Chapter 296
Chapter 296 – It’s Not the Time Yet (2)
When Belinda launched her surprise attack, not everyone was sleeping like Bernap.
Amelia’s advisor, the merchant leader Conrad of Actium, was also spending the night checking various matters.
Adjusting his monocle, he muttered as he flipped through documents.
“I’m glad the young lady stocked up on food. I thought we would take a big hit, but who knew things would turn out this well?”
Conrad smiled contently.
The Amelia he served was truly an extraordinary person. Her knowledge was vast, but the strategies and social skills she utilized were enough to make even men nod in admiration.
Not only that, she had a special intuition. Her actions, sometimes driven by a sudden gut feeling, led to unexpected results.
Buying a large quantity of food during the last drought was one such instance.
As he smiled, Conrad’s expression hardened as he fiddled with the rapier at his waist.
“Hmm…”
He felt a creepy sensation, like something was crawling on his nape. It wasn’t a real bug, but a murderous intent.
Swoosh!
The rapier, drawn like lightning, stabbed into a corner of the tent. Simultaneously, someone sprang out from the shadows within.
“Tsk.”
Conrad clicked his tongue. He aimed for the face, but the opponent miraculously dodged. However, perhaps not entirely, as blood trickled down from the assassin’s cheek, where a mask had been cut.
Seeing the expressionless face of the assassin, Conrad tilted his head slightly. It was a face he seemed to recognize.
After a brief moment of recollection, he chuckled derisively.
“You are… one of the ‘Lord of Bribes’’ guards, aren’t you?”
The assassin, who had set her sights on Conrad, was Wendy, a guard responsible for Claude.
Under the circumstances, she had no choice but to participate in this operation.
Conrad had seen her before, during his first business transaction with Penris, when he had been in charge.
With a smirk still plastered across his face, he continued speaking.
“Your presence here means that Count Penris is also aiming to turn us into enemies?”
Wendy replied with a deadpan expression.
“I haven’t been here at all. Please don’t pretend to know me later.”
With that said, she threw a series of daggers.
Swish swish.
Conrad lightly dodged the flying daggers and lunged at Wendy with his rapier. But Wendy seemed to have no intention of facing him now; she kept dodging backward and pulled something from her cloak.
Bang.
With a sound of metal clashing, sparks flew. Conrad grimaced as he realized her intentions.
Wendy produced an oiled cloth from her cloak, lit it on fire, and tossed it onto a pile of documents.
Whoosh!
Conrad released mana to wrap his rapier around the cloth and extinguished the flames, but Wendy hadn’t thrown just one.
She quickly ignited more cloths and fled outside the tent, flames soon rising throughout the Raybold Army’s camp.
“Damn it! What the hell! Who are these bastards?”
Ulkhan burst out of the tent, swinging his club and shouting in anger. Caleb ground his teeth as he stomped on the corpse wearing a black mask.
Being the leader of the cat smuggling gang, he too was an assassin. It seemed he was particularly humiliated that he was attacked by fellow assassins.
Both Ulkhan and Caleb swiftly dealt with the assassins that attacked them. However, not everyone was as strong as they were.
Several officers of the Raybold Army inexplicably lost their lives, leading to considerable chaos.
“The commander of the 4th Infantry Company has died!”
“Catch them! What are you doing?!”
“They’ve vanished! The enemy has disappeared!”
Due to the unexpected attack, chaos erupted as everyone frantically attempted to apprehend the assassins, but Belinda and the assassins had already escaped.
As Belinda fled, she cast a regretful glance back at the Raybold Army’s camp.
“Things are not as easy as I thought.”
As Giselle had said, the focus on increasing their speed meant they hadn’t been on high alert. Even so, they hadn’t killed nearly as many as expected.
On the contrary, the assassins she brought along seemed to have suffered quite a bit in return. Belinda bitterly licked her lips.
“Such a hard-earned force…”
Giselle and Belinda had consistently trained assassins over time. They had selected talented individuals and disguised them as servants within the territory.
Only Giselle’s closest associates truly knew their identities; it was a matter of utmost secrecy.
Of course, the most skilled of them were those cultivated by Belinda since long ago, like Wendy.
“I’ll need to train more members when I get back.”
Though each individual wasn’t lacking in skill thanks to the full support of the territory, their numbers were still woefully insufficient.
Especially when attacking high-level opponents like this. The low-level assassins struggled to even escape, let alone succeed in assassination.
But they had caused fires and inflicted chaos. Having achieved their objective, they could buy time.
After the assassins had fled, Amelia could no longer contain her boiling fury and screamed.
“Giselle! Giselle! Giselle! How dare you, you bastard!”
Flames soared all around while horses galloped chaotically. The camp was utterly in disarray due to the sudden attack.
Once again, she had fallen victim to Giselle. The unexpected manner of it left her with no way to bear it.
Amelia huffed as she scanned the camp once more, everyone bustling about.
“Put out the fire quickly!”
“Recheck the personnel!”
“Find out where the breach occurred!”
The soldiers were just as disoriented. Nonetheless, some quickly prepared their arms and kept watch.
After a brief moment, a knight approached Amelia and bowed.
She glanced at the knight and asked.
“What’s the damage?”
“The casualties aren’t that large. However… several company commanders have died.”
The knight reported the assessed damage. While the number of dead soldiers was low, the greater loss had come from the deaths of crucial officers.
Knights were not the only high-level forces. Sometimes, finding decent commanders could be harder even than finding knights.
Quite a few of the mid-level officers that Amelia had carefully selected had fallen. Recovering from this loss would take a considerable amount of time.
But the knight’s report didn’t end there.
“We released the horses and spread poison around before setting fires. Because of that, many horses either ran away or died. The poison has already been purified by the wizards. We are currently recapturing the lost horses.”
To increase marching speed, horses were essential. They had attempted to hinder the Raybold Army, targeting the horses as their major objective.
After taking a moment to close her eyes and take a deep breath, she asked again.
“Just how did they get in?”
No matter how much they focused on increasing speed, they would not have neglected security duties. The Raybold Army was strict in discipline, and Amelia especially valued vigilance.
There were also high-level knights and wizards taking turns on watch.
And this was a force of 5,000 men. No matter how skilled the assassins, it was unreasonable to evade the eyes of all these soldiers.
Moreover, not all the assassins were highly skilled. There were quite a few who had either died or failed to escape.
The knight hesitated for a moment before continuing his report.
“There were… tunnels.”
“Tunnels? How did they know where we would be staying to dig tunnels?”
“They aren’t that big. They’re more like hiding pits. It seems they dug several, then watched us move and hid nearby. We’ve found a few even outside the camp.”
“Keep talking.”
“Coincidentally, there were tents of soldiers placed right above several of those pits. Using them, a few infiltrated and started fires first, and then the rest followed. The timing of the attacks was all different.”
The Raybold knight quickly conveyed the situation.
Just as he said, knowing the Raybold Army would be on the move, Belinda had kept watching their movements.
That’s why they could have been hiding in the pits prepared near the camp in advance.
The most crucial virtue for an assassin was patience. It was no easy task to remain hidden in an uncomfortable and cramped space for days on end.
That was the very basic training that assassins received first.
Amelia bit her lip. With no enemies visible and focusing on moving quickly, the internal alert level dropped substantially.
Moreover, given that 5,000 people had to stay there, the camp naturally had to be quite large. If one understood the rough location, it was easy to slip inside.
“How the hell… how on earth could they…”
She still didn’t comprehend. How could Giselle possibly have grasped all her movements?
‘I must figure it out somehow. This isn’t just luck or intuition. There’s certainty behind those actions.’
Now, she could no longer think of Giselle merely as an incredibly lucky person or just a remarkable genius. Based on everything that had happened, she seemed more akin to a prophet.
But she still couldn’t grasp which method he used. It was giving her a headache, and she pressed her forehead hard.
Beside her, Bernap carefully asked.
“So, does that mean Giselle is moving too? What do we do now? We have to arrive before him.”
Looking at the situation, it seemed like both the Raybold Army and Penris Army were moving almost simultaneously. However, it was well-known that Giselle’s forces were all cavalry. It was clear they would be heading toward Desmond Territory at an incredible speed.
Having come to that realization, Bernap continued speaking.
“Shall we use the remaining horses to send cavalry and knights as well? We won’t lag behind in terms of speed.”
“They’ve probably set traps.”
These were the daring ones who infiltrated even into the camp to catch Amelia off guard. It was clear they had a well-defined objective, so they wouldn’t fail to set traps against cavalry.
Amelia took out a map and examined it before speaking.
“However, we can’t just give up right away. We’ll split into three directions. The fastest route, the mid-route, and the roundabout route. Ignore everything else and focus on capturing the fortresses and castles I’ve marked first.”
Desmond was a great territory. Unlike the other northern territories that had merely a few villages and at most a couple of cities and fortresses, it was at a different level.
Taking non-critical positions wouldn’t help. They’d merely be treated like invaders and chased away.
At the very least, if they captured one critical position, they could claim the justification of an ally and hold their ground. If they did just that, the Duke Faction would handle the rest.
Under Amelia’s orders, the knights and cavalry quickly began to stabilize the chaos and move.
Their only objective was to capture and hold the locations marked by Amelia before the main force arrived.
Thud thud thud thud!
The weariness was evident on the faces of the cavalrymen, who hadn’t been able to rest properly. Nonetheless, they maintained their composure, having always undergone intense training.
After sending off the cavalry first, Amelia turned her sharp gaze around at the remaining forces.
“Get organized and move as fast as possible. There’s no time to rest.”
If Giselle had predicted her movements and made preparations, he must be heading toward Desmond Territory as well. Now it was a race against time. They needed to move faster, even by a little.
Creek.
While moving, Amelia gritted her teeth.
‘Giselle, Giselle… you bastard…’
The feeling of having been bested again wouldn’t fade away. If she had simply stayed still, she wouldn’t have had to endure such humiliation.
As she expected, along the very path they’d initially taken, cavalrymen who had gone ahead were down.
Most had fallen into pits filled with spikes and lost their lives, while those who avoided that had tripped over cleverly placed wooden spikes at the height to trip a horse.
With horses falling, the injured groaned on the ground while the few remaining unharmed cavalrymen could do nothing but attend to the casualties.
Soldiers brought the stakes that had been lain around to Amelia.
The stakes bore an inscription.
[Made by the great blacksmith and friends.]
“How dare they…”
Flames sparked from Amelia’s eyes. Not only had they obstructed her path, but they had also made such a petty provocation.
She could tell just from the inscription who had created the traps. It seemed the dwarves who were staying in Penris had made their move.
She couldn’t help but think how she needed to catch them and make them pay.
While tending to the injured, cavalrymen who had gone down a different path returned.
“What happened?”
“There were obstacles.”
“Obstacles?”
“They built a wall of wood and stone at the narrowest path of the gorge. We had no choice but to take a different route. I brought back a trace left over there.”
The commander who had led the cavalry presented the stake he was holding.
[Made by the great blacksmith and friends.]
“……”
She had heard even before that it was a territory filled with odd individuals. But seeing the evidence they left behind was utterly ridiculous.
It was already too late to backtrack. The Raybold Army quickly cleared the traps and moved again.
And when they arrived near the fortress, which had been their first target, the commander of the cavalry who had taken the longest detour joined the main force.
“I’m sorry. The enemy has already captured the fortress.”
“……”
Just how quickly had they moved, to capture the forward fortress right after winning a war?
It wasn’t that someone had betrayed them and leaked information. She hadn’t spoken about her plans to anyone.
Amelia wore a cold expression without saying anything. She led her forces toward the fortress.
Indeed, the banners of Penris were flying high at the forward fortress of Desmond.
“……”
Amelia merely glared at that banner, still silent. Bernap quietly stepped back.
He knew very well that she became colder than anyone when she was at her angriest.
‘Ah, I told you not to get involved with that bastard. Since we’ve captured Raybold, it would’ve been enough to just take half of the North.’
Bernap could only moan inwardly, unable to say a word. Her ambitions were beyond what he could keep up with.
‘If she could just let go of her greed, we could live happily enough.’
His dream was simply to have a sweet life with Amelia. He was a man who sought happiness far simpler than expected.
Since Amelia said nothing, her close associates also felt they couldn’t speak freely. Anyone who disturbed her nerves now wouldn’t come out unscathed.
Thus, while the Raybold Army gazed longingly at the fortress.
Creeeak…
Suddenly, the gates of the fortress opened. And out came Giselle on a black horse, accompanied by knights, slowly approaching the Raybold Army.
Seeing this, Amelia also moved forward on her horse, surrounded closely by Bernap and her knights.
Covered in blood, Giselle and the neatly-dressed Amelia stopped at an appropriate distance.
Giselle spoke first.
“It’s been a while, Amelia.”
Amelia raised her chin slightly in response, wearing an arrogant expression.
“It’s been a while, Giselle.”
The two looked at each other and smiled.
With deadly intent in their eyes.
Before the laughter could fade, Amelia’s hand twitched slightly. At the same moment, mana began to gather on Giselle’s spear.
