Betrayal

After Rust finished explaining his suggestion, everyone, including Krick's secretary Gaita, turned their eyes toward Viscount Krick. They all hoped the governor would give them an answer.

Gaita felt that Rust's suggestion was indeed insightful. With Blackwater City surrounded by enemy forces, they now had a chance to defeat the rebels besieging the city.

However, he also knew that the governor had business dealings with the branch leaders of those merchant guilds. Every month, he received a share of their profits. There was no way he would agree to requisition the caravan guards.

Sure enough, the governor had no intention of doing so. Viscount Krick stammered, "Rust, um... What you said does make sense, but... doing this would cause a lot of problems. These merchant guilds... have contributed greatly to the Grand Duchy, and many major figures are... Requisitioning their guards would be going too far!

"Rust, don't think about getting cavalry from those caravans for now. As you said, relying solely on the cavalry of our city defense forces will be enough to achieve our goal.

"How about this? I'll assign my guards to you as well. They'll cooperate."

Thus, Viscount Krick still rejected Rust's suggestion to requisition the merchant guilds' guards, but he did not oppose Rust's plan to launch a sortie and attack the besieging forces led by Victor.

Rust was somewhat disappointed, but since the governor had approved his sortie plan, he still bowed respectfully to Viscount Krick.

"Thank you, Governor. I will do everything in my power to defend Blackwater City!"

The other two battalion commanders also rose to respond, clearly demonstrating Rust's prestige among the city defense forces.

After the meeting ended, Viscount Krick returned to his study. When Gaita noticed that Krick seemed troubled, he asked directly,

"My lord, are you feeling unwell?