Your war hammer is too fake

Although the smallest of the major keep outside of the World's Edge Mountains, Fort Desolation is the largest Dwarf settlement in the Grey Mountains, and as a result they enjoy great influence among the nearby Dwarven communities.

"If you are concerned about our position, lady, there is no need to worry," Brokk said bitterly, "I can gather three thousand warriors. Paraon is not easy to fight, and you will need the dwarf's war machines and siege skills."

"Thank you for your kindness, but the Son of the Mountain and Stone does not need to participate in this conflict," An Jiuyue shook her head. "A letter is enough. I have a way to make Egwene's army appear directly in the city. If the Parawon can hold out for more than three hours, I lose. Oh, by the way, you'd better start strengthening the city's defenses from now on, Brokk, don't forget, there is a large group of elves at your doorstep."

"I will, my lady. If those sick souls dare to come to my stronghold, ha! Grimnir's beard, we can just cross out many entries in the Book of Hatred!"

Brock Iron Chisel not only wrote a letter as requested by An Jiyue, but also lent her one of his rings. With the help of these two things, the three people who sneaked into Paraon at night quickly gained the trust and cooperation of the local dwarf community. Afterwards, An Jiyue spent one million points to exchange for a secondary anchor point from the War Scripture.

This was the first time that all the Lords of the Holy Scripture had redeemed this extremely expensive thing since their travels. Considering that both the Empire and Bretonnia reservations were handled by Egwene, this anchor point was lent to Knight Ji by the Jiedushi. Currently, the latter owed the former a total of 105 million points, plus a rare unit card.

The next moment after the anchor point was deployed, an imperial army of thousands of people appeared out of nowhere in the city of Paraon under the cover of night!

(End of Volume 3)

The author says:

Author's words: PS: Don't worry, there will be bread, there will be milk, and of course there will be the Holy Grail Duel.

Volume 4: Burning of the Emerald Sea

Chapter 202 Before the Battle Begins

At noon on October 2502, 10 of the Imperial Calendar, Paraon.

After more than half a month of marching, the dusty Paraon army finally returned to their starting point. Looking at the flag of the Reik territory flying on the top of the city and the imperial army arrayed with their backs to the city, the knights of Paraon gnashed their teeth and wished they could rush up and kill those damned Reik people one by one with their lances.

At first, when the news of the fall of Paraon was received, everyone from the Duke to the old farmer regarded it as some kind of poor joke. It was not until a serious-looking prophetess broke into the Duke's tent for holding military meetings that Paraon was shocked and angry to learn that the capital of the principality had really been stolen.

No one knows how the Imperials did it - it's not that Paraon has not been attacked by the Imperial army. In the third Paraon War in history, the Paraon people invaded Reikland again, and ended up running head-on into the greatest Imperial Emperor since Sigmar, Magnus von Bildehofen, the double chosen of Sigmar and Ulric, the Pious.

The Imperial Army repelled the invading Paragonians and took advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack. The siege of Paragon lasted for a whole year until Magnus reached a peace agreement with the then King of Bretonnia and the Imperial Army withdrew. Although the Paragonians lost the war, Paragon did not fall. Magnus's army had been fighting for a year but failed to capture the city. As a result, Paragon was now taken down overnight by an army led by Rick that appeared out of nowhere?

The defenses of Paraon were not empty, and were even stronger than usual. Before the expedition, Duke Paraon deliberately left behind a strong enough garrison.

"Those beggars must have used some kind of unclean witchcraft!" said a Bretonnian noble, and his colleagues unanimously agreed. As for the fact that they had previously relied on the prophetess's magic to deal with the imperial artillery and then defeated the imperials, this trivial matter was ignored by the knights.

Due to Bretonnia's military system that perfectly fits the general public's stereotype of the Middle Ages (Note 1), the kingdom's knights usually have to stay in their own fiefdoms, ready to fight any enemy invading the territory at any time. Only when a battle that cannot be handled by a single knight and his old farmers appears, the knights will gather at the call of the feudal lord to fulfill their 40-day annual service obligations. In parentheses, equipment, food and other things needed for war must all be provided by themselves.

If for some reason the actual service time exceeds 40 days - which is commonplace in the war-torn Warhammer - the lord must provide all expenses for the vassal during the war and pay remuneration.

Fighting the Reiks was obviously not a task that could be accomplished within forty days. For some reason, the Duke insisted on leading his army directly to the city of Altdorf, rather than stopping when the going was good. To this end, the Duke not only mobilized all of his vassals, but also found ways to hire a group of "sword sellers" to help.

In theory, the knights cannot hire war dogs to fight for them, because it is not in line with the spirit of chivalry. However, theory is theory. Except for a few stubborn people, the knights have figured out a workaround: You are not allowed to hire mercenaries, right? Well, as long as I don't pay, there is no such thing as "hiring".

The knights would use a special set of words to negotiate with the captain of the mercenary. If the communication between the two parties was recorded, there would be absolutely no violation of the spirit of chivalry if only the paper records were read. After the price was agreed upon, the knight, as the employer, would pass by the mercenaries with a bag full of gold, and then "accidentally" lose the bag of money. As for who picked up the bag, the knight said he had no idea.

With this operation, the Parawon people hired a group of ogres to fight for them. Originally, this was enough, but when the Parawon army was about to set out, a group of unexpected mercenaries came to them.

"Are those the Skarlock shooters?" Putting down the monocular telescope in her hand, Evelyn asked An Jiuyue beside her.

"Well, they are the best archers that can be hired with gold coins in the entire Old World, bar none," An Jiyue replied, "but the wood elves don't really care about gold. Their real reward is the opportunity to observe how their employer's army fights."

Compared with the arrogant knights or the timid old farmers, the group of wood elves in the Paraon army looked particularly conspicuous. As the top mercenary in the Old World, the Skarlock Archers were composed of three blood-related warbands, including one warband each of the Woodland Guards, Deep Forest Scouts, and Rangers.

It was the presence of these people that allowed the Parawon army to retreat calmly instead of being tormented by endless harassment. When the Parawon stopped their advance and turned back to their hometown, several companies of Imperial hunters assembled under the order of Karl Franz, ready to let these damned Batuo people experience the Imperial hospitality.

This move soon proved to be a suicide mission. The Imperial hunters were no mediocre, but the Wood Elves were even stronger! Especially the Rangers, who were the best archers and scouts even by the standards of the Elven. The hunters lost hundreds of lives in just a few days, while the damage they caused to the enemy was minimal.

The Wood Elves were not invincible, of course. The problem was that the main force of Reikland had just returned to Altdorf. Unless the Emperor chose to escalate the situation and invade the enemy's home like in the Third Paraon War, they would not be able to catch up anyway. The provincial infantry and irregular armed forces deployed nearby were really helpless against the Paraon people.

Anjiyue and Egwene soon learned of the setbacks suffered by the Reiks. After taking Paraon, Egwene wrote a letter to Karl, which was delivered to Altdorf with the help of the rotor helicopter of Fort Desolation. Since learning that the Bretonnians actually believed in a certain elven god, Brok Ironchisel's impression of these neighbors suddenly became extremely bad, even though the Bretonnians were actually victims and they did not know the truth.

Upon learning that there were elves in the Paraon army, and they were the wood elves that the Gray Mountain Dwarves hated the most, Brock once wanted to send a gyroplane to carry out an air strike on the Paraon people who were passing through the Axe Mark Pass. It took An Jiyue a lot of effort to appease the dwarf king.

After repeated considerations, An Jiyue and Aiwen gave up the plan to harass the enemy halfway. The presence of the Skarlock Archers eliminated the possibility of ambushes and sneak attacks, and the light cavalry could easily be intercepted by the Pegasus Knights if they made a short assault.

The Principality of Paraon, adjacent to the Grey Mountains, has always been famous for its Pegasus Knights. Their emblem is a golden Pegasus painted on a pure black background.

Opposite the imperial army arrayed with their backs to the city, the Parawon people hesitated for a while outside the cannon range, and finally had to retreat unwillingly and set up camp about three kilometers northwest of the city. Even if they did not encounter any harassment on the way back, the high-intensity march for more than half a month still made the Parawon people exhausted.

It’s okay for the knights who have horses for transportation, but the old farmers who rely solely on Route 11 are really unable to hold on.

Seeing that the Parraonians were not going to start a war today, the system units that had deliberately disguised themselves as the army led by Rick also withdrew their troops and returned to the city. In order to save face for the emperor who had just been crowned and was thwarted, Egwene deliberately set the troops to be Rick people when recruiting troops, and all of them were Sigmar followers. According to the recruitment mechanism of the War Code, unless the background setting clearly stated that the troops came from a specific area, the origins of the system units were generally random, and people from different regions would be mixed together.

"There shouldn't be a fight today. As far as I can remember, except for a few eccentrics, the Bretonnian army has never launched a sneak attack. Oh, except for the group of hiding men. After all, they are not knights, so they are naturally not bound by the spirit of chivalry," An Jiyue said, "But the wood elves may do something, so remember to have your people be on high alert."

"I will. By the way, are we really not going to arrange some nighttime programs for those knights outside?" asked the knight girl who was walking side by side with the governor.

"Didn't you notice that Xiao Fan is missing?" An Jiyue asked. "She will make proper arrangements."

The two walked towards the restaurant under the protection of a team of imperial knights. They were currently living in the castle of Duke Paraon. After conquering the city, Aiwen designated this place as her command center.

Neither An Jiyue nor Aiwen were people who cared about pomp and circumstance. They had been eating with the Imperial Knights in recent days. Beef stew with salt and black pepper, vegetable soup with onions, turnips and carrots, sliced ​​soft cheese, and soft white bread were their lunch today, as well as the lunch of the Imperial Knights.

The two chatted aimlessly while eating, talking about whatever came to mind. Just when the topic had deviated to how the high elves who ate beef and fish had the nerve to call themselves vegetarians, an Imperial knight appeared in the restaurant, followed by a Bretonnian.

"Good afternoon, my fair ladies," said the Bretonnian man, in breeches and a tunic, with a cloak thrown over it. "I am Sir Louis de Maunoury, chamberlain of the Duke of Paragon."

He looked at the two beautiful girls with undisguised amazement in his eyes. Of course, this did not prevent him from carrying out the task entrusted by the Duke: "I have brought the Duke's mercy to you two. As long as you hand over the Duke's city, return all the property you stole from here and compensate for all losses, the Duke is willing to let you and your army leave safely."

An Jiyue could still hold it together, but Aiwen burst out laughing. "You said you were the palace steward?" she asked with a smile. After receiving a positive answer, the knight slowly put away her smile: "I don't think this job is suitable for you, sir. You should be a jester. Look, even your enemies are amused by your words."

"You relied on luck and a despicable sneak attack to occupy the Duke's city while he was away on a campaign," Sir Louis said in a particularly confident tone, "but that doesn't mean you can survive the Duke's army. Listen, Imperials, you always over-trust the so-called "technology" and think that those tricks can help you defeat real warriors. You use the occasional lucky victory as the basis for this fallacy, but you don't understand what true strength looks like."

The Chamberlain held his head high, as if the Bretonnians had already won. "Twenty-three of the Lady's living saints walk among us. When they bring the Lady's divine wrath upon you, it will be too late to repent. Make the wise choice before the Duke changes his mind, and you will at least return home alive."

After saying this, Sir Louis saluted the two men with his hand on his chest, then left without looking back.

……

Note 1: The army in the Middle Ages, even in the early Middle Ages, was not just knights + old peasants. There was a standing army in the Middle Ages, and it has always existed. As for mercenaries, they have been throughout the history of the white people. In addition to the militias from the wealthy class and religious forces, the military system of Europe in the Middle Ages was actually very complicated, and it is not something that can be summarized by the few arms in the Batto military book.

The author says:

Author's Note: PS: There is one more chapter

Chapter 203: Knight Princess's Past

The Asrai curse-chanter Nayis sat in her seat, watching the humans' dispute coldly.

While the old farmers were busy cutting wood and building fortifications under the supervision of the lower knights, all the important people in the Paraon army received a call from the Duke himself. Nayes was also called over. In the previous series of battles, her prophecy spells had predicted the actions of the imperials many times in advance. Coupled with the outstanding performance of the Skarlock Archer, the monkey leader, who was called "Duke" by other monkeys, decided to give her the honor of attending the meeting.

The prophetess felt nothing particularly about this, although judging by the look on the face of the monkey knight who had come to deliver the order, it seemed to be some sort of considerable honor to the monkeys.

Soon after the meeting began, the Duke announced in a tone that he thought was generous that he would show mercy to those miserable imperial people and save his city from more unnecessary damage. After the butler left, the Duke ordered his servants to bring all kinds of delicious food and, of course, the indispensable fine wine, and the banquet began.

Sir Louis, who had gone to the city to deliver a message, returned soon. Not surprisingly, the imperialists refused to persuade them to surrender—if such arrogant words could really be called persuasion to surrender. The arrogance of the elves was well known, but in Nayes's opinion, these Bretonnian monkeys were really arrogant beyond reason.

In the eyes of the spellcasters, the Bretonnian monkeys believed almost paranoidly that as long as they had the help of the Holy Grail Knights, they could overcome any difficulties and defeat any enemies, regardless of whether the current situation was in line with their understanding.

The reaction of the Imperials made the knights furious, as if they were seriously offended. One by one, the noble lords cursed the Imperials in the Duke's tent, accusing them of being ungrateful. Even the Duke himself, who was in a high position, had a livid face. Naise looked around and found that only she and a Holy Grail Knight named Almarick de Godaron had normal expressions.

Noticing the sight of the spellsinger, the Holy Grail Knight raised a cup of water and saluted her. While the other nobles of Bretonnia were feasting on the table full of delicacies, Sir Almarik had only water and black bread in front of him. The latter was no different from the black bread eaten by old farmers except that there were no strange ingredients mixed in.

An incredibly powerful monkey, Nayes thought. She raised her glass in return, but hers was filled with real wine. It was not as good as the wine of Athel Loren, but by monkey standards, the wine of the Bretonnians was excellent.

"Everyone, please listen to me," Sir Almarik said. The tent instantly fell silent, and even the Duke turned his body to listen attentively to the speech of the representative nominated by the Holy Grail Knights.

"I'm going to the city again." If the person who said this wasn't a Holy Grail Knight, the tent would have been in chaos by now. "I've heard of the name 'Egwene', I just hope it's not the Egwene I know."

"Who?" the Duke asked. The Bretonnians did not know the full name of the commander of the Imperial army, they only knew that it was a female general named "Ewen", which made the Bretonnian nobles sneer. In Bretonnia, except for the unique case of Hua Meisi, women are generally considered not to be in power, let alone appear on the battlefield.

Except for the prophetesses and saints.

"Ewen de Richelieu, the champion of the lance tournament in Cologne five years ago," the Holy Grail Knight replied. "I have never seen her in person, but I know Sir Bayard, who was knocked off his horse by her lance. Many people question Sir Bayard's bravery because of this incident, but I must say that in terms of riding skills and lance skills alone, Sir Bayard is better than me."

The people in the tent were whispering to each other, discussing the matter in low voices with amazement and astonishment.

"If it is really her, perhaps when we fight tomorrow, she will offer to have a lance duel with our strongest knight," Sir Almarik continued. "My lady, we have no chance of winning."

"I am not questioning you, sir," the Duke said. "Why would Lady Egwene help the Imperials? It makes no sense. The Imperials have no sense of honor. Any true knight would be ashamed to associate with these beggars."

You arrogant people don't seem to be any better, Naise thought.

"Two years ago, His Majesty Lauren ascended the throne," the knight did not answer the question directly, but talked about another seemingly unrelated matter. "Soon after our king was crowned, he sent people to find Lady Ewen who was about to go to the empire. They met outside the city of Cologne, and His Majesty Lauren promised Lady Ewen that he would give her all the honors she deserved and canonize her as a knight. Lady Ewen rejected this proposal."

"What?" The Duke looked quite surprised. "Why?"

"The baroness did not explain the reason," Sir Almarik shook his head. "The baroness insisted on going to the empire. In order to keep her, His Majesty the King proposed a lance competition. If she wins, the baroness will have to accept the king's appointment."

With the help of the elves' powerful hearing, Nayis heard the sound of swallowing saliva very clearly, and more than once. Sir Almarik did not mention the result of the competition, but judging from the fact that Egwene finally went to the Empire, the winner was self-evident.

"Lady Egwene hates her people so much?" The Duke said in a voice that was almost lamenting. "Just because she didn't receive cheers and laurels five years ago, she is going to help a group of lowly beggars slaughter the Bretonnians?"

"Please listen to me, Duke." The Holy Grail Knight sighed for some reason when he said this. "Some people heard about this and thought that Lady Evelyn had humiliated the king and the spirit of chivalry. At a banquet, they deliberately said some... extremely immoral remarks in front of the Lady's father. The old knight could not tolerate others humiliating his daughter, so he challenged the humiliator to a duel. Although old Richelieu raised a powerful knight, he himself was never known for his bravery. He died in the duel, and his opponent spat on his body. Not long after, the Lady's mother also passed away due to excessive grief."

"When the baroness got the news and rushed back, she found out that she was the last Richelieu in the world. I once heard a rumor that the Richelieu family was cursed. There were very few men in the family, and women often died before adulthood. Anyway, the baroness found those people and challenged them to a duel, but was rejected by them because she was not a knight and had no power to do so. When the baroness was about to solve the problem in her own way, His Majesty Lawn appeared on the scene and stopped her."

"Sir, for the lady's sake, don't tell me the king has lost again," said the Duke dryly.

"His Majesty Lauren would have preferred to lose," the Holy Grail Knight drank the water in the cup. "Lady Egwene had completely lost her mind at the time. When the king's sword was knocked away, Ser Bayar stabbed the lady from behind. The last time I saw Ser Bayar, he was about to go to the Arctic Wasteland. He told me that he had trampled on the spirit of chivalry and had no honor left. Only a glorious death in battle could redeem his soul."

Sir Almalik finished his story. A dead silence fell over the tent.

"...It may not be her," the Duke said after a long silence, "Sir." He nodded at Almarik, "Go quickly and come back, and then we will decide what to do."

The author says:

Author's words: Second update. I finally updated the chapter that has been overdue for a long time, although I can't remember when I updated the chapter I owed...

Chapter 204: The Movement of the Wood Elves

Sir Almarik entered Paraon alone.

Not long after, the famous Undead Slayer in Bretonnia (Note 1) returned and brought terrible news to the Paraon people: the commander of the Empire was Aven de Richelieu.

An existence who defeated the Holy Grail Knight Lawn Leocornwall twice as a mortal (?).

The Duke ordered the news to be blocked, and the vassals followed the order with worried faces. The Parraon people discussed it dejectedly for a while, and then they all turned their eyes to Nayes.

"In the name of the Hunting God Kunos and the Mother Goddess Isha, I will not reveal this news to your people," the spellcaster said in very standard Breton, "unless I have your permission."

"Did your master foresee all this, elf?" The Duke seemed noncommittal about the Spellsinger's words: "I heard that the Mage Queen Ariel is a powerful prophet who can discern the most hidden truths from the long river of fate. When my army was about to set out, you appeared before me and joined this expedition aimed at punishing disrespect for a gold coin... ahem, 'free'. I consulted the prophetesses, and they told me that elves always have their own ideas and positions."

The Duke, who almost let the cat out of the bag, coughed and said, "Is it because you foresaw Lady Egwene's appearance that you are here? Or let me put it another way... did you know that Paravion would fall?"

"Excessive probing will only lead to unnecessary suspicion," Nayis tilted her head slightly, "Queen Ariel only asked us to join your army and record everything we encountered during this period. Other than that, I don't know more than you do."

"You are also an excellent prophet." The Duke said meaningfully.

"Prophecy is not omnipotent. Only those who don't understand prophecy will rely too much on it," Nayes said calmly, "Besides, are you afraid just because the enemy is strong?"

Hearing this, all the Bretonnian knights present burst into laughter, except for Sir Almalik. The Holy Grail Knight spoke up, "There is a difference between courage and recklessness, Lady Nayes. Only by overcoming immature impulsiveness and naivety can a Knight-Errant be recognized as a Knight of the Realm who guards the fiefdom in the name of the King."

After saying that, the Undead Killer stood up and said, "I am going to pray to the lady, please leave me alone for a while."

After watching Sir Almarik go away, Nais also took her leave and returned to her own camp.

The camp of the Skarlock Archers is separate from the camp of the Paravon people. On the one hand, the Asrai prefer to live near the woods, and on the other hand, no wood elf is willing to stay with monkeys, especially dirty monkeys like the old farmer from Bator. By the way, the ogres employed by the Paravon people also camped alone, but they were driven out by the knight who could no longer tolerate it: since these fat guys joined the Paravon army, old farmers and livestock disappeared almost every day.

Only after she sat down on her chair did the spellcaster finally relax, letting her body limply rest on the rattan chair. This was not the first time that Nayis, who held the title of [Prophetess], had carried out a mission assigned by Queen Ariel, but there was no doubt that this was the most difficult and even overwhelming time for her.

Nayes did not tell the monkeys that her ability to predict had failed. The spellsinger did not know whether this was temporary or permanent. When she first received the news of the fall of Paraon, she tried to use the prophecy spell to explore the truth, but to no avail. When she passed through the Axe Mark Pass, she tried again, with the same result.

When Sir Almarik went to the city, she once again tried to see the fate of the Holy Grail Knight himself. Naïs was surprised to find that she could not see the future of the knight either. The unbelieving spellsinger tried several more times, but finally had to admit that she was not good enough.

After lying in the rattan chair for a while, Nayes felt her mind was in a mess. In the past years, her predictions had never been wrong, otherwise she would not have been entrusted with such an important task by Queen Ariel.

"If only Lord Morgan were still here..." The Curse-Singer couldn't help but lament.

"I'm afraid I'll disappoint you. Lord Morgan and her followers are not among those being recruited," a gentle voice said. "After all, no one wants another civil war."

Nayes jumped up from the wicker chair reflexively. When her hand had already touched the hilt of her sword, the tip of a spear was pressed against her throat, forcing the spellsinger to raise her hands in the French salute.

"Arohan," the voice from before said somewhat helplessly, "let go of our prophet."

"Maybe I should slit her throat, sister," said another voice that didn't sound very friendly, "so she knows what she can and can't say."

“Excuse me, Lady Nestra,” Nayis kept her hands raised high, but there was no nervousness on her face, “Lord Morgan has done nothing wrong, at least for now.”

The elder sister of the Twilight sisters, the gentle black-haired queen Nestra reached out and pushed away the spear: "Nais, Lord Morgan's right and wrong should not be judged by us. I brought the latest instructions from my mother. The army of the Asrai clan is gathering, and you and your people are no exception."

"A war is about to begin?" the spellcaster asked, "With whom? Is the Queen really not considering recalling Lord Morgan..."

Arohan once again pointed the spear at Nayis' throat, and Nestera once again pushed the spear away: "I know you have a good relationship with Lord Morgan. I think you must understand why mother did this. As for the target of the war, mother did not reveal it. I can feel that she has many questions in her heart. She still needs some time to make up her mind."

"I am not accusing you, my Lords," Nayes said, saluting the sisters in front of her. "I will have Skarlok the Archer return to Athel Loren immediately, and I need to go to the Southland."

"What?!" The hot-tempered white-haired sister Alohan exploded: "Don't you understand the order? I..."