<h4>Chapter 157 </h4>
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.
<i>‘They’re finally out,’?</i>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 Ind Sailors and Gringore.
“Scribe Gringore!”
“Yes, Your Majesty…” said Gringore, sounding hoarse.
“I need you to push yourself for thest 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 yourmand, Your Majesty…!” Gringore said. He didn’t dare to refuse Siegfried’smand, even though his voice could barely be heard with how hoarse he sounded.
After all, who would dare to refuse their king’smand?
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 be 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’smand.
For the king!
For his hometown, Proatine!
The scribe gathered every ounce of strength he had remaining to sing.
“<i>Oooh~ Oooh~ Oh oh oh~ Lla~ La~ Oooh~”?</i>Gringore’s voice reverberated.
‘<i>Wow… There are really those who have it all…’?</i>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 andmanding enough that it easily overpowered thebined voices and songs of the fifty sirens onboard the battleships.
<i>‘Wait a minute… I don’t have time to stay here.’?</i>
Siegfried knew that it was his turn to do his job rather than stand idly by in awe of his scribe.
<i>Tremble… Tremble…?</i>
Gringore started to tremble uncontrobly 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 Ind Sailors followed Siegfried’smand and hurled ropes to climb up the battleships.
“Siren neutralized!”
“Neutralized!”
The Stone Ind 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.
<i>Thud!</i>
Gringore copsed from exhaustion after singing thest note.
“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 Ind 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.
“<i>H-Hiiik!”?</i>Gringore gasped in horror right before he lost consciousness.
‘<i>Is he going to make me eat that disgusting marble again…?! There are fifty of them this time!’?</i>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 afternding on one’s stomach made them even worse to consume.
In fact, it was so bad that some sailorspared its taste to <i>that.</i>
What was <i>that</i>? One could only imagine what <i>that </i>was…
“Scribe Gringore! Eat these and get well soon! I will take responsibility for your well-being!” Siegfried eximed with a bright smile. His smile didn’t contain even a hint of pettiness in it. He looked genuinely concerned.
<i>‘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!’</i>
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 becauseck of mana had long be a chronic problem for him. However, he decided to give every marble to his scribe rather than consuming them for himself.
<i>‘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?’?</i>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 Ind Navy sailed back to the ind 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 Ind, leaving behind the drowning Adunyadet Soldiers.
Nobody bothered to save them. There was no reason for the Stone Inders to save the invaders who had been blinded by greed.
After they were done regrouping, the Stone Ind Navy sailed the sea confidently with their twelve Great White Sharks and twenty-five captured battleships in search of the Adunyadet Navy.
An hourter, the Stone Ind Navy and the Adunyadet Navy shed.
“Aim cannons!”
“Fire!”
The Great White Sharks and twenty-five battleships simultaneously spat fire.
<i>Boom! Boom! Boom!</i>
The Adunyadet Navy encircling the ind couldn’t even retaliate before their ships were sunk.
Atst, the Adunyadet’s blockade was shattered for good.
“<i>Huh?</i> 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 Sterlumen Mine.
<i>‘I’m going to bash that person’s skull in even if that’s the only skull I get to bash this time!’?</i>he grumbled inwardly before driving his Aqua Runner behind enemy lines.
What he was doing was an extremely dangerous thing to do.
<i>Boom! Boom! Boom!</i>
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>‘I will bash your skull in no matter what. I can just avoid the cannon fires and jump onto other ships…’</i>
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 histe 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 sh against the Stone Ind Navy.
“Enemy spotted!”
“An enemy hase aboard!”
“Kill him!”
The Adunyadet Soldiers raised their arms and charged at Siegfried as soon as thetter 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-quarterbat.
<i>Pukeok! Pukeok!?</i>
Siegfried made quick work of the enemies, and he quickly found and made his way over to the enemy ship’smanding bridge. Atst, he finally found the alleged culprit.
<i>Bam!</i>
Siegfried kicked themanding bridge’s door down
“Was it you?” he shouted at the Adunyadet Kingdom’s navymander.
“W-What do you mean?”
“I asked you if it was you!”
“What do you mean?!”
“Were you the one who gave themand to bomb Sterlumen Mine?”
“Sterlumen Mine? We have already neutralized that ce 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? <i>Tsk…”?</i>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 Sterlumen Mine?”
“<i>Hmm…</i> the ship that fired at that mine…”
Themander fell into deep thought, and he snapped his fingers when he emerged from his thoughts.
“I remember! It’s that one! Over there!” he eximed while pointing at another ship in the distance before saying, “Themander of that ship mentioned that they misfired yesterday!”
“Really?”
“Yes! He said that they missed their target, and the shotnded 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!” themander vehemently shook his head.
“Really? All right then. I’m going now.”
With that being said, Siegfried finally left themanding bridge.
<i>“Haa…”?</i>
Themander 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 Sterlumen Mine? Is he really going through all of this trouble just because of a copsed 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—”
<i>Kaboom!</i>
A mortar shell shot by the Stone Ind Navy blew away the entire bridge, and themander 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 Ind’s mortar shell of vengeance.