Chapter 159 - 147: In Imminent Danger
Chapter 159: Chapter 147: In Imminent Danger
And now, that time had come.
Seeing the Marquis’s confident and composed demeanor, the anxious hearts of the high nobles began to settle.
Marquis Oscillate had a point. Thirty years ago, their capital had been breached, yet they had managed to rebuild from the ashes. What was this compared to that? Hadn’t they seen such scenes plenty of times before?
"Tell Wei Man he doesn’t need to come here. After ensuring His Highness the Prince is safe, he is to proceed directly to Thermopylae. Remember to send His Highness the Prince to Sirich City first; His Majesty’s men will be there to receive him."
Marquis Oscillate had already given this order last night, but he was now repeating it in a different way.
"Also, I have something to show you all," Marquis Oscillate said.
The nobles looked at Marquis Oscillate in confusion. ’At such a critical juncture, the Marquis still has the mind to be mysterious?’
"This morning, Philip Castle to the east was captured by the enemy. Something... interesting came from there.
Let’s take a look at this first, and then we’ll continue with the meeting." Marquis Oscillate clapped his hands, and a wooden coffin was carried into the conference room by several men.
The nobles’ confusion deepened. ’Bringing out a coffin at a time like this? Isn’t that a bit... inauspicious?’
Could it be that the Marquis intended to emulate the Knight King—either conquer the Beastman Empire or be buried in a coffin?
That was even more inauspicious, since the Knight King had truly died on his path of conquest.
Amidst the puzzled gazes of the nobles, Marquis Oscillate walked up to the coffin. With a flick of his finger, he opened it with ease.
Someone gasped sharply. All who saw the contents of the coffin were frozen in shock.
Inside the coffin lay a human skeleton, its eye sockets flickering with green fire. To everyone’s horror, the skeleton was constantly twitching.
Where its heart should have been, a ball of green flame now burned.
"This is... this is..." A noble who had studied as a Mage in the Southern Tilia Kingdom was breathing heavily, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"This is Viscount Dives. His soul has been stolen, and he can no longer travel to the Lord’s Divine Kingdom," Marquis Oscillate sighed. He then placed his hand on the skeleton. The vigorous aura of a Golden Tier warrior erupted from him, and the skeleton’s struggles gradually ceased, the green fire in its eyes quickly extinguishing.
"It’s Necromancy," Marquis Oscillate said.
"Disgraceful! This is betrayal! This violates the Treaty of Berkov from a thousand years ago!
The Beastmen should be sent to the gallows!" After a moment of silence, the human nobles erupted into an uproar, the room buzzing with commotion.
The Undead! This was hardly an unfamiliar term. A thousand years ago, the great plague that broke out among the ancient races of the Northern Territory had raged for nearly a decade, sweeping from the western Northern Territory to the southern Endless Sea, and from the western Jade Ocean to the World Tree in the east.
The destruction of the Third Empire was not unrelated to this war. The territory of the Frank Kingdom itself was land the Knight King had seized from the Beastmen under the pretext of eradicating the undead.
Of course, civilized people wouldn’t call it ’seizing’. At the time, the tide of undead had not yet been quelled on the Beastman Grassland. The Beastman Empire had indeed taken the initiative to request troops from the Elanshiri Empire, and the Knight King had indeed fought both the undead and the Beastmen.
The Beastman Empire had promised to cede a piece of land to the Elanshiri Empire as a reward for the humans who had distinguished themselves in the war against the undead. However, the Knight King expanded this territory more than tenfold, seizing all the prime lands of the Beastman Royal Family.
Back then, the Moon Elves had not yet fallen into schism and had sent troops to help the Beastman Empire reclaim its lands. But the territories further south had long been completely devoured by the Knight King.
This was also the reason for the decline of the Beastman Imperial Family. Later, to preserve their Empire, the Beastman Royal Family began to recruit various other races, leading to the situation today.
Regardless, the words ’the undead’ were deeply seared into everyone’s hearts, especially in the Frank Kingdom. After all, the Knight King had founded their nation under the very pretext of helping their Beastman allies suppress potential attacks from the undead and the ancient races.
"Quiet! Quiet!"
Seeing that everyone had vented their emotions enough, Marquis Oscillate slammed his hand on the table and barked.
The Marquis’s words were still very effective. The volume of discussion immediately dropped a notch, then gradually faded away.
"My Griffin Cavalry have sent word back. The entire fortress—be it the human defenders or the attacking Beastmen—has been turned into undead.
What we should be considering now is, what is our way out?!" Marquis Oscillate demanded.
"The entire fortress! Madman! This is absolute madness! Kemal has gone mad!!!"
"Report it! We must report this to the Human Council! Inform the Pope and the Kings of Tilia and Algeria immediately! The Human Council must convene ahead of schedule!"
"Right! And the Moon Elves! The Necromancy was leaked to the ancient races from their side back then!"
Listening to the crowd argue back and forth, never getting to the point, Marquis Oscillate felt helpless.
’Do they really not understand?’ he wondered. ’Not necessarily. They’re all just waiting for me to speak.’
"The Human Council must be informed, and His Majesty the King must be notified. But the most important thing right now is to immediately discuss whether to retreat or to continue defending," Marquis Oscillate said, interrupting them.
The noble lords had a sudden realization, as if the thought had just struck them.
"The Marquis was elected by the Kingdom Council as the Western Commander, the true Western Front Marshal. I will follow all of the Marquis’s orders!
Whatever the Marquis says, I will do!"
"The situation is critical, we can’t hesitate any longer! Please give the order, Marquis!"
The crowd was a picture of righteous fervor, as if Marquis Oscillate was a leader they truly supported from the bottom of their hearts.
Of course, Oscillate didn’t believe a single word. If these people were truly so loyal, Prince Noah would never have been besieged in the first place, and they wouldn’t be in this situation.
Then again, he couldn’t blame the nobles entirely for the failure on the Western Front. They were doing a fine job defending their own castles; it was unrealistic to expect them to follow him on a risky venture.
In a nation of nobles, not moving a single step from one’s post without a direct order was, in itself, a great testament to a noble’s loyalty.
Marquis Oscillate had no desire for this kind of lip service from the nobles.
Retreat was already the obvious course of action. However, the King had not yet ordered a retreat, nor had the Kingdom Council made a statement. To retreat now would surely invite criticism later, and that criticism would fall on the one who initiated it.
This was a common occurrence in all the Human Kingdoms. When facing external threats, the entire southern faction acknowledged Marquis Oscillate as their leader and followed him wholeheartedly. But when it came to internal matters, Marquis Oscillate became the ’Southern Giant’.
Although Marquis Oscillate’s power was immense, he was, in essence, just another high noble, no different from them at his core.
Under the noble system, everyone’s behavior, both internally and externally, was bizarrely inconsistent.
"Our Frank Kingdom has always abided by the politics of voting. On a matter of such gravity as the crisis on the Western Front, it is only natural that we all make a statement together.
I, Oscillate, in my capacity as Marquis of Frank and Western Commander, will now call a vote on the matter of retreat.
Essentially everyone here represents the core strength of the Western Front, so let’s decide it right here! Raise your right hand to support a retreat, and your left hand if you do not," Marquis Oscillate said.
This was precisely why Marquis Oscillate had summoned them all here today—to vote on the spot and avoid any bickering that would slow things down later.
Seeing that Oscillate was completely unreceptive, the nobles had no choice. A few Counts who were closer to Marquis Oscillate raised their right hands first, followed by a wave of others.
Marquis Oscillate nodded in satisfaction, then raised his own right hand.
"Then I declare the plan for a retreat from the Western Front has passed unanimously. The Memory Stone has just recorded it. Now, everyone, hurry and make your preparations," Marquis Oscillate said.
Hearing this, the nobles couldn’t help but curse him internally as an ’old fox’, but ultimately, there was nothing they could do.