Chương 25: Chapter 25

I look to the side and see Wilhelm, one of the 108 Stars of Destiny and one of the strongest characters in the War Fight in the Suikoden 5.

"Are you sure? I cannot pay you much at the moment."

"Hah! As long as you feed us, we are willing to be paid when we win the fight. What do you think?"

I look at the prince, who is looking at me with pleading eyes. Haaa… You did not need to look at me like that.

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

I get up from my chair and look at the prince.

"Do you want me to meet with someone, or do we only need to stay here and wait?"

The prince looks at me and gives me a bright smile. Urgh. Why is there light coming from his head? Is this the effect of the protagonist?

"Please come with us to the Dahak! We will talk about the strategy there."

I nod and follow the prince to the biggest ship in the entire floating city.

=//=

The guard that stands in front of Dahak's door lets us get inside the ship, and the prince takes us to a massive room where I can see a small group of people already waiting for us. I know them. The one sitting on the floor is Admiral Raja.

She might be old, but she is the greatest admiral in the entire Queendom. I can feel it. I can feel the aura around her, the aura of a strong person. She might look frail, but my martial talent screams at me to learn from her. Even when it is brief, I can learn a lot.

Standing next to her is one of the targets in my catalog. She is a tier-4 character who is great in close combat and a fantastic navigator for any water-based travel. Standing behind her are her husband, Logg, and her daughter Lun.

Standing in front of them is Lucretia, the tactician of the entire group. She is the brain of the entire army, letting the prince and his ragtag group win the war against Godwin and their army.

"Lucretia! I managed to bring him, and he is willing to give us twenty million."

I chuckle a little when I see Raja spray the water inside her mouth while Logg and Lun open their jaws in shock. Lucretia looks at me with a serious expression and says.

"Are you sure you want to invest in us? We are a 'rebel' in this war, and we don't know how long it will take to pay you back."

I smile a little and say.

"Hmm, I'm just a dumb merchant. I like taking risks."

Lucretia smiles at my answer and says.

"A merchant that can make a profit of more than ten million Potch after trading for less than a month."

"Like I said. I'm just a dumb merchant who is lucky to put my money in the right place."

"Then I hope you keep getting lucky because we need your money-making luckiness to keep pumping that money."

"Well, let's just pray that all my trades will keep being profitable."

Lucretia nods, looks at Wilhelm, and says.

"You are Wilhelm of the Lindwurm Mercenary Brigade, right?"

"That we are, pretty ladies. What is it? Are you falling in love with me at first sight? Well, I cannot blame you. I'm the most dashing man in the entire world, after all."

Before he can say more, his first officer and friend, Mueller, take out an iron rod from his belt and wack Wilhelm with it.

"Focus, you idiot captain. We need to talk about the contract and payment."

"Right. Right."

Wilhelm nods and looks at Lucretia and me with a serious expression.

"We did not want much. We want five hundred thousand potch every month we are in your faction. We usually demand a little bit higher, but as long as you feed us, we are good. Not only that, we are fighting Godwin and no one else. We did not want to get involved in another war other than the civil war against Godwin. We are willing to wait for our payment after the war is over. However, don't try to fool us."

Lucretia nods her head and says.

"That is fair. We will make sure you receive your payment."

"Great! So, we have a deal?"

"We have a deal."

Wilhelm nods his head and steps back, waiting for his next order. Seeing we are done talking, Lucretia's smile turns into a frown. She looks at Raja and says.

"So? What is the situation?"

Raja nods and looks at her right-hand woman, Kisara. Kisara nods and says.

"General Bahram Luger's Fleet delivered an ultimatum. They ordered us to surrender our autonomy and swear allegiance to the 'Future Queen, Princess Lymsleia.' and if we don't, they will subjugate us by force."

Sialeeds takes a deep breath and says.

"When we heard that, we rushed over here. It is one thing to go after us, but to go after raftfleet as well…?"

Georg shakes his head and says.

"You are either with them or against them. It is that simple. They hate us, of course, but they hate self-governing regions even more. They want all of the regions under one rule, the Godwins."

"They are doing all of this in the name of Princess Lymsleia?! How dare they!"

Lyon shouts in outrage. Lucretia releases a sigh and looks at Raja, who is in deep thought.

"So… What do you plan to do, Admiral?"

Raja looks at Lucretia for a few seconds and says.

"I used to head up that fleet, you know? And Bahram is my trusted assistant. I trusted him with my life, in fact. I know better than anybody how formidable he can be. It would be crazy for us to take on the Godwin Navy head-on, especially when Barham is at the helm. But! I'm not a quitter! And there is no quitter in Raftfleet! However, I don't know what to do. We are lucky with the wind blowing north and a storm up north. We have time to prepare."

I can see Lucretia hiding a smile behind her feather fan and says.

"It is simple. You just need to drive them away."

Kisara looks at Lucretia as if she has a second head and says.

"'Just drive them away,' she said. It is not that simple."

Raja looks at the strategist and says.

"You have a plan, eh? Lucretia."

"That's right."

"And you are now his Highness tactician, huh?"

"That is a good point."

Lucretia looks at Freyjadour and says.

"Prince, what would you like to do? Will you aid Raftfleet?"

"Of course!"

Logg and Lun cheer at that answer while Kisara releases a small smile. Raja nods her head in appreciation.

"Thank you, your highness. Even when we refuse your early request for aid, you decide to aid us instead. Raftfleet will not forget about it."

Freyjadour did not say anything and only gave a beaming smile at the old admiral, who smiled a little at the prince. As expected of the main character, that smile alone can melt an iceberg. Lucretia claps her hand and says.

"Right! Let's talk about a way to drive the incoming enemy, shall we?"