When Oscar and his team returned to the procession in silence, no one asked where he went even though everyone knew the Prince had disappeared for a whole morning.
The Narcissus Knights had already prepared the tents for the Prince and Lady d.u.c.h.ess Andrew. At the same time, Princess Alanis was invited by Lady d.u.c.h.ess into her tent. However, Princess Alanis excused herself once she saw Oscar"s entrance.
Oscar didn"t seem upset, he trusted himself to not be set back by any problems. Cheekily, he greeted his Mam, his sister, as well as Snowstorm.
Everyone knew there were some communication issues between the Prince and Princess, but they were also bewildered by the good mood he was in.
The Prince didn"t think much of the people"s concern, he left the tent after saying some baffling words.
It was only a short afternoon rest, so the knights hadn"t bothered with setting up a camp. They gathered in small cliques to enjoy their lunch.
Lunch, made by a chef following the Narcissus Knights, was sumptuous. Chef Arden looked young, but he was a veteran within this squadron.
Arden was popular among the cavaliers in the capital, their chefs couldn"t make such a palatial meal out of simple ingredients. The Capital Defenders had only talked to this specific Narcissus Knight. As another historical troop, even though the Capital Defenders hadn"t been on the battlefield for years, their sense of honor and their servitude of the rich and the powerful had stopped them from communicating with the Narcissus Knights.
Of course, the Narcissus Knights wouldn"t initiate communication with these spoilt, s.h.i.+ny-armor-donning, non-commanding soldiers. The Narcissus Knights were the real elites, living their lives for survival on the battlefield. These soldiers who had experienced life-and-death situations even had their weapons by their sides during mealtime, which provoked the ridicule of the capital soldiers.
These little situations weren"t worth fussing over though, the Narcissus Knights had their disciplines drilled into every facet of their lives in the army. From setting up camp to meals and rest, from cleaning their equipments to bathing their horses, every little action was heavily ingrained into them. As a battle-focused organization, these knights wouldn"t waste a single second on frivolous issues unrelated to battling.
Colonel Kamille Rayen was shocked when he returned to the pitstop. It was set by the roadside, a dozen of carriages were abandoned on the road with only two capital knights watching guard. The young paladin even saw the capital knights soaking in the sun sitting and even lying down. Some even started playing card games. The further into the woods Kamille went, the luckier he felt. Fortunately we"ll be rid of these guys soon, he thought, if the Narcissus Knights were like that, they would have disbanded before reaching the Narcissus county.
This was not all the capital knight"s fault, they were all born with a silver spoon in their mouths. The reason they would join the Capital Defenders was only to be discharged with honor so they could be promoted to a higher position. Since the day t.i.tan Empire"s border was set, the Capital Defenders had been a decorative "exhibition troop". When the captain, Colonel Kamille Rayen left his post, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin, the vice captain who took over in management deliberately left out these soldiers in the mission to protect the members of House Andrew and the Royal members.
His own knights were still satisfactory! Kamille looked at the Narcissus Knights guarding the tents, proud.
The Narcissus Knights" had much more experience in guarding tents than any other military troops in Westland. Their arch enemy, the ghostly Persians, were experts in stealth, but they"ve given up on stealth attacking the Narcissus Knights" camps. No matter how simple the camps are, the Narcissus Knights always managed to make their defense as impenetrable as a bunker.
Kamille located his vice, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin who pa.s.sed him a ration, and went to a corner of the tent to discuss. The vice captain was older than his superior by a few years, so from the outside eyes, Benjamin looked more mature than the babyfaced Kamille. This wouldn"t change anything, Kamille"s position was not only due to him being a paladin, but also because he"s good at what he does.
Oscar walked with Snowstorm to the depth of the woods. Several higher-ranked Narcissus Knights surrounded them from far, even though it wasn"t close, they had guarded all the key locations for approaching the Prince.
The teenager was still in a state of excitement, he recounted everything that happened in the morning to Snowstorm. Pleased about the Prince"s mood, Snowstorm congratulated the Prince about having concluded a concern.
"You know? If there"s an opportunity to be involved in this operation, why didn"t you count me in?" Snowstorm wasn"t happy with this decision.
Oscar shook his head, "Paul, I"ve mobilized all the elites from the team, if you didn"t stay here, who would protect my Mam, my sister, and the Princess? If anything happened to Alanis, do you know what the King would do to us?"
Paul pouted slightly. "Elites? Hmph! How would you know if there were no elites in the team? You mentioned the Princess, heheh, I"ve tested that. I went close enough to the Princess" tent, and what do I see? At least two out of the four that came out were paladins! Hmph! No elites?"
Oscar was surprised, not for the Princess, he knew there must be some super elites protecting Alanis in obscurity. He did feel strange, however, at Snowstorm"s tone of description.
"Ola! I know, you must have gotten a disadvantage!"
The King of a.s.sa.s.sins stared at Oscar in disbelief, "Disadvantage? How would I gotten into a disadvantage? You"re kidding! Testing the Princess" defense in bright daylight, if I would get into a disadvantageous position, that"d be disgraceful of me!"
Oscar grinned, "Ola ola! If you didn"t, tell me, why do you spoke of it as if you"re a boar violated by the tiger?"
Snowstorm smiled in embarra.s.sment, "Heheh! You little… Are you waiting for me to embarra.s.s myself? Let me tell you, I was only dispirited because I gave up halfway."
"Hahahahaha!" Both of them bursted out laughing, scaring away the birds in nearby trees.
The squad went on with their journey with Oscar thick-skinnedly climbing into Princess Alanis" carriage. Alanis couldn"t do anything but frown, so she planned to ignore him all the way.
Colonel Kamille Rayen had once again shrugged off his responsibility and hopped over to another carriage, knocking the door. Ricky the Liar Extraordinaire pulled open his curtain. "Good noon, young paladin! Do you have any orders?"
Kamille saluted the butler, "Good noon, Baron Erbe, how would I dare giving you an order, I"d just like to ask if Mr. Percy is in here?"
"Looking for me?" The Poison Doctor leaned over from his initial seating position on the other side of the window.
"Ah, yes, do you mind if I mount the carriage? I have a question I"d like some advice for, respected Mr. Percy."
"Hoho, come in! I wish I could be of help."
Ricky opened the door and tried to help the paladin, but Kamille held onto the bar on top of the carriage that kept the luggage together and flipped himself into the carriage from his horse. Another knight rushed over, the horse, losing its owner started to panic, but the knight pulled it away.
"That silly boy!" Kamille looked at his pet. The war horse was still throwing a tantrum, even under the knight"s restraint.
"Good day, young paladin!" The King of Sins Doramy was also in the carriage, greeting the colonel cordially.
Kamille took off his helmet. "Good day to you! I haven"t been able to greet you. It was an honor meeting you, I"ve seen your wanted poster when I was a child!"
The King of Sins grinned, "Really? You"re going to be rich then!"
Kamille turned toward Poison Doctor in front of him, not thinking about the battle in the morning. What he was concerned about was the special arrow the Poison Doctor gave Ricky.
"Respectable Poison Doctor, I have a question for you, you can choose to not answer, of course."
"Please ask." Percy almost could tell what the captain of the knights intended to ask. These soldiers were all super sensitive to any resources they can use.
"Hahah, I"ve took a good look at the arrow you gave Baron Erbe this morning. It doesn"t look any different from normal ones, only some sort of package that looked like a fireworks cannister. I don"t understand how it could produce smoke, and those smoke could afflict such a bad effect on people. As I see it, the smoke affected their eyes as well as breathing, causing them to cough. If it weren"t for the smoke, we wouldn"t be able to win so easily."
Kamille smiled in embarra.s.sment. "Hahah, you"re right, but not completely. A real battle depends on even more variables. For example, your smoke. If we use it in large amount, we need to calculate its disperse time, concentration, area of effect, the direction of wind, and many more. If we missed out any one of those, the effect would be discounted or worse, it might backfire. I think your smoke can be used in certain battles, have you heard of the term "special warfare"?
Everyone in the carriage shook their heads.
Kamille giggled annoyingly. "Of course you won"t know the term, it was just coined by Lieutenant General Figg Andrew Tibotty of the Narcissus Knights…"
"Hold on! Lieutenant General Figg Andrew Tibotty! That"s Marshal Andrew"s second son, that"s His Royal Highness" second elder brother." Ricky had been a butler for a while, so of course he had heard of the second Young Master of the House.
"Yes, that"s right! Second Young Master, General Figg! Even though this general had been infamous with his ability to stir up trouble, his leaders.h.i.+p quality is comparable to the Marshal, Duke Dortmund Andrew Nedgabel, in some ways he"s even stronger than the Duke. In the Narcissus County, there are a lot of youths who are the second Young Master"s supporters. Of course, I also find his tactical ideas admirable!"
"Hey wait! Hold on! Tell us one by one! You haven"t explained what "special warfare" means." Doramy Basinger stopped Kamille from continuing. He wasn"t that interested in House Andrew, however as the King of Sins, he instinctively felt the so-called "special warfare" had some a.s.sociation with him.
"Right! Right! I digressed! I wanted to say "special warfare" is the perfect example of how General Figg"s tactical mind work." Kamille swallowed his saliva buildup. Every time tactics was brought up, he wouldn"t be able to help himself but become excited.
"According to General Figg, "special warfare" just means a special way of battling. This tactical mindset was mainly developed to defend against the Persians. After four hundred years old war, us Narcissus Knights finally had to admit a truth after some huge sacrifices, and that is we can"t completely decimate our enemies!"
"The Persians were also called the "people on the horse". The Persian Empire"s huge land and numerous citizens provided their endless source of combat resources. Even though the Narcissus county is supported by the whole Empire, our power was still far behind the Persians. If the Persians send their whole army to our nation, I reckoned the Narcissus Knights wouldn"t even have the power to fight back. Don"t disregard this, this is the consensus the military officers have agreed upon."
No one in the carriage dared to breathe too loudly. If what the colonel said was true, then it"s going to be scary. The Narcissus Knights admitting they"re not able to defeat the Persians! Will there be anything more horrifying than that?
"Then… how come… like you said, in these four hundred years, the Persians had not thought about… destroying the Narcissus Knights?" Ricky asked his question with a stutter.
"That"s a good question, we were also asking the same question. Since a long time ago, we have been unintentionally utilized special warfare and found out about an issue they faced. Persians were not as strong as we thought they are, their empire had been expanding for so long, they"ve made countless enemies!"
"On the north border of Persian Empire, there were some allied nations comprised of different minority races. Even though they were on defense like the Narcissus Knights, their combat strength is not to be underestimated. I really admire the mysterious nation on the East, they were able to hold back seventy percent of the Persian military power!"
Kamille Rayen paused to smirk. "The driver of His Royal Highness, if he really did escape from Damorga, then I believe the story I told you is the truth!"
"What story?" The King of Sins asked. That man was always curious about the driver.
"I"d heard about a huge invasion from the Persian prisoners of war. Trust me, that"s nothing like you could ever imagine. The amount of people the Persian and the Eastern nation mobilized exceeded a million! Can you imagine a mixed fight between a million people?"
Everyone shook their heads again. It definitely is unimaginable. One million people! That was even more than some smaller countries in the West!
"Yes, I wasn"t able to imagine it too. I can only visualize a chaotic fight, but the reality must not be like that. The ones who were in chaos must be the Persians. According to the prisoner of war who told the story, their squad was being driven apart even before meeting the enemies. The Easterners, they had several hundred thousand people in a war lasting for several months before rounding up a similar amount of Persians in a small area to exterminate them. Hundreds of thousands of people! Can you imagine how they were decimated at once?"
Again, another round of head-shaking. These people were experts in crimes, not military tactics, but they know it wouldn"t be an easy thing to kill hundreds of thousands of people.
"Yeah! Even some in the Narcissus Knights couldn"t believe it until now, but I do after seeing the driver."
"Why?" The King of Sins asked.
"We have gotten from a reliable source that the Persian general who conducted the war was betrayed by his ruler. The general entered t.i.tan as a diplomatic envoy, but he was captured before arriving at Dulin. His followers were all hung dead, and we only knew he was locked in Damorga. If there was a Persian general in Damorga, that must be the commander of this war."
"But… this doesn"t make sense!" Ricky felt a little confused. There were too many points he couldn"t connect.
"There"s nothing unreasonable about this. He"s a general who could command several hundred thousand people! Couldn"t you see the Persian ruler was killing with a borrowed sword*?" Kamille Rayen continued explaining.
"The general was a political sacrifice, from him, we were able to deduce why we could defend against the strong Persians."
"Firstly, the Persians have a stronger enemy on the East border, so they focused their elites there. I think, the Persians were years behind the Easterners in military strategies. Just think, if the Easterners could organize hundreds of thousands of people partic.i.p.ate in the war for half a year, that means they were able to utilize combat strategies no other people on this world can. At least, none of the Narcissus generals could take two hundred thousand men out to the battlefield at one go! People, this is the difference between them and us, the Easterners decimated several hundred thousand people, and we don"t even know how to organize a troop with several hundred thousand men!"
"Secondly, the political climate in the Persian Empire is very unstable. In the past fifty years, they had replaced dozens of their emperors, the segregation of political power was also very shaky, all the rich and powerful were able to hold an army themselves. They will fight against each other for all sorts of resources. Also, they weren"t willing to obey their rulers, and with the complication between the racial makeup of the Persians, they had never been peaceful despite them having the same religion."
In conclusion, the Narcissus Knights were able to stay peaceful was solely because they were spread too thin between the internal fights and the threat from the East, they had no more power to invade the West."
After all the talking, Kamille"s throat was parched. The other people were quiet after the whole spiel of the history.
"Kid!" The King of Sins yelled. "After saying so much, I still don"t know what "Special Warfare" means! What are you talking about?"
Kamille was a little embarra.s.sed, "Ah… ha! Right! Special Warfare! Ah, I"m… Haha, where was I?"
The people in the carriage looked at each other for a while before lurched together with their palms reaching at the paladin"s neck!
Kamille Rayen yelped! "Hey! Wait! You… You need to let me explain some context…"
The red sun hung high in the Western sky even though it"s already late. The procession of horses and carriages sped up considerably since the afternoon and finally saw their destination before sundown, the East gate of Dulin, Fort Hanodt. It wasn"t a real city, in that sense, its tall wall and fortified towers made it look more like a fortress.
Fort Hanodt"s history was even longer than Dulin City, so this fortress make people feel like it"s really old. In name, it"s the Dulin"s Eastern gate, but it was a common knowledge that the Dulins Plain wouldn"t be able to defend the Dulin City against enemies, so this fortress wouldn"t be much of a defense.
Fort Hanodt was part of t.i.tan"s first military district, the Fifth Corps was stationed here. It has two cavalry divisions, an infantry division, and an independent heavy infantry brigade. The corps was set up brilliantly, but the problem is that they have never been in a warzone. Troops that have never been to a battle cannot be counted as a real force, as combat power can only be measured with actual combat.
The commander of the Fifth Army Corps of t.i.tan"s Military District One was Lieutenant General Dallas Bobbaston, but he always insist that people call him Count Dallas. He"d been stressing on the t.i.tle to the Princess since they first met, but the Princess still called him Lieutenant General Bobbaston.
He gathered all the officers he could mobilize in front of the suspension bridge at the Western entrance of the fortress. As the first stop for Princess Alanis Alfa Morisette"s journey to the East, the lieutenant general wanted to leave a good impression in front of Her Royal Highness.
With similar intentions, all the administrative officers and n.o.bles gathered behind the army, waving their arms at Her Royal Highness from afar.
Princess Alanis was entranced by the display. Even though she didn"t have the qualification for a parade, she enjoyed pretending that she had.
Lady Celia of House Andrew and the Young Lady was received well too. Lieutenant General Bobbaston has spent a whole day to rehea.r.s.e his troops, asking them to show their best selves, at least, not to embarra.s.s themselves in front of the Narcissus Knights.
Wait, something"s off, shouldn"t there be another person? Lieutenant General looked at Lady d.u.c.h.ess Andrew and Young Lady. Someone IS missing!
Oscar was woken up by the sudden opening of the carriage door, the boy jerked out his machete instinctively, and with a low hum, the machete wedged itself into the door frame.
Lieutenant General Bobbaston fell backward, landing on his b.u.m, he was lucky he removed his arm in the nick of time!
Everyone was surprised by this turn of event! What happened?
Oscar rubbed his eyes and noticed a cape on him. He sniffed it and was happy to find it was Princess", the cape"s full of her smell.
After that, Oscar saw the stunned people outside and noticed his machete on the door.
"Oh… Has the sun gone down?" The teen rubbed his nose, not to cover the awkwardness, but he genuinely want to know how long he had slept.
Everyone else and the lieutenant general nodded simultaneously, Oscar scanned at the people, only the Princess was grinning at him.
Fort Hanodt was first a fortress before a city. The cityside was not as developed Dulin, but the residences and the streets were still very detailed. Unlike Dulin city, the small city didn"t have tall buildings, every house was two to three stories with a tower-like attic.
Citizens of Fort Hanodt were used to decorate their balconies with flowers, in this season of blooming flowers, the whole Fort Hanodt looked like toy town with colorful decoration.
"Ola! How are you, my dear Reynold!" In the square in front city hall, the Prince saw Marshal Alan"s grandson.
Major General Reynold Hewitt Preston didn"t reciprocate the Prince"s attempt to hug, he performed a proper military salute instead. "You Royal Highness, Major General Reynold Hewitt Preston reporting for duty!"
Oscar was a little abashed, but he knew the youth officer was just trying to show his respect. Oscar was the highest commander in this caravan, after all.
"Okay Reynold, we"ll need to take care of each other from now on, how are you the past few days?" Lady Celia reached out and pulled Reynold"s outstretched arm down.
"Thank you, milady! I have already sent a messenger, they will contact all the commanders in the places we will stop. Another thing, I have taken over a cavalry squadron a.s.signed to His Royal Highness by my own accord, I will handover the troop afterward."
Lady d.u.c.h.ess Andrew frowned slightly, she thought this young man was a little too trite.
"That"s fine! That"s your issue, Oscar. You have a new squadron of cavalrymen now." Lady Celia pulled her son in front of her.
"Hehe, yes Mam. You wouldn"t want me to join the servants, would you?"
"What"s wrong with the servants?" The Young Lady approached them.
"Hehe, ask Annie. She"s a prodigy when it comes to packing, but I"m guessing the servants are fuming at her right now!" Oscar laughed out loud, but immediately whimpered as Countess Antonia Horman pinched at a softer part of his back.
"Your Royal Highness, let"s enter! I have prepared a feast for your arrival." Seeing no one wanted to solve this problem for the Prince, Lieutenant General Bobbaston stepped up.
"Ow… haha! Lieutenant General, your feast comes… at the… right time!" Oscar felt Annie strengthening her twist.
A feast! A feast with dishes of every color, ladies with pearl necklaces and diamond rings, musicians with tuxedos, the pope with his big, red robe, scholars who had nothing to do but worrying about the country, as well as less-educated n.o.bles who pretend to be know-it-alls.
Oscar didn"t like those, same as Princess Alanis, the teen was almost convinced the Princess had regretted her decision tonight. He snickered as he watched a group of n.o.ble boys surrounded her like guinea pigs in heat. If it wasn"t for her trying to distance from him, she may have avoided this situation.
Alanis noticed Oscar"s malicious smirk. She"s at the edge of her fury, why don"t these pests go elsewhere? The Princess shot the Prince an angry look, but the Prince didn"t give her the chance to be angry, he slipped away with the cover of a crowd.
"The Music G.o.dfather, Gru Goolean"s First Kiss. Is that fine? You can do it?" The Prince stared at the music conductor in excitement.
The conductor nodded, First Kiss is for people who are madly in love, after all. "Your Royal Highness, no problem, we can do it."
"Wait for my signal." Oscar handed the conductor a Golden Ti.
"Mam Celia, have you seen Annie?"
"No, I haven"t. She must be together with Sasha."
"Sasha, have you seen Annie?"
"No, why?"
Oscar stood at a loss in the middle of the hall, happy people fluttered by him like phantoms, the teen snapped his finger, and the pa.s.sionate First Kiss started to play.
Annie stood in a corner of the hallway. She was slightly worn out, but the music reminded her of the pleasant memories. The countess hummed along with the music, not knowing a person was looking for her silhouette in desperation.
Translator"s Notes:
1. To kill with a borrowed sword came from the ancient Chinese essay Thirty-Six Stratagems. It described a strategy to "Attack using the strength of another (in a situation where using one"s own strength is not favourable). Trick an ally into attacking him, bribe an official to turn traitor, or use the enemy"s own strength against him. The idea here is to cause damage to the enemy by getting a third party to do the deed."