The news of Jorgendy Ridge's invasion of the Empire was a little too shocking, and everyone needed some time to digest it. After the four Knights of the internal court left, the others also dispersed. Metisha, The Shire, and the others had to prepare for the battle that they might face next. The other members of the diplomatic group each had their own thoughts, and they were all persuaded by Brando to go back. In the end, only Jutta stayed by his side. The female mercenary captain was the nominal commander of the White Lion Guards that accompanied the diplomatic group, and she needed to stay and wait for Brando's orders.
But other than that, there were also two uninvited guests. Chiyara did not treat them as outsiders and still stayed by the side with interest. The Duke's daughter also did not seem to have any intention of leaving.
After everyone left, Chiyara asked, "Hey, what are you planning?"
Brando glanced at the little girl, "What are you staying here for?"
"Why can't I stay here?" Chiyara said, "You haven't answered my question yet."
"Of course it's to solve the problem. Didn't I say so earlier?"
"Hmph, I can guess even if you don't say it," the little girl replied proudly, "But are you really going to stand on the side of the Cruz people?" She looked at Brando curiously. Because of her rare Cruz blood, her eyes were a natural light blue and transparent like glass.
"Now that we have common interests, why can't I?" Brando replied.
"That's true, but it's a little inconsistent with your style of doing things."
Brando found it funny and could not help but deliberately tease her, "Miss Chiyara, I've only been with you for less than a month, and I spent most of my time hiding in the carriage. How do you know my style of doing things so well?"
Chiyara glanced at the Duke's daughter, "Arbitrary and self-opinionated —"
"Stop!" Brando saw the Duke's daughter's mouth moving as if she wanted to say something, so he quickly stopped her. He was already having a headache.
Chiyara giggled, "What's wrong? Although I don't know why, I always feel that you hate the people of the Empire. At least you won't say those righteous words. Loyal allies of the Empire, this kind of thing is just talk among the other nobles. I don't believe your nonsense."
Brendel looked at the little girl from House Seifer in surprise. She was not much older than Duke Grinoires's daughter, but one of them looked like an adult while the other looked like a real loli. Of course, Kiara still had the childishness of a young girl, but compared to Seifer, it was like the difference between heaven and earth. He did not expect that she had been observing him all this time, and even accurately described his state of mind. If the person who spoke was someone familiar with him, or someone with keen observation skills like his senior sister, he would not be surprised at all. But the person who spoke was a little girl.
"What's wrong? Scared?" Chiyara looked at him, "Actually, it's not a big deal. Your shrewdness is written all over your face. It's not difficult at all. In fact, I know a lot of things. How about it, do you want to make a deal with me?" She looked at Brando and replied confidently, "You definitely didn't come to the Empire for the Holy War, at least not only that. You don't have to lie to me, I won't believe you. In short, what you're going to do is going to be very troublesome, and although you have a good judgment of the general trend, your brain is too slow. When playing chess, the layout and the ending are equally important, and the latter is often the deciding factor of success or failure. If you ask me, maybe I'll be kind enough to help you."
Brando looked at the egomaniac, "Then I really have to thank you."
"Actually, you don't have to. I can see that you're very stubborn. You definitely can't bring yourself to beg me," Chiyara said again, "But we can make a deal. Why don't you tell me the inheritance of the Bugas' knowledge, and I'll help you come up with a plan?"
Brando looked at the little loli revealing her fox tail and could not help but shake his head. This was not the first time. It seemed that she was determined to get his illusory knowledge of the Bugas. But now he was not in the mood to tell this little girl bedtime stories, so he just replied casually, "The knowledge of the Bugas can't be explained in a short time. Their knowledge is recorded in the scrolls and can fill the White Tower. I'm afraid that when we leave the Empire, I won't even finish telling you the beginning. A deal is about fairness, and I won't do an unfair deal."
"It doesn't matter!" Chiyara blurted out, "Anyway, I'm going to stay at your place for a long time."
"Huh?" Brando looked at the little girl inexplicably.
The little loli patted her cheek gently and quickly corrected herself, "I mean, I can stay at your place for a while. Why, don't you welcome a lady as a guest?"
Brando looked at the little girl from head to toe, but he could not see how this egomaniac was related to a lady.
At this time, a real lady, the daughter of the Grand Duke Viero, finally got the chance to interrupt the meaningless conversation between the two and asked, "Count, did you already know about Jorgendy Ridge?"
"What is it?" Brando noticed the suspicious look in the duke's daughter's eyes and was slightly taken aback.
"Everything that's happening right now, did you already know about it?" The duke's daughter stared at Brando. She had been wanting to ask this question since the beginning. When Brando, Rogers, and the others said those words, she remembered Brando's promise. Although he had a bad relationship with Cruz before, if he could really save the situation at this time, what he had done before would not bring him any trouble. Instead, it would become his glorious emblem. A noble who would neither yield to the power of the Empire nor abandon justice because of personal grudges, and who could distinguish right from wrong, coupled with his performance in this war, one could imagine how high his prestige and reputation would be in both the Empire and the Kingdom.
But what made the duke's daughter feel a little scared was, how did he guess all this? How did he expect the attack of Jorgendy Ridge? How did he expect the Empire to be in trouble?
If this was a pre-arranged arrangement, then it would be a little too scary.
Brando glanced at Eugenie, as if he knew what she was thinking. He nodded and said, "Yes, Miss Eugenie. In fact, I contacted Jorgendy Ridge and asked the people of the Underdark to form an alliance with the Lion Men of Toquinin, and then ordered them to attack the Empire. You know, I have a Halran Gaia. Although it's broken, it can still be used. I've seen them in the Loop of Trade Winds before. They cried and asked me to be their chieftain, and they even said that they wanted to marry their Saintess to me. But I refused righteously because of the principle that different species should not intermarry. By the way, have you seen their Saintess? "
The duke's daughter stared at the count with her eyes wide open, but the more she listened, the more ridiculous it became. Finally, she realized that he was just teasing her. "You …" She could only snort, knowing that this guy would never tell her the truth.
When Jutta heard Brando talking about the Saintess of the Lion Men, she finally could not help but laugh. She thought that her lord was too playful. If those words were to reach the ears of the Lion Men, Toquinin's enemy tomorrow would not be the Empire, but Erouine's new leader of the diplomatic corps. Her laughter attracted Brando's attention. He had never seen his beautiful mercenary commander like this before. Jutta almost immediately realized that she had lost her composure. She quickly composed herself and lowered her head to complain to her lord.
Although Brando's words were absurd, he did not deny Eugenie's doubts. The duke's daughter thought for a moment and understood the meaning behind it. She had been in fear these days, and although the current situation seemed to be getting worse, she more or less saw a glimmer of hope. At least it seemed that their leader was not so unreliable. Many people said that he was crazy, but how many people expected this day to come?
She was silent for a moment, and seemed to have gained a little confidence. "Count, what you said to the people of Cruz, is it true?"
"I said a lot to them, and it's inevitable that there are some lies," Brando replied. "But which part are you asking about?"
The duke's daughter rolled her eyes at him. "You said that you can save the situation. Aren't you kidding?"
"Not all of it," Brando replied. "Miss Eugenie, this is the beginning of a great war. In this war, there are very few things that we can control. Seriously speaking, at least until now, with or without us, the outcome of this war will not change much."
The duke's daughter widened her eyes again. She knew diplomatic etiquette, but she knew nothing about military matters. "But you still said that to them?"
Chiara listened to the conversation between the two and could not help but laugh.
"Miss Eugenie," she replied. "This is the cunning part of this guy. In a war, any factor will have an impact on the outcome of the war, but the key is the extent of the impact. Of course, he can save the situation, but the key is to what extent. This is not easy to say. No one is a god in heaven who can guarantee this kind of thing. "
"So you are lying to them?" The duke's daughter felt that she had to take back her previous thoughts. They were the Knight of the inner court of the Empire, the secret agent of the royal family. What was the difference between lying in front of the supreme of the Empire?
"You can't say that I am lying. We can indeed leave. I just thought of a way to give them a little confidence. After all, it is their duty to protect the Empire, not ours. We stayed to help them. We have done our best." Brando replied. "Don't worry. No one knows how bad the situation will be in the end, or how good it will be in the end. We do not need to defeat Jorgendy Ridge, but we just need to do better than others. As for what will happen when the time comes, it depends on what we say."
The Duke's daughter finally had a clue. This seemed to be no different from diplomatic affairs because they were all equally shameless. "My lord, what do you plan to do next? Will the diplomatic group be in danger?" She asked the Duke's daughter.
Brando shook his head this time. He could not answer this question. As Maynild said, history had pulled everyone back to the same starting line. The participation of Jorgendy Ridge had completely changed the history he knew. Jorgendy Ridge was not a country in the true sense. Perhaps it could only be called a country. It was a general term for the underworld. In the dark underworld, there were only lords, castellans, patriarchs, and different ethnic groups gathered together to form scattered forces of various sizes. He still did not know which lord or lords had contacted the Toquinin Lion Beastmen, but Brando had a vague hunch that this invasion was not simple.
The power structure of Jorgendy Ridge had determined that its lords rarely launched large-scale military operations, but if the current situation was as he expected, then it was a rare move in the underground world. It was very likely that it did not only include the actions of a few lords, but Brendel felt that this idea was a little too ridiculous, and even he could not accept it.
There was a thick fog in front of him that was waiting for him to clear up. His knowledge of history was quietly disintegrating, and all that was left for him was the experience of two lifetimes.
"I have a vague idea, but I need to confirm it first. Before that, we need to minimize our conflicts with them, but we still need to focus on breaking through their encirclement. If we accidentally fall into their encirclement, we won't be able to do anything." Brendel replied in a low voice.
"Break out?" The duke's daughter asked. "Which direction should we break out in?"
"It's best to break out in the direction of the inland sea."
"The inland sea?"
Brando nodded.
The snow on the mountains of Anzeruta melted and formed rivers. These rivers flowed westward through many duchies and into the Sea of the Dying Moon. They flowed southward into Erouine and finally into the Shining Sea. The rivers flowed northward into the inland rivers. These rivers flowed north of Anzeruta and gradually washed out a hilly area, which was today's Floating Cloud Hills. One of the most famous rivers was the Surging Silver River. The Surging Silver River crossed Anzeruta and opened up the Surging Silver Valley. The southern part of the valley was called the Vargas region, which included Vargas, Hemlock Town and other towns of various sizes. North of the valley was the Bear Lake region. The river formed a lake on the hills and then turned eastward under the obstruction of the Short Mane Mountains and entered a huge inland lake.
This lake was the inland sea that Brando mentioned — the Empire's Inland Sea.
The Empire's Inland Sea was also known as the Sublime Inland Sea. It was a huge inland lake, but it spanned across dozens of regions. The lake water was also very salty, so it was not an exaggeration to call it a sea. The Sublime Inland Sea started from the Cape Bay in the west, the Metz region in the north, the Short Mane Mountains in the east, close to the Evergreen Corridor, and the end of the Rokezi Plateau in the south, a rich alluvial plain. The entire Sublime Inland Sea almost divided the Empire from east to west and from south to north, but it gave birth to the most glorious civilization of the Cruz people. Countless ports and cities were located along the coast, closely connecting this huge Empire for the past thousand years. In the long river of time, the entire Sublime Inland Sea had become the most prosperous and elite region of the Empire. The continuous southern plains, the prosperous Cape Bay, the hometown of shipbuilding, and the heartland of the Empire — the Violet Valley.
It could even be said that if the entire Empire was a sophisticated magical machine, the Sublime Inland Sea would be the magic core of this machine. It provided the Empire with an endless supply of power and energy, materials, manpower, and money. Even the orders from the central government of the Empire were transmitted through the Sublime Inland Sea to every corner of the Empire.
The Sublime Inland Sea, on the west of Floating Cloud Hills, revealed a corner of the estuary of the Surging Milky Way. Brando knew that there was a port called Loen there. This port was not famous, but it was north and south of Asgard on the south of the Evergreen Corridor. If Asgard fell, then this port would be the last springboard for the Empire to counterattack Anzlova in the future. Of course, Jorgendy Ridge would not let go of this port, but the problem was that Brando was sure that the enemy's attack focus would definitely be on Asgard and not Loen. This was because there were many local legions stationed in the Violet Valley on the west of the Evergreen Corridor and the Flower Ridge on the north, not to mention the Red Legion in the Wilderness of Four Realms. If they could not take down Asgard in the shortest time possible, then even if the Golden Mane Lionmane Beastmen of Toquinin captured the Rokezi-Broken Sword Mountain defense line, they would be blocked by the Empire's legions from all directions. By then, if they wanted to take down Asgard, they would have to pay a terrible price.
On the other hand, after taking down Asgard, attacking the small port of Loen would be like catching a turtle in a jar. By then, even if Cruz reacted, it would be impossible for the Violet Valley's army to swim across the Sublime Inland Sea to support Loen, right?
When Loen fell, the Empire's navy would lose its landing point, and the center of the war could only return to Asgard. The Empire would have to break through by land, which was obviously what the people of Jorgendy Ridge wanted to see the most.
The duke's daughter seemed to understand Brando's thoughts, but her eyes fell on the map. From Vargos to Loen, there were at least three regions in between. This journey would obviously not be too smooth, and they did not have to go through any kind of breakout.
"This road is not easy to take." Unlike the duke's daughter who was silent, Chiara asked directly, "Jorgendy Ridge is already ahead of us. Are you confident that you can break through their blockade?"
Brando shook his head gently. Confidence was based on confirmed information, but at this moment, all they could do was wait. He believed that soon, the exact news would be sent back. From Vargos to the Bear Lake area, where the army of Jorgendy Ridge had advanced in a day, whether the Imperial Army stationed there, especially the private armies of the nobles, had resisted, or even if they had escaped, where had they escaped to? This was all the information he needed.
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