7 Chapter 7

After about 3 minutes of constant shooting, almost the entire enemy army was obliterated. Roland made sure to keep some alive, on purpose not firing in one area, for interrogation purposes. He then ordered for the guns to stop and a group of Swordbots to capture the enemies he'd left alive. He didn't need to worry about where to keep them, his castle was after all, still a castle, it had a dungeon. Not only did it have a dungeon, he had it rebuilt, even a Level 1 Grand Knight shouldn't be able to escape. Roland even had an interrogation room built, staffed by an Interragotionbot.

[Interrogationbot (needs 0.1Ag to function): A Bot equipped with Basic Truth Liquid and various truth extracting devices. Battle strength: Level 7 Knight. Required: 175kg of iron ore, 40kg of copper ore, 25kg of sand.]

[Basic Truth Liquid: A liquid that, when injected, makes anyone under Level 1 Realm Knight tell only the truth for 10 minutes. Required: 5g of Glauk Extract, 10g of Withered Vine, 1ml of Distilled Sun Juice and 7 others.]

Roland would, of course, want to find out who was behind the attack and strike back.

---The day after the battle in the dungeon of Phoenix Castle---

A Level 2 Knight, a thousand man commander from the battle the day before, was strapped in a chair, while the Interrogationbot was preparing a portion of Basic Truth Liquid. Roland could see that the Knight was afraid, but he didn't care, all is fair in love and war and this was a war, a small one though. The prisoner, by all accounts, was a handsome man: large blue eyes, muscular and lush black hair. He was probably a playboy, sleeping with a different girl every night, but then again Roland also didn't care about his character. He would execute him, maybe publicly, after the interrogation. Soon the Knight was injected with the Truth Liquid.

"What's your name and status?" Roland began the interrogation.

"I'm Zach Afner, thousand man commander of the Tripartite Alliance and heir to the Afner family." He answered, struggling to keep his mouth shut.

"What is this Tripartite Alliance?" Roland asked.

"It's an alliance between the Allen family, a marquis family, the Segal family and the Meine family, both are count families. There are also a few viscounts, like my father, and some barons, but they don't have a vote in the Alliance. The Alliance has power equal to a ducal family and influence equal to 2 ducal families. Apart from the King, the Alliance has the most power in the Hildegard Kingdom." As heir to a member of the Alliance, Zach knew quite a bit about them and soon, after a small Q&A, Roland asked his last question: "Last question, why did the Alliance attack me?"

"You and the Rowe family grow too fast. You are already a viscount at 17, your family contains a barony and a viscounty. This kind of growth must be curbed, since it could be a thrreat to the Alliance."Came the answer.

"I guess I'll become a threat then, I can't take this lying down, now can I?" Roland said, walking out of the dungeon, leaving Zach behind.

'I can counter-attack in about 3 months, but by then it won't just be a counter-attack, it will be a take over of the Hildegard Kingdom. I bet I'll be a much better King. Hoewever, I can't do nothing, or they will come back before I'm completely ready.'

After thinking for a few minutes, he'd come up with a perfect solution: he would raid their fleets. The major nobles of the Hildegard Kindom all had a few armed fleets and trading fleets. He would give them a warning to back off, by taking them out. Roland couldn't wait to set forth with his own fleet, but he had to wait, he'd promised his subjects that he'd publicly hang the enemies that had attacked the City. His subject never had had such a good Lord, seeing his holdings being attacked, the people were upset, Roland would execute the enemy survivors to appease them.

---That evening in front of Phoenix Castle---

Roland walked on a small podium, that was specially prepared for his speech and the hanging. The crowd burst out with cheers, when they saw him. After a short time of shouts like "Long live Lord Roland!", he asked the crowd to quieten down.

"My dear subject, we were attacked for no apparent reason. They had no just cause, but still attacked with an army of 14,000-15,000 troops. Most enemies died, trying to resist our superior strength and their survivors will be hung this evening. I have prepared a feast, to celebrate this joyous occasion, eat and drink as much as you'd like." Finishing his speech, he went back inside his castle. Meanwhile on the podium an executioner approached with the prisoners, Zach being one of them. The executioner put a noose around their necks, pulled a lever and then the prisoners started to struggle, trying to prolong their life for a little bit. A quarter of an hour later, the last prisoner died. After his death, the feast Roland promised commenced, he may not be present, but his subject were still very grateful.

---The next morning, in the dining room of Phoenix Castle---

After eating his breakfeast, Roland told his maid Alice to prepare, for she would later this day accompany him to his military harbor. It was time for a sortie with the fleet.