Emperor Alfred stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back. Looking out of the window, he could see soldiers and laborers busy coming and going, carrying supplies. Watching this scene was his favorite pastime after arriving at Heimuguan. Whenever he wanted to rest his tired mind, he would watch these people coming and going like ants.
Ants work hard to build their nests, and these busy people build his empire. His ancestors commanded these "ants" one after another to expand the empire to its current location. Now it is his turn to do so. However, after he really started to do this, he found that conquest was more difficult than he thought. Although they took the Black Wood Pass, this time they relied on trickery rather than a fair victory. In the subsequent face-to-face battles, although his troops had a great advantage, he did not win many victories in the direct battles with the Chinese. This made the young emperor somewhat frustrated.
He found many surprising things about the Chinese. Their fighting methods, their tools, their organization, all of which made him feel very strange and puzzled. These guns and cannons that fired metal particles, vehicles that carried many people but were driven by crystals, and a dozen mages resonating and casting spells together. All of these had no similar things anywhere on the continent, and they also did not appear in any records or history books.
He felt that he had been defeated repeatedly in front of these forces, but this made him believe that as long as he could defeat the Chinese at a huge cost and occupy their Hewan New City, he could obtain these powerful forces. By that time, there would probably be no force on the mainland that could compete with him.
At this time, his guards brought in a group of people. Alfred turned around and saw that they were his finance minister, Duke Hannix of Redwater City, military minister, Duke Weber of Brownstone Bay, great magician Master Edel, Master Gandas, and the commander of the Black Guard, Moret.
"Your Majesty. We come here at your summons." Duke Hannix asked after saluting.
"Master Edel has finally finished his training? Does your body feel recovered?" Alfred asked.
"Your Majesty, I feel much better. The damage caused by the last self-destruction of my clone has basically recovered." Edel replied.
Emperor Alfred patted Edel on the shoulder and said kindly, "That's great. I have been concerned about the Master's injury these days. The Chinese won several victories here when the Master was away. You are an indispensable help in our defeat of the Chinese."
"I am willing to serve your majesty." Master Edel saluted and said.
"Having a loyal subject like you is a blessing from the God of Nature." Alfred waved his hand, and a servant came over with a tray containing a storage ring. "Here are some spoils collected from the Chinese who died in the battle. There are various magic crystals, scrolls, and some magic props. Although there is nothing special, the quality is very good."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Edel took it respectfully.
"Very good!" Alfred nodded with satisfaction. "According to the preparations over the past few days, the situation around Blackwood Pass has been consolidated. Our reserve army has arrived at Blackwood Pass and taken over the defense work. I plan to set the date for the expedition on the day after tomorrow. Do you think it's a problem?"
The Minister of Finance, Duke Hannix, said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured that we have never stopped preparing all kinds of supplies. The personnel, food, and weapons are all in place and you can use them at any time."
Duke Weber, the Minister of Military Affairs, said: "The reorganization of the Black Guards, Beast Legion and the Ordinary Legion has been completed. According to the previous plan, we can deploy an army of about 40,000 people to attack the New City of River Bay. Due to the redeployment of the Black Guards and Beast Legion, the strength of this army is even stronger than when we attacked Blackwood Pass."
Alfred glanced at the Black Guard leader, Mollett, who patted his chest and assured, "Your Majesty, we Black Guards will become your sharp knife to break into the new city of River Bay! We..."
Mollett's voice slowly trailed off halfway through his speech, because he was horrified to see Emperor Alfred's emerald green eyes fixed on his neck, his brows furrowed, as if he had seen something very strange.
"Your Majesty?" Mollett asked softly.
"Mollett, why are there small black spots on your neck?" Alfred asked.
"Little Spot?" Mollett hurriedly touched his neck with his hand, but he didn't feel any protrusion or abnormality. He looked at Master Edel for help. The latter wiped his hand in the air, and a smooth mirror appeared in the air.
Mollett looked around and found that there were indeed tiny black spots on his throat and cheeks. "What's going on? I, how come I didn't know I had this thing?"
"Does anyone know what this is?" Alfred asked the others.
Everyone shook their heads.
"No matter how you look at it, it looks like some kind of illness, right?" Master Gandas said uncertainly.
"Morit, do you feel unwell?" asked Emperor Alfred.
Mollett was about to pat his chest to assure himself that he was as strong as an ox, when he suddenly felt a little dizzy. He said, "Your Majesty, I seem to be a little weak in energy and feel a little tired. I only felt this way after getting up today. Although I was busy making various preparations in the past few days, I didn't feel this way."
"Please ask a wizard who is good at healing to come and check it out. We will start the action the day after tomorrow, and you must not let anything go wrong at this time." Emperor Alfred said.
"Yes, Your Majesty," replied Mollett.
At this moment, there was a sound of metal falling to the ground outside the window, followed by several screams. Alfred looked outside and saw that two soldiers who were carrying supplies fell to the ground on the main road, and the weapons and armor they were carrying were scattered on the ground.
The blood of the Emerald Dragon gave the royal family members extraordinary vision. Alfred narrowed his eyes slightly and looked over there, his expression more serious than before.
"Black spots? These two soldiers seem to have black spots on their bodies, which are more serious than Mollett's." Alfred said, "It seems that this is not an isolated incident. We must go and take a look."
The emperor jumped out of the window from the second floor, and then lightly leaped in the direction where the soldier fell. The ministers around him did not dare to neglect him, including Mollett who was still "looking in the mirror", and they all jumped out of the window and chased in the direction of the emperor. (To be continued)