On the 1st of March 1171 in the Islamic calendar, at 4:30 PM, in the sea 6 kilometers north of Waiheke Island.

Ten warships in the style of the North Island dragon boat (langskip) sailed south against the wind, cutting through the waves.

On a warship positioned at the rear of the fleet's "T-formation," two people dressed in strikingly different outfits are having a conversation.

A young pirate, wearing a half-mask iron helmet and felt and leather armor, sat at the foremost oarsman's seat on the dragon boat, laboriously rowing. Looking at the distant scenery, he shouted to the muscular barbarian warriors sitting cross-legged on the deck behind him, "Korwin, I see Wailing Island! The western coast isn't far!"

The barbarian warrior glanced at the shouting pirate, and was about to speak when a surge of acid in his stomach forced him to run to the side of the deck and vomit.

Turning his head away with a look of disgust, the pirate muttered under his breath, "And they even said you were the bravest warrior..."

He underestimated Corwin's hearing.

The barbarian warrior turned back angrily and shouted, "Lev! If you'll let me leave this damned sea, I swear to the ancient gods, I'll hang you upside down from the treetop and... ugh..."

The young man called Lev completely disregarded this utterly unconvincing threat. He turned his head towards the coast, a look of reverie on his face: "If I return with a full catch from this voyage, the tribe will agree to give me a woman!"

“If the people making the promise are your tribe’s leaders, then I advise you to give up as soon as possible!” Korwin said, his limbs limp, lying on his back on the deck, his face turned to the sky.

Why do you say that?

Corwin struggled to his feet: "We had originally agreed with the Silver Ring Kingdom that the attack would take place three days from now. But the pirate tribe leader arbitrarily moved the departure time forward by three days, just so he could be the first to enter the city and plunder."

Lev asked, puzzled, "Is there something wrong with this?"

"An agreement is an agreement!" Corwin patted his chest forcefully. "Since both parties have already made an agreement, unilaterally breaking the agreement is deception and a breach of trust!"

Lev glanced at Corwin with the look of someone looking at an idiot: "Agreements only exist between friends. Why would you need to keep your word with those fools from the Silver Ring Kingdom?"

Korwin, his face contorted with anger, was about to say something when he was suddenly interrupted by the commotion coming from the warship ahead.

Lev straightened up and looked ahead.

For some unknown reason, the people on the foremost warship suddenly jumped into the sea, and the ship slowly tilted and began to sink.

Then, the same thing happened to the second and third warships.

Just as everyone was filled with doubt and uncertainty, a pirate who had fallen into the water and was floating pointed to the sea and shouted in terror, "Sea monster! There's a sea monster under the surface!"

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Four hours ago, in Muxi Town.

Todd stood in the square, glanced at the militia and believers bustling around the town, then turned to Brother Joe and Knight Dion standing in front of him, and asked with a headache, "My orders to you were to follow the residents and evacuate south, so why did you come back?"

Monk Joe touched his bald head and said in a muffled voice, "Every blade of grass, every street here is the culmination of my hard work. I can't just leave like this..."

Knight Dion had a rapier at his waist and wore a suit of armor that fit his petite frame. His long, light-gold hair was tied into a ponytail and coiled on top of his head with a piece of cloth. He said only one sentence: "I do not wish to live a life of regret because of a life of cowardice."

Todd rubbed his nose and said helplessly, "Since you've made your decision, I won't stop you. The town's preparations are basically complete, and the tasks for street fighting have been assigned. You can follow me..."

"Commander-in-Chief! Enemy warships have appeared!"

Alfonso strode over and shouted.

Todd was stunned.

Why are pirate ships appearing today?

Judging by the timeline, today is the fourth day since the Silver Ring Alliance set out. If the scheme of using false orders succeeded, Cumberland's army should have just engaged them in battle by now. As for the pirates and barbarians, they should have reached the coastline in three days!

After questioning Alfonso in detail and thinking it over, Todd learned the truth and was left speechless with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

The pirates had planned to attack ahead of schedule all along. While agreeing with the Silver Ring army to jointly attack Twilight Town on March 4th, they launched their attack three days earlier without notifying their allies.

The lie in the fake military order turned out to be the truth; the attempt to attack two armies by taking advantage of the time difference resulted in a two-front war due to a series of coincidences.

Everything can be described in four words.

"To try to be clever but end up making a mess of things."

Todd immediately thought of what Cumberland had said at the last war council.

"The many uncertainties in war stem from the fact that everything is in flux. To a certain extent, implementing plans amidst chaos is the true essence of war. Excessive nitpicking is the greatest enemy of a good plan..."

After calming down, Todd began to make pre-battle preparations.

First, the militiamen in the town were ordered to take their positions and, according to the previous tactical arrangements, move into ambush positions for street fighting.

Second, send a signal to the underwater combat aliens hiding on Waiheke Island, instructing them to enter a state of combat readiness and be ready to attack the pirates' fleet at any time.

Third, order the reconnaissance units to occupy the high ground in the town in advance and closely monitor the enemy's movements.

Fourth, command melee and elemental attack variants to form tactical squads to cooperate with the militia in ambushes.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!