Baiya’s plan was met with unanimous opposition from the fighters; they all thought she was trying to sacrifice herself to save them.
Even if they survived, without the Savior-sama, their future fate would surely be miserable! In that case, it’d be better to die together with Baiya!
Baiya really couldn’t understand why her companions all wore such looks of heroic sacrifice. Obviously, all they needed to do was run away. Fighting should be avoided as much as possible—there just wasn’t enough time.
In the events of Chapter 2, this very transport ship was split in half by a giant wave! It was extremely dangerous then!
“I’m telling you, I’m not some noble person. On the contrary, I’m extremely selfish. I have no intention of sacrificing myself for others. Listen up: I’ll go draw the soldiers away, you all get the boats ready. I’ll circle back around to board later, so the faster you act, the safer I’ll be!” Baiya broke down the plan in detail. If they refused, they couldn’t continue with the operation.
“But, Miss Baiya, you intend to distract all the soldiers by yourself! That’s far too dangerous!” Tabu shook his head and firmly objected.
“Then who else could do it?” Baiya’s tone turned serious and commanding. “Only I can.”
“I’m the one who killed the ogre. I’m stronger than all of you, and my chances of surviving are the highest. Only I can handle this task, only I can buy us the most time and minimize our losses.”
“If you want me to get back safely, then you all better work hard.”
After giving them some last-minute instructions, Baiya turned and dashed out of the forest. She’d made up her mind to carry out the second plan, and she put it into action immediately.
If the fighters didn’t want to let Baiya down, they could only follow her orders. As her slender figure was swallowed by the sunlight, they couldn’t hold back their tears.
“Everyone, get moving! Hurry!” As the walls exploded with noisy chaos, Master Luo wiped his tears away and barked a stern order at everyone.
“Kulang, Captain! There’s an intruder! Doesn’t look like a pirate—more like a slave making a break for it during the chaos! She’s already broken through the lower gate and is charging up the stairs!”
Kulang was watching the pirate ships’ movements at sea with intense focus when his subordinate burst into the duty room with this report.
Kulang waved him off impatiently, indicating this was nothing important. If she was tough, just send a few more men to capture her and toss her to the sharks.
Five minutes later, the subordinate burst in again, this time looking even more panicked and dripping with sweat.
“Captain Kulang! The intruder’s already on the wall! She’s incredible! Even gunfire can’t hit her! Over a dozen of us have already been taken out by her! Please give us orders!”
“Dammit, are you done yet? Find a few gold-rankers and chop her up! That enough for you? Scram!” Kulang snapped, turning his head and shouting. The subordinate, mopping his cold sweat, retreated in haste.
“Damn it all, even slaves dare to rebel now—everything’s gone to hell!” Kulang spat, then continued to monitor the pirate ship movements with his telescope.
At this moment, Kulang’s mood was at rock bottom. It wasn’t just because the outside was surrounded by pirate ships so tightly that not even a fly could escape, and the pirates weren’t likely to spare many men to watch this spot.
As a regular captain of Amidar’s soldiers, Kulang had the spirit to devote everything to Amidar. He had already ordered his soldiers to aim the magitek cannons at the pirate ships at sea, ready to fire at any sign of movement.
But this wasn’t to defeat the pirates—instead, it was to hold them in place. Kulang didn’t want to see the eastern harbor bolstered by even more pirate reinforcements. Holding back even one ship was better than nothing!
“Damn it, a bunch of filthy animals!” Kulang could only grit his teeth. Most of the pirate ships had headed to the right side of the transport, encircling it with no gaps left!
On the right side of the slave transport was a harbor where a large number of lifeboats were docked. This was for the nobility to escape in emergencies, like the once-in-a-century Stellar Sea Storms, to ensure they had the best chance of survival.
But the current situation was even worse than a Stellar Sea Storm.
The transport’s forward magitek cannons, used to fight off enemies, had fallen silent for ages. The strong magic shield, meant to defend against enemy artillery, had never been raised. All their powerful defenses had already been destroyed by the pirates.
When that overwhelming tidal wave crashed down, Kulang’s heart sank into the abyss. It was no natural phenomenon—it was clearly manipulated by the pirates. That power to control the sea was every ship’s nightmare!
Five years after the end of the Great Revolution, Amidar was suffering another devastating blow. The vile, filthy pirates would inevitably seize the transport; it was only a matter of time. The nobles were rushing to the right side to escape by lifeboat—understandable.
At first, Kulang also thought about heading for the eastern harbor. He wanted to remain loyal to Amidar, but if he could survive, all the better. But then he noticed that some of the pirate ships near the right side of the transport were pulling away. As time passed, more and more ships left. After investigating their movements, he realized something was off.
On this slave transport, ask anyone: if you’re escaping, the eastern harbor is the best route.
And the pirates knew this too.
This meant there were Amidar’s people among the pirates! The pirates knew the ship’s layout inside out! Their own were moving toward the eastern harbor, while their ships converged on the transport’s right side. With inside and outside working together, the nobles would soon face a massacre!
Kulang knew he couldn’t go to the eastern harbor now. He’d recently received a call for help from there and had sent a lot of soldiers to assist, though he didn’t hold much hope.
The pirates had boarded from the north; the eastern harbor was being attacked from both inside and out; the south was the site of terrifying battles and impossible to approach. Only the west wall where he stood still retained some peace.
The pirates probably knew the west side’s Iron Wall was the hardest to breach. That’s why so few were posted to watch it.
That left a single path to survival.
On the western Iron Wall, there were backup lifeboats—not many, just three, each with a capacity of four. They were stored in a warehouse and needed to be lowered to the sea using lifting machinery from the wall. Prince Arthur had whimsically ordered them moved here.
Kulang had already ordered his men to get them ready. In the final moments, he planned to board the transport himself and command his men to fire the cannons for cover, so he could return to the homeland as Amidar’s survivor and report this shameful incident to the great king—his duty.
Amidar’s fury would let these accursed pirates truly understand what a stupid mistake they’d made—crossing that “Demon King”—and that they’d spend the rest of their lives in fear!
“Kulang Mars, forty-five years old, born in Amidar, magic rank: none, battle aura: gold level three. Hmm, a winnable opponent.”
As he was cursing the pirates to an early grave, a girl’s voice suddenly spoke up behind him. But he knew perfectly well there were no women among his soldiers; only slave women were on the transport, and most were used as playthings.
Kulang was speechless. He recalled what his subordinate had just said—a girl?! A slave?! Some incredibly strong intruder had climbed the wall?!
“Damn…” Kulang cursed without turning around. “You took out all my men?! This is our main base, you know!”
“Ah, I was surprised too.” Baiya nodded in agreement. “I thought there’d be at least a hundred, but there were pathetically few—not even thirty. I was going to taunt you into sending more, but in the end, just fighting was the better choice. The first plan was the right move.”
“You don’t have the aura of a gold-ranker. And there aren’t any gold-rank slaves on this ship. How did you take down my gold-ranked men?” Kulang pressed, tensing his muscles, ready to strike at any moment.
The clear sound of a gun being cocked made Kulang give up the idea of resisting. He raised his hands in surrender.
“You win, damn slave. But don’t expect to get anything out of me! Amidar’s glory is with me to the end!”
“I wasn’t planning on it anyway.” Baiya, using voice-transmission magic, communicated with Tabu and the others and learned they were ready to lower the lifeboats, with food and water packed. They were anxiously calling for her to board.
“All right, lower the boat, I’m coming right away,” Baiya said calmly.
“Baiya-nee, you have to make it! Once the boat starts lowering, there’s no way back. You have to get here before it hits the water—promise!” Stiya’s voice was so anxious it was on the verge of tears.
“Yeah,” Baiya replied, pressing the gun to Kulang’s head while nodding. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it.”
The harsh sound of chains and gears grinding together echoed out.
Kulang interjected, “You’ve got allies? Having them lower the lifeboat to escape? Even so, it’s at least six or seven hundred meters to the lift—running there would take minutes. Are you sure you don’t want them to wait? You’ll never make it in time.”
“Shut up. It’s fine just like this.” Baiya didn’t need Kulang to remind her—she knew this already.
She just wanted to let the fighters escape without worry.
A few seconds later, Baiya used the voice-transmission magic again and heard Stiya’s sobbing.
“Don’t cry. Girls who cry all the time aren’t cute.”
“Baiya-nee?! Baiya-nee! You liar! Big liar! You’re not here at all! I’ll never forgive you! Hmph, never!”
“Can you see the pirate ships?”
“Hmph… I can see them…”
“Someone has to stay behind and cover your escape, right? Leave the pirates to me. You, the old guy, the grump, the lion, the guide, the sentry, the old man—live well. I’m counting on your futures.”
“But—but! No! Without you, Baiya-nee, I can’t do it. None of us can! We can’t do it without you! You’re our Savior!”
“Don’t put me on a pedestal. I haven’t done anything all that amazing. I have plenty of shortcomings. I didn’t save everyone, did I? Doesn’t that make me pretty useless? I’m nothing like a Savior at all.”
“No! No!”
“I see. If I’m not here, you don’t know what to do. That’s a big problem, isn’t it?”
“Yes! That’s exactly right! Baiya-nee, come back! Hmph…”
“In that case, you just need to become me,” Baiya’s eyes burned with excitement and fervor. “And then surpass me.”
“All the possibilities I can reach, and those I can’t—I leave them to you.”
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