Clang! Clang, clang, clang—
Lances crossed, crisp metallic clashes rang rhythmically as Vela passed through the honor guard of armored Knightmare Frames, bathed in warm sunlight that seemed to cast a golden halo. She walked toward the row of officials lined neatly at the end of the red carpet.
"Lord Moltke."
"Lord Manfredi."
"Lord Shaing."
Her gaze moved past the Fifth Knight of the Round, Lord Moltke, and the Commander of the Michael Knights, Michele Manfredi, before finally resting on the adopted son of the Shaing family from the Far East.
This Shin Hyuga Shaing—originally named Makihara Shin, a descendant of samurai—wore his long dark-blue hair tied into a ponytail with a purple ribbon. His sidelocks hung down to his collarbones. Slender in figure, with green eyes and strikingly handsome features, he even bore something of a feminine aspect.
He wore a sleeveless vest of white trimmed with gold, a matching cross-front tailcoat beneath, fingers bound with metal guards, and tall boots on his feet.
At his waist hung a three-foot-long sword in a white-and-gold scabbard.
Imposing in every detail.
Truly, the very image of a gallant "last Eastern samurai."
Before Suzaku Kururugi's meteoric rise, he had likely been the highest-ranking, fastest-climbing Numbered citizen.
No one knew whether he truly had no parents, or if he was an orphan of a family he had himself annihilated.
Vela recalled his history.
Discovered by Manfredi due to his outstanding martial ability, he was taken into the military and later adopted by the childless Shaing family, renamed Shin Hyuga Shaing.
Because Britannia's rule held that "so long as one has ability, even a Numbered citizen can achieve greatness," and with the backing of the impartial Manfredi and the noble Shaing family, he rose swiftly through the ranks of the Knights. Engaged to the Shaing family's only daughter, he was set to become the next head of the family, formally entering the core of Imperial high society.
To this, Vela was indifferent.
No one is a saint—who does not wish to advance?
The only condition: do not obstruct her path.
Under Vela's faintly amused scrutiny, Shin Hyuga Shaing seemed to sense something. He raised his hand respectfully to his chest in salute, bowing his head even lower.
"With fervent devotion, we welcome Your Highness' return."
Rustle. At once, with Lord Moltke in the lead, the assembled crowd lowered themselves to one knee in respect.
Vela lifted her hand, gesturing for them to rise.
Her gaze moved from the so-called "Eastern Samurai of Britannia" to Lord Moltke, the Round Table Knight who had openly stood in support of her.
This new military noble, born to a Junker landowning family in the Americas, did not possess the obvious physical strength of Lord Lohengramm, the Eighth Knight and fellow supporter of the Third Princess.
Looking about forty, with broad shoulders but a lean frame, his beard was kept thin and short, his hazel hair neatly combed, his skin smooth. He gave the impression of a classical philosopher more than of a general who commanded armies across Africa with thunderous might.
And in truth, that was accurate.
Unlike Lohengramm, famed for his powerful physique, mastery of weapons and martial arts, and lightning-fast charges in close combat with his Knight of the Round's personal frame—
Lord Moltke was not known for physical prowess.
The development of his personal unit leaned instead toward that of a frontline command center and heavy-firepower platform.
Less demanding in terms of bodily strength, but requiring immense intellect, command experience, adaptability, battlefield awareness, and instinct for piloting Knightmares.
In Euro Britannia's development bureau, directly under Vela, his upgraded Knight of V was designed to carry specialized intelligence analysis systems, cutting-edge communications, and advanced anti-interference and anti-eavesdropping electronics. Heavily armored, it was also packed with experimental systems: FLOAT System, Wide-Area Energy Shield System, Multifunction Folding Shields, High-Power Hadron Cannon, and a Hive Missile System—all crammed in at Vela's insistence.
Meanwhile, in Area 11, Lord Lohengramm naturally also had a new unit.
But compared with the lavishly crafted, cost-no-object technological iteration of Moltke's new frame, Lohengramm's new mount seemed almost "ordinary."
The former suited Vela's style more, and it also paved the way for designing her own customized Knightmare.
At the same time, it was also by Lord Lohengramm's own request. His piloting style emphasized agility and ferocity, and his new mount was about average to above-average for the Knights of the Round in terms of upgrades.
Vela spoke solemnly: "Lord Moltke, are you ready to wield the blade I have sharpened for you?"
"I will wield it rightly."
Lord Moltke merely crossed his arm calmly over his heart. "I shall not betray the trust placed in me."
His tone carried an unhurried but unshakable confidence.
If his princess, his liege, his second loyalty after the Emperor wished to fight, then he would fight. All that remained was to give his utmost, even unto death.
Hearing this, Vela nodded, then smiled.
"In the name of iron and blood, Britannia's iron cavalry will trample all of Europe."
"The eagle of Brandenburg will tear out the throat of that hollow French cock."
She said no more. Tilting her head with a glance of personal closeness, she moved on to the next subject of inspection.
As the Third Princess' upright and majestic figure passed him, Moltke lowered his arm from salute. A trace of relief glimmered in his eyes, and for once his face managed a smile.
It was an unhidden, heartfelt smile, flowing with the purest pride and joy.
Who would have thought His Majesty Emperor Charles truly dispatched both him and Lohengramm under the Third Princess' command…
Though in fact, both he and Lohengramm had once served as Princess Vela's military tutors in the Gemini Palaces, in a sense having watched her grow up under the Hohenzollern household and the Imperial Royal Family. They were steadfast loyalists of the "Third Princess' Faction."
One had to remember, Knights of the Round historically belonged directly to the Emperor.
Yes, there were occasions of being dispatched under a prince, a governor, or a front-line commander—but most were temporary assignments.
Even long-term deployments to borders, war zones, or colonies required rotation.
This had been the unwritten rule since before the 1998 [Emblem of Blood Rebellion].
By that logic, Lohengramm, stationed in Euro Britannia for the past two years, should have returned home this year.
Yet interestingly, not only was Moltke now dispatched as well, Lohengramm had not been rotated out…
Still, it was understandable.
The Knights of the Round were no longer at full strength.
With Britannia striking globally and stretching its reach ever wider, there were not enough to cover both expansion and rotation.
The shadow of the [Emblem of Blood Rebellion] lingered still.
Back in 1998, the Knights of the Round had been at full complement.
Six Knights, including the former First Knight, were killed during the rebellion. Three others, for sitting on the fence, were executed in the aftermath.
Thus, the Knights of the Round were left critically undermanned.
Lord Bismarck, then Fifth Knight, was promoted to First Knight for his valiant defense of the palace gates. Another loyalist, Lord Bertorix Franx, was raised to Second Knight.
As for the rebellion's greatest hero, the Sixth Knight, Marianne—
For slaying the former First Knight and protecting the Emperor, she earned Charles' highest favor, marrying him in glory and resuming the Sixth Knight's title as Empress.
Unprecedented—the Knights of the Round reduced to only two!
Fortunately, because of the Third Princess Vela, the American Junkers led by the Hohenzollern family threw all their weight behind Charles, staking their deepest reserves to see him through. Vela's grandfather, the previous Duke of Hohenzollern, paid dearly in the effort.
It was for their distinguished service during the rebellion that Moltke and Lohengramm left such deep impressions on the Emperor, and were made Fifth and Eighth Knights, respectively.
Alongside Lord Bismarck, they were now the most senior of the current Knights of the Round.
That His Majesty Charles dispatched the two of them together to Euro Britannia was most likely expedient.
After all, they were known throughout the Empire as stalwart loyalists of the Third Princess. Why not send them out as recognition of her years of military merit?
But… what if the Emperor approved Princess Vela's request to have a third Knight of the Round stationed under her?
Moltke pondered.
Looking back at the wars Princess Vela had driven in recent years—
In 2014, she launched the Finnish War—
She had seized the Karelian Isthmus in the Finnish War of 2014—capturing Vyborg, swallowing Petsamo and Salla, securing the northern ice-free port of Murmansk, and threatening Helsinki. In total, inflicting over a hundred thousand casualties on the Finnish Iron Army and the E.U.'s elite mountain troops.
In the Crimean War of 2015—
She had successfully taken the Crimean Peninsula, broken through the Dnieper River line, and occupied the crucial western bridgehead city of Kherson.
Crossing the Black Sea, she had launched a surprise assault on Istanbul, seizing all Ottoman territory in Europe as well as part of Asia Minor along the Black Sea straits, locking down the Black Sea.
Renaming Istanbul back to Constantinople, restoring the cross atop Hagia Sophia in place of the crescent, she won the goodwill of Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania, opening the Balkan front.
In 2016, she launched a full-scale campaign against Ukraine, the most crucial wedge of the E.U.'s eastern expansion into Eastern Europe—
With innovative tactics and upgraded communication and reconnaissance systems, she smashed through the E.U.'s heavily prepared border defenses, driving deep into central Ukraine.
Exploiting the chaos of E.U. communications and troop movements, she launched a scything offensive, swiftly swallowing two eastern provinces, seizing half of southern Ukraine, and fighting repeated battles around the fortress city of Kharkov, cutting down E.U. forces by the hundreds of thousands.
Encirclement strikes, deep penetration, pincer offensives—at Kursk, Sumy, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Berdiansk, and more, she fought large-scale battles far beyond the scale of Area 11's policing wars, turning the fertile black earth into a hellscape.
By 2017, after the winter thaw, the Ukrainian war continued—
The E.U. army, failing in every counterattack, finally settled on a new strategy: "Come at me by a hundred roads, I strike back by only one." Their chosen breach was Narva in northeast Estonia, little more than a hundred kilometers from St. Petersburg.
It was in this Narva offensive that suicide shock tactics reappeared in Europe.
The E.U. raised the WZERO Unit from Area 11 refugees scattered across Europe, deploying them to support elite troops.
With no path of retreat, they were dropped into forested terrain by sudden airship landings, launching suicide assaults. Caught unprepared, the Raphael Knights—one of the four great knightly orders stationed there—lost several ace pilot squads, suffering grievous casualties.
At that very time, it had been months since Governor Clovis' assassination in Area 11 by the terrorist calling himself [ZERO] and the so-called Black Knights. The mourning ceremony in Pendragon was about to be held.
The Eighth Knight Lohengramm had already returned home for debriefing, but had yet to take up his new post. Princess Vela had departed St. Petersburg, residing in Murmansk's palace, preparing to return to the homeland via the Arctic route.
The E.U. had chosen their moment well…
Moltke's thoughts turned sharply, his steel-gray eyes narrowing.
And this WZERO Unit…
To avoid inflaming public opinion with mounting casualties, to reduce the losses of their own soldiers, the E.U. conscripted Area 11 refugees as disposable cannon fodder, filling the gaps?
Degenerate, these French.
It was clear: E.U. troops were weary of war, morale fading, fatigue showing.
If Britannia pressed the offensive, even without Princess Vela's reforms—pushing Euro Britannia's technical breakthroughs, industrial advances, lowering battlefield casualty rates, and raising veteran survival rates…
By the end of 2018, their Eastern European defense lines would collapse. Britannia's warhorses would drink from the Elbe.
Bearing the glory of crushing the E.U., reclaiming lost lands, trampling France—Third Princess Vela would ascend the throne!
At the thought, Moltke's gaze on Vela's radiant figure grew fevered.
It was the dream of every soldier—to carve out such immortal achievements.
Unaware of his teacher's thoughts, only sensing a heated gaze, Vela smiled faintly and turned her eyes to the Commander of the Michael Knights.
Black-haired, blue-eyed, his burly frame and rocklike features proclaimed him unmistakably a knight who had thundered across countless battlefields.
Vela stood with her hands clasped behind her back, sweeping her gaze across the assembled. Her words were terse and direct: "Lord Manfredi, time is short and the task heavy. You are being pulled from Constantinople to the Narva front to assist Lord Farnese. Immediate counterattack is required. Do you have any objections?"
Farnese was the commander of the Raphael Knights—the very order that had suffered grievous losses. He was also Manfredi's close friend.
"Nothing could please me more, Your Highness."
With a hearty smile, Manfredi struck his chest and stood tall, bowing respectfully: "Wherever Your blade points, there will our hearts follow."
Vela nodded. "Good."
Then she turned to the long-waiting Shin Hyuga Shaing.
"Lord Shaing, how much do you know of Bushido and the 'Kamikaze'?"
Lowering his gaze, Shaing raised his hand reverently to his chest and replied: "I have heard a little. Bushido means: eat your lord's bread, serve your lord's cause, shoulder your lord's burdens. As for the Kamikaze, it is said that long ago, when the horsemen who swept across all Eurasia invaded, a great storm saved the people of… Area 11."
"In that case, I can entrust this task to you without worry."
Vela seemed quite satisfied with his answer. She said: "The Eleven Expeditionary Corps—are you familiar with it?"
"Yes."
Bowing, Shaing listened intently.
"The son of Area 11's fallen Prime Minister, Suzaku Kururugi, is in the first batch of three thousand. I want you to watch him, guide him, shape him into another Eastern Samurai loyal to Britannia, as you yourself have become. You and he will shake and destroy the E.U.'s WZERO Unit. One goal: within one month, I want all rumors of the so-called 'Hannibal's Ghost' erased."
Hannibal—the Carthaginian general who once attacked ancient Rome. Since Euro Britannia liked to style itself the heir of Rome, this sudden assault on St. Petersburg was likened by some soldiers to the return of Hannibal's ghost.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Shaing simply accepted the command.
"Good. Stand down."
With a wave of her hand, Vela turned and left the red carpet, heading straight for the waiting car at the edge of the tarmac. The Fifth Knight Moltke and Lord Manfredi followed closely behind.
"Your Highness, who is the third Knight of the Round soon to arrive?"
"She was Cornelia's and my classmate at the officer academy—Nonette Enneagram, the Ninth Knight… North, Central, South. Three Army Groups. Three Knights of the Round. Perfect."
Her voice trailed away as she departed.
Shin Hyuga Shaing kept his head bowed until Vela's great entourage of attendants and guards had passed. Only when his adjutant called to him did he raise his head, carefully masking his emotions. His brows furrowed slightly as he looked southwest, toward the skies over St. Petersburg.
"Hannibal's Ghost, is it…"