The Lich of Glory Knight Spirit: Moving towards Krimasha!
Chapter 56 - 40: The Knight’s Wandering (3) (Second Update)

Chapter 56: Chapter 40: The Knight’s Wandering (3) (Second Update)

"Warfare changes rapidly."

This sentence described the war perfectly.

On the first day, Yilin was on the offensive, but by that evening, all the ships in the harbor were burned. Yilin completely lost the possibility of attacking. Were there still ships? Of course, but not enough, and they were too slow to transport. And the King obviously wouldn’t give Yilin the chance to transport her entire army across and then start the war. Defense was Yilin’s only option.

On the second day, Count Caspar’s troops finally arrived as promised, two thousand strong. But the enemy’s reinforcements arrived as well, four thousand troops accompanied by a massive amount of supplies.

On the third day, all of Yilin’s forces, nineteen thousand strong, had fully assembled. However, the King’s forces seemed to just be starting to assemble. The disparity in strength between the two sides began to grow.

A vast quagmire had already unfolded before Yilin. There was a wavering of morale among the forces, and Count Caspar, who had only arrived two days ago, had already begun making small moves.

This left her in disarray.

If she initiated the attack, she didn’t have enough ships to transport her troops across in one go. Transporting them in batches would only lead to them being picked off by the King in batches.

If she didn’t start the battle, she would have to sit and wait for the King to fully assemble his forces and then cross the river. At that point, she would be utterly powerless to resist.

As for Gray...

He had completely fallen into despair.

Yilin even issued an order to lock down the entire castle, not just Gray, but everyone had to be checked and needed to state their reasons for entering or leaving.

Seeing the chevaux-de-frise set up at the castle gate and the patrolling soldiers constantly coming and going, even the Black Cat, who always hoped Gray would cause less trouble, became furious, "My God, at a time like this, she actually locks the most powerful combatant in the castle. What is she thinking?"

"She just doesn’t trust me, that’s all," Gray answered softly.

"Uh... Wasn’t that supposed to be my line usually?"

"I think I’m starting to understand. But understanding leads to confusion." Resting his chin in his palm, Gray leaned against the balustrade of the balcony, "I can’t believe I would add ’that’s all’ behind ’she just doesn’t trust me.’ ’That’s all’ means it’s not a big deal, but it clearly should be a big deal."

"Honestly, I’m not used to you being so sentimental."

"I want to help Yilin, to honor the oath, but she doesn’t trust me. I want to help everyone, but I can’t guarantee my actions will truly help them. Maybe I might even harm them. I want to lead my knights into battle to uphold the chivalric spirit, but they are not even permitted in the military camp. If chivalric spirit is not what it is written to be, then what is the point of the knight’s oath? It’s more perplexing than the profound magic totems."

"Stop!" The Black Cat quickly raised its paw, "You’re making me more miserable than before. I think I should convince you to revert to your former self. Although that state was also dreadful, at least a blockhead Knight Lich was easier on my ears than a philosopher Lich."

Gray turned his face sideways and quietly looked at the Black Cat.

After thinking for a moment, the Black Cat deflated, "But it seems like I can’t convince you either. Oh God, what have I done? My words are too persuasive, I can’t even argue against myself!"

Gray slowly turned to face the castle gate again. He watched as the soldiers checked everyone entering and leaving, their confusion palpable even through their masks.

"Maybe only action can solve problems! Come on! Let’s go watch a knight play! There should be a new one showing today! There’s nothing a knight play can’t solve. If there is, watch two!"

"I don’t want to go."

"Then let’s act it out ourselves here? Let’s perform it ourselves! I love playing the villain. Really! Look at my falling posture! Ah! I’ve been hit! Look! I’m falling! I’m down!" The Black Cat lay straight on the balcony rail, sneaking a peek with one eye while shouting, "Look! Am I getting better? Don’t you feel the thrill of defeating the mastermind?"

Gray didn’t even glance at him, staring dumbfounded at the castle gate.

The Black Cat had no choice but to struggle to get back up.

"Let’s help Yilin? Her situation is really dire, she needs you! You have an oath with her, you need to help her, right?"

"She asked me to stay here, obeying orders is also part of our oath."

"Then let’s help old ladies cross the street! Now is the time when many old ladies need help crossing the road. They need you!"

"Maybe my help won’t bring them what they want."

"Then let’s assemble the mighty Silver Moon Knight Order? Knights need their training, right? And you have to teach them the true meaning of chivalry, don’t you?"

"But I don’t even understand myself."

The Black Cat was completely disheartened and dropped its head with a "thud."

"What have I done? I’ve convinced an excellent knight, only to turn him into a completely lazy, lackluster knight?"

"But you were right, even you can’t argue against yourself, right?"

"Yes. Sometimes I hate myself too, for being so smart in the places I shouldn’t be. It’s truly despairing."

The Black Cat could only helplessly join Gray in staring at the castle gate.

"Gray!"

There was a knock on the door, "thud, thud, thud." It was Shelley’s voice.

Gray turned to look.

The Black Cat quickly said, "I’ll get the door!"

With that, it jumped off the railing and ran to the door, then made a flying leap, using its weight to pull on the door handle.

Shelley pushed the door open and walked in carrying a tray of pastries.

"Gray, I made some pastries myself. Do you want to try some? Hey? You really have a cat!"

"I don’t want to eat." Gray turned his head back to continue staring at the castle gate.

"Well... I’ll leave it here for you. Have some when you feel like it and tell me if they’re good. It’s part of experiencing married life!" Placing the tray on the table, Shelley hesitated and then said, "Gray, it’s actually not your fault. We all know that. But many things in reality are beyond our control. You will always be the greatest knight in my heart, regardless."

After a long silence, Gray softly asked, "Shelley, what do you do when you’re lost?"

"Lost?" Shelley crossed her arms and tried hard to think, unable to recall any time she felt lost. She could only say, "The priest at the church says if I do something wrong, I can confess and ask the Holy Spirit for forgiveness. I can also go there if I’m lost. I have confessed a few times, but never because I was lost."

"I see."

Gray uttered a simple response and said nothing more, continuing to stare at the castle gate.

The atmosphere was so awkward that Shelley could only say softly, "I... I’ll go downstairs now. Stay here alone for a while."

Shelley left, closing the door behind her. The room returned to its original silence.

"The church?" Gray craned his neck to look aside.

Not far away stood the private chapel of the Beisher Family.

"You don’t actually want to go to the church, do you?" the Black Cat asked.

Gray didn’t answer, he just silently turned his head back, staring at the castle gate again.

Time ticked by.

The sun traced the same arc across the sky as it did every day.

The whole world seemed static to Gray.

...

On the fourth night...

"Miss Yilin! The King’s forces have started crossing the river!"

"What?" Yilin’s eyes widened abruptly.

"Just discovered!"

It was a stretch of riverbank ten kilometers from Yilin’s camp.

Yilin quickly gathered her troops and rushed to the front line.

Before long, she stood on a hill and saw a large fleet of ships gathering on the riverbank.

Yes, they were not just crossing, they were halfway across already. The riverbank, stretching for miles, was teeming with the King’s army.

The King didn’t opt for a frontal assault on the port or the easily accessible riverbanks controlled by Yilin. Instead, he chose a spot riddled with reefs.

Many of the ships had run aground, but what did it matter? They hadn’t planned on using those ships to go back anyway. Or rather, they had more ships, so they didn’t care at all.

The heavy infantry had already set up chevaux-de-frise on the riverbank and formed their battle lines. Many militiamen were using pulleys to unload supplies from the grounded ships.

"Miss Yilin!" A soldier rushed over, kneeling on one knee, "We’ve spotted more of the King’s troops at another location!"

"Another location?" Without hesitation, Yilin drew the sword from her waist, "Everyone, listen up! We can’t let them land successfully! We must drive them all back into the river! This is an opportunity!"

Before she finished speaking, there was already a disturbance in the rear.

Yilin was stunned.

"What’s going on?"

"Bad news!" Another soldier rushed to Yilin, "Miss Yilin, the Field family’s two thousand men have mutinied! They’re defecting to the King!"

"How can this be? Edward III is still under my house arrest!"

"Bad news! The Caspar family’s troops have mutinied too! They’ve taken the port!"

Count Gruglu stumbled, almost falling to the ground beside Yilin.

In an instant, Yilin seemed to lose all her strength. Her eyes widened, and the sword held high above her head slowly lowered.

"How could this happen... So, Count Caspar didn’t come to offer help, but to start a rebellion?"

"We should retreat"" Count Gruglu said, taking deep breaths and gritting his teeth, "Retreat now, and we still have a chance to negotiate. If we attack, we’ll be annihilated tonight."

"Will he negotiate with us?" Yilin questioned in response.

...

At that moment, on the river, the third group of the King’s forces was heading to the port now controlled by Count Caspar on boats.

The King stood at the ship’s bow, leaning on his longsword. He looked up slightly at the moon in the sky.

"Another crimson moon. Hm... Let’s end the fight by noon tomorrow." He then looked back.

Behind him stood Lord Bishop, dressed in solemn white robes and wearing a tall hat. His face was aged.

His wrinkled eyes were cloudy yet deep.