Far-Sail Port, Lord's Villa
A group of people sat gathered together, all silent. After quite a while, Romon finally spoke. "What do you think were the reasons for the Third Fleet's defeat this time?"
Seated beside Romon were Fafier, Nick, Haiwavi, Sukar, and Shakat. Debiru was on duty at the Mage Tower and had not attended this meeting.
A week had already passed since the Third Fleet's crushing defeat. First Prince Hailancha had been ordered by the king to return to the Royal Capital, and his fate was unlikely to be pleasant.
Even now, Romon and the others clearly remembered the scene. When the once-arrogant Prince Hailancha returned, his face had already turned ashen.
Of the Third Fleet he had led out, only one-third remained. The other two-thirds of the warships had either been sunk by pirates or become the enemy's spoils. The moment Romon learned of this, his head began to ache.
To be fair, he had never thought Prince Hailancha would gain much advantage in a decisive battle against pirates. But such a catastrophic defeat still shocked him.
Those were forty well-equipped warships! Each was worth tens of thousands of gold coins, the very foundation of the Royal House, yet the First Prince had squandered them so thoroughly that the veteran ace fleet, the Third Fleet, had nearly been wiped out in one stroke. It was hard not to admire His Highness Hailancha.
"At least half the responsibility lies with Prince Hailancha," Nick said calmly. "The soldiers' exhaustion was one factor. Another was the command."
"I agree with Nick. The battle against the pirates failed so badly, and the Third Fleet was defeated so miserably—there's no way Prince Hailancha bears no responsibility," Fafier said in agreement.
Romon sighed. "It wasn't merely the Third Fleet's poor command. These pirates