Meanwhile, the Sky Pirates who had successfully assassinated Duke Redgrave wasted no time...
They fled across the border, seeking refuge in the Principality of Fanoss—the sworn enemy of the Kingdom of Holfort—and immediately swore their allegiance to the eldest princess of Fanoss, Hetrude Sera Fanoss, and her twin sister, Hertrauda Sera Fanoss.
Hetrude was undoubtedly immensely pleased.
After all, someone had finally sworn loyalty to them openly.
The royal family of Fanoss possessed no real military power of their own; they had been hollowed out, reduced to mere puppets dancing on the strings of the scheming nobles.
No one dared to openly support them, not without risking their own necks.
But now, these Sky Pirates had arrived.
Hetrude accepted them without hesitation and publicly declared that their successful assassination of Duke Redgrave was the first campaign launched by the royal family.
The announcement sent shockwaves through the principality, boosting morale significantly.
For the first time in years, the royal family was no longer seen as toothless figureheads.
They had teeth now—sharp, bloody, and hungry.
Not only did Aqua emerge completely clean from his act of patricide, but he also had someone willing to shoulder all the hatred and bad reputation for him: Princess Hetrude herself.
Everyone got exactly what they needed from this arrangement. The princess gained legitimacy and military force; Aqua gained deniability and eliminated his father.
And of course, the Sky Pirates had not stumbled into Fanoss by accident. They had been guided there—by Aqua.
He had also sent Akane ahead to serve as his personal representative and companion to Princess Hetrude. Well, "companion" was perhaps too gentle a word.
Executioner was more accurate. She was there to bear the royal will and ensure that the princess's newfound power remained pointed in the right direction.
The Sky Pirates themselves had no idea that Akane was one of Redgrave's most trusted spies.
They were immensely grateful to her for her guidance and strategic brilliance.
Under her direction, they had become more successful than ever before.
Not only had they executed a grand duke—a feat that would cement their bloody legend for generations—but they had also climbed the social ladder in a way no bandits ever had. They were now the direct military faction of a sitting princess.
Compared to their old life as hunted criminals and roaming outlaws, this was paradise. And the best part? They were still allowed to plunder, rape, and burn Holfort Kingdom as they pleased.
Princess Hetrude never stopped them. In fact, she encouraged it, her hatred for the neighboring kingdom burning hot enough to justify any atrocity.
Now, the noble factions had to tread carefully in the princess's presence.
She no longer came to negotiations empty-handed. She possessed not only a loyal military force but also a magical flute capable of controlling an ancient monster—a weapon of mass destruction that could level cities if she willed it.
And yet, for all their newfound power and confidence, neither the Sky Pirates nor Princess Hetrude realized the truth.
They were nothing more than pawns on Aqua's chessboard.
Every move they made, every drop of blood they spilled, every victory they celebrated—all of it was choreographed by a hand they would never see.
They danced happily on his strings, utterly convinced that they were the ones calling the tune.
"Well, Akane, as a princess, I have to say… thank you."
Princess Hetrude's voice was warm, sincere, layered with an emotion that seemed almost foreign coming from royalty.
She continued, her gaze steady on Akane.
"This is my sincerest gratitude—along with my sister's and the entire royal family behind us—for giving us the opportunity to finally take control of our own destiny. I know it's just the Sky Pirates. I know they're a force despised by most, looked down upon as filth and scum."
"But we have never lacked money or technology to arm them. What we lacked was manpower. What we lacked was someone courageous enough to stand beside us, to side with the forsaken."
In turn, Akane looked at Princess Hetrude with a complicated expression twisting across her features.
She had expected royalty like this to be arrogant.
Haughty.
The kind who would sneer at a peasant like her and dismiss her presence entirely.
And honestly? That expectation was rooted in truth—at least, the truth of this world since her arrival.
She had been born a peasant, lowborn and unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
Unlike Aqua, who had hit the jackpot and awakened something so overpowered it could actually affect the nature of the selection of backgrounds in the game itself.
So, instead of basking in the princess's gratitude, Akane answered firmly.
Her voice carried a subtle warning, a gentle hint for the princess not to get too close.
"There's nothing to be thankful for, Princess. We each got what we needed from this arrangement. Nothing more, nothing less."
But contrary to her expectations, Princess Hetrude simply smiled softly—as if she hadn't heard the hint at all.
As if she were choosing to ignore the cold distance Akane was trying to place between them.
"You helped more than you realize, Akane. I heard that not only did you take the candidate for sainthood of the Holfort Kingdom with you, but you also personally informed Sky Pirates of Duke Redgrave's whereabouts. You guided the Sky Pirates to our doorstep. That's not a small favor. That's not a transaction. That's a debt we intend to repay."
She gestured toward a chair. "Please, take a seat. Don't be nervous."
Akane sighed, the sound heavy with resignation. "Alright, Princess."
Is this a dungeon world?
She asked herself the question, but the answer was already carved into her bones.
So cruel...
The inhabitants here were like flesh and blood—real enough to laugh, to cry, to bleed, to dream.
Yet they were fated to either be wrecked by players or schemed by them.
Their lives were scripts waiting to be torn apart by outsiders who saw them as nothing more than pixels and dialogue boxes.
Akane was no exception to that cruelty.
She was one of the players, after all.
She knew feeling guilty was wrong. She knew harboring complicated emotions for these people—these NPCs, these characters—was a dangerous indulgence.
Attachment led to hesitation, and hesitation in Samsara Tower meant death.
But she was just human, after all.
Maybe I should talk to Aqua, she thought. Maybe I can convince him to treat Princess Hetrude and her younger sister gently. To spare their land, preserve their nobility, give them something better than the bloody end the game script has waiting for them.
That was all she could do.
At least for now.
As for hesitation?
There was no such word in the Samsara Tower.
You either won, or you died.
There was nothing in between. No gray area. No mercy.
Just victory or oblivion.
And Akane intended to survive.
...
Afterward, with Akane, the Sky Pirates, and Olivia all joining the Principality of Fanoss, the Royal Family's power grew at an astonishing, almost terrifying rate.
From prestige to manpower to strategic depth, they leaped from being mere puppets—strings pulled by nobles who saw them as decorations—to becoming genuine players in the bloody game of thrones.
They didn't stop at punishing nobles who overstepped their bounds.
They stripped them of titles, seized their lands, and dissolved their power bases without mercy.
Their attacks against the Holfort Kingdom grew more aggressive, more calculated, more devastating with each passing week.
They successfully captured several floating islands, turning each conquest into a resource hub that fueled their war machine and boosted the morale of the entire principality.
For the first time in their lives, Princess Hetrude and her twin sister finally grasped the true meaning of power.
It wasn't inherited titles or ceremonial authority. It was the ability to make the world bend—by force, by fear, by blood.
And now that they had tasted it, they refused to let it go.
They kept attacking, kept consolidating, kept advancing, their momentum building like an avalanche that could no longer be stopped.
Meanwhile, back in the Holfort Kingdom at the Redgrave Villa, Aqua lounged lazily under the shade of a large parasol.
His eyes were half-lidded with deep satisfaction as he watched the beautiful girls splashing and swimming in his private pool.
They wore tiny, skimpy bikinis that barely covered anything — thin strings and small triangles of fabric that struggled to contain their full breasts and round asses.
Their pale skin glistened under the warm sunlight, water droplets sliding slowly down their exposed curves, tracing over cleavage, toned stomachs, and smooth thighs.
It was an incredible feast for the eyes.
Aqua's gaze roamed hungrily over every jiggling breast and swaying ass as the girls moved.
His cock reacted immediately, swelling hard and pitching a very obvious tent in his thin boxers, the thick outline clearly visible.
An elf maid stood obediently beside him, gently waving a large fan to keep him cool.
The soft breeze brushed across his skin and carried the sweet mix of chlorine, sunscreen, and feminine perfume.
Suddenly, a female servant approached and leaned down, her lips brushing against his ear as she whispered, "Young Duke, some of the knights have reported a discovery on Elf Island. They request an audience with you."
Aqua's eyes brightened instantly, a predatory gleam replacing his lazy satisfaction.
Finally.
He rose to his feet in one smooth motion, then clapped his hands sharply, the sound cutting through the laughter and splashing. "Alright, girls, the party is over."
A chorus of disappointed whines and pouty protests rose from the pool, but he ignored them completely.
His mind was already elsewhere—on the island, on whatever his knights had found, on the legend that was about to begin.
He chuckled to himself, a low, dark sound filled with anticipation, and strode away from the pool without a backward glance.
The carefree party was over.
And something far greater — something much darker and far more ambitious — was about to start.
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