Editing Tytania:Volume 4 Chapter 6 (section)

=== V ===
As he watched the opera of light and shadow unfolding upon the screen, Doctor Lee lectured:

“You know what a snowman<ref name="ftn36">“Snowman” (雪ダルマ) is pronounced “snowman”.</ref> is, don’t you? As long as you don’t move it, it stays the same size. However, if you roll it along, snow sticks to it, and it gradually grows larger.”

“A snowman, eh…”

Fan Hyulick had never seen anything called a snowman in all his life.

“While Idris stands idly by, Ariabert and Jouslain continue to increase their number of allies. Considering that, a short-term battle might actually work to Idris’ advantage. For the time being he can enter the fray with double the manpower.”

“But I wonder if things will go quite so smoothly. I feel as though there might be a trap somewhere.”

“Well, even I do not yet know which way it will go.”

“Now, now.”

“In any event, it is not my place to take responsibility, so I shall simply observe for a while. Even if I wished to intervene, I would be unable to do so.”

Doctor Lee sipped his coffee with complete composure, but Hyulick could not help but feel a slight sense of unease. He felt that Doctor Lee must also bear at least some responsibility.

In later generations, a search through biographical dictionaries would reveal a great variety of titles attributed to Fan Hyulick. He was variously listed as a “soldier during the era of the eighth Tytanian Clanner Ajman”, a “leader of the anti-Tytania faction”, and a “guerilla tactician” among many others. However, regarding his own state of mind at the time, he likely would have wished to claim he was merely an “unfortunate victim of the Tytanian Era”.

Even while Doctor Lee’s seminar was being held at the Academy of Pirates, the fighting around Uraniborg continued. In fact, it appeared to be growing even more intense.

“As could be expected, the allied forces of Ariabert and Jouslain hold the advantage.”

Even someone who wasn’t Doctor Lee could see this. Since the initial ratio of forces was two to one, if Idris held the advantage, the numbers of the Ariabert-Jouslain allied forces would dwindle, and they would soon be unable to maintain the front. Even using very basic arithmetic, if both armies lost an equal number of troops, then by the time the Ariabert-Jouslain army was annihilated, Idris would still have twenty thousand ships remaining. The fact that this was not the case meant that Idris was in a rather disadvantageous position.

It was then that Pagès entered. Soup was dripping from his head, and though he was usually a cheerful man, he was unusually utterly sullen. He had gone to deliver a meal to Radmoth, who was confined in the toilets, but apparently had the plate thrown at him.

“It seems His Grace the Baron does not find the food of the lowborn commoners to his taste. He barely touched the soup.”

“There is no need to feed an omelette to a fellow like that. Plenty of boiled eggs will do.”

“Do not insult boiled eggs!”

“What was that, Mahdi? Do you have a fondness for boiled eggs?”

“Not really. It’s just that I am a man who upholds fairness.”

“Fairness, is it? Very well then. You had better keep quiet for a while. I slipped enough sleeping pills in his wine to knock out three people. He should be snoring loudly by now.”

The slender figure of Pagès, who had been standing at the entrance of the dining hall, was suddenly shoved aside. Radmoth, his expression ferocious, held something gleaming against Seraphine Coopers’ throat. It was a raygun.

“Don’t move, you vermin!” roared Radmoth.

Fan Hyulick glared at Miranda.

“Hey, wasn’t that guy supposed to be snoring?”

“I should have put the dose for five people.”

“So, the hero surges from the toilets, huh?”

After delivering a dull joke in a dull tone, Doctor Lee wiped his mouth with a napkin. A bolt of light streaked through the air, five centimetres above his head, striking the dining hall wall and sending up plumes of smoke.

Doctor Lee shrugged.

“I shall listen if you have a request. And I will accept it provided it falls within the bounds of reason.”

Radmoth replied without hesitation:

“Continue your advance all the way to Uraniborg.”

Doctor Lee raised both hands slightly and stood up cautiously.

“That isn’t simply beyond the bounds of reason but beyond those of sanity. Do you truly think we can pierce through such a battlefield and reach Uraniborg? We would be blown to smithereens by both armies.”

“Do you think you can deceive me, you vermin? This ship was originally issued identification tags by Tytania to distinguish friend from foe. That is precisely why you can move around so brazenly.”

Doctor Lee, Fan Hyulick, and Miranda exchanged glances. To be honest, none of them had expected Radmoth to remember anything about the identification tags. They had simply regarded him as just another type of boorish, high-born brat.

“Complacency is a dangerous thing, Doctor.”

“I shall be more careful from now on.”

“If you understand, then move it! Get us to Uraniborg, quickly!” shouted Radmoth, his voice ringing with triumph.

The crew members looked at one another, but with no other choice, they returned to their respective stations and began to set the ship in motion.

That was the extent of Radmoth’s brief victory.

In order to keep an eye on everyone, Radmoth had been leaning against the rear wall of the bridge; however, his eyes suddenly grew glazed and vacant, and he began to slide down the wall, eventually collapsing onto the floor.

When Seraphine Coopers cautiously approached and leaned in to look at his face, a loud snore and a breath reeking of alcohol wafted up at her. It seemed the medicine had finally begun to take effect. He was a young lord with extraordinary stamina.

“What shall we do, Doctor? Shall we leave him to soak in the toilet’s bio-purifier this time?”

“Don’t. Having a crisis emerge from the toilet once is enough for a lifetime.”

“Well then, shall we just let him die?”

Pagès toyed with the raygun with both hands.

“It doesn’t leave a good aftertaste. But even if we keep him as a hostage, he’ll probably be abandoned by his side, and keeping him here would only increase our food expenses. Personally, I think throwing him out is the best option.”

A consensus was reached. Baron Radmoth Tytania was placed into an escape pod and prepared to be ejected into space.

With his mouth and both arms bound, Radmoth had been crammed into a tight capsule; it could hardly be said that he was being treated as an honoured guest. Nevertheless, the fact that the distress signal had been left transmitting continuously might have been a sign of the pirates’ humanity. Maybe.

The crew of the ''Honest Old Man Junior'' offered their heartfelt farewells to the departing capsule. Even for such scoundrels, a parting this joyous was a first. Even pirates, it seemed, possessed a sense of sincerity.



While his unworthy brother played in a paradise within the capsule, his elder brother, Idris, was trapped in an endless nightmare. Unlike the pirates who had captured his brother, he did not even register his own hunger, devoting his entire soul to judging the battle situation and issuing orders. The fatigue accumulating unconsciously only continued to grow.

“Every last one of them can rot in hell. Useless lot!” cursed Idris, though his voice was beginning to rasp.

The incompetence of his allies, who struggled even while being outnumbered two to one, incensed Idris, but he could not ignore his own mistakes either. By allowing Ariabert and the others to launch an assault directly onto the front of Uraniborg, he had, both strategically and politically, left everyone with the impression that they were “driven to the wall”.

There had been an alternative plan of leaving ten thousand ships to guard Uraniborg and withdrawing thirty thousand to launch a preemptive strike on planet Bargash. Had he done so, at the very least, the fact that he had “struck first” would have remained. In reality, however, Idris had allowed the impression to spread, both domestically and abroad, that he had simply been left at the mercy of Ariabert and Jouslain. Furthermore, what was increasing his exhaustion even further was the growing dissatisfaction with Clanner Ajman, as profound doubts began to take hold of him.

Was Clanner Ajman even sane?

It was the first time in Idris’ life that he had harboured such a doubt. In this regard, he was no different from Jouslain.

In Jouslain’s case, it was a casual remark from Princess Lydia that had brought about his inspiration. As for Idris, he had arrived at that conclusion after dispelling one suspicion after the other. To be fair, one might say that Idris, wallowing in his solitude, had been forced to endure greater mental exhaustion. He had no advisor to consult, either.

In short, Idris’ mind and body were approaching their limits. Even so, the will and effort he exerted to continue commanding the battle would have been worthy of praise.

''“I cannot say for certain, but…”''

Had something happened? Something that might have suggested Ajman’s “madness”?

It had never occurred to Idris. Although he had never once liked Ajman, he had always felt a sense of awe and respect toward him. As a member of Tytania, he had considered this only natural, and he had stridden to earn his favour while being careful not to incur his displeasure. He had almost never felt doubt or resentment regarding the way Ajman’s words and actions governed everything.

But had that been the right thing to do?

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