Chapter 1203 - A Black Present (1/2)

Jean Bate was indeed fast. He not only offered half of the rooms in the mansion to the army but also sent some maids to serve the soldiers, although Iron Axe refused the service out of confidentiality concerns.

In watching the reluctant look of the several young officers from the General Staff, Iron Axe replied in a stony tone, “Time to work. Don’t forget that your performance in this campaign is subject to Edith Kant’s review. You should know the consequences if you make errors.”

Everyone shuddered at the Pearl of the Northern Region’s name and set to work.

“Map, I’ll put up the map!”

“What about the schedule? I’ll double check it.”

“Anyone help me check the food?”

The room instantly became noisy.

“Look at these young fellows, always full of energy…” Remy commented while shaking his head. “The baron seems to have seen through them.”

“A common trick nobles like to play,” Iron Axe said, frowning. “He’d better employ his cunning little schemes on the immigration campaign.”

“Don’t worry. The Administrative Office will keep an eye on him,” Remy promised while patting his chest. “Now, we’ve removed our first obstacle. It’s better than I thought. The Tusk and the Redstone Gate Families indeed helped us, but it won’t be that easy afterwards.”

“No, it’ll be just the same,” Iron Axe corrected him.

“R-really?” Remy said in surprise.

“Because they’ve fallen behind,” Iron Axe said and looked through the window. The overspread sky had cleared up a little bit.

“Because they’ve fallen behind.” This was what Edith had told him before he had set off a week ago. He met Edith at the office of the General Staff, where they held a meeting to discuss how to efficiently carry out the immigration plan, with a secretary writing meeting minutes next to them. Edith said, “Most nobles haven’t noticed the changes taking place in this world but are still dwelling exclusively on their personal interests while gloating over their wealth. They saw hardly anything else. I bet you plan to fight those nobles one by one, right?”

“If they impede His Majesty’s plan, yes.”

“That’ll be too slow,” Edith disapproved flatly. “This is different from the Graycastle unification war. We need to garrison troops in various foreign cities, so as time progresses, we’ll have fewer soldiers at our command, which will thus significantly prolong the campaign. Those nobles won’t openly resist the army but they’ll definitely play stealthy behind your back. By the time you notice the damage and rush to rescue, it’ll look bad on His Majesty.”

“Then what should I do?”

“Set your goals beforehand, build alliance and fight enemies together,” Edith said while handing him a table.

There was a list of items on the table, next to each of which was a point scale.

“What’s this?” Iron Axe asked in bewilderment. It was his first time seeing such a strange form.

“A threat evaluation form? Or a manual of resistance level? Anyway, what it is called doesn’t matter. I made this table based on nobles’ mentality and other factors, including gender, heir, the size of their domains, the number of their troops, their behavior, etc. You would have a rough understanding of each noble after filling out the form. The more information you obtain, the more accurate the evaluation will be. Since the situation in the Kingdom of Wolfheart and the Kingdom of Everwinter has changed a lot, the General Staff can’t complete the form for you. If there’s a city that’s not on the form, just punch in the information and do the calculation yourself.”

“And what next?” Iron Axe asked as he skimmed through the form.

“If the total point is lower than 50, it means the city has limited power and is not so ambitious. You could build alliance with them. These nobles could actually provide many things for you, such as local maps, the city structure, the demographics, and so on. More importantly, with the support of local lords, we’ll be able to implement the plan more efficiently,” Edith explained.

“As for those that are higher than 50…” Edith paused for a second and said, “Don’t waste time on them. Whether they show any inclination to yield or not, you should crush them immediately.”

Iron Axe was a little shocked at the method Edith proposed. A simple table would pretty much determine each noble’s fate, even though Edith had never met or talked to any of them.

Iron Axe asked after a moment of silence, “Is the form… accurate?”

As the commander-in-chief of the First Army, he understood the importance of work efficiency and knew very well how much time this form could save them. Most of the ships were borrowed from the Chambers of Commerce at the Fjords, so he should wind up the campaign at his earliest, even if the demons were not planning to erect the Obelisk around the Impassable Mountain Range.