Herald of Steel

At Anoon's suggestion of offing Lord Bernard, Ser Robert felt torn between duty and survival, oscillating like a pendulum amidst the two extremities.

Of course, the man wanted to live like any other.

But at the same time, as a military commander, he felt personally responsible for much of the events of today.

So how could he live with himself if he committed such a treasonous act to save his own skin? It felt too cowardly and shameful.

Hence the man could only stare blankly at the target with a thumping heart but an empty mind, unable to choose.

While sensing his reluctance, Anoon was there to chime his ultimatum, "Well whatever you are going to choose, choose quickly. Because I am jumping."

Time was running out quickly and Anoon had no intention of overstaying his welcome. Thus even as he spoke, he was seen deftly taking off his armor, ready to swim towards Phyrros Island and surrender to Alexander's garrison there, without or without Lord Bernard's head.

"....." And seeing his adjutant act so decisively, somewhat dislodged 'the commander out of his trance, showing that the other was truly serious about his intentions.

So he quickly clenched out with gritted teeth, "Okay, but how do you plan we exactly do this? Take a sword and drive it into his chest?"

The tone used here was obviously sarcastic, as there was no way Ser Robert would be able to commit such a huge crime so openly, in front of so many of his soldiers.

In fact, for the military man, just the fact that he was talking about killing his superior felt tantamount to high treason.

It made his heart uncontrollably throb and if he were to truly go through with the heinous act, Ser Robert did not know how he would be able to show his face to anyone ever again.

"If it helps… you can always stab him from the back!" Anoon however had no such dilemma, and towards his partner's reticence, only sarcastically spat such.

The man definitely saw no problem with decapitating Lord Bernard then and there.

"....." This was definitely not a constructive reply, and thus Ser Robert sent daggers at the man, his teeth clenched harder than ever before.

It had always known the black man beside him lacked any sort of loyalty to anyone- him, his family, or the army. But still, to see it in the flesh at the critical point was a surprise for the commander.

So Ser Robert just kept glowering at the man.

"....*Sigh*..... what do you want me to do?" Until finally, unable to leave the intense scrutiny of his high ranking friend, Anoon was forced to turn around and produced these words in a falt, resigned tone.

Then, without waiting for Ser Robert's reply, went on to answer his own question,

"There are three things we can do!" Saying so, the tall man then imperiously raised three fingers and listed,

"Number one, and the simplest among the bunch- we can kill Bernard and swim to Phyrros Island with his head."

"Number two- we can have our ship sail to Phyrros Island or even the Royal Harbor and have all of us aboard surrender there."

"Or number three, we flee by ourselves and hope Lady Margaret is generous enough to accept our surrender as is."

Anoon lowered one of his fingers with each point discussed until they had returned to their fist and all that remained was a strange silence amidst the chaotic chorus unfolding all around.

Then having very succinctly laid out all the possible paths, Anoon turned to Ser Robert, asking him to choose and choose one fast.

And the commander thus had his thinking cap on instantly.

Regarding his issue with the first method, well it was one that was deeply personal.

When Ser Robert was sworn into his current rank, he had sworn an oath to the Margraves family as well as the gods of Sybersis, promising to always obey his commanders and never bring them any harm.

And if he were to even break it, to earn both the wrath of the gods and humans alike.

Anoon of course did not care about such 'made up nonsense' as he liked to say, in extreme secret obviously, for being an atheist was a crime punishable by death in this day and age. So he had zero qualms about slitting Lord Bernard's throat in broad daylight.

But Ser Robert did believe in the scriptures, the rituals, and the recorded consequences.

So for the commander, the deal currently looked like this-

'He could either follow in his adjutant's footsteps and kill his commander, thus be rewarded a few more decades of life. But in exchange, after he dies he will have to spend a few millennia in eternal torment.'

'Or he could die right now, and hopefully, he will be taken to the promised land immediately.'

And when seen it way, the choice seemed strangely straightforward- the latter in favor of the former every day of the week.

To give a monetary analogy, it was like Ser Robert having to consider taking a loan of only a few tenners but at an interest payment which would require him to pay back at least a minimum of a few thousand bucks, i.e.- a minimum of ten thousand percent interest.

Calling such a deal usery would be too mild, because even that capped at two hundred to three hundred percent max.

And to make matters that much bleaker, all this risk would be taken without any guarantee of success.

After all,

Who said they could swim to safety just as Anoon promised?

Who said the men would not shoot shoot at them?

And who said Alexander and Lady Miranda would accept their truce?

None of this was a guarantee, and hence, if one were to put himself in Ser Robert's shoes now, one could easily see the dilemma.

The man of course wanted to live. But he also did not want to be damned for millennia in his afterlife.

Thus ultimately Ser Robert decided to shelve the first option for now, instead moving on to review the second option- surrendering the ship and all its contents.

This was both his favorite and most hated option.

Favorite because of how easy and perfect it all was- all he would need to steer the ship to the enemy's port and then whatever happened was someone else's problem. Ser Robert's hands would be clean.

But hated it because it would mean abandoning all his men's fate to the enemy. Ser Robert had no idea how the enemy would treat them, especially given that the other side was put under a siege, with no food or water.

So would they nearly be able to accommodate so many new mouths? Or were they going to bury them then and there?

Even if Alexander chose to ransom them, it would not likely work because it was almost certain Lord Parker was not going to spend his money on men who were not his. And especially not when these were all traitors of his cause.

Hearing of Alexander's offer, the ducal scion might even be overjoyed and send some money to 'pay for their funeral costs', thus actually encouraging the pasha to go with his threats.

All such uncertainty made a responsible commander like Ser Robert come to the conclusion that he would never be able to gamble all his men's lives like that. Not even when his own life was at stake.

And thus all that was left was the third and final option- the easiest of the bunch but also arguably the worst- simply running, or swimming away.

Ser Robert could see Anoon already preparing himself for that, and had already stated the risk- if they were to arrive empty handed, they might easily be suspected of being spies sent to infiltrate them and thus promptly get locked up, if not worse- 'interrogated'.

And nobody in this day and age even wanted to be interrogated- it was too a bloody affair.

However given it was also the option where only Ser Robert's life was in danger and no one else's, it soon became his most preferred option.

And so, after a while of raking his brain, he turned to let his right hand know his decision.

"...." Needless to say, Anoon was not impressed.

Sure he might have listed the option but it was really meant to be a placeholder, for it was certainly his most hated choice. Anoon certainly did not like handing his safety to the whims of anyone.

Hence he could be heard murmuring with a low growling annoyance,

"*Tsk*, you and your stupid morals! What's the point in acting so high and mighty? Despite all you said, you are still deserting the battlefield. It is a crime that is punishable by death, just like treason."

"....." Ser Robert had little to counter this with, except taking solace in his mind that desertion according to him was a thousand times better than treason.

The duo did not get to argue on this topic for long, as while they were in the midst of their discussion, an elated cry shot out from the decks,

"Look reinforcements! Heeat reinforcements! We are saved"

The cry came due to them spotting a new fleet of ships bearing the Heeat emblem.

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

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