plumnovel #442 - Prince Condé: Rough!
#442 - Prince Condé: Rough!
A crescent moon hung in the dark blue night sky, with a few scattered lonely stars following the night wind's wail, scattering the clouds across the sky.
The moonlight shone on the entire Highfort City, draping the layered towers in a shimmering white veil.
The river surged in the darkness, and the red flag with the golden finch emblem, representing Prince Condé, on the hilltop perfectly overlapped with the Hema Stone emblem flag hanging on the distant Highfort wall.
Behind this flag was a leather tent with its curtain open, where all the senior nobles and high-ranking knights involved in the attack on Highfort City had gathered.
They stood shoulder to shoulder, foreheads almost touching the backs of heads, crammed together, yet no one dared to speak, quieter than quails.
At the very front of the tent, a giant nearly two meters tall sat upright on a velvet solid wood chair.
He lowered his head, tightly clutching a letter in his hand, a letter adorned with gold lacquer and peacock feathers.
Prince Condé, who always wore a stern expression, could no longer maintain it; the muscles in his cheeks trembled, and his teeth chattered incessantly.
His chest rose and fell violently, and the armrest of the chair creaked under his grip.
"Lingya Knight, you deserve to die!" Prince Condé's giant hand crumpled the gold-lacquered letter into a ball. "Because of you, I lost two Edict Companies! Two hundred good knights, you deserve to die!"
The sound seeping from Prince Condé's throat was like that of a demon; despite the fact that it was the hottest time of summer, the knights below seemed to huddle closer for warmth.
"You continue the siege, and I will lead three Edict Companies south to attack Rapidstream City! Completely annihilate that bunch of short-hairs!"
"Your Highness, forgive my bluntness, but I'm afraid that won't work." Although he knew Prince Condé was in a fit of anger, Iron Hammer Knight Eren, as the highest-ranking person present, was still pushed forward by the others.
With his head wrapped in blood-stained bandages, Eren lowered his head, feeling waves of coldness flowing in from the top of his head.
"You want to speak for that group of short-hairs? Do you know whose dog you are?"
"Your Highness, if we go south, abandoning the offensive on Upper Riverford County would be equivalent to throwing away all our previous efforts."
"Yes, if we attack the Savior Army, the Hema Stone army will go south to strike our tail; if we go north to attack the Hema Stone army, the Savior Army will go north to strike our tail."
"If we were to divide our forces, we would be split and attacked from the south and north, and what we fear most is not direct combat, but having our supply lines cut off."
With Eren as the leader, the remaining knights and priests chimed in with support.
Having their supply lines cut off was what the knights feared most; to maintain combat effectiveness, a transcendent knight consumed almost twice the amount of food as a normal person each day.
As for the high-ranking knights, they had to consume demonic beast meat every day to maintain peak battlefield condition, not to mention the consumption of potions and holy water.
Prince Condé had repeatedly fought with the Edict Companies against the Hema Stone army in Upper Riverford County, only to be stuck in front of the walls of Highfort City, unable to advance an inch.
Although the Hema Stone army also suffered heavy casualties, they still managed to hold on.
"Then what do you mean?" Prince Condé bent down, resting his right elbow on his thigh, and squinted at the many knights before him.
"Your Highness, our Edict Companies have suffered heavy losses, and the local knights have also exceeded their service period. Now it's almost the season for planting soybeans and barley..."
Under the gaze of Prince Condé's fiery eyes, the knights' voices grew softer and softer.
"Are you saying that we not only can't stay in Highfort City, but we even have to retreat?" Prince Condé stepped down from the raised platform, until he was face to face with Eren.
His chin was almost touching Eren's forehead.
"Are you saying that I should abandon Highfort City and retreat to Hotham County like a coward?"
"Bishop Barnifoss's gold-lacquered letter can serve as a reason; no one will think you're a coward," Eren argued. "Retreating is not necessarily cowardly; a valiant retreat is also..."
"I'll valiant your mother's head!" Prince Condé grabbed a cloisonné enamel wine bottle from the table and smashed it hard on the heads of these cowardly knights. "Oh, they killed Mizam, killed hundreds of my loyal good knights, and I'm supposed to thank them?"
The deafening roar even made the tent bulge, and the knights huddled together again, trembling.
Prince Condé's anger pointed at something everyone present understood: the incident in Highfort City two weeks ago.
At that time, the citizens of Highfort City sent out letters, wanting to secretly surrender. Prince Condé, ignoring the dissuasion of many knights and priests, happily agreed.
As a result, when he rode into the city, he was pelted with thousand-pound anvils by the citizens. Although he managed to dodge, his horse died again.
If it were a strange city, he wouldn't have been so broken, and might even have laughed and mocked himself, saying that honorable knights often fall for tricks because they trust others too much.
But the problem was that Highfort City was Prince Condé's second home. Although he wasn't born there, it was where he grew up and learned his skills.
One of the main reasons he tried to become the Prince of Thousand River Valley was that it was considered half his hometown, and he was very familiar with its geography and customs.
When he was in Highfort City, to protect his reputation among the citizens and villagers, he would even have the Edict Companies camp in the wild.
Even the capital city of Leia, Longsong City, had never enjoyed this treatment!
It was because he trusted his reputation in his hometown that Prince Condé was so arrogant as to accept this blatant scheme.
Between Duchess Melia Tee and himself, he believed that the citizens of Highfort City would firmly choose him.
As a result, Prince Condé finally revealed his true feelings, but reality made him lose so thoroughly.
Since that breakdown, Prince Condé had become completely deranged, attacking relentlessly.
He had let go, even personally walking the siege towers several times, trying to be the first to climb and seize the city, but he was beaten back by the two titled knights and Duchess Melia Tee herself.
A small Highfort City, three titled knights, Prince Condé was repeatedly humiliated, and now bad news came from the south, adding to the previous losses of two hundred Edict Knights.
These were Prince Condé's old foundations for survival. The severity of losing these three Edict Companies was comparable to Horn losing three legions.
After this series of blows, it was only natural that he entered a blood rage.
Standing in the forefront of the storm, Eren couldn't bear it any longer. He lowered his head and pushed hard towards another knight, Count Eckron from Hotham County.
This Eckron was the main instigator behind this group discussion, and his wife was from the Osla family, and he himself had the blood of the Leia royal family, the Blue Peak Dynasty.
Eckron sighed softly and stepped forward: "Your Highness, please calm down."
"Are you also trying to persuade me to be a coward, Eckron!" Prince Condé paced back and forth impatiently.
"Your Highness, the current situation is that continuing to fight will only lead to discord. Instead of continuing the attack, it's better to first consolidate our forces."
"Consolidate our forces, are you telling me to abandon Highfort?" Taking heavy and rapid steps, Prince Condé, like a fighting cock, stood in front of Eckron.
"Of course not, you can stay and continue the siege, but I must remind you that most of the knights are physically and mentally exhausted. If we continue to fight, the situation is unpredictable."
"Within ten days, I will definitely take Highfort!"
Seeing that Prince Condé was still stubborn, Eckron cursed inwardly and could only pull out his trump card: "Your Highness, I have two letters here, one from the new Pope Puliano, and one addressed to Rose Castle."
"Are you threatening me?"
Eckron didn't speak, but simply handed over the two letters.
Suspiciously unfolding the letters, Prince Condé skimmed through them, then suddenly stretched out his neck awkwardly, bringing his eyes closer to the paper.
His eyes actually revealed a few undisguisable shocks, which even completely covered his original anger.
This made Eren nearby couldn't help but be curious, tiptoeing to try to peek, but was blocked by Prince Condé's broad shoulders.
Carefully putting the Pope's letter into his pocket, Prince Condé opened the second letter addressed to Rose Castle.
After reading for a long time, he raised his head suspiciously: "Duke Omes has always been stubborn, are you sure he will listen?"
"Your Highness, don't forget," Eckron said confidently, "in the list of deaths in the Battle of Rapidstream City, there is a name called Marika, Marika Osla."