Doghbarum was a metropolis in Palgrost that neighbored the capital, Balgadur. It was also in this main city that Boron had set his camp while waiting for the Liguritudum army to arrive.
He wasn't worried if his brother, Thelgrun sent full force at him. In a direct clash, he won't win against his brother's force that had more than twice his army. However, if he played defense within the city wall, Thelgrun wouldn't be able to defeat him in a short time.
If his brother brought siege weapons, all he had to do was retreat to a further town. Although Doghbarum was a neighboring region to Balgadur, it still required around two days of travel for the army. If siege weapons were brought, it would require more days.
Boron just needed to wait for the Liguritudum army to get close enough before he coordinated with them and advanced together to Balgadur.
He couldn't wait to sit on the throne, which should be rightfully his. His brother was too weak. Too concerned about others' opinions. A sovereign should rule. His subjects should follow! That was the natural order of things. Why should a sovereign be concerned about his subjects' opinions?
"How far is Liguritudum from Balgadur?" Boron asked an outworlder who was sitting beside him.
The outworlder was unusually tall and large for someone of the dwarf race. He could be considered a giant among the dwarves. He was Sizhad Ruust, the guild leader of the State of Galhana. He was the mediator between Boron and Master.
"They were still five to six days away," Sizhad replied. "However, I heard that a portion of Thelgrun's force had gone to the Num Maldur Pass. The Num Maldur Pass guarded the passage through the Gonrum mountain range. Without going through this pass, the Liguritudum army would need to take a roundabout route to reach Balgadur."
"Num Maldur Pass? That pass is guarded by a medium-sized fort. It also has plenty of defensive mechanisms. Do you think the Liguritudum army can take over that pass?"
"I reckon they can, but they won't beat the force guarding the pass without losses. They will also spend a considerable amount of time defeating the fort. Hence, I don't think they will do that. It is safer to just ignore the pass and take the roundabout route. It will add an extra four to five days before they arrive at Balgadur."
"I heard the Liguritudum's ruler has plenty of Army Haste magic scrolls. Won't that shorten the time their army needs to arrive at the capital?" Boron asked.
"That is already considering the usage of those scrolls," Sizhad answered. "The problem is, some outworlder guilds have conducted a guerilla tactic to harass the Liguritudum army's advance. This causes the scrolls' effect to be wasted."
"Such impudence! Make sure to take a record of these guilds. Once the throne is mine, I will give these guilds proper punishment."
Sizhad simply smiled without giving a response. They heard a knock on the door.
"Who is it?!" Sizhad asked.
"It's me, Giddo," the voice from outside replied.
"Enter," Sizhad uttered, which displeased Boron. Sizhad should have asked his permission first before letting anyone enter the room.
The door was opened. A thin yet muscular dwarf stood before the opened door.
"What is it?" Sizhad asked.
"I will need to speak to you, sir… in private," Giddo answered.
Sizhad turned to Boron and said, "Please excuse me, Vice President Boron." He then stood and walked away without waiting for Boron's approval.
"Hmph," Boron harrumphed distastefully. If he didn't need Sizhad to be the bridge between him and the Liguritudum's force, he would have shown this outworlder what it meant to disrespect him. That's okay, once he sat on the throne, he would show all those who had looked down on him. Put them all in their places. He couldn't wait for that day to arrive.
"What's wrong?" Sizhad asked Giddo after they were outside.
"Our members noticed some players trying to get into contact with the ministers in our camp," Giddo answered. "It is probably an attempt from the opposite side of the faction quest World Maker warned us about."
"Have you tagged those players?" Sizhad asked.
"We can only identify a few. They seemed to be from the same guild, Corporate United. They are a guild based in Themisphere but they have a considerable number of members in this country as well."
"Take our members and eliminate all the Corporate United members in this city," Sizhad commanded.
"Do we need to go to such extremes? It is only a suspicion. They might be doing something unrelated," Giddo said.
"It is better to kill a few innocents than to let a guilty man go," Sizhad replied.
"Very well. However, Corporate United hasn't done anything that wronged Boron's camp. The native soldiers will arrest our people if we just attack their members in broad daylight."
"Then do it covertly. I don't think our members are strangers to that, but make sure they know it is us who do the deed. This should warn them about crossing us. If they still don't back off, capture and drag them out of the city before executing them. This should show them we don't f*ck around."
"Understood," Giddo said.
*
Inside a VIP room at a tavern in Doghbarum, Grace, David, and Paytowin were sitting opposite Assistant Manager Ironhand from the Corporate United.
Grace had stopped her martial arts training to join the effort in dealing with the crisis in Palgrost. She originally wanted to join Jack but Jack would be joining his army after meeting Sangrod's emperor. Jack wanted to increase his army's movement speed using his Runestone of Marching. Following Jack around in the army served no purpose. Jeanny asked her to come help in Palgrost instead.
After arriving, Jeanny paired her up with Paytowin and sent the two to meet David in Doghbarum on a secret mission to aid the Corporate United in an attempt to weaken Boron's rebellion.
The three were now listening to Ironhand's summary about the faction quest.
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