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nVolume 3 Chapter 10 The Pirate Hunter and The Pirate Noble

nThe hangar.

nWhen Rosetta’s airframe was brought in, Marie– who was waiting on standby started giving out instructions to the surroundings.

n“The daughter of the Claudia house is going to be Lord Liam’s legal wife. Treat her with the utmost respect as to avoid staining his reputation.”

nThe maids nodded and the knights lined up in formation.

nThe soldiers hurried to set up a red carpet.

n“Hey, where’s the doctor?!”

n“She’s waiting in the back!”

n“A change of clothes! Somebody bring her change of clothes!”

nThe hangar was in a frenzy.

nMarie roared,

n“Stop fooling around, idiots!”

nRosetta exited out from the aircraft’s cockpit.

nShe was quickly supported on both sides by female knights.

nRosetta looked faint, and her eyes were red and swollen.

nThe knights, soldiers, and maids lined up, the knights pulling out their swords in welcome.

nThe soldiers saluted, and the maids greeted her with curtseys.

nAs Liam’s legal wife, she was essentially the master of everyone here.

nMarie kneeled in front of Rosetta.

n(I never would’ve thought I’d be involved with the Claudia house after such a long time.)

n“Lady Rosetta, we’re here to pick you up, but first let’s get you some medical treatment.”

nRosetta was confused.

nMarie had learned about her family’s situation in advance, so she wasn’t panicking.

nShe stood up and smiled,

n“There’s no need to be frightened. All those here are Lord Liam’s servants. –Hey you people, start escorting Lady Rosetta.”

nThe female knights supported Rosetta as they led her to the back.

nThe maids followed afterwards, and when they disappeared, the knights sheathed their swords.

n“Let’s see, now I have to…”

nAs Marie was thinking about what to do next, Kukuri appeared from the shadows,

n“Marie, we have a situation.”

n“I’ll deal with it later. Right now I’m busy with Lord Liam’s orders.”

nShe tried to ignore him, but Kukuri didn’t yield,

n“That Lord Liam is currently being attacked by the Berkley family.”

nA blue vein appeared on Marie’s forehead and her pupils shook.

nThe surrounding knights broke out in cold sweat at her intimidating figure.

n“…what did you say?”

n“It looks like the people in charge of supervising the Claudia house have decided that Lord Liam was in their way.”

n◇ ◇ ◇

nThe wilderness of the tournament venue.

nSurrounding me were dozens of pirate aircrafts.

nAmong them, I could Derrick’s aircraft.

nIt looks like he prepared a new model for today.

n“LIAAAAAAAA~M! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIIIIIII~S!!!”

nDerrick tried to make himself sound intimidating, but he was the one who’s been constantly running away from me in school.

nI just wanted to ‘have fun’ with him, and yet he always found some way to escape.

nSeriously– he wasn’t able to alleviate my boredom in the slightest.

n“Don’t run away this time.”

n“You bastard, I’ll compliment you for pretending to be tough despite the situation, but don’t think I’ll let you die that easily. No help is coming for you, I’ve already made sure of that. And it’s not just me! The guys who are in charge of supervising the Claudia house have decided that you’re in the way!”

nI didn’t really know what he was talking about, but I could figure it out.

nI’ve heard that there were officials assigned to supervise the Claudia house, and if Rosetta and I got married, then they’d be out of the job.

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nI’m sure this troubled them to the point where they were willing to make rash decisions like this.

n“I see. I think I understand… now then, is this all right?”

n“Huh?”

nThe number of aircrafts surrounding me didn’t even reach a hundred.

n“I’m asking you if you’ve brought enough. I just recently had Avid renovated, but I couldn’t really test it out in the previous match. Prepare a few more.”

n“D-don’t you look down on me! Get him!”

nThe pirate aircrafts rushed towards me at Derrick’s command.

nTheir performance seemed to be pretty good.

nThey might look like pirate models, but they might actually be new ones.

n“Okay, at least with this much I can test Avid’s new specs a little.”

nWhen I grabbed the control stick and moved the aircraft, the surrounding machines were blown away.

n“Oh, isn’t this actually pretty amazing?”

nI commended Avid because it was able to reproduce the One-Flash better than before.

n“Should I give Nias some praise later too?”

nAs I considered what reward I should give her, the pirates continued to gather.

nWhile I checked the condition of the aircraft, I couldn’t help but be impressed with how smooth all of Avid’s movements were as I dealt with my opponents.

n“You’re doing great Avid! Now let’s try this out!”

nI was glad to be able to test Avid’s performance against Derrick’s pirates.

nThey felt a little more crunchy than the pirates I usually dealt with.

nBut that was it.

nThen, as I continued to decimate them, one of the aircrafts tried to escape.

n“Bastard, where the hell do you think you’re going?!”

nAfter chasing down and impaling the fleeing aircraft, the rest of the machines stopped moving.

nEven Derrick was quiet.

n“Now then, continue to entertain me!”

n◇ ◇ ◇

nHundreds of pirate ships were trembling as they watched the footage sent to them.

n“…what the hell is he?”

nSomebody muttered,

n“H-he’s the devil.”

nThe appearance of Liam happily slaughtering pirates looked no different than a demonic being to them.

nNew models were being scrapped one after another.

nThe captain shouted,

n“W-we’re retreating! If we stay in a place like this, we’ll become a part of his hunt!”

nThe captain, who decided to abandon Derrick and escape, was stopped by an official.

n“What about our deal?! Weren’t you going to help us kill Liam?!”

n“How the hell are we supposed to kill someone like that?! You guys can go and assassinate him yourselves!”

nThe confused official blurted out,

n“It’s because we failed to assassinate him that we asked for your assistance!”

nThen suddenly, multiple masked personages in black rose up from their shadows.

nThey came out squirming, and started killing the pirates.

n“What the hell?!”

nThe head of the captain who cried out was crushed by Kukuri’s large hand.

n“Oh, how fragile. The pirates of old had stronger bones. Now then– the official over there, there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”

n“Stay away! I-I’m an imperial official!”

nKukuri and his subordinates gathered around him after killing the surrounding pirates.

n“Now then, you just said something I couldn’t let pass. What did you mean when you said ‘we failed to assassinate him?’ Who’s ‘we?’”

nOne of Kukuri’s subordinates laughed as he stabbed the official’s thigh with a knife.

n“MY LEG!!!”

nKukuri grabbed the head of the crying official,

n“Oops, please excuse my subordinate there. Even I’m troubled with how bloodthirsty they can get. Now back to the question, who sent the kill order?”

nEven though the official screamed, help didn’t come.

nLooking at the monitor, he could see their ships being attacked by the Banfield house’s fleet.

n“H-how?”

nTo the trembling official, Kukuri began to explain,

n“Oh, when we told Lord Liam about your plans, we were ordered to allow you to drop the mobile knights because he thought it’d be interesting. They seemed about perfect for the renovated Avid’s test run. I believe they were supposed to be new models?”

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nFrom the already infiltrated pirate ship, they were ‘permitted’ to send out the new machines down to the planet.

nIf they were to run away or cancel their plans, they were to be killed– the only path left for them was to fight Liam.

nLooking at the footage of the venue, the image of Liam toying with all the pirates that dropped in on him was being displayed.

nThe frames of the new aircrafts were being destroyed one after another and being piled up.

nIt was doubtful whether Avid could even be considered a mobile knight anymore. It’s performance and appearance was completely different from the standard.

nThe new models didn’t stand a chance.

n“P-please have mercy.”

n“Pardon~?”

n“Have mercy! I’ll tell you everything! Just spare me, please!”

nKukuri smiled at the official’s words, but it didn’t reach his eyes,

n“Too bad~ What I said earlier was a lie –we can’t forgive you. In truth, we’ve already investigated all the important information you could possibly know, so we never really needed you in the first place. Now then, I bid you farewell.”

nKukuri crushed the official’s head.

n◇ ◇ ◇

nInside the hangar.

nThe officials who were supervising Rosetta were panicking.

n“Hey, what the hell is going on?!”

n“The pirates aren’t strong enough to kill Liam!”

n“In anycase, we need to secure Rosetta! As long as we have her as a hostage, then they won’t be able to touch us!”

nWhile they were in a heated discussion, they could suddenly hear the clicking of heels.

nClick… Click… The faint sound strangely carried all the way to their ears.

nThat’s when they noticed that a woman had appeared near them.

n“W-who the hell are you?!”

nAs one of them shouted that out, his head went flying.

nThe woman was holding a sword in each of her hands.

nThey looked like kitchen knives– but expanded to the size of swords.

n“I’m amazed that his foolish order is still going on after two millennia. I can still remember the face of the man who laughed as he had me petrified in stone.”

nThe officials couldn’t understand what the woman was talking about.

nWhen they tried to draw their weapons, their arms were cut off.

n“Y-you bitch, if you think you can get away with–”

nHe tried to shout that they were imperial officials, but she said that she already knew that.

nAfter stabbing a sword into one of the officers, she grabbed the jaw of the leader with her free hand– and crushed it.

n“GYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

n“Don’t bother talking. You die here. –the subordinates of the man who caused my two millennia of suffering, I can sleep soundly knowing that I’m the one who killed you.”

nThe woman who didn’t listen to their words seemed insane.

nOne of them shouted,

n“W-we’re just following the orders of the late Emperor!”

n“I know! And that’s why I’ll kill you!”

nThe official lost his life after being vertically sliced by the woman.

nThe cut was beautiful and clean.

n“In deference of the loyalty you’ve shown by following that’s fool’s orders, I’ll send you all to whatever hell he’s in. Make sure to convey to him my message– ‘Marie has been revived.’”

nThe remaining officials started trembling.

nThey knew the truth about what happened two thousand years ago.

n“…Marie? As in, Marie of the Three Knights?!”

nThe head of the surprised official was cut off, the blood spray dyeing the woman’s cheek red.

n“I’m so glad to serve Lord Liam. I feel like those two thousand years of suffering was all for this. This has to be fate.”

nWhile immersed in euphoria, the woman continued her slaughter.

n◇ ◇ ◇

nThere weren’t anymore enemies descending from the sky.

nThe surroundings were filled with their destroyed debris, Derrick’s aircraft being the only survivor despite it’s legs having been cut off.

n“H-have mercy! I’ll do anything! Anything!”

nDespite all the threats he made earlier, he bored me.

nI threw the pirate machine I was holding away and stepped on Derrick’s aircraft.

nSeeing Derrick try to desperately escape with just his arms was really funny.

n“Now what should I do with you?”

n“I-I’ll never go against you again! So please spare me! I don’t want to die!”

n“You don’t want to die? Then tell me, why should I let you live?”

nAgainst my expectations, Derrick actually started speaking quite fluently,

n“I’ll give you anything! Whether it’s money or women, I’ll get you anything you want! T-that’s right, what about elixirs? Do you want those too?”

nHe had elixirs?

n“…I want them.”

n“I have a special device. With that, any amount is possible. If you spare me, I can prepare as many of them as you want!”

nIt felt great to see Derrick beg for his life.

nBut I wasn’t interested in his offer.

nThe guide will prepare for me whatever I want.

nJust like the alchemy box or the mysterious sword, anything I wanted naturally fell into my hands like fate.

nThere was no need for me to rely on him.

nBesides, elixirs could always be purchased with money.

n“Hmm… I have enough of them already, so I’m taking your life.”

n“W-wait, this is different from our promise!”

n“I don’t remember making one though?”

nIn my previous life, I was deceived by debt collectors and made miserable.

nThey didn’t keep their promises either.

nSo why should I?

n“Are you really going to kill me?! Just a little while ago, weren’t you the one that offered to spare me?!”

n“That was a lie. I don’t have a reason to keep you alive. It’d also be troublesome if you were revitalised by an elixir, so I’ll make sure to kill you carefully.”

n“S-STAY AWAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!”

n“It’s your fault for making me your enemy.”

nWhen my sword had pierced into the cockpit of the new model, Derrick’s voice disappeared.

nAs I lifted up the aircraft impaled on my sword, communications were restored.

nThe timing was perfect, it felt like it got cut off right before my rampage.

nIf this battle was broadcasted live, then I definitely would’ve been stopped.

nThinking so, I couldn’t help but feel really lucky.

nOne of the elementary school teachers started yelling with a pale face,

n“Somebody, call for a rescue team!”

nThey seemed to be confused by the situation, but it couldn’t be helped.

n“Professor, it’s too late. They’re already dead.”

nIt’s a well known rule that you have to be prepared for death when you enter the tournament.

nIt wasn’t my responsibility if Derrick died, and I wasn’t afraid of some provincial Baron house’s retaliation.

nSwinging my blade, I threw Derrick’s aircraft to the ground.

nThen crushed it under my foot.

n“That’s all they amounted to. Even if small fish gather together, they’re still only small fish.”

nWhile I laughed, the teacher looked stunned.

nMy surroundings were filled with wreckage– it couldn’t be helped since I had to destroy hundreds of aircrafts.

nWith that, I couldn’t help but be pleased with Avid’s improved performance.

nIt was a good test run.

nFor that alone, I’ll give thanks to Derrick.

n◇ ◇ ◇

nThe audience seats.

nSomebody asked,

n“Who could fight against that?”

nThese were the true feelings of the nobility.

nThe Berkley family were known as the Pirate Nobles.

nWhile the Banfield house gained their power through pirate hunting.

nIf the two fought one another, the result was obvious.

nIn such a quiet venue, the weapon factory representatives were desperately trying to hold back their laughter.

nBut Nias already was.

n“Its disappointing that I couldn’t see the new model of the First Weapons Factory getting destroyed by Avid, but this should make the difference between us clear.”

nThis applied to all the weapon factories, not just the first. All the representatives were hurriedly trying to escape the audience seats.

nWallace turned to Nias,

n“All the engineers and scientists will see you as a threat. Do you know what this bodes for the future? You essentially declared war on them just like how Liam did to the Berkley family.”

nTo Wallace, who was foreboding the dangers to come, Kurt said,

n“But if I know Liam, then he’ll force his way to victory.”

n“You sure?”

n“More importantly, what about the tournament?”

nKurt was more worried about the event being cancelled.

nThe school seemed to have judged that it was impossible to continue in their current state.

nNias’ shoulders dropped,

n“No way~! I wanted to see more of Avid’s majestic figure!”

nWallace was amazed at seeing Nias genuinely disappointed by this development,

n“For you to say that in this atmosphere… As I thought, the people involved with Liam truly are strange.”

nWallace shook his head in relent.

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