Ethel Fortress

The twelve Magic Crystal Stones turned to powder, yet the Mysterious Compass in his mind only became slightly more solid. Its exact functions remained unknown.

Clearly, that little magic power was still far from enough to satisfy the glutton's appetite, nearly driving Hudson to despair. If his physique had not improved slightly, he would have been ready to give up.

With his cheat unable to be used, Hudson had no choice but to remain cautious. He set up camp and waited for the various forces in the alliance to gather before setting out again.

Looking at the dazzling array of banners, then at the ragged troops beneath them, Hudson did not even know where to begin mocking.

He had thought his own side was bad enough, but there were actually even worse ones. In the entire alliance, aside from the barely presentable forces of two or three families, the rest were trash among trash.

After comparing them in secret, Hudson discovered that in terms of strength, his own motley crew could actually rank among the top five in this temporary alliance.

It was not because their combat strength was high, but because they had more people. Though they had all been conscripted, different territories bore different military obligations.

Among groups of equally undisciplined rabble, the side with more men was naturally stronger. Hudson, who had wanted to coast along, had never dreamed that his own force would become one of the alliance's "main forces."

That was awkward. With such a rabble, were they going to suppress the rebellion, or deliver themselves to the Rebel Army as free kills? Probably no one could say.

All he could say was that there were too many clever people in this world. Once they sensed something was wrong, every last one of them chose to preserve their strength.

When all those clever people gathered together, this grand spectacle of "rabble congregating" emerged.

With slacking off becoming the mainstream, those who had honestly mobilized their forces instead became the odd ones out. Of course, "odd" was not meant as an insult here. Everyone greatly "respected" those few who had brought out their family reserves.

When choosing allies, honest people were naturally better. Hudson and the other nobles all tacitly switched into flattery mode.

As for what they truly thought inside, that was not important. In the coming war, those men would be the alliance's "military backbone."

Of course, Knight Chels, the nominal leader, was also military backbone. It was just that he was the individual kind, while the others were the group kind.

Who told Chers to be poor?

He had poured vast wealth into the bottomless pit of magical research, leaving him with no funds to develop military equipment. Even the guards he used for appearances were serving serfs. His territory's military strength was simply himself.

Among all the nobles' private forces, Chers's men were the worst. Every one of them carried bamboo spears, and not a single suit of armor was in sight.

Poor equipment would have been one thing, but the soldiers themselves were also a motley assortment. Their formation was a complete mess; one glance was enough to tell they had never trained.

Everyone feared comparison. Set against all those allies, Hudson suddenly discovered that his own army had somehow become an "elite force."

At the very least, judging from their marching formation, the Coslo Family's troops were the only ones who maintained their ranks. Unlike the private forces of the other nobles, who had to search everywhere for missing men whenever they made camp.

With so many new companions added, their marching speed naturally dropped again and again. The appointed gathering time was drawing near, yet no one seemed anxious.

Since no one else was worried, Hudson could not be bothered to stick his neck out. The principle that the law could not punish everyone also applied on the Aslant Continent, especially when they were all honored nobles.

Under the current political system, nobles received far more than ordinary preferential treatment. Count Pierce had the ability to punish a single noble, but he would never dare punish a whole group of nobles at once. Otherwise, if things got out of hand, it would certainly alarm the kingdom.

Since ancient times, irreconcilable conflicts had existed between central governments and local feudal lords. How to restrain the great local nobles was a required lesson for every king.

For the kingdom's stability and balance of power, successive kings never forgot to sow division among the local powers. What they could least tolerate was a local region united as one solid block.

Under this great principle, relations between the great local nobles and the small and middle nobles naturally could not be harmonious, nor did they dare become too harmonious.

Having thought it through, Hudson suddenly understood the actions of his colleagues. A little troublemaking might seem utterly nonsensical, but it was actually a manifestation of political wisdom.

Of course, it could not be said that everyone was especially clever. Most did it only out of instinctive habit. Perhaps they did not want to be late either, but their inefficient ways made it impossible for them to arrive on time.

The ones truly orchestrating all this were most likely the great nobles above them. Generation after generation of effort, and generation after generation of indulgence, had created the current situation.

Put in their place, Hudson would have done the same. Deliberately creating the impression of loose control over the local territories was the best way to dispel a king's suspicions.

Only, this situation had changed somewhat in recent decades. As time passed, the local feudal lords had accumulated greater and greater strength, while the royal family's advantage was no longer obvious. Various small acts of testing had gradually become more frequent.

Of course, these were merely Hudson's deductions. The information in his hands was limited, and he did not know enough about high society, so his conclusions might not be accurate.

Ethel Fortress. With the arrival of Count Pierce's army, this place had become the headquarters of the rebellion-suppression forces and the front line blocking the Rebel Army's westward advance.

Leading from the front was an expression of knightly spirit. Although Count Pierce had not personally led troops into battle, he had still come to the front lines to command.

After defending the city for several days, Count Pierce was exhausted as well. Plans could never keep up with change. He had originally believed the Rebel Army was merely a disorganized mob and nothing to fear, so he had allowed them to grow stronger in order to profit from the chaos.

He had never expected the Skull Society to make such a big move. First, they slaughtered all the nobles in Dadir City. Then the Rebel Army swiftly swept across the countryside.

Before Count Pierce could react, the Rebel Army had swept through Wright and Hutton Prefectures, with their spearhead pointed directly at Beda.

Wright and Hutton Prefectures were one thing. Most of the land there belonged to other nobles anyway, and only a few unlucky vassals had been affected. Count Pierce could afford those losses.

But Beda was different. It was already the core territory of his Dalton Family. If it fell into the Rebel Army's hands, the losses would be enormous.

Left with no choice, Count Pierce could only issue a conscription order while personally leading his army against the enemy, holding them off at Ethel Fortress.

"How far have the nobles' reinforcements reached? How much longer until they arrive?"

Count Pierce asked with a frown.

It was not that the Dalton Family feared the Rebel Army, but people died in war. The rebels before them were clearly no ordinary foes. If they fought the enemy head-on, then even if they won, they would inevitably suffer heavy losses.

In this world where the strong preyed upon the weak, strength was the foundation of everything. If the Dalton Family's power suffered a major loss, who knew how many hungry wolves would pounce on them.

To reduce his own losses, Count Pierce chose to hold fast behind the walls despite clearly having the strength to crush the Rebel Army outside the city.