Emperor of Steel

Fernando managed to escape from the sea which was like hell.

He ran back to the Grenada Kingdom with a dozen ships following him.

He didn’t care about the transport fleet.

It was because it would turn into a huge deal if he ended up getting caught by the Symphonia fleet once again.

Of course, there was no supply of food and they ran out of water, and the sailors began to starve.

However, Fernando as a king, was able to have minimum meals.

The beer and the moldy break were all that they had.

“Kuek! Luke de Rakan! You are making me go through this once…!”

Inside his cabin, Fernando would run wild every day.

Even his own guards stayed far from him, scared that he would act harshly towards them.

“Keuk! I will definitely take my revenge! Even if it means to sell my soul to the devil himself, I will get my revenge on you!”

While Fernando was cursing Luke, the ship kept on moving without a stop.

After 10 days they arrived at Rondo.

Originally, it was a distance that could have been reached in a week, however, it took more time because of the winds and weak sailors.

Somehow, Fernando managed to reach the port.

Usually, when a ship with a royal flag appears near the port, people gather with hospitality, but the current port was too silent.

Well, it felt eerier.

‘Did they know that I was defeated in Symphonia?’

An ambitious fleet got smashed to the core.

Almost 100,000 troops turned into war prisoners of the enemy or food for fish…

If that news went into the minds of the nobles, they wouldn’t hold back their words. It was because the nobles too had provided supplies and troops for the battle.

There could be a rebellion.

This was why Fernando decided to check the situation in the royal capital by communicating with his servant.

However, there was no response from the servant even after trying magical communication three times.

‘This doesn’t feel good at all.’

The pit of his stomach told him to escape, but the sailors were too tired and hungry to move again.

“We can’t help it. Carefully enter the port.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Upon receiving the orders from Fernando, the captain entered the port of Rondo.

However, as soon as they entered the port, dozens of large ships surrounded them.

“Wh-what is this? From where did these ships come?”

“It is the Holy Empire! It has to be the Holy Arthenia Empire’s fleet!”

When the captain saw the flag on the enemy ship, he shouted in panic.

It turned out that all the ships which surrounded them had a white flag with a cross on it.

It was a flag that symbolized the Pope who ruled the Holy Empire.

Fernando’s mind which went blank was brought to reality by the voice which came to the enemy ship.

“Listen to us Fernando, the head of the Grenada pirates! The main port and Rondo have already been occupied by the Holy Arthenia Empire. Don’t think of rebelling, surrender now!”

“D-damn it, run away! Hurry up and take us away!”

At the words of Fernando, the captain of the ship immediately turned the ship to move out of the port.

However, it wasn’t like the Holy Empire to silently watch it.

Pop! Pop!

Guns were fired from the Holy Empire fleet and sank off the leading ship.

When the retreat was blocked, the hungry sailors surrendered without putting up a proper fight.

As a result, Fernando couldn’t escape and got caught.

Surprisingly, it was Arch Duke Gregory who came over to get him.

He put a seal on Fernando’s wrist and spoke with a smile.

“Thank you. Because of your stupidity, we were able to capture Grenada very easily.”

Rondo and the other major ports were almost empty, thanks to Fernando who was driven by his vengeance, and took out the entire troops.

Thanks to that, the Holy Empire Navy was able to easily occupy the ports without even putting up a huge battle.

Several times over the past hundred years, they tried to subdue the pirates, but the Holy Empire always failed, they couldn’t even get close to the port.

“It looks like you went ahead and assumed that we would support Symphonia in the war, that was a huge mistake on your part.”

“Kuek!”

Realizing the huge mistake he made, Fernando seemed completely hopeless.

‘… But it isn’t over!’

He had some hope.

Princess Margareta, the envoy of Libiya Kingdom.

They were still in the Grenada Kingdom, they helped Fernando ascend the throne.

So Fernando believed that they would run over to save him.

However, his hopes got shattered when he reached the square in front of the palace.

It was because the Libiya kingdom’s envoys were hung by their necks.

Among them was Margareta.

She had an ugly death with her tongue sticking out and an expression which said ‘how did this happen?’.

“Y-you crazy bastards! They are the envoy of the Libiya Kingdom, killing them so carelessly…!”

It was an unwritten rule to never kill the envoys even if they were war partners.

At Fernando’s words, Arch Duke spoke back.

“If she wouldn’t have learned the enchanting magic and the forbidden dark magic, this wouldn’t have happened.”

When Rondo was taken over by the Holy Imperial army, Margareta and her party tried to escape from the place.

But unfortunately, they encountered the paladins led by Arch Duke Gregory.

Gregory, who looked young on the outside, was skilled enough to learn that Margareta and her party were made of warlocks.

Of course, he was about to take them down right away, but then Margareta used enchanting magic, which made no effect on Gregory, who was a Sword Sage.

They were captured right away, and were subject to execution.

“Th-that can’t be…!”

To Fernando, who didn’t want to believe it, Arch Duke spoke with a stern expression.

“Their bodies will be burnt after the cleansing ritual.”

The Holy Empire was famous for subduing the warlocks the moment they were found out.

In recent years, the policy was changed to punish the men according to the crime done, but the Veritas men were considered to be an exception from it.

It was because of the atrocities they had been committing in the nations under the cover, and a few years back, the zombie poison in the Holy Empire was a result of their actions.

“The Libiya Kingdom has joined hands with the remnants of the Veritas Magic tower…! We were wondering why the Symphonia Kingdom was trying to keep the Libiya Kingdom in check, figured it was for a good reason.”

Gregory, who said that, looked at Fernando who was staring at him.

“In any case, even you, who joined hands with those warlocks can’t be excused.”

“I-I didn’t know! I had no idea!”

At Fernando’s desperate denial, Arch Duke Gregory’s face turned cold.

“Did you really not know? Just a moment back, it seemed like you were expecting something from them?”

“That was…”

“Your wife has already testified. You assassinated King Drake after entering into a relationship with that woman. It is enough to understand while looking at your face the moment you saw her hanging.”

“No! I was framed! That wasn’t me!”

Fernando desperately denied everything, but no one listened to him.

Two days later, the bodies of Margareta and the other warlocks were buried, and Fernando was taken to the Holy Empire and hanged.

That brought an end to the history of the pirate kingdom, which had been wrecking the sea of the Rhodesia continent for hundreds of years.