“Open the gates!”
“Open the gates!”
Reynolds and his men continuously howled with anger. The enemy only had three hundred in total, while Neil City had tens of thousands of soldiers. What was there to be afraid of? After making their way back here, Reynolds and his men had thought that their lives had been saved, but now…
“Slash!” A warblade chopped down towards a knight’s neck, bifurcating him into two pieces. His intestines rolled out.
“Die, all of you, die!” The leader of the enemies laughed wildly.
Reynolds’ side was quickly decimated. In the blink of an eye, only a few were left. Staring at the enemies, Reynolds couldn’t help but feel despair.
“Am I going to die?”
Reynolds had many goals and dreams which he had yet to accomplish. But now, he was about to die.
On the city walls, a group of nobles were surrounding an ashen-faced middle-aged noble.
“Your Imperial Highness, are you alright?”
“Don’t be afraid, your Imperial Highness. The enemies won’t be able to break in.”
After continuous reassurances, the middle-aged noble slowly calmed down. This man was the administrator of the Southeast Administrative Province, the younger brother of the Emperor, Prince Julin.
Prince Julin wasn’t born with any spine or ability, but he was the younger brother of Emperor Johann, and Emperor Johann doted on this younger brother. Thus, Prince Julin was living quite a comfortable life.
He knew that it had been over a decade since the O’Brien Empire and the Rohault Empire had engaged in any large scale battles. Thus, he had been happy to come here to ‘take a look at the borders’. His arrival had caused all the local nobles of Neil City to surround and pamper him.
But who would’ve thought that just as he was bragging about the military might of the Empire up on the wall, an arrow had shot towards him. Fortunately, the guards next to him had blocked the windows.
“Open the gates!” A desolate, angry howl from below.
The surrounding warriors’ eyes were turning red at the scene. There weren’t many enemies. If the army of Neil City were to charge out, they could definitely kill all the enemies with ease. But Prince Julin refused to let them open the gates.
“Your Imperial Highness, there aren’t many enemies below. Let me lead my men to go kill them.” A military officer begged.
“Bullshit.” Prince Julin pointed at his nose and cursed, “What the hell do you know? Can’t you see that far away, there are several hundred soldiers?”
“But your Imperial Highness, our city of Neil has thirty thousand soldiers.” The military officer argued.
Prince Julin sneered, “It is dusk right now, and in the distance, there is a great deal of tall grass. Who knows how many enemies are lying in wait? Think about it, for just a few hundred people to dare attack, surely they must have some sort of support, yes? It isn’t worth the risk and the additional bloodshed just to rescue a few dozen soldiers of the Empire.”
Prince Julin spoke with authority and determination.
“But your Imperial Highness…” The military officer didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Clearly, this Prince Julin didn’t know anything about military affairs. Given how sturdy the city of Neil was, even if their enemy had a hundred thousand soldiers, they wouldn’t find it easy to break through the defense of Neil City and its thirty thousand soldiers.
What’s more, his side was just going to go kill the enemies below the city walls. It wasn’t as though they were going to chase and counterattack.
Prince Julin wiped away the cold sweat from his forehead.
“Isn’t it just a few dozen common soldiers? If they die, they die. I don’t want to be in any risk.” Prince Julin secretly said to himself. He immediately said with severity, “Remember, you are not to attack without authorization. Otherwise, if something happens, don’t blame me for being merciless.”
“Your Imperial Highness, the leader of those people seems to be Reynolds.” Someone suddenly said.
“Which Reynolds?” Prince Julin frowned.
“The Reynolds who is in the principal line of descent for the Dunstan clan.”
“The Dunstan clan?” Prince Julin frowned, but then he laughed uncaringly. “To die for the sake of the Empire is a glorious thing for their clan. In addition, the Dunstan clan is a large one. So what if a single descendant dies?”
Prince Julin didn’t care in the slightest.
“Open the city gates!” That desolate cry rang out again. And then, there were no more cries to be heard from outside the city.
Reynolds body slumped down, falling against the city walls. An arrow was in his shoulder, and a terrifying wound could be seen in his chest. Fresh blood flowed everywhere.
Reynolds had already lost consciousness.
“Senior captain?” Reynolds’ armor revealed his status.
The leader immediately grabbed Reynolds, tossing him onto his shoulder, then shouted to his men, “Let’s go.” As he spoke, those ten men left as fast as lightning.
From start to finish, aside from shooting arrows atop the city walls, the defenders of the city of Neil didn’t open the city gates or engage the enemies in battle at all.
The Dunstan clan possessed tremendous influence in the military. Soon, the news of how Reynolds’ entire unit had been wiped out, while Prince Julin had given the ridiculous order that his men were not to leave the city and engage in battle, reached its way to the Dunstan clan.
Not long after Prince Julin returned to his residence, his subordinates told him something shocking.
“Your Imperial Highness, that Lord Reynolds who died in battle was an extremely close friend of Master Linley. The two studied together at the Ernst Institute, and their affection for each other rivals that of real brothers.” A bearded middle-aged man said respectfully to Prince Julin.
“What? Master Linley? The two are as close as real brothers?” Prince Julin instantly jumped to his feet.
“Those…those bastards! Why didn’t they tell me up on the wall?” Prince Julin said frantically.
“Your Imperial Highness, there aren’t many people who know of the relationship between Linley and Reynolds. Even in the imperial capital, only a few nobles know. How could those distant nobles of Neil City know about this?”
Prince Julin immediately began to frown.
He wasn’t afraid of offending the Dunstan clan. No matter how powerful the Dunstan clan was, they relied on being in the good graces of the Emperor. It was just one clan member, after all. All he had to do was to say something to the Dunstan clan, and this matter would definitely be at an end.
But offending Linley was something else entirely.
“Immediately reach out to the Dunstan clan. Also…prevent any news from coming out of the city of Neil. Don’t let the information get to the imperial capital, especially to Linley. Just say that Reynolds’ death was in battle and in service to the Empire.” Prince Julin was truly beginning to panic.
Yulan calendar, year 10009. September 15th. This was the day when Wharton and Nina were going to get married. Wharton was the younger brother of the world-famous Master Linley, while Nina was an Imperial Princess.
Their grand wedding was naturally an incomparably important affair.
Within the palace, beautiful music wafted throughout the halls like flowing water. All the nobles were toasting each other while chatting and laughing.