It was June 20 when King Brunhild of Suluka led his own fleet—though not especially large, it was exceptionally well trained—out of the New Baghdad system.
On June 25, as they passed through the New Athens system, they encountered a minor incident.
The planet was guarded by the Commonwealth's 14th Marine Division and its Terra Defense Fleet, and could at least be considered well defended. But against the fleet, the planet's thirty thousand marines, its fifty thousand defense troops—whose average training time was less than six months—and its three hundred-plus high-powered heavy guns were nothing more than a house of cards, ready to topple at a push.
So Feru, the governor of New Athens, and Brigadier General Mu Wei of the 14th Division presented their surrender to the Dawn Angel. They said they had even arranged a grand banquet at city hall to welcome His Highness's arrival, and that it would be the greatest honor of their lives if they were lucky enough to meet a true imperial scion, and so on.
They were far too enthusiastic. Their enthusiasm seemed suspicious, so of course they never got an audience with His Highness King Suluka. Instead, a group of Imperial armored grenadiers suddenly dropped in from the sky. They then cornered a large group of armed soldiers in the city hall's rear courtyard. The brigadier general of the 14th Division had even hidden a compact pistol of the sort used by intelligence agents, and they had found a poisoned dagger inside a fish's belly.
"What is this supposed to be? A bloody banquet? Did they actually think they could take the Empire's great elector hostage?"
When Austana heard the news, she found it absurd and even felt like laughing. After all, even putting aside all emotional considerations, the situation was perfectly