Chapter 598 Situation in the west
Two weeks later, we arrived at the western border of the kingdom.
Before we even arrived, we could see that the situation in this place wasn't going well.
There had been many refugees making their way out of the western part of the kingdom, showing that the fighting wasn't going our way here.
When I had General Killock bring some of the refugees to see me, I learned even more things about the situation here in the west.
Though it was a bit hard for me to get them to calm down at first.
They thought that we were the enemies that had invaded that captured them, so they had been filled with terror. It took a long time before we were able to convince them that we were an army of the kingdom that was here as reinforcements.
It seemed that the enemies had been pushing hard and the nobles here had been hiding inside of their own territories. The only safe places were the cities and towns that the nobles protected with their armies.
For these refugees who came from the surrounding villages, they had no choice but to flee.
The enemy armies ravaged the land while they waited for the nobles to come out of their turtle shells.
That meant that it was very common for the enemies to raid the villages that were in the surrounding area.
The refugees that we had taken in for information were from those villages.
The enemy army didn't hold back at all. They burnt crops, stole their valuables, and even kidnapped their women.
It was no different from what bandits would do...
When General Killock heard this, he seemed like he wanted to bash some heads in, but I raised my head for him to calm down.
When he realized what he did, he quickly apologized, but I told him, "Don't worry, I feel the same."
General Killock looked at me with a look that seemed different from the ones that he had given me before.
It seemed that this time, he had finally accepted me.
After finding out the situation of this western region, I had General Killock prepare some supplies for these people and send them off. I had wanted to send some soldiers with them to guard them on their way out, but I knew that this was too much.
Sometimes, people would be suspicious of excessive kindness.
When they left, I couldn't help thinking about the situation in the west.
The location that we were supposed to be heading to was Vayne City, the city that was under the control of a duke.
This duke was Duke Yuletide, the duke that basically ruled over the western region and controlled most of the nobles here.
According to the refugees that we had talked to, it seemed that he had also been the one to convince the nobles of this western region to turtle themselves like this. It was clear that he was someone who cared only about his own benefits.
But it wasn't just that, I also knew this because he had played a role in the game.
Duke Yuletide had his own quest line in the game and it was one where he turned out to be the villain.
Plain and simple, the duke and the Yuletide Family only had a single target all these years of being in the kingdom.
Starting from the first generation, they had wanted to become the new royal family.
When they supported the royal family to the throne, they had unwillingly allowed them to take the throne. In truth, they had thought that they would be the new royal family of this kingdom when they took over this region.
But in the end, the current royal family took the throne and they were given titles as dukes.
That was something that had been going on for many generations now.
The current Duke Yuletide also wanted to usurp the throne from the current royal family.
However, the Yuletide Family had been a cautious one.
Though they were treasonous, they had never shown their tails even once.
They had been slowly building up power in this western region and had never made a single mistake that anyone could use to catch them.
The one thing that they never expected was this war, but of course, they also wouldn't show their power. Which was why they were currently turtling in their territory, without sending any troops to the surrounding villages.
I was fully aware of what the Yuletide Family wanted, it was just too bad that I didn't have any proof of this.
The proof that I did have was based on a time that was further in the future, so I wasn't able to use this proof yet.
The only thing that I could do was watch over the Yuletide Family since I knew what they were planning.
But the problem was, I had no choice but to go to Vayne City.
As a reward for the slaughter that I had created in the Rising Land Plains, I was given ten thousand more troops to use. However, the fourth prince didn't have any more troops to give me since he had a limited number of troops in the first place.
Since this was a reward that came from the top, that meant that I was able to recruit these troops from the local garrisons.
And since I was heading to the western region, that meant that the local garrison was the one in Vayne City.
That was the only garrison that could even spare ten thousand troops.
So I had no choice but to go to Vayne City to get these troops.
The problem was…would Duke Yuletide give up these troops in the first place?
No, it was very unlikely that he would.
Plus with the news that he and the surrounding nobles were abandoning the villages, it might even be possible that he was planning some kind of coup d'etat.
I couldn't help complaining to the fourth prince in my heart since he was the one that wanted me to come here in the first place…
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