Saving What Is Worth Saving (6)

"It's not this way. It's over there!" <Retainer >

He hurriedly pointed to the west instead of the east, where Lunan Castle was located.

"You think Visigoth's army is coming from the west? Are you sure you've seen Visigoth's uniform, and flags?" <Julius >

"No, no, I they are too far away to see the colour of their uniforms, we only saw the large cloud of dust on the horizon." <Retainer >

I came to check if Fran might have acted crazy, but he didn't.

It wasn't the Visigoth's troops that should be arriving here.

Still, to be sure, I tried to scan for troops in the distance.

______________________________________

[Aquitania Territorial Army]

[Strength: 20,000 men]

[Soldiers: 15,000 infantry, 5,000 archers.]

[Morale: 90(+5)]

[Training level: 95]

______________________________________

Needless to say, they were on our side.

It was my troops from Aquitania.

The Aquitania Territorial Army that I had worked so hard to raise!

They were the elite troops of the Lunan kingdom that I had finally managed to increase from 20,000 to 30,000, allowing me to introduce our Heavy Cavalry.

The fact that their morale was +5 was proof that Yuri was among them.

The positive effect on morale is the halo effect of a general with a command value of 95 or higher.

"Are you sure you're scouting with your eyes open? They're on our side. These are my forces." <Julius >

"What? It's...Where the hell did they come from?" <Retainer >

"It's the Aintorian Territorial Army." <Aquitania >

"Are you sure? I didn't know they were coming!" <Retainer >

Voltaire's vassals were jumping with joy.

There would be no allies coming from elsewhere at the moment.

However, if I showed off that I was still alive and well here, and let them know that Elheat was with me, it was certain that some of the territories between Aquitania and Voltaire Castle that had not yet been hit by war would come to fight alongside their Heroic General, and Heroic Warrior.

Still, considering the efficiency of vacating Aquitania and sending all the troops over here, it would be a part of the strategy.

What I need to gain from this war is part of the strategy for acquisition.

"Open the gates at once and welcome my army." <Julius?< p>

"Yes, sir. I'll get right on it for you." <Retainer >

***

- - Lunan Remnants POV - -

As soon as the Aquitania troops arrived, they immediately supplied the refugees with grain.

I started to influence people's minds.

It was a very important step in order to gather the armies of other territories under me.

"Eat a lot." <Julius >

Grain rationing, was the first way to manage the people, since many left their homes behind they lacked food, if they wanted my food they needed to follow my orders.

With my army bringing in surplus food from the territory we can provide food to the refugees and in doing so raise my reputation further and get them to migrate to the safety of Aquitania.

If I gave it to the people with my own hands, the people who received it would feel grateful.

"Thank you! Thank you!" <Refugee >

Most people express their heartfelt gratitude.

However, there are many different kinds of people, and there are many different kinds of refugees as well.

"Is that all?" <Mean Refugee>

There was always someone crazy enough to say such a thing in front of the nobility, even during the war.

"That's it. Please think about the people behind you. There's an overflow of refugees and not enough grain to give an ample amount to everyone... especially considering it'sfor free!?" <Yuri >

When this happened, Yurasia was next to me and strongly reminded them.

Then the people who were being sarcastic or greedy fell silent, unable to say anything. Yuri's high level of charm attracted people.

Elheat, who had recovered to some extent, also joined in the distributing.

He had decided to donate all the assets of his domain, but it was meaningless.

His territory was in the southern part of Lunan, and it was impossible to bring in supplies from there right now.

Rather, it was just a territory that would eventually fall into Visigoth's hands.

"It's better to take it easy and rest...You're not fully recovered yet." <Julius >

"I'll be fine. I can't be the only one resting." <Elheat >

"Don't worry about the food we've got plenty of hands to help." <Julius >

I replied, thinking that he was worried about the food for the soldiers, but Elheat shook his head.

"That's not what I meant. I admire you. So I'll be giving it my all." <Elheat >

"What do you mean? – Anyway, you should get some rest. I intend for you to be active on the battlefield. I don't want you to lose your strength here, dealing with civilian matters, best to use people where they have strengths as they say." <Julius >

"Hahahaha! That's also true. All right, I'll do that!" <Elheat >

The refugees passing through here are part of the population flowing out of northern Lunan and Lunan's royal capital.

The refugees must have flowed in two directions, south and west of Lunan.

The outflowing of people was not stopped by Visigoth as soon the entire nation would fall to them and since Duke Fran was more concerned about combating Julius he left only token amounts of forces to maintain order in the cities they captured but could not properly enforce their will upon the mass of people.

Those who were headed to the south would have heard the rumours about me spreading to Lunan, so I had to be even more careful.

On the contrary, it was an influx that could not go on forever.

Yes, there was indeed an end.

So the best thing to do here would be to give it a good amount of time, win the hearts and minds of the people, and then retreat.

"Yusen." <Julius >

"Yes, my lord!" <Yusen >

That's why I needed to move a little.

"I'll take a squad and leave Voltaire Castle for a while." <Julius >

"Leave Voltaire Castle?" <Yusen >

I explained to Yusen my first real strategy in this war, the battle to rescue Elheat wasn't really supposed to be a battle afterall.