Chapter 189: A Noble’s Trial by Fire

Toto…

Don’t get the wrong idea—that’s actually his name.

He comes from the Second-Tier Civilization, the Salva Empire. Folks from that civilization have a quirky habit—their names are usually made from two identical syllables. Sometimes three, sometimes even four.

The record? Some people ended up saddled with names using a dozen or more repeating syllables.

Anyway, back to the point.

When the joint fleet of fifty thousand soldiers was being assembled, every civilization was fighting for the commander’s seat.

In the end only three civilizations won spots.

Two of them took command of individual fleets, but the Salva Empire struck gold and secured the grand commander’s position.

After that, the Empire pushed Toto forward as the supreme commander of all fifty thousand troops.

Unlike the Human Federation, the Salva Empire has military academies, but only nobles are allowed to learn about command or tactics. Ordinary citizens are flat-out excluded.

That means every officer in the Imperial Fleet is of noble birth. Regular folks never get beyond being basic foot soldiers.

At best, you might become the head foot soldier. That’s about as high as a sergeant major in the Federation.

As for Toto himself—well, he’s not exactly useless. He’s decent enough.

But here’s the catch—he’s never seen a real battle. After all…

The Empire sits right at the heart of the Wasteland Alliance. They control over seventy-six star systems, and they’ve never had trouble from outside threats. It’s smooth and safe for their development.

That led to a unique problem.

Which is…

When he finally set foot on the battlefield and saw what real war looks like with his own eyes…

Could a guy who’d never seen blood really hold it together?

The answer turned out to be no.

To this day, Toto still remembers.

That day, countless quantum bombs arced through the void, exploding and wiping out entire warships along with everyone inside.

He was terrified—flat-out petrified by the carnage.

So, first chance he got, he ordered his ship to turn tail and run. He became the very first deserter of that battle.

Luckily, it was so chaotic that although a handful of people noticed, they either died or ended up caught by Tuoba’s men.

So the Alliance never found out Toto had led the retreat.

And now, they’d put him in charge of this key operation again.

Every time Toto remembers the panic and desperation on his face as he bolted…

He feels deeply ashamed—and swears he’ll redeem himself this time.

Sure, last time, he was scared out of his mind.

But it’s different now, because—

“I, Toto, have been baptized by battle! I’m no rookie anymore!”

In his captain’s chair, Toto puffed up with pride.

Right then, the alarms blared.

“Lord Toto, a large fleet is breaking out from the far side of the star and launching an attack on our flank!”

“How many exactly?”

“Radar picked up 3,601 enemy warships.”

“Less than us. Why’s everyone freaking out? Relay my orders! Have the fleet reverse heading and blast them!”

“Yes, L—Lord Toto. They’ve opened fire! Oh no… this… this is…”

The radar officer’s face was drained of all color.

That set Toto off with anger.

Scared stiff before the first shot’s even fired—useless!

“They’re using energy weapons!”

“We’re over two hundred thousand kilometers away, but still—”

He didn’t need to hear the rest.

Even from his viewport, Toto could see countless vivid blue beams slicing through space, warships exploding left and right.

More ships were skewered by ion beams—either left crippled or outright destroyed.

Toto’s whole body started to shake.

Weren’t those warships from the Ziyang Empire and Xitoris Kingdom?

Weren’t their energy weapons only supposed to have a range of eighty thousand kilometers?

So how—

How could they hit us from over two hundred thousand kilometers away?

Question after question tumbled through his mind.

Honestly, if you just looked at them, there wasn’t much difference between the domestically-used Seawolf-class and the export models.

So, Toto just assumed those were Ziyang Empire ships. It never occurred to him that a third power might be involved other than the Ziyang Empire and Xitoris Kingdom.

But one of his subordinates caught on.

“Lord Toto, those aren’t Ziyang Empire or Xitoris Kingdom ships. Look!”

A moment later, a close-up image appeared on the main display.

It showed a Seawolf-class up close.

At first glance, it looked almost identical to the previous models. But the crest on the hull wasn’t from the Ziyang Empire or Xitoris Kingdom—it was…

An insignia Toto had never seen before.

“Doesn’t matter who they are. Fire back! Hit them with everything we’ve got!”

Toto roared.

He told himself he was a hardened veteran now.

He wasn’t afraid—absolutely not!

If he was going to die, he’d die on the battlefield!

“Yes, Lord Toto!”

The fleet began to return fire, railgun batteries coming online across the board.

But before they could fully deploy…

Blinding blue bubbles flickered to life across their formation—

Explosions tore through the ships, erasing vessel after vessel.

The same nightmare he’d seen last time replayed itself before his eyes.

Even as he mumbled to himself that he was a noble, a veteran, unafraid to die and determined to die with the pride of nobility—

His legs were shaking uncontrollably.

“Relay my command to the entire fleet, everyone—”

For a brief moment, Lord Toto seemed to find his courage.

That’s right, what’s the worst that could happen? Dying’s no big deal.

Take one down with you? Worth it. Take two? Even better!

Let’s go down swinging!

Everyone on the bridge thought Toto was about to order a full-on charge—a final, desperate assault.

But then…

“Signal our surrender! Blast it to every channel!”

“Lord Toto, you—”

“Shut up, that’s an order! I’m a noble—I refuse to die here for nothing. Now send the surrender signal, immediately!”

“Y-yes, Lord Toto!”

In that instant, every sliver of fighting spirit on the bridge vanished.

Even if Toto changed his mind now, it was already too late.

——

“Wait, they surrendered just like that?”

“Was our first wave of attacks really that effective?”

Ye Lingwei was completely dumbfounded.

According to their original estimate, the first round of attacks would only take out a hundred or so enemy ships.

After that, they figured the enemy would max out their engines, close the gap fast.

They’d then keep their distance—fifteen to twenty thousand kilometers—wearing the enemy down little by little until they finally surrendered. Or maybe send the mechs to board and capture the enemy flagship.

Ye Lingwei had planned all that before the battle even started.

But now? What just happened…?

One volley from their side, and the enemy surrendered on the spot?