Chapter 445: Day of Triumph

The meeting lasted until sunset. Only when the lamps were lit did they finally manage to roughly arrange the tasks of taking over, managing, and repairing the Rockhold Fortress. Among all the plans, the most crucial question was who should be assigned to garrison this vital northern gateway.

Gawain did not choose the two veteran knights, Philip and Byron.

Their loyalty and abilities were beyond doubt, but they were not suited to defend Rockhold Fortress. The First Combat Battalion they led was the main force of Cecil, responsible for maintaining security throughout the southern region and defending against threats from the Dark Mountains. Especially the latter was something Gawain could never afford to neglect.

In his eyes, the wasteland beyond the Dark Mountains posed a far greater threat than the northern human kingdoms. Although Rockhold Fortress was an important southern gateway, no matter how vital it was, Gawain would not weaken Cecil’s homeland defenses for its sake.

Byron and Philip could not be tied down to the fortress. Besides them, the younger generation of commanders cultivated in Cecil’s heartland still lacked experience; none were ready to shoulder such a heavy responsibility.

In the end, Gawain chose an old knight from the Kant region—Walderperich.

This seasoned knight, with Philip’s help, had successfully transformed an outdated noble mercenary company into Cecil’s Second Combat Battalion. Though the battalion still had many areas to improve, Walderperich’s capabilities had already been proven in the process. What was even more remarkable was his surprisingly strong ability to embrace new ideas and innovations. As the most senior knight in Kant, he learned new weapon tactics and modern military doctrines faster than many younger men—even Philip had praised this to Gawain.

Beyond his skills, Walderperich’s character was equally trustworthy.

Thus, the task of garrisoning Rockhold Fortress and overseeing its repair and modernization fell to the Second Combat Battalion.

After the meeting ended, Gawain stood alone in the now quiet hall, staring thoughtfully at the map hanging on the wall.

The northern gate had fallen.

The capital would likely hear the news soon, but with the dukes of the western and northern regions tied up dealing with the eastern rebels, they would be powerless to resolve the crisis in the south. They knew the fighting strength of Rockhold Fortress and could easily estimate how formidable the Cecil army that took it in a single day must be. Unless they were foolish, the two dukes would realize that even if they cobbled together a force, retaking Rockhold Fortress would be impossible and only lead to further losses. So the capital’s most probable response would be to send envoys to negotiate a temporary “peace.”

Whether the capital sent envoys or troops made little difference to Gawain. What he wanted was a Cecil principality free from outside interference, completely under his control. He would temporarily close this gate, isolate all forces seeking to meddle in the south, and quietly absorb and consolidate the vast new territory he had just gained. He would stabilize his base and usher in a healthy phase of industrial development. This process might take years—even with the pressure of the magical tide forcing him to accelerate, it was indispensable.

The advent of modern weaponry would render traditional castle warfare obsolete, but that did not mean a gateway like Rockhold Fortress had lost its significance. At least for now, this northern gate would firmly hold Cecil’s lands.

The air nearby shimmered slightly as a shadow materialized. Gawain turned toward it. “What’s the situation outside?”

Amber, ignoring him, grabbed a cup from the nearby table and gulped down half a cup of now-cold tea before reporting, “Everything’s orderly. The main forces have completed the takeover. The original garrison is all detained. The Steel Rangers just found the last group of fugitives hiding in the mill west of the city—mostly exiled knights from the southern region. Their skills at running and hiding have improved quite a bit.”

Gawain nodded. “What about the civilians inside the city?”

Amber popped a snack into her mouth and chewed as she answered, “The inner city is under martial law with a wartime curfew. Civilians are staying in their homes. That knight named Margarita has already led soldiers to read the ‘Civil Order Notice’ and distributed supplies and medicine to calm the people. Those have been quite effective. Aside from some nervousness, the inner city’s civilian order is holding up well.”

Gawain exhaled. “Because we didn’t bomb the civilian areas.”

Rockhold Fortress was a fortress-city—both a stronghold and a city. Nearly ten thousand soldiers were stationed there long-term. To maintain the fortress’s operation and military stability, the central area was a fully functional town where many civilians lived alongside soldiers.

To avoid civilian casualties, the Cecil army had only bombarded the southern walls and military facilities behind the first wall during the entire artillery campaign. Even when Solderin and Ropeni carried out sabotage in the inner city, their targets were barracks, outposts, and mage towers. The civilian districts were only lightly affected, and compared to other places, the damage was negligible.

One could say the fragility of noble armies in this era worked in Gawain’s favor. The undisciplined, unmotivated conscripts lost their will to resist almost immediately after the walls fell. That’s why the Cecil army could capture the fortress with limited bombardment. If the defenders had been a battle-hardened, modern-experienced force, continuing to resist after the walls fell, retreating into the inner city to fight street battles amid the maze of alleys and homes, this battle would never have been so easy.

Civilian casualties would have been far worse, too.

After Amber finished her report, she fixed her gaze on Gawain, still holding a snack with crumbs at the corner of her mouth but looking serious. Gawain knew she had a question she couldn’t figure out, so he said casually, “Ask whatever’s on your mind.”

“What are you going to do with Sir Mariland?”

“That’s an easy one—treat him as a prisoner of war,” Gawain waved his hand. “Send him back to Cecil for labor, reeducation, and indoctrination in Cecil law. Then see if he’s willing to become part of Cecil, a law-abiding good citizen. That way, I can keep his noble title, though ‘new-style nobles’ basically just keep the title and a pension…”

Amber’s face fell in disappointment. “Hmph, I thought you’d treat him specially.”

Gawain was silent for a moment, then asked calmly, “Do you remember what I said last time in front of you and Light?”

Amber thought for a moment. “About the landed nobility?”

Gawain nodded. “Right. There are ‘good’ traditional landed nobles who still uphold knightly spirit and true noble virtues, with admirable character. Sir Mariland is one of them. But that doesn’t change his nature as a landed noble or the limitations of his ‘noble virtues.’ He’s a respectable knight, but that’s not enough. Personally, I admire him, but as a lord, I must reform him without exception.”

He chuckled. “Of course, Sir Mariland differs from those southern nobles—I believe he will come to realize the truth and complete his transformation, becoming a law-abiding ‘new-style noble’ harmless to the domain. I see a bit of Philip in him. Such people, though stubborn and hard to change, once they recognize the right path, their transformation is reliable. Unlike those hopeless southern nobles—they might shout their loyalty to Cecil on the first day of collective labor, but even after ten years, I wouldn’t fully trust them.”

“Those traditional nobles…” Amber muttered, then popped the last bite of her snack into her mouth. “But it doesn’t matter now. You finally took your beloved northern gate. The entire south is under your control. You have plenty of time to deal with those guys.”

“The entire south? No, I haven’t taken the whole south yet.” Gawain’s lips curved as his gaze passed over Amber’s crumb-covered face and landed on the military map, specifically on the city of Luan, where the grand Saint Luan Cathedral stood.

The city lay in the northwest of the south region, circled in red.

Amber noticed Gawain’s gaze and glanced at the map, her expression turning surprised. “You’re going to… move against those fanatics now?”

“No, we’ll keep them besieged a while longer,” Gawain shook his head. “Saint Luan Cathedral isn’t Rockhold Fortress. Physically destroying or occupying that cathedral would be more trouble than it’s worth. To uproot the Old Holy Light Church’s foundation in the south, we must strike at their hearts. That requires careful preparation.”

Amber caught the meaning behind “Old Holy Light Church” and smiled knowingly.

Three days later, the situation in Rockhold Fortress had basically stabilized. All registration and statistics were complete, confirming that Sir Walderperich and his Second Combat Battalion had full control of the fortress. Gawain boarded the “Aurora,” a warship powered by sea demon energy, and departed with Amber, Byron, Ropeni, and others.

Thanks to convenient magical network communications, news of the frontline victory had actually reached Cecil City before the army returned home via wireless signals.

In Cecil City, inside the Administration Hall, Hetty ended a magical network call with Rebecca. After filtering out her great-niece’s excited chatter and illogical rambling, she had grasped Rebecca’s request.

Moments later, she summoned Kamail.

Bathed in arcane light, Kamail entered Hetty’s office and greeted the low-ranking but exceptionally capable “Chief Steward of Cecil.” “Good afternoon, madam. Has news come from the front?”

“Yes, a complete victory,” Hetty smiled. “And Rebecca says there’s something she needs you to do—an order from the lord.”

“A technical matter?”

“Sort of,” Hetty nodded. “The lord has decided to take advantage of this victory to conduct a large-scale broadcast test. Rebecca has proposed a plan to evaluate the magical network’s actual performance…”

(End of chapter)