The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military
chapter-89

The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (89)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

28 Alliance and Betrayal (3)

The mermaid race was a race that casted and used sea sorcery. They were a race that could freely create waves, whirlpools and storms that could be easily classified as disasters. Because of that, they were known to be extremely dangerous. Even a master would be advised not to fight against the mermaid race in the sea. However, to stop the mermaids at sea, one needed to have plenty of experience unless they were at the stage of a Magic Master.

But just like the mermaids, the Eastern Commander was also someone who could bend the sea at his will.

The huge sea against the ice magic that could freeze it over. The impact of the collision of these two huge mana and magic spread all throughout the port.

If the battle between Masters needed them to narrow the distance between them, the fight between Magic Masters needed them to expand their area quickly and widely.

“Amazing. So even the mermaid race can make a huge wave of this size…”

Richard Burton frowned after confirming that their opponents were not just young mermaids that were hell-bent on revenge. He had initially thought that the mermaids were using their special treasure to imitate a Magic Master but the more he fought the more he realized that it wasn’t the case at all.

‘This guy is for real!’

Richard Burton couldn’t help but unconsciously acknowledge the mermaid race’s strength as he began to pull up his mana and use his magic earnestly. He had no room to pay attention to other places while fighting against such a powerful mermaid. Seeing that Richard Burton was using his ice magic in earnest, the mermaid also began to attack with the water in various other ways other than just making a huge wave.

Spaces were created by the two who were fighting fiercely. Richard Burton had created his own area by freezing the seawater solid. And the mermaid had created their own huge wave by making use of the flow of the sea. After each area was created, attacks that aimed to invade the opponent’s territory immediately began. The Eastern Commander’s magic that froze the sea and the mermaid’s waves that broke each ice.

Perhaps they thought that their attacks weren’t enough that the mermaid gathered the waves and tides together to create a water giant while the Eastern Commander also gathered the broken pieces of ice in the surroundings and confronted it with an ice giant of his own.

Of course, the fight between these two beings turned one side of the port into a completely inaccessible area. In the end, the port was blocked by two Magic Master-level beings however, there was no other impact other than that. So, the pirates and the ships that were trying to invade the port began to rush forward and achieve their goals.

“It looks like there are at least hundreds of ships…”

“Shit. There aren’t enough ships on our side.”

The difference between the number of their ships and the number of the pirate ships were extremely large. What was worse was the fact that the ships against them were extremely sturdy, they were even equipped with cannons. In other words, pirates had formed an alliance together.

After confirming that, the ships immediately set up a defense line as they made use of their familiar terrain. Then, they began to fight against the huge crowd of pirate ships that were trying to invade the port.

“Stop them!”

“Everyone, fire in one go!”

“Don’t let them get through here!”

The naval fleet tried their hardest to block the entry of the pirate ships while the pirates tried so hard to break through and enter the port.

However, no matter how strong and sturdy their ships were, they were no match for the sheer volume of ships their enemies had. It was almost impossible for them to block hundreds of ships with just a dozen of their own. Especially if the pirate ships kept on charging forward while they endured and had their ships breaking down slowly. In the end, they had no choice but to allow the pirate ships entry to their port. But as the one who held the title of the strongest naval fleet in the Empire, they still succeeded in keeping a huge number of pirate ships from entering the port. They just hoped that the rest of them would be able to hold out as much as possible in their defense zone inside the port…

The only problem was that Maricca Port was not only teeming with pirates.

“These crazy bastards!”

One of the soldiers observing the port from a distance gaped at the criminals looting the merchant’s street. Seeing this, he immediately jumped towards Command.

“Chief of Staff!”

“What is it?”

“Criminals have invaded the merchant’s street!”

Chief of Staff Consville’s expression hardened upon hearing the officer’s report.

“How about the guards stationed there…”

“They evacuated the merchants…”

“Were they wiped out?”

The officer bowed his head upon hearing Consville’s question.

Consville immediately headed straight towards the Command’s highest observatory to check the situation for himself. Climbing up there, he saw the situation in the entire port. It could be described in a few short words.

Basically, everything was a mess.

The criminals who had always been trapped in the confines of the dark suddenly stood up and ran amok in the port all at once. Even those who stayed in the shady and abandoned port like the beggars, the vagrants, the smugglers, the black merchants and many others stood up together. All of them looted the merchant’s street while attacking the low-ranking aristocrats that looked at them condescendingly before.

And when the port’s most powerful people had been attacked, even those who were usually dissatisfied with them began to participate in the mess. They spread like wildfire. It was as if a revolution had occurred. And not long after, all of the people who were dissatisfied with Maricca Port and its system joined the fray. In the end, it was no longer something that the troops could control.

“It’s a mess.”

They were in a situation where the Eastern Army’s main force had departed for the Ghost Island. They felt relieved since the Eastern Commander had stayed behind but even that was stripped of them as he got tied with the mermaid that caused the huge wave.

And just like that, the criminal syndicates that hid in the crevices of the port began to take over the Command’s important areas one by one.

“We’re in trouble.”

Since the Commander was tied up with the mermaid, the Chief of Staff, Consville, was now serving as the deputy commander. In other words, he was the final commander of the stronghold.

He looked at the Operations’ Officer, Holloway, who was hurriedly rushing towards him.

“Holloway.”

“Yes!”

“Call over all the senior officers and knights. We will deal with the criminals directly.”

“But if we do that then the Command will be empty.”

Consville nodded. It seemed like he was already aware about Operations’ Officer Holloway’s concern for Command. Once all of the senior knights and officers had been called out, only the young officers and soldiers would be left behind. In fact, the Command would already be in danger once a few named criminals came.

Consville was fully aware of that matter. However, the entire port would be in danger if they continued to maintain the Command as it is.

“Gather the nobles and aristocrats towards Command. Then, the knights under their command would naturally gather here at Command.”

“Will that work?”

“The guards of the merchants that we rescued should also gather towards Command.”

Holloway sighed after hearing Consville’s words. It would only lead to a disorder to gather them at Command. Although their individual abilities were quite excellent, it was still difficult to fight against proper troops since they weren’t trained to fight together. So, Holloway tried to oppose his decisions once again, but Consville immediately noticed it as he shouted at him.

“Get your grip! The port in and of itself is already dangerous! Think about what the criminal syndicates are targeting!”

The defense facilities that have been installed at the port.

The criminal syndicates, the main force driving the current situation, were aiming for those all along. They wanted to invade the merchant’s street as well as target the aristocrats and merchants while hitting the major defense facilities all over the port to let the pirates sneak in.

“I’ll gather the knights right away.”

“Good.”

Holloway saluted and hurried down while Consville used a telescope to look around.

“There’s clearly a driving force behind it. These criminal organizations standing up together is no coincidence.”

Seeing this incident, Consville had judged that there was someone very dangerous behind them. At first, he thought that it was a part of the mermaid race but with the current situation, his intuition was telling him that it wasn’t the case at all.

They were too orderly for them to be judged as someone who just woke up and thought ‘Now’s our chance!’ and revolted. He could see that they knew where to attack first to increase the confusion in the port.

In addition, the time when the criminals stood up was quite unusual. The time was so long that it was quite hard for the main fleet to turn back. It was also the time when the Eastern rear forces were still not yet at Command. It seemed like they aimed for that gap to make things confusing. This was something that should be unknown unless there was a spy in their midst. It was clear that someone among them had joined hands with the mermaids to sell information to plan this.

“Who the hell are you…”

Although Consville did not know who it was, he was sure that he would make them pay the price for betraying the Eastern Army.

However, despite his growing anger, Maricca Port was still heading towards the worst situation. The entire port was already burning from the arsonists and exposed to a lot of looters. And in such a chaotic situation, the pirate ships were able to break through their defense lines one by one as they entered the port.

“Everyone, our operation will be focused on defense. Never! Never let the pirates set foot on our port! Do you understand?!”

“Yes, sir!”

Consville nodded in satisfaction after hearing the senior knights and officers answering loudly before turning to look at Daniel Cevaior.

“Captain Daniel!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Then merchants and aristocrats will soon come to Command. Take their knights and guards and protect the Command unconditionally. Understand?”

“I’ll put my life on the line to protect it.”

“Good. I will trust you. I hope you don’t let me down anymore.”

Daniel Cevaior nodded firmly as he saluted at Consville before moving with the soldiers and the other young officers to protect Command.

Since their high-leveled troops would go outside, it was best for them to gather and prevent them from entering through the gate. Because of that, almost all of the troops left in Command were concentrated on the main gate.

Meanwhile, the merchants, aristocrats and citizens of the Empire were forced to flee to Command and send their escorts to fight against the criminal syndicates that followed them from behind.

“Uwaaaaaaah!”

Clang! Clang!

The criminal syndicates appeared from afar while firing shots as they rushed towards the main gate.

In fact, most of these people had stood up to revolt because they were dissatisfied with Maricca Port. However, none of them had the courage to enter Command. This was because they had experienced the majesty of the Eastern Army for a long time.

However, the criminal syndicates were different. No one knew where they got the information but they knew that the power inside Command was not enough to stop them so they flocked like crazy to occupy the place.

Right now, there were two groups that attacked the Eastern Army. The first group attacked the port’s defense facilities and sent the pirates in while the other group tried to occupy the Command.

However, this was the Eastern Army. No matter how rotten it was in the center, they could still endure well against these criminal syndicates. They were proving that they weren’t a military that was maintained through connections like the Central Army.

Despite Daniel’s inexperienced commanding, the Eastern Army was still able to protect the main gate well. However, the problem erupted from an unexpected place.

Baaaaang!

“Where is it?!”

“In… Inside the Command!”

“What?”

Daniel stared at the soldier in confusion before looking back at some of the first officers.

“You guys, come with me.”

“What… What should we do about this place?”

“Endure it as best as you can!”

Daniel quickly entered Command with a few officers as he shouted like that. Meanwhile, explosions rang loudly one after the other. However, strangely enough there weren’t any criminals or pirates at all.

The Command exploded all over the place but they couldn’t see where it was coming from.

“Look for the bomb! The bomb!”

Daniel stared at the building as he told the people around to look for the bomb as they listened to the sound of explosion.

The explosions could be heard only on the Command’s important buildings.

The Commander’s Office.

The Strategy Meeting Room.

The Command’s Lobby.

The Armory.

And the Eastern Command Data Storage Room.

These important places were the places that symbolized the Command. And all of them had exploded.

Even the Imperial Flag and the Command Flag had been burned down from the main gate.

The Hero Hall that enshrined all of their heroes from time immemorial.

The statues of Heroes.

The history of the Eastern Military.

Daniel couldn’t help but tilt his head when these places all exploded and burned.

It was a terrorist attack that’s aim was to drag the honor of the Eastern Command down to the dregs. They thought that the terrorism was only brought about by the mermaid race but it seemed like these explosions were caused by someone unknown who was most likely to be an officer at Eastern Command.

Seeing the traces of such acts, Daniel surveyed the Command sharply.

‘By any chance?’

Then, he went straight to the rooftop.

The important buildings that symbolized the Command’s honor had already been burned to the ground. If that was the case, there was only one symbol left in the Command. It was the Eastern Army flag that was fluttering at the top of the building.

And in front of that exact same flag was a familiar man holding a torch.

“You… What are you doing here?”

The man, who was about to burn the flag, turned his head at Daniel’s question.

Daniel’s eyes turned bloodshot as he shouted at the man.

“Mateo you XXXXXXX! What are you doing here?!”

Mateo maintained his silence as he burned down the Eastern Army flag despite Daniel’s angry roar. Seeing Mateo’s indifference, Daniel ran to him in anger.

“You crazy bastard!”

Daniel attacked him with all his might while Mateo just blocked his spirit’s attack.

It was an attack that he thought would never be blocked. But Mateo, who was in the middle of the 4th Stage, was of course able to block his attack.

However, Daniel’s eyes were widened in both shock and anger. This was because the power that Mateo used to block his attack was not his swordsmanship.

“ You…”

What blocked Daniel’s ‘Water Spear’ was a ‘Water Shield’.

“You’re a… spiritualist?”

“That’s right.”

Daniel’s expression hardened when he felt that Mateo’s water spirit was much more powerful than his.

“Why… Why the hell?! Why! Why did you betray us?!”

“Because I’m a human and mermaid half-breed.”

Mateo calmly confessed to Daniel’s angry roar. Daniel’s eyes widened even further when he heard his unexpected answer. He immediately understood his answers after hearing the words half-breed mermaid, a race that was already known to be extinct.

Was it because one would experience calmness and cool-headedness in extreme anger?

Daniel pulled his sword as his anger cooled down and calmness was restored in his mind.

“I understand the reason why you’re doing this. So… I’ll just think of you as my enemy from now on.”

Mateo nodded bitterly after hearing Daniel’s words.

“You have to throw away thoughts of coming back to Command.”

“I don’t even have to do that. Because I’ve already finished what I have to do.”

Daniel looked puzzled after hearing his words. He couldn’t understand why he went to such great lengths just to destroy the symbols of Command. However, Mateo just looked at Daniel silently as if he did not know the question that was written all over his face.

However, those who were headed towards Ghost Island had immediately found the reason. Something that neither the terrorists nor the defense line would be able to know.

―The Eastern Command had been taken down by the mermaids. The blessing of the Sea God would be given to the mermaids.

―The dimensional crack has gotten stronger after something has gotten stronger.

“What’s… this?”

Iron couldn’t help but mumble to himself while on the boat headed to Ghost Island.

“Eastern Command… has fallen?”

***