Chapter 315: Powerful Female General
Chapter 315: Powerful Female General
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Anfey followed Christian into a restaurant. He found an armed Baery and Mioritch there, with Saul sitting properly in the middle. Anfey was shocked for a second. It looked like something had happened, but they should have no reason to see Anfey.
"Anfey, sit down. Baery has something to ask you," Saul said quietly. He pointed to the chair next to him.
Anfey walked next to Saul and slowly took a seat. He looked at Baery with a questioning look on his face.
"Anfey, do you know Kumaraghosha ?" Baery asked straightforwardly.
"Kumaraghosha? I saw him before. Is he the general in Shansa Empire? What happened?" Anfey asked.
"The Shansa Empire military department accused him of treason. When they sent people to catch Kumaraghosha, his legion rebelled," Baery said in a low voice. "Kumaraghosha lead his team, broke through Shansa Empire’s encirclement, and escaped the Country of Mercenaries."
"Master Baery, does this have anything to do with me?" Anfey asked, confused.
"Yes." Baery started to look very serious. "Do you know where they escaped to? Town of Moramatch! People from Storm mercenary group have reported that after Kumaraghosha went to the Town of Moramatch, he disappeared. People from Storm mercenary group tried to blend into the town, but they disappeared as well when they got to the town. If I remember correctly, the Town of Moramatch a station of your mercenary group."
Anfey was shocked at first. He frowned and thought hard.
"When you left the Town of Moramatch, who did you leave it to?" Baery asked, staring intently at Anfey. "I have asked Christian about it, but he did not tell me and insisted that I ask you."
"Uncle, it was not that I didn’t want to tell you," Christian said defensively, "but…"
"I know, I know." Baery waved his hand. "That is why I am asking Anfey now."
"A woman named Alice," Anfey answered in a low voice.
"Alice? How did you know her?" Baery asked.
"She used to be a slave. I saved her. After that, she had been following us," Anfey said.
"Is she reliable?" Baery asked.
"Yes." Anfey nodded. Alice could not return to her home country and held such hatred toward the royalty in Shansa Empire. Every time she talked about her father, she sounded sarcastic and disdainful, without any attachment to him. If she was able to, Alice would step on everyone in the royal family to get revenge for how they mistreated her. A person like her should be reliable.
"Do you know her background?" Baery asked.
"She is a daughter of a merchant. Her father committed suicide because he was deep in debt. She became a slave because of that. I asked her to be in charge of Moramatch because she has good leadership skills. Master Baery, what is wrong with that?" Anfey asked. He had promised Alice that he would not tell anyone who she was. More importantly if Anfey told Baery who Alice really was, Alice would become the last card the empire had. Anfey had not given this card to anyone else yet. It sounded selfish, but sometimes he had to be.
Christian lowered his head. He looked normal, like nothing had happened. He tidied his magic gown. After his family background had been exposed and experiencing many challenges, Christian had become more mature. If this had happened before, he would have wondered why Anfey lied to Baery. He might not point it out on the spot, but he would definitely ask Anfey afterwards. Now Christian felt the concept of country was too abstract. When he was in danger or pushed into a corner, the country would not save him. The only people he could rely on were the friends around him. Christian believed Anfey was doing it for the legion.
"Nothing. I am just asking," Baery said, shaking his head. "Anfey, aren’t you heading to Violet City in a few days? Why don’t you leave today so you can go back to Violet City quickly and go to Moramatch after that. The secret agents from Storm mercenary group have reported that Kumaraghosha should be caught by the residents in the town. Anfey, you have to see Kumaraghosha in person and convince him to surrender to Maho Empire. He may ask for conditions for that. As long as his conditions are reasonable, you could agree with all of them. If he does not want to surrender to us, kill him. You have to kill him right away."
"Master Baery, do you hate Kumaraghosha for some personal reasons?" Anfey asked.
"I do not hate him. Anfey, you know Kumaraghosha took his people out of their surroundings. Do you know how many people he leads? Less than five hundred. He was able to lead five hundred people to break through the defense lines of Shansa Empire and run to the Country of Mercenaries. It was a miracle. He even killed or wounded over 3,700 soldiers from Shansa Empire." Baery sighed. "Kumaraghosha is an excellent general. I had a few battles with him. I know how good he is. Unfortunately, he does not have a good family background and has been suppressed by his peers. Those idiots! If I were them, I would definitely promote him to be my assistant. He would become a sharp sword in my hand."
"Is that possible? Could five hundred people cause such a large number of casualties to Shansa military?" Anfey asked in surprise. "Where were Shansa Empire’s mages?" When he had battled Kumaraghosha in Moramatch, Anfey realized how magic could affect battles. A small Swamp magic spell could cause chaos in the formation of the cavalry and put Kumaraghosha in a very vulnerable situation in the blink of an eye. That Kumaraghosha was smart. When he saw the situation change, he ordered a retreat. The whole battle happened and ended extremely fast. If Anfey had to continue the battle, he would not have been scared of Kumaraghosha anyway, but Anfey did not think a loser could create such a miracle.
"Besides Dark Moon Magic legion in Ellisen Empire, no one would use mages as soldiers," Baery sighed. "When there is a war, mages go to the battlefield with the military. When the battle ends, they would immediately leave the military station. Even the mage group in Death Roaring mercenary group follows the same procedure. Every time when there is a battle, I have to call out those mages. I can give orders to my soldiers and generals, but if I want a mage group to do something for me, I have to get support from the commanders and vice commanders of the mage group. I cannot just give them orders. I can only give my suggestions and advice."
This had been troubling Baery. As the chief general, he had been wanting a mage group he could give orders to. Unfortunately, the cost of training mages was way too high compared to what they could contribute to battles. There weren’t a lot of mages to start with. Every year, only about one percent of people could be promoted to be mages and swordsmen, sometimes even fewer. In war, mages had great fighting power but very weak self-defense ability. Opponents usually targeted them first. If a hundred mages got killed, it meant half of the mage group accounted for more than 50 percent of the casualties. If thousands of soldiers got killed, it would not cause as much damage to the military as it did to the mage group.
Mercenary groups were in the same boat. Swordsmen were the main force. The number of mages in the mercenary groups was small. If any mercenary group could have a few mages, it could increase the fighting power of the whole mercenary group. Anfey’s Alibaba mercenary group was unique. Besides Suzanna, the only swordswoman, everyone else was a mage. Since Anfey was surrounded by mages all the time in the legion, he began to think mages were everywhere.
"I see." Anfey nodded. "Master Baery, you not have to worry about Kumaraghosha so much. He betrayed his own country. He will not be able to go back to his hometown. I can take time to convince him."
"No, if he does not surrender to us, you have to kill him right away," Baery said, shaking his head. "Actually, we only missed a day."
"What?" Anfey did not get it.
"I said I only missed a day; otherwise the order to catch Kumaraghosha would not need to go out." Baery continued slowly, "Because Scarlet had gone to the front line."
"Who is Scarlet? Why haven’t I ever heard of her?" Saul said, shocked and looking at Baery with a serious face. Saul knew Baery had treated him as his opponent, but he did not know anything about Scarlet.
"You do not know her, but you know her mother."
"Who is her mother?" Saul asked.
"The temporary princess of Shansa Empire, Victoria," Baery said.
"Is Scarlet a child?" Saul was shocked. Victoria gave birth to a baby when she was twenty-two years old and was killed by Baery at thirty-one. Doing the math, Scarlet should be only twenty-one or twenty-two years old. Of course, Saul would not pay attention to such a young person.
"After Princess Victoria died, the king of Shansa Empire, Philly II, took back all her power and sent nine-year-old Scarlet to a feudal estate and held her in confinement. He worried Scarlet would grow into a woman as aggressive as her mother and become strong enough to control politics. His order made people forget about Victoria’s daughter, including us." Baery smiled bitterly. "Scarlet is indeed the daughter of Victoria. She was quiet for a long time, but she amazed the world with a single brilliant feat. The king received detailed reports about her just now. Master Saul, you know that Shansa Empire has not been a match for our empire, right? One reason was their domestic political instability. There are many uprisings in the east of Shansa Empire. They had to send a large military troop to control the situation. It ate up their military budget. Another reason was because Philly II was a poor ruler. To put it simply, he was nothing more than an idiot. He had turned down the request from Griffin Aero Unit to go into the war. He held the best force without using them, instead seeing a "sharp knife" go rusty. Last but not least, they have no good generals. Millions of soldiers had no one to lead them, so their fighting ability is bad."
"Are you saying Scarlet can solve all three problems for Shansa Empire?" Anfey asked.
"It seems like it," Baery said.
"How could she?" Saul could not help looking surprised. "How could Philly II watch her grow strong?"
"Because Scarlet married a good man. She left her feudal estate a few years ago. It is unfortunate that we have forgotten her and did not notice her at all." Baery shook his head.
"Who did she marry?" Saul asked.
"Prince Jerick," Baery said.
"I see." Saul seemed to understand the situation with Scarlet.
"Master Baery, what kind of person is Prince Jerick?" Anfey could not help asking.
"He is the son of Philly II and the best candidate as heir to Philly II," Baery said.
"Then he and Scarlet…" Anfey paused.
"They are cousins. What’s wrong with that?" Baery asked, confused.
"Nothing." Anfey shook his head. He wanted to talk a little about genes, but he thought about it for a second and gave up on the idea. They would not understand genes. Anfey knew from the history of Egypt that the so called genetic diseases were not as serious as what was claimed. It was exaggerated looking at it from another culture. The history of Egypt was also a history of family incest between siblings, fathers and daughters, even mothers and sons. There were generations of incest in Egypt. Even the well-known queen Cleopatra was the product of incest. She even married her own brother. It would have been pointless to talk about genes to Egyptians, just as in this world.
Baery cleared his throat and continued, "Scarlet has been fighting with the rebels in the east of Shansa Empire. Sometimes she wins, but sometimes she loses battles. Her record did not draw people’s attention. Looking back, it seemed that she did not mean to wipe out the rebels, but to train troops of her own. With the support of Prince Jerick, she got as many soldiers as she needed and as much military funding as she needed. With some rebels who surrendered to her and joined her troops, her troops had grown from 6,000 to 70,000. King Philly II had done nothing to Scarlet. I believe Prince Jerick helped a lot with her success."
"When Shansa Empire attacked Blackania City, Scarlet suddenly attacked Blackania City with a large battalion. Her troops wiped out the whole east side with lightning speed. Dozens of rebel groups were wiped out or surrendered to her. After that, Scarlet led her battalion to the front line to help. Unfortunately, the battle had already ended," Baery said.
"Why was such an important message just reported back to us?" Saul became serious.
The methods of sending messages depended largely on the battles. There was only so much that could be done by a general in a modern war. The operation command was actually the core. Even if the general was not at the war, communication would not be affected too much. Things were totally different in the magic world. A correct judgement on the battlefield and an experienced general could change the results of a battle. Having a good general could be similar to having thousands of soldiers. The importance could not be overstated. When there was such a wonderful general in Shansa Empire, of course, Scarlet caught everyone’s attention.
"Scarlet is not easy to trace," Baery said. "It seems that few people have seen her. Even the rebel groups who were beaten by her did not know they had lost to a young woman. The secret agents in Storm mercenary group could not tell their king that a mysterious woman lead a mysterious troop to put down rebellions. To do an investigation of Scarlet, they had to pay a good price before they could get some information on her."
"Luckily, Victoria died early, otherwise…" Saul said.
"Otherwise we would be in serious trouble," Baery said abruptly. "Anfey, do you understand why I asked you to kill Kumaraghosha right away if he does not want to surrender to us? Scarlet should have noticed Kumaraghosha’s military record. With the help of Prince Jerick, she could cover up for Kumaraghosha. If she sent people to get into contact with Kumaraghosha, you cannot have Kumaraghosha going back to Shansa Empire. If he cannot work for us, then destroy him."
"I got it," Anfey said. "I think Scarlet married Prince Jerick in exchange for opportunities for herself. Master Baery, what do you think of Prince Jerick? Is he good?"
"Jerick is not a very decent man," Baery said, shaking his head. "He seems to listen to Scarlet for everything. The report from the Storm mercenary group secret agents said Jerick ran into Scarlet’s feudal estate by accident and met Scarlet when she was only fifteen years old. He went crazy for her. He has been after her for four years. Scarlet got sick once. Jerick took care of her the whole time: even washed her feet. He took care of Scarlet like he was her maid. Scarlet was touched by what he did for her. "After they got married, Jerick still respected Scarlet as he did before. Scarlet did not want him to drink, Jerick immediately stopped drinking. He has not drunk for about two years, not even a drop. Scarlet told him he should learn more new things. Jerick immediately got a few good teachers. His schedule was tight every day. He was busy the whole day long. He did not even have breaks in between, but he enjoyed it. Scarlet was really touched by it. I heard they are really good together. Two years ago when Scarlet wanted to enlist people to join her troop to fight with the rebels, Jerick cried out loud and did not want Scarlet to leave him."
"Do you mean Jerick is not too capable?" Anfey asked.
"No, you cannot judge him by the way he acted toward Scarlet. He could stand out among dozens of brothers. He is not that simple." Baery laid his eyes on Saul. "Scarlet has picked a few fights with our troops in the past few days. We fought with her twice and lost to her, but not too badly. We did not have bad casualties, but the King is worried. I am going to take my legion to check it out. Master Saul, about the mage group…"
"What is she thinking?" Saul said, frowning. "Necromancers are pressing. Pope William has requested all countries to refrain from war against each other so we all can fight against necromancers. Why does she want to pick fights now?"
"How do I know? You never know what a person might plot behind the scenes. I do not even know her height, her weight. I know nothing about her," Baery said. "The only thing I know about her is she is a beautiful women, otherwise Jerick would not go crazy for her."
Saul sighed, took a clear magic crystal in hexahedron shape from his Dimensional ring and handed it to Baery. "You can go to the Mage Union with this."
"Thank you for your support." Baery took the magic crystal with a smile. "Master, I am not coming back after going to Mage Union because I have to talk to Miorich before I leave. I will have Miorich take the token back."
"Be careful," Saul said in a low voice. "I think there must be people behind Scarlet."
"Are you saying Princess Victoria…" Baery asked.
"You are right," Saul nodded. "Otherwise, a kid who has been held in confinement would not be able to do something like this."
Baery thought for a moment, frowning. He did not say anything to Saul, but just nodded to him. He turned around and walked away. Miorich walked with him.
"Anfey," Saul called out with a deep voice.
"What’s wrong, professor?" Anfey asked.
"Today is the day after your wedding. I should not have…" Saul said haltingly.
"Professor, I understand. I know I have to put our country before everything else," Anfey said with a smile. He could tell what Saul wanted him to do.
"It is great if you can think that way." Saul smiled happily. "For Kumaraghosha to get so much attention from Baery, he must be a very good general. You need to try to convince him to work for our empire. As to the conditions, as Baery said, as long as he does not ask too much, you can agree with him."
"Professor, I will try my best," Anfey said. He took a look at Christian. "What are you standing there for? Ask everyone to come down for dinner. We are leaving Sacred City today."
"What?" Christian was shocked.
"Hurry up!" Saul heaved a sigh. "I did not have time to teach you since you were back. I’ve got to make it up before you leave. Anfey, I will have Entos go with you. With Entos’s help, you can build a new Transmission Portal in Violet City. You don’t have to worry about the materials. I will have them ready for you."
"Professor, there is a Transmission Portal in Blackania City," Anfey said in a surprise.
"Son, the Transmission Portal in Blackania City is not yours. It may work fine now, but it could break down at critical moments. I am not only building a Transmission Portal in Violet City, but also in Sword Tomb Principality." Saul was used to treating Anfey as a little kid even though Anfey had showed his true colors, especially when Anfey did not get that Saul was trying to something nice for him.
"Professor," Christian sounded as if he was crying. He felt the pressure from his brothers. He had been wanting to leave Sacred City, but when the time came, he did not want to leave.
"Young men need to experience more. You would not achieve much if you just stay home. In fact, I do not want you guys to leave. My house would become so empty without you. It is painful." Saul smiled as he talked. "Niya must have caused you guys a lot of trouble. This time, I am not letting her go with you. There has to be someone to accompany me, the old man."
Anfey and Christian looked at each other. They knew Niya could not leave now. If a student of Saul, who turned out to be the third prince, had made Granden react so much, then how would he react if he came to know that Niya had left with Anfey’s legion.
"Oh, right." Saul suddenly remembered something. He released a dark black magic Kekai that covered all three of them. Saul took out an item from his Dimensional ring and handed it to Anfey. "Take it. This is the Sacred Spirit potion."
Anfey took a close look at the crystal bottle with azure liquid in it. This color was similar to the unicorn blood, but shone with countless sparkles, like the stars in the sky. Anfey gave an awed exclamation and carefully put the crystal bottle away.
"Miorich has kept the stuff Yagor left you in the storage room. I can give them all back to you, except the dark magic book. I will keep it for you," Saul said.
"Ok, professor." Anfey smiled. Anfey had trust issues, but he did not doubt the intentions of Saul. Saul must have done it for Anfey’s own good.
"You can ask everyone to come down. I have something to tell them," Saul said as he slowly leaned back in his chair.