Amity: The Peaceful

Chapter 8

Adeodatus is sitting comfortably on his wooden chair inside the captain's cabin- in his cabin with the other high-ranking officials, who clearly looks tense and terrified with their presence of their emperor, especially now that their knight commander isn't here to calm or stop the imperial majesty's rage if something happens to their expedition unexpectedly.

"Where were we again?" Ade asked in a cold but calm voice.

The officials flinched after hearing their emperor speak. The mid-fifties man shifted on his stand before looking at the authoritative man sitting on his throne, "Your imperial majesty, not defying any of your commands but are you sure about conquering this state? It is huge, there are many people here for sure, we can't assure your safety especially that the knight commander is not here." the grand marshal stated, and the other two nodded, agreeing with the man's sentiment.

The three avoided the piercing gaze of their emperor when the man moved from his seat, and that simple and slow move made the three high-ranking men feel nervous.

The grand marshal swallowed the lump in his throat after the dead silence between the four of them, he saw ow the emperor grew up, from a cute young boy up to a fine but cruel young man, he is aware that the emperor could easily kill him- behead him if he wants to.

The three are aware that they're powerless compared to the man sitting near them, not only with the titles they hold but also with strength and ability, they are more experienced with Adeodatus, yes, but the man's talent in fighting skills are incomparable. Anyone who's boasting about their title and power can be humbled easily by the young emperor.

The chair creaked, "I get it. No need to protect me all the time, look out for yourselves instead, I can handle myself. And yes, I am sure, I won't risk my life or yours, my people, If I was unsure in the first place. Our plan is concrete. I even ask the judgment of the majesty, King Terry and the royal prince about this, worry less." he explained calmly.

The three nodded their heads in unison even though they wanted to ask more questions, they reminded themselves not to doubt their imperial majesty's judgment and orders.

And that doubt and questions on the men's face didn't escape from the keen emperor. But he didn't bother to ask, he knows that if he bothers to open one, it'll be followed by another again. Besides he's too lazy to entertain any of those now he wants to rest, badly.

The ship moved for a couple of seconds and the gentlemen inside the cabin knew that their ship was speeding up.

All stayed inside the cabin for half an hour, discussing the maps and their plans repeatedly with different strategies that they can use if the other fails, just in case.

"Yes, we're going to use this route-"

Adeodatus' words were cut off and their ship shook violently, his forehead creased in annoyance, but he didn't stand from his seat. He caressed the back of his head, trying to ease the pain away after being hit on the chair's crest rail.

He angrily pressed his churchwarden cigarette on the silver ashtray beside him after he lost his posture due to the violent movement of the ship.

"What's that?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

One of the men, the knight major, looked at him alarmed, "Are you okay, your imperial majesty?"

"I am fine, check the commotion outside." he ordered and adjusted his position on the wooden chair, the three gentlemen went out while Ade stared at his dead cigarette he just pressed earlier, some smoke's still coming from it. He sighed and stood from his seat and to his surprise the ship moved again, this time he hit his knee on the hard wooden chair where he sat a second ago.

"Fuck!" he cussed, getting so pissed at the situation. He stood straight and brushed away the dust from his shoulder before glaring at the door, this time he could hear his men shouting outside.

He picked the pistol up and loaded it before putting it on the belt around his waist, he gripped the handle of his cutlass sword- the sword that he inherited from his father that he taken care of dearly, put in into the scabbard before heavily marching towards the wooden door of the captain's cabin.

And when he opened the door, his forehead knotted when he saw the dark sky above, Guess, we failed to predict the weather. He glanced at the water and saw some huge waves and concluded that it must be the reason why their ship shook earlier.

"What's the ruckus all about?" he asked after a wet knight walked past him while pushing a huge cannon.

"Your imperial majesty!" the man greeted in glee," We saw some pirate ships approaching on our way."

Ade's eyelids moved into a thin line and later rushed up to the quarter deck before climbing up to the poop deck of the ship. And there he saw the grand marshal together with the sailing master of the ship, he turned his head back to see the two barques.

In a worse situation than them, his knights are becoming messier and messier at the two ships, "What shall we do, your imperial majesty?" the sailing master in an obvious worried tone.

His eyelids moved once again but he couldn't see them clearly because of the rain's droplets so he snatched the telescope from the grand marshal beside him and looked at the approaching ships.

There are four huge ships in total, the three brigantines are approaching them with such a high speed while the other ship at the back... he can't see it clearly, that's why he can't distinguish what type of ship is the last one, but he sure it's huge. The brigantines' flag isn't up either, failing to recognize the group of pirates.

Ade's jaw clenched when he realized that they're outnumbered by ships and for sure, by people too. But he doesn't want to back down, for sure they are more prepared since they just reloaded earlier in the west, they're fully protected.

He smirked, "Looks like we'll be late with our plans, let's capture them." he ordered.

The two officials looked at him, surprised at his sudden command, "Load the cannons!" he shouted while stepping down the deck.

The sailing master gripped the telescope before using it and after a couple of seconds, his eyes widened after witnessing the last ship's flag. He saw the most notorious pirates' flag at the top of the man-o'-war ship, the Amity.

He ran towards the emperor who was commanding their men, but he stopped his plan when he saw the familiar bloodshot eyes of the emperor, the familiar thirst in the man's eyes. He only has two choices, stop the emperor, and get himself killed or fight them until he dies.

But he chose the latter. For him, he would rather die with honor than to die in front of his co-workers.