I Won’t Let the Execution Battalion Die, ~Even If the Empire Falls, We Want to Survive~

“This cabin has both a bed and windows.”

As Second Lieutenant Crimine said this while lying down on the bed, Captain Yugi nodded lightly.

“A windowless hold would be pitch-black and dangerous, but they’d also be uneasy about giving us lamps or candles since we just arrived today.”

“Ah, so that’s why the cabin… I see.”

While Crimine nodded deeply in understanding, Captain Yugi pulled the carnelian hairpin from her hair.

“However, I can create a spark.”

“Do you have flint?”

Captain Yugi twirled the hairpin with her fingertips.

“Yes, I do. I wonder why Lieutenant Fonkt sees through everything?”

“What do you mean?”

When Crimine tilted her head, Captain Yugi answered while removing the carnelian from the hairpin:

“This hairpin is made of steel, and this stone is chalcedony. You might understand better if I called it carnelian?”

“Ah, my family home has vases and sculptures carved from carnelian chunks.”

Crimine’s family were quasi-noble wealthy merchants.

Captain Yugi took the carnelian chunk and struck it with the hairpin with clicking sounds.

“Any quartzite gemstone can be used as flint. Since few people would do this, no one would notice it tucked in my hair.”

“I see.”

While nodding, Crimine tore the sheets with ripping sounds.

“Should we use this?”

“Thank you. I was thinking of burning my decorative sash, but the sheets look more flammable.”

Soon light flickered in the cabin.

“I’m glad the cabin had a lantern ready. Second Lieutenant, please take care of this.”

“Understood.”

Crimine took the lantern and slid the metal plate for light control to reduce the brightness. With moonlight from the window, minimal lantern light was sufficient.

Captain Yugi looked at the door.

“Now, how do we get outside…”

The window was small, meant for light and ventilation, and couldn’t be used for exit. Being a warship, large openings couldn’t be made in the hull.

Suddenly Captain Yugi smiled.

“They’ve come. I’m counting on you, Second Lieutenant.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Leaving her tense subordinate behind, Captain Yugi hid behind the door.

Almost simultaneously, the door opened and a seaman entered with a cup.

“Here, water. …Hey, where’s the other one? The one with the big… assets…”

Second Lieutenant Crimine responded with a somewhat irritated expression:

“That’s what I want to know. Didn’t you people take her?”

“Eh, I didn’t hear about that?”

Then Crimine pointed at the lantern:

“They said they were taking her for interrogation. As proof, see how the lantern is lit?”

“That’s true. Who did something without permission… I bet they took her to the hold.”

As if something occurred to him, the seaman made a sour face while placing the cup on the side table.

Crimine immediately pressed:

“What are they planning to do in the hold?”

“That’s obvious, isn’t it? When such a beauty comes to a place full of men like this…”

Without listening to the end of the conversation, Captain Yugi slipped smoothly into the corridor. Moving silently to get behind someone was her specialty of specialties. The seaman was focused on Crimine and the lantern light, showing no sign of noticing.

Walking like a cat through the narrow corridor, Captain Yugi drew her carnelian hairpin. The test run was excellent—with this, she could create as many sparks as needed. The ship had plenty of oil and gunpowder.

(Everything going according to Lieutenant Fonkt’s plans isn’t interesting for an assassin. However capable he might be, being in an amateur’s palm…)

Captain Yugi pursed her lips slightly, but soon grinned wickedly.

(Then I’ll display techniques beyond his imagination.)

Captain Yugi disappeared into the darkness without sound or light.

It was a little later that a major fire broke out in the hold of the ship of the line Sarakadeen.

******

“Sarakadeen is on fire!”

The seamen on the beach were shouting.

Sarakadeen, the only warship on this island, was indeed burning.

The smell of smoke drifted all the way here, and it seemed like gunpowder for shells was burning. While gunpowder gives the impression of exploding when ignited, in non-enclosed spaces it just burns like fireworks.

But Captain Yugi and the others were certainly doing this spectacularly.

Now, I had to do my own work. There were things only I could do.

I considered while swatting mosquitoes in the bushes:

“Where should I do this…”

Since the seamen were moving with lanterns and other lights according to their numbers, I could roughly understand the movement of people.

At first they seemed to move in groups of two or three, but somewhere the chain of command had recovered. The scattered seamen had formed groups of about twenty, creating three such units.

“Half-platoon operations.”

With about one to two hundred seamen on this island, mobilizing sixty would leave the rest quite thin. The remaining personnel should be assigned to operating the ship of the line, so the buildings would be nearly empty.

If those guys went to the ship and started firefighting, Captain Yugi and the others would be in danger. I had to disrupt their organization before that happened.

“Alright, I’ll do it here.”

I looked at my final trump card.

“Sorry to disturb your rest, but I need you to work once more.”

Then, mimicking the seamen’s voices, I shouted loudly:

“Someone come! The Admiral is dead!”

Right. All I could do was mimic the seamen’s voices. Since Captain Yugi and the others were women, they couldn’t produce the rough voices of seamen.

Meanwhile, I’d learned the seamen’s codes and slang during several nights of revelry.

There was immediate movement on the beach.

“Hey, did you hear that?”

“What should we do!?”

“Might be a mistake. You four, go check it out.”

About two lanterns separated from the nearest unit and headed this way.