The World Is Mine For The Taking

George’s POV

I was currently waiting at the border of the Bethlan Kingdom, and after what felt like an incredibly long wait, the people we had been expecting finally arrived right on schedule.

"You are George of the Bethlan Kingdom?" one of the newcomers asked the moment they stepped out.

They had arrived aboard some kind of flying machine unlike anything I had ever seen before in my entire life. A massive rotating blade spun above it at an unbelievable speed, creating a deafening noise that echoed across the open plains. Just watching those blades whirl around was enough to convince me that getting anywhere close to them would probably be the last mistake anyone ever made.

"Yes... I am."

I forced myself to pull my attention away from the bizarre machine before looking back at the man who had spoken to me.

"Well, that’s good. At least you’ve got enough of an attention span to answer a simple question without standing there like a statue," he said with an amused grin. "So this is the Bethlan Kingdom?"

"I-It is."

"Very well then."

He gave a single nod before speaking again in such a casual tone that it almost caught me off guard.

"I’ll have the drones begin the bombardment. We’ll blast this entire kingdom into rubble."

"W-Wait just a moment, please!"

He slowly turned his eyes toward me, clearly annoyed that I had interrupted him.

"What exactly is it now?"

"I-I..." I swallowed the lump in my throat before forcing myself to continue speaking. "Don’t you think that since the King is already dead, and the soldiers have practically lost all of their will to fight after hearing about his death, it would be much better for us to simply occupy the kingdom instead of destroying everything?" I asked as carefully as I could. "Personally, I don’t think it’s necessary to go that far."

The moment those words left my mouth, the commander quietly glanced toward another soldier standing beside him.

That soldier didn’t answer.

He didn’t even react.

Instead, he simply walked over and drove his fist straight into my stomach without the slightest bit of hesitation.

"Urk...!"

What the hell...?

What kind of strength was that supposed to be?

It should have been nothing more than a single punch.

Instead, it felt as though something had exploded inside my body the instant his fist connected with me. A violent wave of pain surged through my stomach, making it difficult to breathe as my vision blurred for a brief second.

The urge to vomit rose almost immediately.

It honestly felt like my insides had been shaken apart.

The next thing I knew, thousands of my own soldiers instinctively reached for their swords after seeing what had happened to me.

Before any of them could even finish drawing their blades, however, the people surrounding the strange flying machine immediately raised their own weapons toward us.

"A fight is what you want?" the commander asked with an amused smile that somehow made the situation even more unsettling. "Fine by me. Let’s see what your swords can actually do against guns."

Guns.

Although I had never personally seen one before today, I had heard more than enough stories about them over the years.

Weapons capable of killing someone from an incredible distance.

Weapons that completely changed the meaning of warfare.

A skilled swordsman might spend decades mastering his blade, only to die before taking more than a few steps toward someone holding one of those things.

"I-I apologize..." I managed to say while clutching my stomach with trembling hands. "It seems... I spoke out of turn without thinking things through."

Blood slowly trickled from the corner of my mouth.

A single punch had been enough.

Just one attack.

That was all it took to leave me convinced that one of my internal organs had probably ruptured.

Breathing became more difficult with every passing second, but I still forced myself to remain standing.

My eyes slowly drifted toward the soldier who had punched me.

Something immediately felt wrong about him.

He wasn’t actually a normal person.

At least, that was the conclusion I reached after taking a closer look.

His appearance resembled that of an ordinary man, but his eyes contained absolutely no emotion whatsoever. They looked cold, empty, and strangely metallic, almost as though they had never belonged to a living human being in the first place.

Then I noticed his hands.

They weren’t made of flesh.

They were made entirely of metal.

Actual metal.

Honestly, that explained why the punch had felt like getting hit by a battering ram instead of a fist.

"Well, I suppose I’ll accept your apology," the commander said while casually scratching the side of his neck. "Although, if I’m being honest, I’m still pretty pissed off."

He clicked his tongue in obvious annoyance.

"One of the women I was planning to fuck ended up biting her own tongue and dying before I could have any fun. Where’s the entertainment in that? Things have been getting real boring lately."

He let out a long sigh before shaking his head.

"So when you started telling me we shouldn’t bomb this place, it honestly irritated me even more."

He shrugged as though he were discussing something completely ordinary.

"Places that aren’t ours should be bombed."

He flashed a grin that somehow looked even more twisted than before.

"All of them."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"That way, nobody gets any funny ideas about trying to take revenge later."

He folded his arms across his chest.

"If you don’t crush them completely, they’ll eventually convince themselves they’ve still got a chance to fight back."

He pointed directly at me.

"You understand exactly what I’m saying, don’t you?"

"I-I understand," I answered immediately, forcing myself to nod despite the pain spreading throughout my body.

Agreeing with him was the only sensible option I had left.

Arguing any further would probably get me killed where I stood.

"A-Although..." I continued cautiously after gathering enough courage to speak again. "If you’re looking for a woman... I believe I know someone who might interest you."

"Oh?"

His eyes immediately lit up with obvious excitement.

He slowly licked his lips before letting out a quiet laugh.

"I’ve been pretty dry lately after not getting much fuck."

He chuckled to himself again.

"Fucking women in this world hasn’t exactly been all that enjoyable compared to back home."

He shrugged without a hint of embarrassment.

"But I’ll give them this much. The expressions they make are at least entertaining enough."

His gaze settled back on me.

"So... who exactly is this woman you’re talking about?"

"The Princess of the Bethlan Kingdom," I answered without hesitation. "She’s incredibly beautiful. In fact, many of my own men have already started arguing over who gets to be first once we’ve won this war."

I forced a respectful smile despite how much my stomach still hurt.

"But naturally, I would gladly offer that privilege to you instead."

"The kingdom’s princess, huh?"

He licked his lips once more, looking far more interested than before.

"Now you’ve definitely caught my attention."

A twisted grin slowly spread across his face.

"I heard her father died recently."

He laughed quietly to himself.

"She must be wearing one hell of a depressed expression right now."

His grin grew even wider.

"And once she realizes what’s waiting for her..."

He practically started laughing to himself.

"I bet that face is going to turn into absolute horror."

He slapped his own forehead before bursting into another fit of laughter.

"Just imagining it is already giving me a boner."

After laughing for another few seconds, he finally looked back at me.

"You stay away from the Princess."

His smile disappeared almost instantly.

"She’s mine, so don’t even think about touching her."

I quietly nodded, knowing full well that refusing wasn’t even remotely an option anymore.

That much had become painfully obvious.

"Good."

The commander slowly turned toward the distant walls of the kingdom before raising one hand into the air.

"Then once night finally falls..."

A cruel grin spread across his face once again.

"We’ll capture this entire country without leaving them any chance to escape."