Chapter 193 - 169: City Defense Preparations (Part 2)
Chapter 193: Chapter 169: City Defense Preparations (Part 2)
The Algeria Kingdom was known as the greatest land army in the Human World, while some said the Frank Kingdom was the second greatest.
Of course, the Frank Kingdom never partook in such rankings. To them, survival was paramount. The royal family generally avoided these antagonizing lists.
Valentino may have studied the subject, but that didn’t mean she knew how to apply it. If it were that simple, everyone would be an expert at everything.
"But where are we going to find the magical materials to pollute the water sources?
We don’t have any Undead Mages or Druids right now," Valentino asked curiously.
"Well... we’ll find a way. Just wait and see. Your job is to locate all the small lakes—the smaller and deeper, the better. I’ll arrange the rest," Robson said.
’The history of humanity in this world spanned three thousand years. Legend had it that the history of the three Elf Kingdoms to the north could be traced back ten thousand years.’
’In some legends, there were even units of time called ’epochs,’ spanning a hundred thousand years. Yet in all that time, no true technology or civilization had ever developed.’
’Robson figured it was all because of Magic.’
’In this world, life rose to prominence through Magic. When starting a fire relied on incantations instead of flint, and hunting depended on aura instead of great axes, the world’s inhabitants were destined to be inextricably bound to Magic and aura.’
’While Magic certainly brought convenience, it also severely narrowed their vision, making them incredibly short-sighted.’
’So what if they didn’t have Druid Magic? Did that mean they couldn’t contaminate the water supply?’
’To Robson, the very idea was a ridiculous joke. Of course, his method for contaminating the water was... unconventional. It might be hard for a woman like Valentino to accept, so Robson decided to keep her in suspense for now.’
"Alright then. I’ll have the Fengman Knight Order work with the griffins to get it done. Don’t worry, you can leave it to me," Valentino said.
Robson nodded. ’He felt comfortable entrusting such a simple task to Valentino. While she lacked any real military genius, she possessed a solid foundational knowledge. For the Algeria King’s College to be as renowned throughout the Human World as Tilia’s National Feistanbuding King’s College, it had to be for a good reason.’
Robson gazed at the mountains before him. The next, most important step was the forest fire.
’When playing with fire, caution is paramount.’
’If done right, it could consume every useful resource in the area. For that army on a forced march deep into the heartland, the consequences would be fatal.’
’But if handled poorly, you could get burned and bring about your own destruction.’
Of course, Robson was confident he could handle it. For the forest fire, he would primarily have those esteemed Mages help create firebreaks. The task of actually starting the blaze could be left to Huang Na.
’Huang Na could control her Phoenix Fire. As for the mundane flames that remained after the Phoenix Fire naturally went out...’
’Truth be told, for the plant life of this world, mundane flames couldn’t cause much of a stir. Without sufficient intervention, they would just slowly die out on their own.’
One of Robson’s reasons for sending out those esteemed Mages was to have them liven things up a bit—to make the flames last longer.
He would have Huang Na fly far out, starting the fire from fifteen miles away, and the north wind would blow the flames southward.
This southern area was full of rugged mountain ranges with sparse vegetation. As long as they created adequate firebreaks, there was no danger of the fire spreading back to them.
’Based on my judgment, this continent is most likely in the planet’s northern hemisphere, where winter winds always blow from north to south.’
’Of course, in a fantasy world like this, it’s hard to say if the planet is even round. I can’t speculate without evidence, and all the methods of verification I know are impossible to use right now. Not that I have the time to try.’
By Robson’s estimate, once the legions he’d left behind caught up tomorrow, he could begin setting fire to the mountains.
.....
Once he had arranged everything, Robson immediately rushed back to Thermopylae.
By this time, the cavalry teams sent to hunt down the Beastmen had nearly all returned. As they were led by veterans and were simply running down a fleeing enemy, the teams suffered no further losses.
In fact, many of the squad leaders had already called off the chase once the Beastmen fled into the mountain forests. This was a direct result of Robson’s earlier military reforms; cavalry were far less effective than infantry in the woods.
’However, the lure of Gold Coin bounties would often blind non-commissioned officers with greed, leading them to order their soldiers into dangerous territory. Such a thing rarely happened among Robson’s men. It just went to show how well-rounded the Tier Six Soldiers from the system truly were.’
’I wonder if there’s an even higher tier, a Tier Seven? My Tier Six Soldiers have experience bars, but they’re incredibly long, and the experience they gain is minuscule...’
With the return of the cavalry team, Robson did a quick count. He now had over 170 Frank Border Knights under his command—more than twenty over his initial estimate. ’It seems the experience points from those Beastman Wolf Cavalry are really high,’ he thought.
Now that the Cavalry Team was back, Robson immediately went to find Prince Noah.
’The men have worked so hard for so long. It’s time for the Prince to show his appreciation, isn’t it? As for the Gold Coins he promised before... isn’t it time to pay up?’
Fortunately, Prince Noah had no intention of reneging on the payment. Now wasn’t the time for that. When it was time to throw money around, Prince Noah wouldn’t hesitate to spend every last coin.