Hoist the Colors Ch. 25 (Mobuseka) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Angelica decides they’re all going!

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Angelica looks hunted for all of half a minute before she gets a determined glint in her eyes and her jaw sets.

“We’re all going.”

Leon blinks, tilting his head to the side.

“Oh?”

Nodding sharply and decisively, Angelica has clearly made up her mind.

“Yes. And if he tries anything… well, it won’t be the Winged Sharks he has to worry about any longer, that’s for sure!”

That prompts a chuckle from Leon and he dips his head in acknowledgment.

“Very well my Queen.”

Angelica blushes hard at that, reaching over and smacking him in the arm.

“And don’t call me that, especially in front of Earl Roseblade! Let’s at least pretend to have some plausible deniability while we’re in his territory, alright?!”

Leon’s lips twitch and he glances at Olivia, who is smiling fondly at her mistress. Of course, when she sees him glancing her way, Olivia quickly drops the smile and gives him a cutely judgmental look that matches Angelica’s own half-scowl. They’re both adorable as they glare at him, really.

Regardless, as much as he’s a little surprised that Angelica is willing to risk putting him in front of an Earl of the Kingdom of Holfort as her subordinate, he’s not going to let anything happen either way. With his fleet looming overhead, Dorothea and Deirdre’s father would be an utter fool to try anything anyways, but Leon has dealt with his fair share of fools in the past five years. Some of them were simply overconfident and arrogant, while still others were ‘courageous’ and ‘brave’ to the point of utter folly.

Regardless, as they gather everyone up into a bit of an ‘away team’ consisting of Angelica, Olivia, Leon, Nicks, and the two Roseblade Sisters, Leon also has a group of his automatons gather and disguise themselves as guards. Their inhuman nature is hidden behind their helmets and armor, even as they escort the party onto a small skiff that takes them to Castle Roseblade.

Leon finds himself leaning over the edge to look at the island below as they fly overhead. The Winged Sharks have been all but mopped up at this point, the death of their leader at Leon’s hands spelling the final doom for their cause. However, some of the airships have fallen onto the island that makes up the biggest chunk of House Roseblade’s territory and smoke rises from half a dozen spots.

That could be a problem, Leon reflects, because not every member of those airship crews is likely to have died in the crash. If Earl Roseblade is lucky then the people he’s currently sending to handle the crashes will be able to take any survivors into custody. But even then his castle dungeon will be overfull for a time until he can get through all of the necessary executions.

If he’s particularly unlucky, however, then the survivors will manage to escape into the island’s woods and hideout for a time, leading to a bit of a bandit problem that could take months for the Earl to deal with.

Well… it’s no skin off of Leon’s back either way. Sure, he wanted the Winged Sharks dead, but that’s already done. Between this and his efforts in finding Deirdre, the organization has been completely and utterly neutered. And unlike his lazy ass, Leon doubts Angelica will let any remnants regroup anyways without a response, heh.

Of course, beyond all of the crashed airships littering House Roseblade’s largest island, there’s also the sheer damage caused by the Winged Shark’s fleet as they’d besieged the place. Destroyed farms, burnt out buildings, damaged walls… it goes on and on and on.

Even if they don’t have to deal with a bandit problem, House Roseblade will be in dire straits for quite some time rebuilding from all of this damage. And to think they’d been brought to this point by a Pirate Fleet of all things. Leon wondered if that would cause any sort of uproar in Holfort once it was found out. Would the Kingdom feel forced to respond? How would they feel knowing that it was other Sky Pirates who had to save one of their Earls from certain doom?

All of these questions and more run through Leon’s head, until finally they arrive at Castle Roseblade. The castle fortress has certainly seen better days… but it’s still standing at least, if only just. The Winged Sharks hadn’t wanted to completely destroy the place; they’d wanted to take it over from the look of things and use the island as a massive new base for their expansion.

The result is that the fortifications are largely intact, likely by design because they wanted to be able to use them themselves when they finally won. It was solid planning ahead on their part, ignoring the fact that in turn they hadn’t planned for what to do when they lost.

The skiff docks at Castle Roseblade’s personal private airship dock and as they all file off with Leon’s disguised automaton guards leading the way, the doors at the end of the dock open up and Earl Roseblade himself steps out with a handful of his own guards protecting him.

The Holfort Noble is a tall, older man but still has the same blond hair as his daughters, alongside a mustache and beard. He walks with his head held high and his back straight… though when he finally lays eyes on Dorothea and Deirdre, he can’t quite help the way his eyes widen in disbelief… and relief.

The Roseblade Sisters move forward together and there are hugs shared between the three family members. No tears are shed, at least not on Dorothea’s part, nor on the part of her father, but Deirdre might have cried a little as she seized upon her father with all her might.

Leon does note how Earl Roseblade hugs both his girls as tight as he possibly can, very clearly overcome with emotion even if he’s able to hide it from his face. Meanwhile, he stays back with Nicks and lets Angelica step forward and patiently wait until the family reunion is done.

When it’s finished, Earl Roseblade’s eyes go to Angelica and light up in recognition but also confusion, even as he inclines his head.

“Lady Angelica Rapha Redgrave. I know not how you came to be here or at the head of such a fleet… but I owe you and House Redgrave my thanks it would seem. Your timely arrival is the only reason my House and our ancestral seat remain standing.”

Beaming a bit, Angelica dips into a respectful curtsy.

“Earl Roseblade, it was my honor to be able to render my aid. I was sent by my father to steward the Isle of Tortuga and Port Paix some weeks back now… I had just managed to get things in order there when your eldest daughter arrived and brought news of your plight. I made it my mission to see your youngest daughter safe and then make all haste to support you against the Sky Pirates plaguing your skies.”

Earl Roseblade looks even more confused than he did before at Angelica’s explanation.

“You… are the Lady of Tortuga now? But that is…”

And then his eyes finally land on Leon. It’s not like Leon has been hiding or anything like that just to be clear. However, he has been hanging back along with Olivia and Nicks. Together, the three of them probably didn’t draw the Earl’s immediate notice because they’re surrounded by armored guards and his attention was on his daughters first and Angelica second.

But now? Well, it’s immediately obvious that the Earl recognizes Leon for exactly who and what he is. Just as it’s crystal clear that the older man also knows what sort of place Tortuga is. A den of scum and villainy, to be sure.

There’s a long moment of awkward silence, tension filling the air as Earl Roseblade stares at Leon and everyone waits to see how the Holfort Noble will react. Indeed, his loyalty to Holfort should demand that he immediately try to put Leon in chains. After all, Leon has taken down quite a few Roseblade ships, as Dorothea herself already mentioned once upon a time. He’s never been particularly picky with whom he robs, truth be told.

At the same time though, the Earl’s personal honor is running face first into his fealty to his Kingdom. Because it’s very, very obvious that Leon is only here to save House Roseblade. As part of Angelica’s retinue, Leon is one of the reasons that House Roseblade is even still standing and that Earl Roseblade has managed to keep his head.

In the end… Leon suspects its pragmatism more than anything that wins out. Their fleet is still in orbit and the guards they’ve brought with them make trying to force an issue a tall task anyways. Earl Roseblade has just survived one group of Sky Pirates besieging his island… he’s not ready to survive a second.

And so, much to Leon’s amusement, the Earl bites his tongue and is forced to accept that he was saved by a bunch of Sky Pirates, inclining his head once more and not saying a word about Leon’s presence.

“It is good to hear that you settled in nicely then, Lady Redgrave. And as previously stated, your aid was greatly appreciated. Please, I invite you all to dine with me tonight. Our stores are almost depleted from the siege, but we have enough left for a celebratory feast at the very least.”

Did they? Leon had to wonder at that, especially with the damage to Roseblade’s agriculture that they’d seen flying in. Isn’t it far more likely that House Roseblade is in an incredibly bad way and needs to marshal every resource they can?

Seeing an opportunity to twig the Earl’s nose a bit more, Leon steps forward and speaks up. Now that the Earl is refusing to acknowledge his status, he’s feeling a little cheeky about things.

“I can’t imagine the fare will be all that good. As you yourself mentioned, Earl… you have just survived a siege. Instead, why don’t you and your family dine with my lady and the rest of us on her flagship? That way we’re not putting any greater strain on your resources. I’m sure your daughters will speak to the deliciousness of the meals they’ve had onboard so far.”

Earl Roseblade’s eyes narrow at the numerous veiled insults Leon has managed to slip into his suggestion. On the face of it, his idea is a perfectly innocuous one. But underneath, it’s pretty obvious that Leon is saying ‘the food is going to suck if we eat here, so let’s go eat back at my place’.

Of course, for the Earl to pretend Leon isn’t who he is… that’s one thing. For the Earl to allow himself to be taken aboard Leon’s ship, along with his daughters, that’s something else entirely. Even if they were already on it and returned safe and sound, it’s obvious that it’s hard for the Earl to accept.

… Which is why he’s extremely lucky when Angelica claps her hands together.

“Oh! Now there’s an idea, Captain! Let’s have our food storage transported down here in order to help out House Roseblade in this trying time! That way we can still eat in the Castle, but without straining your already strained resources, Earl!”

Leon’s smile becomes a bit wooden at that… but truthfully he can’t be too mad. After all, he’s happy to be the bad guy to Angelica’s good guy if it makes her look better. And while the Earl still looks a little disgruntled at having to accept handouts… he’s also relieved as he fully bows to Angelica this time.

“We must humbly accept your offer, Lady Redgrave. It is most generous and we are in too dire of a situation to refuse.”

With that, Leon sends a couple of his automatons back with the skiff to start the process of transferring down a whole bunch of food from his flagship over to the castle.

It takes a bit of time, between the transport and then the cooking in Castle Roseblade’s kitchens, but eventually they’re all brought to a large dining room buried deep enough in the Castle to be undamaged. As they all sit down, Leon continues to be amused by the stiff way the Earl is acting around him.

He’s even more amused when Dorothea grabs Nicks’ hand and forces him to sit next to her, foregoing the seat she should have had at her father’s right hand so Deirdre can take it instead. Angelica sits on Earl Roseblade’s left, with Leon to her side and Olivia on his other side.

There’s a pause as the Earl stares at his eldest daughter in consternation… before Dorothea utterly destroys the tense ceasefire they currently have going on with her next words.

“Father… this is Nicks, a Sky Pirate. He saved my life and my virtue from his rapacious Captain… and so I have decided to give him both in turn. I intend to marry him and take him as my husband.”

Judging by the shocked look on Nicks’ face, he hadn’t been consulted on this beforehand. Of course, Leon only spends a moment glancing at his brother before looking to the Earl. The older man has really done his best to hold his tongue around Leon while they waited for dinner to be ready… but this is obviously a step too far.

Earl Roseblade’s face is rapidly beginning to redden and purple up as he prepares to explode in the face of his eldest daughter’s words.

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ESL3Ij_p-gPOjxuXu8qYpmZ_TfY300R327oyGGbit-8/edit?tab=t.0