This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

"Then the Second Madam is truly thoughtful."

"Haha, we're all family. By the way, I heard you have several very beautiful and capable female retainers under your command. Where are they? Call them out so I, your second brother, can have a look?"

As he spoke, Farn dramatically flicked his cloak and jumped off his horse. This guy had quite a talent for martial arts; it was said that he had already stepped one foot into the realm of high-level warriors. This made him even more arrogant and proud, and he didn't even put the eldest son, Reinhardt, in his eyes.

Hearing this guy openly making advances on his woman, even with Dick's composure and self-control, he was starting to lose his temper. He had initially planned to just send him away casually, but now he changed his mind; the other man deserved "better treatment."

"They're all busy, no rush. I'll introduce them to you later. Second brother, it's been a long time since we last met. Since you're here to support my business, I should personally show you around!"

Seeing Dick suddenly become enthusiastic, Farn was caught off guard.

In his original expectation, Dick would definitely not welcome his arrival, but as long as he invoked the family name, no matter how much the kid resisted, he would be helpless against him.

Because Farn's mother had analyzed that Dick was likely the Duke's front man, indirectly controlling Lagog, and that his team consisted of helpers arranged by the Duke. Granting Dick the title of Earl was merely a compromise to comply with the royal family's and cabinet's desire to divide the powerful nobles.

That's why the second wife dared to let Farn come and compete, and even wanted him to sideline Dick and seize power.

In the Second Madam's mind, this was the rule that had maintained the entire aristocratic community for thousands of years, emphasizing the distinction between superiors and inferiors, and the order of seniority. She was, after all, the Second Madam of the Best family, and her children were of higher bloodline than the illegitimate Dick; therefore, vying for power was only natural!

She didn't believe Dick would dare to break the rules and turn against the family that controlled him.

So what if he's a Saint-level mage? If he dares to touch Faen, he'll be disgraced and ostracized by all the nobles in the empire. Then other Saint-level experts will naturally step forward to punish him.

As for whether this would result in the sacrifice of Farn, the second wife felt it wouldn't be a big problem, because she had two sons and preferred the younger one.

Farn had no idea that he was also part of his mother's scheme, and Dick's reaction was exactly as the second lady had said. He didn't dare to do anything to him, and even took him around to inspect the place. They visited the trading post, checked the accounts, and finally boarded the transport ship at the dock. They even hosted a banquet for him on the deck, calling in many girls from the most upscale club in Mousse Harbor. Each of them was incredibly flirtatious and urged Farn to drink. They got him completely drunk and eventually made him unconscious.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but when Faen opened his eyes again, the hangover made him feel like the whole room was shaking. He instinctively leaned over the bed and vomited into the wooden bucket that had been prepared beforehand.

Suddenly, a whirlwind swept through the room, blowing the unpleasant smell out the window.

Farn looked up in a daze and saw Dick sitting opposite him, elegantly flipping through a booklet. Two stunning beauties stood on either side of him: one with silver hair and purple eyes, dressed in a flawless white maid outfit, and the other with blonde hair and gold eyes, wearing black armor, looking at him with a mocking expression.

The other person's gaze reminded Fain of a noblewoman he had finally managed to win over. After their first tryst and their first time sleeping together, the woman had the same expression on her face and even mocked him as a greyhound.

Seeing that Farn had finally woken up, Dick put down the intelligence documents in his hand and looked up at his second brother Farn, who had a stupid look on his face.

"Your alcohol tolerance is still so poor. Next time, sit at the kids' table."

With his brain not fully activated, Farn didn't immediately understand the mockery in Dick's tone. He looked around in a daze and realized that his feeling that the whole room was shaking was not an illusion, because it was clearly a cabin on a ship, and there was even the sound of waves crashing outside the window.

"How did I get here? Is the ship... is it moving?"

"Yes, we are currently on the southbound route and are expected to arrive at the waters off Wuming Cape by tomorrow evening. Second brother, don't say I didn't take care of you. Last night, when we were drinking, you said you wanted to fight on the front lines like your older brother, and I arranged it for you right then and there. Aren't you happy and touched?"

"..."

He stood there stunned for a full ten seconds, then yelled and jumped out of bed, nearly plunging into his own vomit.

The sudden spike in blood pressure instantly sobered his brain.

What a joke! I came all the way to Mousse Harbor, not to be cannon fodder on the front lines. I was just rambling in my drunken state, how could you take it seriously?!

Farn was truly panicked. He roared hysterically and charged straight at Dick, but before he could get close, Black Gunner grabbed him by the throat with one hand and lifted him up. The suffocating feeling of his feet leaving the ground forced him to calm down.

"Second Brother, didn't you want to meet my beautiful female retainers? Now you have. Struggling is useless. Your henchmen are all in Mousse Harbor. My men will take good 'care' of them. As for you, just obediently come with me to the front lines—no, I mean behind enemy lines. Nameless Horn Fortress is currently under heavy siege by the Kingdom's army. Don't wander off when you get there!"

"You, you... my mother will not let you get away with this."

"Really? Then let her come."

Dick looked with great interest at the blustering but cowardly Farn, who had actually written to the second wife to inform her, the letter containing only one sentence.

"Second Madam, you wouldn't want your son to die on the battlefield, would you?"

Dick doesn't care about any of those damn noble rules, and if you have to say, he's still acting within the rules, since he's nominally helping the eldest son, Reinhardt.

If word got out that the three eldest, second, and fifth children of the Best family all pitched in, it would definitely be a "patriotic tale." Now, if anyone dares to say that the second brother is a coward, Dick would be the first to object!

Dick: My second brother is a daredevil!

Farn: I dare not...

To be fair, Fawn still had some backbone; he was choked by Black Gun for a full three minutes before he started begging for mercy. Of course, Dick wouldn't let him get away so easily. This guy was now his "hostage," and also a pledge of allegiance to the First Madam. These old women weren't exactly united; letting them fight amongst themselves would temporarily restrain the Second Madam, preventing her from making any underhanded moves.

The fleet soon arrived at its destination. By then, the river mouth had been widened by the efforts of the civil engineering mages, and a pier extending into the sea had been built, which was just enough for large ships to dock and unload their cargo onto the shallows.

Dick led his men off the ship, while Fane was surrounded by four burly men from all sides. Black Gun, who had traumatized Fane, was also nearby, glancing at him every now and then, making Fane tremble uncontrollably.

Although Faen had considerable martial arts talent, he was ultimately a playboy who indulged in sensual pleasures. Fighting and brawling in the capital was nothing compared to the ferocity he had developed from actually fighting on the battlefield. Right now, his legs were so weak he could barely straighten, looking like a young girl who had just been violated.

When the group finally arrived at the fortress, Reinhardt was stunned to see that Dick had brought his second son, Farn.

"Big brother, second brother insisted on coming to help, I couldn't stop him!"

"..."xN

Regardless of whether others believed it or not, Dick praised his second brother to everyone he met, saying that he had "voluntarily" gone to the front line. Farn was on the verge of tears. Just then, the alarm for an enemy attack sounded, and then several large fireballs with trails of black smoke flew from a distance, blasting the magic barrier above their heads into ripples. In just a few shots, the barrier showed visible cracks.

Farn was so frightened that his face turned pale, and his legs went weak, causing him to fall to the ground.

Dick, meanwhile, shaded his eyes with his hand to observe the changes in the magic barrier, while Reinhardt calmly explained to him.

"The kingdom's new anti-magic bullets can only be launched from super-heavy catapults, but their interference effect on magic barriers is very significant. Our barriers will fail and break after the fifteenth shot at most, and then it will be the magic cannons that come next."

"They're using us as test subjects for a new weapon. What are the casualties?"

"It's alright, thanks to the well-constructed trenches."

Seeing Dick and Reinhardt still chatting and laughing, Fane, who had never seen such a scene before, was almost scared to death. Especially when he heard Reinhardt say that the magical barrier above their heads wouldn't last long, Fane practically scrambled to their side and clung tightly to their legs.

Chapter 270: The Sit-in War

The tempering effect of war is the most significant and effective on people. It can quickly transform a naive boy into a calm and responsible man, and it can also make a former arrogant bully cry like a woman in the rain.

Farn was genuinely terrified, crying and begging to go home, but unfortunately, no one there paid him any attention.

Reinhardt had to stay in command of the troops to fight the enemy and had no time to deal with his shameful little brother. Dick, on the other hand, took off to fill the gap immediately after the magic barrier broke, helping the troops on the ground to build up a barrier that could withstand the shells.

His participation in the battle greatly boosted the morale of the defending troops.

Soldiers have very pure feelings. If you protect their lives, they will really swallow their pride and call you "Dad".

Fortunately, Farn was eventually dragged into the bunker by several burly men like a dead dog. He huddled in a corner until the fighting outside ended, and he didn't dare to come out of that hole again.

After that, Fain became much more obedient. After all, this was a fortress isolated behind enemy lines, and Fain had no men by his side. Even if he wanted to run away, he wouldn't know which direction to run in.

Dick arranged for someone to take care of him; the hostage had to be at least breathing to be useful.

Meanwhile, on the Charles City front, the Southern Allied Army led by Prince Heinz finally faced off against the main force of the Kingdom's army. The two sides were roughly equal in strength, both claiming to be "a million strong army" (but actually less than 300,000 troops), and were stationed and confronting each other on the traditional border between the two countries.

Both sides deployed large forces. Prince Heinz had learned a painful lesson from the previous Third Prince, and his hundreds of thousands of troops remained cautious and coordinated, prioritizing stability over speed.

Meanwhile, the southern nobles intensified their armament efforts, and public opinion was already on the verge of spiraling out of control when the Third Prince suffered his crushing defeat. After all, he had set such a high bar at the beginning, and his defeat was so swift and devastating that the people no longer believed the army was capable of protecting them, leading to a flurry of strange rumors and plunging the entire southern region into unprecedented panic.

As the saying goes, rumors can be terrifying. Not only do rumors spread quickly, but they also evolve during their spread, becoming increasingly outrageous. Even though Heinz's army was still in a stalemate, rumors were already circulating in the interior that he, like the Third Prince, had been utterly defeated by the Holy Maiden of the Kingdom, and that his head had been cut off and used as a beacon.

In this atmosphere of fear and unease, many people's ability to discern things has plummeted. Even before they've seen a single Maple Dew person, they're already so frightened that they want to flee with their entire families.

This gave the Lagug Merchant Guild a golden opportunity, making their poaching of talent much easier.

In Mouth Harbor, hundreds of civilians boarded ships every day to flee north, bringing their families along, not only to escape the possible war, but also to avoid being conscripted by the lord.

Those who could afford to flee by boat were considered relatively wealthy among the common people, many of whom were skilled artisans or small shop owners. These people were the most active in fleeing, partly due to their weakness, but more importantly because they often became prime targets for extortion by the lord's conscription officers.

Those greedy recruiting officers know that these kinds of people are easy targets, and once they confirm that you have no powerful connections, they will extort you without hesitation. Sometimes they will not only take your money, but also your female relatives.

The leaders behind these corrupt officials either turn a blind eye to their wanton behavior or are simply the masterminds behind it all, using various pretexts to squeeze money out of the poor – something they are masters at.

Chaos breeds chaos, and while the south descended into turmoil, the north remained peaceful.

Although the orc threat on the wasteland still exists, the northerners have rebuilt a more solid defense, especially along the northeastern fjord coast. In the first half of this year, they easily thwarted at least three medium-sized cross-border attacks. Unable to gain any advantage here, the orcs have had to turn to other breakthroughs.

The relatively stable environment, coupled with the continuous financial support from the arms trade, allowed Lagug's development to reach a new level. The first north-south railway, with a total length of approximately 120 kilometers, will connect the main city with the new port, playing a significant role in both the economy and military.

To build this railway, Laguge conscripted 60,000 laborers. Preliminary work began in April, and the tracks were officially laid in mid-May. The railway was completed and opened to traffic in less than three months.

To be honest, this construction speed isn't fast, averaging less than two kilometers per day. It's not even comparable to the construction teams under the Imperial Magic Academy, let alone Earth.

But this is, after all, Laguge's first time, and many things need to be adjusted and adapted to.

This good news, arriving at the southern front along with the second group of officers observing the troops, greatly pleased Dick.

Before we knew it, August had arrived, and the climate in the south had entered its "summer season," with daytime high temperatures sometimes exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, which many northerners who are not tolerant of heat found difficult to adapt to.

As a magician, Dick naturally possesses spells to cool down, but the side effect of using them is that nearby girls immediately flock to him to enjoy his "magical air conditioning," and some even boldly and unrestrainedly touch his "popsicles" inappropriately.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom's army on the opposite side also reduced the intensity of its offensive due to the weather.

To put it bluntly, this season is not suitable for fighting. In the Empire's original attack plan, they should have achieved all strategic objectives before the end of June, including capturing the entire Linzao Basin, and the army should continue to advance into the Kingdom's territory, penetrating at least forty kilometers, posing a threat to the Kingdom's important northern towns, thereby forcing the Kingdom to sign a ceasefire agreement and recognize the entire basin as belonging to the Empire.

But all of this turned out to be in vain, and now the kingdom's army is pressing in on the empire's doorstep.

At this stage of the war, both sides were running out of steam, and the two armies on the border remained locked in a stalemate.

The Kingdom's army clearly did not want to fight a purely attrition warfare, as this would be disadvantageous for them given their smaller size. The Southern Allied Army, while seemingly powerful, actually had an overly complex composition. Therefore, Heinz wisely chose a defensive posture, frantically digging trenches along the border.

Both sides were trying to steer the war to their own pace, so the border became a strange "sit-in war," with only a few scouts occasionally engaging in small-scale skirmishes. The overall intensity was far less fierce than the battlefield behind enemy lines.

This, on the contrary, made the cabinet officials in the capital, who were hiding in the rear, extremely anxious, because they were negotiating with the Kingdom's delegation and were urging the front-line troops to launch an offensive every day in order to get more favorable terms at the negotiating table.

In the eyes of these bureaucrats, war has always been like this: frontline soldiers only need to rush up and die, while they, the gentlemen in the rear, have many more things to consider.

However, no matter how much they urged him, Prince Heinz, who was in command of the troops, simply ignored them.

Forced into a corner, the cabinet officials, in a state of frantic desperation, suddenly remembered someone they had deliberately forgotten: the third prince, Bailey, who was hiding in the Marquisate of Leodor.

This useless prince was rendered incapable of recovery after just one defeat, and he's been holed up at his uncle's house for almost two months now. This irresponsible attitude has greatly angered everyone currently trying to clean up his mess.

Only the bureaucrats of the capital had a brilliant idea: they wanted the Third Prince to step forward again, take command of Prince Heinz's troops, and launch a frontal attack on the royal army.

These people not only had thoughts, but also dared to act. They quickly dispatched a team to Marquis Leodor to pay homage to the Third Prince, Bailey.

However, when the acting military minister leading the group finally met the Third Prince, he was stunned by what he saw. In the dimly lit room filled with smoke, the Third Prince, reeking of alcohol and clearly incoherent, was dressed in a bright pink prostitute's outfit and was mingling with several women dressed as men.

His dissolute and decadent demeanor was simply an eyesore! It was hard for the acting Minister of the Military to connect him with the once spirited Third Prince.

At the same time, a question couldn't help but arise in his mind.

Can this non-flammable, useless snack really compete with Prince Heinz for military power?

Chapter 271: Between People

This third prince... is probably finished!

This was the acting Minister of the Army's first thought upon seeing the Third Prince, Bailey. The Third Prince, however, was so enraged by the intruder that he began to roar hysterically, regardless of who it was.

"Get out! Get out of here! Don't bother me!"

Seeing the prince acting like a madman, throwing and shoving, the acting minister had no choice but to leave the room.

Marquis Leodor himself was standing outside the door. Seeing the minister leave, he quickly ordered the door to be closed to prevent Bailey's roar from being heard.

"How long has His Highness been like this?"

“It’s been over a month. The doctor said it was caused by a shock. At first, he just stayed indoors, but later he started wanting women. In order to appease His Highness and prevent him from making too much of a fuss, we have no choice but to go along with him for now.”

Does the outside world know about this?

"We don't know yet. The message we've released to the outside world is that His Highness is seriously injured and needs to recuperate. This manor is full of my trusted and loyal followers; they won't spread rumors."

"Those women in that room..."

"None of them are kept overnight."

The Marquis spoke subtly, but the phrase "not staying overnight" meant that all the women summoned to his bedchamber would be secretly silenced.

Marquis Leodor was, after all, the third prince's maternal uncle. His family's power and his future career were closely tied to this nephew who had the right to inherit the throne. If he could ascend the throne, his family would surely rise to prominence; if he failed, he might be purged by the future emperor.

So no matter how useless Pele is, Marquis Leodor can't just ignore him. He can only try his best to bail him out. He is very willing to cooperate with the cabinet officials' plans, but if the Third Prince Pele is released in this self-destructive state, he will definitely become a laughing stock.

"Sir, do you have any good ideas?"

"A solution? That would require the person inside to cooperate with us!"

"Actually... I do have a solution."

"any solution?"

“A miraculous elixir from the other side of the earth that can help Your Highness regain your spirits.”

Meanwhile, on the enemy's rear, the Nameless Horn Fortress had grown to a considerable size, with its three tiered defensive lines proving impregnable, and its interior fully equipped with all necessary facilities. Dick even had the leisure to mobilize some of the second and third-line non-combat troops to cultivate land within the fortress, using scattered open spaces to grow a considerable amount of vegetables.

"No matter how long this shitty war lasts, we must prepare for the worst and be determined to hold out here until the end of the world!"