Lord: My Shop Connects to Modern Times

"A bunch of useless trash!"

Ivan Sullivan slammed the battle report in his hand onto the table.

The battle report was just sent back today. Ivan didn't pay much attention to it at first, and didn't even look at it right away.

In his mind, it was normal for a small viscountry to be easily taken over by the Southern Allied Forces. The battle report would simply be a report of a great victory and the distribution of credit, with at most a tiny bit of casualties written on it.

But when he confidently opened the battle report, what greeted his eyes were a few large characters.

"Northern Front! A crushing defeat!"

When he saw those words, his first reaction was whether he had misread them. However, as he continued reading, the entire text described the battle losses in various territories, with Karl Booth's men bearing the brunt, almost completely wiped out!

The battle report described the situation as so horrific that Ivan was initially stunned before becoming enraged.

"What are you all doing? Huh?" Ivan stared darkly at the soldier who delivered the message, jabbing the battle report on the table several times with his finger. "Tell me, six thousand men against a few hundred, nearly two thousand of our casualties, zero enemy casualties—what does that mean?"

The soldier who delivered the message was a knight from Ivan's own unit. He kept his head down and didn't dare to look at Ivan.

"...Sir, the opponent's...the opponent's attack methods...are too bizarre..."

Ivan's face was so dark it seemed like it could drip water: "Strange? No matter how strange, it shouldn't be that they couldn't kill a single one! Could it be that everyone in that kid's territory is an incarnation of the devil?!"

He wasn't unaware of the rumors about Lynn; as the top leader of the Southern Territory, he knew even more of the rumors than those in the royal palace.

He had heard of all sorts of things, including incarnations of demons, forbidden weapons, and those best-selling cement, instant noodles, and pills.

Unlike ordinary minor nobles who didn't take it seriously, Ivan had at least seen those magical items with his own eyes and even bought them.

He knew perfectly well about the Silver Oak Merchant Guild's trade there, since Rock Fortress was a necessary stop on the way to the capital.

It's just that it's his personality, so he didn't deliberately interfere.

He had considered that Lynn was no ordinary man when he led the Southern Alliance, which was one of the reasons why he followed the king's orders and demanded that all the nobles in the Southern Territory send troops.

Although the number of troops assembled was not as large as expected, there were still about eight thousand men.

The northern route, starting from Frostfire City, had a total of six thousand people!

Those weren't six thousand refugees, but a full six thousand soldiers! What others didn't know was that among the people they sent, there were quite a few mid-level and low-level warriors.

How could it have gotten like this?

Ivan simply couldn't understand how Lynn had managed to do that.

"My lord... they set traps at Dark Raven Pass... the kind I've never seen before. Their men... hardly showed themselves at all, no charging, no hand-to-hand combat. I feel... this doesn't even count as a real battle..."

The knight spoke tremblingly, explaining that the battle was truly frustrating, but a defeat was a defeat, and a defeat so humiliatingly at that, that was an indisputable fact.

trap?

Ivan remembered that the battle report seemed to have mentioned it, but he was so angry that he almost fainted just looking at the casualty ratio that he didn't pay much attention to the details about the traps.

He picked up the battle report again and read it once more.

It vividly describes how the enemy, taking advantage of the terrain, used strange, explosive traps and shadowy figures constantly flying down the hillside to rout them.

The more Ivan looked, the more alarmed he became. His expression gradually changed from anger to complexity, and then to a hint of fear.

He had never been to the front lines, but judging from the descriptions in the battle reports, Lynn's power was probably even more terrifying than he had imagined.

He was now increasingly convinced that Lynn might actually be a cultist, just as the new king had said!

How could someone who isn't a cultist possess such inconceivable weapons? How could someone who isn't a cultist achieve such an appalling casualty ratio in this battle?

No, we must bring this message back to the capital.

Ivan felt that this might be a situation he couldn't handle. He felt that even if he mobilized all the forces in the Southern Territory this time, he might not be able to defeat Lynn. Even if he could win, he would have to pay an unacceptable price.

Ivan rubbed his temples, carefully put away the battle report, and was about to give the orders when he suddenly remembered something.

"How is the situation on the eastern front? Have any battle reports been sent back?" he asked.

The knight hesitated, then replied with difficulty, "Well... there hasn't been any news from the east yet..."

Ivan fell silent, his eyes fixed on the knight. After a long while, he slowly sighed, "Sigh! Send someone over there to take a look, hmm... just a distant glance will do, take the back path."

He paused, then said, "No matter what happens, run away immediately and bring me back the intelligence."

"Yes!" The knight accepted the order and left.

Ivan watched the knight leave the room, then leaned heavily back in his chair.

He had a bad feeling that the situation in the east might be even worse than at Dark Raven Pass, otherwise there wouldn't be no one coming back to report from there.

But plan for the worst, and hope for the best.

Ivan hoped that the reason the Eastern Front hadn't sent a message back immediately was because they had entered Ironstone Fortress and were currently in the city reorganizing and enjoying themselves, so much so that they had forgotten to report.

Forgetting to report military intelligence is usually a serious dereliction of duty, but Ivan now prefers that the soldiers are having a good time in the city.

Although this possibility is not very high...

……

When the knight left the study, his legs felt a little weak.

It wasn't out of fear—though there was a bit of fear—but more so because of the look in Duke Ivan's eyes just now.

He had seen that look before. It was the look the Duke gave him when he was truly enraged.

The last time I saw him was five years ago when those big merchants from the North conspired to cheat the Duke out of his purchase funds.

Those people were eventually hung on the city gate for three days.

The knight took a deep breath and strode quickly toward the stable.

……

Half an hour later, he had already ridden out of the Rock Fortress.

He didn't really want to go. Having experienced the Battle of Dark Raven Pass, he was almost convinced from the bottom of his heart that the two thousand or so men on the eastern front had been completely wiped out.

His guess was similar to Ivan's, the only difference being that, unlike Ivan, he still harbored illusions about that unit.

A cool, early autumn breeze blew in, carrying the unique chill of the mountains. The knight pulled up his collar and spurred his horse eastward.

He took the side path.

Duke Ivan's instructions were very clear—take the back roads, look from a distance, and whatever you see, run immediately.

This shows that even the Duke himself was unsure.

The knight gripped the reins tightly, a feeling he couldn't quite describe welling up inside him.

He had been with the Duke for several years, and had seen him strategize, give orders, and chat and laugh at banquets.

But it's rare to see him like this—cautious, even...vigilant.

If he hadn't witnessed firsthand the flames that spewed from the ground, the shadowy figures that flew down the hillside, the torn soldiers, the severed limbs, the blood... he probably would have thought the Duke was being overly cautious.

but now……

He shivered, shook his head, and banished those thoughts.

forget about it.

Let's see what's going on first...

An hour later, he approached the eastern front.

He could smell a odor even before the person arrived.

The smell was strange, as if it were a mixture of blood, burnt, earthy, and a slightly pungent, unidentified odor.

The knight slowed down, dismounted, and tied the horse to a tree.

Then he walked forward, using the bushes for cover, and slowly approached the main road.

Finally, he saw the scene before him.

Dozens of corpses lay scattered haphazardly on the main road.

Some were complete, some were incomplete. Some wore leather armor, some wore only cloth.

It looks like the battlefield hasn't been cleaned up yet.

The ground was covered with dark red bloodstains, most of which had dried and turned black, while some were still slightly damp.

The knight crouched in the bushes, staring at the battlefield.

He counted them, and there were thirty or forty bodies that he could see.

Many more were blocked by trees or fell in more distant places.

The smell in the air became even stronger.

He covered his mouth and nose, suppressing the nausea, and continued to observe.

The battlefield was quiet.

The only sounds were the rustling of leaves in the wind, and occasionally a few crows would land on the corpse, peck at it a few times, and then fly away.

nobody.

There wasn't a single living person.

The knight waited another fifteen minutes to make sure no one was there before slowly standing up and taking a few steps back.

He bypassed the battlefield and continued towards Ironstone Fortress.

After walking for about two miles, he finally saw the main road again.

The main road was deserted.

But there were tracks on the road, scattered weapons and armor, and several overturned carriages. Several horses lay dead beside the carriages, their bellies swollen.

The knight dared not go any further.

He hid in the woods, gazing into the distance toward Ironstone Fortress.

The outline of the castle was faintly visible.

There seemed to be figures moving around on the outer wall of the castle.

He squinted, trying hard to see what those people were doing.

But the distance was too far, and all that could be seen were some blurry black dots.

The knight had no choice but to give up. He withdrew his gaze and began to walk back.

On the Eastern Front, it's clear that the war is over, and as for who won and who lost, that's even more obvious.

Ironstone Fortress remained unchanged, showing no signs of attack. The roads were littered with uncollected corpses and equipment.

He was almost certain that the corpses belonged to the Southern Alliance. As for the reason—if these corpses were enemies, their armor, weapons, and equipment would have been recycled and reused immediately.

Only an enemy would be so "wasteful"...

The knight quickened his pace and returned to where he had tied his horse.

He mounted the horse, gripped the reins tightly, and whipped the horse frantically.

All he wanted now was to get back quickly and tell the Duke everything he had seen.

Then get as far away from that place as possible...