BBYW Vol. 4 Chapter 10 (WN)
Chapter 10 – Undone Reinforcements
“Without access to the route through the central province, we have two ways to send reinforcements to House Sphinx.”
I raised two fingers for Eliza to see. Feeling her gaze firmly on me, I then bent one.
“The first is the peaceful way. We take a detour, through the south or the north. In both cases, however, we would be forced to cross over steep mountains, leading to a rather large loss of time and resources.”
If we spent so much energy just to reach the western province, the troops might be unable to fight when it counts. In the worst-case scenario, the reinforcements we went through all this trouble to send might even arrive after the outcome of the conflict is already decided. It was not a realistic plan.
“I see…and the other is?”
“Hm.”
I nodded and bent the other finger.
“The other way is to…go through the central province anyway.”
“My!”
Eliza covered her mouth with her hands, wide-eyed. A fitting reaction to my words.
“It’s simple, really. If the royal palace doesn’t let us through nicely, we’ll just stop playing nice.”
“If you do that, will they not accuse us of treason, though…?”
“Yeah, it would definitely mean parting ways with the Lamperouge Kingdom.”
I grinned and shrugged. The royal palace would never expect that their refusal to let our troops through, motivated by their distrust towards our House, would lead to such an internal conflict.
“It’s pretty much out of the picture, though.”
I frowned and voiced my disappointment.
The Baal Empire’s invasion of the Maxwell province happened just a few months ago: the scars from the battle to defend Fort Bryden were still fresh. Even though the battle ended in a crushing victory for House Maxwell, we still had our fair share of losses.
Military rations, weaponry, gunpowder, etcetera: it was still too early to wage war against the royal palace.
“Rest assured, I’m not so stupid as to think we can just fight the royal palace, then head west and beat the Terror Armies too. I can tell whether there is a chance to win or not.”
“I see…I’m glad to hear it..”
Eliza breathed a sigh of relief.
I spoke to her time and again about my ambition of making House Maxwell independent from the Lamperouge Kingdom, but she was worried nonetheless.
I switched my legs’ position one more time, then stretched my back on the chair.
“I feel truly sorry for Mist, but there is no realistic way for us to send any troops to reinforce House Sphinx. I hope they manage to survive somehow…”
Even if I said so, I knew that things weren’t going to go so well. I felt something prickle my back, and my bad hunches always hit the mark lately. This time was not going to be an exception.
“…we better make sure our troops can move at any time. Damn, when will I have the time to go to the shrine and go through the purification?”
I grumbled, looking up at the ceiling, then scratched my head, irritated.
There was one more thing on my mind, but I decided not to mention it.
(Naam Sphinx…is that kid okay…?)
Valon’s little sister, who got attached to me for some reason when I met her at the royal martial tournament two years ago, so we started exchanging letters. A brown-skinned, blonde girl, who turned 12 this year.
Her brother dead, her home ravaged by inhuman creatures…what would she possibly be feeling right now?
Thinking about her, I bit my lower lip and slowly closed my eyes.