independent events may be out of order as I can't remember
- flashback: Mama originally belonged to a lost tribe which was able to tame and communicate with eagles, and they are able to read the winds/currents and tell the weather. Jean recruited her into Kioka to make use of her talents
- Mama wanted her own kid and keep f**king everyone she met, but after a year, she didn't get any and Jean concluded that she's barren. She was saddened but Jean consoled her and changed her thinking by telling her that she can play motherly role to her crew, who would become her children
- reason was many small countries like that of Mama and Jean were destroyed, and Mama basically recruited all her crew from the survivors and remnants of these destroyed states and they were orphans who were just as lonely and deprived of 'family love'
- thus Mama practically f**ked all her crew, sometimes 3 men per night
- only guy who didn't get laid was her subcommander, Mr. Unbeddable
(I know that it sounds weird and LOLworthy the way I described it but it's not that bad when you read the text )
- on Empire side, there's a high level strategy discussion meeting
- Ikta had to stay in bed, he provided strat (as usual) and Yatori and Matthew would attend
- Matthew would act as the main strat provider partly because he knew more about boats than the rest of the heroes
- during strat call with all the ship captains/commodores gathered in addition to Yatori and Matthewl, Admiral Yurugus's subcommander, Mr Critic (again forgot the name lol), tried to convince Empire fleet to retreat
- why? because the scouting ship has cannons, and that makes it likely for entire Kioka fleet to have cannons, since they won't send a ship with cannon to scout if cannons are still rare. he also gave a bunch of other arguments and played on their fears after the rest of captains saw what happened to Polmy's ship when they passed by it while boarding the flagship; Polmy's ship is currently kept afloat by scooping water out
- Adm Yurugus didn't like to run away and was a little pissed but acknowledged Critic's points and his given role in shooting holes to their plans.
- Critic says it's quite dumb to carry on the expedition if the whole Kioka fleet has cannons just to preserve their admiral's face
- Yatori stepped in and say it's not just the admiral's face is on the line, but the land expedition as well.
- by running away, they not only lose the ability to reinforce and create a supply line to the land expedition, which will likely be caught up in a drawn out war as the mine is a highly defensible area, the Kioka will then be able to reinforce their own troops to defeat the land expedition
- she then invited Matthew to provide the strategy
- after all that, Admiral Yurugus smiles, says the strat is interesting, and after the navy has provided their expert advice on naval fights to make adjustments to the strat, he thinks that it might work given the skill of their fleet
- they are also going to give a sea burial to Polmy's ship, the crew is reassigned, and the heroes also reassigned
- before that, Yatori had a converstation with Ikta and asked why he got Matthew to stand in for him this time
- Ikta said he's the best for the job, and he has overworked during the northern retreat battle
- Yatori says 'yeah you even missed out on sleep and meals'
- she also grumbled that next time, she would be the one to give away the little finger and there was no argument about that
- Ikta smiled wryly and said if that's what she desired and she said that's what "Yatorishino" desired
- he then said, 'since that day, his desire is what Yatori desires'
- Chamille heard their conversation, was crushed, and ran back to cabin
- finally on ship reassignment: Ikta, Torway on separate ships, Matthew on another ship with geezer and Polmy, Halo and Yattori and Chamille will remain on flagship
- Ikta got everyone to bring 10 bottles of premium liquor, acquired by Chamille in advance, to their own assigned ship to build rapport with the captain and crew. This is to break down any barrier, possible misgivings with the land troops, and ensure that they can effectively fight alongside with one another. The fact the liquor is a product of a legendary discovery (or something to that effect) of Cpt Famed Explorer increased this effect
- on Polmy's ship, geezer and the captain are old friends, but the rest of the lieutenants jeered and bullied Polmy due to their jealousy of her skill and promotion to handle a ship previously, they made fun of her failure; fortunately Matthew stepped in and pacified the situation before it got out of hand with the liquor
- on the flagship, Halo was setting up field medical centers on the ship; Mr. Critic commended on her and her men's abilities.
- then as he passed by her, he whispered into her ear, greeted her and called her 'comrade', to which Halo stiffened
- back to Kioka POV, Mama was surprised by the sudden appearance of the Empire fleet, as she did not expect them until a few days later.
- she deployed 16 ships on external with side facing outwards (one of them was her flagship), and got 20 normal ships readied inside, closer to the harbor
- Based on Ikta's advice, Torway could tell that only 8 of the ships had cannons because their ship bodies were lower, the rest were faking
- through the clever use of upwind and downwind positions and slanted facing of their fleet (the details of the mechanics flew over my head), Kioka's effective cannon range was about the same as the air rifles' range
- Suuya was on lookout deck with Ikta who was monitoring entire situation at the highest possible point, she caught on to the mechanics at the end of the day before Ikta finished; and inside Ikta, he thought, 'hey this girl is growing and could grow further', thanks to her constant association with him.
- when Empire ships got close within cannon range, they fired their air rifles at the cannon operators
- anyway, it was a fierce fight between the 2 fleets
- Mama ordered her cannon fitted ships to run away first and act as support instead as the central 20 ships come to reinforce them
- but 3 of the Kioka cannon ships were caught up and overrun
- 2 were fighting and could be lost
- Mama knew that if she lost more than 4 of the cannon ships it was over for their fleet as she would not have enough cannon ships to implement her strat
- one of those fighting had Unbeddable heading to rescue (either that or he was it itself I can't recall)
- she ordered her flagship (also a cannon ship) to go save the other, she was confident of her ability
- the one she went other was engaged with the ship Polmy and Matthew were on
- can't really remember the sequence of events, but the Polmy-Matthew ship had both their geezers injured during cannon blasts; as the other lieutenants were against Polmy given command of the ship, the geezer asked Matthew to decide as it involved the fate of his men and him and also because Matthew was on the original Polmy ship previously and experienced Polmy's failure first hand; Matthew says based on his experience in the north where he also made a lot of mistakes, he rather trust his life to one who has made more mistakes than one who hasn't yet made a single mistake, thus Polmy becomes acting captain of the ship
- the ship they were engaged in got away, as the Mama flagship fought them
- meanwhile, I can't recall how, but Yatori was somehow on the ship that Unbeddable was on, he recognized her as an Igsem and saw how OP she was and called her a monster, knowing that they are just food folder, and with some kind of pride in him, he raised the negotiation flag
- Yatori stopped her forces, and asked for conditions
- Unbeddable challenges Yatori to personal combat, if he wins, they continue fighting, if she wins, whole crew will surrender thus there was no real disadvantage to them
- Admiral Yugurus agreed to conditions
- Yatori was too OP and defeated Unbeddable without breaking a sweat
- meanwhile, as she took the chains of command, Polmy first sung a song on/of Cpt Famed Explorer. This act greatly raised the spirits of the crew and removed all the ensued confusion from the cannon blasts
- she then ordered the ship to give up on chasing the ship that was getting away and turn around to engage the flagship
- she says if they conquer the enemy flagship, they will win and the fighting will stop
- Mama made a feint, and Polmy reacted properly and in time; Mama was impressed by the opposing captain's ability
- but Mama had cheat code because of her eagle which aided her ship maneuvers; in the end, Polmy got injured too, it was not fatal but she was losing blood and started losing consciousness
- Matthew realized something suspicious with the hovering bird making weird sounds and got his men to shoot it down
- Mama lost bird and was confused, and unable to give decisive commands to her crew and in ship maneuvers
- Matthew and Polmy ship crew boarded Mama ship and fought melee
- Matthew saw a lot of senseless bloodshed and suddenly recalled Ikta's words, "a war must be fought in a relaxed and easy manner. that's the correct way to fight a war" (something to that effect)
- Matthew then raised a flag of negotiation
- in the end Mama realized that they had lost and the harbor had been overrun and she surrendered
- in the end, with the captured ships, the Empire's force remained close to the fighting strength as before, and Admiral Yurugus was pleased
- Mama was captive, got to meet Ikta and realized why she lost (from what she learnt from Jean)
- Critic was talking to Yatori about her exploits, and before he left, Yatori exposed him as a spy and suddenly a bunch of armed men appeared surrounding him
- aside from the messenger pigeon caught, Yatori said that while debating and persuading the Empire to give up on the expedition, Critic knew too much about the inner workings of Kioka's ships and cannon tech, exposed him as spy; admiral Yurugus was disappointed in him and said that he was a good subordinate
- but what Yatori did not guess was that he was more than an Empire spy for Kioka, but a member of the phantom squad (a name give to a group of people in Kioka specially trained to carry out covert ops, espionage, propaganda and infiltration missions)
- while being brought away by soldiers, as they were passing by Halo, Critic took Halo hostage
- Yatori taunts him to kill Halo as she knew that he wouldn't do it which will lose him his hostage
- Critic taunts back and says he could cut a ear off to show how serious he was
- Yatori says when he did that, the window of opportunity is enough for her to cut off his head
- Critic then asked to be given horse and 3 days' food/water
- Yatori can follow him at safe distance before Critic releases Halo; safe distance being Yatori can't rescue Halo without risking her life while at the same time if Critic kills her, Yatori can catch up to him still
- after retrieving Halo, Yatori apologized due to her negligence; Halo shook her head and kept saying sorry. It can be inferred that Halo was apologizing for some other reason here and she might also be a spy.
- finally Chamille and heroes set off from harbor to link up with Sazaruufu and land troops
- Ikta also complimented on Matthew's decision to raise the negotiation flag and got Mama to surrender
- before they left, Polmy came to sent off Matthew; they exchanged some form of family heirlooms and set a promise to meet up again to return the stuff LOL.
- Polmy then suddenly kissed Matthew, shocking him, then scolded him dummy and ran back with a red face (Matthew x Polmy ship sailed LOL)
~ this ends the first part of v5 which spanned about 50-60% of volume 5 ~
- Sazaruufu trying to get along with his superior, MJ Gen Shiba who seems to be expressionless, but to no avail; Shiba likes to start everything with "......pointless"
- heroes linked up with Sazaruufu, the presence of princess Chamille increase their morale
- appears warrant officer Lukaanti, sister of said warrant officer in v2 whom I decided not to mention; she's a fan of Yatori
- Ikta wanted an update, Sazaruufu said that enemy was holding in and morale was dropping for them as time goes on, but one day, a balloon suddenly flew into the mine, and their morale increases and they were vehement about not surrendering at the negotiation meeting
- Ikta and Yatori accompanies Sazaruufu to 4th negotiation
- dang, Ikta and Jean met again and both were pissed right away
- Jean's subcommander, who is the sister of the phantom squad captain killed by Yatori in v3, also wanted to fight Yatori but Jean told her to stand down
- Ikta deduced it was because of the arrival of the Unsleeping Radiant General that the enemy got a morale boost, he also saw through this was an independent act of heroism on Jean's part and that there was no such order from their top brass for Jean to 'drop' in
- negotiations came to a standstill again
- Kioka's perspective, Jean's subordinates were surprised that Ikta saw through them that this was an independent decision on their part though they claimed that they still have a trump card he did not know; however they did not expect Ikta to be there and things have become more problematic for the Kioka forces
- Ikta thought of an interesting strat, he went to talk to commander, MJ Gen Shiba about it
- initially, Shiba had concerns and as usual starts with "pointless", but Ikta brought up his old name and past history, Shiba together with Rikan were known as the "Twin Walls of the Sun", and after a few more additions, Shiba broke into a smile for the first time, and said it was interesting; after this, there appeared to be closer rapport between Shiba and Ikta
- On Jean's side, a platoon of Kioka came to link up with them; Jean says it's impossible for troops to break through Empire who has surrounded mine from outside on land
- but it turns out that it was released POW from the Empire
- Jean's face turned sour and realized what was Ikta's strategy
- by releasing POW back to Jean, they add additional resource burdens on them, especially with regards to food
- furthermore, Jean cannot abandon these POW troops, as the army guarding the mine will lose trust in Jean if he is seen to abandon troops to suit his convenience; this is because the army guarding the mine were not directly under Jean's command and had no prior relationship and bonds with Jean; so the trust can be shaken easily if not careful. Jean's presence was what gave the army morale to continue holding out. If he is seen to abandon the POW because it affects his strat, then if the minecannot be held any longer, he might abandon them (he is after all a very important asset to Kioka). This is why Jean must definitely accept the POW troops if he did not want to risk this trust breaking and Ikta knew that very well
- following days, there will be more and more POW troops released to Jean to drain his food supplies
- meanwhile, Jean got his people to extend the tunnels in the mines to try to dig an underground way out far from the mine.
- again, Ikta, Yatori and Chamille happened to be left alone
- Yatori started combing Chamille's hair; all this time Chamille had enjoyed the affection shown by Yatori and Halo; but suddenly, Chamille remembered the conversation Ikta and Yatori had on the ship (especially about Ikta's wish is what Yatori wished for), she suddenly grew angry, brushed Yatori's hand away, and scolded her, "know your place, are you trying to take the place of my mother or big sister?"
- Yatori was shocked stunned. I can't remember whether she apologized here or later, but Yatori apologized that she got ahead of herself, and was just a Knight and guard for Chamille, and was not privileged to serve her personal needs directly
- Chamille ran away back to her tent
- Ikta and Knights were going to discuss the next move; as Ikta wanted to seek Yatori's input on one of his concerns, he was interrupted by arriving unfamiliar officers that wanted to talk to Yatori alone, she left, and Ikta was stunned and left too
- they met up again later in tent, and Yatori's face was grim, and she said that she has been recalled back to central region for certain reasons
- everyone was surprised, Ikta then tapped his finger in Kioka code and silently asks, "what's up?"
- Yatori reply in same code, "can't say"
- Ikta's felt a chill as there are few things which Yatori and him can't share between each other, and even more so right now while they were at critical stage of war
- He deduced that something would be bad if Yatori says it, and quickly change the mood by asking when she's leaving, which is 2 hours later, Ikta nods and says to come back here in an hour later, and he rushes off
- Ikta rushes to Commander Shiba's tent where high grade officials are all gathered; he asked Shiba straight about the matter; while Shiba did not give a straight answer right away; Ikta then asks by whose order is this; Shiba answers 'Marshal Igsem'; messenger officers protested and Shiba silenced them saying that it's unreasonable to recall 2000 troops without giving any sort of info or reason; Ikta then asked who else was recalled since a total of 2000 troops were recalled; from the names given by Shiba, Ikta knew they were pro-Igsem faction; which matches what he thought because if Yatori would keep secrets from him, it would be with regards to matters regarding the Igsem family
- Ikta also reasoned that the fact the recall happens now at such a large scale while they were on campaign means that the only matter big enough would be a coup detat. He also reasoned that since Marshal Igsem only called on those whom he has absolute trust, the mastermind is probably Gen Remion; shocking everyone in tent
- Yatori went to Chamille's tent, but her attendant says she doesn't want to see anyone
- while outside the tent, Yatori told Chamille she was recalled and asked her to take care, and for her safety, from now on, always stay with the Knights whatever she does
- after waiting for a reply that did not come, Yatori left
- Chamille wavered and wanted to go out, but in the end she did not and was 'alone' once more
- Yatori met the rest of the Knights outside the rest of tent and Matthew pressed her to say more
- Yatori says she can't reveal more until she gets a good grasp of the situation but she drops strong hints, saying that if anyone threatens the military order, as an Igsem, she will deal with it no matter who the other party is
- Torway got the hint, trembled, and said, "so Father really went and did it"
- Yatori says she knows Torway is not involved and not told at all about this, probably because Torway was too kind and can't decisively shoot an enemy that was yeterday's friend; she also said she felt relieved that Torway is not a clear enemy because she would be concerned about the ranged power if so
- this shook the rest of the knights as they saw Yatori's resolve in seeing a friend as an enemy without hesitation if it comes to so
- Yatori says it'd be fine if Torway doesn't take any side and remains as he is, but if he does, the rest of the knights must also decide, to take Igsem side or Remion side
- this shakes the group even more
- Yatori says resolutely tgat she hopes that things can be resolved without this kind of fighting, but if things come to shove...
- Ikta then appears and says 'not hope, but wish for it'.
- Ikta then tells Yatori strongly, "Wish it of me, Yatori! As long as you wish it earnestly, I'll bring it to fruition." He then points to the setting sun, "even if it means pulling out that sun once more, even if it means to reach the limits of the sky, I'll stretch my hand and reach it."
- Yatori eyes widened at him for using such an unscientific statement to make his point (literature-wise, there is actually one more interesting reason on why this metaphor was used which you will see later)
- Ikta then said, "Even if you are unable to wish for it, I'll wish it for you. The thing that you have been wishing all this while is my one and only wish!"
- Yatori's resolve was shaken, and she mumbles, "can I really wish it..."
- To hide her shaken resolve, Yatori faces her back to them, and left, increasing her pace as she walked
- with Yatori gone, the rest of the knights are shaken by the split, Matthew asks what they should do
- Ikta then said now, the thing that has been troubling him is gone and he is clear on what he needs to do, he asks the other knights to also get prepared to make some tough decision; he asked them to gather every one in the tent, using Chamille's name, and he will go fetch the princess
- All officers gathered in tent and complaining; Ikta makes entrance with Chamille with Kusu (Ikta's light spirit) in Chamille's arms
- Ikta starts off with, "we are fighting a pointless war right from the beginning", he then went on to criticize the decree which treats them like toys, sacrificing Lt Gen Rikan because of failed policy and suddenly changing their mind again and thinking that they need the eastern lands after all
- some officer asks him to shut up and it's disrespectful to criticize imperial decree; Ikta then says "yeah it's your job to use such a reason to stop all rational thought in people", but yet it's also hard to lay blame on that because what they do is absolutely right as military men, and thanks to that kind of righteousness, Rikan lost his life, and that Ikta had honestly wanted him to live on even if he was branded a coward
- He then said, "how long are you all going to continue this farce?"
- he then became heated and started scolding them, telling them the military's purpose is to protect the citizens lives and possessions, maintaining peace, but yet, the fruit of their wins get usurped by the nobles
- someone then said, "this is a rebellion! restrain him and give a court marshal!"
- Ikta then says, "it's too late for that! for right now, a rebellion is already happening, a coup detat orchestrated by Gen Remion!"
- everyone was stunned and looked at commander Shiba, who confirmed it with his silence, Shiba then asked Ikta what is his purpose in doing this
- Ikta says he's here to present them with a choice, not joining the rebels, or non-rebel side, but a 3rd choice, everyone waits with bated breath
- Ikta then tells a story,
"There was once a person in the empire military. he is thought to not amount to anything, he has subpar physical abilities, average looks, everything about him was average, and during tactical discussion/debate, he will come up with something strange and out-of-this-world, anyway, he was given the nickname of Midday-Lantern (in other words 'useless'). If things carried on this way, he would be forever a Midday Lantern, but he was not blessed with such luck. The world around him was plunged to war. During this time, there were 2 distinguished capable people, Solvenares Igsem (current Marshal), and Telshinha Remion (current Gen). Despite their capabilities and their abilities to win fights, due to their rank as lieutenants at that time, they were unable to give their voice to strategic discussions. As such they keep racking lost battles and were unable to overturn the situation. Faced with despair and the prospect of death, a forgotten Midday Lantern started shining at this time."
- by now, everyone in the room knew who Ikta was talking about; about the memory of a past hero who had been sealed with the branding of a 'war criminal' (I was almost shedding tears at this point ;_; )
- Ikta: "this man thought of something outrageous which was something sneered by everyone except the young Igsem and Remion who thought there was worth in trying; in the end they succeeded in retreating thanks to this man's strategy. Because of this, the young Igsem and Remion became friends with this man. And due to the differing factions, the young Igsem and Remion normally wouldn't have even become close or familiar with each other, but thanks to this man's intervention, they became unthinkably close to call each other 'Sol' and 'Tel'. The 3 then became really close, and thanks to the young Igsem and Remion, this man became more 'active' and displayed his ingenuity in strategies, troop use and deployment, and whatever he came up with is new and outlandish in a revolutionary way. Those who used to mock him as Midday Lantern stopped, he was now likened to the Sun of Dawn, respected by his peers, loved by his superiors. And he also gained 2 young subordinates who were excellent and aspiring. They were Rikan and Shiba, who would later be known as the 'Twin Walls of the Sun'."
- Ikta looked at Commander Shiba, who had dropped his cold expressionless face, and was listening intently, waiting for more.
- Ikta: "The man ascended rapidly, and soon, he was entrusted with a regiment on the front lines. When the soldiers on the front lines were plunged into predicaments, this man will say 'Don't give up! No matter how dark the night is, there is no night without dawn! For we are protected by the sun!' He will inspire them with this."
- Ikta signaled to Chamille who aimed Kusu at him
- Ikta then said, "There is no night without dawn. I love these words for they are an astronomical phenomenon, a basic scientific fact."
- Ikta then took out from his pocket a fine silverwork, which was hand sized, octagon, decorated with arrowheads on the hem, Chamille then shine Kusu's light at it. The silverwork looks initially like a military emblem, but with the light, light radiated from the arrowheads from the center of the silverwork, which makes it look like the rising sun at dawn.
- Shiba trembled
- Ikta then said, "The son of the Empire's army General Bada Sankrei, Ikta Sankrei, shall tell you this. The sun which had sunk with my father's death, rise again. It's dawn. Now, the former distinguished warriors led by the Empire's famed general. The most powerful army in this world - the Rising Sun Regiment!'
- Chamille was briefed on what had happened back home and knew Ikta had set this up to take control of the entire army to break through the situation, but did not know the details and did not expect this, so she was just as surprised
- the whole room was in an uproar, the other heroes and Shiba were stunned
- Ikta had met Shiba when he was young and they were reunited; he told Shiba about his plan to form a 3rd force to resolve this infighting or the Empire will be doomed from both infighting of 2 powerful factions and external intrusion of Kioka who would definitely take advantage of this; he told Shiba that this is possible
- Shiba started laughing loudly and shouted to his long dead friend, Rikan that he's missing out on all this since he went and kick the bucket so early, and that the sun had indeed risen again
- he then accepted the call to restore the Rising Sun Regiment under Ikta's command. Fortunately 1/4 of the officers here had fought with Ikta's dad before, and half of them looked up to Rikan and Shiba
- Ikta told Shiba to round up all the forces, and isolate those who might be of Remion faction
- Ikta apologized to his friends for hiding this as he never thought that it would come to this
- Sazaruufu then told Ikta that this is akin to starting a 2nd rebellion
- Ikta said that he's prepared for the consequences and so is Chamille
- he then told the rest to make their decisions
- and end off saying he couldn't do this alone and need their help
- and they all joined his cause
- Ikta then told Chamille to take Yatori's job of kicking him in the butt if he gets cocky
- he also told Chamille that everyone makes mistakes, and there will be a chance for her to apologize to Yatori
- Chamille nods, in her heart, she really wants to see Yatori again, wants to mend their relationship, but yet, another part of her hopes that things remain this way and that Ikta only looks at her.
~ end of v5 ~