Knights and Magic Wand
Chapter 755: 353: Ustato Territory Incident (Part 2)

Chapter 755: Chapter 353: Ustato Territory Incident (Part 2)

It seems that the convenient Canis may eventually be replaced by the Holy War Knights, unless the situation is not serious and unsuitable for revealing one’s trump cards.

Unfortunately, the reality is not like the card game played in a previous life, lacking enhancement and advancement functions.

Although Canis continues to refine his martial arts and combat experience, his physical capabilities have been fixed in his pre-death state. Even as a knight, he is undeniably strong, yet his limitations are set. Leon believes he might choose the Holy War Knights over the Wolf Family Young Master.

After all, as long as the enemy can be efficiently and swiftly defeated, it can fully compensate for the excessive consumption of magic power and insufficient maintenance time.

However, if a hundred Holy War Knights cannot defeat the enemy forces in a short time, summoning Canis might also be completely ineffective.

Who knows… if this extraordinarily talented Wolf Family Young Master had not died young from assassination while imprisoned out of resentment, what heights could he have achieved if he continued living?

Would he die similarly in some future battle, or embark on a legendary path of his own?

Leon shook his head internally. In another fate, he had no interaction with Gunnar Family’s Canis, nor did he know if something different would have happened had Wizard Met not murdered him.

In any case, life cannot be restarted….

Ahem…

Well, to be more precise, it’s indeed impossible for creatures apart from beings like Aphrodite to rewind voluntarily.

Thinking about various matters related to the Netti Card, Leon stepped into the main castle hall of the fortress.

Upper stone throne seats beside honored seats. Olivia and others in his party, along with Yevan and local alliance lords from Kilmerton, were already seated.

Leon ascended the throne, convened a brief alliance meeting, and listened to the lords reporting the current situation in Sobonitz Domain.

Currently, on this land that originally belonged to the eastern region of the Kantadar Kingdom, the population under the rule of the Holy War Alliance is approximately over forty thousand.

It seems like a lot, but it’s less than one tenth of the original eastern population, and quite a portion has migrated post-war from the territories ruled by Princess Ines and the Thorny Flower Family, now concentrated within the territory of these two families.

In many areas of Sobonitz Domain, not only are the places vast and sparsely populated making them difficult to utilize, but they are also challenging to control.

The most obvious problem is the countless lords from Ustato Kingdom, and even unspecified regions, entered through the eastern mountain pass of Ustato post-war, openly “occupying” alliance land in the Kechin County area.

This is the huge trouble brought by lacking a legal status.

The invading lords of Sobonitz claim they openly came to “recover the eastern lost lands” in the name of King Caso of Kantadar.

To the local alliance lords now, some of these people are the cowardly strays who fled during the Undead siege.

Others are merely opportunists who turn up from nowhere to gamble and hope to reap the benefits without any effort.

The Alliance lords naturally wouldn’t want to hand over the land to the jackals who came to reap the land gained through blood and sacrifice.

Both sides nearly erupted into a military conflict amidst the friction.

Leon was well aware of this; he and Ines had specially visited Kechin County last year to mediate a near-outbreak of small-scale warfare.

Reflecting now, Leon suspected the conflict might even have Lydwen III’s tacit approval.

Otherwise, how could Caso at the Royal Court, controlled momentarily by the Orland Army, dare to incite the Ustato lords to advance eastward?

It was probably after that conflict when Ines secretly approached Caso, hoping to secure a high ranking Kantadar noble title to reconcile conflicts and accommodate the nobles coming from Caso, transforming the hostile parties into allies….

This would also secretly plant mines to hinder Lydwen III’s future actions if he lusts for the land even more.

The situation in the Kantadar Kingdom is now subtle and peculiar.

Overall, the Kantadar Royal City is presently controlled by a six-thousand-member elite army under King of Orland’s command.

Regardless of whether it’s Lydwen III or the new king Eric who succeeded, from the information Ines gathered, their attitudes are covetous of the fertile lands under the Little Princess in Kantadar.

Since both Ines’ father and brother are lustful for her fertile domain, naturally, other regions of Sobonitz won’t be spared.

Even though the Thorny Flower Family, Princess Ines, and himself are nominally vassals to the King of Orland, the food, wealth, and land income that the Holy War Alliance members acquire in Sobonitz Domain are entirely unrelated to the Orland Kingdom and Kantadar Royal Court; the alliance exists as an independent governance.

While the King of Orland might not utilize military force against these vassals, he might leverage situations to coercively demand allegiance and tribute from those leading figures in the Holy War Alliance under the guise of serving the king, indirectly annexing the semi-autonomous eastern Kantadar.

So, when nobles aligned with Caso, nominally submitting to the King of Orland’s Ustato lords, and even Kantadar nobles under Caso’s banner attempt to encroach the eastern land of the alliance under the recovery pretext, the Orland Army will surely stand by, or even secretly offer support, adding pressure and disorder to the Holy War Alliance, aiming to advance its goals with further pressure in the future.

Leon certainly doesn’t want to fall into such a troublesome scenario.

If he and Ines, as leaders of the alliance, submit to the King of Orland, it might result in internal division within the Holy War Army despite his prestige.

The King of Orland may well disregard the alliance’s continuance, only seeking a justification for future land annexation, but Leon doesn’t want the organization that united various forces to combat the undead plague during the Undead War to become a hollow shell.

It’s not just about considering personal interests and power, but also fearing the hidden dangers of the unextinguished millions of the Undead Corpse Sea in the south, and potential future outbreaks of magical disasters.

Though failing to cease the internal discord within the North and South Kingdom early, to counter the overwhelming calamity…. Leon has no desire to go through it again.

Facing such a delicate tripartite relationship, the original plan Ines devised is indeed a brilliant maneuver against her father’s ambitions.

Once Leon, as Marshal of the Holy War Alliance, becomes a vassal to Caso while also being a vassal to the King of Orland, it wouldn’t just provide legal governance over Sobonitz Domain but also establish a triangular balance.

Among the three parties, the weakest Caso stands to gain the most, as the Kantadar Royal Court is most reluctant to submit to the King of Orland, the very reason for his rush to unite forces to plan an escape from restraint.

Thus, as long as the conflict with Caso is resolved, Lydwen III would have no choice but to abandon his plans unless he breaks out into war by tearing faces to forcibly snatch.

However, man proposes himself, and heaven disposes.

Lydwen III was assassinated, the knight’s tournament ended abruptly, and Leon couldn’t flamboyantly get the Duke Andville title from Caso. Even Caso himself has now been detained in Oran City by the new king Eric.

Leon only hopes Caso’s inability to return to the Ustato Kingdom doesn’t escalate the territorial conflict between western Kantadar lords and Holy War Alliance.

…During the meeting, various matters regarding the grain harvest from different regions of the alliance, town trades, Holy War Army dispatch, and even the diplomatic relation development between the Holy War Alliance and Holy Sun Church in Seryan were discussed…

Before the hall’s political deliberation concluded, a Messenger suddenly rushed into the meeting, hastily approaching Leon’s throne and handing over a sealed secret letter.

“Marshal, Governor David sends you an urgent report.”

Leon raised his brows. On arrival at Sobonitz, he heard from Yevan that David recently led an elite troop to Ustato Territory to investigate traces of vampires.

Is there further news?

Yet, as Leon split open the wax seal and unfolded the letter, his eyes raced over the contents, momentarily stunned.

….The letter originates from Avim County in Ustato Territory and Kantadar Royal City…

It reads that Earl of Buck General Trolsa, responsible for monitoring the Kantadar Royal Court garrison, was murdered by vampires…

….What?

Wasn’t Trolsa recently still in Oran City?

When did he head south to Ustato Territory?

Only a month or more has passed since Lydwen was assassinated. Shouldn’t the Kingmaker remain by the new king’s side to assist Eric in managing the government?

Moreover, what kind of vampire could bypass Baron Kellan to assassinate General Trolsa?

Could it be