Chapter 76: The day is about to dawn

"Your Majesty, why do you leave the same note in all the Water wells? And you don't actually poison them, so it has no effect on our enemies" General Olsian asked.

"No effect? Of course it does" Alpshar replied.

"Enlighten me, Your Majesty."

When Alpshar finished his work, he turned around and looked at Olsian. "Soldiers from Asina who see this note will most likely be faced with a dilemma. Should they drink from the well or not? Most soldiers probably won't drink, and they will start to experience a water shortage. We have plundered many cities and taken away their food and water supplies, especially in the cities. Richard is following us, so he will take the same route, and the possibility of getting water from the cities we have plundered will decrease. Even if there is water in the cities, they won't be able to get it because the people will try to save what little they have"With a sigh, Alpshar walked away from the well and wondered to himself why he was still telling this stupid man his plan.

General Olsian listened carefully to Alpshar and waited expectantly for him to continue. "And then?" Olsian asked.

"If you want to hear the rest of the plan, you can ask your mother. I don't even know why I'm trying to explain it to you" Alpshar said.

Detecting a hint of anger in Alpshar's voice, General Olsian didn't dare to speak further. Alpshar walked back to his tent and went for a short nap. Although he had cut his words short, his main goal was to initiate a water problem within the enemy army and inflict psychological damage on the Asina Kingdom. Thus, another aspect of his plan was about to come into play.

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The esteemed army of the Asina Kingdom had been following Alpshar's army for about a week, and the pursuit continued unabated. Alpshar, roaming freely in the lands of the Asina Kingdom, plundered villages and cities at will. Whenever the Asina army finally approached Alpshar's army, Alpshar would make a sudden maneuver and withdraw his forces. Due to the heavy armor produced for this war, the speed of the army was quite slow. Moreover, not enough riding and pack animals had been brought because such a war was not anticipated. Therefore, the army had to frequently set up camp, rest, and get supplies from nearby cities.

As if all this were not bad enough, they were also seeing the same note in all the wells.

"This well contains a poison that weakens magical power, so do not drink! I am a former citizen of Tamerid forcibly taken into Alpshar's army."

Due to this note, soldiers who didn't want to take any risks were not drinking from the well, and this was becoming a major problem. Since they wouldn't immediately know that the poison weakened magical power, no one knew if the note was true or not. Some soldiers eventually couldn't resist and drank from the well, but there was no visible effect. However, the majority of the army still didn't want to drink from the well because magic was something used not only in battle but also in daily life, and no one wanted to sacrifice that. Magical power was quite weak in most people, but it was still a useful anomaly, and even in the worst-case scenario, being stranded in a forest and being able to survive by burning wood would be quite profitable.

Despite all these problems, Richard, who was chasing Alpshar, became more determined to win with each passing day. As Richard saw the cities plundered within his kingdom, he was filled with both anger and sorrow. Although only the city's soldiers had been killed in the plundered cities, it still caused great damage to the Asina Kingdom. Undoubtedly, this war was causing much more harm to the Asina Kingdom than anticipated.

The pursuit of Alpshar's army continued and days went by. Finally, the news was received that Alpshar's army had stopped and had set up a headquarters at some point. The area was a half day's ride away, but Richard ordered them to proceed as slowly as possible.

The first reason for this was to detect and prevent a possible trap, and the second reason was to give the soldiers a chance to rest because of the long journey. Thus, about one days later, the two armies began to set up camps within close enough distance to see each other, although they were actually far enough apart. There was a distance between them that even an archer's range couldn't reach.

Neither of the two armies had taken a battle position, and it was clear that the reason for this was the setting sun and the onset of darkness. Ethan was evaluating the situation on the map with Richard and the others at his headquarters. Fortunately, there seemed to be no problem with the area where the battle would take place, but there was a large and steep mountain behind Asina Kingdom's camp.

Richard had ignored the mountain because he wanted to position his army behind the camp where Alpshar's army was located. Additionally, to the northeast, or on the right side of Asina's army, there was a swamp, and it was found to be quite deep. After looking at the map for what could be considered a long time, Ethan finally asked for permission to speak.

"As I mentioned before, the Spirit Mountain, which is made up of these hard rocks and is too steep to climb, could be a big problem" Ethan said.

"Why should it be?" Isabella asked.

"Because if we want to escape in an emergency, we won't be able to because of the mountain," he said.

"Escape? Are you planning to flee already, my dear brother?" Henry asked.

"A leader must always be prepared for the worst.' That's something my father often said to us, and I'd like to remind you that you always say that when you hear it - "Waow, that's quite a wise saying, Daddy "Ethan said, looking at Henry with his characteristic blue eyes.

Henry wanted to reply in anger for a moment, but now he had to remain silent because he needed his father's love due to the throne.

"Even if what Ethan say is true, it's too late for that now. Most likely, we will fight tomorrow, and we can't change the position of the army in the dark. Now, before everyone leaves, I have something to say. There is no change in the previous plan, and you will manage the units assigned to you. Also, there is no need to change the attack strategy. If everyone understood what I said, you can go and rest, and may God be with you" said Richard.

Everyone went to their own tents in the darkness of the night and tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately, because of the long-awaited major battle the next day, most people couldn't sleep. The night silence in the Asina army camp, where excitement and fear mingled, was more disturbing than ever. In this disturbing night, Ethan still closed his eyes to sleep.