Section Sixty-Four: The Rear (Part Two)

The Northern Allied Forces had laid siege to Benisa. Starting with the vanguard and swelling with increasingly larger reinforcements—particularly subsequent troops dispatched by nearby nations such as Cartier and Prouse—they also blockaded the riverways. Although their naval strength was actually inferior to that of the South, this did not prevent them from harassing their adversaries. Using thick iron chains and artificially creating reefs in the middle of the river, they employed various tactics to obstruct Landia from sending reinforcements to Benisa.

The First Army had already united, but facing an enemy force several times its own size, it dared only hover on the outskirts, exercising a degree of diversionary pressure to alleviate the strain on Benisa as much as possible. The Second Division of the Second Army had been halved in strength to incorporate new recruits and had already set out; the drafted soldiers from this division were to be assigned to the newly formed Fourth Army to bring it up to combat readiness as quickly as possible.

To cope with this crisis, Landia had exerted almost its utmost strength. Aside from the First Division of the Second Army, which still guarded the frontier between Valencia and the Gaul region, virtually all available military forces had been deployed. The newly formed Fourth Army would be thrown into the battlefield as soon as its basic training was completed. Elsewhere, only the National Guard remained to maintain order.

Landia's envoys had once again hurried to Fole and Thiers in the hope of persuading these two nations to extend a helping hand. Yet both countries maintained an ambiguous stance. Anyone with discerning eyes could guess their intentions: they were still hesitating over whether to tie themselves to Landia's chariot and take the gamble. If Landia emerged victorious, there was no doubt that the voice of the Southern nations in continental affairs would be immensely strengthened; if they did not participate in this war and the North failed, the spoils Fole and Thiers could reap would undoubtedly be greatly diminished. However, should they intervene and suffer defeat, it could very well lead to irrevocable damnation.

Reports from Benisa continued to pour in. The allied forces were engaged in relentless assaults; every single day was an ordeal of iron and blood. The defenders of Benisa, including raw recruits and youngsters, relied on the sturdy fortifications to temporarily withstand wave after wave of attacks, but the situation was by no means optimistic. The armies of the Northern kingdoms had completely severed Benisa's external connections. Now, aside from the intelligence brought back by battlefield scouts, only Sokaris remained in contact with Valencia via magic crystal communication.

The doors of the cathedral in Valencia had finally been reopened. Previously, they had remained tightly shut, and even the church's staff would sneak out of a small side door like thieves when purchasing daily necessities. Now, with the frantic distress calls coming from Benisa, the church had resumed its public activities. It was rumored that several council members had received visits from Archbishop Childe. Although some protested, because this war had not been initiated by the Church in the first place, but rather by the Northern nations, and though the Church's Paladins had been faintly active near Talia, the Church's forces had not yet officially entered the war. This left a final shred of leeway, preserving a margin for diplomatic maneuvering.

It was precisely at this moment that Fahrenheit was receiving Helen and Crow. Having just spent a night of intense labor, his eyes were bloodshot, yet he still maintained that warm and dependable demeanor.

"What? Is there really news of him?" Helen asked with wide eyes. After alternating through rounds of hope and disappointment, despair and anticipation, the young princess of the Fae finally heard the name that made her heart race.

"Indeed. He should be not far from Valencia now, coming from the Gaul region, driving a carriage with two women inside," Fahrenheit said with a smile. News of Wei Wuji had actually been arriving all along. Previously, however, the intelligence from Gaul indicated that he had been assisting the revolutionary army, and it seemed he had even helped the Hegel family escape. Later, the report sent back by the five-man team dispatched by Fahrenheit revealed that Wei Wuji had directly participated in the revolutionary army's attack on Gaul City, clashing with the scouting team near the prison and indirectly leading to the fall of Gaul City.

If these reports were made public, Wei Wuji would be regarded as an enemy by Landia, grounds enough to arrest and try him in the name of the law. Yet Fahrenheit had suppressed these intelligence reports for a simple reason: cooperation with the Fae was necessary at the time, and for some inexplicable reason, the young princess of the Fae placed extreme importance on this man who continually manufactured trouble for Landia and Fahrenheit.

Therefore, it was temporarily inappropriate to blame Wei Wuji, let alone actually arrest him. Doing so could severely jeopardize the cooperation with the Fae. In Landia's current strategy, the Fae had become an indispensable link; it was precisely because of the Fae that Landia had avoided being attacked simultaneously on land and sea, otherwise the current situation would be even more dire.

Consequently, Fahrenheit had kept the information regarding Wei Wuji hidden from Princess Helen, right up until the recent news that the weapons expert Mr. Hegel, who had fled to the Gaul region, had suddenly died. According to the revolutionary army, he was assassinated by the Church, though they cunningly insinuated that Valencia also bore a degree of suspicion. Meanwhile, his widow and daughter decided to return to Valencia with Hegel's ashes. Under Landia's law, Hegel's defection would be prosecuted, but his wife and daughter would likely be pardoned as long as they insisted they were coerced by the revolutionary army, which generally won public sympathy. Moreover, when Fahrenheit had delivered his public speeches to rally the populace, he had claimed that the Hegel family was abducted by the revolutionary army rather than revealing that Hegel was a defector—even though subsequent intelligence indicated that the weapons expert had most likely gone willingly.

However, since Hegel was already dead, Fahrenheit saw no need to pursue his surviving widow and orphan. Furthermore, according to analytical reports, Wei Wuji's relationship with the revolutionary leader was likely not one of joining the insurgency as initially suspected, but rather an act of intervention solely on account of the Hegel family. Now that Hegel was dead and his family had chosen to return to Valencia, there was even less reason to antagonize a man whose relationship with Princess Helen was out of the ordinary.

On the contrary, an attempt could perhaps be made to sway his stance toward Valencia, which would be even more favorable for binding the Fae to Landia's chariot.

Thus, the time had come to let Princess Helen receive news of Wei Wuji.

Just as Fahrenheit, fatigued, was receiving the young princess of the Fae and Crow to inform them of Wei Wuji's whereabouts, a few kilometers away from Valencia, a luxurious black four-wheeled carriage drawn by two horses was slowly approaching.

"Mr. Wei, how much farther is it to Valencia?" a young woman's voice asked softly from inside the carriage.

Wei Wuji replied from the driver's seat, "We are about to arrive."

"Will I really be able to see Amango?" the young woman asked timidly and softly.

"You will, I guarantee it!" Wei Wuji cracked his whip, and the carriage sped away in the direction of Valencia.