The Vastness of Magical Destiny
Chapter 756: Volume 22: Revival and Rise - 15: The Power of Support_2

Chapter 756: Volume 22: Revival and Rise Chapter 15: The Power of Support_2

"Mr. Komer, you should be clear that I’m not referring to the Beastmen issue. What Princess Katya is concerned about now is not the situation in Jazair. Hoffman has publicly stated he will not recognize the adjudications of the Kingdom Star Chamber Court, deeming those judges to be bribed by Princess Katya. He intends to forcefully ascend the throne and has ordered Princess Katya to go to Godeburg for interrogation. Do you think we can still live leisurely under these circumstances?" Palermo’s face darkened as he spoke, irritated that this fellow was still feigning ignorance in front of him. The situation was so tense, yet he appeared indifferent, and it was confounding to understand what this man truly had up his sleeve.

"Mr. Palermo, I don’t think there is a need for you to be this anxious. The judgments of the Kingdom Star Chamber Court are not something just anyone can overturn. Without moral support, it would be difficult for Hoffman to gain the unanimous recognition of the kingdom. As long as Princess Katya ignores him and does not acknowledge the legitimacy of his ascension, he can only indulge in the delusion of being a pseudo-king," Komer said, his gaze wandering, seemingly unconcerned by the issue at hand.

"However, Mr. Komer, you must understand that Hoffman has already formed an army composed of the private soldiers from those Great Aristocracy. It is said to have been named the Blood Lion Corps. In addition to the remnants of the Royal Guards and Knights regiment who retreated to Godeburg, they already have an absolute advantage over us. If he truly decides to launch a campaign against Princess Katya for not complying with the orders of the Kingdom’s Noble Council, we simply do not have the strength to stop their advance." Palermo never believed that this avaricious Lord would not care about the enfeoffment of Quke Valley, unless he secretly had some kind of collusion with Hoffman. That was his biggest worry, but now it seemed unlikely.

"Do you think Hoffman dares to do so under the pressure of the Beastmen?" Komer retorted.

After a moment of hesitation, Palermo pondered deeply before slowly responding, "Perhaps not for the time being, but the Beastmen have already stabilized the situation in the Northern Region of the kingdom. The territories that formerly belonged to Myron Duchy, Susoer City-State, and Meine City-State are now connected with the Northern Region of the kingdom. These regions have now seen a significant influx of Beastmen immigrants. The kingdom has no immediate power to reclaim these regions. Perhaps Hoffman believes that if he could become king of The Kingdom of Nicosia, he could unify the whole kingdom’s forces to fight back against the Beastmen. Therefore, as long as Hoffman harbors such intentions, even if for the time being it remains a war of words, the moment he believes that he must gather all forces to restore the kingdom, he will find various pretexts to launch an attack on us in order to consolidate all the power he can control to achieve his goal."

Komer agreed with the other party’s view. He knew that Palermo’s intention for coming was to pressure him to fulfill his promise and find a way to clear the passage through the Little Greenland Forest so that the armed forces of Caucasus could traverse it to help Princess Katya resist the increasingly likely assault from Hoffman’s armed forces. Although Palermo was aware that he was working on opening up the Little Greenland Forest passageway, he was unaware of the real progress made. After all, not many were willing to enter this forest filled with Magical Beasts. Perhaps aside from the simple-minded Half-beast Army that blindly admired Komer, even Mortal Soldiers would not dare to lightly step into this forest haunted by Ghosts.

Komer did not reveal to the other party that the passage through the Little Greenland Forest had, in fact, been initially established. In reality, Komer had ordered the Dragumo Unit stationed in Leon to conduct two armed training exercises over the past month to adapt to the conditions of the Little Greenland Forest passage. But both exercises only brought this force near Quke Valley before stopping, and after resupplying, Komer ordered them to return to Bruce Fortress. He did not yet wish for these half-beast soldiers with their fearsome appearances to be seen in Livonia, as doing so would expose his true movements to the Church of Light, especially to the Religious Court. Although the Church’s focus was currently drawn more to the invasion of the Beastmen in the north, once the Religious Court truly discovered his whereabouts, they might launch a full-scale attack against him. Komer was not ready to openly break with the Church of Light without full preparation in place.

Moreover, for Komer himself, his existing armed forces still seemed somewhat insufficient, especially in the early days when facing the crisis of an invasion by the Royal Court Magicians and Homer joining forces, which made it even more fragile. Komer had no confidence in dealing with the kingdom’s Royal Court Magicians, especially whether his half-beast soldiers could maintain their normal state under the mages’ frenzied magic attacks. Consequently, Komer had no choice but to have Mihailovich, Newman, Uma, as well as Solonberg and Vladimir Koff temporarily stationed at Bruce Fortress. He even requested that Xerob send three Guardian Mage Kings to help him through this difficult time. Fortunately, the invasion of the beastmen caused this crisis to dissipate with the wind.

Although the crisis had passed, Komer had already realized that a confrontation with Homer, and ultimately Hoffman supported by Homer, was inevitable; therefore, the expansion of military forces was once again put on the agenda. The ample pool of recruits allowed Caucasus to replenish its soldiers by the thousands at any time. However, these half-beast soldiers, who had not received training or experienced warfare, would hardly be effective in battle. Therefore, Komer had no choice but to request that Fran recruit another two thousand men, bringing the number of Caucasus Self-Defense Forces to a record five thousand. Although this aroused strong dissatisfaction from Puber and Fran, under Komer’s firm drive, the Caucasus Prefecture quickly implemented this plan. The troops were rapidly conscripted and immediately put into training. Fran, however, worried that such a large-scale expansion of the army diluted the number of veterans who had gone through war, and it became an enduring shadow on his and Komer’s minds how much combat power this barely battle-tested unit truly possessed.

Confronted with Palermo’s apparent worries, Komer too was in a difficult position. Not to mention whether the appearance of the half-beast army in Livonia might expose his whereabouts, there was another danger. Although the Royal Court Magicians had withdrawn to Godeburg, the threat of Homer’s domestic power remained. In particular, it was uncertain whether Homer would consider a southern invasion again once they learned that a large-scale half-beast army had appeared in Livonia. At the moment, these were issues Komer could not disclose to either Palermo or Katya, especially the pursuit of Komer by the Religious Court which he dared not speak of to anyone.

Yet Komer’s evasiveness led Katya to mistakenly believe that Komer was taking advantage of the situation, hence Palermo’s trip to Livonia.

The conversation ended in discord.

Komer also realized that perhaps his original plans were overly simplistic; sometimes, risks that had to be taken were simply part of the equation. If his own armed forces could not truly raise the morale of the middle and small aristocrats in the Southwest Region, he feared that Katya’s reliant foundation would truly collapse. However, he still needed to carefully consider when to reveal this force and how to ensure these middle and small aristocrats wouldn’t fear the threat of the half-beastmen. Nonetheless, ensuring that the passageway through Little Greenland Forest was more accessible, so the Caucasus Army could reach the southern end of Livonia more swiftly if needed, was an urgent matter. Komer even contemplated whether he should secretly designate a restricted area at the southern end of Quke Valley to station some half-beast soldiers in advance, which would be helpful in an emergency situation and might also reassure Katya and Palermo after their visit.

(To be continued. For more information on what happens next, please visit WWW.CMFU.COM, where there are more Chapters, support the author, support authorized reading!)