Chapter 14

For the large Count Etienne, climbing from the entrance of the Imperial Palace to the banquet hall on the third floor for the court meeting was a miserable task.

The well-dressed clothes he wore when leaving his mansion were soaked with sweat, and his embarrassing panting filled the banquet hall, causing the stiff nobles to frown.

If only I become Chancellor. I will use a reception room without stairs as the place for national meetings, huff, huff.

“Lord Etienne. You are currently in charge of the Ministry of War, correct?”

A youthful female voice, different from Morgan Herbon’s, further fueled Etienne’s irritation. Yet, for today, she was the Chancellor, so what could he do? Etienne bowed respectfully to Lady Jenna Fleur and took his seat.

He intended to oppose everything. It might be amusing to pretend to accept her ideas and then betray her later, but perhaps showing her how frightening this position is and making her cry and give up would be another way.

Confident in his debating skills, Etienne looked at the young lady, still in mourning attire with her baby fat not fully gone, and thought it might be fun to draw some tears from her as he smiled.

“Lady Jenna, the incident with Young Earl Graham was truly unfortunate. And your father’s situation as well… Although I visited before, I take this opportunity to…”

“Why do you insist on making such personal remarks in this setting? Lord Etienne, do you take me lightly? Calling me Lady Jenna. I am here as a representative of my father, the Chancellor. Naturally, the title you should use is Your Lordship or Chancellor, isn’t that right, gentlemen?”

Damn.

Etienne felt a large bead of sweat roll down his temple. The young lady he had underestimated, with her chubby cheeks, seemed to possess the spirit of a lion.

“The meeting will now begin. Once started, no one may enter, and once inside, no one may leave. Now then… Lord Curzette, the Minister of Finance, please start by discussing the current state of our empire’s treasury.”

The Emperor was a sly fox who had lived for seventy years and even claimed to have achieved immortality. Surely, he had not only proposed the position of Chancellor to Etienne.

Looking at the faces of the ministers present, it was clear they all had received the Emperor’s proposal. So, Jenna did not immediately explain her war strategy but hosted the meeting as her father would, causing everyone to cough awkwardly, feeling stifled.

As expected. The fox-like Emperor.

Just as Etienne was about to speak, Lord Roberto, a Knight Commander and one of the war generals, could no longer hold back and asked loudly.

“Your Lordship! I heard you promised the Emperor to reveal a strategy to save White Bloom today… Shouldn’t we, the ministers, have good news to deliver to the weary people?”

Lady Jenna stared at him intently for a moment. Then, surprisingly, the nineteen-year-old young maiden smirked at the words of the over-forty-year-old general.

“No, no. Did you just mock me, Your Lordship?”

Lord Roberto’s face reddened, and his eyes widened as if they would pop out.

Lady Jenna paused for a moment and looked around at the ministers, who were old enough to be her father.

“If I explain my plan to you, will you follow it exactly? Why should I trust any of you?”

The ministers’ shocked gazes turned to the head of the table. However, Lady Herbon was undeterred.

“You all fail to properly carry out the orders of my father, who has explained strategies and managed the government at this national meeting for his entire life. Will you listen to me? Hmm? That’s why I’ve already implemented my plan on my own! The results… hmm, let’s see, it should take about two days, so by the time it reaches the Emperor, it will be three days. In the meantime, just make sure to report to me. We’ll be seeing each other for a long time. Why is there no response?”

The young lady’s smile, foretelling the future of the court ministers, was chilling.

* * *

The Lucus camp in White Bloom, where battles were ongoing, was in a festive mood for several days.

Always outnumbered in military forces, the Lucus had repeatedly conceded territory in wars, but this time was different. Ingénes had a significantly larger army, yet for some reason, their attacks lacked strength, and their morale was low.

Even this morning, although the sound of the sortie trumpet was heard, the camp was quiet as if deserted. Scouts reported that many soldiers still remained in the camp, and it did not appear to be relocating.

Could it be that they no longer wish to waste their strength on the border area of White Bloom? Perhaps they might withdraw before the torrential rain begins?

General Imeldes of the Lucus, thinking of reporting victory to his Emperor for the first time, distributed alcohol and meat to the soldiers in the evening and lay down, pleasantly drunk, for the first time in a year and a half since arriving at White Bloom.

The footsteps of the sentry outside the tent and the rustling sounds of wild animals only sounded like lullabies to Imeldes.

Shooook bang.

To Imeldes, who was deeply asleep, even that sound was just a lullaby.

Pishuuu… bang.

Ah… damn, what’s this, fireworks in the middle of the night? What? Fireworks on the battlefield? There couldn’t possibly be such a madman.

Imeldes got up from the hard straw bed and first found his chest armor to put on.

“Lord Imeldes! May I report something?”

A soldier standing sentry outside cautiously asked.

“What is it? Are those Ingénes bastards preparing fireworks at night? If so, there’s nothing to worry about. Our former Chancellor personally came and set the direction of the wind to arrange the formation. Those ignorant fools might be planning a night surprise attack with fire arrows.”

The wind was blowing from the Lucus camp towards the Ingénes camp, so a reckless fire attack could actually backfire on Ingénes. Imeldes was about to leave the tent to prepare for a possible surprise attack.

Heeheehee! Heeheehee!

Imeldes’s horse was neighing frantically.

They say animals sense danger faster than humans. 

My horse is usually gentle, yet it’s crying like this.

At that moment, pishung poof!

The tent beside where Imeldes was standing caught fire. However, it wasn’t a fire large enough to be concerning.

“What are you all standing around for, instead of fetching water to put it out! Are you just waiting for the fire to extinguish itself?”

There were many soldiers, but they were all bewildered by the sudden attack and were running around in confusion.

Damn those Ingénes bastards, so despicable.

Despite the general’s stern order, not many soldiers fetched water to put out the fire. Imeldes couldn’t wait and entered the tent of his confidant, the cavalry captain.

“Hey! Fire arrows are flying, what are you doing? The fire isn’t big, but it’s enough to burn down while you’re sleeping! Get up! Hey!”

However, his lieutenant was sluggish and couldn’t move well.

“Ah… Commander, there seems to be a problem with the alcohol and meat you distributed earlier. I didn’t eat, but maybe because there’s oil in it, my stomach… I’m sorry. I can’t move.”

Poison? Poison and fire attack? Such cowardly bastards!

Deadly poison can easily kill people but is difficult to obtain and feed to a vast number of soldiers.

So these bastards must have done the cowardly act of sprinkling cheap stomach medicine on the supply carts.

Thinking back, he recalled hearing reports that the Ingénes bastards, who usually caused a fuss to disrupt the supply routes whenever they saw supply carts, surprisingly ignored them today, allowing them to arrive early.

He thought it was divine assistance, but instead, it was a cowardly act of sprinkling cheap medicine on the supplies.

Feeling aggrieved at being caught by such a shallow trick and doubting the level of the Ingénes strategist, Imeldes was speechless.

“Fine! Only those who can move their bodies now will put out the fire on the tents! Even if your body is slightly uncomfortable, put out the fire! If you push it off onto others, you’ll all die. Move, move! Why aren’t those damn mercenary bastards coming out?”

He shouted angrily. Only then did lower-ranking soldiers stagger out, hurriedly scooping water into canteens and splashing it onto the tent.

“Lord Imeldes! Lord Imeldes! Something is wrong!”

Among the sentry soldiers guarding his tent, one quick soldier shouted loudly.

“The flames aren’t being contained, and… from over there… no, the wind blowing from the west has changed direction towards our camp. That’s why the fire isn’t being controlled! Lord Imeldes!! And… look over there! A… a whirlwind is coming!”

Though it was hard to see clearly in the pale dawn light, following the soldier’s pointing finger, he saw a thin column of wind slowly approaching and growing larger from the distant plain.

“High-ranking knights… cavalry captains! Where have they all gone? Where have they gone, leaving me alone…”

Even though the sun hadn’t risen, Lucus’s camp was ablaze, bright as midday. Soldiers gathered around Imeldes, urging him.

“Lord Imeldes!! If we stay here, we’ll all burn to death with this damn tent! Please, abandon this place! Quickly! Issue the retreat order! We will relay it!”

Though the situation was urgent, making the decision to turn victory into defeat was not easy. Soldiers, frustrated by the hesitating commander, urged him repeatedly.

“If we stay here until that… whirlwind hits this high ground, we’ll all die together. There are ten thousand troops here, including the wounded! Quickly! The retreat order! General!”

So futilely… to lose the achievements built over three years of sweat and blood, in just one day…