Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 415 The Storm Begins
Debegonda.

Behind the palace stands a Romanesque church, its dome adorned with flags that flutter in the night breeze.

Anyone with even a slight knowledge of the royal palace knows that this church was built by His Majesty Harland specifically for the court mage, Jain Schmidt. It is undoubtedly a restricted area, and even the patrolling guards will automatically avoid it.

After all, this place is home to the most powerful mage in Debe, and no scoundrel would dare to cause trouble here.

In the church's basement, moonlight couldn't penetrate from the outside, making the entire room extremely dark, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

"You know what I hate most? It's why they never light that damn candle when I come here!" A stern voice came from the darkness.

Then, a snap of fingers was heard, and a burst of flame instantly ignited the candles in the golden pedestal on the basement wall. The bright, yet not dim, light revealed the true appearance of the basement to the newcomer.

"Your Majesty, with your current level of martial arts cultivation, you can already see without your eyes. What difference would it make to you whether the candle is lit or not?" A slightly thin figure walked unhurriedly to a wooden table and fiddled with something in the firelight.

“But nobody likes the dark, except a bunch of necromancers!” The burly man who walked out of the passage said as he walked, his face finally revealed in the firelight, and it turned out to be His Majesty King Harland of Debe.

“Your Majesty, you are too discriminatory and prejudiced against necromancers.” Jain finally put down the magic potion he was mixing, turned around, and blinked on his aged face: “But luckily I’m not one.”

“Sometimes I wish you were.” Harland sat down expressionlessly at a desk, casually picked up a bottle of wine, poured it into a glass, and began to drink.

“But reality is just like that, not what we wish for.” The old man with corpse spots on his face showed a helpless expression: “Necromancers have been gone for a thousand years, and the Book of the Dead disappeared in the Age of Giants. I’m afraid we could search three feet into the ground and not find a single necromancer.”

Jain wondered what the monarch's purpose was for visiting today, but realized there was no need to guess.

Aside from that one matter, there's probably nothing else that would make this monarch frequent my dark magic study room so much.

"How's that matter going?" After drinking several glasses of strong liquor, Harland remained silent for a while before suddenly asking.

He was clearly the master of the entire Debe, the undisputed ruler above all others, whose every word could change the fate of every single person, yet a cautious yet expectant emotion appeared in his eyes.

"Your Majesty, why don't you come and see for yourself?" The old man shook his head and led the way.

The basement was much larger than I had imagined, with a network of passageways and numerous stone chambers.

After the two turned the fifth corner, they finally stopped in a stone chamber with transparent crystal.

A woman lay inside the crystal, her beauty unforgettable. Her long hair was as if a god had drawn white clouds from the sky and woven them into silk. Even her loose-fitting green dress could not conceal her graceful figure.

This is an unparalleled beauty that is hard for ordinary people to imagine.

Unfortunately, it now lies lifeless like a piece of white jade inside a crystal.

Harland stroked the crystal, his face revealing a mixture of love and pain, before returning to normal once he realized there were others around.

"Is all that dragon blood completely useless? And what about all those potions made from the magical materials I bought for you with piles of gold?" Debe's master asked in a deep voice, "My money isn't meant for you to do nothing here!"

For this matter, he even significantly reduced military spending, moving it into this bottomless pit, all for the outcome he most desired.

“Your Majesty, you probably know better than I how powerful a divine curse can be when a chosen one burns everything they have. Even if a dragon has magic immunity, how much of its effect can its blood inherit?” Jain said calmly. “But it’s not useless. At least the dragon’s blood keeps your beloved alive instead of gradually dying out over time. You should know that.”

"However, I have consulted the classics and found the source of this obscure curse. It shouldn't be long before it's over."

“I hope so.” Haaland fell silent again.

"And as I told you, the capital of the Persian Gulf Empire contains magical items that are effective against this curse. If we can get them, the success rate will be greatly increased."

"My army is taking action for this."

"I worry……"

“There’s nothing to worry about. The three-nation alliance can easily deal with the Gulf Empire. I also have a legendary dragon knight who can bring back even the queen of the Gulf Empire!” Harland said with absolute certainty.

“I’m worried about that dragon knight. His status is too high and his strength is too great. Maybe…” Jaen said hesitantly.

"I don't want to hear that again!" Harland's gaze turned icy, and he interrupted the other person without hesitation: "Li Wei is my son-in-law, my daughter married him, he is my daughter's husband!"

“…” Jia En shut up and said nothing.

"You just need to do what you're supposed to do, and I'll handle the rest." After saying this, Harland took one last look at the woman in the crystal who resembled Sleeping Beauty, then turned and left.

As the other person's figure disappeared into the passageway, the basement fell into darkness again, with only some whispers coming from below.

"The lord of High Cliff Fortress has left, very far away, so far that it's practically impossible for him to return... and I've already witnessed a disturbance..."

"this is a good chance."

"However, Haaland isn't as foolish as we thought..."

"Just an ordinary person... He has no impact on our plans."

"Um……"

……

The Persian Gulf Empire is located on a continent in the middle of the Storm Sea, and its territory is divided into the Northern Province and the Southern Province. The capital is located in Hadda, the capital of the Northern Province, while White Whale Port is located in the Southern Province.

The expeditionary force needed to start from the southern provinces and gradually erode the behemoth that was the Persian Gulf Empire, moving northward bit by bit.

Shiling Fort was a military fortress in the southern province of the Persian Gulf Empire. It was built on a red clay plain with many huge rocks and had a population of about 200,000 and a city guard of tens of thousands. The city walls were built of hard black stone, and with the eagle-head flags on the city walls, the whole place looked solemn and majestic.

This castle is also the current target of High Cliff Fortress. Since the people of High Cliff Fortress set foot on the territory of the Persian Gulf Empire, many of them have suffered from some degree of acclimatization. They rested for five days and were just beginning to recover when news from the vanguard forced them to resume their march.

The Persian Gulf Empire's main force was nonexistent; the army that had been gathered at Whale Harbor was dispersed into legions stationed in castles that could watch over each other.

Upon learning that the griffin riders had flown day and night, suffering nearly a hundred casualties, the entire expeditionary force's leadership fell into deep thought.

Aside from a few nobles who came to gain prestige, the rest of the expeditionary force were not fools, and this strategy was undoubtedly the last thing they wanted to see.

If both sides were to openly and honestly deploy their forces and engage in battle, the war would be incredibly easy, and the expeditionary force would soon be able to taste the fruits of victory.

With the enemy so dispersed, the battle lines and time will be stretched out extremely long, which is very disadvantageous for the expeditionary force.

The Persian Gulf Army clearly intended to divide the entire expeditionary force into pieces, but Bernard had no choice but to comply.

Because the expeditionary force had to attack castle by castle, it was extremely time-consuming and laborious, and it also posed a great challenge to logistics.

Therefore, the expeditionary force split into five legions to attack five military fortresses in the southern province, intending to cut off all the important roads in the southern province first, and then trap and beat them, and take control of the southern province first.

High Cliff Fortress and the Southern Legion are among them.

After a two-week march, Lia was a little tired, and dark circles appeared under her eyes, which was unusual for her. She kept yawning as if she could fall asleep on horseback.

It wasn't that the Duke of the Southern Border had done any strenuous work, but rather that the march was so boring that the Lord of High Cliff Fortress took the lead in playing cards, and later even brought out the mahjong set that he had his craftsmen make.

Although this should not be done in war, it is extremely detrimental to military discipline.

However, Li Wei only said that it was for the girls to play around and have some fun, and Liya agreed. But she didn't expect that once they started, they would get carried away and often play all night long. Now, when she closes her eyes, all she can think about is the game "Yaoji" and "Bawan".

"Go back and rest if you're too tired. I'm here." Li Wei was lying on the back of the three-headed dog, Beifeng, with his legs crossed, engrossed in reading a novel. He couldn't bear to see Liya like this anymore and couldn't help but say.

“What rest? I only came out for some fresh air because I’ve been in the carriage the whole time. As for you, I haven’t seen you rest at all.” Lia looked at the Lord of High Cliff Fortress with envy.

Even though the other party often played mahjong with them all night long and hadn't rested for five or six days in a row, they never seemed tired and always appeared energetic.

"I've just reached the climax of this novel. I'll rest after I finish reading it." The lord happily immersed himself in the new knight novel he had discovered in Whale Harbor.

Even if a novel is incredibly captivating, I still had to rest due to energy constraints. The feeling of being interrupted at a crucial moment was particularly unpleasant.

But now he can indulge his energy without restraint and read the entire novel in one go before resting.

"My lord, we're almost at Stone Ridge Fortress." Skye rode his griffin and spun around in the sky. The squad of griffin knights behind him seemed like fallen leaves, dancing in the wind as they slowly descended to the ground.

The reason why the lord can be so leisurely is naturally because of the group of griffon knights in High Cliff Fortress. With them going to do reconnaissance, even if there are any changes, the main force will have enough time to react.

Thinking of this, Li Wei glanced at the team list.

After the Fide archers transformed into griffon knights, a new troop advancement path emerged, from lowest to highest: "Griffon Rookie Knight", "Griffon Wind Rider Knight", and "Griffon Thunder Warrior".

The battle at Sturges Harbor last time resulted in all of these experienced rookie knights being promoted to "Griffin Wind Riders" without exception.

Previously, they were completely capable of easily defeating the royal griffin riders. After advancing again, Li Wei was pleasantly surprised to find that they had collectively mastered the wind element, enabling them to harness the power of the wind and become even more agile.

Furthermore, they can infuse wind elements into arrows to increase their power, or directly unleash wind blades; their uses are endless, depending entirely on how they develop them.

This made them even more outstanding in the field of air cavalry, enough to easily defeat 90% of the air forces in the world at that time.

The barbarians still rely on a single straw for every hundred acres of land they cultivate. After each war, at most only one or two can be upgraded to berserkers, and sometimes it even takes several wars to accumulate enough power.

If all three hundred orcs are to be upgraded to berserkers, they would probably have to block the abyss passage and slaughter the endless horde of demons.

But for now, this is something we can only think about.

"What's the situation with the other side?" Li Wei finally rolled up the book in his hand and tucked it into his lower back.

He was still savoring the contents of the novel. It must be said that the literary development of the Persian Gulf Empire was also very prosperous. Moreover, because it was a slave society, only nobles could read books.

Therefore, the content is even bolder and more explicit than that of Debe, which can be said to have truly made the lord's heart's desire.

Looking back now, it's quite displeasing to see those bards in Debe who wanted to make a living writing such things, their work was timid and hesitant.

"This castle has about 10,000 to 15,000 garrison troops. They have large weapons like ballistae, but I don't know if they have strategic weapons like magic crystal cannons. They might have hidden them and not taken them out," Skye said in detail.

Now that the Griffin Riders have advanced, Stone Ridge Fortress, lacking top-tier units like aerial riders, can only watch helplessly as these guys conduct reconnaissance in the sky with impunity, unable to do anything about it.

Therefore, the extent of the assets of Shilingbao, a military fortress, was no secret to Gaoyabao.

"Fifteen thousand men?" the lord pondered. "That's probably a medium-sized legion. The main force of the Persian Gulf Empire is scattered, so they must have left a force here."

"Have you searched the surrounding area? Are there any hidden troops?" Li Wei continued to ask.

Li Wei felt that the opponent's tactics were somewhat familiar, and after thinking about it carefully, he realized that it was just a beggar's version of the "divide and conquer" tactic.

Therefore, it is natural to consider that the garrison at Shiling Fort is only on the surface, and there may be an additional legion or even more hidden in secret.

“We searched a full 100 miles, but we didn’t find anything amiss,” Sikai shook his head.

"Should we fight Li Wei?" Leah asked.

(End of this chapter)