Surviving as the Fallen Northern Grand Duke

Chapter 23: The Territory Doubles (2)

"Come at me, you pirate scum! I am none other than Krum, the one who slew the Silver Chimera!"

Krum moved his massive body and charged forward.

Swinging his greatsword as he went…

Whooosh!

Even without imbuing his blade with aura, four or five pirates were sent flying with a single swing.

"Tsk. He keeps going on about slaying the Silver Chimera."

Mangala grumbled as he wiped out the remaining pirates in one corner of the city.

Right now, we were moments away from the enemy’s reinforcements arriving at the docks.

Together with the three knights, I launched a joint attack, pushing back the pirates who had landed earlier toward the pier.

'We need to drive them out now.'

The number of remaining pirates in the city was around fifty.

With just the four of us, we could easily push them all the way to the docks.

However—

Bwooooooo!

If the pirates from those ten ships currently anchored were to flood out, we'd be completely overwhelmed.

"Victor, Krum, Mangala!"

"Yes!"

"You haven't forgotten my instructions from earlier, have you?"

"No! We remember!"

"Then execute it exactly one minute from now. We need to act before their reinforcements land—of course…"

I smirked.

"Of course, we wait until all their ships have docked first."

"Understood!"

"Yaaaahhhhhh!"

The enemy reinforcements, numbering ten ships, roared like thunder.

So far, we've identified that the pirates have a total of thirteen ships.

‘I don’t know what kind of lunatics are maintaining a fleet this large, but once this is over, I’ll make sure to hunt them down and find out.’

I deliberately held the front line, keeping the battle at a stalemate until the enemy’s final ship entered the harbor.

The docks here were, as described earlier, surrounded by a low-lying rocky hill.

With only two access points—one from the sea and one from the land—the entire harbor was encased in rock, almost like a fortress wall.

In a way, it was as if the rocky hills were shielding the docks.

And the moment every enemy ship had entered this ‘fortress’—

"Now! Krum, push them back!"

Krum and I drove the remaining pirates from the city straight into the docks.

Whoooosh!

As Krum’s greatsword and my longsword pressed in on them, the once-boisterous pirates had no choice but to retreat.

Then—

Fwaaaaaash!

Victor and Mangala suddenly leaped up the rocky hill.

Having traversed the harsh lands of the north, their feet were swift even on the rugged terrain.

Once atop the hill that overlooked the only path from the city to the docks—

Vwooooom…

They closed their eyes, focusing on the flow of mana.

Soon, a blue light enveloped their swords.

I could see it.

The worlds they were manifesting in their blades, the very essence of their beings…

The noble ideal, commonly referred to as ‘Aura,’ began to form upon their swords.

Kwaaaaaaaa!

It was nothing like the aura they usually wielded.

This time, they weren’t cutting through mere flesh; they needed to produce an aura stronger than ever before.

And the moment their auras reached their peak—

I gave a small nod.

Without a word, the knights swung their swords, cleaving through the hilltop.

Slaaaaash!

BOOOOOOOM!

The solid peak of the rocky hill was sliced clean off—

Ruuuuuumble!

And in an instant, massive boulders tumbled down the pathway.

"A-a landslide!"

"Run!"

"The rocks are falling!"

Even though it was only a small rocky hill, the force of the falling boulders was immense.

As the collapsing peak shattered the hillside, the debris turned into a rain of rubble.

And right at that moment—

Swish. Tatatat!

Krum and I retreated, slipping back into the city.

And with that, the only route between the city and the docks was completely sealed off, splitting us from the pirates.

Then, moments later—

KWA-KA-KA-KA-BOOM!

Another thunderous crash echoed in the distance.

That must be Victor and Mangala, moving to the other side of the docks—

"Sealing off the path to the sea."

Step.

Krum and I leisurely climbed to the top of the rocky hill.

Standing at the highest peak, we looked down below.

The entire chaotic scene at the docks was visible at a glance.

The natural stone walls surrounding the harbor.

The completely blocked escape routes.

Like an antlion trap, the pirates' thirteen ships were now completely stranded, with no way in or out.

"Five hundred men or whatever, once they're caught in a trap, they’re done for."

I chuckled as I looked at the bewildered pirates.

"Knights of Axen, hear me!"

I gave my loyal knights their orders.

"Cut down anyone who tries to climb up the hill. If they don't move at all, roll boulders down on them. Then they'll have no choice but to crawl out to save their own lives."

"Yes!"

Honestly, it didn’t matter to us if they just stayed down there.

Because…

'Pirates survive by looting. They probably didn’t bring much food with them.'

If we trapped them there for a few days, they’d surely start begging for their lives.

Better to be captured as prisoners by knights than to starve to death.

And to be honest, five hundred was too many for just the four of us to handle.

So for us, it was better to keep them stuck there until reinforcements from Axen arrived.

However—

"You cowardly bastard! Are you so afraid to fight that you pull stunts like this?!"

That loudmouth shouting right now was starting to get on my nerves.

A man emerged from the ship that clearly looked like the flagship.

Standing at the bow, he bellowed at me.

"Come down here, you brat! I’ll skewer you in a single strike! I am Sir Drake, commander of this fleet!"

He then proceeded with what he thought was a taunt.

If I were some other noble’s knight, my men would be shouting, ‘Your Grace, don’t fall for his provocation!’

But my knights were different.

They just stood there, silently watching him scream like a madman.

They weren’t even remotely worried that I might take the bait.

"Let’s make a promise, all of us."

"What kind of promise?"

"If we ever get provoked in a fight, don’t pull any of that ‘knightly honor’ nonsense."

"Ah, I agree. I don’t want to die over something stupid like that."

Thanks to excellent prior education, not a single one of us gave a damn about his words.

But then—

Swoooosh! Thwack!

Sir Drake, who had been screaming his lungs out, suddenly coughed up blood and turned around.

And again—

Swoosh! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Crossbow bolts struck him one after another, his eyes rolling back as he collapsed.

Phew.

Mangala, who had fired four bolts into him, muttered under his breath.

"Piece of shit."

Yeah, judging by how he couldn’t even deflect a single arrow, he clearly wasn’t knight-tier.

Seeing their commander fall, the pirates erupted into chaos.

"You cowards!"

"Come down and fight us!"

I smirked at their empty provocations.

"Then climb up here."

"W-what?"

"You’ve realized by now, haven’t you? If you try to climb this hill, you’ll be taken down one by one. And if you keep wasting time here…"

I grinned.

"You’ll all be slaughtered when Axen’s reinforcements arrive."

Gulp.

I could feel their nervousness.

To make things easier, I threw out one last offer.

"Surrender. If you give up before our Axen troops arrive, tie yourselves up, and wait quietly, I’ll spare your lives."

And finally, the pirates started tossing their weapons onto the deck.

Thud!

One by one, they began binding each other’s hands and feet.

As I watched this bizarre sight of five hundred pirates tying one another up, I thought to myself—

‘…There’s not actually many reinforcements coming.’

Yeah, truthfully, Axen doesn’t even have a big enough dock to send a large fleet here…

The best they could manage were a few rowboats.

So, honestly, I had been a little nervous until they all finished tying themselves up.

Clank.

Creeeeak.

The citizens of Newdale slowly began opening their locked doors and stepping out into the streets.

"They were fighting so fiercely just a while ago…"

"After that thunderous noise, I couldn’t tell what was happening anymore."

"Ah, so you couldn’t see from your side? They completely trapped the pirates in the harbor."

"They trapped them? How…?"

People who had come outside looked toward the docks, only to gasp in shock.

The path leading to the pier was completely blocked by massive boulders.

"Wait… does that mean all the pirates are trapped inside?"

"Exactly."

"But who the hell managed to pull off something like this?"

"That man over there seems to be the leader…"

A citizen raised his hand and pointed to a figure standing atop the rocky hill.

Everyone followed his gesture, turning their gaze.

And there, they saw—

A man draped in a black fur cloak, grinning like a wolf.

A tall figure, standing a head taller than most men.

No one knew where he had come from.

But he was the one who had rid them of the pirates that had been plundering their home.

The people on the ground stood there for a long time, looking up at him.

I waited an entire day for the reinforcements, including the knight order from the territory, to arrive.

But in reality, the so-called reinforcements were just about thirty men.

I was worried about whether that small number would be enough to control all these pirates…

"Oh, right. I forgot they haven’t eaten."

Having starved for an entire day while being tied up, the pirates were much weaker than I expected.

So even with just a dozen knights on our side, we had no trouble keeping them under control.

"You sons of bitches!"

"We’ll help!"

Nearly a hundred able-bodied men from Newdale volunteered to act as ‘guards.’

Since the pirates had already been disarmed and left starving, no one seemed to fear them anymore.

With that settled, I immediately moved on to the next step.

We loaded up the thirteen pirate ships with Newdale’s craftsmen, the captured pirates, the citizens of Newdale, and the reinforcements from Axen…

"Set sail!"

And just like that, we headed straight for the northern coast of Axen.

Priest Matthias and the mage Bjorn quietly approached and asked,

"But… why are we taking an entire fleet to the northern coast? That area is completely frozen over. There’s nowhere to dock these ships. Wasn’t the whole reason we ended up here in the first place because we were looking for an ice-free port?"

They had a point.

Right now, the northern coast was frozen solid.

Since I had to ease their concerns, I responded lightly.

"Don’t worry. We’re about to make an ice-free port. I already sent messenger pigeons to summon some mages I know."

"The cost of that would be astronomical, though."

I gestured toward the piles of treasure we had plundered from the pirate ships.

"……."

"……And even if the mages manage to melt the ice along the northern coast, a project of that scale would require a massive workforce. Where exactly are we supposed to find that many workers…?"

Swooooosh.

Before Matthias could finish his sentence, our fleet had already reached the northern shore.

"Drop anchor! All ships will dock here."

This marked the first step in establishing the great northern port.

And as a bonus, it was time to answer Matthias’s question about where we’d find our workforce.

"From now on, all pirates will change into work clothes and start construction. The territory’s troops and Newdale’s citizens will bundle up warmly and beat the crap out of anyone who tries to run or slack off. Begin."

For the first time in history, mages from all over the continent, the forces of Axen, the people of Newdale, and a bunch of pirates would be cooperating on a project.