Chapter 332: Act 100 – The Arrival of the Bronzesteeldragon (Part 2)
The belief in survival.
When Yulian joined the Amber Sword, he hesitated, but in the end, he made his own decision; in fact, during his adventures with the crew of the Bronzesteeldragon, this cavalry captain also had moments of retreat, leading so many refugees through various regions, sometimes even fighting against bandits on the road. Life was much harder than when he was in Ridenburg.
Yulian did not know what he was doing all this for.
But he only knew that those people he was once familiar with—the refugees from Ridenburg, those who used to hate him—now addressed him with heartfelt respect.
The title had not changed; he was still Captain Yulian.
Yet some things were indeed different.
Yulian realized that he could no longer abandon everything he had now, or rather, return to the past. It was as if, unbeknownst to him, a sense of responsibility had arisen within him.
This was the reason he supported Brendel; it was actually quite simple. Cavalry Captain Yulian told himself that he was not supporting this young lord but rather the person who had brought about change in him.
He felt that if a person had such charisma to change and influence someone like him, then he surely had the ability to lead them forward.
Thus, without hesitation, he stood alongside Balthom and Votalon.
Yulian lowered his head, thinking about many things at that moment. However, what truly troubled him was Brendel’s astonishing command. After contemplating for a moment, he finally could not help but raise his head with a bitter smile and ask:
“My Lord…”
“Yes?” Brendel, who had been contemplating even more deeply, walked past Yulian and turned back: “What is it?”
“My lord,” Yulian answered somewhat helplessly, “you said you would inherit a territory, but you didn’t tell us how you plan to do so—”
Although this former cavalry captain stood with Brendel, he did not completely endorse Brendel’s methods. He was familiar with the rules of noble games and naturally understood that Brendel’s actions were quite audacious.
Brendel was momentarily taken aback; he hadn’t expected Yulian to be concerned about this issue, which caused him to smirk—he couldn’t very well say it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, could he?
However, he felt relieved that Antinna was not present; otherwise, he would probably be subjected to the resentful glare of that noble young lady, who had always had complaints about his decision.
The young man sheepishly chuckled: “It’s true that I was to inherit a territory, but some unexpected circumstances have arisen. Grudin has created a big problem for me—though it’s not really a major issue; we will eventually get what belongs to us.”
Brendel began to change the subject tactfully.
Yulian glanced at the young lord and asked with some concern, “But what about Count Rendener? I doubt he will let this go easily.”
“That’s actually why I wanted to see you earlier,” Brendel replied, “Did Uncle Retao send you to bring the message, Yulian?”
The mention of “Uncle Retao” eased Yulian’s tension; all signs indicated that Brendel was indeed someone nostalgic. In fact, over the past half-month, the young man had not sent any trusted individuals to Fortress Minst but had allowed the Bronzesteeldragon, Retao, to oversee matters there, which in itself demonstrated Brendel’s trust in them.
Of course, this somewhat misinterpreted Brendel’s mindset; he hadn’t considered such matters at all. With him swamped in Schafflund, he had hardly thought about how Retao and the others were faring.
The occupation of the Instalung region was a preparatory move for future warfare; in fact, Brendel had never thought about more than that—Duke Toniger’s nobles were too poor, they were practically on the verge of losing everything—Brendel had no interest in claiming anything from these areas.
However, his lack of interest had allowed the crew of the Bronzesteeldragon to indulge in their lordly aspirations, to the extent that those who originally questioned Brendel’s decisions gradually quieted their voices—of course, some were still concerned about whether they would face retaliation from Count Rendener.
But for these people, largely outlaws to begin with, retaliation was a trivial matter; at worst, they could just hide in the mountains.
Yulian nodded: “Yes, my lord.”
Brendel tapped his fingers on the long table, his brow tightly furrowed.
“My lord?” Yulian was momentarily stunned.
“Earlier than I expected, war is coming—” Brendel replied.
“What?”
“Historically, Sir Parsons was a prudent man; he wouldn’t be unaware of the disastrous news concerning his colleagues, which would be sufficient to make him slow his plans and become cautious—” he answered.
“Historically, Sir Parsons.” Charles solemnly repeated from behind.
Brendel shot him a glare, and the young wizard quickly shrank back; he was already used to his lord’s strange way of expressing himself.
“However, this knight has not only failed to restrain himself but has increased his actions, which only indicates he has received signals from Count Rendener. This is an omen of war.”
The former constabulary cavalry captain gasped. An omen of war? He certainly knew that Count Rendener would retaliate, but he hadn’t expected it to come so quickly; he wasn’t mentally prepared for it.
“My lord?” The Silver Elf Princess whispered from behind.
Brendel shook his head, signaling her not to worry too much.
“What should we do?” Yulian grew worried; his previous interactions with the highest nobility had been limited to the gentry in the local council of Ridenburg, and as for a higher echelon, he could only look up in awe.
The status of Count Rendener was not any lower than that of Golan-Elsen; someone at this level, Yulian couldn’t imagine—after all, destroying him would probably be as easy as crushing an ant.
He couldn’t help but look at Brendel with a mixture of surprise and confusion, wondering why this young man seemed to be discussing something unrelated to himself—his impression was that he was not offending an immensely powerful count but merely some bumpkin.
“Are you afraid?” Brendel asked him.
“Not really.” Yulian quickly shook his head, though he was indeed lying; there was no way he wasn’t afraid.
“Indeed, there’s no need,” Brendel shook his head. “We can defeat Sir Instalung just as we can defeat Count Rendener. Enemies should be respected, not feared—”
Yulian nodded.
Meanwhile, the sister among the wild elves, who had been holding her notebook, thought for a moment and quietly asked, “Are we going to war again? How much time do we have to prepare?”
Brendel looked at the sky outside the hall and replied, “One month, at most two months. However, Sir Parsons won’t allow us to have a good time during these two months. We need to prioritize our preparations.”
Medisa and Charles fell silent, knowing that this upcoming war would be the biggest test for this newly established territory. As long as they overcame this battle, they could gain the recognition of the royal party.
Once they had gained the royal party’s acknowledgment, the sentiments of the people within the territory could stabilize.
Otherwise, no matter how they stabilized the hearts of the people before that, they would still be like floating weeds without roots. In this ancient kingdom, and even in a time like Vaunde, name and righteousness were significant things; the lower-class people might appreciate your merits but wouldn’t necessarily stand by your side.
Brendel was acutely aware of this.
However, winning this battle with nearly no support might not be so simple. He had a couple of thousand human soldiers on hand; the rest were over three thousand burrowers. Still, he also had to consider that Tagus could not entrust the fate of his entire clan to him, meaning it was already quite a favor for the burrowers to commit half of their strength.
What could such a force do?
Brendel pondered; at the moment, he couldn’t assess just how much force Count Rendener was preparing to unleash to quell the uprising, but surely it wouldn’t be too little.
The fate of Sir Instalung served as a warning.
Although one or two defeats wouldn’t usually deal a serious blow to Count Rendener, given the specific circumstances, it might not be the case; Duke Anlek and the princess were continuously putting pressure on the old fox, forcing him to cope, and if there were a fire in his backyard, he would indeed be in chaos.
At the very least, his reputation would be tarnished.
But it wouldn’t be too much; Brendel thought that Count Rendener still couldn’t afford to lose face, especially since the princess and Duke Anlek wouldn’t grant him that time. He thought and thought, ultimately feeling that the old fox would seek external assistance.
He then asked, “What about Madara?”
“Relatively quiet,” Charles replied, “It seems they have pulled out of Duke Toniger.”
“Keep an eye on those skeletons; I suspect they have been colluding with Count Rendener for quite some time,” Brendel shook his head. Madara had clearly shown interest in Funiya, and based on Instalung’s usual nature, he wouldn’t easily give up. Moreover, if there were a pact between Rendener and them, they would certainly exploit that pact to make those skeletons exert their strength.
He sighed; speaking of which, Instalung ought to be thanking him. Had he not helped Instalung get rid of Cabais, he would have encountered numerous undead in the army trying to make a name for themselves right now.
Brendel was clear about this historical context; he understood that the relatively inexperienced Instalung would face the greatest troubles from the resistance of those Dark Lords within the army. Were it not for Tagus’s support, this young black noble likely wouldn’t have been able to make any contributions in this war.
However, the young man quickly retracted these impractical thoughts; if he could, he would certainly prefer to keep the unvictorious aspect while waiting for the enemy’s vulnerabilities, but regrettably, the opponent wouldn’t grant him that opportunity. Brendel inquired with Charles about the news from those sent to investigate the remnants of the southern army near Erluin but unfortunately received disappointing feedback.
Charles informed him that those sent out were either missing or had returned with useless information.
As such, Brendel’s plan to rely on the southern army to restrain Madara and focus entirely on dealing with Parsons had to be temporarily shelved.
……
(PS: Time flies; I’ve already written a hundred acts in this volume. Please show some support and encouragement.) (To be continued. To find out what happens next, please log in for more chapters, support the author, and support legitimate reading!)
