After his speech, Elwood visited several orphanages in the suburbs and had evening lessons with the children there. Then he went to the top of the city to inspect the city's defenses. He also went to the grain store, the market, and the Adventurers Guild to further stabilize the people's morale. When everything was over, it was already very late when he returned to the Palace of Love.
At this time, most people had already fallen asleep. The city was quiet. There was no longer the noise of the day, only the night wind rustling through the leaves.
Elwood hurriedly finished the dinner prepared by the servants, but he did not go back to his room to sleep. Instead, he went through the information at hand again to see if there was anything he had missed. The Holy Alliance was gradually gaining the upper hand in the war, but the more it was like this, the more they could not be careless.
Elwood asked someone to take away the bowls and chopsticks on the table, leaving only a plate of snacks. He picked up one of the snacks and placed it on the top left corner. This snack represented the Red Fox Duke Mildefoe and his 70,000 men. This army would be dealt with by the Second Holy Knight Regiment. There was also the Yenisel River between the two sides. It was currently the flood season of the Yenisel River, so this place should be safe.
Following that, Elwood picked up a piece of dessert and placed it on top. This dessert represented Ansai in the north and the Bretton family behind him.
After the incident in the Northern Territory four years ago, the nobles there had already broken away from the control of the Church and reunited under the Bretton family. Elwood had to admit that he had also misjudged Ansai. The loyal dog that gnawed at the bones of Vennar the Fifth had now grown into the Wolf King of the North. With the credit of protecting the Northern Territory, Ansai's reputation had already surpassed the previous Scarlet Sword. Although the Church still ruled the Northern Territory in name, it had actually lost control of that land.
This time, Elwood was most worried that Ansai in the North would respond to Reinhardt the Seventh's long-distance attack. Therefore, he deliberately hid a troop in the Morton Duchy, which was closest to the Northern Territory, to deal with the possible crisis. However, until now, the Northern Territory had been very quiet. According to the information sent back by the spies left there, the local nobles also showed no signs of mobilizing their troops, so this threat could almost be eliminated.
After that, there was the problem of the Magic Guild. Although the Holy Alliance was under the rule of the Church, there were also magicians active in the territory. Although the number of magicians in the Holy Alliance was less than that in the South, it was still a considerable force that could change the entire situation at a critical moment.
This was also the force that gave Elwood the biggest headache. Thanks to the organizational rules of the Sorcerer's Association, this group of people was usually scattered all over the place, but once there was an emergency, they could quickly gather together under the call of the association. Therefore, the first thing Elwood did when he learned that the Lionheart Empire was invading was to control the Sorcerer's Association everywhere and destroy the teleportation formations used for communication and gathering.
So far, the results of this matter could only be said to be so-so. Before Reinhardt VII made his move, the Magic Association had already received the news in advance and moved most of their personnel away. The people from the Temple of Light had come empty-handed, but the latter half of the work was finally done well. With the destruction of the teleportation array, the Mages scattered in various towns had lost the possibility of gathering together in a short period of time.
Elwood breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the last piece of dessert on the plate. This was his biggest problem at the moment — Lionheart VII and his 150,000 cavalrymen.
After this crazy march, the 150,000 men had been reduced to 130,000. Nearly 20,000 people were left behind. This was a very shocking number. It must be known that before the battle even started, nearly 15% of the troops had been lost. This situation was simply unheard of.
Elwood did not know what the other party was planning, but the Church had already completed the defense line with more than 200,000 troops, and they were waiting at ease. So, it seemed that Saint Massa could not be any safer now. Moreover, the troops of the Church were still continuously gathering. Elwood's order to the army was to defend. He was determined to be a coward, because the longer this dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for the troops of the Lionheart Empire who were alone.
Elwood reviewed his arrangements and confirmed that he did not miss anything. But for some reason, he still felt a little uneasy. He called for Guard Captain Milodic. "Where is Wenger? I want to see him. "
The latter was a little surprised. "Now, Your Majesty? Isn't it a little too late? "
Elwood shook his head. "Let's do it now. Also, is there any movement from the opposition?"
"It's strange," Milodic said. "We've captured Wenger. According to the behavior of the opposition in the past, they must have come to us a long time ago. But in the afternoon, except for a few students who came to give some daily necessities to Wenger, no one else came. Are they planning to elect a new leader?"
"It's unlikely. Wenger has a high reputation among the people. No one but him has the ability to unite the entire opposition group. Anyway, let's go over there and take a look first." Elwood wiped his face with a hot towel and perked up a little.
…
Wenger was locked up in a small building on the west side of Ren Ai Palace. Considering Wenger's identity, Elwood did not go too far. He specifically picked a place with a good view and told the public that he would cooperate with the investigation. Instead of locking him up, it was more like inviting him to visit Ren Ai Palace for a while.
As Elwood expected, although it was very late, Wenger was still awake. When Elwood entered the room, Wenger was still writing something under the light. Elwood glanced at it and found that it was a textbook for children. Wenger had copied two of them and was writing the third one.
Elwood praised, "No wonder Bishop Wenger is loved by the people wherever he goes."
"I'm just killing some time." Wenger put down the quill in his hand and said faintly, "But Your Majesty, why do you have time to come here?"
"I'm here to apologize." Elwood looked sincere and straightforwardly admitted his mistake. "What happened in the morning was my fault. Bishop Wenger, you have been wronged. I just hope that you can understand my difficulties. Now that the war is coming, we first need to ensure internal stability."
"I've heard this sentence a long time ago," Wenger said calmly.
"Oh?"
"Your Majesty, although you've been imitating his style of doing things, deep down, you're not the same kind of people, are you?" the bishop said.
Elwood raised his eyebrows.
Wenger closed the book in his hand. "I don't like Vennar the Fifth because he's a man who disregards rules and means to achieve his goals. I can't agree with this philosophy, so I oppose him. I know many people are used to calling us the opposition, but we're not actually a faction. We just happen to be doing the same thing at the same time."
"Congratulations on your final success."
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