"Lord Russell, why would you say that..."
"I'm currently only an instructor at the training camp. I can't violate protocol."
Russell said this calmly. She had been living much more comfortably lately than before. She no longer had to deal with domestic or foreign affairs, and no one delivered urgent intelligence at night to wake her. Her life had become extremely regular, and her recent health evaluation index had improved considerably.
"Lord Russell, could you give us somewhere to talk? We're begging you."
The high-ranking Knight Errants present all lowered themselves as much as possible.
"There are many things we need your help with now."
"The current situation has already exceeded our abilities."
"We implore you to consider Kazimierz's future..."
"It concerns Kazdel..."
A group surrounded Russell, pleading with her nonstop. Their agitated appearance attracted the attention of many uninformed onlookers nearby.
"Sigh. Everyone, come with me."
Russell put on the air of a guide and led them to an ordinary teachers' office. After the guards cleared everyone from the surrounding area, she could no longer be bothered to waste time and asked directly,
"Are things going badly on the battlefield?"
Looking at their gloomy faces, Russell already had a rough idea of the situation. This had been a long-distance campaign from the beginning, with extremely high supply costs. Moreover, the battlefield was Kazdel's territory, so falling behind was normal.
"If things are going badly, withdraw quickly. Kazdel is a poor country. If we offer more economic compensation, the matter should be settled."
"Lord Russell, we lost."
"I know. I could tell from your faces..."
Russell suddenly froze as she spoke, because she saw that the voices of the high-ranking Knight Errants before her had actually taken on a sobbing tone!
Her heart lurched. "What exactly happened?"
"Lord Russell, Tolk led 160,000 Knight Errants on an expedition to Kazdel, and they were utterly defeated..."
"160,000 of them. Forty thousand died, including him, and 120,000 were captured by the Fiends..."
Hearing this, Russell felt as though a thunderbolt had struck on a clear day. She even felt the ground collapse beneath her feet.
"Ah! Lord Russell!"
"Lord Russell!"
The surrounding Knight Errants hurried forward and caught Russell as she fainted.
"I... I was gone for only a month. How did things become like this?!"
She grabbed the collar of the current Grand Knight Captain of Kazimierz and roared through clenched teeth like a debt collector, "The knights I spent decades painstakingly building up—and you threw them all away like this?!"
"No one expected Tolk to make such a mess of things!"
Though they were all sturdy Knight Errants, they now looked like children who had done something wrong, shouting, "Lord Russell, the urgent matter now is solving the problem in front of us!"
"Solving the problem?! How?! We lost 160,000 people in one month! Neither we nor Ursus have ever suffered losses like this in a single month!"
Russell, dressed in an ordinary teacher's uniform, sat in an office chair with one hand pressed to her chest. The circle of high-ranking Knight Errants around her instead looked like a group of trained students.
They did not dare say a word. They only stared anxiously at Russell, who had lowered her head in silence.
The office remained quiet for quite some time before Russell finally asked,
"How many people know about this news?"
The heaviness on the Knight Errants' faces suddenly eased considerably. They replied, "No one else knows yet. A Sankta messenger named Mostima told us about it in person. She is the World Messenger in the Kazdel region."
"Then that means Kazdel's leader is sending us a signal."
Russell painfully covered her forehead. "Does anyone back home know about the war with Kazdel?"
"No. Tolk and the others paid for the military expenses themselves. It's only the personnel..."
The people around her exchanged glances. Money was gone once it was gone; they could earn it back in the future. But what about those who had died? People could not simply give birth to replacements!
"Then how many troops are left around the Grand Knight Territory? I need absolutely reliable troops!"
Russell's gaze swept across everyone, carrying a trace of ruthlessness.
"Lord Russell, counting us, we can gather 30,000 who meet your requirements!"
"Immediately declare Tolk and all the other high-ranking Knight Errants involved to be traitors! Seize all their assets at once! Go now!"
"Yes!!!"
One man took the military order signed on the spot from the current Grand Knight Captain and hurried out.
Listening to his footsteps, Russell looked toward the current Grand Knight Captain of Kazimierz. "Prepare yourselves. Announce the fact that Tolk launched a war on his own and was defeated."
"Lord Russell, I can announce that, but you must agree to one request."
"What is it?"
"Please resume the position of Grand Knight Commander," the Grand Knight Captain said.
"You caused the trouble, and now you want me to clean it up?"
Russell looked at the Knight Errants before her. "After I fix this problem, you want to hand the country back to you so you can make another mess of it? Then I might as well let you learn your lesson properly."
"We know our mistake now, but please save Kazimierz."
His face was filled with agony. "With 160,000 knights suddenly gone, we have no way to face the threats from both Leithanien and Ursus at the same time."
At his gesture, a document was brought before Russell. She immediately took it and examined it carefully. Her already furrowed brow grew even darker.
She placed the document facedown on the table and took a deep breath.
"Send a diplomatic messenger to Kazdel and negotiate a peace agreement in Laterano. I will personally participate in the talks."
"Understood!"
Without anyone noticing, the position of Grand Knight Captain of Kazimierz had already been transferred.
Russell looked at everyone. "No matter who attacked Kazdel, Terra only knows that we started the war and lost it. I hope all of you are prepared for the price we will have to pay in this situation."
"As long as we admit our losses regarding the Sarkaz, there is still hope of turning things around. But Leithanien, which borders our country, will not be so easy to handle... Help me find Nearl. Tell him I have something to discuss with him."
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Chapter 61: Prisoners of War
The prisoners-of-war processing was proceeding in an orderly manner. The temporary prison holding the Kazimierz Knight Errants was the very camp they had built themselves. However, all high- and mid-ranking Knight Errants and other officers had already been escorted back to Kazdel, leaving only ordinary soldiers in the camp.
Military craftsmen and other technical personnel who had come from Kazdel excitedly inventoried the captured weapons and equipment.
"Your Majesty! We obtained more Knight Errant equipment than our active forces possess, and it's all in complete sets without a single bit of damage."
Zeppelin's excitement was written all over his face. Pointing at the Beastmaster Knight armor that had been cleaned and sorted out before them, he said,
"This armor can be called the finest of Kazimierz's current standard equipment! Its manufacturing process is considerably more complex than Ursus's equipment, but it is one-third lighter than Ursus armor while offering no inferior protection."
"They ride on pack beasts, after all. We have to consider whether the pack beasts can support the weight of both a suit of armor and a person."
Theresica summoned a soldier wearing Ursus heavy armor and studied him with his own eyes for a while, discovering that it was indeed as Zeppelin had described.
He asked, "Can we use the Beastmaster Knight equipment directly?"
"We can, Your Majesty." Zeppelin nodded. "Do you intend to abandon Ursus's equipment?"
Ursus had a large population, so its equipment was somewhat simpler, rougher, and cheaper in style. That allowed it to equip large numbers of troops quickly. Kazimierz, however, had a much smaller population and was therefore willing to spend more money preparing better protective gear for its soldiers.
Theresica shook his head. "Kazimierz's equipment is a little too refined for the Sarkaz at present. It isn't suitable for us. Its research value is greater for now, but I would like to see whether we can also form a Siege Ram unit."
He looked with interest at Kazimierz's Siege Rams. Kazdel had nothing like them. Previously, they had only studied how to kill them; now he was considering how to use them.
"The personnel responsible for raising the pack beasts must be kept under control. Dead or alive, they are all Sarkaz property now. Also, make sure all the Beastmaster Knight corpses are collected."
Theresica looked toward the leader of the Banshees, who immediately bowed.
"Understood, Your Majesty. Information extraction from the corpse named Roman has already begun. Salus is in charge. Thanks to our previous experiments on the Ursus dead, although this technique remains unstable, it has improved considerably. I believe we can obtain more information this time."
"Good. I'll leave it to you."
This was purely a technical matter, and Theresica understood none of it. He only provided materials and received the results, saying nothing else to avoid causing unnecessary interference.
"Your Majesty, we found something unusual over here. We don't know how to handle it."
At this moment, the Banshee who had been waiting nearby spoke up. "It may involve a diplomatic issue."
The war has already started, and there are still diplomatic issues?
Following the Banshee clan leader, Theresica arrived among the prisoners. To his surprise, he discovered several people with horns atop their heads mixed in among the Kuranta.
Sarkaz... No, Leithanien people!
"What are they doing here?"
"We aren't Kazimierz people! You must release us immediately!"
Theresica was just about to ask the Banshee when the group began shouting, "We were merely accidentally trapped here! We weren't combatants!"
"Then what are you?" Theresica asked curiously.
"We... We..."
They suddenly stammered at that question. A soldier beside them angrily shouted,
"I saw these bastards kicking her!"
Theresica looked to the side, somewhat surprised. The person the soldier was pointing at was a Sarkaz girl, and she was wearing Leithanien-style clothing.
There was an iron chain around her ankle, connecting her to a Caprini woman nearby. The woman was sprawled on the ground like someone starving to death, picking up scattered food without caring about the dust.
"Your Majesty, we were distributing food when this person suddenly rushed out. That was when we discovered this group of Leithanien people hiding here."
The Banshee asked, "Should we hand them over to the Confessors?"
If the Sarkaz hated the Sankta most of all on Terra, then the Leithanien were second.
"No need to make things so complicated." Theresica shook his head and shouted to the surrounding Kuranta, "Whoever tells me what they are doing here will be allowed to contact their family!"
The Kuranta immediately erupted into commotion. One person shouted at the top of his lungs, "They came here to experiment with Originium Arts!"
Apart from the Sarkaz, Leithanien had achieved the greatest accomplishments in Originium Arts on Terra. Theresica immediately became interested.
"You, come here and tell me about them. The more details, the better."
The man hurried over, afraid someone else would get there first.
"My commander told me they came here to experiment with that Sarkaz girl's Originium Arts. She can treat the wounded, and there are a lot of wounded people here."
"You spoke well. I'll let you contact your family."
Theresica wore a smile, but when he turned and looked at the disastrous scene, his expression immediately darkened. "Medic! Quickly examine her!"
The medic, who had never been sure which side the girl belonged to, immediately rushed over, sawed through the chain, and sent the girl for examination. Theresica, meanwhile, walked over to the Leithanien people.
He looked at the nervous group and gestured to the Confessors. "You Leithanien claim that your Originium Arts are the finest on Terra, don't you? Then I'll inspect what's inside your heads."
Several Caprini were dragged away by the soldiers. No matter how they shouted or struggled, it was useless. However, one person remained on the ground. She looked like a completely genuine Leithanien and did not appear to be infected. How had she ended up in this state?
The Banshee saw his confusion and explained, "Your Majesty, under the Witch King's orders, everyone in Leithanien had to receive instruction in Originium Arts. Some people were naturally incapable of using Originium Arts, and the Witch King demoted them to laborers."
"She also eats the rations of several people and is very strong. She knocked down two of our soldiers by herself... Ah! Your Majesty, please don't go over there!"
Amid the Banshee's alarmed cry, Theresica walked over. Shining had made no move, but her hand had also found its way to her sword hilt.
"Do you want to eat?" He held out two whole pieces of bread.
"Yes."
"You knocked down two soldiers by yourself?"
"I'm very strong."
"I'll let you eat your fill."
Theresica placed the bread in her hands. "I guarantee that you can eat until you're stuffed, but your life belongs to me now. How about it?"
"Okay."
Chapter 62: The Cavalry Corps
Before you continue