“Puff,” May couldn’t suppress a chuckle and then said in comfort, “I don’t blame you, there is no reason to show an expression like that.”
“You don’t?” The Knight breathed out in relief and reached for the wine, only to get stopped by May.
“You still have night duty, right?” May shook his finger and said, “Therefore, I can only let you drink a small cup and no refill. But…” She smiled, “Wait until the end of the mission, then you can nicely invite me.”
After Carter left, May took another cup of wine and leaned back against the chair.
Since she had tasted the wine for the first time, she discovered that she had slowly started to enjoy its hot and mellow flavor.
As for Carter’s previous invitation, she already had a faint answer to it within her heart.
…
Roland arrived in Longsong Stronghold two days later.
Petrov and members of the five families came out of the city to welcome His Highness the Prince and his troops.
After stationing the First Army into the stronghold, Roland went straight to the castle and held a brief meeting.
“I got my hands on reliable news, Timothy has raised a force that is advancing towards the stronghold.” Roland announced after sitting down on the Lord’s seat at the top of a flight of steps, while looking down on the nobles gathered beneath, “Their actual number and the route they’ve taken is unknown, but there is no doubt that they are coming for me. According to Timothy’s consistent tactic, they are bound to expand their troops by plundering and conscripting the civilians; before using drugs to force them to attack us.”
“Excuse me, Your Highness,” the eldest son of the Wolf Family interrupted puzzled, “The drugs you are speaking about…”
“A type of vicious red pill, that can give civilians more strength than a knight, but after the effect wears off, those who took it can only helplessly struggle before dying.” In addition to Petrov, the other four influential families didn’t know about the Church’s secret medicine, so Roland gave a simple description of the characteristics and the source of the pill. Then he continued, “Through this plan Timothy continues to weaken the resistance of the Western Territory. Any person he cannot use is a target of looting and enforcing, the same goes for your territory. As the Protector of the Western Territory, I request that you clearly explain the situation to your Family’s staff and the commoners staying on your land; and that you transfer all of them into the city, so that Timothy won’t be able to expand his force.”
“But the food and stored goods in our warehouses…”
“You can move as much as possible,” Roland decisively interrupted, “However, I can only give you three days, until then all the commoners in the surrounding have to have been gathered together inside of the stronghold. After I beat back Timothy’s troops, you can all naturally leave.”
After the conclusion of the meeting, the Prince summoned Iron Axe to the castle.
In fact, by no means had he disclosed the exact situation to the nobility. Lightning and Maggie were already able to expose the whereabouts of the troops coming from King’s City. Unlike the previous group of invaders, they were traveling by sailboat this time, and moving straight along the Redwater River’s channel in an attempt to enter the hinterland of the Western Territory by passing through Willow Town.
This was a very thorny route, at the time the enemy came to the river’s bifurcation point, they could either follow the tributary to attack Longsong Stronghold’s Southern and Eastern Gate or continue following the river westwards and go straight for Border Town.
In order to prevent his defending troops from needing to split up and create a situation of attending to one thing and losing sight of another, he needed to concentrate his superior military strength and take the initiative to go out and defeat the enemy.
Evidently, the Redwater River’s bifurcation would be the most suitable place for such an ambush.
After entering the hall, Iron Axe gave a standard military salute.
