Chapter 398 - 394: Intelligence
Duane handed the letter to Baron Uriel, saying, "The one who betrayed the Kingdom wasn’t Count Kudro, but Marquis Sean."
Last year, Duane and Count Kais had suspected that King Eric would make a move against the Smith Clan.
However, when the Four Nations Alliance later declared war on the Akutas Kingdom, it made the two of them think the conflict between the King and Marquis Sean hadn’t yet reached a breaking point.
Now, however, it seemed things were far from as simple as they had imagined—the King clearly intended to use the war as an opportunity to reclaim the Marquis’ Territory.
In the letter, Count Kais mentioned two points.
First, Count Kudro attacked Pigeon Tail Town on the pretext that "Marquis Smith betrayed the Kingdom by failing to answer the call to war." After occupying the town, his forces advanced on Lintao Territory from both land and sea.
While only Count Kudro’s army attacked Pigeon Tail Town, the force assaulting Lintao Territory was much larger.
In addition to Kudro’s army, several of the Kingdom’s major Legions were present, along with troops from the Holy Radiance Court and Nobility from the neighboring Avalon Province, such as the Haydon Clan and the Stewart Clan.
But what surprised Duane the most was that Count Orlando Bloom had also joined the attack on Lintao Territory.
After all, Orlando and Sean were relatives—Keldert was Earl Orlando’s son-in-law.
As a result, they were widely seen as being in the same faction.
For Orlando to answer the King’s call to attack Lintao Territory, it looked like Eric must have gone to great lengths, perhaps promising him mining rights to a Secret Realm or a portion of the territory once it was divided.
"John, go get Manny and Simone."
"Yes, my lord."
Besides this internal conflict, Count Kais’s letter also touched upon the war in the Kingdom’s northwest.
The Akutas Kingdom wasn’t actively resisting the Kasa Kingdom’s attack. Instead, it had concentrated its main forces on the border with the Pruck Kingdom, while the Kasa Kingdom, for its part, had slowed its advance after occupying the Golden Plain.
The Count speculated that the Akutas and Kasa Kingdoms might have reached some kind of agreement, trading the Golden Plain in exchange for breathing room.
As a result, the advance of Duke Kelvin and the nobles’ coalition army was not going smoothly; they currently only occupied a few strongholds on the Golden Coast.
This situation had arisen for two reasons: one, the enemy had concentrated its forces there, and two, the Kingdom’s main Legions and the Holy Radiance Church Knight Order had been diverted to attack Lintao Territory.
It was clear King Eric wanted to take down Marquis Sean quickly, then throw his armies back into the campaign against the Akutas Kingdom. He was following a strategy of securing the home front before dealing with external threats.
Baron Uriel quickly skimmed the letter, still finding it hard to believe. Now, however, he was more worried about their own situation.
"Duane, do you think the Akutas Kingdom might send troops to reinforce the Starfall Islands now that they know about our civil war?"
Cruz nodded. "I’m worried about that, too."
"It’s possible," Duane agreed.
"That’s why we adopted a strategy of a swift assault. Now that we’ve taken Star Sea City, Duke Eldrin’s nobles have either fled or surrendered without a fight over the past two days. In another three to five days, we’ll have the entire upper echelon of the Duke’s Territory under our control."
Without their leadership, the remaining clans and gangs will be like scattered sand—easy to deal with.
"So, even if the Akutas Kingdom sends reinforcements now, they’ll have to use the Scorching Wind Territory as their base of operations—which also happens to be our next target," Duane analyzed.
"So you still want to take the Scorching Wind Territory as quickly as possible?" Baron Uriel asked.
"Yes!"
Duane nodded. "What, you want to retreat?"
Baron Uriel hastily shook his head. "No, no, that’s not what I meant. I’m just worried that the King might be scheming against us too, and that we’ll end up on the front lines against the Akutas Kingdom."
He looked at Duane. "Especially you. With Marquis Sean gone, the alliance between you and Count Kais will surely become the next thing the King grows wary of."
Cruz chimed in, "That’s right. I’ve heard the Count say more than once that this king of ours is rather insecure. He sees a potential traitor in everyone."
"He won’t. Not now, at least."
Duane explained his reasoning, "If he dealt with Marquis Sean only to immediately turn on me and the Silent Shore, he would be completely wasting the golden opportunity presented by the Four Nations Alliance."
"King Eric wouldn’t let the other three nations carve up all that land and all those resources for themselves, would he?"
He concluded that even if the King did intend to move against him and Count Kais, it would only be after this five-kingdom war had ended.
The King was dealing with Marquis Sean now for two reasons: one, the marquis was growing increasingly audacious, and two, he was worried about the marquis’s ever-tightening relationship with the Kasa Kingdom.
Once the Akutas Kingdom was gone, the Kasa Kingdom would become the greatest threat.
Allowing one of the Kingdom’s own marquises to collude with an enemy nation was an immense risk!
While the alliance between Duane and Count Kais was strong, at least they hadn’t allied with other nations and had actively answered the King’s call to arms.
Baron Uriel nodded slowly. "Your analysis makes a lot of sense. In that case, let’s try to take the Scorching Wind Territory as quickly as possible!"
Duane nodded and said with a smile, "Unless we want to act like bandits, just grabbing supplies before retreating from the Starfall Islands to defend our own territory. That’s one way to avoid facing the Akutas Kingdom directly."
"But what we want is this land."
A short while later, John returned with Manny and Simone.
Seeing them arrive, Uriel and Cruz didn’t linger. They stood up and left, recognizing this was an internal matter for Duane.
"My lord, you summoned us? Do you have orders for us?"
Duane didn’t immediately ask about their respective family situations. Instead, he asked, "How have the spoils been these past two days?"
Simone scratched his head and chuckled. "We’ve made a killing. I got over a dozen sets of Armor from those soldiers. They’re all high-quality—worth a few hundred gold, at least!"
Duane didn’t enforce a policy of confiscating all spoils for central distribution.
Besides, it was an accepted custom for Warriors to keep some of the spoils they won on the battlefield.
Controlling it too tightly would only lower their motivation.
Manny added, "I made out well, too. I even got a Frost Cold Sword!"
As he spoke, he boastfully drew the Longsword hanging at his waist.
"Tomorrow, we attack north. I expect you to perform even better."
Only then did Duane gesture to the letter in his hand. "The Count has sent the latest intelligence. Manny, your father, Charlemagne, has taken his soldiers and answered the King’s call. He’s currently marching against Marquis Sean."
He then turned to Simone. "The same goes for Viscount Stewart. The Gobel Clan is the Viscount’s vassal, so they must be participating in the siege against the Marquis."
The two men’s eyes went wide, as if they had just heard the most shocking news of their lives.
"You can’t be serious, my lord. Are you saying my father is attacking the Marquis’ Territory?" Manny asked in astonishment.
Simone blurted out, "How can that be? My family didn’t send me any news! Constance doesn’t know anything either!"
Duane could now be certain that neither of them had known about this.
’The King must have ordered them to keep it secret. After all, this has been going on for some time, yet not a single rumor has gotten out,’ Duane guessed.
The Haydon and Stewart clans were relatively close to the Marquis’ Territory. Coordinating with the Kingdom Legions to the west and with Earl Orlando, they had formed a perfect encirclement.
It seemed Marquis Sean would be hard-pressed to escape this battle unscathed.