It could be said, that with the exception of Scroll, Soraya, Lily and Mystery Moon, who were all witches who couldn’t fight, almost the whole nest had come out. Originally it hadn’t been necessary for Anna to join them on the battlefield, but under the firm will shown in her eyes, Roland couldn’t find it in his heart to let her stay behind in Border Town.
Six troops of the First Army’s gunner team were under the leadership of Carter and Iron Axe following the marks created by Lightning, who alone was responsible for keeping track of the enemy. This group of people was quietly marching behind the enemy, always keeping exactly outside of the scope of the enemy’s scouts. At the moment Lightning became aware of the enemy’s scouting activities, the army would immediately stop its forward motion. Along their road they were also able to capture a lot of scattered mercenaries and freedmen, but at the moment they weren’t able to deal with the surrender of the enemy. So they had no other choice than to disarm them, so now there were other guards who didn’t belong to the gunner team following together with them on the road.
This was Roland’s first time to guiding his “Army” on mission of conquest, he was standing on Little Town’s bow and feeling the morning breeze, while at the same moment also feeling enormously proud of his own success.
“What are you laughing at?” Anna suddenly appeared by his side, and was directly looking into his eyes she asked.
“Uhh…” Roland quickly put his smile away, “Nothing.”
“Really?” She took out a handkerchief and gave it to him, “You have saliva on your face.”
“…” Roland had the sudden impulse to jump into the water, “Thank you.”
When Lighting reported about the enemy’s camp, the sun was already set. According to the information she gathered during her investigations, the enemy apparently showed the signs of walking away from a heavy defeat which resulted in the drop of their moral to the freezing point. When they set up their camp at dusk and sent their knights to scout, they couldn’t wait to end their investigation and return to the camp, out of fear of not finding their way back in the dark.
Roland’s troops were stationed on the shore, two kilometers away from the Duke’s army.
All along the road, they didn’t meet with any enemies, so the plan to wipe out the enemy was already half way successful.
Now he only had to wait until the first light of the next day, and then while the enemy was still in the preparation phase their siege could begin.
This was Roland’s first time he was spending the night in the wild, and he was more inclined to sleep on Little Town than to meet all the reptiles which would run through the camp. The cannons parked on the ship and the inventory in the shed had already been emptied out and brought into the camp so that Little Town could become the temporary residence of the Prince. In addition to Roland, the other witches also stayed on board for overnight. The floor was covered by mattresses, and everyone was lying down shoulder to shoulder.
Roland wanted to show modesty, but in the end, the witches were much less concerned about this matter than he was. With the exception of Anna, they had all faced a lot of hardship during their life, fleeing from place to place, so sleeping in the wild had become common for them. Soon, everyone was able to fall asleep, only Roland and Anna had difficulties sleeping. The former was so used to a soft bed, that he had some difficulties adapting to the deck’s hard surface, while the latter didn’t know what she should think, she ended up just turning to the side and watching Roland. However, when the Prince turned his head, Anna would always quickly close her eyes, pretending to be asleep, but in the moonlight, Roland could still see her eyelashes slightly jitter. If he wasn’t afraid that the others would wake up from the noise, Roland would really want to pinch the tip of Anna’s small nose, forcing her to open her eyes and then afterward hold her in his arms.
In this manner, they both ended up being unable to sleep for very long.
When the sky was still not light up, Roland began his plan to encircle the enemy’s camp: He divided his army of two hundred and seventy into two teams, each group of them would be supported by two cannons. One of them was sent to the rear of the Duke’s camp, around one kilometer down the Duke’s path. Lightning was still responsible for monitoring the Duke’s movements, but in addition to this, when the cannons were set in position, the little girl also had the instruction to inform Roland. The moment he received the signal, he would send Carter out together with the rest of the First Army to start storming the Duke’s camp.
To prevent the cement ship from drifting away from the correct route, Nightingale would step into her fog. After all, her black and white vision could also be used as night vision, so with her instructions, Brian was able to maneuver the ship as if it was the still the middle of the day.
