The so-called enemy soldier was battered armor, his body still and lifeless, an iron colr ed tightly around his neck. Faint magical runes glowed along its surface, firming John’s worst fear.

  A servitude spell. These weren’t enemy pirates. They were sves. John’s stomach twisted.

  “They… they sent the sves disguised as knights,” the knight stammered, his voice heavy.

  John’s eyes widened as realization dawned on him like a hammer to the skull.

  The enemy hadn’t ridden into the ambush themselves. They had used the sves—dressed in armor, armed with sed-rate ons—as nothing more than on fodder to fool them.

  At the Eastern Coastline – Orapped Ships

  Lana coughed, her lungs burning as the dust settled arouhe air was thick with the st of broken wood, rope, and the unmistakable tang of blood. All around her, her crew scrambled in a frantic daze, some tending to the wounded while others searched for their ons amid the wreckage.

  She gritted her teeth as she forced herself upright, gripping the ship’s railing for support. Paihrough her side, but she ig. Her gaze swept over the se, her pulse pounding as she registered the devastation.

  The mast had fallen, crushing two of her knights beh its massive weight. Their sacrifice had spared her, pushing her out of the way just in time—but at the cost of their own lives.

  Lana’s fiightened around the railing as she turned her eyes toward the sea. The ship o hers had suffered the same fate, its masts snapped like brittle twigs, the jagged remains jutting into the sky like broken spears.

  “What the hell was that?” she muttered, mind rag.

  No ordinary ballista could fire javelins with such force, let alone from that distance. She had fought in enough battles to know that much.

  Her breath hitched. “They have mages with them.”

  It was the only expnation.

  Her heart pounded as she weighed her options. If the enemy had mages capable of enhang their siege ons, their initial pn of st the city was suicide. The decision to send the sves ahead in disguise had been a simple caution, but now she k had been the right one. Had she sent her own men instead, they would’ve been sughtered before even reag the city gates.

  Grindieeth, Lana made her decision.

  “Everyone! Get the boats!” she anded, her voice cutting through the chaos.

  Her crew hesitated for only a moment before scrambling to obey. She khey were shaken—many of them had never faced a sitle before this was their first mission for many. But hesitation would only get them killed.

  “Leave the sves! Get as many supplies as you !” she barked.

  There was no salvaging this mission. The battle was lost, and their only hope of survival was to escape. If they could take enough provisions, they might stand a ce rouping at sea.

  As her crew hurried to execute her orders, she allowed herself a small, bitter smirk.

  “At least I sent half my crew to Captain or,” she muttered under her breath.

  If he had fared better thahere might still be a ce to turn this around.

  At the Southern Coastline – Orapped Ships

  The ships were chaos. The crag of broken nterns that spread fmes, the distant csh of steel against the wood still ringing, and the anguished cries of the wounded filled the air. Onboard the leading vessel, Captain rip tightened around the hilt of his sword as he watched his men force the sves into position.

  “Ja! Hold her properly! Use the fillet flower if you have to!” or snapped, his voice ced with urgency.

  Ja fli the order, his hands trembling slightly as he shoved a struggling sve forward.

  or’s pn was simple—if Ravenna wahe sves, then they would use them as leverage. If they threateo execute them, she might be forced to let them leave unharmed.

  But Ja’s stomach ed.

  Would it work?

  Princess Ravenna’s reputation preceded her. Ruthless. ing. Unfiving. She had brought entire noble houses to ruin over a single insult. Entire families had been wiped from existeninor slights against her.

  Ja’s mi cirg back to his own family—his mother, frail and si their tiny vilge near Ronin Town. He had only just been promoted from a squire to a knight. This mission was supposed to be his easy ticket to a le, to a better life for his mother.

  Now, as he stared into the terrified eyes of the sves, the certainty of his own survival dwindled with each passing moment.

  “Yes, Captain,” he muttered, shoving the sve forward once more, but his grip was unsteady.

  He prayed he would live to see his main.

  At the Southern Coastline – On the Port

  [Reputation System Log]+9 Points: Knight Ja is stunned and dreading the terattack’s tinuation.

  Ravenna’s sharp eyes flickered over the floating log, amusement curling at the ers of her lips. With a delicate motion, she tapped the entry to expand it.

  [Reputation Log]Title: KnightName: Ja HouseReason: He is terrified of you. If you win this battle, he believes you will have his family—especially his sick mother—executed. He desperately hopes to escape alive and plete his mission, seg a le to provide a better life for his family.Background: Ja House is a young knight from a small vilge near Ronin Town. He spent years struggling to provide for his sick mother and saw this mission as an opportunity to elevate his family’s status. He romised a title upon success.

  Ravenna exhaled through her nose, a smirk tugging at her lips.

  “Oh?”

  She lifted her hand, crushing another jasmine flower between her fingers. The fragrance mixed with the salty sea breeze, and as the petals crumbled, her voied across the battlefield once more, ced with amusement and chilliainty.

  “Captain or,” she called, her voice carrying across the waters. “I wonder… just how muen fear me.”

  She let her words linger, sav the weight of them.

  Then, with an almost zy fidence, she spoke again.

  “Like Ser Ja House over there? Doesn’t he want to return to his sick mother?”

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