Chapter 695 The situation at the frontlines [Monthly Bonus 1]
Cudjour River banks
Ceasya
Wolfen
June 26th
Year 1053
On both sides of this river, were the GEE Army and the Wolfen Army Camps. The GEE Army was on the Ceasya side and the Wolfen Army was on the Todbury side.
All the bridges on the river were raised on Todbury's side and the Wolfen Army had a few Brigades at regular intervals along their side of the banks.
Crossing the river was not feasible for both sides so they were at a stalemate.
They had exchanged fire earlier, but it didn't last long as both sides saw the futility of simply shooting down each other's long-ranged attacks and how much of a waste of energy it was.
If they tried to use magic to fly over, they'd be left at the mercy of the other side's soldier who'd just shoot them down. If they tried to use magic to create bridge constructs, the other side would break it before enough soldiers could get through.
There was the option of freezing the water with ice, but that needed at least Tier 4 Magic.
That was something that needed time to accumulate magic power and time to chant. What's more, using this option required the spell to be strong enough that tens of thousands of soldiers could cross the frozen river and It'd still maintain its integrity and not collapse under their weight.
Neither side would sit back and watch the opposing side do such a thing.
That was the cause of the current stalemate which Evan arrived to meet.
He didn't make his entrance flashy, instead coming in under the cover of the darkness before dawn, and he was led to the command tent by the soldiers who were on watch duty.
Amiyah was not asleep, but was busy calculating their rations and when they needed to request more supplies from the supply lines they had in Ceasya's main cities when she received word that Evan had arrived.
She was also told that he brought someone with him and that person was wearing a mask and hood, with enchantments that prevented their analysis skills from seeing who the person was.
However, the person possessed a seal of the Emperor and claimed he was there on the Emperor's orders to accompany Evan.
Dismissing her subordinate Generals, she received both of them in her tent.
When Evan stepped in, she raised a brow in light surprise, before shrugging lightly.
'One really shouldn't ever trust rumours…'
She shook her head before turning towards the hooded man with Evan, only for her brows to twitch as she recognized the mask the person was wearing.
"…Bourne?"
"Shh!! I'm not supposed to be here."
"YOU MOST DEFINITELY ARE NOT!!"
The woman's loud voice attracted the attention of her subordinates outside who came charging in with weapons drawn, but when they were met with the scene of Evan seated and shaking his head while Amiyah was holding the collar of the masked man.
"Oh…there's no issue here. Return to your posts."
"Um…General."
"Return. To. Your. Posts."
"…"
The soldiers had no choice but to nod, sheathing their weapons and bowing before leaving the tent. Evan then pulled out his soundproofing artifact and switched it on, before gesturing to Amiyah and saying.
"You can continue scolding him now."
"…"
The woman didn't even know what to say at this, while the hooded man laughed and removed his mask to reveal a fact that Amiyah found all too familiar.
He had light brown hair just like hers, but unlike her black eyes, his were brown in colour. He was fairly muscular and his facial features made him look like someone in his early thirties.
He was Evan's namesake, the First Star of the GEE's Seven Star Generals, and someone who was supposed to be protecting the Emperor in the capital.
But when Amiyah pointed this out, the man only shrugged and replied.
"That ice block is there so Isaac would be fine."
Somewhere in Askal, a certain blue-haired Duke suddenly sneezed twice, much to the shock of those around him.
Back at the GEE Camp on the Cudjour river banks, Evan and Amiyah properly greeted themselves while ignoring Bourne. The first question the Half-Elf woman asked him after this, was one regarding Bourne's presence here.
"Did you bring him here?"
She had heard stories of Evan making even the 'Laziest Mage Alive', Joanna Ritz, travel all the way to the GWE so she didn't put it past him to be the reason for Bourne's presence.
Evan's reply, however, killed that thought immediately.
"I'm Superior Grandmaster, he's Inferior Epic. You think I can forcefully bring him anywhere?"
"…well, no."
"There you have it."
The boy shrugged before narrating how he was in Egraiby, about to board his next train when he bumped into Bourne at the Station; the man was the one who then dragged Evan along with him, claiming the 'Capital was too boring and he wanted to have some fun elsewhere'.
"Seriously, when would you start acting your age, Bourne?"
Amiyah sighed while Evan only turned to look at Bourne's status and saw the 55 in the Age tab. He then went on to scan the rest of the man's status, spending a lot of time on the Level tab as he wondered just what on Aidos the man had done to go from the 499 he was at when Evan met him in Year 1051 to his current level 568.
"So, Ami. H-"
"Don't shorten my name at your convenience."
"But Ami sounds nice!"
Amiyah frowned when she saw Bourne's reply and seeing her expression, the man realised she was really pissed and decided to stop playing around.
The half-elf once again sighed before laying out a map on the desk and answering the question Bourne never got to ask completely.
On it, they could see the layout of Wolfen, with pen marks showing the routes the GEE Army had planned to take.
Of the original forces she came into Wolfen With, she had sent 25% as reinforcements to the Army attacking the states East of Zhupus while she took the remaining 75% and went west.
"Huh? Reinforcements for who?"
Amiyah glanced at Bourne with narrowed eyes for a moment, wondering if this man was even paying attention in the last meeting they had.
"Princess Heather."
Evan was the one who gave the answer, and the light of recognition flashed through Bourne's eyes.
"Oh, so that's why Isaac's been grumpy recently. His dear daughter has run out to go fight again."
The First Princess of the GEE, 'Princess Knight' Heather Wilson, was the one who was sent to the Eastern Front of the war. She was the kind who'd pick a sword over a dress even in her sleep, and the Empress Dowager had picked her up and trained her since she was young, much to the dismay of the current Empress.
Emperor Isaac initially liked this as he felt that his daughter should be strong, but the current him regretted stopping his mother then.
She was competent with a pen and extremely skilled with a blade, which made him proud, but on the flip side, she had slight battle junkie tendencies.
The instant she heard that there was a War, she cancelled her trip to return to Askal for the first time in four years and instead headed to Wolfen to join the fight.
And this left a certain Emperor who had not seen his eldest daughter in four years not feeling all too good.
"Anyway, leaving aside our casualties in the battle for Ceasya and the soldiers we left behind to take care of them and keep the state under control, we currently have around 40,000 soldiers with 10,000 in reserve.
Wolfen has somewhere around 35,000 and our spies say they have reinforcements on the way. As much as I'd like to defeat them before the reinforcements arrive, we currently have this issue caused by the Cudjour River."
The Cudjour Mountain Range separated Northern Wolfen from Central Wolfen and if they wanted to go around the mountain, they needed to take out Todbury so they would not be faced with a pincer attack.
Only after dealing with Todbury would they decide if they should go around the mountain range via the east side or the West side.
"The Mountain Range stretches more to the East, but we would not need to cross any more rivers if we go East, so I suggest we use there.
Besides, it'd take Cudjour longer to notice us if we go East since they have more defences on the shorter Western Route."
Of course, Evan's real wish was for them to go through the Cudjour Mountain Range, but this was something he hadn't told anyone yet.
"Before we think about how we'd get around Cudjour mountains, we need to think about how we'd make sure our backs are clear and our supply lines would not be disrupted when we do."
Amiyah brought them back to the main topic at hand and looking at this, Evan had an idea. Upon sharing this idea with them, both Amiyah and Bourne looked at him with wide eyes before uttering four words.
""Evan…you're pretty crazy.""
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