As a result of the Battle of Sicily, the war situation in the First Poffenian War tilted heavily in favor of Romalia.
　The war situation, which had been stagnant, began to move.

　Alexios defeated the Pofenian navy and immediately landed in the port of Sicily.
　By the time Alexios and his men met up with Ron, Shumar Barca had retreated to the southern part of Trisichellia, so they were unable to deal the enemy a major blow in the chase....

　Ron and Soyon and their 20,000 men under their command were rescued and Cicelyea was completely in the hands of Romalia.

　Meanwhile, Belshazzar Barca, who was caught between Ron Alexios and Bartolo Gram, was pinned down by the four men, but as soon as he heard the news of Ceal Barca's defeat, he began to act...

　They retreated to the interior of Trisichellia.

　There were few Cilician colonies in the interior of Trisichelia, and most of the inhabitants were the indigenous people of Trisichelia.

　The Kingdom of Romalia had obtained the geography of Trisichellia from the Cilician people, but information about the interior was unclear.

　They could also make the same mistake as Ron.

　Bartolo didn't pursue it in depth, and as a result, he allowed Belshazzar Barca to retreat.

　Furthermore..........
　Belshazzar Barca has an ambush in the interior, and if he can get Bartolo's head....
　However, the measure was unsuccessful.


　As a result of the Battle of Sicily, Pofenia lost control of the sea around Trisichellia.

　It then lost all of Trisichellia's interior and all but the southwestern part of the coast to Romalia.





　Once there, Bartolo and Gram met up with Ron and Alexios in Sicelia.
　The four men assured each other that they were safe and were each regrouping their forces.


　'What will General Alexios do after this?'
　'I'll return to the west once I'm back home. "I will take the western ports with a simultaneous land and sea attack. Then the entire western part of the island will be under Romalia's control. After that, if we conquer the southern end of the port, we will control all the coastal areas of Trisichellia. Then Belshazzar Barca, who fled inland, would be a rat in a sack.

　There's no need to challenge them to a decisive battle and crush the enemy's forces.
　Just kill them as if you were wrapping them up in cotton.

　'I'm afraid I've left my 40,000 troops in Rosward's hands. As expected of him, it would be too hard for him to leave forty thousand alone, and that too against Kepka Barca for weeks....
　Well one general can only command 20,000 at most.

　Ron smiled bitterly as he imagined Rosward crying heehee and desperately moving his troops around.

　'Saved. And the wounded soldiers...'
　Well, you can't fight with a wounded soldier in your arms. There's no need to thank me. Well there's no need to thank me. We are generals and vassals of His Majesty's service to the Kingdom of Romalia. It's all about dedicating our victory to His Majesty and that's what it's all about.

　Alexios pulled the wounded soldiers that Bartolo, Gram, and Ron's troops were holding onto the ship, and conversely, some of the heavily armed infantry on board the ship were lowered ashore to make up for the losses of the Romalian army.

　This was at the behest of Almus.

　'Well, then, good luck to you,'
　Next time I'll meet you in Ricaria, the southernmost tip of Trisichellia.

　Ron and Gram shake each other's hands firmly with Alexios.
　And......

　"Alexios.
　What's going on?　General Bartolo?

　Bartolo calls out to Alexios.

　'When this war is over we need to talk.
　Can't you do that now?
　'Preferably after the war. We don't have time to talk about that right now.

　What are you talking about?
　Alexios let his thoughts wander.

　I don't think we're talking about getting married.
　We both have wives and children. ...or rather, we are both men.

　Well, let's talk about it over a cup of postwar wine, shall we? A glass of wine from Trisichelia.
　'Hmmm ... well, yeah, I'll do that.

　Alexios and Bartolo shook hands with each other.







　'Our losses are forty ships and the remaining ships are two hundred and sixty. At least two hundred and fifty enemy ships are known to have been sunk. The enemy general, Ceal Barca, took his own life by putting his sword up to his neck.
　'Well, you've done well. Alexios.

　I'll be in the Senate listening to Alexios report on the victory.
　And .....

　Gentlemen!　We've won!
　"'Oh, oh, oh, oh!!!!'

　The senators cheered loudly.
　Long live the Kingdom of Romalia, long live His Majesty Almus, long live General Alexios!

　The senators raise their hands and rejoice with great glee.
　No wonder.

　A nation that had never fought a proper battle at sea before had triumphed over the most powerful naval power in the world.
　It was a true accomplishment.

　'Alexios. Alexios, I will grant you your permission to return. The date and time is....
　No, it's not won yet. ''Your Majesty. Our triumphant return can wait until we've won this war. And we'll have to leave immediately.
　"It's just like you. All right, all right. Now be ready to go, and be ready to go.

　I smiled bitterly.
　Well.....
　It's true that it's a triumphant return when you haven't won yet.






　'Alms, is it true that you won?'
　'Oh, we won!　Julia!

　I hugged Julia.
　This is the royal palace, my own private space.

　I don't have to act like a king.

　"Did you win?
　Yeah, we won. Tetra.

　I kiss Tetra's cheek.
　Tetra's face turns red and she returns the kiss to me as well.

　'My heart was racing at the thought that the fleet we had just built might be destroyed and we might lose a large number of ships, population, and Alexios................. Oh well now I can sleep easy for a while.

　Waiting for the outcome of the game in the home country.
　That's really horrible...

　I feel like the mother of an examinee.

　'Well, I guess the only thing I regret is that we didn't get custody of Ceal Barca...'
　Would you still like me to go with you?　I'll show you how to goose and capture them!

　Alice emerged from the ceiling.
　I'm not surprised now.

　I pulled Alice's head upside down, dangling from the heavens.
　Her beautiful golden hair runs smooth in my hand.

　'I'm sorry I haven't been paying attention to you lately,'

　I pressed my own lips to Alice's lips.

　'Heka....'

　Alice makes a tronic face.
　Then I say.

　'Come to my room tonight.'
　Yes, yes!

　Alice's face turned bright red and she left to escape to the heavens again.
　I don't care, which one of those guys will stay longer, on earth or in the heavens?

　''You guys should come too.''
　Are you going to do all three at once?
　Greedy...

　Julia and Tetra looked at each other and laughed.

　'Well, you've been saying no for the last few weeks.

　I've been refusing to do that for a while now, partly because I'm worried about winning the war and partly because I feel guilty about putting Bartolo and his men to work.
　But.........
　Let's lift the ban today.

　Yeah, that's a good idea.
　After all, I'm feeling pretty good today.

　"Dad!　Is it true that you won!
　'Oh, we won, Marx!

　Markus jumped in.
　I kept going, trying to hold Markus in my arms...

　Marx!
　'Gee!　Mother.....

　Julia moves before I do, and she catches me.
　Julia hugs Marcus passionately.

　'I can't believe you're coming to your mother's place yourself!
　Look, I'm not going to go to my mother's...
　It's cute that he's not honest!

　Marx is pressed against my cheek as Julia rubs against me.
　I'm embarrassed to be hugged in front of me, or maybe my face is bright red.

　........Well, let's just let it go.

　'Congratulations, father.'
　Tell that to Alexios. That's what he did. But now he's gone.

　I patted Anx's head as he came over to congratulate me on my battle victory.
　Ankus turned his face down in embarrassment.

　'Is that Nona you're carrying on your back?
　'Oh, yes. Your mother forgot Nona and told your father....

　I take Nona from Ankus.
　Then I give Nona to her mother, Tetra.

　"Don't forget...
　'Cause I heard you won...

　Tetra hugs Nona as she says.
　They're very much alike, both with blue hair, father and son.

　Nona's eyes are gray like mine, though.

　'Your mother left Fina behind too!

　Fiona walks carefully over with the baby on her back.

　Fina......
　She was born between me and Yulia, a pretty girl with gray hair and purple eyes.

　I glance at Yulia.
　Julia is busy playing with Marcus.

　It can't be helped, I'll take her in my arms instead.

　I pick up Fina in my arms.
　My own children are always cute, after all.

　I'm really sad that she's going to be a bride.

　Fiona was followed by Sofia and Flora.

　Me and Yulia are twenty-seven years old.
　Tetra is twenty-five years old.

　Me and Julia's children, Fiona is nine years old, my twins Marcus and Sofia are five years old, and Fina is one year old.

　Me and Tetra's children, Anx is nine, Flora is five, and Nona is two.

　A total of seven ... plus the six that Alice gave birth to us, for a total of thirteen.

　Enough to make a soccer team, we've made it.
　Or rather, Alice alone is practically the equivalent of two people........


　Father. Do we win this war?
　Well that remains to be seen.

　I answer Marx's question.
　I'd like to say that I actually won, but....

　'The war won't end until we sign a peace treaty and finish the aftermath. We won't know the outcome until it's all over. ...but we're close to winning.

　I smiled.






　But .....
　At this point, I didn't understand.




　That it would still take a huge sacrifice to win.

　Julia's instincts were correct.