Douglas Bullet, 8 years old this year.
He was a child soldier of the Galzburg Kingdom.
But apart from that, he was also a person from the Vodka Kingdom.
This was because he was abandoned by his mother, a citizen of the Vodka Kingdom, shortly after birth, and the Galzburg Kingdom's army, which was at war with the Vodka Kingdom at the time, adopted him instead.
Of course, the Galzburg Kingdom didn't adopt him out of kindness.
They just wanted him to fight for the Galzburg Kingdom.
After all, the Vodka Kingdom's reputation as a warrior nation was world-renowned, often producing monster warriors capable of fighting an army alone.
The Galzburg Kingdom hadn't just adopted Bullet; they had taken in many abandoned children from the Vodka Kingdom.
They did this solely hoping to obtain a war monster of that caliber from among these children.
Bullet was well aware of this, but he didn't resent the Galzburg Kingdom for it.
After all, without the Galzburg Kingdom, he would have died long ago and wouldn't be alive today.
A few days ago, several ships flying the flag of the Vodka Kingdom suddenly arrived at the port, bringing shocking news.
The Vodka Kingdom, which launched wars of plunder every year with an extremely high win rate, seemed to have been destroyed.
The destroyers appeared to be a group of pirates, seemingly called the Red Flag Pirates.
"Hey! Bullet! Your motherland was destroyed by pirates! How do you feel now?!"
In a child soldier camp in the Galzburg Kingdom, Bullet was resting under a tree when several child soldiers of the same age suddenly surrounded him and began to mock him.
Bullet opened his eyes, swept a cold glance over them, and replied indifferently: "The Vodka Kingdom has nothing to do with me! My motherland is the Galzburg Kingdom!!"
"Haha! There he goes again!"
"A mere abandoned infant from the Vodka Kingdom, actually has the face to say he's from the Galzburg Kingdom!!"
"You were born to a woman from the Vodka Kingdom! You're not one of us Galzburg people at all!!"
"Once a Vodka person, always a Vodka person! Even if the Vodka Kingdom is destroyed now, you will always be one! You can never become a noble Galzburg person like us!!"
Bullet's fists clenched instantly, the turf and soil on the ground tightly grasped in his palms.
"So what if what you say is true!"
"Aren't you noble Galzburg people just like us Vodka people, serving as cannon fodder for the main forces on the battlefield!"
These words made the faces of the Galzburg child soldiers surrounding Bullet stiffen.
As the saying goes, lies don't hurt, but the truth cuts like a sharp knife.
Their nearly identical situations tore their pitiful sense of superiority to shreds instantly.
Yet, these Galzburg child soldiers were unwilling to admit that they were equals with Bullet.
"Hmph! We Galzburg people are just superior to you Vodka people!"
"If you're not convinced, do you have the guts to make a bet with us!!"
The leading Galzburg child soldier tried to regain face.
Bullet naturally wouldn't back down.
"What do you want to bet?"
"Let's bet on the War Medal!!"
The leading Galzburg child soldier said arrogantly: "The War Medal is only awarded to the person with the greatest military achievements on the battlefield! And it's only awarded to one person!!"
"Let's bet on who can get the next War Medal!!"
"If you can get it! We'll admit you're a Galzburg person!"
"But if we get it, you have to admit you're a Vodka person! And admit that Vodka people will never be as good as Galzburg people!!"
Hearing this, Bullet scanned the group of child soldiers surrounding him, totaling 9 people.
"Me alone against the 9 of you?"
"What? Are you scared?"
"No! I accept your challenge!!"
"Hmph! We should be the ones accepting your challenge! You savage Vodka person!!"
...
Regardless, the bet was established.
And for the first time, Bullet felt a desire for the War Medal.
'As long as I can get that medal! I'll be a war hero of the country!'
'At that time, not just these guys! Everyone in the country will respect me! Love me!'
'I will become a rightful Galzburg person! No longer the savage, the Vodka person in their mouths!'
...
Meanwhile, in the Vodka Kingdom.
York already knew that during the previous operation to eliminate the nobles, a few clever ones had abandoned their property and fled before the pirate army reached their estates.
York had no interest in wasting too much manpower and resources chasing down such people.
What mattered was their property and land.
As long as the property and land were secured, hunting them down would just be something to do in passing when launching expansion wars in the future.
Yesterday.
Using a combination of kindness and severity, York successfully gained the loyalty of the Red Flag pirates and simultaneously earned the awe of the Vodka Kingdom's army.
Today, he issued another order, distributing his share of the original loot—30% of the 300 billion Berries, amounting to 90 billion Berries—entirely to the people of the Vodka Kingdom.
The reason given was compensation for what the former King and nobles owed them.
Of course, along with this, he took back the ownership of the land from them, nationalizing all land in the Vodka Kingdom.
Afterward, amidst the apprehension of the Vodka Kingdom's populace, York ordered the distribution of land usage rights, but with the prerequisite of completing national identity registration.
...
Once the identity registration was completed, the land usage rights returned to the people's hands along with their household registration.
Compared to before, they lost the right to buy and sell land, but in return, because the lands of the nobles and royals were confiscated, they received more arable fields.
These moves by York not only completely won over the Vodka Kingdom's military but also thoroughly won the hearts of the people.
They resolved to completely forget the past Vodka Kingdom and honor York as the first King of the Red Flag Empire!
...
Spending nearly a month dealing with all the aforementioned trivial matters, York, who had officially ascended the throne as King, formally summoned the Myskina father and daughter, as well as the former Warrior Chief, Hanafuda, for the first time.
"So? Having considered it for so long, are you willing to pledge allegiance to me?"
"Hanafuda is willing to pledge allegiance to Your Majesty to the death!"
Hanafuda didn't hesitate in the slightest, being the first to kneel on one knee.
Acier's expression struggled for a moment.
But he had seen York's governance of the country over the past month and knew York wasn't the trash pirate he had assumed. York was a great leader with ideals, ability, and charisma.
So he bowed to York along with his daughter Olga.
"I, Acier, along with my daughter Olga, am willing to serve Your Majesty York!!"
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