Chapter 252 252. War approaching the northern border
It is rare for the two dukes to put aside their differences and come together to discuss matters.
Duke Nar himself is a fourth-level warrior, and it is said that he also has the blood of some Ice Berserkers, so he looks extraordinarily tall and hairy.
Standing over there with a height of two meters and two, it looks like a ferocious humanoid beast covered in hair.
The Duke Olivier on the side is just the opposite of him. He is only 1.7 meters tall at most. He has a handsome appearance, his gray hair is neatly styled, and he has a mature charm.
He was wearing a robe that was so luxurious that it was almost cumbersome, and every move he made was full of aristocratic elegance, affectation and fussiness, which was in sharp contrast to the Duke opposite who looked like a ferocious humanoid beast.
“He must know that there is a ruby dragon egg inside.”
Duke Olivier spoke first: “Otherwise he would never directly deal with the army we left behind like this, Ruby The unique berry pulp of Dragon Island was also found on the other side of the volcano."
A flash of light flashed in the eyes of the fox-like Duke, "He might even have found a ruby dragon to be able to do that. The portal to the ruby volcano will be activated soon.”
Although Duke Nar is very disgusted with this opponent who dresses like an elf every day, he still quite agrees with his speculation.
Driven by their common interests, even if the two of them had any filth, it could be ignored. After all, they were nobles, and everything had to be based on the interests of the family.
Both of them really couldn't bear to be robbed of their due harvest by a little mage from a remote area like the North.
Although they know that Croya has a certain reputation in the Mage Association and the Royal Court. Not to mention anything else, it is simply impossible to estimate how much daily income the milk tea shop and the Warcraft Plant War Pet Shop, which occupy a prime location in the royal capital, can earn.
What makes them even more helpless is that even the ladies and juniors in the family often buy it, and even they like to drink the sweet "magic potion".
Those two shops contributed a lot of tax revenue to the Mage Association and the Royal Heraldry Academy, plus the food and various crops produced in the north.
So if they want to cause trouble with Croya, they must have a justifiable reason.
They never considered that Croa could confront the two of them head-on. As a veteran duke who existed during the founding of the Kingdom of Norland, they had the war capabilities...
Even the king has to deal with it carefully.
How could a small lord who had appeared in the North just a few years ago occupy the North if he hadn't been related to Prince Mifein?
The two dukes were plotting here, not noticing that there was a person listening outside the door - this is the property of the Olivier family, wind can enter, rain can enter, but the king cannot enter.
...
Ian Olivier’s heart was beating fast after hearing the conspiracy between his father and Duke Narr. The youngest master of the Olivier family was the one who had made a deal with Croya. Bit.
Because of the still active businessman Seliu, he knew a lot about the Northern Territory, so he was very disdainful of his father.
Even...he still has some rebellious thoughts and secret expectations in his heart——
'If his father can fail or even die in battle...'
This thought is Like weeds that grew wildly, once they emerged, they could no longer be suppressed, and even gradually spread, covering his mind.
If his father could have used the power of the Duke, his mother might not have suffered so much and even almost died.
As a noble, he was very aware of the limitations of inheritance rights among nobles. No matter how hard he tried, his father could not give him the power he wanted.
No matter what, his mother has always been a maid. He does not hate his mother for not helping him. The only thing he hates is his father who blocked his room for advancement.
“……”
Ian took a deep breath and left quietly. He quickly came to his residence and saw his mother in a brilliant garden in full bloom.
The young lady was holding large scissors and pruning the overgrown roses. The large swathes of roses were as dazzling as blood, yet so alluring and gorgeous.
But even such gorgeous roses cannot suppress the charm of the lady. She seems to be the flower fairy in fairy tales, pure and beautiful.
It was such beauty that made the Duke favor her, but it also restricted her forever in the gorgeous cage built by the Duke - such a beautiful object must not be coveted by others, and cannot even be looked at. be seen.
"Mother!"
He walked forward quickly, held the woman's arm, and said softly: "I want to take you to a place."
" Where?" His mother asked curiously: "Ian, you know I can't leave the capital."
She seems to have accepted her fate, just like this garden nourished by magic. , once the rose inside leaves this place, its fate will only wither.
“Northern Territory.” Ian’s voice was even lower: “Father is going to attack the Northern Territory with Duke Nar, we can take advantage of this opportunity to follow him.
I will go and ask for it personally. Lord Hanjiao in the north, let him give you an environment where you can live in peace.”
"Then what's the price?"
Although the beautiful woman was imprisoned here, she was not stupid at all. She stroked her son's face: "Dear Ian, what price do you have to pay? Only then can he protect me, a useless person."
Ian did not hesitate at all: "I want to betray my father, and it should be possible to take his life and the Olivier family.
< br>Mother...can you tell me your last name now?"
The woman's body stiffened for a moment.
She looked down at the shadow-covered rose and replied in a softer voice: "Session."
"..."
The young Duke The son was stunned immediately.
How could it be this?
For the first time, a bright smile appeared on her face as the princess of the Saisien royal family looked at her sluggish son.
...
Ten days later.
The two dukes’ letters of challenge were sent to Hanjiao Island.
With the declaration of war came Sir Kermoyer, who was considering gradually expanding outward.
Now he is an earl, and according to the official records of the Kingdom of Norland, the northern border is his fiefdom.
But he still remained humble in front of Croya.
After passing the letter of challenge to Croya, he waited for him to make a decision.
Cloya glanced at the letter of war and marveled: "It is a friendly discussion between nobles. Why can the nobles now make war so easy?"
Honestly, He actually thought about what the two dukes might do, but he never expected that they would be so shameless and actually use the records of their elders to give advice to Kemoye.
In other words, I have to give him some guidance!
They are really brave.
Even Croya's peaceful mind was aroused. He immediately ordered: "Since they want to come, then come. I only have one request... that is to bring the two dukes together. Take him to the Noble Island of Hanjiao Island as a guest. "
- The so-called Noble Island is where Croya kept the nobles under house arrest. There are barons and viscounts of all sizes, but no count has yet appeared. Duke.
If we can catch a few counts and dukes this time, it will be considered as perfecting Croya's collecting habit in this area.
“Yes!”
Count Kemoyer nodded extremely excitedly. He was aware of Croya’s war capabilities, and now he finally had the opportunity to show it to the outside world. He was extremely excited.
He immediately left Hanjiao Island and began to make preparations.
After Kemoye left, news came from Miffin and the Mage Association Estner.
First of all, it was Mifein. After seeing Croya, he said directly: "I just learned about this. You know, there are many nobles who see you uncomfortable.
< br>Besides, they are targeting Count Kermoyer.”
Miffy's message was no longer a hint, but a clear statement, telling Croya to quickly become the lord of the North and there wouldn't be so much trouble.
What he said was so obvious that even Croya glanced at him in surprise: "Aren't you the prince of Norante, a noble among nobles~"
"..." Miffy looked at Croya helplessly and said nothing. The latter laughed loudly and said: "Okay, okay, since there are no problems on your side, when I solve these things, I will officially make the North independent."
"Well, you can tell the royal family... think about what kind of title should be given to this mage. If it is lower than a duke, I will not agree."
As soon as these words were spoken, Mifein's mental arithmetic finally settled down. When he got down, he was actually quite afraid that Cloya would directly announce the verdict of the Norland Kingdom.
After all, he is also the prince of Norante. This status is really a bit embarrassing. If Croya really declares autonomy, then the kingdom will send troops to fight Croya head-on no matter what. One plane.
Just like the Gray Sand Lord.
Completely relieved, Miffyin chatted with Croya for a few more words, but this time he did not give any suggestions.
Because this assassination operation is different from the last one. It is a head-on confrontation. Croya already knows what he needs to know. It just depends on how the frontal battlefield is handled.
To be honest, he was quite curious, even he had never seen Croya engage in a head-on war.
Miffin left quickly after the conversation ended.
After he left, Croya had a brief conversation with Estner again.
The latter shrugged his shoulders and said: "Don't beat him to death. After he is captured, he will be treated as a noble, and his family will pay the ransom."
"Huh?"
“Don’t you have anything else to tell me?”
Chloë was speechless. How could anyone have more confidence than him? We haven’t even fought yet, so why did he start talking about the ransom after the capture? .
But in a sense, he and Estner were really friends - one directly asked for a ransom, and the other planned to send them to the island to satisfy their collecting habit.
Estner shook his head: "Nothing else. After all, they are nominally looking for trouble with Count Kermoyer, and the Mage Association cannot interfere directly.
But you are a little more aggressive. It doesn’t matter if you are cruel, after all, you are from our Mage Association. As long as we win, I will personally negotiate with the people from the Heraldry Academy!”
After saying that, he waved his hand and left directly. Croya felt speechless again, but he also knew in his heart that after this matter was over, it was time for the Northern Territory to be under his control, both legally and practically.
After finishing the communication, Croya let his thoughts go and looked out the window, his heart was far from as sure and stable as it seemed.
War kills people. Although he knew that as a superior he couldn't care so much about sacrifice and death, he still couldn't help but feel heartache.
Those are all apprentices raised by me! He is usually so well-behaved and obedient, I just hope that the Warcraft and Demonic Plants can be more powerful.
He worked so hard to cultivate so many magical beasts just to reduce sacrifices.
......
With Croya's order, all apprentices who intend to participate in this war rushed to the front line. Even Luo, who had not left Hanjiao Island for a long time, Bodu rushed over.
At the entrance to the north, the Terenas Mountains, the starting point of the Terai River, has been transformed into a vast plain.
The flat land and the rolling mountains in the distance form an extremely sharp contrast. Such a large plain is suitable for frontal battles.
Lina and Kemoye plan to deal with the two Dukes' armies here, trying to prevent these people from entering the hinterland of the north and affecting the ongoing infrastructure work.
...
Knights.
Count Kemoyer is riding a red, tall and strong horse that looks like a ferocious monster to patrol the ranks of the Knights.
This entire team of 3,000 people is a combination of first-level knights and two-level magical beasts, flame dragons and horses. They are arrayed in an extremely orderly manner on the ground. Every knight has a serious expression and looks at Don’t squint.
"I won't say any more. This is the first time Lord Croya has shown his strength to the outside world..."
The Earl raised the classical knight in his hand high. The sword, a bright light bursting out from the sharp blade - it was a gift given to him by his ancestors, an almost legendary knight's sword.
“For Lord Croya, we must win!”
He shouted loudly.
“For Lord Croya!!”
The knights also roared with him. Two thousand knights who had studied basic and advanced knight courses roared like this, it was like a war cry. The same, resounding throughout the sky.
This is a romance that is exclusive to knights. It does not have the gorgeous spell effects of mages, but only the training day after day, year after year, to polish one's martial arts and body to be as stable and hard as steel.
They urgently need a war to prove themselves and prove that Croya's training of them is not a waste of resources.
After all, the abilities of the mages here in the north are so exaggerated that the knights are simply inconspicuous-at most, they can only have a sense of existence by doing dirty work.
They are all extraordinary people. Are mages really nobler than knights?
Now they are all holding their breath.
Like a volcano eager to erupt - if Croya knew their thoughts, he didn't know whether to be emotional or helpless.
On the other side, Lina was leading her apprentices to conduct a final inventory and inspection of the magical beasts and magical plants.
"The high-altitude support of the Cloud Mist Demon Sunflower is ready!"
"The summoned beasts from the elemental plane are ready!"
"The Earth-shaking Bull Team is assembled!"
>
A series of reports sounded in the mycelium communicator on Lina's temple.
Lina nodded with great satisfaction.
Some things here are used for the first time, I hope they can really play the expected role.
……
Beyond the North.
There are two armies that are clearly separated and advance without interfering with each other.
These two armies look mighty, numbering in the tens of thousands, but the composition of the teams is actually quite subtle.
The vast majority of them are peasant soldiers temporarily recruited by the dukes from their respective territories, and the other part are heavy infantry and archers trained by the lords and temporarily hired to specialize in war business. Combat mercenary.
The last part is the very few knights and mages composed of the lord's retainers, as well as various war beasts.
The peasants and soldiers may have experienced basic training and can serve well as cannons and death squads on the battlefield, in order to consume the magic power of the mages and the physical strength of the knights.
Croya had a special in-depth understanding of the composition of this kind of aristocratic army. He felt that such an army was very worrying in terms of organizational discipline and technical content.
But he did not underestimate such an army.
Because whether it is the two Dukes who personally hold the battle, or the battle mage group and the Warcraft group, they are all around level three to four.
In such an extraordinary world, such an army is enough to affect the outcome of a battle, and it is also the reason why the two Dukes are most certain of victory from beginning to end.
It can be said that since these two armies entered the surrounding area of the northern border, they have been exposed to the eyes of the reef eagles who are imprinted with the eagle eye technique and carry image transmission magic devices.
Every move they made was transmitted to the headquarters of the northern frontline base, and Robert, the veteran lord, led the knights he trained for analysis.
Although Rob is old, under Cloya's careful conditioning, his thinking is still very sharp. The aura erupting from him while sitting in the command room is so strong that people dare not look directly at him.
He looked at the screen with a serious expression: "According to the image, there should be five hundred people in the battle mage group and more than a thousand Nar monsters... This time they really took out some of their trump cards. . ”
To be honest, he found it a bit tricky.
Although Hanjiaodao is not afraid, he is thinking about how to obtain greater victory at less cost. Almost all the apprentices have grown up under his watch.
If too many people really died because of this war, he felt that both he and Croya would feel a little sad.
In the final analysis... time is still too short. Even if a talent wants to grow up, it takes time. There is still a gap between these old duke families.
While he was thinking, an apprentice hurriedly walked in and reported: "Teacher Rob, there is a son who calls himself Duke Olivier and his mother wants to see you. ”
Rob was slightly startled, his thoughts changing rapidly.
...Is this a trap or something?
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(End of this chapter)