Chapter 327: Extreme Chaos
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Another night had passed. Anfey had been anxious and could not fall asleep for the past two days. Since the last few messages, there were no other message sent to him. However, giving it a bit more thought, it seemed to make sense. The reason Anfey could receive Yolanthe’s order and Pope William’s warning was because they were meant to put everyone on notice. They were not secrets, but how different countries reacted were top military secrets. As a business city, Violet city did not have reason to receive any of that military information
In the morning, Anfey sent people to ask Urter to come see him. Anfey wanted to go to the palace guards station outside the city to see General Winkler. General Winkler was Miorich’s man, and the two of them had been getting along. Urter and Winkler had become friends. With the presence of Prince Christian, Anfey did not think Winkler would hide anything from them.
Anfey and four others took more than a dozen of guards with them. They hurried out of Violet City. When they reached a palace guard station, Urter walked over to the guard stand before others could. He talked to them for a while, but came back with a disappointing look. After General Augustus took the job in Blackania City, he had called back all the high-ranking military officials. There was no news about Winkler.
Anfey and his group had no other options but to head to Blackania City. With Urter in the group, they had no problem entering the city. He had been back and forth between the two cities, so most guards at the gates knew him. However, he was stopped outside the general’s residence by a few soldiers in bright red armor. Urter tried to explain the situation, but they still did not let Urter in.
Seeing this, Anfey had to hang his flashy earl badge on his chest. He slowly walked to the gate of the general’s residence. The soldiers had seen his badge, since it was so obvious. They hesitated for a second before they forced themselves to stop Anfey.
Earls had much higher status than regular royalty. All the earls were members of the Upper House. To put it in a simpler way, earls could lead barons and viscounts. No matter in which empire, earls all had considerable influence.
The earl badges were the same in every country. The soldiers did not know Anfey was just bluffing them. In fact, he was just an honorary earl.
“I need see Augustus. Move!” Anfey yelled at the soldiers. It was scary to see someone wearing an earl badge. When Anfey yelled Augustus’s name, he looked like he had a tremendous background.
“I am sorry, Master.” The soldier definitely looked scared. He sounded like he was begging Anfey. “General Augustus is in a meeting now. He said he would not see anyone at this time. Could you wait for a little bit?”
Anfey frowned. When he was about to say something, Urter suddenly looked very excited and called out, “Winkler, here, here!”
A middle-aged general, walking hurriedly in the big yard, was shocked for a second when he heard someone calling his name. He turned around and walked over. “Urter, what are you doing here?”
“Winkler, let me introduce you. This is Prince Christian. This is Earl Anfey,” Urter said, moving to the side. Urter knew who Christian was. For the past few days, he had pretended that he did not know, because he had some concerns about it. He had claimed his loyalty to Anfey. If he acted too nice to Christian, he was worried that Anfey would suspect his loyalty. He’d rather play dumb.
Christian walked up with a smile and nodded at Winkler. Winkler was shocked for a second before went down on one knew and said, “Your majesty.”
“Please get up. Right now is a special time. You do not need to kneel,” Christian said in a deep voice.
“Yes, your majesty.” Winkler stood up and stood straight. Seeing the few soldiers still blocking the entrance, he yelled in anger, “Stupid! Move! Hurry up!”
The soldiers realized that the earl was not the one with the best background. There was even a prince. They were so scared that they broke out into a cold sweat. They immediately moved to the side and way for Anfey and his group.
“Your majesty, are you here to see General Augustus? Please follow me,” Winkler said politely.
Anfey walked in the front. Christian, Suzanna and few others walked beside him. After walking a few steps, Anfey saw confusion flash in Winkler’s eyes. He suddenly realized something. He slowed down a little bit and made room in the center of the group. He walked closer to Winkler and asked, “General Winkler, did you get any new information?”
Anfey was the absolute leader in his mercenary group. Everyone had gotten used to it, but it looked strange in others’ eyes.
“I cannot tell you now. You’d better have General Augustus tell you,” Winkler replied.
Christian was shocked for a second before he realized that he should walk in the center. Anfey did not get any information from Winkler. He shrugged and stepped back to walk next to Christian. Suzanna walked on the other side of Christian.
When they approached a conference room, they could clearly hear an argument. Winkler opened the door, Christian and his group walked in one after another. Augustus, at the head of the table, could not help getting angry when he saw these unexpected guests. He immediately recognized Christian. Augustus had been at Anfey and Suzanna’s wedding. He had given Anfey and Suzanna a valuable gift, so he knew them.
“Your majesty, why are you here today?” Augustus’s anger had changed into a smile. He walked up to them. “Earl Anfey, I am so happy to see you. Ms. Suzanna, you are getting even more beautiful. I can tell you guys are happy together. I am so jealous. Mr. Blavi, you do not look too good. You must be really tired. This is…”
Augustus used to be a defense minister. Compared with General Winkler, he seemed to be more social. He could even remember Blavi’s name. He even added Mr. in front to show respect. He did not miss Urter either. The generals on both sides stood up together. When they dressed in armor, they did not have to kneel to the prince in public, but at least they needed to show their respect instead of pretending not to see Christian and his group.
“This is Urter. He is a temporary city master in Violet City,” Winkler said.
“Please take a seat. Your majesty, I thought you were still on the way. It is a surprise for me to see you here. Your people did not even know you were here. Your majesty, if you lead a troop into battle, you definitely would be an awesome general,” Augustus said with a laugh.
Christian blushed when Augustus flattered him, even half-seriously. He immediately waved his hand. “This is your seat. I can sit here.”
“No, no!” Augustus looked serious. “There are rules in the military. When Prince Granden was the supervisor for the battle, he sat there too.”
Christian could not turn it down. He slowly sat down. He looked nervous at first, but after a while, he calmed down. He looked around casually.
“Can someone bring chairs for Earl Anfey, Ms. Suzanna, Mr. Blavi, and City Master Urter? Hurry up!” Augustus yelled.
Anfey and Suzanna did not get too excited when they were treated as honorable guests. Blavi looked excited though. Blavi could not remember a time when he was treated as an important person, especially by an important person.
Soon, chairs were set up. Anfey and others sat on both sides of Christian. When everybody took a seat, Augustus slowly sat down. “Your majesty, they…” Augustus glanced to the side out of the corner of his eye. The generals could not interrupt their conversation, so they still stood there.
“Everybody, take a seat please,” Christian said with a smile.
These generals were very professional. After they heard the order from Christian, they all took a seat together.
“General Augustus, do you any new information?” Anfey could not wait and went directly to the point right.
“Yes, and I have a lot of it.” Augustus thought for a second and had a bitter smile on his face. “Let me put it this way. The whole Pan Continent has been in extreme chaos. During the very first Necromancer War, necromancers gathered thousands of death spirits, but they did not make such a chaos.”
“Is this time more serious than that?!” Anfey was shocked.
“Back then, necromancers had certain objectives. They were powerful without any doubt, but they could only pose threats to at most a few dozen cities and towns. However, in the past two days, hundreds of cities and towns have been attacked. Some of them were filled with death spirits. We could not get exact data and do not know where it is safe and where they are going to attack,” Augustus sighed. “The necromancers are good at doing research on magic, but there is no way they could think out those strategies. I bet they have given the commanding authority to someone else”
“Do we have any plans to fight them?” Anfey asked.
“There are plans.” Augustus paused for a moment. “All the civilians around battlefields are going to retreat to the nearby cities, burn all the bones, and bring their food with them to their nearby cities. This way necromancers have less targets. They could all gather in a city to fight against death spirits in that city. This way we could have backup as well. Luckily we had a good harvest this year. Winter is coming. We do not need to worry about food.
“Isn’t it too passive?” Anfey asked.
“We do not have other options. We have been attacked by surprise. Those death spirits are not scared of sunlight anymore. We have to try to take a break from the constant attacks of death spirits,” Augustus said in a deep voice. “Compared with necromancer’s fight ability, we have a lot more experienced generals and brave soldiers. Necromancers are just some walking dead. If we are given a little more time, we definitely could find their weaknesses.”
“General Augustus, what were you arguing about before?” Christian suddenly asked.
After hearing Christian’s question, the generals all looked awkward. Even Augustus had an awkward smile on his face.
