The Reaper Descends

Everyone had their own nightmares. In his first battle, Rudolf had been surrounded by the army of the Kingdom of Gaul. In his second, Frederick had outflanked him and attacked from both sides. Now Preben had appeared behind him, stirring the fear deep in his heart.

For five whole days, Yulmand and the defenders of Florensburg had waited anxiously for the Rhine army to attack, but nothing had happened. Many thought the enemy was searching for secret tunnels outside the city, preparing to launch an assault through them.

Yulmand thought it was quite possible. Though the Mage Corps had only just dug the side tunnels, it would be a problem if the enemy found the main passage.

To prevent that, he had no choice but to order all the tunnels abandoned.

"They still haven't found him?!" Rudolf sprang up from his chair. "It's been five days, and they still haven't found him?"

Seeing that Rudolf was about to lose his temper, Ranke hurriedly tried to reassure him. "Your Majesty, Preben has probably already escaped and headed for Hawthorn Village and Stork Port."

Pistol quickly added, "Your Majesty, there's no need to worry about supplies. We can have the troops stationed around the area requisition grain."

He was secretly pleased with himself. He had split his forces earlier for the sake of profit, but now the camp was short on food, so they could put those troops to good use—and earn him a considerable military merit in the process.

Rudolf fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "All right. Send troops to protect the requisitioning effort. Once the supplies arrive, we'll launch a full-scale assault on the city."

Schuyler Steiger immediately disagreed. "Your Majesty, I recommend that we not wait for the supplies to arrive. We should attack at once and