After two days of rest, Victoria's condition had obviously recovered a lot, but there was still a trace of fatigue in her eyes that she tried to hide. Gwen glanced at the Duchess of the North and reminded her, "Tulip Castle is deep in the polluted area, and it is not in our next attack plan. Without purifying the entire area, it is one thing for Sonia to fly over there, but it is another thing for her to land there."
"But it is not impossible." Victoria stared into Gwen's eyes without avoiding his gaze. Her face was still expressionless, but there was a hint of determination in her tone. "Those monsters are now in a frenzied state. On the other hand, this means that they have lost their organization, no longer support each other, no longer have sentinel units, and are no longer so vigilant. We can sneak in, and as long as we do not make too much noise and alert too many monsters, I might be able to send the news out quietly."
"… I admit that this seems to be possible." Gwen nodded after thinking for a while. "But are you sure you want to go personally?"
"Not every mage can send the news to Saint Sunil with just the buff of a mage tower. This requires profound casting skills and a huge amount of magic power," Victoria said in a calm tone as if she was stating a fact. "It is safest for me to go."
Then, before Gwen could ask more questions, the Duchess continued, "I heard that Belk of the Loren Family lit the first beacon.
"I am no longer able to achieve what he did, but as the head of the Weald Family, I cannot avoid what I can do."
When a noble put their family's reputation on the table, it usually meant that they had made up their mind.
"We can give it a try. At least this is a plan." Gwen finally nodded. "But there is one thing. We have to think of a safer way to send you to Tulip Castle. The giant eagle's weight is limited, and Sonia can only lead the way. She can't fly with you, and the griffin's flying height and speed are not good. After entering the polluted area, it is very easy to be shot down by the Crystal Cluster Giants. Overall, it is not safe to go by air."
"Then, is there a safer way?" There was a hint of confusion in Victoria's voice. Crossing the contaminated area from the air and landing in the Tulip Castle was already the most feasible plan she could think of. She really could not think of any other way that was more reliable than this. They could not possibly fight their way in from the ground covered with crystal cluster giants, right?
Gwen smiled, and his eyes fell on Amber …
The half-elf lady shuddered the moment Gwen started to smile. Then, she realized that this matter could not be avoided. She curled her lips and said, "Going through the Shadow Realm is a way. But I have to say in advance, I will also consume a lot of energy in the Shadow Realm. This depends on whether I will encounter unstable Shadow Rifts or fatal 'Big Holes'. If I consume too much energy on the way, I may not be able to bring you to Tulip Castle. I also have to consider the energy needed for the return journey."
"Of course, as long as you can do your best." Gwen nodded. "I will send an armored assault team to send you to a place as close to Tulip Castle as possible. Then, you will sneak in and send the message. At the same time, I will send a strong force to Saint Sunil City at full speed. Do not waste any time."
The details of the plan were quickly finalized, and the people who accepted the order left the room one after another. In the end, only Gwen and Victoria were left in the room.
"To be honest, the current situation is very bad." When there was only the Duke of the Northern Region left in front of him, Gwen said slowly, "I have always been pessimistic about whether Saint Sunil can hold on, although I have been working hard in the direction of being able to arrive in time."
The expression on Victoria's face did not change. She just quietly asked, "… If Saint Sunil really cannot hold on, you have a follow-up plan, right?"
"… It is nothing more than giving up the entire northern region and the Saint Spirit Plain, protecting the southern and eastern regions, and building a defense line in the western region as much as possible before the pollution enters the western region." Gwen did not hide his alternative plans. "The pressure of survival will make these regions submit to the new ruling order, and I am confident that after building a new defense line, I will stabilize the situation and gradually take back those polluted regions."
Victoria was silent for a moment, and finally could not help but say, "It sounds like you do not have much hope for the nobles of the kingdom."
Gwen smiled and asked, "It sounds like your expectations are quite high?"
"… I admit, my expectations for them are not as high as a few years ago," Victoria said slowly. "But I believe that Saint Sunil City can be held — as long as the news of the reinforcements can be sent to the Silver Fort in time."
Gwen showed an interested expression. "Can I hear the source of your confidence?"
"Duke Bodwin Franklin and Wales Moen." Victoria looked into Gwen's eyes and said seriously, "They will hold on to that city — as long as the reinforcements need."
"… Your evaluation of Wales Moen is higher than I thought."
"My previous mission was to monitor him, so I know him well. Prince Wales has never lacked talent. He just chose to retreat, but if the kingdom needs him, he will still stand up," Victoria said. "And apart from him, apart from Duke Bodwin, the Captical still has many reliable people. We have Count Cromwell Baishan, the loyal Royal Knight Order, and Captain Cohen Lorren. Maybe half of the nobles of the Captical want to abandon the city and escape, but at least half of them will choose to hold on until the end."
Gwen looked at Victoria quietly, and the latter looked at him quietly. After two seconds of eye contact, the 'Ice Archduchess' sighed softly.
"I know that my generation has disappointed you, Duke Cecil. Maybe the nobles of Ansu are really rotten, but please believe that not everyone is rotten. There are still many people looking forward to this kingdom being able to pick itself up again and work hard for it."
"Including Edmund Moen and Silas Lorren?"
"… Including them."
"But they still failed, and so did you. Many of the Captical's enterprising nobles, those who are not rotten and who are working hard to revitalize the kingdom, have all failed. Why do you think they failed?" Gwen stared into Victoria's eyes. "Just because the All Ends Society suddenly came in to mess things up?"
The gaze from the founding duke carried indescribable pressure. His dark brown eyes were deep and sharp, far more than the snow and mountains in the north. Victoria could not help but hold her breath. For many years, she had been intimidating others with her majesty. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to be intimidated. In a trance, she seemed to have returned to many years ago, to the time when she was young, to the time when she faced the stern eyes of the former duke.
In her memory, her father pointed to the badly growing plants in the courtyard and asked her a question, "If pruning, fertilizing, watering, and applying medicine don't work, what will you do?"
The flashing memories came and went quickly. When Victoria came back to her senses, she was still looking at Gwen's deep and sharp eyes.
"Actually, you know the answer," Gwen said. "But you don't have a choice."
Victoria was silent.
"We shouldn't be discussing this at this time." Gwen retracted his gaze and changed to a more relaxed sitting position. "Victoria, you are very good. Even among the pioneers, you will be an excellent noble. After this war is over, we can slowly consider how to revitalize the country. But before that, our most important task is to end this war."
"As you said," Victoria sighed softly, and then lowered her head slightly solemnly. "In any case, you have saved me and the mountain army. I can't repay this kindness. So no matter what happens in the future, at least I will be your loyal ally."
When he was alone in the room, Gwen could not help but lean back on the chair and sigh silently.
"Personal reputation … It's really not easy for anyone."
After a sigh, he sat up straight and prepared to start drawing up a feasible plan for the main force to go north. The situation had taken a turn for the worse, and he could no longer follow the previous schedule. Considering the importance of Saint Sunil City as the gateway fortress, he had to send a batch of soldiers to the north faster than the original plan.
Using those modified civilian cargo ships and the Gorgon River might be a good plan …
Just as he was drawing up the beginning of the plan, the magic network communication terminal on the desk suddenly buzzed.
Gwen looked up at the identification characters that appeared on the holographic projection. It was from the special channel of Cecil City.
The magic network terminal was then activated. After the projection shook for a short while, Gwen saw Heti's face appear before his eyes.
"What happened?"
"Miss Tyre said she has something important to contact me about." Heti said simply and moved to the side. Gwen then saw a long snake tail swaying in the background behind Heti. The snake tail moved twice, and Tyre's upper body swayed from the side to the middle of the screen.
"I feel it again." The siren stared at the holographic projection in front of her. "It's the smell of food! It suddenly became very strong! "
Gwen's heart suddenly tightened. Although he had expected and prepared for this, when Tyre suddenly said this, he still felt his nerves tighten. "Location, strength, can you roughly determine the situation or state of the target?"
"The location should be deep in the east of the Plains of the Holy Spirit, but the specific location is not very clear. It seems to be suppressed or sealed by something, or deep underground," Tyre said quickly. "As for the strength … I don't know how to describe it. It feels very subtle. It should be 'alive', which is stronger than the big squid, but its breath is unstable and not pure. It is like a lot of chaotic breaths fused together, and it is sometimes strong and sometimes weak. "
Gwen took a deep breath.
Is it the 'divine power' in the hands of the All End Society? Is it the 'energy source' they used to create the Abominations and activate the Abominations? This energy source is out of control? Some kind of god-like thing is awakening?
So the sudden change of the Crystal Cluster Army has something to do with this out-of-control 'divine power'?
All kinds of conjectures came to his mind. Gwen controlled his thoughts and asked the siren in front of him, "What is your queen's attitude?"
"She is interested in Little Biscuit and your arcane energy technology. She is willing to provide assistance. They are already preparing the Elemental Warp Tower, but the specific cooperation needs to be discussed." Tyre shook the tip of his tail and said with a serious face. "In addition, I want to convey the queen's words. The sirens can only help you deal with 'non-human things' and will not intervene in the internal war of humans. We hope that this cooperation is pure and restrained. This is the guarantee of long-term cooperation in the future."
"That's enough." Gwen nodded sincerely. "Thank you very much for your help."
"Don't worry about it. It's mutually beneficial." Tyre waved his hand and the tip of his tail, and then wobbled out of the communication screen. Only his voice came from outside the screen. "How do you turn this off? Oh, then you turn it off. I'll go first. "
Two seconds later, Heti reappeared before Gwen. "Ancestor, the engineering team sent to the edge of the wasteland has begun their return journey. The addition of the Magnificent Wall has been successfully completed."
"Finally, there is good news." Gwen let out a sigh of relief. "Very good. Let these people have a good rest first. Then arrange for them to build the second phase of the tank factory and the arsenal factory. Let the elven magus go to the Magical Technology Research Institute to assist Rebecca in the translation and optimization of the anti-gravity runes."
"Yes."
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