CH 147

On the southwestern seas of the Nürburg Continent, the officials of the Adunyadet Kingdom’s navy were having a meeting at the bridge of the navy’s mothership—the Chakri.

“I don’t know how many times we will have to do this!” exclaimed the commander of the Adunyadet Kingdom’s navy and the captain of the Chakri, Admiral Brumnat. He was visibly frustrated.

“Do you know how many times we have conducted a large-scale landing in the past six months? Eleven! But we still can’t put an end to this war! We’ve done that eleven times now! Eleven times!”

The Adunyadet Kingdom’s officials were at the receiving end of his rebuke, and none of them could say a single word in response. They were afraid of having to take responsibility if they ended up committing a mistake.

“It was hard, but we have successfully embargoed them. In that case, does it make sense that we failed in every single landing attempt so far?! I had no idea that our marines were useless! Ha!”

In the end, the blame fell upon the marines because they were responsible for the landing operations.

“W-well… The commander of the Adunyadet Kingdom’s marines, Vice Admiral Mahidon, broke out into a ton of sweat as he nervously replied, “The Stone Island infantry is tough as you might be aware…”

“Who doesn’t know that?! We learned that six months ago!” Admiral Brumnat screamed in response.

“…”

“We have cut off all of their supply lines three months ago, and no reinforcements can possibly go over and reinforce them, so how are we continuously losing when they’re exhausted and starving?! Are our marines so bad that they can’t defeat our starving and exhausted enemies?!”

Vice Admiral Mahidon couldn’t say anything in response. Actually, he had a lot of things to say, but he chose not to speak.

‘This bastard…! What do you want me to do when their knights are fully equipped with powerful artifacts?! Why don’t you speak after increasing our budget or something first?!’ 

The Stone Island infantry was composed of troops far superior in terms of quality compared to the numerically superior Adunyadet Kingdom’s ordinary troops. 

Stone Island was an extremely affluent city-state that had been selling gold, silver, mana stones, lava stones, and other highly valuable minerals since time immemorial. 

Their population was small, but their soldiers and knights were so well-equipped to the point that the word overgeared would describe them the best. Thanks to their gear, the Adunyadet Kingdom troops still couldn’t land on their shores to end the war, even though Stone Island’s navy had already been wiped out long ago.

“When do you plan to win? When?!”

“I-I apologize…!”

“Stop apologizing! Didn’t I tell you to stop that?!”

“You did…”

“Then, why are you apologizing again?! Go and find a solution if you have the time to apologize!”

“B-But, Admiral…”

In the end, Mahidon decided to speak. “As you may be aware… we have been secretly growing our naval strength for the past ten years, but that is not the case for our marines. The training of our marines isn’t that advanced, and the equipment our men are using is quite outdated compared to our enemy’s equipment.”

Vice Admiral Mahidon wasn’t lying.

The Adunyadet Kingdom had been secretly growing its naval strength and was making preparations for the past ten years to take control of the affluent Stone Island. The Adunyadet Kingdom’s patient preparation earned them a tremendous victory over their enemy’s naval forces, and it was a victory worthy of being recorded in the history books.

However, that was the end of their achievements.

They were so fixated on the naval victories that they had completely neglected to invest in their marines, who were responsible for the landing operation. Their marines’ failure to perform a successful landing led to their string of defeats.

“I advise that we request support from His Majesty to invest time and money into our marines—”

“Excuses!”

“…!”

“You just have to overcome the difference in equipment through mental fortitude! Fix your mindset! Are you trying to say that our marines are losing just because the enemies have better equipment?!”

”Ha! I see that you have been too comfortable these days! I should have known that you were useless the day you came in. You aren’t even a graduate of our prestigious cadet academy!”

Vice Admiral Mahidon’s veins bulged. He could barely suppress the urge to grab the nearby ashtray and smash it into Admiral Brumnat’s head.

‘Argh! Should I just whack him? Does he really think that he won because of the strategies he learned from the cadet academy? I could have done the same if I had the same budget!’ 

To be fair, Admiral Brumnat wasn’t really an able-bodied Admiral. He was born into a prestigious family famous for producing excellent naval officers, and he was actually a graduate of the cadet academy. 

However, he only became an admiral thanks to his family background and connections from the academy.

In short, he was someone better suited for politics rather than warfare.

In addition, his overwhelming victory over the naval forces of Stone Island was only made possible by the exorbitant sum he had spent in the war. 

He justified his spending to the higher-ups by saying that their losses could be recouped upon conquering Stone Island. 

In other words, Admiral Brumnat’s leadership and skills weren’t the reason behind his victory over the naval forces of Stone Island.

Meanwhile, Vice Admiral Mahidon clawed his way up the ranks with his skills without attending the cadet academy, to boot!

‘You only know how to scream and burn through funds all day! What? Mental fortitude? Mindset? Ha! Our equipment can’t even make a dent in theirs, so what do you want me to do? With just a fifth of the money you had spent on your ridiculous naval warfare, I could have ended this war long ago!’ 

Vice Admiral Mahidon gritted his teeth, but he couldn’t voice out his frustrations.

Why?

It was all because he could be court-martialed for treason if he did something like that.

“Tsk tsk… As expected, I should meet His Majesty and create a petition for the overhaul of the marine corps at the end of this war! The commanding officer is a mess, so it’s no wonder that the marines are a bunch of disorganized throngs!”

“…” Vice Admiral Mahidon remained quiet.

“This war would have ended long ago if you had achieved even a fourth of what my navy achieved! Ha!”

All of a sudden, a signalman barged in and reported, “Admiral! His Majesty is calling us!”

“What?! Tell His Majesty that I will be right there!” Admiral Brumnat stopped grilling Vice Admiral Mahidon and rushed out of the office.

***

“I was disciplining the Commander of the Marine Corps for their repeated failures in producing results, Your Majesty,” Admiral Brumnat replied to Maja the Second’s question. Maja the Second was the King of the Adunyadet Kingdom.

Admiral Brumnat was well aware of the reason behind their string of defeats.

He blamed the Marine Corps in front of His Majesty. After all, he was the one who slashed the budget of the Marine Corps to invest in his own navy. Therefore, someone else had to take the blame for him.

‘The royal treasury’s funds are about to hit rock bottom. My mistake will be exposed if I were to ask for financial support for the marines. I need to end this war without any budget increase, and the only way to do that is to keep pestering that fool…’ 

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The so-called mental fortitude and mindset that he had been saying earlier were nothing but a bunch of excuses he had made to save his own skin.

— Isn’t it better to immediately replace the Commander of the Marine Corps?

“We do have that option, but we are currently at war. It might affect the morale of our troops, Your Majesty.”

— Hmm… 

“We will be conducting another large-scale landing invasion tomorrow, and I will definitely bring you good news if you give him this one last chance.”

Admiral Brumnat was well aware that Vice Admiral Mahidon was a skilled commander, so he couldn’t afford to lose the latter right now if he wanted to win this war.

— Hmm… I see… Then, I will give him another chance.

“Thank you very much, Your Majesty! You have made a wise choice!”

— What about the naval blockade?

“Please take a look, Your Majesty,” Admiral Brumnat said as he confidently turned the communicator’s lens toward the sea before he continued, “Your Majesty’s navy has completely surrounded the waters around the island. I am confident that not even a single ant will be able to pass through our ironclad blockade!”

— Is that so?

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

— That does not look like the case to me. What exactly do you mean by ironclad blockade?

“P-Pardon me…?”

— What is that thing over there? I don’t think that is one of my forces.

Maja the Second pointed at a speedboat speeding on top of the waters, and Admiral Brumnat turned his head toward it.

Shwaaaaa!

There was a single speedboat zipping through the waters at breakneck speeds, and it managed to slip past the Adunyadet’s navy forces in the process.

“W-What is that?! Sink that thing immediately!” Admiral Brumnat shouted in anger while pointing at the speedboat.

***

Boom! Boom!

Splash!

The artillery spat out their shells, disturbing the waters. The Adunyadet Battleships fired incessantly at the speedboat, but the speedboat showed no signs of stopping as it continued toward Stone Island.

The one driving the speedboat wasn’t human but a giant hamster.

“Kyuuuu! Let’s goooo!” Hamchi shouted excitedly. Hamchi skillfully drove the Aqua Runner past the rain of cannonballs and amidst the splash of water. 

“Bleuuurghhh!” Gringore started puking his guts out. Hamchi was driving too haphazardly and fast for him to endure.

“Wow… they can’t even land a single hit…” Siegfried muttered in awe while looking at the Adunyadet Battleships firing at them in the distance.

The speedboat of the Nordic Tribe, the Aqua Runner, was fast. Honestly, calling it fast was an understatement. The words ‘extremely fast’ would be more suitable to describe it because it could run circles around the battleships without getting hit.

“Well, the Masava Forces had trouble catching up to these as well…” Siegfried recalled how the Nordic Forces managed to run circles around the Masava Navy as well. The Aqua Runners weren’t equipped with canons, but it was probably the best vehicle out there when it came to landing operations.

“Make way!” Siegfried shouted as the speedboat zipped past through a barrage of cannonballs without even flinching, thanks to the Aqua Runners' superior specifications.

“T-That little…!” Admiral Brumnat fumed in anger.

However, that was none of Siegfried’s business.

“Kyu! Hey, owner punk! Did you see that? Did you see Hamchi’s driving skills?!” Hamchi exclaimed while brimming with pride.

“Good boy!” Siegfried replied and threw him a packet of sunflower seeds.

“Lalala~ Lalalala~ Lala~ Lalala~ La~ Lalalala~”

All of a sudden, a beautiful and enchanting melody sung by a woman could be heard.

“Where is that song coming from?”

“Kyu?”

Siegfried and Hamchi tilted their heads in confusion.

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

Siegfried’s vision suddenly swam.

Wooong!

He channeled his mana to counter it, but it was to no avail.

‘Euk… What kind of skill is this…?’

[Alert: Your character has been exposed to a powerful magical voice!]

[Alert: Your character has been Charmed!]

[Alert: Your control over your character has weakened!]

[Alert: The magical voice has started destroying your character’s body!]

The messages in front of him informed Siegfried that he had been charmed. Once he was done reading the message, a surge of pain electrified him.

Drip…

Blood started flowing from his ears, nose, and mouth.

Throb! Throb! 

His eyes started swelling as if they were going to pop out of their sockets.

Woooong!

The mana in his mana hall started to spin wildly. In addition, his body was moving on its own and was trying to jump into the water.

“Euk… H… Hamchi… What is… this…?”

“Kyu? What’s wrong, owner punk? Are you alright? Are you not feeling well?”

“A-Are alright? D-Don’t you feel anything…?”

“Kyu? Hamchi is feeling great!”

Hamchi seemed to be doing just fine as opposed to Siegfried.

“T-Then what in the world is this…? Is it that song…?”

While Siegfried was trying his best to find the reason behind the status ailment, a deep voice reverberated along with the bewitching magical voice.

“Woo~ Woo~ Woo~ Oh~ Oh~ Oh~”

‘What the hell is it this time?’ Siegfried inwardly grumbled. 

He was anxious as he turned toward where the voice was coming from.

“Ooooh~ La la~ Woo woo woo~”

Unexpectedly, the voice was coming from Gringore, who was singing along with the bewitching magical voice while standing at the bow of the speedboat.