Something felt off.
This was the seventeenth day since the
With a massive enemy bearing down on them, Lorist and the commanders of both legions spent the next four days all but sleepless, working day and night to prepare the city's defenses. After expending enormous quantities of supplies and gold coins, they finally managed—with the help of Morant City's residents—to clear the shantytowns and slums outside the walls. Then came the digging of trenches, the building of fortifications, and the scorched-earth clearing of the surrounding land. They were frantically busy.
Once everything was in place, Morant City received its first wave of attackers—nearly ten thousand soldiers from the Commercial Alliance's vanguard, streaming toward the city in a completely disorganized mob. They had cast aside their armor and weapons, and now they came empty-handed, holding up every manner of white flag as they crowded below the walls, shouting: "Please, have mercy—give us something to eat..."
"Open the gates, we surrender..."
"I want to go home—I'm done fighting..."
Back on the wall, Lorist, Bodenfenger, and the other high-ranking officers were so stunned their jaws nearly hit the ground. Nobody could figure out what was going on. If it was a trick, it certainly didn't look like one—who ever heard of decoys that could act this convincingly, gasping and panting all the way to the city gate before plopping down on their backsides and refusing to get up...
It wasn't until Ale led a group out to investigate and interrogate them that the truth became clear. Strictly speaking, these ten thousand-odd soldiers were the lucky ones among the Commercial Alliance's vanguard force. They had set out to retake Morant City carrying only five days' rations. The Commercial Alliance's commanders had told them that Gipses City and Thomas City had also fallen—that once those two cities were taken, there would be more than enough supplies to go around.
Since all these men had been conscripted from Morant City itself, they had rushed off in a hurry, worried sick about their families. But they were all infantrymen, and no matter how fast they marched, they only barely reached Gipses City after their rations had run out. However, Gipses City had already been abandoned by Lorist. They occupied the entire city without a fight, only to find nothing there—aside from bricks and stones, they couldn't find a single thing that was edible or usable. In the end, they had nothing to drink but water to stave off their hunger.
So they placed their hopes on Thomas City — the two fortress cities were only a day's march apart. However, at around midday, they were ambushed by the Flying Tiger Legion and the Hunting Cavalry Legion while on the march. The hundred thousand men, already exhausted and starving, collapsed on the spot. About ten thousand of them managed to run faster than the rest and were lucky enough to break free from the cavalry encirclement. But once they got out, they realized there was nowhere to run. With their families still in Morant City weighing on their minds, they held a quick discussion and decided to come over and surrender.
Lorist and the others didn't know whether to laugh or cry — it turned out all their efforts over the past few days had been for nothing. A day later, several cavalry battalions from the Flying Tiger Legion and the Hunting Cavalry Legion arrived escorting large batches of prisoners, adding another hundred thousand mouths to feed in Morant City. Fortunately, Sembawood and Uncle Tolin had already shipped grain and supplies over from Shilovas Island, so for the time being, provisions were still sufficient — enough to sustain Morant City's population of over a million.
The Flying Tiger Legion's commander, Tiger Ross, and the Hunting Cavalry Legion's commander, Phalea, arrived alongside the cavalry escorting the prisoners. When Lorist asked them, he learned that the Commercial Alliance's armed vanguard of a hundred thousand men had drifted out of sync with the main force behind them, leaving a two-day gap between them — they were unable to provide mutual support. That was what had allowed the Flying Tiger and Hunting Cavalry Legions to seize the opportunity, launching a surprise attack to surround and annihilate the hundred thousand.
Tiger Ross and Phalea stated that their two cavalry legions would continue to harass and launch raids on the Commercial Alliance's follow-up force of over two hundred thousand, delaying the enemy's march back toward Morant City. After a hasty strategic discussion, the two commanders set off once again with their cavalry battalions escorting the prisoners.
But another two days passed, and no further intelligence arrived regarding the Commercial Alliance's follow-up force. Lorist couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Even if the Commercial Alliance's rear force had grown afraid of the vanguard's annihilation and pulled back, Tiger Ross and Phalea should have at least sent a messenger with an update — anything would be better than standing on the city walls every day in tense anticipation. Waiting was the most agonizing thing...
In the distance, three plumes of dust rose into the sky, and three magnificent warhorses charged forward like the wind. The rider at the front shouted at the top of his lungs: "Urgent report! Front-line urgent report! Open the gates at once!"
Lorist opened the battle report penned personally by the Hunting Cavalry Legion's Phalea and nearly leaped to his feet: "What?! The Commercial Alliance's follow-up force of two hundred thousand never even headed for Morant City — they've diverted to Maweflin Province! What are they trying to do? Give up on retaking Morant City? They're even abandoning the Mana Hill Plains?"
"Yes, Your Highness. When Lord Phalea dispatched me to deliver this message, we received an urgent battle report from the Flying Tiger Legion — the three garrison forces left behind by the Commercial Alliance at Robertvia City, Klido City, and Lett City have all sent envoys to the Flying Tiger Legion requesting to surrender. Lord Tiger Ross has already departed to accept the surrender of those three fortress cities. If the report is accurate, a formal confirmation should arrive shortly..." The messenger provided yet another stunning piece of news.
Garrison troops? Why would the garrison forces surrender? That was still over a hundred thousand men... Lorist was utterly perplexed. But regardless, Morant City being spared from a war was undeniably good news.
Another day passed before Lorist received the next front-line report and finally understood what had happened: "Damn it — this is pure deflection of disaster eastward. The Commercial Alliance sacrificed their second-rate conscript forces in order to preserve their elite mercenary corps — this was premeditated. And then they shifted the burden of feeding over two hundred thousand mouths onto our Norton Family. Those two hundred thousand prisoners are going to consume enormous amounts of grain... But why did the Commercial Alliance give up on retaking Morant City? Could they have some other objective?"
Tiger Ross reported in his battle report that the garrison forces in those three fortress cities had surrendered due to a lack of food and supplies. The reinforcements dispatched by the Commercial Alliance had taken most of the provisions when they departed, leaving behind less than five days' worth of rations. Fearing that the Andinark Kingdom's allied nobles — against whom they had fought bloody battles for two years — would execute them after their surrender, they chose to surrender to the Norton Family's forces instead.
Tiger Ross requested that Lorist send a batch of grain to the three fortress cities on the front line as soon as possible. The ten-odd thousand prisoners were currently surviving on the dried rations carried by the Flying Tiger Legion's soldiers, and every one of those soldiers was half-starved. At the same time, the fact that all three fortress cities had fallen into Norton hands had already been discovered by the
Ugh, we're swamped here already — could Your Majesty the King please not make things worse? Lorist immediately drafted an order for Tiger Ross to officially reject the Second Prince's demand. Of the seven fortress cities on the Mana Hill Plains, including Morant City, the Second Prince only controlled one — Bruvic City. If those three fortress cities were handed over to him, this glory-seeking Second Prince would likely refuse to leave, which would only complicate future peace negotiations.
Meanwhile, Lorist also had Tiger Ross borrow military provisions from the three Northern allies and Grand Duke Fissabolen to get through the crisis. The Hunting Cavalry Corps was currently in hot pursuit of the twenty-odd thousand troops that had fled from the Commercial Alliance and couldn't be pulled away. Lorist would immediately dispatch the
After finishing all of this and ensuring that Bodfenger had set out with the Rock Fortress Corps, Lorist sat in thought for a moment before personally writing a letter to the Second Prince. The content stated that the Norton Family's forces had defeated the Commercial Alliance's invincible fleet and landed at Morant City, and that the changes in the front-line situation were the Commercial Alliance's response to the fall of Morant City. It appeared they had abandoned both Morant City and the Mana Hill Plains, withdrawing their troops back to Maweflin Province.
In the letter, Lorist bluntly demanded that the Second Prince refrain from rash actions that might destroy the hard-won favorable situation. Lorist intended to use Morant City and the Mana Hill Plains as bargaining chips to negotiate with the Commercial Alliance on ending the war between the two nations, restoring peace, and signing an agreement. Therefore, he hoped the Second Prince would go about his own business — for instance, having not returned to the imperial capital for so long, perhaps he should go back and see the empress who had been left alone in an empty palace for three years...
At the same time, Lorist assured the Second Prince in the letter that this time, negotiations with the Commercial Alliance would be conducted under the names of the Norton Family and himself as a Sword Saint. Even if anything went wrong, he would shoulder the responsibility. If the peace talks failed, the Second Prince could step in to clean up the mess — far better than having the Second Prince negotiate and get fooled again. Naturally, if the peace talks succeeded, the Second Prince would naturally still need to appear to sign the formal peace agreement with the Commercial Alliance and so on...
After dispatching several guards to deliver his letter to the Second Prince posthaste, Lorist let out a long sigh and began mulling over what the Commercial Alliance was really planning. Could they truly be abandoning Morant City without a second thought? After all, it was the number one commercial metropolis on the Galentea Continent — the very capital of the Commercial Alliance.
Genorio and Tager walked in carrying a thick stack of documents, but neither of them looked happy.
"What's wrong with you two? Why the long faces?" Lorist asked with a smile.
"Your Grace, the tallies for the inner district and the commercial district have been completed..." Genorio ignored Lorist's question and instead spoke with a grim, serious expression.
"Oh, let's hear it then. Let's see how much our family stands to gain from this," Lorist said, his mood brightening. After all, he hadn't intervened in this war out of the goodness of his heart. The wealth and supplies stockpiled by the various Commercial Alliance guilds in Morant City were the Norton Family's spoils of war, and he was certain the haul wouldn't disappoint.
Genorio answered with a bitter smile: "Your Grace, the spoils are somewhat... less than satisfactory. In the commercial district and the inner district, we only found just over four million gold Forde. On top of that, there's a batch of supplies worth roughly ten million, of which a small portion consists of expensive luxury materials. There are also quite a few jewels and curios estimated at several million gold Forde as well. Beyond that, there's nothing else..."
"What did you say? Just that much?" Lorist sprang to his feet. "That's impossible! How can Morant City yield so little? This is a commercial metropolis with over a million people — hundreds of thousands of gold Forde circulate through its markets every single day. Not to mention that every guild in the Commercial Alliance has warehouses in the city stuffed with rare treasures from every corner of the continent. How can there possibly be only this much?"
But this was Morant City — how could it produce so little? In that moment, Lorist suspected that someone down the ranks was falsifying reports, pulling the wool over his eyes to embezzle a massive share of the spoils. He simply refused to believe that conquering Morant City had yielded so meager a haul.
"Your Grace, what you're describing was the situation over a decade ago. The current Morant City is hardly a commercial powerhouse anymore. To put it bluntly, its commercial influence now doesn't even match that of Saint Maneed, the capital of the Qigeda Kingdom. Ever since the Commercial Alliance implemented the baronet system and got into the Glass War with the Trenberth Kingdom, the nations of the central and southern regions cut off trade routes and cancelled all commercial dealings with the Alliance. Morant City's status as the continent's number one commercial metropolis plummeted, and the days of bustling crowds and thronging merchant caravans are long gone." Genorio's cool, measured words instantly shattered the fond impression of Morant City that had lingered in Lorist's memory.
Come to think of it, that did seem to be the case. Otherwise, the various academies in the Academy District wouldn't have shut down one after another for lack of students, and
It seemed that a few years ago, Tager had drawn up a plan to establish a new guild within the Commercial Alliance, then spend years gradually growing it into an influential force in Morant City. The plan had passed Lorist's approval, only for them to discover that there was absolutely no way to execute it.
Just as Knight Lumode's reports had indicated, every industry in Morant City was monopolized by one guild or another. Whether it was civilian goods or military equipment, a guild held the reins. Even if you devised a novel product or invented an entirely new trade, related guilds would quickly come knocking, pressuring you to hand over the nascent business. If you refused, you could imagine the consequences.
"Your Grace, ever since the Commercial Alliance adopted the baronet system, those guilds gained their own guild territories. They've essentially relocated their warehousing and production centers to their guild lands. They set up production workshops and warehouses on their own guild territories, while Morant City's commercial streets are more like their showrooms. Though their warehouses here do hold a fair amount of merchandise and raw materials, the quantities are not large."
"Furthermore, ever since the Commercial Alliance went to war with the coalition armies of the central and southern kingdoms, the commercial market in Morant City has become increasingly desolate these past few years. The warehouses are mostly stocked with worthless spoils of war that they're trying to offload, or essential daily supplies needed to sustain Morant City's million residents. It's hard to find anything of real value in their reserves. This isn't just the situation for one or two merchant guilds — nearly every guild with a shop in the commercial district is in the same state..." Tager elaborated further.
Lorist slapped his own forehead. He had been treating Morant City as if it were still the city he'd known back when he was a student and mercenary, never considering that over a decade had passed. The Commercial Alliance had swallowed seven neighboring nations through its Glass War, but its expansionist policies provoked the remaining central and southern kingdoms into collective resistance — severing trade routes and cutting off all commercial ties. After years of this, the Alliance had been forced into war in hopes of breaking through. Under such circumstances, Morant City, as the Alliance's capital, naturally fared no better. A commercial city stripped of commerce and trade — could it still be called a commercial city?
...