Chapter 343: Early News

White clouds drifted gently across a bright blue sky.

In the clear weather, a grey hot air balloon slowly floated toward Preston City.

After tossing down three explosive canisters earlier, Jayden and Martin had laughed the whole way. But after flying several more kilometres, they realised a serious problem.

"This is bad. So far, every wind current we’ve found is blowing north. Looks like we’ll have to keep going much farther." Jayden said with worry.

If that continued, they would be forced to drift northward. Even though they’d brought a good amount of tung oil this time, once the fuel ran out, they’d have to land.

And from what they’d seen, the whole area to the north was filled with reaver camps. If they landed there, they’d be caught for sure.

Martin looked tense as well. "We don’t have a choice. We have to keep flying. I just hope we’re not too late to deliver the intel."

Jayden nodded seriously. They had been given an important mission and were determined to complete it.

It wasn’t just about getting titles; they knew that if Preston lost this battle badly, both the Brambleford army and the imperial guards would suffer greatly.

And that would cause the Eldorian Empire’s royal court to fall even further into decline.

Calming down, the two men worked on adjusting the balloon’s altitude by heating and cooling the air, searching for a different wind layer.

They’d faced this problem before in Brambleford. Sometimes, the whole area would have only one wind direction. Finding a new air current could take a long time.

As they floated and searched, the reavers sent out cavalry to follow the balloon from below.

One reaver scout was already rushing toward Prince Fern’s silver command tent.

Seeing how the reaver riders were running even faster than they were floating, Jayden and Martin could only sigh helplessly. ’Of all days, today had to be clear and calm.’

Inside the silver tent...

Fern had just received news from Clinton.

"The Brambleford army has arrived? And a flying monster in the sky?" Fern shouted in anger.

"Prince Fern, the Brambleford soldiers have fire-spitting weapons. Our charging troops were all killed by those." The scout reported anxiously with his head lowered.

Fern’s eyes shifted across the map hanging inside his command tent.

Out of his 150,000 cavalry, 80,000 were stationed in Cobblestone. Right now, the 30,000 Brambleford soldiers in the city were coordinating with the imperial guards outside. If he sent reinforcements now, they might attack together. Fern wasn’t too worried about the imperial guards, but he was cautious of those strange weapons from the Brambleford army.

The remaining 70,000 cavalry were led by Clinton, who was currently trying to block the incoming reinforcements from the imperial army.

To fight over the supply route, Clinton had already sent 30,000 cavalry, but they were being held down by both the imperial and Brambleford reinforcements.

If he asked Clinton to send more troops now, the imperial infantry might break through and move into Preston.

On top of that, Prince Augustus had 120,000 troops stationed inside Preston City.

Fern narrowed his eyes at the map of the region from Preston to Cobbleston. He wasn’t worried about Prince Augustus. In his view, even if a battle broke out outside the city, Prince Augustus wouldn’t lift a finger to help.

Right now, the Eldorian Empire was falling apart. Each regional prince only cared about their own interests, and Prince Augustus was no different.

Only Prince Simon was an exception. He kept fighting the Order to the bitter end. The former used to be like that too, but now he was dead and buried.

"Tell Clinton to pull back his cavalry and wait here for orders." Fern pointed to a spot ten kilometres south of Preston. "We’ll wipe out the imperial army right here first."

He paused, then added. "Prepare the cannons. As soon as the imperial reinforcements arrive, have the slave soldiers charge. Fire the cannons to break their formations. Once their lines are scattered, send in the heavy cavalry for a full assault. We’ll crush them right here."

"Yes, sir!" The reaver generals shouted, then hurried off.

Fern stepped out of the tent and looked up at the blue sky, then turned to the bronze cannons set up in the camp.

He gently stroked one of the cannons, a cruel smile forming on his lips. He hadn’t forgotten the shame of being bombarded by Brambleford’s cannons at Dunmere, completely unable to strike back.

But now he had returned, with 250 cannons of his own. He would bury the imperial army and the Brambleford army under the fire and steel of the Order.

"Eldorian Empire... Your land will belong to me. Your riches and your women will all belong to me." Fern muttered, his ambition swelling.

He had named these cannons Mighty Cannons. He’d personally seen their power and believed they would break the imperial army with ease.

And from what Clinton reported, the imperial army hadn’t brought any cannons this time.

Fern quickly realised why.

The peace-faction officials in the empire still held great influence. They had long been dissatisfied with Lancet, the general. This time, they must have blocked him from bringing artillery.

Thinking of this, Fern let out a cold laugh.

To him, those peace-loving officials were cowards. But sometimes, those cowards were even more useful than an army of 100,000.

"Prince Fern, look!"

While he was deep in thought, noise erupted in the camp. The reaver soldiers all pointed toward the sky.

Fern looked up, and his expression changed drastically. A large grey balloon was floating toward their camp, and he could vaguely see two figures on it.

If Clinton hadn’t already said it belonged to the Brambleford army, some of the soldiers might have mistaken it for a god and started worshipping it.

"What is that?"

"A god has come from the sky!"

"..."

Seeing the soldiers panic, Fern shouted. "That’s a Brambleford balloon! Everyone stay calm!"

His voice brought order, but the soldiers still stared at the strange flying object as it passed just outside the camp.

On the balloon, Jayden and Martin looked annoyed.

"If we were a bit closer, we could’ve dropped a few bombs on the..." Jayden grumbled.

The wind kept carrying them north, and although they had come across the reaver base near Preston, there was no wind pushing them directly over it.

Jayden raised his spyglass and pointed. "Look at that silver tent. That must be the command tent of their Prince. What a waste. If we could drop a bomb right on top of it, we might be awarded noble titles."

Martin’s eyes lit up, but then he sighed. "Too bad this balloon is so hard to control. You can’t choose where to go at all."

The two floated helplessly past the reaver camp and finally reached the skies above Preston City.

From above, they saw that the city was packed with soldiers, especially along the walls.

Jayden took a prepared message wrapped in paper and tied it to a stone. As they floated over the wall, he dropped it.