Chapter 15:
A Worthy Opponent
THE SITUATION OUTSIDE Arcadia’s fortress continued to develop. The royal army had rallied and was pushing the imperials back, due in large part to the emperor’s own orders. After Leon and his men breached the fortress, the emperor had recalled his Demonic Knights—the imperial army’s strongest forces—to combat them. The ensuing panic affected all their troops.
Gilbert watched it all play out from the bridge of his ship. “Don’t let this opportunity go to waste!” he ordered. “Keep pushing them back!”
Both armies were fighting with all their might, exhausting an enormous amount of resources and manpower in the process. If this had been an ordinary war, future generations would have looked back on it as a moment when both sides made the foolish mistake of refusing to retreat when they should have.
“Lord Gilbert, you should fall back,” said the captain. Gilbert had ridden to the front line to command their forces and, thus far, refused to leave. “You’re the Redgrave heir. We have no idea whether His Grace is still alive. If anything happened to you, it could have grave consequences!”
Gilbert’s expression betrayed no emotion. “If I turned my back on our men now, I would bring shame on both myself and future generations of my house. Do you honestly expect me to do that?”
“Sometimes you must shoulder shame for the greater good! Besides, our allies are handling things just fine at the front. I don’t see any reason for shame in falling back to safety.”
“Shame is just an excuse on my part,” Gilbert admitted. “The real reason I can’t withdraw is because my pride won’t allow it.”
“Lord Gilbert…” Any further argument died on the captain’s lips. He resigned himself, realizing he couldn’t convince Gilbert even if he tried.
At that same moment, two white Armors whizzed past their ship, expertly cleaving through nearby monsters as they went. They were no doubt capable of that partly because the Armors were so powerful, but it was obvious the pilots were equally talented.
Unfortunately, the conversation leaking into the air was less impressive or graceful.
“There, kiddo! See? I’ve beaten more enemies than you!”
“You’ve got some nerve claiming that after you stole my prey, you old man!”
When the AIs upgraded the royal army’s ships, they’d equipped the Redgraves’ vessel with a monitor, which now displayed the two strangely masked pilots. Gilbert didn’t need to see their faces anyway—not when he recognized both their voices.
Pressing a hand to his forehead, he sank to his knees.
The captain panicked and raced over to him. “Lord Gilbert! Please hold firm!” He probably realized the cause of Gilbert’s sudden exasperation.
“It’s…it’s fine,” Gilbert stammered. “Actually, I have a request to make of you, Captain. Could you fire at those two?”
“Pardon?”
Gilbert’s expression had turned cold and emotionless as he stared at the monitor. “Just one missile,” he reasoned. “Surely people would believe that was a misfire, right?”
“No. No, of course we can’t do that. They’re our allies!”
Gilbert grimaced. “I know that. I get it, I do! But still…!” What are they thinking, taking the battlefield?!
The pilots’ voices were still leaking through the monitor into the ship.
“Who are you really, brat? As soon as this is over, and we get back to the capital, I’ll have you arrested! You’d better be ready to face the dungeons!”
“Oh yeah? I’ll make you regret defying me, Grandpa! You’re the one who’ll end up in the dungeon. Then you’ll have no choice but to face the consequences of your actions!”
The saddest part was that the two masked knights had no idea who each other were.