind. A white-haired Holy Knight appeared on the bow.

“Makes crabs fall from the clear skies!”

– Aaarf!

An animal made a noise from inside Christelle’s clothes. Crabs suddenly started to fall from the sky. – Shaaaaaaaaaaa!

“Ow, ow!”

“Ow, that hurts!”

“Cracks the ground as they run!”

– Screeeech!

Bobobooom, crack! The port, which was a landmark of Sarnez, futilely cracked into two.

The Captain shouted in astonishment. “No! What did you do?!”

“Swings their sharp blade like a flame and cuts across the continent!”

– Craaaackle!

An intense flame struck at the heads of the Knights Brigade. It felt as if the sun had fallen on them.

“Ahhh, my head is burning!”

“Knows how to control that sword like a wing!”

– Piiiipo!

The chimney bird responded energetically before landing on someone’s head. Everybody looked toward that person. The purple eyes looked extremely awkward.

“I’m sorry. We weren’t planning on going this far-”

“It is a pirate’s duty to assist the pitiful prince!”

The noble young lady shouted loudly as the knights groaned on the ground in front of them. Everything had happened in an instant. The Port of Sarnez had been taken down by the Sarnez Pirates Brigade.

—
Translator’s Comments

Let’s go find the One Piece! Oh wait, wrong series?

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