Chapter 1261 - 1184: This Is My Home!
"This is my home!"
The young knight sat down in despair on the Western-style carpet, his chin trembling.
He had recently joined the Shooting Army, previously always a knight from Salted Meat Castle.
At Bear Castle, the status difference between knights and freemen is not significant, sitting in the lower middle class, relatively more equal compared to the strictly hierarchical Leia.
In contrast, compared to Count and Great Monarch level nobles, they stand more from a commoner’s perspective.
Back then, he trusted Alexei, leading the people from Salted Meat Castle to initiate the rebellion, welcoming the "Royal Army."
When the vampires arrived, with their means and traditions, not having a blood feast at Salted Meat Castle would indeed be odd.
The council hall of Salted Meat Castle is actually a wooden corridor, with dozens of men wearing animal skins standing on both sides.
They are knights and freemen from Salted Meat Castle, yes, wealthy freemen in Norn territory who are willing can equally participate in political matters.
However, what they are currently discussing is not spring plowing or hunting, but the imminent Vampire Army.
Everyone naturally looks worried, but more so, cautiously gauging Alexei’s expression.
This fair-skinned lad, is he truly the destined heir of the Duke, or just a weak paper tiger?
Among many gazes, Alexei seemed yet to recover from the failure and shock of the recruitment, choosing to sit silently.
This evidently disappointed quite a few people.
"Or we could emulate Saint’s Grandson, leading locals to migrate south to the Shattered Stone Plain fortress area..." someone proposed.
"Are you crazy?" Gloev objected, "Back then Saint’s Grandson only had a thousand people, but Salted Meat Castle, including nearby residents, numbers near ten thousand! By the time we gather, the enemy will have arrived."
"But didn’t Saint’s Grandson succeed back then?"
"I’ll point out one thing: back then, Saint’s Grandson had mountain swamps for cover, what do we have?"
"Then what should be done?"
"First, preserve the Shooting Army, we have time to withdraw now."
This time, the young knight was utterly defenseless: "But this is my home, you brought me here saying it would give us a good life.
Now, with no good life to live, are you going to abandon us and leave?"
The council hall fell completely silent; everyone turned to Alexei.
"Answer me!" the young knight continued to shout.
Gloev gestured to the ax and halberd guards at the door to come and take him away.
The two guards immediately understood the signal and took steps to move forward.
"Wait." Alexei stood up from his chair, blocking the two guards.
Under various eyes watching, he looked at the tearful youth and steadied his shoulders.
Then, amidst low gasps, he took a step back and bowed heavily.
The knights who were whispering among themselves gradually grew quiet, some unable to believe their eyes.
Though Norn is relatively equal, there still exists hierarchy.
At Alexei’s rank, Petrov, the Duke’s hero’s son, need not bow even before the Norn Chosen King.
For a Great Monarch or Duke level noble, admitting a mistake is a kindness, not admitting is their normal.
Rules are set by them; who can regulate them?
Yet at this moment, Alexei removed his hat and deeply bowed to the knight: "I’m sorry, this matter is my mistake, due to our error, my overzealousness, you are placed in this predicament."
Facing the attack of thirty thousand Royal Court troops, even with a massive Servant Army, Alexei’s three thousand Shooting Army are no match.
Counterattack is impossible.
Maintaining defense has absolutely no way out.
Even with Holy Alliance’s material support, there’s no way out.
Salted Meat Castle isn’t near a waterway, typically relies on cart transport, often stuck in mud.
Thus when Alexei arrived here, the first step was road construction.
But now the road’s incomplete, and the enemy is here; he realizes he should’ve prioritized building Salted Meat Castle’s walls.
The walls are thin, only a single layer.
Even this thin wall with ramparts is merely six or seven meters; skeleton soldiers can climb atop by stacking bodies.
This is not prepared for large-scale warfare, but simply made to defend against beasts and horse bandits.
If last time they directly attacked Bacon Castle, given its Great Monarch Bacon Castle position and river transport, lasting two or three months wouldn’t be an issue.
As long as they held for two or three months, given the current empire’s united front against enemies, reinforcements would soon arrive.
Even if the empire didn’t want to intervene, there’s André’s corps, along with the border-guarding Iron Fist Battle Group.
They would probably gladly engage this enemy force.
Although the Holy Alliance isn’t part of the empire, even considered an enemy, they too entered the process of declaring war against the Royal Court.
Yet they didn’t succeed, lacking reconnaissance cavalry, ambushed by Bacon Castle’s Vampire Army, missing the opportunity.
Perhaps this time, he went to battle unprepared.
He should’ve relied on the fortress line at the Shattered Stone Plain border, continually harassing the vampires on a small scale.
He rigidly emulated Horn’s path to fame, seeking a base, fearing Norn people’s disappointment.
But now he understands that in the vast plains of Roaring Corridor, there is no soil for building a base, nor could there occur a miracle like Saint Son Horn.
He did not wait for the right time, impulsively jumping in, resulting in the current bad outcome.
Alexei now realized how many mistakes he made.
"When you err, we die?" The young knight was completely unrestrained.
"What are you saying?!"
"You dare accuse His Highness Alexei!"
Alexei’s core loyalists immediately jumped out, scolding loudly.
Gloev and Teomir worriedly looked at Alexei, who slowly straightened his back.
Though Alexei traveled through many countries, he seldom faced major hardships, especially under such tremendous pressure of tens of thousands.
They understood Norn people’s nature best, calling them valiant and clever charitably, cowardly and opportunistic bluntly.
All who manage them are iron-hard people, those who don’t admit fault even when wrong.
Now Alexei bowing is acceptable, explainable as kindness.
But if he shows any glimpse of weakness now, he will surely be looked down upon by other Norn Knights.
Ultimately, before the vampires even arrive, people’s morale would first dissipate.
This is what Gloev and others fear most—Alexei showing cowardice as he did in the Cuirassier camp.
It shouldn’t be done, hadn’t he learned from the Death Cuirassiers earlier?
The rules of Roaring Corridor and Holy Alliance aren’t the same; Holy Alliance can concede, talk reason, but Roaring Corridor cannot!
Didn’t Alexei notice?
When he bowed, many knights who initially supported him frowned, more knights mockingly laughed.
On Roaring Corridor, people’s disasters and dangers exceed the south.
Facing blizzards, outbreaks among livestock, large horse bandit raids, people have no perfect solutions.
Then what’s to be done? Only sacrifice, only bear it firmly.
At such times, they need someone to make disliked decisions, not find solutions.
Leaders can err, but cannot be weak; this is the law of Roaring Corridor!
"Mind your words!" Alexei’s first words stood tall, catching knights off guard, "Killing you is not me, but the vampires. At whom are you pointing your sword?"