The seventh day of the Month of Slumber.
After the first snowfall.
The harsh winter had sealed off all the roads from the mountains of Arreck to the countryside of Ampere Seale. The lobbyists of the various forces in the Free Port had wasted two months of time in vain. In the end, their efforts were in vain. The cold season finally froze the unstable situation in the North, and the ferocious rumors about the war in the North from two months ago had finally disappeared like a rumor without any proof.
But only those who could see through all of this understood that there was a deeper layer of danger hidden under this false calm. Beneath the surface of the world that was wrapped in silver and everything was frozen was not silence. Instead, it was an outburst of patience.
Swords and blades were screaming, thirsting for blood.
It was as if winter had passed and spring had arrived. After the snowflakes had bloomed, what seeped into the ground was not snow, but blood. Brando knew this very well. It was just like how he knew the history books in black and white.
However, when the earth went into hibernation, there was a hidden power that was ready to move under the snow. When the old Knight Lord Palas led his subordinates to this small hill in Tónigel's territory for the first time, he did not know that the news of the war in Tónigel had already spread to the desks of the dukes and lords.
During this sensitive period, a single spark could ignite the situation. Everyone thought that Princess Gryphine was taking the risk, but no one thought that the silver-haired girl could only accept Brando's' good intentions' with a bitter smile.
So where would Count Randner go from here? This was a question that could only be answered with deep meaning.
But no one would care about the fate of a chess piece.
When Princess Gryphine received the news that Lord Palas had begun to march towards Abies, she could not help but shake the parchment with two of her fingers. She smiled and said to Oberwei who was beside her: "Oberwei, who do you think will win?"
Oberwei bowed slightly: "Reason tells me that Count Randner will definitely win, but my intuition tells me otherwise."
"What if he wins?"
"Then Count Randner will not dare to act rashly."
"What if you lose?"
"Arreck is also inclined to let Count Randner remain neutral, which is exactly what that old bastard wants —"
"In other words, it's beneficial to us and not harmful at all?"
"If only Your Highness could realize that Count Randner is not on the same side as us!"
"It's a pity that Makarov and Grandmaster Fleetwood can't see that." The silver-haired girl sighed as she rested her chin on her hand.
Oberwei did not answer immediately. In his opinion, Grandmaster Fleetwood and Count Randner were able to see this point, but it was due to their own considerations. Perhaps Count Randner was more reliable than an unknown youth. Makarov did not wish for the princess to interact too much with the youth, and Oberwei was keenly aware of this.
He couldn't say these words out loud, otherwise, it would cause suspicion within the Royal Faction. However, he believed that this intelligent princess would be able to see through it.
"Tell me," Princess Gryphine raised her slender eyelashes slightly as she stared at the vassal: "Why did he do this? Is it because of his so-called goodwill towards the Royal Family?"
The princess shook her head again. Her background made her naturally distrustful of such goodwill that was not related to benefits: "I'm afraid not."
"In my opinion, it's because of the ambition of an adventurer —"
"Ambition?"
Princess Gryphine blinked her eyes.
But at this very moment, the old knight Lord Palas, who was standing in the cold wind, clearly didn't know that there was a beautiful princess who was evaluating the fates of both sides. The old knight lifted his mask with his wrinkled and callused hands and exhaled a white breath in the cold air. He looked at the distant mountains covered in white mist.
At the foot of the mountain was the camp that was attacked.
This was the sixth time this week that the camp was attacked.
The attackers were Subterrane Dwellers, and they were still Subterrane Dwellers.
The wrinkles on the old man's forehead were almost squeezed together, and his aged face was like a piece of tree bark. Behind him, the figures of the other Knights came out from the forest one after another. Most of them had solemn expressions.
They originally thought that the undulating hills of the Macsen region were not as dangerous as Mount Grahar, and that the enemy, the rioters, were not as elusive as the Highlanders. They thought that they could breathe a sigh of relief, but most of them saw the upcoming war as an opportunity to relax.
However, they did not expect to meet an even more troublesome enemy before they even met the refugees.
"Are these damned Subterrane Dwellers rioting?!" Someone cursed angrily. The Subterrane Dwellers attacked all kinds of targets, and were not limited to military targets. Sometimes, even granaries and manors were within their hunting range.
Even though Count Randner's army had yet to gather, these elusive attacks had already caused the people in the territory to panic. The losses caused by the attacks were not great, but Lord Palas was worried that it would delay the gathering of the army.
Especially recently, it had developed to the campsite where the aboriginals gathered. This was the second campsite to be attacked.
The Subterrane Dwellers were extremely fast in the forest, and when they attacked, the Highlanders were not ready to defend themselves. As a result, the monsters broke in from the north and quickly retreated after killing many people.
The terrain in the forest was complicated, and the cavalry could not spread out to chase after the Subterrane Dwellers.
"How many people did we lose?"
"Not many. A dozen or so died, but many were injured."
"How many did we lose in the past week?"
"Nearly a hundred," the Knight replied, "and this does not include the losses in battle."
"Why are there losses in battle?" Lord Palas turned around and asked. It was still too early for the war to begin, and the mobilization of provisions and other resources was far slower than expected. The Highlanders' gathering speed was also not fast enough. Less than twenty percent of them had arrived.
However, what made him curious was that he did not give any orders, so why were there losses in battle?
"It's because a group of Highlanders gathered in secret to retaliate, but they were ambushed when they entered Macsen. Only one or two of them returned," the Knight replied.
"These fools," the old Knight cursed, "then how many people did we lose from the first attack until now?"
The Knight looked at each other before one of them answered.
"More than three hundred."
"But two weeks —" Lord Palas shook his head. He could accept this loss. If he did not take the initiative to attack, he would not be able to do anything about it.
But in his opinion, this was the last struggle of the Highlanders.
In the past two months, Lord Palas had gathered enough information. The nobles' private soldiers who had escaped from Abies had given him a lot of useful information. For example, he knew that Brando had hundreds or even thousands of Subterrane Dwellers under his command.
With hundreds of Subterrane Dwellers and thousands of mercenaries, Lord Palas felt that if he fought steadily, he would have a good chance of winning. He would not make the same mistake that Lord Macsen made a second time. In fact, the old Knight knew that based on his personality, he would not even make the same mistake the first time.
He caressed the hilt of his sword. He had heard that Carglise was also captured by the Highlanders, and he had been worried about his student for a long time.
Lord Palas's original plan would take about a month and a half, and he did not care even if the Highlanders lost another thousand lives or a third of them were forced to withdraw from the battle.
But the old Knight knew that numbers did not work that way on the battlefield.
If what he predicted happened, it would be a fatal blow to the morale of the Highlanders. The Highlanders might even fall into chaos.
He could see that the Highlanders were pressuring him, trying to force him into a decisive battle.
But things were not that simple. The Highlanders who were ambushed were the best proof of this. Lord Palas knew that he could not act rashly, but on the other hand, the incessant chattering of the Highlanders gave him a headache.
Their words were not without reason. The Subterrane Dwellers had gone deep into the forest and burned down one of Lord Palas's granaries. This made Lord Palas suspect that there was a loophole in Schafflund's plan. The Subterrane Dwellers could only enter Lord Palas's territory through that direction.
But Schafflund's spies reported that everything was normal. Lord Palas even sent out a second batch of spies, but they did not find anything out of the ordinary.
This made the old Knight curse Perkins for being in charge of Schafflund. It was a sieve that anyone could infiltrate.
But he did not think that if it were not for this sieve, his men would not have been able to infiltrate.
Lord Palas touched his sword and suppressed the impulse in his heart. He shook his head and said: "Let's go back."
"My Lord," the Knight was puzzled: "What about the Subterrane Dwellers?"
"Have the Highlanders withdraw their defenses and change the route of their supplies. We also need to relocate the granaries. The enemy is in the dark while we are out in the open. We need to be more vigilant — "
"But this will waste too much time. Why don't we just attack them directly?"
"If you think that way, then your enemy will be happy," Lord Palas replied coldly: "The undead of Madara, the Highlanders, and even the food and other supplies are not in place yet! If you lose Lord Palas as well, then where will Count Randner put his face — "
"We have a few thousand men in our hands, and the Highlanders' army is nearing two thousand," the Knight said: "Even if they add in the Subterrane Dwellers, they still won't be a match for us, right?"
"That old fool, Lord Macsen, also thinks the same way. Did you see what happened to him?"
"But if we do this, it will affect the time we have to gather, my Lord."
"That's fine too. It's best if we delay until the Month of Spring. It's not a good sign to send out troops in the winter." The Knight shook his head. Even though this kind of harassment was harmless, it was no different from a slap to his face, and he had no way to retaliate.
He was a cautious person, and the enemy seemed to have seen through this point.
However, the only thing he was confident about was that he would not make the decision to send out his troops early because of his anger. The old Knight believed that he had seen through the enemy's desperate struggle, and he had to fight steadily and steadily. He had to trap the enemy bit by bit and not give them any chance to break out of this situation.
He would slowly get back at them for the humiliation he suffered now.
"Delay until the Month of Spring? Won't Count Randner blame us for that? Three months, with Martha above, how much food do we need? "
"My Lord, if you do this, Count Randner will kill us!"
"On the contrary," Lord Palas looked at his old subordinates: "The longer we delay, the better. You have to look further ahead. The battlefield is not limited to Tónigel. Before this war ends, Lord Randner will not cause trouble for you."
"There are some things that cannot be measured by money." Even though the old Knight was a pure soldier, his experience allowed him to see through the waves behind this seemingly calm situation: "Of course, if we can do it well, Count Randner will be able to rest easy —"
"That's for sure." The knights echoed.
… …
If you want to know what will happen next, please go to www.qidian.com. There are more chapters, support the author, support the original reading!)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
