Chapter 244: Twenty-sixth Episode: Chapter 7-2 (1/2)

Chapter 244: Twenty-sixth Episode: Chapter 7-2

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The drunken Captain Sear seemed to have heard that someone wanted to bring him to fight in a war. The young chap who thought so highly of himself raised the wine bottle. ”Triangular array advance, left wing, provide cover, right wing, outflank…Guards…advance!”

”Take him to rest!” as soon as Marshal Robin stretched out a hand towards the doorway, an officer in the room immediately carried away the young lad who was shooting his mouth off.

The officer placed Count Hanning onto a sofa. The old man's limbs were made heavy and flaccid by the alcohol, but his eyes were still focused.

”Alright Moranzo, stop putting on an act and let's talk!” Marshal Robin said as he turned toward the perplexed officers. ”Let me formally introduce to everyone, Lieutenant General Moranzo Hanning – Chairperson of the western war zone Military Intelligence Battlefield Survey and Control Committee.”

The Chief of Staff of the Guards turned toward the old count who was already sitting upright and still. ”Have you noticed? Among the entourage of the Imperial Commissioners, there are quite a few secret agents with creepy looks!”

Moranzo's mouth twitched. ”News from the capital's side reveals four. There is still a team of secret operation agents in the vicinity.”

The room fell silent. In the end, it was Marshal Robin who spoke first.

”Is it possible to get in contact with His Highness Prince O'Neil Andrew Morisette? I mean secretly, where no one is able to learn of the contact.”

Lieutenant General Hanning nodded with unusual certainty, ”A one-way communication will be smooth without any hindrance!”

The Chief of Staff of the Guards nodded with a smile. ”Send a letter for me?”

***************

On the 12th day of the 1st month in Church's year 802, the messenger representing Titan arrived at the Anti-Titan Alliance central camp located within the borders of Riel. For security measures, the messengers responsible to pass on the documents were divided into two groups. One of the groups traveled by boat and directly cut through the lake while the other group, under the protection of the secret operations agents, entered Riel by land. These senseless actions were said to be because the Western Army Groups were hostile toward the special commissioner who came from the capital. These young officers of the Western Army Group who had attempted to surrender to the enemies had been in such a clamor as they were afraid that the soldiers would strike them treacherously on the road.

In any case, Lieutenant General Logan Smith and the Imperial Commissioner arrived at the Anti-Titan Alliance's central camp with the documents safely. There were no surprises or danger throughout the journey, exceeding the expectations of the capital aristocrats. The arrogant and overbearing King of Hoilland, to one's surprise, did not adopt a look of a person giving charity. Both sides were low profile. The Westland Kingdom Alliance did not let the Titan envoy raise a white flag when entering the army camp nor did they allow the accompanying Titan soldiers to feel a shred of embarrassment. It was as if everything made sense.

When the two sides held a formal discussion and since Marshal Robin, Chief of Staff of the Guards, refused to attend the meeting, the Anti-Titan Alliance completely removed the Titan military from the meeting. They made Lieutenant General Smith and a few other generals wait outside the door, leaving only the Commissioner of the Imperial Household of Morisette.

As a result, no one knew what kind of proposal was agreed upon between the Westland Kingdom Alliance and the Titan envoy. However, judging from the face of the Imperial Commissioner when he left the meeting place, the future prospects did not look too optimistic.

On the return journey, Lieutenant General Smith kept inquiring about matters of the negotiations, but the Imperial Commissioner refused to disclose any information. Only when General Logan once again met up with Marshal Robin did he only completely give up on such a plan. However, he already feared. If the Imperial Commissioner refused to discuss such matters with the military, then it indicated that Her Majesty the Empress had the intention to completely abandon the Titan military! Or perhaps, the conditions set by the Anti-Titan Alliance were absolutely unacceptable to the Imperial Guards so there was simply no need to discuss with it the military at all.

Regardless of whichever the two situations above, as long as the clause of the peace treaty was made public, needless to say, the entire world would be turned upside down!

Even now, the clause of the peace treaty was in a phase of strict secrecy. Although the unit of Guards stationed at the frontlines to fight against the enemies could still strictly adhere to the order of ”pausing all hostile acts” issued by Her Majesty the Empress. However, the agitated local nobles and the armed militia of various names were already losing their patience. They replaced all the Imperial Guards who had holed themselves up in the barracks and fortresses at the frontlines of the western borders and even the entire defensive area, voluntarily shouldering the responsibilities of the military patrol.

From how the great nobles that were close to the border or in the many provinces of the war zone saw it, regardless of the intentions of Her Majesty the Empress, at the end of it, those who suffered and got dragged into it would be them! It was understandable that the Imperial Household of Morisette and the capital aristocrats sought reconciliation for self-protection but when faced with a peace talk that was impossible to be fair and equal, the central government would usually sacrifice local interests to consolidate the precarious system. If this happened, then the nobles would ask if the westerners want Titan to cede territories, whose territories will be ceded? The westerners want Titan to pay war reparations, so who will rake in the money?

The nobles would not do it!

The elder's parliamentary system from the ancient age of the Roman Empire had made the Titans aristocrats cherish their right to speak and participate in politics. Despite centuries ago, the increasingly arrogant monarchy autocratic system already recorded the nature and role of the Elder Parliament in refute, there was still such a spirit of collectivism in the bones of the Titan nobles. When they wanted to achieve something, most of them would huddle up into a group.

Therefore, the nobles who dared to fight, dared to strive hard for something, dared to dream and dared to act, were not as reticent as the military. Although the number of such people was not the majority, there was always someone who was as cynical as the Lieutenant General of the Guards, Count Moranzo Hanning.

Moranzo had adopted the spirit of the military and integrated some of the aristocrats' way of thinking. In the coastal area of ​​Souzgar Lake, Count Moranzo Hanning had gathered all the independent noble armed forces. Due to the rules in the Titan Codex, the former Lieutenant General of the Guards (now as well) did not establish the authorized strength of the assembled local division. However, in reality, they had already achieved the size of a Front.

Not only that, Count Hanning of remarkable abilities, through his old connections in the military, managed to get hold of standard weapons of the regular army for the noble armed forces in his great manor and had all the horses in the public and private stables along the coastal areas of the lake act as warhorses. Until the Captain of the Guards of a ripe age felt that it was almost time, the Souzgar First Independent Cavalry Corps was born in the small town called ”Rose Tree”.

Since returning from the Anti-Titan Alliance camp, Lieutenant General Logan Smith had already realized that his son was a completely new person. The previous Captain Sear Smith would obey his father's every word. Even if he had any contradictions to them, it would not surface. However, just look at this what this outrageous scoundrel who thought so highly of himself had done?

The Captain of the Guards personally applied to join the Souzgar Independent Division established by Count Moranzo Hanning and also personally planned all matters concerning the establishment of the entire cavalry corps. Even though Sear Smith did not know that he would become the only captain to command a cavalry corps in all the military history of Titan, from how everyone saw it, this young man's courage was greater than his age by thirty or forty years!

Lieutenant General Logan Smith terrifyingly, strictly, with a fierce demeanor put on, and through every possible means, persuaded his son to stay away from the battlefield and follow him to return to Dulin. The father even made a promise to his son of a freedom to love, but Sear remained indifferent. When he was facing his father, it was as if he was eyeing a cloud of air or a pile of dung.

Putting it this way may be a little overkill, but after all, it was the first time that the young Captain of the Guard fought with his family and elders, and his spirit and determination also destined that he would attain victory when the family conflict started.

General Logan Smith's attitude in treating his son and many matters had already made the western soldiers who stayed in the manor fed up. When he threatened Sear by severing their father-son relationship, the Chief of Staff of the Guards, Marshal Robin had to personally step in. He said a sentence to the father, who sighed over his son not living up to expectations, ”… you better stay far away from that good child!”

Sear had won. His father rolled up the beddings in a panic and boarded the ferry. The young Captain of the Guards rode on the warhorse, clad in full armor. He continued to escort his father to the lakeside. When they were parting ways, General Smith expressed a slight smile and said to his son, ”Silly boy, I just don't want you to die on the battlefield like those brainless warriors.”

Sear pointed to Souzgar Lake, where a layer of thin ice was floating. ”Father, I just wanted to tell you, even if this is a dead pool of water, even if the ice and snow have frozen its surface, but inside, there are still waves.”

”I really can't see it…” the middle-aged man assessed the surface of the lake.

***************

”Of course!” the son nodded. ”You only see its calm and soothing side, but the ice and snow are bound to melt. The great ocean and river will pour life into it – this is its fate and it is the belief of the warriors who stepped up to take the place of their fallen comrades.”

”In that case...goodbye son!”

”Yes...goodbye father!”

The young captain gave a farewell salute to the Lieutenant General of the Guards who was about to leave the battlefield and return to the flourishing world of the capital. At the same time, this was the last meeting between the father and son.