Valiant Black Knights, the pride of the Kingdom of Zaloudek,
I am thrilled to witness this moment with you.
These western lands were once ruled as one nation, by one king!
The name of that country was Phada-abahden.
And our nation is its rightful heir!
The time is now!
The time has come to return everything to one greater all!
On this day, Carlitos Bilt Zaloudek,
the eldest son of Bardomelow, King of Zaloudek,
declared war on the surrounding nations.
It was the beginning of what later generations would come to know
as the Western Grand Storm.
I thought the Local Federation would last longer than a month.
Chapter 9:
The "Federation" is just a collection of tiny nations.
They're no match for the might of Zaloudek.
But they're moving too fast!
In other words,
something happened in Zaloudek.
Something that would quickly enhance their power and drive them to become ambitious.
Either way, we must prepare.
We must quickly enhance the defenses of Shild Trider!
Father...
Eleonora...
My servants told me a war might be starting.
There's no need to worry, Eleonora.
Shild Trider is impenetrable.
We'll send those invaders packing!
That makes me relieved to hear.
Their movements are totally different!
What is this firepower?
Rods... from their backs?
The Black Knights, using the Tyranto, Zaloudek's new cutting-edge Silhouette Knight,
easily broke through the Kingdom of Kuschpercha.
But the war took an unexpected turn.
Zaloudek's rapid advance
halted in front of Shild Trider.
When the Kuschperchan forces learned this, they gathered at Shild Trider.
They saw this as the perfect time to turn the tide of battle.
It's time, Mardonnes.
Indeed.
I'll end their lives now.
What?
Birds?
No...
Ships!
Black ships, coming from the sky!
Kuschperchan fools!
Like pigs with their rears sliced open!
It's a good choice, if you don't know about the Levitate Ships.
Attention, proud Order of the Bronze Wing!
Tonight, we will capture those fools' capital!
Fight hard, everyone!
All Knight Runners to position!
We will now drop the Tyrantos!
Figurehead! Reverse blow engines!
This surprise attack from the sky, a thing unseen before in history,
immediately put the Kingdom of Kuschpercha's back to the wall.
Defend the castle at all costs!
Now Kuschpercha is finished.
It's time to win some glory.
Martina, thank you for coming from Fremmevilla
and supporting Fernando for so long.
Your words honor me, Your Majesty.
Eleonora...
Despite losing your mother at a young age,
you have grown to be beautiful and wise.
I am so proud to be your father.
Escape with Martina and the others outside the walls.
What will you do, Father?
I will fulfill my last duty as king.
No!
Father!
Listen to me.
A king cannot run and leave his people behind.
My knights fight even as we speak.
Take care of her, Martina.
Even if it costs my life.
Isadola, support her as well.
Yes, Your Highness.
I'm heading out!
Prepare the king's mech!
My name is Augusti Valio Kuschpercha!
I am the King of Kuschpercha!
In accordance with the ancient ways,
I request a one-on-one duel!
I am Cristobal, son of King Bardomelow of Zaloudek.
I shall be your opponent!
Here I come!
Eleonora?
I can't leave my father!
No!
Don't you understand why His Majesty asked for something so old-fashioned as a duel?
He's sacrificing himself to give you time to escape!
You are the heir to the throne of Kuschpercha, Eleonora!
I can't do that!
Let Uncle do it—
If that hurt,
then you're still alive!
And you want to stay alive!
Let's get going.
We need to leave Delvancul by dawn.
Zaloudek...
Those flying ships...
How much power have you amassed?
Splendidly done, Prince of Zaloudek.
You win!
Now end it!
King of Kuschpercha,
you fought well, too.
Farewell.
By dawn, both the King of Kuschpercha and Delvancul had fallen.
And at the same time,
Shild Trider fell to Zaloudek's army as well.
Kuschpercha has fallen.
The Occidents are as good as mine.
Cristobal seems to be doing well.
But he cannot be entrusted to handle politics.
I'm counting on you, Catarina.
Leave it to me, Brother.
Once we're over the river, we're in the Duchy's territory.
We've had to take the long way around.
It's because of those ships from Zaloudek.
They buzz above our heads,
more annoying than gadflies!
The way you talk...
What would Emrys say if he heard you?
"Go ahead, Isadola, whack them down," is what he'd say.
What is it?
The enemy.
Mother...
Name yourselves.
Where are you going?
I'm Binder, from the next village over.
I'm going to help some relatives.
How kind of you.
These beauties are too good to leave for farmers.
You said you were going to help your relatives,
but it's useless.
The Duchy is already controlled by the Kingdom of Zaloudek,
and Duke Fernando is dead.
How dare you!
Let her go, scum!
No farmer's wife would ever have such thin arms, Princess Martina.
Is something wrong, young master?
Something is wrong.
That checkpoint's flag isn't right.
A carriage?
No...
It's not. What is that?
Excuse me!
We are the Silver Phoenix Merchant Association!
We've brought trading goods from over the mountain!
Don't even try lying to us!
What kind of merchant uses a monstrous carriage like that?
There are lots of demon beasts beyond the mountains,
so we need special horses!
Shut up!
We're searching you and your cargo!
I heard there might be something going on in the Occidents, but...
Yeah.
My old man's bad feeling was right.
I have one question.
That's not a Kuschperchan flag, is it?
Kuschpercha is long gone!
This checkpoint is under control of the Kingdom of Zaloudek!
You heard them, young master.
If it's gone,
then I don't have time to waste talking with you!
Blast Howling!
Impossible!
An iron gate destroyed in a single strike?
That's not nice, young master.
You can't start the discussions without me!
Let me and my Ikaruga join in the fun!
Now let's go, Ikaruga!
The party's starting!
That's one down.
Damn it!
Two.
Take this, bastard!
What?
His sub-arms are overpowering my Tyranto?
Three.
A long-range battle!
I'll play!
Four!
I-It's a monster!
Five!
Who's next? Huh?
Save us!
Not even worth talking about.
Ernie goes out, and the next thing I know, it's over.
Well, we saw that coming.
What's wrong, Edgar?
Does this construction remind you of anything?
Back weapons!
And Strand-Type Crystal Tissue?
I can see the secret of the enemy's strength.
You're talking about Silhouette Knights, right?
This is a discussion about Silhouette Knights, right?
Let me join in!
As you guessed, the technology used in this mech is the same as ours.
It's probably from...
Helvi's stolen Trandorkis!
Poor thing.
So the thieves from the Casadesus Incident were connected to Zaloudek?
Unforgivable!
Yes, unforgivable!
They're using our ideas,
so it's no exaggeration to say that this is ours.
It's okay if we take it, right?
No, that doesn't make sense.
It doesn't, but...
That's just like the silver-haired boy.
You're quite interested in the enemy's mech too, aren't you, boss?
Sure am.
So what do we do, "young master"?
Okay!
The Order of the Silver Phoenix—no, the Silver Phoenix Merchants Association,
will work on our business and getting information.
This sounds fun!
What's our business?
What else?
Get lots of product!
Shortly afterwards,
Zaloudek's army started to speak of a monstrous horse and rider,
and a grim reaper with a demon mask,
hunting Tyrantos along the eastern road.
How are you doing, former Princess of Kuschpercha?
I don't like small talk.
I'll make this quick.
You're going to be my wife!
No!
Do you think you get to choose?
Do you want to be tied up and forced to take more drugs?
If you don't, then I'll just kill you,
and make the other girl queen.
Isadola?
No!
Father...
What should I do?
What a gloomy girl!
If she'd only fight back, I could have fun punishing her!
Your Highness,
you're not calling off the wedding?
I'm not that stupid.
I can't ruin the plan my sister came up with.
Forget it. What about that rumor? The demon-masked reaper.
Probably Kuschperchan rebels.
They'll vanish eventually.
You're going easy on them! I'd take them out right now—
No, Your Highness.
The general can't allow himself to get involved in such trifling matters.
If this is a trifling matter, then settle it!
Sheesh...
What to do about this prince?
Can I get in on this?
You're making your idiot son go, right?
I think I can help him.
I've heard that the power of the Bronze Fang can be difficult to handle.
I'll find this "reaper" for you.
We find it.
You defeat it.
Not a bad deal, right?
Thanks to reports from Nora of the Order of the Azure Hawk,
Ernesti found out about Princess Eleonora's plight.
Cristobal...
Unforgivable!
That's right!
That stupid prince is the worst!
I'll teach him a lesson!
Okay, everyone, let's talk about how we're going to rescue the princess!
Just as Ernesti was having his meeting,
Zaloudek's army was looking for him, too.
Seriously?
Yes.
Just like the Bronze Order said.
That's the reaper and the knight, huh?
What're those horse-like things?
Well, it doesn't matter!
I, Gustav Mardonnes, will destroy them.
Captain D, there's a flying ship up there.
I guess people besides our commander can do crazy stuff like that, too.
I see Zaloudek's crest.
So they're enemies.
Everyone, mount up!
Prepare for long-range combat!
Open fire first!
Fire!
They're not scared by the Levitate Ships, huh?
They're tough, huh?
I'm sending out the Silhouette Knights.
We'll finish this with swords.
So the new black mechs are here, huh?
But I'm not scared of any Silhouette Knight!
You'll pay a big price for stealing our technology!
He's totally different than those Kuschperchan training dummies!
Not bad...
But no matter what your armor is, it can't match a behemoth!
Get out of here!
This is my time to shine!
What are you thinking?
What's with all the swords?!
What else?
Swords are strong!
And whoever holds a lot of something strong is also strong!
Only natural, huh?
I see.
So you're an idiot.
You've got a sword too,
but you don't have enough to match the Swordman!
He's an idiot, but he's good!
You can't fight me if you're that slow!
Time to finish this, I guess?
Looks like I'm at a disadvantage, yeah?
But you're forgetting something, aren't you?
If you think Company 3's mission is only transport,
you're very wrong!
You...
You'll pay for that!
What?
A smoke bomb?
What's going on?
We'll try this later.
Wait!
I won't let you get away!
Hey, crimson one!
You weren't bad!
Don't die until we can fight again!
Flying ships, huh?
If we have to fight those,
we're going to need Ernesti to come up with an effective weapon.
Looks like the enemy almost got the upper hand for once,
Gustav the Sword-Lover.
Was that your doing?
How long have you been aboard the ship?
Couldn't say.
I don't need your help.
It was the perfect time to leave, right?
Today, I'll thank you.
But that won't happen again.
Next time: "War & Princess."
Chapter 10:
The war clouds are calling me!