"...Now you understand, don't you? When your cousin Queen Sisi wrote to you begging for help, she concealed most of the truth. She made her love affair with Knight Wicksax sound earth-shattering and heart-rending — all to move you. In reality, she couldn't even tell who the father of the child in her womb truly was..."
Princess Silvia raised her head, eyes brimming with tears. Even if her cousin Princess Sisi had lived a scandalous life with numerous lovers, that was still two lives lost — a mother and child — and she simply could not let go.
"I hate Grandfather! How could he do it? Sisi was his own granddaughter too, and the child was almost due..." Princess Silvia choked out.
"Darling, don't be sad. What's done is done — let it go..." Lorist soothed her. "In truth, His Majesty the King wasn't unaware of Queen Sisi's affairs. He simply couldn't be bothered to care. His union with your cousin was purely for political advantage — to bring your Fissabrun family onto his side and, incidentally, to counterbalance our
If your cousin Sisi had possessed any self-awareness, His Majesty wouldn't have cared how many lovers she took. But she absolutely should not have seduced Knight Wicksax — and gotten pregnant by him. You know that Knight Wicksax is His Majesty's illegitimate son and his chosen heir. Queen Sisi, while carrying on with all those other lovers, went and enticed Knight Wicksax as well. When her belly grew, she couldn't even say whose child it was — that was seeking her own doom.
His Majesty said he had to prevent this child from being born, because he feared that once the child came into the world, people could use it to threaten Knight Wicksax's claim to the succession. So he had no choice but to make this decision. It was cruel and cold, yes — but it was the only choice he had. Your grandfather understood this clearly as well. We are nobles, not commoners. There are certain things that go beyond what the rules can tolerate..."
Though Princess Silvia was still somewhat heartbroken, she was not an unreasonable person. She lay against Lorist's chest in silence and eventually fell asleep. Lorist held her in his arms for a moment, then gently set her down on the pillow beside him and tucked the light velvet blanket over her. Only then did he lean back against the headboard and sink into thought.
The
The Second Prince's final matter was to announce his travel itinerary and set the date for the restoration ceremony and coronation. He had originally planned to hold a grand celebration half a year after his return to the imperial capital, announcing that he had recovered and reunified all the territories of the former Krisen Empire, restored the Krisen Empire's name, and would ascend the throne as Emperor Orroseg of the restored empire.
Who could have anticipated that barely had the Second Prince returned to the imperial capital when the scandal of Queen Cici's pregnancy struck him like a bolt from the blue. After dealing with this royal embarrassment, the Second Prince no longer had the face to hold any grand ceremony in the near future — he couldn't even bring himself to remain in the capital. He had no choice but to postpone his coronation date, using the pretext of inspecting the empire's territories to first tour the various provinces and assess the state of the populace, then travel to the Fisabulen Family's lands to take a queen, and finally return to the capital to hold the coronation ceremony.
Beyond these three matters, the Second Prince also hoped to see whether a truce could be reached with the Commerce Alliance during the next two years to restore peace. He had no desire to see his coronation ceremony disrupted by the Commerce Alliance once again two years hence. However, Lorist told him plainly not to harbor any illusions about a negotiated peace with the Commerce Alliance — he would be far better off studying how to utterly destroy this enemy.
What Lorist now had to consider was an application submitted by the
Lorist had come to realize that plans were frequently overtaken by events — sometimes they couldn't even keep pace with the changing situation. It was like how the Second Prince had once planned to assemble a million soldiers to march upon the border of the Mana Hill Plains, intending to use that overwhelming force to compel the Commerce Alliance to return the occupied territories of the former Krisen Empire and sign a peace treaty. Alas, the Commerce Alliance had dispatched only the Storm Sword Saint, and the Second Prince was left with egg on his face. In the end, the two sides fought a bloody war on the Mana Hill Plains for three years.
As a result, when Lorist and the Norton Family's forces had stepped right into the quagmire of Morant City, there had been no way out.
Left with no other choice, Lorist had to start from scratch. He planned to foster the creation of a Free Alliance to counterbalance the Commerce Alliance, and to that end had invested the staggering sum of fourteen million gold Fortes into Morant City to bolster the strength of the forthcoming Free Alliance. But the current reality was that the members of the Autonomous Committee holding power in Morant City were no fools — every one of them was a cunning old fox. They were quite willing to become the ruling authority of the new Free Alliance, but they also understood that without the Norton Family's military support, they could not withstand the Commerce Alliance's assault. Thus, they wished for Lorist and the Norton Family's forces to be as entangled with the Free Alliance as possible — and the application to recapture the Christo Hills had been submitted with precisely this objective in mind.
Lorist let out a long sigh. To his mind, the ideal scenario would have been for the Commerce Alliance's forces and the soon-to-be-established Free Alliance's forces to batter each other senseless on the Mana Hill Plains, while the Norton Family's forces sat back and watched the show, waiting for the Commerce Alliance to expose some fatal weakness before delivering the killing blow. That way, they could achieve victory without paying too great a price in casualties, and the Free Alliance would regard them as saviors. Now that would have been a perfect ending.
But the Autonomous Committee of Morant City had a different plan — they intended to push the Norton Family's forces to the front lines on the Mana Hill Plains to block the Commerce Alliance's advance, buying time for the Free Alliance to develop. With the six Free Corps now fully organized and trained, and preparing to head to the six fortress cities on the Mana Hill Plains to relieve the Norton Family's garrisons, the committee had come up with the idea of recapturing the Christo Hills. This was clearly an attempt to prevent the Norton Family's forces from withdrawing from the front lines easily.
Over the span of more than five months, the Norton Family's forces had helped the Morant City Autonomous Committee establish six Free Corps, each with a modest strength of eight thousand men. They were intended to take over garrison duty at the six fortress cities on the Mana Hill Plains. Yet now, the committee's application for the recapture of the Christo Hills stipulated that they hoped to deploy three Free Corps — with the Norton Family's forces' assistance — to retake the Christo Hills, while of the remaining three Free Corps, two would relieve Thomas City and Gypsis City, and one would stay behind in Morant City.
Every last one of them was a shrewd operator with an excellent head for calculation. Lorist smiled bitterly. Thomas City and Gypsis City were the two fortress cities closest to Morant City; the surrounding land had already been cleared and prepared for cultivation, and would soon be distributed to those Morant City residents who had purchased farms. They could be considered two fortress cities safely situated in the rear. The four fortress cities further ahead, however, faced the constant threat of attack by the Commerce Alliance's forces. The Autonomous Committee's members clearly intended for the Rock Legion to continue guarding those four forward fortress cities for them, holding the line against the Commerce Alliance's advance.
Besides, why would they need three Free Corps to recapture the Christo Hills? The Commerce Alliance had once divided the Christo Hills into fifty-two territories and conferred lordships upon fifty-two territorial nobles. But most of these appointed lords had no ties to the merchant guilds — they were figures held in high regard by the residents of Morant City. Deans of various academies, retired civil servants who had served the city for most of their lives, renowned scholars, experts, professors, grand apothecaries, and the like.
Yet the vast majority of these lords appointed by the Commerce Alliance had little interest in accepting their titles. Save for a tiny handful who made the trek to their territories and worked diligently to develop them, many could not even locate their own lands on a map. Even more brazenly, some burned the certificate of appointment to ashes, outright refusing to accept the titles and territories bestowed by the Commerce Alliance. They argued that the villagers of the Christo Hills already suffered enough — how could they possibly bring themselves to become lords and exploit them further?
That was the current state of the Christo Hills. Lorist was no stranger to the region. Back when he had been a carefree minor mercenary in Morant City, he had frequently taken on errand missions to the Christo Hills. In Lorist's view, the true reason for the wretched poverty of the villagers living in the Christo Hills was the Commerce Alliance's inaction. Had the Alliance invested in large-scale infrastructure development in the region, the villagers would have long since risen above destitution.
But Lorist also understood that even at the height of its power, the Commerce Alliance could never have raised the enormous funds required for such massive infrastructure projects in the Christo Hills. The later Alliance, now dominated by the merchant guilds, would be even less willing to spend a single copper coin developing the region. He recalled that shortly after the Commerce Alliance was first established, it had dispatched its army to suppress a rebellion among the mountain folk in the Christo Hills — and that war had inflicted devastating casualties upon the Alliance's seven major guilds.
As a result, none of the major guilds harbored any fondness for the Christo Hills. Even after more than a century, they still regarded the region as nothing more than a barbaric wasteland. Enduring constant criticism from Morant City's prominent figures over their refusal to develop the hills, the seven major guilds of the Commerce Alliance simply bestowed the Christo Hills upon those who screamed the loudest. If you're so capable, go develop it yourselves!
According to Tagger's investigation, retaking the Christo Hills would be simple — sending any single corps for a casual stroll through the area would suffice. The region had no meaningful defensive garrison. Nor were there any proper territorial castles; the mountain folk living in the hills still preferred to cluster together in villages. The real difficulty lay after the recapture. First, a legion would need to be stationed there as a garrison. Second, the Christo Hills came with a considerable burden — the port city of Albani, which had been burned to the ground by Admiral Semberwood's Lightning Strike Fleet of the Northern Sea Fleet.
A city. A vital transportation hub connecting the mountain passes to the sea. It was said that after Semberwood's destruction, some fifty to sixty thousand refugees had gathered there, eking out a living by gathering wild fruit, collecting seafood along the shore, and fishing.
Lorist realized with a grim sense of tragedy that agreeing to retake the Christo Hills would be falling into yet another pit. He might even end up bearing the responsibility of rebuilding Albani. Yet the reasoning in the application submitted by the Morant City Autonomous Committee was perfectly justifiable on its face — the Christo Hills were a critical source of fuel, meat, grain, and raw materials for Morant City's livelihood. They could not afford not to bring the region under the Free Alliance's jurisdiction.
The relationship between the Norton Family and the Morant City Autonomous Committee was now exceedingly delicate — each side relying on the other while simultaneously trying to use the other for its own ends. Having invested enormous capital into Morant City, the Norton Family naturally expected a return. Moreover, Morant City would eventually become the most important distribution and wholesale transit hub for the family's territories' goods and commodities. That was why Lorist had no wish to incite the resistance of Morant City's million-strong urban population. He needed the committee's cooperation to help him maintain commercial order in the city and to stand as an enemy against the Commerce Alliance.
As for the Morant City Autonomous Committee, it had come to regard the Norton Family's armed forces as its guarantee against military incursions by the Commerce Alliance. They, too, had no desire to see Morant City fall once again under the guilds' rule — those had been dark and sunless days. On this point, the committee's goals aligned perfectly with Lorist's, and they were willing to establish an independent Free Alliance. But beneath that shared premise lay their own selfish calculation: they hoped to preserve their own armed forces and use the Norton Family's military as a shield.
After much deliberation, Lorist finally made up his mind. Tomorrow, he would notify the Morant City Autonomous Committee that the original plan—six Free Corps taking over the six fortress cities in the Mana Hill Plains—would proceed unchanged. Lorist needed to withdraw the Bedrock Legion and send it back to the family's territories. After all, the four main legions of the family's armed forces couldn't all remain stationed here; someone had to go back and guard the home front.
Morant City would be garrisoned by Eir's Royal Guard Legion. Eir hailed from Morant City's community organizations and was also Ledos's superior, which would make it easier for him to communicate with the autonomous committee. The Hunting Cavalry Legion would continue to handle patrolling and vigilance across the Mana Hill Plains. As for recapturing the Christo Hills, Lorist would have Ross the Fierce Tiger lead the Flying Tiger Legion on that expedition. With this arrangement, he believed even the Morant City Autonomous Committee would have nothing further to object to.
On the twenty-first of November, 1779, by the Galentea Continent common calendar, before the onset of winter, the Norton Family's forces deployed the Flying Tiger Legion to occupy the Christo Hills. The Commerce Alliance, once again, showed no reaction whatsoever.
...