I headed for the western prairie with a special force led by Nazir and Bayan.
It’s more than a month and a half away from where I aimed. The march was a bit longer than the one to Ramis, but the journey was much easier. It was because there was no need to hurry by buying 10 days of the operation time, and most grasslands were spread out, so enough water or water to feed camels could be saved.
However, the annoying thing is that whenever our military moves, it sends a wary look from the neighboring city’s countries and tribes. It was because the area we mainly moved to in the beginning was the national territory of the coastal city where hostile relations with Kara were formed, so we could not be welcomed. As a result, every time we passed through their territory, we had to continue to march on shaky ground with persistent stalking and military provocations.
However, the battle did not take place. No matter how slow we march, it was usually much faster than the speed of movement. Even if they sent troops after receiving reports from patrolmen, our troops had already left their territory.
But on the other hand, I was very concerned. Coastal city-state forces can join forces to attack Kasim’s protective Ramis.
There were hundreds of ships in Ramis that had been taken away by the Robros Navy. If this is taken away by another city-state, there is no future for Kara. Kara doesn’t have the ability to build ships, and she doesn’t have a decent sculpture.
Of course, hostile coastal city-states can only occupy the land through land battles, but honestly, they cannot head to the bare ground. Whether it is sea trade or trying to block the course, there should be a ship anyway.
However, the mercenaries of Zenbe decided to go, so that’s enough. If Kasim blocks it well for about two months, Ramis will be safe.
I opened the map I got from Fort Ramis on the move.
The map depicted the future plans for maritime trade by the Kingdom of Robros in an intertwined diagonal line. These lines connected each coastal city-state, eventually reaching an island.
‘Jores Island·····.’
The island was a giant island about 510 kilometers south of the coastline where the Iposium Mountains touched and 370 kilometers west of Andrea, a city-state on the western prairie. It was only discovered by the Kingdom of Robros decades ago and now contains only one governor-general the size of his own estate, but the possibility of its development was very high. This is because the area of my hometown, Grand Duke Charles, was much larger than the territory.
Of course, the entire island is full of animals, and the current governor-general is barely maintained, but if the development is completed, it would be perfect for my future refuge. This is because they can be freer from large-scale attacks on the continent because they are separated from the sea.
Of course, it would still have to be attacked by flying creatures, but I thought that if we moved a large number of Shika people to develop and fortify them, they would live for more than two years. At least there won’t be a rush near the fear of land animals.
It was the same in the era of destruction. There was only a self-drawn human residence on the island of Jores, but it lasted longer than the northern Oak Plains.
Bayan drove a camel and stood side by side next to me.
“Master?”
I folded the map for a while.
“Why?”
“Can we beat the Duke of Bastian’s army by ourselves?”
Bayan’s expression was full of anxiety. Perhaps he was very afraid of the Duke of Bastian’s great army.
“Yes.”
“How do you say that? Their military power is still close to 200,000, and we’re only 4,000. No matter how hard I think about it, I can’t see the possibility.”
I laughed hard. I even called Nazir and stopped him next to me.
“What are our goals in this war, you guys?”
“Isn’t it defeating Robros?”
I waved at Bayan’s answer.
“No, we just need to get them to back off. You don’t have to defeat them.”
“That’s true, but ····.”
“Now we only need to win one battle. That’s thousands of fights. If you win that fight, it doesn’t matter if Robros has 200,000 or 2 million. We just have to back off.”
“How come?”
“This whole barren desert land will turn into an enemy of Robros. Humans can beat humans, but they can’t beat the land. Human life is finite, but the life of the earth is eternal. Of course, you can shovel at best, but you can’t beat the essence of the earth.”
Bayan tilted his head. He didn’t seem to understand at all.
“I’m not mistaken, but how do you make the land our ally?”
“It’s still a secret. It’s over when it leaks out.”
“What?”
I opened the map again.
“That’s something you’ll find out later anyway. Do you guys have any intention of going here?”
Bayan and Nazir peeked at the island of Jores I pointed to on the map.
“Isn’t it an island?”
“Yes. If we win this war, we’ll have this island.”
Nazir crossed his arms and looked at the island of Zores in detail.
“That’s a pretty big island.”
“And it’s all over the woods, and it’s raining a lot, so it’s good to farm. If the development is completed, it will be the best land for the Shika people to live in. You guys are doing it. Go to Governor-General and develop this place.”
“If you’re a governor, ····?”
“It’s one of the positions of the chief civil servant in the central political arena, mainly in charge of managing the king’s orders.”
Nazir and Bayan faced each other’s eyes with bright faces. Their dream is to become an earthworm.
“I’ll do it.”
“It’s not that easy to decide. It’s dangerous because there are a lot of animals living here. But on the day the development is over, there is a big reward waiting. You will receive more than a count of land on the continent.”
It is a vast land that cannot be imagined if it is a count. In fact, if you say you, you should have land.
“I’ll do it.”
“Think carefully and decide. Anyway, let’s talk about this again after the war. Right now, focus on the battle.”
“Yes.”
All right, we’ve got the men to develop the island of Jores. Although I told them to think about it, they’re definitely going.
* * *
We have already passed through the western prairie. From now on, it was Robros’ territory and had to pass with greater care than ever before.
So I speeded up the march. It’s a day or two to the destination. If you catch up with Robros here, something very unfair happens.
And when I passed by a castle. We could see about 30 camel soldiers rushing to us from the gate. As soon as they approached, they all turned against me.
A person in his late 30s who appeared to be in the lead was chosen as a representative.
“Baekmyun, here comes the leader of Jafar.”
He was one of the forces of the Western Great Plains, along with Braam, who fought against the Lovros forces. Of course, after Braam’s defeat, he surrendered to the Robros army and stood with them, but there was no particular hostile relationship with Kara.
They never attacked Kara.
“Yeah. What’s going on?”
“I heard about Kara’s victory. We’re cutting back.”
After defeating Marquis Fabius’s expeditionary forces, Kara was expanding greatly, taking down Ramis, Elama, Merisela, and Hussein.
And this was coming as hope or anxiety for Western Great Plains powers. Those who oppose Robros are hopeful that Kara can save them, and those who cooperate with Robros are worried that Kara is eating half of the western desert.
“Thank you. But?”
“If you’re on your way to fight Robros, let us follow.”
“Are you going to fight Robros, too?
Jafar answered loudly.
“Yes!”
“No, why?”
“Robros is my father’s enemy.”
Former Leader of the Jafar was killed in the defense of Braam. It is only natural for my newly-leader son to fight Robros to avenge his enemies, but that didn’t mean for me to come to the enemy camp and join hands with strangers.
This was especially true due to the nature of the operation, which calls for confidentiality.
“Thanks, but stand by.”
“What?”
“It’s helpful for us to protect Jafar here.”
“But ····.”
Jafar looked very disappointed. She seemed to think that she was shunned by Kara.
At this rate, you may turn to the enemy. I carried on with the next word.
“I have an order in five or six days. It’s very important. But you have to be here in Jafar to do that. Can you do it for me?”
“Yes!”
“Okay, we’ll talk about it then. All right, bye.”
As I left, I looked at Jafar, who was happy. Joining hands with Kara will eventually be the right choice for him, but it’s a stupid choice for now. Robros is close and Kara is far away, but I don’t know what kind of thang he wants to join us. Maybe because I’m young, there are many hasty sides.
However, the filial piety of trying to avenge his father’s death is only acceptable. In fact, self-loyalty, which is very filial, is often also deep.
* * *
‘We’re finally here.’
The last place we arrived was the Iposium Mountains.
I smiled of triumph here, where the distant cliff continued endlessly. The only thing left to do is to hit the Duke of Bastian in the back of his head. Perhaps the Duke’s spine will cool down a few days later at the absurd news from the rear.
I continued to move north, looking closely at the cliff.
“Where is it? It would’ve been around here.”
When I came to enemy territory and did the wrong thing, Bayan asked.
“Master, why the hell are you here in the Iposium mountains?”
“To take over the gates of Polkin.”
I finally revealed my intention honestly. Now that I’ve come this far, I don’t mind telling it.
As if Bayan misheard, he rubbed his ears.
“What?”
“I’m here to attack the polkin gate.”
Bayan opened his eyes wide at my high-toned voice. Polkin Gate is an impregnable fortress that has never been occupied. The four thousand here could never have taken over.
“Master! Fort Polkin can’t be taken over with millions!”
“Yes, it can be.”
“How do you say that? Fort Polkin is as tall as 90 meters. Even if you shoot an arrow, the arrow won’t touch it. There’s no way up there.”
“But there’s a side road inside.”
Bayan blinked wildly. It would be possible if there was a side road, but it was unbelievable.
“Really?”
“Yes, that’s why I trained you to climb the cliff. It’s a little rough.”
Currently, there is no side road to the Polkin gate. But that was only the current point of view, not the future. During the era of destruction, a large group of animals found a side road and invaded inside the Polkin gate, one of which was blocked by me who came to the support group.
If you go that way, you will find the inside of the Polkin gate.
“Where the hell is that road?”
“See you later. We’ll be there in a little while.”
After a while, I saw a small cave above the cliff in my eyes. It’s a hole for one person to barely enter, but if you go inside, you’ll find a fairly large place.
“That’s it. Everybody get ready.”
Soon after, I summoned the dark horse and prepared to climb the rock.
First, I slowly climbed up the cliff with a thin rope on my shoulder. It is very dangerous because it is a steep slope near 90 degrees, but there were many rocks to hold straw with hands, so it did not cause much trouble to climb.
As I approached the hole, I casually looked down the cliff. It was almost 50 meters high, so it was dizzying.
Then I climbed right into the cave and lowered the rope down and tied the end to a nearby rock.
“Come on, everybody come up!”
One by one, the troops began to climb on my orders. They were rough rock climbing, but they had ropes to rely on, so they climbed one by one to the entrance of the cave without any accidents. Indeed, even the magical creatures are on the way up. There’s no way a human being can’t come up.
It was Nazir. I gave him a magic lantern and pushed his back into the cave.
“Great job. Get in.”
One by one, the unit members entered the cave. After a long time, all but 200 of them were left behind to protect the camels.
So I packed the rope again and went inside where everyone was.
Soon, a cave square filled with people came into my sight. My magic lantern was on, not dark, but there was no place to be gloomy because it was a place where there were no people.
I accepted the magic lantern and slowly moved forward. The drops of water dripping and the stone and stone pillars growing here and there. I wandered between them and stood in front of a cave wall.
This is the place. It is now blocked, but it is later pioneered by the magicians and a passage is created. I pulled out a bird and started digging into the walls of the cave.
As we dug about 1 meter down, we could see the light from the outside that permeated softly. I slightly re-covered the dirt with the darkening exterior view.
“Come on, camp in the cave today and leave tomorrow.”
I decided to take a day off here. The reality is that we are in trouble from now on. It takes a long time to get to your destination on a dangerous cliff path. The night shift was absolutely impossible.
After that, I gathered all the troops and entered the operation meeting.
The Polkin Gate was defended by at least 3,000 soldiers, 200 knights, and one master. Our side could have been beaten for making a hasty surprise.
I detailed the location of the enemy barracks, the gateway residence where Earl Malthus stays, and the mansion where the knights stay, and came up with a surprise strategy.
It was called Operation Back-Stab. If you stab him properly, Robros, led by the Duke of Bastian, will be in a very difficult situation. The supply from home country is very tight. If we do well, we can end this war here.
* * *