The Pilgrim, which had nearly caused another tragedy moments ago, paid no more attention to the three hundred-odd Imperial warships behind it. It simply turned around at its leisure and sailed toward the starry sky beyond. Even as it departed, the dragon ship that should have belonged to the Empire looked so imposing and domineering, so dazzlingly handsome.
Watching this, Lieutenant General Midbech felt his heart still pounding with fear, his legs trembling. He felt he was no fit Imperial general at all, but more like a sheep that had just escaped the jaws of an evil dragon.
Of course, that no longer mattered. What mattered was that he was alive and hadn't followed in the footsteps of his old classmate, Karaman. By the spirits of the universe, one of them had been the son of a great noble, while the other had come from an ordinary citizen family and made his way through exams. They'd been rivals even as students. Even so, Lieutenant General Midbech truly hadn't wanted to lose a classmate of thirty years just like that. And as for going down to keep him company, he'd pass.
When the Pilgrim had completely entered the gravity well and vanished beyond the horizon, Lieutenant General Midbech finally tore his panic-filled gaze away and forced a dry smile. "Take an immediate tally of our losses," he ordered his adjutant.
Only then did the adjutant recover from his earlier dismay. He nodded to the commander, then hurried off in unsteady strides to relay the order. Even as he repeated the commander's words, however, his voice trembled. He still hadn't recovered from the shock.
But that wasn't his fault. Most of the officers and crew on the Golden Skull's bridge were in much the same state.
An hour earlier, when the dragon