He was certain, without a doubt, that he had already lost his mind. His kingdom was in shambles right now, but there was no way invaders shouting the name of that pathetic weak kingdom would make it all the way to the innermost part of his palace. It would have made sense if they were shouting the name of the Ephedrine Kingdom, which belonged to his friend-turned-enemy King Stallone, but they were shouting the Proatine Kingdom, which was simply absurd.
However, the voices showed no signs of stopping…
“For the Proatine Kingdom!”
“For the Proatine Kingdom!”
“For the Proatine Kingdom!”
The voices grew louder and louder within the palace.
Explosions rocked the palace, and walls crumbled at once.
Flames abruptly engulfed the room where George the Third was resting.
“F-Fire!”
The servants and maids brought buckets of sand and water to extinguish the flames, but it was to no avail.
The flames seemed to be created with magic as they refused to get extinguished and continued to burn brighter.
The door swung open, and the Vice Knight Captain rushed in, “Your Majesty! Please run away! You must run away now!”
***
George the Third retorted almost instantly, “What’s going on?! Where’s the Knight Captain?!”
“He has fallen in battle!”
“What?! He’s dead?! How can Sir Sutar die?!”
The Knight Captain of the Salut Kingdom’s Royal Guards was a knight on the cusp of becoming a Master and was renowned for his swordsmanship.
Such a powerful knight had actually died? Who killed him? There was no way he died at the hands of the madmen outside shouting, "For the Proatine Kingdom"!
However, George the Third could not help but doubt his ears once again after hearing the report.
“Sir Sutar died in a duel against the King of the Proatine Kingdom, Siegfried van Proa!”
“W-What?! That brat killed Sutar?!”
“Yes, Your Majesty! Sir Sutar did not even get the chance to display his skills! King Siegfried was despicable and ambushed him before the duel even began!”
“N-No! That can’t be! How can Sutar die like this?! How can he die to a brat like him?!” George the Third cried out while in complete denial. Then, he asked, “T-That means… Those rabbles from the Proatine Kingdom have really infiltrated my palace?”
“Y-Yes, Your Majesty!”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“Impossible!”
“…!”
“Impossible! This can’t be real! How can that ragtag bunch from that pathetic kingdom invade my palace?! HOW?!”
George the Third was absolutely right. The Proatine Kingdom was not strong enough to invade all the way inside the royal palace of the Salut Kingdom. The quantity and quality of guards defending the royal palace alone was more than enough to withstand the assault of an army of soldiers from a pathetic weak kingdom like the Proatine Kingdom.
However, that was only because George the Third had no idea how meticulous of a person Siegfried was.
Siegfried placed his elite forces on the outskirts of the palace and bombarded the walls with the Proatine Kingdom’s canons. Not only that, but he also deployed his airships and the Proatine Kingdom’s marines rappelled down from it.
Moreover, Siegfried placed down his Blaze Field and Shadow Swamp to cover the entire palace, supporting his troops.
However, the biggest reason the palace easily fell was simply due to the fact that the Proatine Kingdom’s marines and knights were significantly stronger than the Salut Kingdom’s knights.
“Your Majesty! Now is not the time for that! You must evacuate at once before the enemy comes here! I will personally escort you, so please follow me!”
“I-I can’t…! I will not run away! Why should I vacate my palace?! I will not run away from that pathetic brat! Never!”
“Fuck! This really isn’t the time for you to be stubborn!”
“W-What?! Y-You dare speak that—!”
The Vice Knight Captain spat his phlegm at George the Third’s feet.
“…!”
***
Oscar icily glared at him and said, “George the Third! You are hereby under arrest for insulting, threatening, taunting, and committing twenty-nine other offenses against His Royal Majesty, King Siegfried van Proa.”
“A-Arrested?! A bitch like you dares to arrest me?!” George the Third retorted.
However, Oscar did not entertain his retort. Instead, she turned to the Proatine Kingdom’s marines and commanded, “Drag him away!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The marines moved into action and put shackles on George the Third’s arms and legs.
“L-Let me go! Let go of me! How dare you put your filthy hands on me?!” George the Third screamed while flailing his arms. Then, he looked at his knights and screamed, “Hey! Hurry up and save me! What are you standing around for when your king is getting dragged away by the enemy?!”
“…”
However, the Vice Knight Captain didn't respond to him.
Then, Oscar walked over to him and gave a slight nod before saying, “Please surrender, Senior Jester.”
Surprisingly, she seemed to be acquainted with the knight, and he was probably her senior at the Macallan Kingdom Knight Academy, judging by how courteous she was acting toward him.
“…”
“Nobody will criticize you for surrendering.”
“But…"
“This war is over. There is no need for us to shed any more blood, senior.”
“Alright…” Jester replied and dropped his sword.
Oscar looked at the marines and said, “He is an honorable knight and my senior from the knight academy, so treat him with the respect he deserves.”
“Yes, ma’am!” The marines replied with a salute and courteously escorted Jester away. The way they handled Jester was completely opposite to how they "handled" George the Third.
“Hey! You asshole! I’m your king! Your KING! Are you abandoning your oath as—“
Oscar waved her hand and said, “Silence him.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
One of the marines shoved a dirty cloth inside George the Third’s mouth and gagged him. Then, they proceeded to beat the living daylight out of him.
George the Third was absolutely defenseless against the lynching.
His desperate muffled screams reverberated throughout the palace…
***
Meanwhile, Siegfried was speaking with Michele through the communication device of the Salut Kingdom after seizing control of their communication room.
“I have taken control of their communication room, and Dame Oscar is on her way to catch that bastard. I think… she should be done in about thirty minutes?”
— Hmm…
Michele muttered with a troubled look.
— Your Majesty…?
“Yeah?”
— Excellent work.
The reason he was so happy right now was that Michele's praise was extremely rare. Michele would usually nag or berate him whenever he did something, but that was not the case this time.
“I did good, right?”
— Yes, you did a good job, Your Majesty. To be honest, I am a bit moved…”
“R-Really?!”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm— Your Majesty does impress me from time to time, but this is the best so far. I did not imagine, even in my wildest dreams, that you would destroy the Salut Kingdom.
Michele was absolutely serious right now. He knew how competent Siegfried was, as he had surprised Michele countless times by doing the seemingly impossible. Well, he had caused a lot of trouble as well, but that was a different story.
— Your Majesty.
“Hmm?”
— You are truly an unpredictable person.
“Really?”
“…”
— Anyway, the strategy you came up with this time was truly… spectacular.
“See! I told you I’m not stupid! I just didn’t study, but I’m actually really smart!”
— I will be hanging up now.
Michele was about to end the call after Siegfried started praising himself out of nowhere.
“Hey! Michele! You punk!”
— We have fully occupied the Nordage Plains. Then, I shall take my leave now.
The Nordage Plains was one of the Salut Kingdom’s food basket regions, and Michele hung up right after reporting that they had successfully conquered the plains.
Siegfried mobilized the Proatine Kingdom’s military while the other kingdoms invaded the Salut Kingdom. He commanded his armies to conquer the Nodage Plains while the other kingdoms were busy dividing the Salut Kingdom up.
His action made it possible for the Proatine Kingdom to occupy one of the three food basket regions of the Salut Kingdom, which was not a bad haul considering that there were seven other bigger kingdoms that joined the fray.
This was more than a resounding success for Siegfried and the Proatine Kingdom. The amount of grain the Proatine Kingdom stood to gain from the Nodage Plains was more than twenty times the annual consumption of the kingdom.
To put it simply, Siegfried solved the biggest food security issue of the Proatine Kingdom—no, he made the kingdom have an abundance of grain as we speak right now.
“Wow… I think it will be possible for us to distribute food for free now,” Siegfried thought while imagining himself becoming a righteous ruler distributing food to the masses.
One of the marines entered and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Your Majesty!”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Dame Oscar has successfully captured King George the Third—Alive.”
“Oh? She already caught him? That was fast…”
“Yes, Your Majesty! In fact, she is on the way right now!”
“Let’s go!”
Siegfried headed toward the throne room after hearing that everything was prepared.