305

Raoul returned to his office and spoke with a cold expression to the staff who followed him.

"Update the information about Fenris immediately. Then contact Amelia and tell her to regroup with the northern lords, and I will provide the support you need."

Then the staff answered with a slightly timid expression.

"Amelia is a woman whose abilities have not yet been proven. Until recently, she was an elegant young lady who drank tea."

"The Northern Lords will not recognize Amelia."

"How about choosing another person? She hasn't even been able to suppress the rebellion of the Baron Valois yet."

"They say they defeated the Northern Allied Forces, but they were all worthless. Wasn't it thanks to the military power left behind by Count Leipold?"

Raul frowned at the opposition of his staff.

"So what other alternative is there? What we need is not Amelia. It is Leipold's military power, as I said. None of the beggars in the North have that kind of military power anymore."

The staff kept their mouths shut. They were against it, but as Raul had said, there was no alternative.

Although his status was lowered by Amelia's rebellion, Leipold was still a rival to Desmond.

Its military power is still considered one of the best in the North. As Raoul said, we should trust Leipold's military power, not Amelia's.

But my worries didn't go away at all.

"It's not that long now, but Amelia could mess up Leipold. She could start rebellions here and there like the Baron Valois."

"So we can't just sit back and do nothing. We'll assign someone to watch Amelia so she can move as we wish. So she can't move around like Harold."

The staff nodded at Raoul's words.

Count Desmond was not a man who could be easily controlled by simply attaching people to him. That was why, even when he gave orders, he had no choice but to leave the process up to him.

However, Amelia is a newbie who has just become a lord. She is probably barely able to control the internal affairs, so you can just assign some people to control her so that she follows the Duke's will.

The staff didn't know about Amelia, so they assumed she would just follow their orders.

Of course, Raoul didn't find Amelia as funny as his staff did.

'Apparently… Harold had asked for someone to deal with Jurgen. He was supposed to send him to Amelia. But before he could send anyone from here, Jurgen was dealt with and the rebellion succeeded.'

It means that she has the ability to destroy the Northern First Sword no matter what she does. To that extent, she can be considered quite useful for a woman.

Raoul, who had gathered his thoughts, continued speaking in a cool voice.

"I was thinking about whether to strike Harold down anyway, so think of this as a good thing. We will reorganize the North with the people we sent and Leipold's army as the main force. After that, leave it to dealing with that guy named Giselle."

He is a very busy man. He cannot afford to worry about the trivial North.

It was certainly a great feat for Giselle to defeat Harold, but there were many more powerful lords in the kingdom.

The fight between the Duke and the Prince faction is now real. The great lords who are more powerful than Desmond are targeting each other.

Raoul looked around at his staff and said.

"Give the Marquis of Branford one last chance."

"Last chance?"

"If you step down obediently, I will peacefully transfer the throne to you."

The staff shook their heads, looking slightly embarrassed.

"There is no way the Marquis of Branford would accept it."

"Isn't he a man who would rather be broken than be bent?"

"No matter what you give, it will be of no use."

Raoul also nodded to their words. The Marquis of Branford's character was famous throughout the kingdom.

"I know. But His Majesty seems a little uneasy right now, so I must give him a warning."

"If you say it's a warning… … ."

Raoul smiled cruelly, his snake-like eyes shining.

"I'm saying that I'll turn the royal family and the royalist faction into blood."

* * *

When Giselle gathered her followers and announced what to do next, Claude questioned her.

"What's going on?"

There is still a lot of work to be done. There is work to be done to relocate the Desmond area's landowners, integrate the town, and train new soldiers.

Before even hearing Giselle's answer, Claude shouted in annoyance.

"We have to do here what we have done in our territory so far? We have to build workshops and farmland in the residential area, build roads, produce more soldiers, and build a gambling house! We have to recruit more administrators, and quickly fill the security gap, and do this and that… … Why is there so much work?"

Claude's words seemed endless. The people around him also turned pale as they heard about what had happened so far.

All of this requires a huge amount of manpower and money. As the population and territory have increased, the scale has also grown. You really have to work like crazy.

But you're starting something new here?

I almost thought it would be better to die at the hands of Count Desmond, who had returned alive.

As Claude threw a fit, Giselle snickered and waved her hand.

"Hey, it's not that hard. It's something we can start doing thanks to Desmond."

"What is it?"

"Let's review our goals again. Do you all know where we're going to fight next?"

"...."

Everyone was silent at those words. It was now common knowledge that there was a duke behind Earl Desmond.

There, Count Cavaldi, who was officially a member of the Duke's faction, was also beaten and his territory taken away.

It was obvious that the Duke would not stay still. To be honest, the reason they had held out until now was because the prince's faction was keeping them in check.

If it weren't for that, wouldn't it have already been over when we struck Count Cavaldi in Fenris?

A similar thought crossed everyone's mind.

'Oh, this doesn't seem right.'

'We're really going to fight.'

'How did it end up like this?'

As I was being mindlessly dragged along doing whatever Jiselle told me to do, an unbelievable situation arose.

I defeated Desmond, who was known as the strongest in the North, and took his place. I couldn't believe this, and now I have to fight the Duke. I just didn't want to believe this.

In fact, they had achieved something to be proud of. If the opponent had not been a duke, they would have had nothing to fear and would have been proud.

But knowing that a powerful opponent was waiting for me, I naturally became humble.

——————

faqwiki.us

Join our Discord for new chapter updates!

https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V

——————

Jiselle smiled as she watched her vassals humble themselves despite their great victory.

"I like those attitudes. People need to be humble to avoid letting their guard down."

"...."

Everyone was silent. I had never seen the person who said those words show any humility.

"We will inevitably clash with the Duke in the future. The battlefield may not be in the North, but across the entire kingdom."

Fenris cannot deal with the Duke on his own. In the end, he will have to fight in alliance with the Prince's faction, but if he does that, he will inevitably have to move around more frequently.

You may need to go here and there to provide support, and sometimes you may need to attack the lord of the Peacock faction by surprise.

If we only focused on defense here, it was obvious that we would die.

Everyone could understand that much.

Jiselle spread out the map and pointed to a spot.

"Our next goal is here."

The servants checked the location that Jiselle had pointed to and swallowed dry saliva.

'Ugh! Over there?'

'Are you really going to hit that place?'

'You're not suggesting that we do it ourselves, are you?'

The place that Giselle pointed to was the territory of the Duke's faction, Marquis Rodrique, located in the western part of the kingdom.

The Marquisate of Rodrik is classified as a western region based on the capital, but is closer to the center when looking at the entire kingdom.

The Rodrik territory, boasting an enormous area, could be said to be a transportation hub connected to all regions of the kingdom except the east.

Jiselle said with an excited expression.

"Do you know that people here are super rich? If you just eat, money will roll in every time you wake up."

As a transportation hub, commerce was extremely developed in the Marquisate of Rodrik. Thanks to this, enormous wealth was accumulated over the generations.

With such an abundance of money, he was able to become a powerful lord.

The royalist faction also deployed royal troops near this territory to keep an eye on it. Since the Rodrik Marquisate is close to the kingdom's capital, it would pose the greatest threat if a civil war broke out.

If they take this place, Fenris's forces will be able to spread out in all directions at any time.

"You don't have to worry about the east since the Marquis of Branford and the Prince's faction have it all. If we just take this place, we can attack every part of the Duke's faction. It will greatly expand our radius of action. And the Duke's faction nobles won't be able to move around freely either. They might get stabbed in the back by me at any moment."

Claude scratched his head with a salty expression. As always, it's easier said than done.

"My lord? Marquis Rodrik is a long-time lord of the kingdom and the commander-in-chief of the western army. He is a nobleman whom neither the duke's faction nor the prince's faction can treat lightly."

Giselle gestured as if telling him to continue. Claude sighed and continued.

"Besides, it's incredibly wealthy there. Even the poor Earl of Desmond in the North was like that, but there, they're richer and more powerful than Desmond."

"Don't you know? Have I ever lost?"

"… … How many wins was it?"

This time, I'd like to say that we won by luck because Gillian held out well and reinforcements arrived quickly… … But when I heard the story, it seems that Giselle was the one who destroyed everything on her own.

So even if I wanted to refute, I had nothing to say.

"No, fine. Let's say we take that place. Would the operatives just leave such an important strategic point alone? They'll keep attacking from all sides."

"Then we just have to destroy them all."

Claude thought to himself.

"… … Okay, do whatever you want. When was that not the case?"

"what?"

"no."

I didn't even want to persuade him anymore. It wouldn't work anyway. If the lord told me to eat, I would go eat no matter what.

Of course, Giselle didn't want to take over the County of Rodrik simply because it looked delicious.

'He was the leader of the West.'

Just as the North was ruled by the Earl of Desmond, the West was ruled by the Marquis of Rodrik. It was only natural for such a powerful lord.

He already has all the nobles of the West at his command. In his previous life, the first one to take over the capital was none other than Marquis Rodrik.

If we destroy this interest first, there will be no one left to properly lead the nobles of the West.

Jiselle had no intention of engaging in a war of attrition, destroying even the scraps one by one.

"I'm not saying we should attack right now. I'm saying we should prepare for this place. Anyway, this isn't going to be a simple territorial war. If a civil war breaks out, battles will break out all over the kingdom."

"Hmm, so you're saying we should take advantage of that opportunity?"

Claude nodded. Certainly, if it weren't for a one-on-one confrontation, the risk would be somewhat reduced.

It would be possible to join forces with the royalist faction, or Marquis Rodrik could disperse his forces or vacate his territory.

"Yes, many lords will move, and there will be constant battles to gain strategic advantage. If you take advantage of that gap, you have a good chance of winning."

"Then how do you plan to prepare?"

"There are many things to prepare for. The first thing we need to do is to secure a way to utilize our mobility. That is our greatest advantage."

"Mobility?"

"Because we train all our soldiers to ride horses. And we also provide them with very light galvanized armor. There is no cavalry in this kingdom with as much defense and mobility as ours."

That's true. Heavy cavalry is slow and weak at long range. Light cavalry is fast, but has weak defense, so it is easily attacked by archers.

Claude knew what Giselle wanted.

"Then we must finish building the road quickly."

"Yes, if roads were connected to each territory, we could move faster than we do now. But we need one more."

"What else do you need?"

"What is it? If you're going to be running around here and there, supply is the most important thing, right?"

"Distribution?"

"Yes, even if you normally receive supplies normally, the supply route may be blocked or may be far away. You have to be prepared for that. Depending on the situation, you may have to move very quickly."

"We're going to fight anyway, so if we don't have enough, we'll have to survive by looting."

"I don't do things like looting."

The former plunder king spoke proudly.

In fact, plundering doesn't last very long. It's a method that's not often used except in extreme situations.

It is vulnerable to scorched earth tactics, takes time to loot, and the residents of the occupied area become hostile, so the failure rate is high.

Claude knew that too, but didn't the lord himself call himself the King of Plunderers? He glanced at Giselle and continued speaking.

"You're still making a lot of biscuits, aren't you? You're also starting to produce a little bit of chicken jerky. Is that not enough?"

"Of course. That won't last long."

In this era, there were only a few foods that were easy to carry and had a long shelf life. Most of them were jerky or dried bread.

But even with that, it's hard to survive without supplies. It's bigger than you think. Even if you pack it on your back in case supplies run out, it's only enough for a few days.

If distribution is not smooth, the radius of action is limited. If there are limitations, they cannot fully utilize their strength of mobility.

That's not what Giselle wanted.

So this time I thought I'd solve that problem.

"I'm making a new combat ration. One that's easy to carry and lasts a very long time."

A confident smile appeared on Giselle's face.