Herald of Steel

Ser Robert looked at the dead body of his former teacher, pooling blood and still stricken with that shocked face with a complicated gaze.

Despite what their current interactions might have indicated, the two men had held each other in high regard and had fought many a battle together.

So Ser Robert of course regretted Ser Ballmer's sudden and almost out of the blue departure and lamented the choices that had led up to this point.

If Ser Ballmer had been just a bit more flexible, if he had just known when to shut his mouth, if he had just known when to nod and follow his orders without any question just like he always had, things would have been certainly different.

However he just had to go ahead and announce his plan to the whole world, And if that was not enough, he even went as far as to directly threaten the nobleman aboard, swearing to reveal his secrets to everyone.

Even the simple minded Ser Robert could see how foolish such a thing was.

But that was also the kind of man Ser Ballmer was- straight laced and speaking whatever came to his mind at the first instance.

The man possessed no knots in his heart which was usually seen as a very virtuous quality, being the characteristic that allowed him to gain so much of the Margraves family's trust.

It was just it was not the right quality to have right now.

By speaking out so openly against his captors, he had formed an irreconcilable bridge between them and so it was only natural that the other side struck when they did, when they had the absolute advantage.

And remembering the person who made that strike, Ser Robert turned to look at his adjutant with another bout of very complicated feelings.

The bad blood between Ser Ballmer and Anoon was known to almost the entire army and so he understood why the man had done what he did.

The man struck when it suited him the most, like he always did, for this time, the black adjutant had most of the officers on his side.

Becuase Ser Ballmer had to go.

In fact, if Anoon had not done it, Ser Robert would have seriously contemplated doing the deed himself. They could not go back after coming so far. Even if they tried to backtrack now, the mere fact that they had plotted and planned to do what they wanted to do was enough to damn them.

They could not take the risk.

Furthermore, Ser Ballmer had proven himself to be truly blind to any reason or logic. To the veteran weaponmaster, the only thing that mattered was blindly following orders, even if it made no sense. After all, the man still believed sticking with the Heeat family was his family's best case of action even after all that he had seen here today.

And to do so, he was even willing to defy his superior's direct order, all to defend them.

What more foolishness was there?

And much more than that, if Anoon had not killed the man, the details of the conflict would have only continued to fester, spreading to all parts of the ships.

As a matter of fact, it already kind of did, as Ser Ballmer's boisterous voice had already incited many of the soldiers on the deck, who by now were beginning to stop and crane their heads toward that direction, eager to see what all the noise was about.

"What are you wastes looking at?" And it was only with a loud and imperious shout from Ser Robert that the men quickly returned to their station.

However even then their eyes still lingered, the curiosity snuffed but not extinguished. Because it was very clear to everyone aboard that something was up with their commanders- almost all of them were clumped up in that small space. And they all were eager for that juicy news.

And sensing this, the military commander dreaded the thought of what would have happened if Ser Ballmer was allowed to broadcast himself for longer.

If the soldiers aboard were to learn that they were going to surrender to the other side, undoubtedly a full fledged mutiny would be on the cards.

Hence a trace of relief trickled into his heart when he thought about Anoon's actions.

However, that also did not mean Ser Robert was ready to condone the latter's actions. Because beneficial or not, it was without doubt that he had struck a great warrior of the family down, and using such an uncouth method at that.

It really made Ser Robert's heart very much throb. And if he had known about it, the man guessed he would have likely stepped forward to defend Ser Ballmer simply out of instinct, simply out of the respect he had for the man.

However, by now all of that is moot.

Anoon had struck in a blinding flash with none whatsoever of a warning, taking everybody by complete surprise.

And by the time they were able to even figure out what the hell was happening, the unfortunate weaponsmater was down on the ground, bleeding out in a pool of his own blood.

So what were they now that the deed had been already committed?

Kill him?

Using what excuse?

He had done what all of them wanted to but none dared not to.

Thus gazing at the man, a bitter yet sweet feeling raised inside Ser Robert's heart.

Bitter because the commander really did not like his adjutant's way of doing things- cold, cruel, and utterly devoid of any consideration save for himself. It was to the point he somewhat even regretted becoming friends with the man.

But that ruefulness lasted only an ephemeral second, instantly to be replaced by a bout of sweetness at the recalling of how useful the man could be.

Ser Robert would not be where he was without Anoon's saving his ass more than a few times, as well as showing the simple man the way to navigate through the complex political machinations of the army- be it through ass kissing, a bit of showing off, a bit of flamboyance and exaggeration here and there, and of course good old bribery.

The last one was not considered as much a crime within the Margraves army as an accepted norm frowned upon but usually brushed aside, in a kind of modern equivalent of weed.

You could go to jail for possessing it, but few people would actually bother to press charges.

Thus Ser Robert ultimately judged his black partner to be a necessary evil, a man who could do all the dirty work that he himself was unwilling to do.

Hence turning to glance at the dead body for one time,

'*Sigh*, if only you were a bit smarter,' Ser Robert found himself thinking ruefully as such about his master, before shaking his head in regret and looking away.

And given the fact it was Ser Robert of all people who was calling the other foolish, it really went on to show what others thought about the man.

Not that they had much time to dwell on the matter anyway, because just as Anoon declared, they were indeed short on time.

Lord Parker's ships were quickly closing in and from the looks of it, the man had sent almost all the ships he had- ten ships carrying two thousand soldiers, and rowed by a further five hundred.

It seemed that after finally becoming tired of losing his force one after the other in a piecemeal fashion, the man had decided to send the whole cavalry together.

It was indeed a scary sight for the Margraves to behold.

Thus the group went to work quickly.

"Kill these two too!" The first of which was to eliminate the other pair of Lord Bernard's bodyguards who were observing all this with a stunned expression.

The cruel order came from the man himself, who wished to tie up all loose ends.

And as soon as it rang out, even before the duo had the slightest chance to wake up,

*Clang*, *Clang*, *Clang*, a flurry of sword swings and slashes were registered and

"Aghhhh!"

"Grrrggllleee!"

One corpse had become three.

Unarmed and unaware, even men as great as them stood little chance.

While Lord Bernard glanced at the quick work with a very frosty countenance, his face devoid of any regret, before looking up to instruct the men with additional orders,

"Listen up! My official story will be this"

"You two disobeyed a direct command from me wanting to go to reinforce Lord Kite. Instead, wishing to run after glory and honor, you chose to fight the Adhanians on the bridge. And to do this, you killed my bodyguards and then took me hostage."

"Then, after the disaster at the bridge, you found that all your plans had come crashing down… literally. So you changed it. Now you wanted to have the ship sail to Phyrros Island and surrender yourself to the enemy garrison there.

"However, when the other ship came close, you got greedy and tried to have Achillas too, as a bigger bargaining chip. It was here that it led a heroic counterattack against you with the aid of the common crew and somehow you fled on the other ship."

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

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