The early spring chill had not yet fully receded, and patches of snow in the mountain forest glittered under the sun.
An elderly Allen, his back hunched, gripped a pickaxe with calloused hands, chipping away at the not-yet-fully-thawed earth one strike at a ti.
His vision was blurry, and with every swing of the pickaxe, he had to squint to aim carefully.
"Be careful, Uncle Allen," said Jack, an equally elderly farr beside him, panting. "At your age, you need to take it easy."
But Allen just flashed a gap-toothed smile and wiped the sweat from his brow. "It’s nothing, it’s nothing."
Surprisingly, the figures of Arthur and Luca could be seen among the digging crew.
These two forr Knight’s Attendants had rolled up their sleeves and were now sweating profusely alongside the farrs.
Arthur’s salt-and-pepper beard was spattered with mud, and Luca had long since shed his armor, wearing only simple, dirt-caked cloth garnts.
"Dig a little deeper over here," Arthur directed in a hoarse voice, his shovel never stopping. "We have to make sure the roof is solid enough."
Watching this scene, Allen couldn’t help but rember the days when he was Luca’s Groom.
Back then, the Knight’s Attendants were so imposing. They even had Attendants bow and stand by to adjust their capes, let alone do this kind of manual labor.
He rembered one ti when Luca’s Knight’s Sword fell on the ground, and he made a soldier bend down to pick it up.
"The world’s really turned upside down," Allen muttered to himself, swinging his pickaxe with renewed vigor.
Luca seed to have read the old man’s mind. He walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "What’s wrong? Think these old bones of ours shouldn’t be doing this kind of work?"
"No, no, no," Allen said, waving his hands hastily and shrinking back, flattered and flustered. In his mory, the Knight’s Attendants would never interact so closely with a Groom, let alone speak so familiarly. "I was just thinking about the old days..."
"The old days are the old days," Arthur interjected, forcefully shoveling up a chunk of frozen earth. "Now that the territory is facing a crisis, there’s no distinction between a Knight’s Attendant and a farr."
Just as he spoke, Luca suddenly stumbled, nearly falling.
The farrs nearby rushed to support him.
"You should take a rest," Jack said with concern.
But Luca stubbornly steadied himself and gripped his shovel again. "Keep going. We have to finish this shelter before the enemy army arrives."
Although Luca had the strength of a Knight’s Attendant and physical conditioning far superior to that of an ordinary farr, he and Arthur had been working from dawn till dusk, shouldering a workload far greater than anyone else’s.
Their palms were long since blistered and bleeding, and sweat soaked through their coarse cloth garnts.
Allen gazed at the figures of the two old Attendants, a glimr of tears welling up in his cloudy eyes.
He recalled the Knights he had seen in his youth; they were always so high and mighty, even needing to be waited on at altis.
But now, Arthur and Luca not only personally took part in the digging but also occasionally checked on the well-being of the other farrs.
"Let help you." Allen walked over to Luca, wanting to take the heavy shovel from his hands.
Luca shook his head gently. "No need, old friend. I still rember the days you helped care for my warhorse. You kept that horse, Black Wind, with such a glossy coat." He wore a nostalgic expression. "You were always the most diligent one."
Allen’s voice trembled with emotion. "My lord, you still rember... That was twenty years ago. Who would have thought that today, we’d be working together like this..."
As the sun set, the outline of the cave gradually beca clear.
Arthur straightened his aching back, a gratified smile spreading across his face as he looked at the fledgling shelter.
Luca, anwhile, leaned against the rock wall, panting, as sweat trickled down from his graying temples.
"We’ll continue tomorrow," Arthur said to the group. "But for today, thank you all for your hard work."
Watching the two old Attendants’ exhausted yet resolute figures, Allen suddenly felt that the pickaxe in his hands was no longer heavy.
In the twilight of that spring day, he seed to see a different future, a future where knights and farrs toiled side by side.
...
「Nightfall.」
Inside the study, Murphy sat upright in an oak chair, while his old butler, Bernard, stood bowed before the desk.
"My lord, as you commanded, the territory’s shelter preparations are nearly complete," Bernard reported, his voice steady and clear. "We have established twenty hidden caches in the mountain forests, stocked with enough food for three months. Every village has a planned evacuation route, and the old, the weak, the won, and the children have begun moving to the designated locations."
Murphy nodded lightly, his fingertip tracing a line on the open map. "Well done. Rember, our goal is not direct resistance, but to preserve the lives of our people as much as possible. As long as we can withstand the first wave, the armies of the other Lords, as well as reinforcents from Duke Douglas and the Royal Family, will arrive soon."
He looked up and said, "Once the enemy army penetrates deep into our heartland, their supply lines will be stretched thin. They won’t be able to stay for long. As long as our people can evade the initial sweep, their chances of survival will increase dramatically."
This strategy seed simple, yet it was one that other Border Lords found difficult to implent.
It wasn’t that they were unwilling, but that they were unable.
In the past, the common folk never had any surplus grain. If they delayed the spring planting, the following year would bring widespread starvation.
Furthermore, in an era where people barely had enough to eat, even daily labor consud all their Energy. Where would they find the extra strength to dig shelters and transport food reserves?
The food required for these preparations would have been an extravagant burden for the people of the past.
It was precisely because Murphy had consistently implented tax reduction policies, allowing his people to build up their own grain stores, and was willing to distribute food from his own granaries, that such a plan could be executed.
"It’s not enough," Murphy continued. "How are the preparations for those caves I ntioned?"
Previously, under the guise of conducting an experint, Murphy had dispatched soldiers deep into the mountain forests to capture wild animals, simultaneously surveying the distribution of beasts and searching for natural caves suitable for modification.
As for the beasts that occupied them?
What a joke. Humans were the most dangerous beasts in the world, not to ntion that humans also possessed Supernatural Power.
Bernard answered without hesitation, "We have already arranged for young followers to clear them out and have stockpiled sufficient food."
Murphy slowly rose and walked to the window, gazing into the deep night. He whispered, "May the God of Truth protect the Duval Territory."
The old butler bowed deeply, repeating the prayer, "May the God of Truth protect the Duval Territory."
After the study door clicked softly shut, Murphy sat back down at his desk.
He once again opened the Wizard’s Scripture he had obtained from Margaret.
’No matter what, I’ve done all I can. My conscience is clear.’
The duty of a Border Lord was to act as a buffer zone between Kingdoms and withstand the first wave of an attack.
This was precisely why the Duval Territory was a long, narrow strip of land.
Trading space for ti, using the vast depth of the territory to slow the enemy’s advance.
The large-scale battles that would truly decide the war would depend on the strength of the other armies within the Kingdom.
And now, the only thing left for him to do was to focus all his efforts on increasing his own power, to guard against any surprises from enemies like Wizards.
...
「Hans Viscount Domain.」
On the training grounds, three Heraldic Banners snapped in the cold early spring wind.
The White Deer Banner of Viscount Hans, the Golden Maple Banner of Baron White, and the Black Rock Banner of Baron Belede flew side by side.
Two Knight Escort Squads of Heavy Armored Cavalry stood in formation, their cold armor reflecting the pale sunlight. Behind them was a massive phalanx composed of three hundred infantry and five hundred soldiers of the Vassal Army.
The elderly Viscount Hans stood on a hastily built wooden platform, his white hair and beard trembling in the wind.
To his left, Baron White stroked his neatly trimd beard and sighed with feigned concern. "Is it not too cruel to sacrifice Baron Duval like this? We are all Northern Nobles, after all..."
Hearing this, Baron Belede to his right sneered, his coarse face full of disdain. "Since he dared to use our Gold Coins to pay the Royal Family’s taxes, he should have expected this outco. This was a promise from Her Highness the Princess herself: to trade the territory of a single Border Baron to halt the advance of the Rosenian army."
Viscount Hans raised a hand to silence Baron White, his voice hoarse. "This is a necessary sacrifice. Thirty-one years ago, we shed our blood in the Black Wood Forest. Today, it is ti for the Duval Territory to repay that blood debt."
He turned to face the assembled army, raising a withered arm high. "Warriors! The God of Truth is watching us! Today, we will not only reclaim the glory of our ancestors but also completely purge the Barbarians from the Northern Territory! Let the blood of Heresy wash away our thirty-one years of sha!"
"Purge the Heresy! Repay the blood debt!" The soldiers’ shouts shook the heavens, the thud of their spears striking the ground like claps of thunder.
Baron White watched the seething army, a barely perceptible look of triumph flickering across his lips.
Baron Belede could no longer contain his thirst for battle, his rough palm repeatedly stroking the hilt of his Knight’s Sword.
An expedition in the na of God was about to begin.
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