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--- Italica, Count Palace ---
May 10th, 2025
Princess Pina stands there in pure shock, while staring at her two Rose-Order leaders, Beefeater E Caty and Bozes Co Palesti. They have been her most loyal comrades for years, even being some of her closest friends. But right now, her mind is scrambling to figure out what she is witnessing. This war was supposed to bring glory not only for herself but for her knights too, for showing that they belong in the realm of Men.
Now, everything seemed to be falling apart. Italica was attacked and almost destroyed. Then, she discovered that the enemy is far more powerful than the Empire and would face certain death if they fouight. She thought she was able to secure some form of peace, hoping to take credit for bringing the war to a quick end.
Seeing Major Sharpe on his knees there, she is ready to pass out from the sight. Her mind could not take the sight. After his people saved the city and became heroes of the city, they gave favorable treaty terms, saved her from slavery and they asked for nothing in return. And this is how the Empire returned their kindness.
"It hasn't even been a day...," She mumbles in disbelief. She can see them both looking confused, realizing they did something wrong but still cannot figure out what it was.
Both gets on one knee.
"Your highness, what is the matter? Are you not pleased with our gift?" Beefeater asked in a confused manner, trying to impress the princess.
"Yes, we ran into those warriors from Alnus, three leagues outside the city. Their forces scattered without a fight." Bozes said in a not so confident tone this time. Trying to show off her achievement however still trying to figure out what she did wrong.
Pina places her hand on her head, trying to deal with the growing headache. All she could think about is the capital city of Sadera in flames as those flying metal beasts laid waste to everything. Bozes and Beefeater, and the rest of her Knights will be the reason Sadera burns, because of their incompetence.
That is when Major Sharpe spoke up. "Ahh yeah, can I jump in?" He said weakly, coughing.
"Jump in? You are bound. You can't move, how can you jump?" Bozes said towards him, shooting him an evil glare.
Sharpe just ignores her Bozes and just keeps looking at her.
She can see no fear in his eyes. She cannot tell if he knows his people will come for him or knows she will not do anything to him. The fact that he is not scared scares her more. She can tell that he is trying hard just to stay sitting up. "Yes, Major Sharpe."
All the Rose Knights in the chamber raise their eyebrow, shocked and confused that she knew his name.
"One... no two things," Sharpe mumbles with a cocky smirk. "One, don't worry about anything. Just a misunderstanding... Nothing as bad as the Cartels and North Koreans would do... Or the Legion of Doom(1)! Especially those blisters! Blosters… I… I don't know?" He said, slurring his words a little. "Seec..n... TWO... bed please?" He will finish, a little breathless.
"Hamilton!" Pina yells. She would not have to say anything else. Hamilton would just rush to him and hold him up, removing the bounds.
"Can I get some help?" Hamilton asked.
That is when Myui orders Mamina and Persia rushes over.
She sees her Knights look at each other with confusion. They do not understand why Hamilton and the maids are helping the enemy.
"We will take it from here," Persia said.
"You Knights have done enough," Mamina adds.
She sees them take Sharpe up the stairs.
"Princess, what is the meaning of this! He is the enemy!" Bozes yells in frustration, not understanding what is happening.
Hamilton turns around to face her fellow Knights. "Are you girls stupid?" She yells.
"Watch your mouth Hamilton," Panache said. "You might be a Rose Knight but remember your station as a servant!"
She can see everyone shocked that Hamilton raised her voice. She has always been the shy and submissive one in the group. She would never speak ill to any in the Rose Knights.
"Stop right there!" she yells at her old friend Bozes. "Do you know that you all just did! We just signed a treaty with them this morning! This damn morning! Hamilton might be a servant but clearly, she is more intelligent than you all combined!"
She can see this fear across all their faces. They all figure out the gravity of the situation and know they all screwed up.
Beefeater begins to get nervous. She knows what Pina is talking about. "Your highness, I believe I have the treaty you speak of here." She reaches down and pulls it out of her bag. "That man, Sharpe, gave it to us."
She could not believe what she just heard. That American even showed them the treaty that she just signed, and they ignored it. Are we that inferior that we cannot even honor agreements? "You... you saw the treaty and ignored it...?"
"We!" Bozes speaks up first but then calms herself down. She got back on her knee. "We thought it was a fake. We saw smoke coming from Italica and thought they attacked the city. The terms made no sense."
"Yes, they are the enemy ma'am. Why are you helping that man? We are at war, they have no honor, they abandon their own..." Beefeater said before being interrupted by the princess.
"They saved the city from certain death. We were attacked by bandits, if it were not for them, everyone would be dead or enslaved! YOU FOOLS! The people from the Gate saved us all!" she yells at them, still struggling with what is happening.
"Everyone in this city sees them as heroes!" Hamilton yells. "When they left, they were given a hero's honor! You brought him back in chains which was a spit in the face to every peasant in the city!"
"We might have to deal with a revolt now!" she adds, frustrated with the situation.
She crosses her leg and thinks, trying to regain control of her emotions. "All my life I was told that women had no place in war. That the battlefield, honor, and glory are the realm of men. That women did not understand the meaning of honor and couldn't understand the weight of the situations. That we are too emotional and soft-hearted." She said, repeating what she has been told growing up. "I created the Rose-Order of Knights to prove all that wrong, and on our first mission all this happened."
She leans forward and places her hands on her cheeks. "Horses-ass I can't believe this. Did everything they say was true? That we cannot handle this? Our only place in this world is to be married off to some nobleman and have babies?"
She sees all her Knights kneeling there, none of them able to respond to her question. She wanted to yell at them more but didn't see the point. She leans back and takes a deep breath.
She begins to explain what happened and how his people flew here in metal flying wagons and destroyed the enemy within minutes. How they defeated the enemy, but then asked for nothing in return. Everything in the treaty was their idea. And then she went off on a massive rant about how the Empire will be destroyed by their overwhelming weapons and that she just secured a line of hope for peace, maybe, just maybe saving the Empire for certain defeat. But they just might have ruined it all.
Pina gets angry easily, especially when she is told she cannot do something, but she rarely explodes on her own people. She is always an example to her people. But this time she let everything out on these two. All-day, these feelings and the stress of the situation have been growing in her and she finally let it all out.
They tried protesting at first but then they realized that they screwed up. "I am sorry your highness." Bozes said, trying to keep herself from bursting out. "Please let me make it up to you."
She drops herself back into her throne, crosses her legs, and thinks. "You... I need to think; I will deal with you all later."
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The team reaches the southern gate. The three guards were knocked out by the Rangers, who snuck up on them. They all are wearing their night vision devices which allow them to see in the dark.
Rory stands there thinking how strange the way these people are moving is. They are running around like children playing some hiding games. They are heroes of this city, why are they acting like this? To her right is Lelei, having the same reaction as she is. She seems confused. To her left is Selina, also looking just as confused.
Second Lieutenant Charles Johnson, the dark-skinned soldier of the team, seems to take full command. It is funny how many titles these people have. The nobles of this world have all these names and titles to make them feel more superior to the common folk. But these people, they have a title for a title, which is funny and strange at the same time.
Originally, he wanted to split the team into two groups, leaving some at their vehicles to babysit Lelei and Selina. To everyone's surprise, Selina protested, and she was not going to let it go. Rory thought it was adorable and agreed to watch over her during the Lieutenant’s mission.
As the soldiers move from building to building, slowly heading towards the palace, the three girls just walk down the middle, watching them do their 'soldier thing'.
As they get close, they run into a female neko looking human in a maid uniform. She is standing there, looking at them. "Ahh, finally. I was beginning to wonder if that smell was not you. My name is Persia, I will escort you back to the palace."
All the Rangers will look at each other, clearly confused
“Smell?” Scott asked.
"Yes," Persia said and looked at Scott. "Well, I mainly smelled you, good sir."
There is some laughter coming from the other Rangers. Persia looks at them with a smile. "Yes. Out of all of you, he smelled the nicest."
The laughter ended hearing that. Andrew and Alicia smelled themselves, wondering if they smelled bad.
Lelei walks up to Persia. "She is a cat humanoid or what Andrew said before, a neko(1); her kind has a great ability to smell and hear from long distances. She probably knew we were coming before we got to the gate."
"You're kidding?" Randy asked, shocked by that.
She sees Persia waves to her, and she waves back. "Hi there, it has been a while. Nice to see you again."
Once Persia finished saying that, she noticed all the soldiers looking right at her. Johnson asked that she knows people here.
"Of course, I know lots of people," she said all innocently.
"She is Rory Mercury, the apostle of Emroy." She smiles and looks to the Lieutenant, recognizing that he is the new leader. "I have your commander; we are treating him. You are all safe. Please follow me."
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Bozes Co Palesti is walking down the hallway of the palace. Today has not gone the way she wanted it to. She thought that capturing the enemy leader would bring her honor and glory, but it became the greatest humiliation of her life... but well now comes the second worst humiliation of her life.
Her and Pina had a very long talk about what she could do to make things right, and now her highness wants to offer herself to earn that man’s forgiveness. Do whatever she has to do to 'fix' this crisis. Lay, please, or even marry if he demands.
She hates every bit of it, wanting to marry someone she loves, not because of some diplomatic relations issue. Especially with an enemy of the Empire, what a disgrace.
However, she has always been loyal to her princess. They have been friends since they were children and highly respect her. She was one of her first students and joined her Rose Academy, even if her father hated it. If this is what she must do to earn her place by her side again, she did it.
As she gets close to the door, she hears all this noise coming from the room. It sounds like music, but it sounds so hard, loud. It does not matter; she has a duty to do and will fulfill it. She opens the door, taking a deep breath.
Once she opens the door, she sees all these people all in there. They are all the same people she saw before, in those strange metal wagons, plus Rory Mercury, some blue haired girl, and another dark brown-haired girl. Hamilton is here too, playing some game with paper cards. She sees some of Myui’s maids here joining in the fun. Persia, Meia, and Aurea.
And that is when she sees that man called Sharpe, sitting up on the room bed.
Sharpe is shirtless, bandages covering some of the wounds I personally gave him before. It looks like he is enjoying the fun with everyone else. He is playing with his knife, flinging it between his fingers, showing off to this little girl.
“What is the meaning of this!?” She demands.
“Bozes?” Hamilton asked. “What are you doing here?”
The sight angers her so much. Today has been her most humiliating day in her life and now this? Pina wants her to have sex with him to please him, so he does not go back to his people and report what happened.
She has no idea how to do that with all these people and besides, he is the enemy after all. Risking a pregnancy to please the enemy in this manner angers her to the point she is ready to explode.
That is when she hears her name, coming from Hamilton. She waves over to her "Bozes!... why are you dressed like that?"
"You..., you bastard! She takes her slipper off and throws it at that man and storms back to her room.
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(1)Chapter 15