Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 193

193

Ah… What will happen to the Prince…

Yes, that’s it!

In the end, Sion Clausen, that bastard, pulled it off! Prince Erader barely managed to suppress the cheer that threatened to burst from his lips.

Although the battle on the night sea made it difficult to grasp the exact situation, one thing was certain: no flames were rising from the cities or ports of Sardena.

On the contrary, the pirate ships that had been pushing into Sardena were now ablaze, turning the night sky and sea into a panorama of brilliant red flames.

“Shit, shiiiiit!”

“Run!

We have to run!”

“We’re doomed!

We’re screwed!”

From all directions, the screams of pirates admitting their utter failure echoed.

The same bastards who had been desperately trying to hold on just moments ago were now turning tail and trying to escape.

Of course, with the chaos all around and the darkness, even that wasn’t easy.

Moreover, most of the pirates had headed towards Sardena, with only the rest staying behind to buy time and draw attention.

The kingdom already outnumbered them in terms of crew and ships.

‘Sardena is safe.

Then this is the end!

We have to finish it here!’

They had to inflict devastating damage on these arrogant pirates right here.

Only then could they officially announce that the South was secure, and more importantly, Prince Erader himself could secure his own merit.

“Don’t let them return easily! Stop them no matter what! I said stop them!”

“Your Highness, Your Highness! It’s dangerous. You mustn’t leave your post any further.”

The royal knights, who were firmly guarding Prince Erader, cautioned him.

If it were daytime, it might be different, but now it was night, with the sun completely set.

Even for the royal knights, the deck of a ship on the sea, which they couldn’t get used to, was not a pleasant place, especially with their vision impaired in the darkness.

However, Prince Erader stubbornly tried to get closer to the battlefield.

This was the last chance, the last opportunity for him to make his presence known in the pirate extermination operation.

If he retreated again, he might be labeled by the navy gathered here as ‘the prince who gets scared and retreats again.’

And those navy men, when they disembark, were ordinary citizens of the kingdom, and among the most vocal in the South.

Prince Erader knew all too well that the words coming from the mouths of the navy soldiers could be transformed more splendidly or twisted more disgustingly as they passed from person to person.

“I appreciate your loyalty, but we can’t just stand by and watch in a safe place forever! Everyone knows this is the final battle, are you telling me to just watch until the end?”

“…”

The royal knights looked at the prince and the fellow knights standing next to him with troubled expressions.

If it were daytime, they wouldn’t be giving such strict warnings.

When the surroundings are clear, it’s not so difficult to be responsible for the safety of the person they’re guarding.

But now it was nighttime, with more than half of their visual perception blocked.

This wasn’t a duel where they could sense the opponent’s presence or mana [magical energy], and it certainly wasn’t a quiet place where they could focus on footsteps.

Shouts and screams were rampant from all directions, and the lights from each ship were only further impairing their vision. Moreover, with those who could handle mana, though weaker than themselves, fighting, even sensing mana was a difficult task.

“Your Highness, it’s too difficult to provide protection here. Don’t you know that the reason we can’t jump into battle is to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances?”

“I would rather be injured in battle! Wouldn’t it be stranger to return unscathed from such a chaotic battlefield!”

“Ugh…”

The royal knights could feel that Prince Erader was getting impatient.

And they themselves were starting to feel frustrated that they had to keep guarding their positions with the enemies of the kingdom, the pirates, right in front of them.

Of course, the royal knights had no intention of neglecting their most important duty, which was to ensure the safety of the royal family above all else.

They were just frustrated, that was all.

“Protecting only me is prolonging the fight. More of the kingdom’s people are getting hurt and dying. If you don’t want to send me to the battlefield, then some of you go and punish the pirates. Raise your swords for the kingdom.”

With Prince Erader saying so much, the reason for the royal knights to stop him became too vague.

Moreover, with Prince Erader, the highest-ranking member of the royal family after Edgar IV, acting like this, it was difficult for them to keep dissuading him.

“Your Highness, you must stay by our side no matter what.”

“If you act on your own, we will have no choice but to use force to escort you to the captain’s cabin and prevent you from moving.”

When the royal knights finally gave their permission, Prince Erader let out a sigh of relief.

He thought that if he showed his face like this, even if he couldn’t match Sion Clausen, he could at least follow half of him, instead of just watching from a safe place until the battle was over.

“Uwaaaa!”

Several pirates who rushed in without knowing who their opponents were were unable to even scream properly before being killed by the royal knights’ skillful blades.

As the royal knights, who had been firmly holding their ground, finally moved, the kingdom’s navy cheered and pushed the retreating pirates even harder.

“Ugh!”

“Gasp!”

The enemies were now just a band of thieves wielding their swords to survive, having lost their will to fight.

Even that was too weak, and they would often fall over with a single swing of their arms.

It would have been okay to be careless at this point, but the royal knights were still royal knights.

They stood firmly in their positions, as if they would not let their guard down even for a moment until the end of the battle, and were perfectly crushing all threats that could come to the prince.

“Those who targeted the kingdom have already been burned to ashes! If we let these guys go alive here, what face will we have to show the port personnel who have worked so hard!”

“Uwoooo!”

“Let’s sink all the thieves who have been tormenting this sea and the people of the South! Give it your all so that you can utter the word ‘end’ when tonight passes and the sun rises!”

Thanks to this, Prince Erader was able to draw his sword and create an atmosphere for the first time in a long while.

If it were daytime, it might have seemed quite strange for him to be surrounded by royal knights, drawing his sword and shouting, but with only the faint moonlight and the light from the lamps, it almost looked as if the prince was standing there alone, encouraging the navy.

“Occupy the ships! Leave them no way to escape except into the sea!”

Following Prince Erader’s encouragement, the kingdom’s soldiers, who had seized the victory, pushed the pirates even more fiercely and began to enter the pirate ships, taking them over in reverse.

Although they couldn’t see clearly, the navy on the other ships, who grasped the situation here through sound, pushed the enemies even more fiercely than usual in order not to miss the best opportunity.

“Uwaaaa!”

“I, I have to get out of here!”

Eventually, desertion began from the outer parts, which were relatively less surrounded.

Unlike the inner parts, where ships were sticking together from all sides and they couldn’t move even if they unfurled their sails, several pirate ships at the very edge were desperately trying to raise their sails and escape.

Whirr!

As the sails unfurled, the ships, which had been simply swaying in the waves, slowly began to move, crashing into other ships around them with a thud!

Thanks to this, both the kingdom and the pirates gradually became aware that deserters were trying to escape the battlefield and save their lives.

“The guys on the outskirts are running away!”

“Those traitorous bastards are fleeing!”

Nevertheless, it caused a rift among the pirates who had been fighting mindlessly.

In addition, it was becoming a nightmare for the kingdom’s forces, who could have ended the fight here, as it could drag on.

“Catch them! Don’t let them get away! The ships on the outskirts, chase them immediately!”

Shouts were heard from all directions, and naturally, the kingdom’s side also desperately tried to move their ships to chase the pirate ships.

However, because it was such a chaotic situation, the command system was momentarily paralyzed, and as ships tried to move from all directions, collisions inevitably began to occur here and there.

Even though they weren’t moving at full speed, the large ships, powered by the wind as well as the waves, were causing collisions.

The sound of thud! could be heard from all directions, and people who were in the midst of a fierce battle on the dark night sea could not maintain their balance and fell over very frequently.

Even the navy and pirates, who were accustomed to life on the sea, were like this, so it went without saying for the royal knights who had been working in the royal palace until now and had come to the South with Prince Erader, enduring all sorts of hardships even on the ship.

“Kuh!”

It was fortunate that they were skilled knights; if they were ordinary knights from noble territories, they would have shown the disgrace of not being able to control their bodies and falling over.

‘Damn it!’

The royal knights gritted their teeth and struggled to adapt to the movement of the waves and the swaying of the ship, which they could not get used to.

If they showed a gap and something happened to the prince, it would be a disgraceful thing that they could never forgive themselves for, regardless of whether they were guilty or not.

“Ugh!”

With ships colliding from all directions, it was impossible to come to one’s senses.

Thanks to this, an ordinary pirate crew member named Joe couldn’t even hold onto the bow he was diligently shooting.

He barely managed to load an arrow onto the string and pull it back, but with the entire battlefield in chaos and the shaking being transmitted, he really couldn’t do anything.

Thud!

Something, he didn’t know if it was a pirate ship or a navy ship, crashed into his ship from behind again, and Joe ended up letting go of the hand that was pulling the string.

Almost simultaneously with him falling to the side, the arrow flew away. Joe thought that the arrow would soon hit the ship’s structure, or even if it hit someone, it would only cause a leg injury.

He didn’t think at all about the fate that one arrow would change.

Thud!

“Kugh!”

It would be absurd if Prince Erader was standing there unaffected while the navy, the pirates, and the royal knights were staggering.

For that reason, Prince Erader struggled to avoid falling by widening the distance between his legs and putting strength into them, so that he could sway but not fall.

As he took up a lot of space, the royal knights naturally stood a little further away from him, and at that moment, the arrow that Joe had shot—no, rather, the arrow he had simply let go of—flew straight into that gap.

The royal knights belatedly felt something piercing through the salty sea breeze, but because of the commotion and noise around them, and because they were paying attention to other things, it came too quickly, and above all, the fact that it was flying from a relatively low position rather than from the front was fatal.

“Your Highness…!”

“What…”

The moment the royal knight standing right in front of him shouted in an urgent voice.

Prince Erader couldn’t even finish the words, ‘Why are you doing that?’

Suddenly, a burning sensation was transmitted from between his legs, and something that he couldn’t express in words began to spread throughout his body.

‘Uh…?’

Thud!

The last thing Prince Erader could remember was himself slowly falling backward.

And the faces of the royal knights who were surrounding him in great shock were all he could see.

—

The bright light that entered through his eyelids awakens his stiff body and brain.

Prince Erader felt like he was on a cloud for a moment.

The reason was the sensation of being so soft and smooth.

Prince Erader, barely lifting his eyelids, which felt as heavy as lead, looked around and realized that he, who had been fighting on the deck of a ship on the night sea just a moment ago, was lying on a cozy bed in a room filled with sunlight coming through the window.

‘What on earth…’

He tries to put strength into his legs, but no matter how hard he tries, his legs won’t move.

Prince Erader was very embarrassed and was about to scream.

“Your Highness.”

A person he had never seen before was standing in front of him.

A man with an unfamiliar face, wearing a pure white robe without any blemishes.

Prince Erader barely opened his lips, which were as heavy as his eyelids, and tried to say what he wanted to say.

“Where… is this?”

“Ah, this is the treatment ward, please rest assured, Your Highness. You were already bleeding so much on the ship that something terrible almost happened before I could even use healing magic.”

“What… what do you mean by blood? Healing magic…?”

At Prince Erader’s words, the magician groaned and showed a very hesitant look, but when Prince Erader made a very earnest expression, he finally opened his mouth carefully.

“Originally, I was going to tell you after you had recovered to some extent… Your Highness, I am very sorry to say this, but from now on, Your Highness will…”