Chapter 427: The War Machine Turns Again

The long-awaited news finally arrived for Gawain.

Taking the intelligence report handed over by Amber, he quickly scanned it and couldn’t help but smile. “All the fleeing noble remnants have reached Rockhold Fortress, just as we expected—they can only take temporary refuge there. The Holy Spirit Plains won’t accept them. And right now, the fortress is isolated, cut off from any support from the royal court or the plains.”

Amber looked incredulous. “Are the people in the capital really giving up Rockhold Fortress that easily? That’s Rockhold Fortress, after all!”

“They’re not giving up; they’re just forced to put it on hold for now,” Gawain said cheerfully, casually turning the report to ash. “The Eastern Legion, led by Duke Selas Loren, is Ansu’s strongest force. They’ve already broken through the eastern gate of the Holy Spirit Plains in a short time and established a foothold in the eastern strongholds. If they capture a few more key fortresses, they can march straight down King’s Avenue and strike at Saint Suniel. The eastern rebels’ goal is clear—they want to overthrow the Second Dynasty. For the capital, that’s the greatest threat.”

He paused briefly, then continued after a moment’s thought. “But they’re not about to hand over Rockhold Fortress. I can guess what the capital’s thinking—they’ll use the fortress’s sturdy walls and garrison to hold and delay. Rockhold Fortress sits in a mountain pass between the southern lands and the Holy Spirit Plains. Its unique terrain makes it nearly impossible to besiege. The Cecil forces can only attack from the south, while the fortress can be continuously supplied from the north, from the plains. It was designed from the start to withstand prolonged, intense assaults. So from the capital’s perspective, this will be a long war. As long as Rockhold holds out, the royal family can catch their breath from the crisis in the east. Then the western armies, even the northern mountain legions, can march south to reinforce…”

Amber blinked. “So we need to take the fortress before the capital can react…”

“Send for Byron, Philip, Solderin, and Hetty. Oh, and Rebecca too,” Gawain nodded. “The noble remnants’ halftime break is over.”

Moments later, the military commanders of Cecil, along with the heads of internal affairs and technology, gathered in Gawain’s study.

Before Gawain spoke, they already guessed why they’d been summoned. Rebecca, who rarely got called to military meetings by the old lord, looked around curiously. She didn’t understand why she was there since she knew nothing about warfare, but that didn’t stop her from feeling unusually pleased.

Byron looked at Gawain expectantly. “Lord, are we finally going to move on Rockhold Fortress?”

“Why do you look so happy?” Philip muttered beside him. “Never knew you liked fighting so much.”

“Don’t mention it. I promised Pea I’d bring her a gift once we took Rockhold. I’ve been bragging about it for almost two weeks.”

“Ahem,” Gawain cleared his throat, interrupting the two wordsmiths, then nodded slightly. “As Byron said, the war’s halftime is over. Philip, how’s the northern preparation going?”

The young knight stepped forward half a pace. “Lord, over the past two weeks, we’ve been transporting components for various heavy and light artillery and industrial parts to the Carol region. We’ve been using the existing magic network there to build armories and manufacture weapons and ammunition. Currently, the north has sixteen ‘Justice’ orbital cannons and 127 ‘Persuader’ light orbital cannons ready, with ample ammo. Additionally, the First and Second Combat Corps, each with two thousand soldiers, are on standby in the north.”

“That’s enough.” Gawain nodded slightly. To secure the lands of the southern nobles and maintain basic order in several control zones, he had to leave some troops in the south. But he wasn’t planning a traditional human-wave siege on Rockhold Fortress. The forces amassed in the north were sufficient in his eyes.

He then looked at Solderin. “Can the Steel Rangers join the fight now?”

“New soldiers have to see blood,” the senior ranger replied. “They’ve been waiting for this day a long time.”

“Good. I have a suitable mission for you,” Gawain nodded. “You’ll coordinate with our inside men in Rockhold Fortress…”

After assigning the Steel Rangers’ task, he turned to Hetty. “What about food supplies and recent propaganda efforts…”

Gawain went through the situation in his territories one by one, assigning tasks, but he never mentioned Byron’s role. After a while, the mercenary-turned-knight couldn’t hold back. “Lord, what about me? What’s my task?”

Gawain glanced at Byron, pondering briefly. “You do have a task, and an important one at that. But first, I need to confirm something else… Rebecca, how’s the progress on the Prism Device over at Kamail’s?”

The “Prism Device” was just a project name, not a final title. Though it was Kamail’s project, Rebecca, as head of the entire arcane technology institute, was fully aware of its progress.

Hearing Gawain’s question, Rebecca, who had been slightly distracted, snapped to attention and showed a troubled expression. “Still the heat dissipation problem… The energy concentration structure is so large that the heat builds up faster than it can be released. We’re trying to use ice and snow magic circles to forcibly suppress the temperature, but so far we haven’t found a rune substrate that can operate stably under strong interference—the previous cooling rings burned out quickly.”

“So aside from the heat issue, the Prism Device can run?”

Rebecca nodded. “Yes, both prototypes can run—just not for more than a few seconds.”

Gawain nodded slightly, then turned to look at the huge map hanging on the study wall.

Rockhold Fortress was truly different from most of the “stone castles” in the southern lands. It was a real fortress, armed with powerful magical technology. It had a strong magical barrier that could absorb natural mana to continuously repair itself. As long as its operation wasn’t interrupted, cannon fire would be far less effective.

According to Kamail, the Prism Device, which relied purely on magical energy to damage targets, was better suited to counter magical shields than the crystal cannons. So no matter what, Gawain wanted to use this new weapon in the assault on Rockhold Fortress.

In his mind, he saw satellite surveillance footage.

The terrain around Rockhold Fortress was clear before his eyes. The Dorgon River flowed south from the Holy Spirit Plains, splitting into two at the mountain pass before the fortress—one branch winding through the mountains, the other flowing into the southern border, becoming the lifeblood of the southern lands: the Whitewater River.

Gawain turned back to Rebecca. “Maybe we can broaden our thinking. The heat dissipation problem isn’t that hard to solve…”

Rebecca didn’t catch on immediately—her geography teacher had been lax on combat skills, so her geography grades weren’t great. She couldn’t imagine what Gawain was thinking.

“You have an idea?”

“We can use the river water to cool the device. I’ve seen Kamail’s prototype and talked with him about it. This plan should work.”

Rebecca’s eyes brightened. “Oh! That’s a great idea! I’ll discuss it with Master Kamail right away!”

Gawain smiled, then leaned on the table, his gaze sweeping slowly over everyone present. “There’s one more thing—I’m going to the front lines myself.”

The room fell silent, everyone exchanging surprised looks. They hadn’t expected this.

Though it was normal in this era for noble lords to lead in battle, Gawain had never been seen on the battlefields of the Shattered Ridge bombardment or the Whitewater River defense. He’d only personally fought twice during the mutant attacks on the city. In other words, except when defending his own lands, Gawain preferred to stay behind. His attitude and self-image were clear: rulers should command from the rear, not charge into the fray.

So everyone naturally assumed the old lord would stay behind this time too. No one expected Gawain to plan to lead the campaign himself.

“A mature administration can maintain order during the lord’s brief absence. I trust Hetty to manage the rear, and the troops left at home can defend against threats from the Dark Mountains,” Gawain explained. “The assault on Rockhold Fortress will be a crucial battle—more important than facing the seventy thousand ragtag troops of Count Hosman. It will determine whether we secure a stable, undisturbed base. No matter what, I won’t allow any mishaps. That’s why I must be there in command.”

He paused, then added, “And there’s an even more important reason—you all know why Rockhold Fortress was built in the first place.”

Hetty looked at her ancestor with a complex expression. “To lock the Cecil family in the southern lands…”

“So when Rockhold Fortress falls, I have to be on the battlefield.”

Symbolism and appearances—Gawain himself didn’t care much for these, but the era’s basic rules and public opinion did.

Since that was the case, for such a momentous event, Gawain didn’t mind playing the symbolic role.

The pre-battle meeting lasted late into the night. By the time it ended, Amber was yawning nonstop. She looked at the still energetic Gawain and couldn’t help but grimace. “I don’t know what your brain’s made of—you always have so many ideas…”

“Just take that as a compliment,” Gawain said casually, then stood and headed for the door. “Next, I’m going to talk with Tyr. Want to come?”

Amber hesitated. “Is it appropriate to visit her so late? She’s probably asleep…”

Gawain glanced back at Amber. “Do you think it matters to Tyr whether it’s day or night? Whenever I come to her, it’s always her sleeping time!”

Just as Gawain said, this sea witch, cut off from the sea, basically had only one thing to do on land—sleep. When Gawain and Amber arrived at her room, the mermaid was floating belly-up in her large pool, looking as if she were dead. Honestly, this salty fish had too many quirks—not only was her walking posture completely unrecognizable, but her sleeping posture was arrogant and domineering. The maids responsible for changing her water had taken a long time to accept that when the mermaid flipped belly-up, she wasn’t dead but just back-floating…

Waking Tyr was no easy task. Amber fussed over the fish for a long time, but the mermaid remained sound asleep. Just as Gawain hesitated whether to jump in and give the salty fish a kick to wake her, Tyr finally stirred awake.

The moment the mermaid lady opened her eyes, she saw Gawain and Amber standing right in front of her. Startled, she flipped over and swished a tail, splashing water all over Gawain’s face. “Why didn’t you guys knock?”

“Seriously! We practically blew the door off just to wake you up—if you manage to come around after that, you’re impressive!” Gawain grumbled, wiping the water off his face. He glanced at Amber, who had immediately ducked behind him to avoid the splash. “Do you know we almost poured boiling water into the pool just to get you up?”

“Boiling water? That’s nothing. I’ve been near underwater volcanoes before,” Tyr shot Gawain a sideways look. “Anyway, what’s so urgent that you’re bothering me in the middle of the night—wait, is it night now?”

She looked around, and seeing the darkness outside the window, she confirmed, “Yeah, it really is night… I just fell asleep.”

“You went to bed last night!” Gawain’s eyes widened in disbelief. He was starting to seriously question whether waking this salty fish was a mistake. Still, he got straight to the point. “I came to tell you—we’re about to launch an attack on Rockhold Fortress.”

Though Tyr spent most of her time sleeping, she was at least aware that Lord Cecil was at war outside, so she wasn’t completely lost. She just looked a little puzzled. “So?”

“Interested in coming to see it?”

Tyr paused, then flicked her tail gently in the water, sending up a few ripples. She spoke slowly, deliberately. “You do remember what we agreed on, right? I can share knowledge about the deep sea and help out when those so-called ‘aberrants’ attack cities, but I won’t get involved in your human wars. That stuff’s way too boring for me.”

“Of course I remember. And I’m not asking you to fight in human battles. I just want you to help deliver something up north, and you can just watch from the sidelines.”

“Just like that?” Tyr eyed Gawain suspiciously. “I know you—you’re way too cunning. You’ve got some kind of trap set, haven’t you?”

Gawain didn’t answer her question directly. Instead, he said, “Aren’t you curious about land magic and technology? Your sea witch kind hit a bottleneck in your own tech system, right? Maybe at Rockhold Fortress you’ll see something interesting—a clash between traditional human magic and Cecil’s arcane technology. Even for an advanced civilization like yours, that kind of technological collision is worth seeing.”

Tyr’s eyes flickered with a hint of interest, but after a moment, she shook her head slightly. “Honestly, I’d rather just sleep…”

“I’ve thought it over. The giant stag Amorn is huge—maybe you could nibble on it a bit…”

“Deal!”

Gawain and Amber exchanged a speechless look.

(The End of this chapter)