Hughes, however, wore a more cautious expression. "While the design is ingenious, there is one signifit issue," he said, gng between Ravenna and John. "We haven’t tested these crossbows in a live bat sario. none of our soldiers have trained with them, using them in bat will bring plications"

  "plications indeed," John added grimly, crossing his arms.

  Ravenna leaned forward, her gaze sharp and resolute. "It’s a risk we have to take," she decred. "If we’re going to hold off a force more than twice our size, we need every advantage we muster. Have the soldiers train with them until the very st moment. Familiarize them as much as possible."

  John and Hughes exged uneasy gnces but sighed iant agreement. Hughes finally nodded, his shoulders sagging slightly uhe weight of the decision.

  "Very well, Yhness," Hughes said. "Now, with that settled, let’s return to the matter of the enemy. Based on what we know, here’s what I believe."

  He paused, tapping a finger on the edge of the map id out oable. The intricate cartography of Jo Isnd and its surroundings seemed to e alive under his scrutiny.

  "These are knights masquerading as pirates," Hughes began, his tone firm. "That much is clear. But why the charade? They must have a specific reason for wanting us to believe they’re pirates. If so, then they need witnesses—credible oo firm this narrative."

  Ravenna’s lips twitched in subtle approval, impressed by Hughes’s quick grasp of the situatioruly was the captain of her knights for a reason.

  "They’re aiming for pusible deniability," John interjected, his brow furrowed in thought. "They io dispose of the sves and ehat we spread the tale of a pirate raid—keeping their noble house’s involvement buried. Isn’t that it?"

  "Exactly," Ravenna said with a small nod. Despite her initial hesitation to reveal too much, she realized there was no point in keeping her knights in the dark. They had pieced it together with startling accuracy.

  "But it’s not just about the town," Hughes added, his hand moving across the map to highlight various points of i. "If that were the case, they could’ve dumped the sves at any coastal vilge while staging a raid. The fact that they’ve chosen Jo is signifit."

  "They need me as a witness," Ravenna replied, her voice edged with frustration. "An imperial princess’s testimony carries far more weight than that of any noble family or on townsfolk."

  "Precisely," Hughes agreed. "And based on this, we expect them to rush straight into the city."

  Ravenna and John exged fused looks. "Rush into the city?" John asked.

  Hughes nodded, his expression growing more serious. "Their objective is to vince us—and by extension, the imperial court—that this irate raid tied to the sve aus in the capital's crime syndicate. To sell this illusion, they will act like true pirates: attag recklessly, sowing chaos, and perhaps even attempting to kidnap Yho stage a ransom. Such a sario would lend credibility to their story."

  Ravenna’s eyes narrowed. "It would also ehat my testimony aligns with their fabricated narrative," she murmured.

  "And they likely believe we’re unaware of their pns," Hughes tinued. "This means they’ll e at us with fidence, assuming we’ll be caught off guard."

  Ravenna tapped her fingers against the table, her mind rag. "Then evacuating the city aing an ambush should work, correct? We could free the sves and trap them before they realize what’s happening."

  Hughes shook his head, his expression grim. "It’s not that simple, Yhness. sider this: they undoubtedly know how many knights are stationed here. If their pn is this eborate, they’ve doheir homework."

  Ravenna’s gre bore into Hughes, her suspi growing. He’d clearly deduced whioble house was behind this, even without her explicitly stating it. Hughes met her gaze with a nervous smile but pressed on.

  "From what I ihey’ll split their fleet introups and positio strategic points: the southern port, the eastern beach, and the western beach," Hughes expirag his fingers along the map to indicate the locations.

  John frowned, leaning over the table. "Why spread their forces like that? If their goal is to vince us it’s a pirate raid, wouldn’t it be more effit to send a smaller group to wreak havo the city while they unload the sves at the port? No one in their right mind would want to hold Jo Isnd—it’s a strategic location, and the imperial court would recim it within hours. Attempting to take it is sheer folly."

  "True, but their objective isn’t just to dispose of the sves. They also want to kidnap Her Highness," Hughes tered. "That’s the best way to ensure her testimony aligns with their story."

  Ravenna nodded slowly, the pieces falling into pce. "So they’ll widen their attack radius to at for the possibility that I’m not in the castle during the raid," she said. "This way, it still feels like a chaotic pirate raid, but they increase their ces of capturing me."

  "Exactly," Hughes firmed.

  Joh out a frustrated grumble. "If they’re ing at us from three dires, holding the city will be nearly impossible. Even if we evacuate the citizens to the northere, defending against a multi-pronged assault will stretch our forces too thin."

  Ravenna, though well-versed in politid ma, felt out of her depth in military strategy. She leaned heavily on Hughes and John, trusting them to e up with a pn that could ter such a daunting threat. Her dark eyes shifted between them, silently urging them to devise a solution.

  Hughes broke the tense sileh a determined voice. "We’ll attack them from behind." His firaced the map spread across the table, pointing tic points along the coastline. "Siheir goal is to dispose of the sves here, we hope they won’t retreat until they’ve achieved that. That gives us an opening."

  He gestured to the southern port, which is currently under renovation. "The port is in repair, which works to our advantage. We block their approach with debris and abandoned ships, creating an obstacle that slows them down. While they’re struggling to dock, we’ll deploy smaller fishing boats to sail in behind them. With the element of surprise sihey don’t know we are expeg them, we strike when they’re least prepared."

  Hughes’s gaze shifted to the western aern beaches. "At the western beach, we’ll use the yered roations to our advaationihere will give us a tactical high ground to ambush them in narrow he eastern beach, with its ope terrain, is trickier, but osition our forces to lure them into unfavorable ground, where mobility is limited, and they’re exposed."

  He paused, tapping the map thoughtfully before tinuing. "While these skirmishes are unfolding on nd, we’ll use the fishing boats to board their ships. Our eel crossbows will be critical here. If we take out their captains and key officers, we’ll throw their of and into chaos. The steel arrows should also be able to damage their sails and rigging, crippling their ability to retreat quickly."

  Ravenna nodded slowly, following his reasoning, though her face betrayed her . "But what if they realize they’re outmaneuvered and try to flee before they’re ered? They could simply retreat into the open o and regroup."

  Hughes grimaced, aowledging the risk. "That’s the one problem we ’t pletely solve. Wither warships, we ck the means to blockade them effectively or chase them down if they retreat. Still, their io dispose of the sves here suggests they won’t pull out immediately. Their timeline works in our favor if we act decisively."

  “So if we had a way to stop them from retreating we do something?” Ravenna asked with a firm voice.

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