Chapter 694 Interviews
While Eliza was in Vathax, Evan was dealing with the issues pertaining to his presence in the ongoing war.
Thanks to Arlan's memories, Evan had a pretty easy time devising a plan of action as the former hero had done something similar a lot during his Era.
People were criticising him for getting involved in another country's war, a lot said he was doing it for fame (which was true), while some others just said that the GEE had paid him money and he was basically a mercenary for hire.
When people were saying whatever they wanted, a press conference took place at the Barthmont palace, presided over by Prince David.
The contents of the Press Conference were broadcast live on radio and in it, David affirmed the GEE Emperor's claim of possessing the support of Heroes.
He also stated that he supported Evan's stance on the matter, revealing that he had also been looking into the War Remnant Structure as well and had been denied access by Wolfen.
The fact that Wolfen denied even the Beast King's son had people wondering exactly just what it was that Wolfen wanted to hide in that place.
People started accusing them of trying to monopolize whatever information or resources which were inside there.
Just when the President of Wolfen was trying to deal with the situation, Laurene also released a statement that basically amounted to the same thing that David had said.
She then made it worse for Wolfen by revealing that she had discovered a War Remnant Structure and had explored it, but sadly, the information she discovered in it was things the general populace was already aware of.
This made things even worse for Wolfen, especially as the news of Tomond being captured with just 1 casualty was still causing problems internally.
That headline laid the foundation for Evan's statement regarding the treatment of War Prisoners.
That the costs of taking care of the tens of thousands of Wolfen Soldiers who were now held captive by the GEE, was to be incurred by Wolfen and not the GEE who was holding them captive.
Evan's statement went against all the war conventions the world knew.
People wanted to know just what he was thinking when he stated that, and they got their chance for an answer during the interview he had that afternoon.
Host 1: "Typically, it is the responsibility of the nation capturing the war prisoners to provide for their basic needs, including food. This is in accordance with international laws and conventions, which outline the humane treatment of prisoners of war.
So, I, as well as many others are wondering why you say the home nation of the prisoners should provide the provisions instead? This is unprecedented, to say the least."
Host 2: "Indeed. If the GEE is not going to feed them, then why take prisoners in the first place?"
Evan: "There's a first time for everything and I decided to be the Precedent of this.
The aim of this War is to Annex Wolfen for the sole reason of exploring the 'War Remnant Structure' in Agla, and I have a desire to keep the casualties to a minimum, so the only other alternative is to take the surrendered soldiers as war prisoners.
That is why I subdued the Firecrest Camp in the State of Tomond, with only the Brigadier General who refused to call for a surrender despite the fact that he was going to be sending his men to their deaths as a casualty.
As for you who asked why take prisoners if we are not going to feed them, note this:
In Tomond's Firecrest Camp alone, we have 3568 captured soldiers. Are you saying we should kill these 3568 soldiers simply because we do not have the resources to spare to provide for them?"
Host 2: "No, that's not what I meant."
Evan: "Then explain to me what you meant. We could not have taken down Firecrest without defeating these soldiers and do you expect us to let them go after defeating them, so they can come back and attack us again?
There are two choices. To Simply Vanquish them, or send them to the afterlife and we chose the option which would allow these soldiers to eventually go home to whatever families they have after all this is done.
Even if they lost, they did put their lives on the line to defend Wolfen and in respect to that, I left them alive—on the condition that Wolfen provides for them.
If Wolfen refuses to do this, then they're basically saying that we should kill the soldiers who have already surrendered?"
Host 1: "…"
Host 2: "…"
Everyone could feel both Hosts' unspoken questions, of how Evan somehow made Wolfen look like the bad guy even though the country was the one being invaded.
His last question was one that Wolfen obviously could not say 'YES' to; that'd be bad for them Internally and Internationally.
Just imagine how Wolfen Soldiers would feel if they fought bravely and were defeated, only for their home country to tell their captives to kill them.
That'd just be Wolfen shooting itself in the foot!
War analysts went over the interview recording and after listening to all Evan said, they theorized that Evan's and the GEE's aim was not to make Wolfen bear all the costs of providing for the captive soldiers but to make them at least provide more than a certain percentage of it which would be very favourable for the GEE.
Wolfen would still be disadvantaged, but at least, they'd save morale from nosediving.
Of course, these were all just their speculations as they truly could not find out what had gone on behind the scenes, especially as Evan didn't bring this up again and neither did any of the public announcements Wolfen made touch this matter.
◇ ◇ ◇
In the coming days, the GEE Army formed a defensive line along the borders of the six states they had captured. Each strategic invasion point had a division of over 10,000 soldiers manning it.
Included in this 10,000 was the GEE's Airforce which had come in as the first stage of reinforcements for Beluar.
They consisted of Wyvern and Griffon riding mages who rained down spells from above. Their mounts were also capable fighters as well, able to protect them from Wolfen's air-borne combatants.
Despite the string of defeats, the Wolfen Army's Morale was still high and they resisted the GEE Army fiercely.
Wolfen claimed its first victory in Zhupus, by repelling the GEE's Army from invading the state.
During the time Beluar had been consolidating the GEE's rule on the six states that they had taken over, Wolfen was able to bring more soldiers to Zhupus so when the GEE's advance force came in, they were able to repel them with ease.
Unfortunately, the celebration of this victory was not long-
lived. As stated above, it was just an advance force.
Beluar led the main invasion into Zhupus and the state fell just like Liegan had, which then increased the amount of Wolfen Territory that the GEE had conquered.
Thanks to the reinforcements from the Air Force, they were able to handle the invasion without spreading their available forces too thin.
After all, the mages who rode the Wyverns and Griffons were perfectly capable of land combat as well.
Tomond, Liegan and Zhupus.
From the positioning of these states on the map, it was obvious that the GEE was really cutting a line straight to Wolfen's Capital of Agla.
Wolfen had quite a bit of mountainous regions and rivers that flowed from these mountaintops, so their speed was going to reduce after taking Zhupus as there were mountains and rivers in their path.
Perhaps, the founding fathers of the country had considered this when they situated their capital behind one of said mountains.
If they wanted to easily get to the capital, then the GEE would have to go around the Cudjour Mountain Range.
After this, they'd have to take down the state of Cudjour itself, and then Vadvale before finally making headway into Agla.
They would also need to deal with the other states to the east and west of Zhupus first, to avoid being faced with a pincer attack when they began moving towards Cudjour.
There were also the states and cities in between Zhupus and Cudjour which needed to be dealt with, but that wasn't Beluar's job.
Sixth Star General Amiyah Wallace arrived with her army of over 100,000 soldiers, accompanied by Air forces numbering 25,000 and they marched through Tomond, and Liegan, entering Zhupus where they split up unevenly and began attacking the states bordering Zhupus to the east and west.
Amiyah's Army pressed forward and quickly took over the state west of Zhupus, Ceasya, and their next target was Todbury which was right next to Ceasya.
But there was a problem with this.
In order to enter Todbury, they had to cross the river that flowed down from the top of the Cudjour mountain range. But unlike the shallow Liegan-Zhupus River, this one was much wider and deeper, and consequently much harder to cross.
Wolfen had shut down the bridges into Todbury when Ceasya fell and they had soldiers mounted all across the river banks.
Flying across would result in getting shot down and any attempts to construct a bridge would not be successful as the Wolfen Army would interfere.
It was then, that Evan returned to Wolfen, along with a certain someone who most definitely should NOT be with him.
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