Royal Catastrophe

Remi exhaled deeply and her head drooped. Her expression was gloomy, and for a moment, she wasn't sure where to begin.

"First, let me explain some background…" She said with a sigh.

"The political landscape in this nation is filled with strife; the various different businessmen, military leaders and nobles all back different members of the royal family. My royal father is the king, but his brother, my uncle, has always desired the throne! He wants to use your recipes to rise to power, he plans to mass-produce and sell these spirits to anyone with the money to buy them! Military personnel, citizens, criminals, enemy nations, knowing my uncle, there's nothing he won't do if it brings him a step closer to the throne!"

Remi's expression was fearful, she looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. She even glanced back now and then, as if expecting to see her uncle right behind her.

Deon sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead.

"And I assume that he plans to kidnap me, then interrogate the recipes out of me?"

"Worse!" Remi exclaimed. "After hearing about your ability to rapidly produce many different types of spirits with a high success rate, he doesn't just want the recipes now…he also wants you to refine them for him! I-I can't be sure, but what if he has a human slavery type spirit?!"

Deon paused. This…

If you removed all the talk of kidnapping, slavery, torture and betrayal, then wasn't this just a normal business proposal? Perhaps he could even work with this man…

But the possibility of this happening immediately was slim. For now, Deon needed to prepare for the worst.

"He'll definitely kidnap you and torture you until you agree to refine spirits for him! He'll work you to the bone, non-stop for the rest of your life! Of course, he'll also eventually get the secret recipes out of you…c-commander, what do we do?"

Deon silently pondered, a stark contract to Remi's anxiety.

"So you're saying that right now, an enemy army is approaching this camp with hostile intentions?"

"Huh?" Remi blinked.

"How many men? How many shamans? How strong are they? Are they experienced fighters? Who is leading them, a 2-Star powerhouse?"

"I…I don't really know, but yes, my uncle is a mid stage 2-Star shaman, but I'm fairly sure that nobody else is at his level in his faction."

"How long until their arrival? Roughly speaking." Deon pressed on.

"I, I ran away before they could tie me up and throw me in the prisons like the royal advisors. Father is in closed door cultivation so he has no idea, I absolutely cannot distract him, which is why I was gone for so long, waiting for him to-"

"Remi, stay on topic. How long do we have?" Deon made a mental note of the first thing she mentioned, about how she had 'escaped'. It might seem like good luck, but he wasn't so optimistic.

"Ah…maybe…since they spend all their time in the palace and have never even stepped foot on a mountain, perhaps 2 days? He is a mid stage 2-Star shaman though, I don't know the full extent uncle's abilities, he probably has…no, I'm sure that he has 2 more 2-Star subordinates, either early or initial stage."

Deon looked down the mountain and squinted, before looking away and suddenly shouting out loud.

"Everyone gather round, this is an emergency, a powerful enemy will be assaulting this settlement in as little as 1 day, the assault may even commence tonight!"

'I said 2 days though…' Remi though mildly.

Deon's voice boomed out and soon enough, everyone gathered around him. He quickly explained the situation. He worded it in a way that made Remi's uncle sound like he was officially committing treason, revolting against the kingdom by first targeting their powerful military figures and other members of royalty!

"I guess it's technically true, aside from the fact that we're also committing treason by preparing to fight against royalty!" Lieutenant Shi frowned and showed an uncertain expression, as if she was mentally debating over something and couldn't yet come to a decision.

"Lieutenant!" Deon barked out.

"Yes!" She for some reason stood up and saluted to her lesser…sigh, so shameful, she really couldn't get used to this…

"Get in contact with both General Li and General Senlin directly, do not involve any third parties in passing along the messages! Be as quick as possible. Explain that the king's brother is rebelling against the kingdom, and that he is heading towards our camp with the full intention of doing battle. This matter is too important and malicious parties are at play, so I would like to hear back from them directly via their personal transportation birds to avoid the chance of fraudulence. Got all that?"

Deon glanced at her and stifled a laugh as he saw her hastily writing down everything he said. She quickly closed the notebook, showing a serious expression. When she looked up, she saluted and said:

"Yes sir, I'm confident that I can find General Li within 4-6 hours, whilst General Senlin can be contacted through General Li!"

"Good…go!" Deon nodded slowly.

"She really treats you like her superior, huh…no, more importantly, what are we going to do Deon?! What if, what if uncle arrives before the generals, what if-"

"Soldier Remi." Deon placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled lightly. For some reason, she stopped trembling and immediately calmed down.

"Please remember to address me as 'Commander Deon'. I know that you are feeling stressed, but it is important to maintain order in times of crisis. Now then, go and rest properly, Soldier Remi."

"O-Ok…" She stared dazedly as Deon walked through the camp, barking out orders and sending everyone into a tense, but rapid and effective work-state.

Remi watched dumbly as traps were revealed, fixed, enhanced, and reinforced, across every single square inch of land, in and out of the camp. She knew of some of these traps, but not nearly all of them…looking at these pit traps, wasn't the 50 feet drop into darkness bad enough, without the 100 spiked metal poles sticking upwards, each coated with an extremely neurotoxic poison?

And those barrels…that was gunpowder, right? Why were there barrels upon barrels of gunpowder hidden all along the ground between the forest edge and the fortress? There were so many explosive barrels that it would make terrorists feel ashamed!

And it only continued.

As she entered the first camp, Remi finally noticed that the trees were discretely fitted with single shot extreme power crossbows, ready to shoot in any direction at any time. They could be controlled from the tree houses up above, allowing the weapons to remain impressively concealed.

And finally, down to the original base camp.

What was there to say? Aside from the forest hill, the only way into this camp was to climb up or down one of the various sheer cliff faces.

Going back to the main camp, Remi examined the cliffs above. After paying close attention, she realised that every crevice in this cliff face was filled with hidden explosives. Not only that, but there were again giant pit traps at the bottom of every single cliff.

The only other way into this camp was to climb up the Southern cliff face. If anyone tried to enter from here, it would be extremely easy to defend against.

SLOSH!

Remi yelped and jumped back, watching weirdly as 4 guys suddenly threw barrels of oil onto the cliff top, then swept the slippery liquid forth with a broom to let it slowly drip down the cliff face.

Remi stared around in wonder as everyone got to work, revealing the traps that Deon had developed during her time away.

She slowly made her way back to Deon's side and forced a weak smile. After spending a full hour tiredly and drearily examining everything properly, she realised that there were more traps in this camp than there were men.

"You really made a lot of traps, huh…"

"Of course, the best way to win a fight is without fighting at all. If the enemy is stupid enough to walk into their own grave, then and only then can the victory be called 'perfect'."

"That's quite insightful, but it still seems somewhat excessive." Remi replied dryly, looking around her once again as she let out a deep sigh.

'It's sort of weird how the traps are so well hidden. It's only when Deon orders everyone to work on adding reinforcements that they're all revealed.'

But still, she was worried.

"Even with all this, you shouldn't underestimate a mid stage 2-Star shaman…especially not my uncle. They say that he's close to reaching the late stage these days, and that his battle strength doesn't lose out to a late stage 2-Star shaman at all."

"Understood, but don't worry…if my plan works, then this will be over within a day." Deon patted Remi's shoulder, then left her to deal with other matters, disappearing into his command tent and having four guards stand watch.

For the following 2 hours, he called each of his men in one by one. They all left the tent with the same plain expression, but there was a sense of excitement hidden in their eyes.

After Deon spoke with nearly all 250 of his subordinates, the command tent doors were shut firmly, confining him within. With two guards stationed outside, nobody was permitted to see him unless it was an emergency.

He had prepared his camp, now, it was time to prepare himself.