Looking at the map, Westdegle Province was a valley basin surrounded by the Lichtenegger Mountains and the Westerlink Mountains, shaped like a gourd with an especially bulging belly. The valley basin was simply enormous—large enough to constitute an entire province—with its base opening to the sea and only a single exit: the impassable pass controlled by Siegs Castle. This was probably why Grand Duke Mordras had established his family's stronghold here. As long as a single corps garrisoned Siegs Castle, Westdegle Province could never fall.
Just like in the
Back when
Over the past few years, Grand Duke Mordras had greatly expanded Siegs Castle, upgrading it from a rudimentary checkpoint fortress into a triple-layered castle fortress. The garrison had grown from a single squadron to an entire battalion. Even if a surprise attack like the one from years past occurred again, the enemy could only breach the first line of defense—the defenders could use the second and third layers to deliver a devastating counterstrike. It was precisely this confidence in Siegs Castle that led Grand Duke Mordras to dispatch his most elite Seamount Corps to the front lines in Dremik Province, planning to deliver a crushing blow to those Northland bumpkins come spring and drive them all across the river...
Unfortunately for Grand Duke Mordras, for all his scheming, he had never anticipated that the enemy would come by sea in winter and land at Silver Beach. And the current capital of Westdegle Province, Edelice City, aside from the thousand guards defending the Central Castle, had fewer than two thousand men total in the inner and outer cities combined—with more than half being militia conscripted for winter service.
In such a freezing winter, not a single person took their defensive duties seriously. With Siegs Castle standing guard at the outermost perimeter, how could enemies possibly arrive? If it weren't for the fact that these were the days when the Grand Duke's manor was hosting the New Year's banquet—with duchy nobles coming and going, occasionally tipping a few coins to the militia squads manning the gates and patrols for drinking money—they probably couldn't have even mustered enough militia to guard the city gates.
The journey from Silver Beach to Edelice City took a full day on foot, about ten hours by carriage, and even at a galloping pace, more than half a day. Before Lorist lay a hide map of Westdegle Province, and his finger pointed to Edelice City at the very center of the map: "Edelice City, originally known as Trafford City. Grand Duke Mordras, to commemorate his eldest daughter who was born here, spent eight years expanding it and named it Edelice City after his daughter. He then moved his family to Westdegle Province, making it the Mordras family's stronghold.
Edelice City had three layers of wall defenses. At its very core was the Mordras family's Central Castle, where Grand Duke Mordras and his family resided. Tonight's New Year's banquet would be held at the Grand Duke's manor within—the square building behind the innermost wall on the map. This entire block was the Grand Duke's manor, connected to the Central Castle behind it. The area between the middle wall and the innermost wall was called the Inner District, home primarily to Grand Duke Mordras's relatives and clansmen, as well as merchants and wealthy citizens of the duchy. Naturally, there were also manor houses and residences purchased by nobles under the Grand Duke's command.
The area between the outermost wall and the middle wall was Edelice City's Outer District. Most of its residents were family members of Seamount Corps soldiers, servants who worked for the Central Castle, personnel from the Black Pearl Trading Company, and farmers who cultivated the land around Edelice City. To put it bluntly, virtually every resident of Edelice City had some indirect connection or relationship with the Mordras family. Grand Duke Mordras had managed Westdegle Province for nearly forty years, and he had truly transformed Edelice City into his family's impregnable stronghold.
From the intelligence we gathered through last night's round-the-clock interrogations of the captured Black Pearl Trading Company personnel at the fishing grounds and salt works, we've found that Edelice City's current defenses are extremely lax. With a surprise assault, it should be easy for us to breach the outer and middle walls. The only difficulty lies with the Central Castle—simultaneously with breaking through the third wall, we must cut off the escape route from the Grand Duke's manor to the Central Castle, preventing the enemy from fleeing inside and mounting a resistance.
Because Edelice City is the Mordras family's stronghold, I am issuing a special order here. As soldiers of the
The Family Knights standing around Lorist snapped to attention and answered: "Understood, my lord."
...around seven o'clock. According to the captured Black Pearl Trading Company personnel, they had to set out at seven in order to reach Edelice City by approximately five in the evening and deliver the fresh seafood to the Central Castle's steward. "El, you'll take men disguised as Black Pearl Trading Company cargo handlers. Take those few stewards back with you—just get through the outermost wall."
"Yes, my lord. Consider it done," El replied.
Lorist laughed. "If we marched on foot, we might not reach Edelice City today. But we have skis—on the winter snowfields, we can actually get there faster than El's cargo wagons. The only complication is that the route from Silver Beach to Edelice City passes through six of Grand Duke Mordras's farmsteads. If anyone at those farmsteads spots our army's movements, they'll likely light signal fires to warn Edelice City. So—Malek."
"Present, my lord. What are your orders?" Malek stepped forward.
"These six farmsteads along the route are yours. My requirement is that not a single message gets out from any of them."
"Understood, my lord. No messages from any of those six farmsteads," Malek said.
"Pacheco..."
"My lord, please give your orders."
"Your task is to take a battalion and seal off this critical road between Edelice City and Siegs Castle. As long as this route is locked down, even if someone escapes from Edelice City, they won't be able to get word to Siegs Castle. That way, it won't affect our subsequent operations."
"Yes, my lord. Understood," Pacheco said.
"
Bodfinger nodded. "Rest assured, my lord. I won't let you down."
"Good. There's still over an hour until seven. Everyone, go make your preparations. Once ready, depart on your own—no need to wait for my orders. This operation to attack the Duchy of Mordras will be under Bodfinger's command. His directions and orders take priority. Is that clear?"
"Yes, my lord."
...
The subsequent operation went extremely smoothly. El led the guards who had infiltrated the city and easily seized Edelice City's gates, welcoming the Bedrock Corps' vanguard inside. In just over half an hour, they had secured the entire outer wall. At that moment, snowflakes began drifting from the sky again, and the dim lighting provided excellent cover for the Bedrock Corps' wall-seizure operation.
What was almost laughable was that after securing the entire outer wall, they found barely any prisoners. Upon asking, they learned: "Once the snow started, most of those patrol militia slipped back inside. Nobody was willing to freeze on the wall."
Right after that, El once again used the Black Pearl Trading Company's seafood transport wagons, pretending they were running late, to coordinate with the Bedrock Corps under Bodfinger's command in seizing the middle wall. When they attempted to repeat the same trick on the third wall, things nearly went wrong. Several people came hurrying down the road, shouting from a distance at the seafood convoy for arriving so late—they were about to miss the New Year's banquet, and they should get those wagons to the Grand Duke's manor's rear courtyard immediately...
When they got closer and realized El and the guards weren't anyone they recognized, they froze for a moment. The quick-witted one among them immediately turned to run back with word. El had no choice but to order them dealt with. Fortunately, three were killed and two captured—not a single one escaped. The action was swift and brief, so no one nearby noticed. They quickly cleaned up the scene and disposed of the bodies while conducting a brief interrogation of the two captured men, learning that because the seafood convoy had been late in arriving, the Black Pearl Trading Company's manager had grown anxious and sent the five of them to watch for the convoy at the city gate—only to run into them on the road...
Leaving behind a carriage with four guards to transport the bodies and watch the prisoners, El led the wagon convoy directly to the Grand Duke's manor's rear courtyard. The nearly one hundred guards split into two squads—one would launch a direct assault on the Central Castle when Bodfinger's forces attacked, while the other headed to the gate of the third wall to prepare for Bodfinger's and Lorist's arrival.
In truth, attacking the Central Castle and the Grand Duke's manor was still remarkably easy. Of the nearly one thousand guards supposedly serving Grand Duke Mordras, fewer than two hundred were actually at their posts. Facing the relentless stream of Bedrock Corps soldiers, these guards resisted for less than ten minutes before laying down their arms and surrendering.
"Ugh..." Kryssas, the Second-rank Great Swordmaster—pomaded and powdered to look like a fifty-year-old dandy—brandished his extravagantly ornamental saber that looked more like a ceremonial blade. He managed only six or seven exchanges against Lorist before a blade pierced straight through his chest. He kicked his legs a few times in defiance, then drew his last breath.
This happened in the main hall of the Grand Duke's manor where the New Year's banquet was being held—right in front of Grand Duke Mordras, dozens of duchy nobles, and countless ladies and young women dressed to the nines. Lorist killed that Second-rank Great Swordmaster who had leapt forward, and this gory spectacle caused ten or so delicate ladies and young women to shriek and faint on the spot.
Lorist scratched his nose somewhat awkwardly, and then he heard Grand Duke Mordras's voice: "Who are you?"
"Norton Lorist, Grand Duke of Northland, of the Norton Family," Lorist replied.
"Grand Duke of Northland? I don't recall the Norton Family holding that title," Grand Duke Mordras said skeptically.
"His Majesty has granted me dominion over Northland and promoted me to Grand Duke."
"So that's how it is... Augsero is still alive, and he made it to Northland. The Commercial Alliance people said he was dead... So what do you intend to do with me?"
"Heh, Your Grace, what becomes of you is not for me to decide. I will deliver your entire family before His Majesty—whether you live or die will be His Majesty's decision," Lorist said.
Grand Duke Mordras collapsed into his seat like a deflated ball, laughing miserably. "Haha, I already know my fate. But I have one more question—how did you get here? Did the garrison at Siegs Castle all betray me?"
"Your Grace, whether the garrison at Siegs Castle betrayed you or not, I wouldn't know—because we came by sea," Lorist replied.
And so, Edelice City fell into the Bedrock Corps' hands. The city's nearly one hundred thousand residents had not yet realized they had a new master. The aftermath would be handled by Bodfinger. Lorist unceremoniously claimed Grand Duke Mordras's bedroom on the top floor of the Central Castle, opened a bottle of fine wine, poured himself a drink, and gazed out the window at the drifting snowflakes while overlooking the snow-covered city below.
Then an embarrassing incident occurred. The loyal Bodfinger, worried that his lord would spend a lonely night, selected two virginal beauties from among the captured noblewomen to attend to him. For the captured noble ladies, this was unavoidable—it was a common practice among the nobility, and they might even secure their families' pardon by ingratiating themselves with the victor. What they hadn't expected was that the man they were to serve was Lorist—and when Lorist had killed Great Swordmaster Kryssas in front of everyone, both of these beauties had fainted.
So the moment they saw Lorist, both beauties panicked completely. One fainted again on the spot, and the other lost control of her bladder and bowels right there. This made Lorist lose face badly, and his embarrassment turned to fury—he ordered Schward to have the two women dragged out. But this caused yet another misunderstanding: the one who had wet herself thought Lorist was going to have them both killed and fainted from fright, while the one who had just regained consciousness latched onto Lorist's leg, begging for mercy...
What should have been a fine New Year's evening devolved into half a night of chaos. Schward was exhausted too—he had to supervise the maidservants cleaning the floor, then haul a large bathing tub for Lorist and heat water before he could finally withdraw. This was because Lorist had ultimately decided to "punish" the two beauties himself. Through the rest of the night, the sounds of the two women crying out "No, it hurts, it hurts, please stop" could be heard, and the commotion didn't quiet down until dawn.
Not until the afternoon of New Year's Day did Lorist finally appear before everyone. With a dark expression, he said to Bodfinger: "Don't let it happen again."
However, Lorist kept the two beauties at his side, and their families were granted pardon as a result.
...
In January of the year 1777 of the Galentea Continent's Common Calendar, the Northland Norton Family's Bedrock Corps landed at Silver Beach and launched a surprise invasion of the Duchy of Mordras's Westdegle Province, seizing the capital Edelice City and capturing Grand Duke Mordras along with dozens of duchy nobles. Subsequently, the Bedrock Corps commander,
On February 17th, an uprising erupted in the occupied Edelice City. Nearly one hundred thousand residents took to the streets to protest the Norton Family's sneak attack, demanding that the Norton Family get out and return Grand Duke Mordras to them. At the time, the Bedrock Corps garrison in Edelice City numbered only ten thousand. Gold Knight Malek, who was responsible for the city's defense, ordered the uprising suppressed and launched a massacre. That day, approximately thirty thousand Edelice City residents were killed—the streets ran red with blood—and forty thousand were captured. Malek, the iron-hearted man who issued the slaughter order with an expressionless face, came to be known as "Iron Mask" because of this incident.
...(To be continued.)