The Battle of "Garden"

After capturing Silver Maple City, Victor not only needed to restore order within the city, but also ensure that the city could be handed over to Alex unscathed.

Meanwhile, an unexpected discovery delighted Victor: through interrogating some of the captured members of the Ducal House in the city, he learned the exact location of the Silver Maple Family's "Garden"!

This news thrilled Victor, because as far as he knew, this so-called "Garden" contained the Silver Maple Forest of the Silver Maple Family, as well as a large number of exotic plants, including even the ingredients for the secret medicine of the Silver Maple Secret Guard.

If these things are not taken over and properly protected in time, they will likely be destroyed by the remnants of the Ducal House, who will certainly not want to hand them over to what they consider traitors.

Without delay, Victor made a decision: leave Gaita to handle the affairs of the city and entrust Viscount Hawke with the command of the allied Allied Army.

He then personally led an elite light Light Cavalry force to the location of the "Garden" at breakneck speed.

Victor stood atop a high slope, gazing into the distance, his eyes piercing through the mountains and landing on the dense forest opposite.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "It truly is an extremely secluded place; there's not a trace of it on any of the official maps drawn by the Grand Duchy..."

This place is located in Notting County, just a stone's throw from the Carson Mountains.

Perhaps it was because the duchy kept this place strictly secret that the surrounding area was sparsely populated, and even the noble manors that were usually found everywhere in the counties were nowhere to be seen.

As Victor was intently observing his surroundings, he suddenly sensed something unusual about the forest.

With his keen insight and experience accumulated over the years, he immediately realized that something was wrong. So, he quickly picked up his binoculars and examined the incongruous spot closely. To his surprise, many people were frantically cutting down trees!

Victor acted decisively and without hesitation, issuing the order: Attention everyone! We must accelerate our advance!

Fortunately, although the place is deserted, perhaps for the sake of transporting supplies or facilitating passage, the roads here are quite flat and wide, and are paved entirely with blue flagstones, making them very easy to walk on.

Victor led his troops away like an arrow released from a bow. Along the way, he kept an eye on the surrounding environment and soon discovered many sentry posts.

However, at this moment, these sentry posts were already empty, clearly indicating that all the sentries had retreated into the Garden.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, after passing through a maple forest as red as fire, a well-hidden manor suddenly appeared before them.

This estate is incredibly vast, covering an area of several square kilometers!

Moreover, the estate boasts vast, fertile farmland, cleverly channeling clear mountain streams and meticulously constructing numerous crisscrossing irrigation canals that run throughout the entire estate.

However, what was surprising was that what was planted in this field was not the usual grains or other common crops, but several mysterious plants with strange and peculiar shapes that even Victor had never seen before.

Presumably, they must belong to some unique secret recipe or rare varieties controlled by the Silver Maple Family?

Despite his curiosity and doubts, Victor did not venture into the depths of the manor.

With the keen intuition he had honed through years of battles, he had a vague feeling that there was some potential danger and unknown variables lurking in this place.

Therefore, he immediately ordered: the entire army to remain in place and not to enter the manor even a step without permission!

Faced with a stronghold that had clearly been painstakingly built up by the enemy and was heavily fortified, Victor knew he could not act rashly or risk his life.

While the Silver Maple in that film were indeed of considerable value and preciousness, relatively speaking, they were not enough for Victor to exchange for his own and his soldiers' lives.

Victor stopped and waved behind him. Soon someone came to his side; it was Little Paru. Victor gave him a few instructions.

Little Paru nodded, then took a deep breath and blew a series of clear and melodious whistles. The whistles seemed to possess some kind of magic, echoing in the air for a long time.

Not long after, a sharp cry rang out through the sky. Everyone looked up and saw an enormous bird of prey swooping down from the heavens.

It spread its broad wings and swooped down in an instant, creating a powerful gust of air. In the blink of an eye, the giant eagle landed steadily on the ground and walked proudly towards Little Paru.

As soon as they approached, the raptor began calling out incessantly to Little Paru, uttering strange syllables and making various gestures with its claws and wings. Little Paru listened intently, occasionally interjecting a few words, seemingly exchanging some important information with the raptor...

After hearing this, Little Paru immediately ran to Victor's side to report, "My lord, there is indeed a problem inside the manor. There are quite a few people hiding in those wooden houses in front, and in the maple forest behind the manor, Gale also discovered a Cavalry force of several hundred men."

Victor smiled upon hearing this, "When we attacked Silver Maple City, I was thinking about how the Silver Maple Ducal House had occupied the Grand Duchy of Vera for hundreds of years, yet they had no backup plan at all. Even when defending the Capital City, they didn't have many of the Ducal House's die-hard troops."

It's worth noting that in the final battle against the Imperial Guard Legion in Sextus County, we witnessed the fighting prowess of the elite troops under the Ducal House Household's command.

It seems the last remaining strength of the Ducal House is hiding here!

Ron and James, who were standing next to Victor, agreed with Victor's words and nodded in agreement.

But James quickly asked, "So what do we do? Should we withdraw?"

Victor scoffed. "Why withdraw? The enemy has given us such a large stage; they probably won't give it up easily!"

Before the words were finished, a series of clanging sounds came from inside the manor, followed by the sound of rapid footsteps on the stone path.

In a short while, a group of infantrymen dressed in the duchy's standard heavy armor and carrying spears and shields surged into view like a tide.

Almost at the same time, there was also movement in the dense maple forest behind them. A moment later, another fully armed army suddenly appeared.

At the same time, the crisp sound of horses' hooves echoed all around, as if the whole earth trembled. Victor looked closely and saw a well-equipped Cavalry troop galloping towards the outskirts of the manor at breakneck speed.

"See? These guys finally couldn't hold back anymore!" Victor said calmly, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips.

However, his soldiers did not show the slightest panic in the face of this sudden change.

On the contrary, when they noticed the enemy approaching, many Cavalry immediately dismounted without hesitation and quickly formed ranks, tightly protecting Victor in the middle.

James stared intently at the enemy forces standing ready in the distance, thinking to himself, "These guys look really elite!"

James sensed the situation was somewhat dangerous, and in order to reach the destination quickly and complete the mission, Victor had to choose to travel light and lead only a small Cavalry force.

Although this Cavalry unit was agile, it lacked the protection of heavy armor and had a relatively small force (the entire regiment had less than four thousand men).

Especially when James noticed that the enemy not only outnumbered him but also had many soldiers wearing heavy, sturdy armor, he felt even more that this battle would be very difficult.

"Don't worry, James, I won't fight a battle unprepared!"

Victor then nodded to Little Paru, who whistled, and Gale flapped its wings, taking flight once more like a sharp sword soaring into the sky and flying away.

Just as the Gale took off, the enemy suddenly unleashed a volley of arrows in Gale direction, but the Gale was too fast, and the arrows didn't even touch the tails.

Seeing this, Victor chuckled and said, "Looks like we have an old acquaintance here!"

Sure enough, a person dressed entirely in a black cloak soon rode out of the War Department. He walked a short distance to the front of the formation and lifted his hood. It was none other than Hurst, who had previously escaped from Victor's command.

"Viscount Golden Sunflower, you are now surrounded by our army. If you are willing to surrender and continue to serve the great Silver Maple Family, we may spare your life. If you can voluntarily serve us and help the family defeat the Northern Alliance Army, it is not impossible to make you the new Count of the Northlands!"

"Don't joke around, Hurst. With your small force, you can't possibly deal with me!"

Besides, the Silver Maple Family's dilapidated ship doesn't attract me at all!

After speaking, Victor gave an order, and the entire army changed into battle formation, confronting the enemy without showing any weakness.

"Arrogant! Then you'll die right here today!"

Hearing this, Hurst flew into a rage and immediately retreated back into his ranks, preparing to send his troops to attack!

Just then, a messenger suddenly ran up to him.

"Grand Master, another enemy force has appeared outside the mountains, numbering no less than five thousand. Our ambush troops left in the maple forest cannot hold them off!"

"What?"

At this moment, Hurst saw Victor's direction and, seeing Victor's calm expression, knew that this Viscount Golden Sunflower had long been prepared and had not been lured by the information about the Garden that they had deliberately released!

"Master, what should we do?"

Several officers gathered around Hurst. Their ambush plan had been completely ruined, and now they all wanted Hurst to come up with a solution.

Hurst roared, "What else can we do? The family has supported you for so long, and now you have no choice but to die!"

After saying that, Hurst took the lead and charged out. The officers were only stunned for a moment before they reacted and ordered their troops to charge as well.

However, since Victor already knew about the conspiracy, how could he have made only this much preparation?

His army made way without hesitation in the central passage, and a well-equipped force quickly appeared before everyone's eyes—they were pushing a batch of Bed Crossbow to the front of the battlefield.

These Bed Crossbow were delivered by the fleet from the Two Rivers Territory along with Catapult when Victor launched his major attack on Silver Maple City.

Not only are there lightweight Bed Crossbow that can be easily disassembled and mounted on horseback for long journeys, but there are also meticulously improved repeating Repeating Crossbow with astonishing power!

At this moment, Hurst also noticed the Bed Crossbow unit that was ready for battle ahead.

However, things had already come to this point, and the die was cast; there was no turning back.

Faced with this situation, he knew perfectly well that he had no way out but to grit his teeth, brace himself, and lead his men forward into the enemy's camp.

In his view, as long as he could withstand the losses caused by the enemy's first volley of crossbow bolts, he would have a good chance of successfully penetrating the enemy's position.

Unfortunately, Hurst clearly underestimated the strength of Victor's Bed Crossbow unit.

With a furious shout from the commander of the Bed Crossbow unit, countless crossbow bolts rained down upon them!

The crossbow bolts, thick and powerful like spears, were not so bad; although they were quite lethal, they would only pierce through two or three people before their power waned. But the improved Repeating Crossbow were truly terrifying. They fired arrows incessantly, forming an impenetrable curtain of arrows that mercilessly reaped the lives of the enemy soldiers charging at the forefront.

Even Hurst himself was not spared, and was unfortunately hit by a crossbow bolt.

"How could this be?" Hurst couldn't believe the horrific scene before him. If looks could kill, Hurst would have killed Victor a hundred times over by now.

At this moment, Victor's troops also bypassed the Bed Crossbow units and charged towards the enemy.

As the sun sets, its afterglow paints half the sky crimson, as if staining the entire world blood-red.

Looking around, the once flat and wide battlefield was now unrecognizable and a gruesome sight—the ground was littered with shattered weapons and shield fragments, and corpses lay scattered haphazardly; the air was thick with the pungent, acrid stench of blood...

Amidst these ruins, a military flag bearing a silver maple leaf emblem lay forlornly on the ground, trampled upon by soldiers.

Victor sat astride his warhorse, staring intently at the body before him, riddled with arrows yet still standing proudly. He slowly spoke, "Hurst, if it were any other time and place, I might be more than happy to fight you again, but unfortunately, we are on a battlefield, not a place for martial arts competitions!"

I'm so sorry!

Just then, a messenger strode up to Victor, knelt on one knee, saluted, and loudly reported, "My lord, the Regimental Commander have asked me to report to you that our army has wiped out all the enemies in the manor!"

They also unexpectedly found many serfs imprisoned there, all of whom were locked up in various rooms inside the manor!

Victor nodded slightly to indicate that he understood, and then instructed, "Yes, well done!"

It is imperative to properly resettle those serfs and provide them with sufficient food, medical care, and other living necessities.

Only in this way can we ensure that we can smoothly take over this manor and every single tree in it in the future!

Next, you will relay my orders to James and his men to take over the affairs here. Remember, do not damage anything here!

I need to hurry back to Silver Maple City; Count Alex will probably be there soon!