Exiled from the Start and Dominating the Wasteland with an Intelligence System Chapter 118 : Chapter 118

Chapter 118. The City-State Alliance

Ti slipped quietly by amid the tense preparations and undercurrents swirling through Thorne City, and several days passed in the blink of an eye.

Thanks to his “increasingly close” relationship with Sir Lucius,

and to Lynn’s relentless pestering of him,

Eli successfully obtained Sir Lucius’s personal permission to browse the La Roche Family’s vast private library at will.

For Eli, who was eager to learn more, this was undoubtedly a priceless resource.

Over the past few days, whenever he had a spare mont, he buried himself in the library.

The enormous bookshelves rose all the way to the ceiling, and the air was filled with the distinctive sll of aged paper and ink.

What he had mainly been searching for was detailed information on those federations within the western alliance.

What drove this urgency was a piece of Purple-Tier Intelligence the World Intelligence Support System had drawn several days earlier, one well worth close attention.

【The Wanliu City-State, which occupies Storm City, has learned of the dramatic upheaval within the Kingdom of Orlando caused by the transfer of royal power and internal unrest.

Wanliu has already issued an ergency summons to the other federations occupying cities along the Western Frontier border.】

This intelligence left Eli with a strong sense of urgency.

The enemy would obviously not let slip the period of chaos that might accompany a transfer of power within the kingdom.

With his head bent over heavy tos and yellowed parchnt scrolls, he worked to sort through the structure of that vast yet loose alliance.

According to the book he had fished out of a battered chest, the so-called Western Federation Alliance was not a tightly unified national entity.

Rather, it was a military-political alliance composed of seven powerful major federations—

Wanliu, Duskwind, Valeria, Mysocia, Hofgard, Aslaed, and Cintra—

as well as twelve lesser federations of sowhat inferior strength.

(Such as Skars, which Eli had already defeated, and Falai, which had been ntioned earlier.)

Among them, the Wanliu Federation, known as “the city through which ten thousand rivers flow,” fad for its rich resources and formidable water-aspected power,

had long held the position of alliance leader by virtue of its overall strength.

It was responsible for coordinating the actions of the various mber states, and it was also the initiator of this latest summons.

Yet as his reading went deeper, an enormous geographical obstacle caught Eli’s attention.

Every source clearly stated that between the Western Frontier and the territories bordering the western federations

lay an imnse natural barrier of the harshest kind—the Great Set Desert.

It was called the Traveler’s Sigh, a boundless land of death.

From the library’s records, Eli learned that this desert was imasurably vast, ravaged by sandstorms,

with extre temperature differences between day and night and water sources so scarce that any poorly prepared large army would be swallowed whole.

So authors even called it “the land of the gods’ twilight” and “the uncrossable land.”

Under normal circumstances, crossing such a deadly expanse required an enormous price and a great deal of ti.

Because of that, it served as a massive buffer zone between both sides, greatly reducing the possibility of large-scale military clashes.

That only deepened one of the questions in Eli’s mind.

A year ago, how had the federal allied army broken through this natural barrier and, after enduring a long march through the desert—

when they should have been exhausted and struggling with supply shortages—

still managed to capture Storm City, the long-standing gateway stronghold of the Western Frontier, so swiftly and with such overwhelming force?

It was nothing less than an unbelievable military miracle.

Especially after witnessing the La Roche Family’s Victory Dance with his own eyes, a display so full of martial spirit and fierce cohesion,

Eli beca even more convinced that the garrison of Storm City back then could not possibly have been weak.

The La Roche Family’s control over its armies, and its ability to inspire morale, were unquestionably first-rate.

Defending from behind city walls against an enemy force that had co from afar in a state of exhaustion, they should have held every advantage.

If so, then there was probably only one explanation.

Strong fortresses were often broken first from within.

Most likely, serious problems had erged within the Western Frontier—or even within the kingdom itself—at the ti.

A traitor? A command blunder? Severed logistics? Or political betrayal at an even higher level?

Yet what puzzled Eli was this: judging from the existing records and from Sir Lucius’s usual words and actions, the Western Frontier did not seem to have undergone any large-scale internal investigation or purge after the fall of Storm City.

At the very least, there had been no publicly visible result on the kingdom-wide level.

Why?

Was it because the truth could not be uncovered? Or because the matter reached too far and too deep, so that even Lucius and Federico had no choice but to endure it for the ti being?

Or had it been deliberately suppressed in order to preserve surface stability and avoid even greater unrest?

The more Eli thought, the more tangled his thoughts beca, as though his fingers had brushed against an invisible, enormous net.

He shook his head and forcibly cut off those speculations for which he could not yet find answers.

His imdiate priority was to understand the enemy as thoroughly as possible, prepare for the coming war of reconquest,

and use it as a springboard to formally step into the sight of the kingdom’s nobility.

He closed the book in his hands, one apparently written a few years ago by a scholar from an East Territory family:

《A Detailed Explanation of the Western Federation Alliance—With Supplentary Analysis of the Customs, Geography, and Military Characteristics of Each State》

The contents were quite detailed, and he intended to take it back with him for closer study.

Carrying several books he had selected, Eli made his way to the entrance of the library.

A simple front desk had been set there, and an old, gaunt man was curled up in a broad chair.

He wore a gray hooded robe and seed to be the only caretaker of the place.

Eli called out to the old man, who looked as though he had been dozing.

“Hey, Reeves. I’m taking these books with . Register them.”

The old man called Reeves stirred, and from beneath the hood ca a dry, hoarse chuckle accompanied by heavy breathing.

“Heh heh heh... oh... the little sparrow with the sweet tongue is here again...”

The corner of Eli’s mouth twitched slightly.

When he had first co here, seeing how mysterious and inscrutable the old man looked, he had thought he might be so hidden master of the La Roche Family, so reclusive sage disguised as a caretaker.

So he had been extrely polite and deferential in both word and deed, which had amused the old man to no end and made him laugh like that.

Only later, after so indirect probing with Young Duke Constantine and the steward, did he learn that this old fellow’s na was Reeves.

He was rely a mber of so long-declined collateral branch of the La Roche Family.

With nowhere else to go, and because he at least knew how to read a few words,

and because he was far too old for anything else, he had been sent here to watch over the library and earn his als.

His only rit?

Well...

Probably that he was one of the rare mbers of the La Roche Family who had lived a very long life, so he had likely seen more than most.

“I’m leaving, old man. Don’t forget to register them. Don’t let walk out and then have you forget again,” Eli said irritably.

But Reeves was not offended in the slightest. Instead, he let out that trademark laugh again.

“Heh heh heh... may the Prival Forest bless you... young man. Reading more books is a good thing... rember to co often... heh heh heh...”

As he spoke, he slowly picked up a quill and shakily wrote down the titles in a thick register.

His movents trembled, and his breathing ca in labored bursts.

Eli honestly worried that the old man might fail to catch his next breath and simply pass away on the spot.

“Heh.” Looking at him like this, Eli shook his head helplessly.

“I just hope that the next ti I co, I’ll still find you alive and well.”

With that, he wasted no more ti and left the library through its sowhat gloomy doors, books in his arms.

Reeves looked at Eli’s retreating back and that striking white hair, and a gentle smile appeared in his eyes.

“Heh heh heh heh...

The last... little sparrow with a tongue this sweet... what was his na again... ah...”

...

He had only just returned to the brightly lit corridor of the fortress’s main building, and had not even decided whether to head first to the dining hall for sothing to eat or go straight back to his room, when a guard hurried over with a trace of urgency on his face.

“Baron Pendragon! So this is where you were!

Soone has arrived outside the fortress. He claims his na is Clark Graham.

He says he has co from Obsidian Territory, and that he has urgent business with you!”

Clark?

Eli’s heart tightened sharply. Shouldn’t Clark have remained in Obsidian Territory to help Old John manage the domain?

Why had he suddenly co all the way to Thorne? Had sothing happened in Obsidian Territory?!

That thought hit him like a bucket of ice water, and in an instant he cast aside every other line of thinking.

There was no ti to ask further questions. He quickly said to the guard, “Take there at once!”

And with that, he followed the guard at a swift pace toward the fortress gates.