Knight: Becoming King of the World

In Odoche City, a sleepless Count John stood on the city walls, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at the empty land outside.

His family was safe. At the very least, he had sent two of its scions away to safety.

’Perhaps.’

Count John returned to his study and sank wearily into the chair at his desk, his gaze immediately locking onto the intelligence reports laid out on it.

There was no trace of sleepiness in his eyes—only a cold glint. He had exhausted every means at his disposal to gather this intelligence; every single line could represent the deaths of dozens of Scouts and riders.

The reports showed that Henry’s army had swelled to sixty thousand strong—a huge difference from its numbers when it had first set out from Ximira Castle.

According to the reports, these new additions were mostly serfs, roped together, dressed in rags, and with faces full of fear.

Clearly, they were not Henry’s property but his "enemies." John, a military nobleman who had spent his youth on horseback, instantly grasped Henry’s plan.

These serfs came from his own domain. Henry was using them as cannon fodder to breach his city, Odoche.

The method was as cruel as it was effective. Wars between nobles were never simple military conflicts; they were life-or-death struggles between their domains.

John’s mind drifted back to his early military career on horseback, when he had witnessed countless similar scenes on the battlefield. For the sake of victory, nobles would sacrifice anything—even their own subjects.

Henry’s actions were not surprising. John had simply never imagined that he himself would one day be the victim of such a tactic.

The reports also mentioned that Henry’s army was felling large, heavy-timbered trees all along their route.

John’s heart clenched. He instantly understood Henry’s purpose. Once felled, those trees would be used to build siege engines, like Cloud Ladders, battering rams, and Catapults.

The corner of Count John’s mouth twitched. He stood up and walked to the study window, gazing out at the night sky. His heart was filled with helplessness and rage.

The closer Henry’s army advanced, the longer its supply lines would stretch and the greater its consumption would be. If John could prolong Henry’s assault for as long as possible, the pressure on Henry would mount, potentially even affecting his army’s morale.

He had previously taken out a map to carefully study the terrain around Odoche. His gaze fell upon the forest outside the city—the fruit of his painstaking efforts over many years, planted to serve as a windbreak against sandstorms and protect the ecology of his domain.

However, in the face of a life-or-death struggle, all of that seemed insignificant.

A bold plan had then formed in John’s mind. He’d picked up a quill and marked several key locations on the map.

His plan was simple but also dangerous: burn the surrounding forest to cut off Henry’s supply of timber.

That way, Henry would be unable to easily construct his siege engines, and his army’s morale would suffer.

John knew it was a gamble. If Henry’s army managed to breach Odoche City quickly, his plan would be for naught.

But if he could buy enough time, Henry’s army would be in a dire predicament and might even be forced to retreat.

And so, John had sent men to relay the order to every outpost outside the city. His command was simple and clear: burn the forest and leave nothing behind.

John still remembered that night. As darkness fell, flames had raged through the forest outside Odoche City, whipped by the wind and devouring everything in their path.

He had stood on the walls that night, watching the blaze outside the city with a heavy heart. He hadn’t just burned a forest; he had burned his own painstaking work and his love for this land.

But John had never, ever imagined that Henry would have already felled all the timber he needed, with no need to harvest more after besieging Odoche.

Mad! I burned the forest for nothing!

John slapped the table, speechless. ’Well, it wasn’t a total waste,’ he thought. ’If I lose, burning the forest will just add to Henry’s burden of governing this place.’

Meanwhile, Henry’s army marched toward Odoche, a vast and magnificent force with soaring morale.

Sunlight glinted off their dazzling golden banners and armor.

The thundering of hooves and the tramp of war boots blended together, creating a heart-pounding rhythm like the beat of war drums.

Who could fail to tremble before such an army?

For the first time in a long while, Henry rode atop a tall warhorse, scanning the road ahead.

The fertile land of Odoche would soon be his for the taking, and with it, he would further solidify his power.

In his eyes, Count John’s resistance was no more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot—utterly insignificant.

Previously, Claude and Bain had suggested that Henry send a detachment of Cavalry to advance rapidly on Odoche and see if Count John showed any signs of fleeing.

They knew Henry’s strength, but they also knew Count John was no pushover, even if the current situation was overwhelmingly in Henry’s favor.

If Count John attempted to flee, Henry could seize the opportunity to capture him and his forces all at once, eliminating any future threat.

Henry refused. ’Let him run if he wants,’ he thought. ’All I want is the land of Odoche.’

If he could incorporate Odoche into his fiefdom, it would be incredibly convenient. He could already envision his future strategic layout.

Henry had his own plans. He wasn’t just trying to defeat Count John; he wanted to absorb Odoche into his domain and forge a more complete sphere of influence.

Once Odoche was his, it would serve as a hub with routes extending in every direction, making travel and military movements much more convenient.

Besides, a large, well-established city, even one scarred by war, was far superior to a newly constructed one.

Of course, Henry also wanted to run an experiment.

’The barracks in the Overlord Panel must have a function to add new locations or move existing ones,’ he had been thinking. ’It can’t be this rigid.’

He was speculating, ’If I subjectively and objectively designate Odoche as my main city and primary settlement, will the Overlord Panel register the barracks as being in Odoche?’

’If so, that would be incredibly convenient.’

Henry couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement at the thought. If his plan succeeded, his army could operate with far greater efficiency, and his power would grow even stronger.

’Replenishing the army after every major battle wastes so much time traveling back and forth.’

But! But!

If the barracks could be moved at will based on his designation, the total time it took him to train new armies would be drastically reduced.

It would even dramatically accelerate the speed at which he could conquer the grasslands and bring the entire empire under his sword!

For example, if he could also train new troops in Odoche, he could conquer the city, spend just one month training another army, and then immediately launch an attack on Akakarat City!

If he had to return to Westwood Laine Castle to train, the travel back and forth would waste at least three months!

’That’s three months! Four of those, and a whole year is gone!’

Just imagine: your enemy’s army has just fought a major battle. They’re severely weakened and have suffered heavy losses.

You think you can finally catch your breath, but just one month later, you discover the enemy has another goddamn army!

It’s terrifying. It’s frightening. It’s enough to make one despair.

The person most immediately affected by this war between two great Counts was not Count Akakarat, but the "imprisoned" Second Prince in the Chai Kan region.

The Second Prince was sitting in his study, clutching a letter he had just received. Its contents filled him with immense frustration and anger. His face was frighteningly grim, his eyes a mixture of disbelief and jealousy.

"Useless fool! What in the hell is that man doing?" the Second Prince roared, slamming the letter down on his desk. The paper fluttered through the air and landed on the floor, revealing its hastily scrawled text.

He had been full of hope for his cooperation with Count John, believing it was a golden opportunity to use the Count’s power to solidify his own position and even gain the upper hand in the power struggles of the Chai Kan region.

Reality, however, had dealt him a harsh blow. Not only had Count John failed to display his expected strength, but he had been utterly routed by Henry, even losing Westwood Laine Castle.

That was bad enough, but now he was being beaten all the way back to the gates of Odoche! How could anyone hope to achieve greatness while allied with such vermin?!