Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 391 - 390: Assembly

In this era, nobles rarely discuss matters of war with anyone other than other nobles because war is a noble’s game, a chessboard for kings and leaders, a tool and stage for distributing interests. Therefore, they don’t, nor do they need to, explain to the common people why their land must be engulfed in the flames of war—but Gawain thinks differently.

He must let the people under his command know why the war must break out and what the war means for the territory. Only in this way can he bind the interests of everyone in the Cecil territory together.

"Ladies and gentlemen, peace has ended. From my judgment, it won’t be long before Prince Edmund and the Eastern Legion, the most powerful force in Anzu, will declare that the royal capital has been occupied by the rebels. The two Dukes of the royal capital and the Wales Moen they have coerced will undoubtedly call on the nobles to rise up in the same name. The second civil war of Anzu may erupt as early as the Fire Moon, and we—our greatest advantage is knowing this news ahead of everyone else."

Gawain did not explain his sources, but his absolute authority and his consistent miraculous performance meant he didn’t need to explain. Everyone in the conference hall started to think about the future of Cecil along the leader’s line of thought. Sir Byron was the first to break the silence: "Eventually, the flames of war will reach the southern borders."

"That’s right, three of the four parts of the kingdom will be involved in the civil war, and the southern borders can’t remain isolated forever," Gawain nodded, "so what we need to do is tightly control the southern borders before the flames reach us—thus taking the initiative."

The death of Francis II was a major variable for Gawain, yet this variable was among the few bad predictions he had made for the peace talks. Although the details were different, he had indeed speculated on the possibility of a civil war breaking out in Anzu. Now that the King was truly dead, the kingdom’s situation will become precarious, but for Gawain, there also lies opportunity within.

He can more justifiably and wholeheartedly complete the recovery and governance of the entire southern borders.

A realm of chaotic capital aristocrats and a fractured Moen royal family will have no time to care about the situation in the southern borders. The Dukes of the other three parts cannot spare extra energy to intervene in the reshuffling of power in the southern borders, and those southern aristocrats, who have much involvement with the Plains of the Holy Spirits, will also be impacted by the chaos, making them more manageable. As long as we can seize this initial opportunity, integrating our base during the early stages of the Anzu Civil War, everything will be simpler than planned.

Moreover, Gawain can take advantage of this civil war to justify many of his subsequent actions...

With such thoughts in mind, Gawain first conducted pre-war mobilization for the heads of various departments and completed the allocation of preparation tasks. After the meeting ended, Byron, Sir Philip, Soldrin, Aunt Heidi, and Amber stayed behind: the real military closed-door meeting would begin.

"The combat corps mobilization is in place," Byron first reported his situation, "currently, the armory is working overtime to stockpile weapons and ammunition."

Aunt Heidi continued: "The internal preparation consciousness for the territory began a few days ago. Additionally, I have instructed Godwin Orlando to prepare special edition news about the conspiracy by major southern aristocrats to attack Cecil and plunder territorial wealth, which can be released territory-wide as early as tomorrow."

Gawain turned to Amber, and before he could speak, she was already actively reporting the latest news she had gotten: "Viscountess Gran sent the latest secret letter, saying that there have been armed militia and knights appearing near the Viscount Carol and County of Peibo for consecutive days. It looks like Count Hosman has already started gathering troops. They even sent an invitation to Gran Territory— as per your previous instructions, Viscountess Gran agreed to it."

"They only know that I visited Gran Territory once last winter, but they don’t know that from just a single visit, Gran Territory had already become part of the Cecil power," Gawain shook his head, "I’ve always had Ropeni Gran actively communicate with Hosman, and it seems the results are not bad."

"How do you think they will attack?" Soldrin asked Gawain while looking at him.

Gawain stood up and walked to the map of the southern borders hanging on the conference room wall.

"Cecil stands against the Dark Mountain Range, a natural barrier. At the very least, those southern nobles wouldn’t challenge this barrier, so their possible attack routes can only be three: east side, west side, and north side.

"Count Hosman and the southern nobles he liaisons with are mostly located in the western and northern regions. If they attack from the east, it means most of them will have to trek a long distance in the wilderness, and the eastern side of Cecil is mountainous, with only a few narrow plains, which makes this not a good attack route;

"As for the west side, the dense western part of the forest acts as a major barrier; if they don’t want to have their army circling in the forest for half a month, they must take either the main road between the forest and the White River or follow the White River downstream. The former would face Cecil’s blockade line, and the latter would take them past Leslie territory, through the high walls of Tanzan Town... but they might take this risk, for although Viscount Andrew Leslie has always been close to Cecil, to the southern nobles, he is not beyond being won over;

"The north... this should be the best attack route. They could attack the Kant Region first because Kant is Cecil’s ’new land,’ and according to general trends, they would assume that the defense in the Kant Region is weak. The local knights and landlords may have low loyalty to Cecil, so they would attack here first. If they capture Kant, they could use it as a base to continue advancing south to attack Cecil Castle."

After Gawain finished his speculation, Soldrin stroked his chin and said, "So, they might attack from the west and north at the same time?"

"That depends on how many people Count Hosman can organize and whether his authority is enough to support such a division of troops," Gawain said and then withdrew his gaze from the map, "now we need to give Count Hosman one last push..."

"One last push?" Aunt Heidi asked curiously.

"Notify Patrick to reduce the supply of alchemical potions across the southern borders by fifty percent," Gawain first instructed Aunt Heidi, and then turned to Amber. "Have the 25th Construction Office draft a plan and let the 25th Corps spread a message... saying that those Cecil Knights who lost their land and the mages who felt slighted in the royal capital had caused chaos, ruining the Alchemy Factory, creating turmoil within Cecil, and that the alchemical potions industry, a pillar of the territory, is on the brink of suspension. During the trial of the heavy explosive grenades before, there was a batch of rejects that haven’t been destroyed yet? Use them to blow a pit at the northern banks Reservoir, get the 25th Corps people to lay the foundation at the pier, blow it up in front of them, and then tell them it was the mages on the territory causing trouble."

Amber’s eyes sparkled with excitement: "I like this plan!!"

It wasn’t just Amber; even Soldrin was a bit impressed by Gawain’s approach. Only Sir Philip couldn’t help but mutter to Sir Byron: "Don’t you think... the leader’s doing this is a bit against the spirit of the knight?"

Byron opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to come up with another set of nonsense to fool this straightforward young man, but this time Gawain’s plan was really too dirty. Even with his silver tongue, he felt he couldn’t justify it, so he could only click his tongue twice: "The leader is considering the bigger picture and has to sacrifice the spirit of the knight."

Philip thought for a moment, then nodded: "Ah."

Byron looked at him in surprise: "Hmm? You’ve changed? How come you’re not hung up on the spirit of the knight like before?"

Philip thought again and waved his hand: "I’ve recently realized something, which is I can’t argue against you at all—so instead of getting caught up in the knight’s spirit, I’m more interested in when you’ll give me that Persuader Rail Cannon you promised last time?"

Byron: "..."

In the spring of Anzu 736, in the last days of the Revival Month, countless waves, both overt and covert, surged through this ancient country.

However, due to the slow spread of information, coupled with the isolation of the southern area itself, almost no one in the southern borders knew what they would face in the coming years when these waves first emerged.

In the eastern area, Gran Territory, Ropeni Ge’lan saw off the envoy from the western region. She watched the carriage bearing the Hosman family crest gradually disappear on the mountain road, a smile devoid of warmth slowly emerging at the corner of her mouth.

"To think they’ve gathered seventy thousand ragtag troops..." the Viscountess murmured to herself, "It’s truly madness..."

The middle-aged butler, who had followed her for many years, came to the Viscountess’s side, speaking softly: "My lady, the knights and soldiers have been assembled."

"Very good," Ropeni Ge’lan nodded, "Let the knights set out first, go to the Carol territory... I will properly ’assist’ that good neighbor."

The butler bowed and left, while Ropeni Ge’lan turned around, standing on the castle terrace and gazing at the undulating mountains in the southern area.

"Seventy thousand people... Duke Gawain, I hope you can truly keep your promise; this will be the last gamble of my life."

In Cecil, at the White River, accompanied by the steel roar of massive Repulsion mechanisms and hinge devices, the giant mechanical bridge connecting the two banks of the river slowly lowered and aligned. Various vehicles and pedestrians, who had been waiting for a long time, began to step onto the bridge as a messenger carriage bound for the Kant Region led the way. As the carriage sped forward, a stack of newspapers placed inside the compartment started to scatter due to the vibration, with several sheets exuding the scent of ink fluttering onto the bridge surface.

The newspapers bore striking headline text:

"Special Edition: The Threat of War to Our Prosperity and Peace"

Beneath it was a subtitle:

"Mister Godwin Comments on the Situation—Count Hosman and His Lackeys Don’t Want the People of Cecil to Have Good Lives"

A pair of feet in coarse cloth shoes walked onto the mechanical bridge, and their owner paused in front of this "special edition" before a strong, rough hand picked up the piece of paper.

Rhett Aiviken attentively examined the content of the special edition. This article was drastically different from the usual writing style of Godwin Orlando, who tried to maintain an elegant tone even in simple writing. It was straightforward and plain, yet it was as sharp as a sword, filled with intense and explosive emotions. Without a doubt, even if this article was written by Godwin himself, its content wasn’t something the "editor-in-chief and president" from the royal capital could have thought of all alone.

"The battlefield..."

This priest, who had lost the Holy Light, murmured softly, slowly clenching his fists.