Steinbeck Fief’s army assaulted Ferro, intending it as the starting point for their attack on Marquis Charles. Marquis Charles had over 120,000 troops. In terms of numbers, he had ten-fold the troops. In addition, he had the secret support of a dark shaman and might have also secretly reached an agreement with the humanoid monsters, the underground ratmen. Therefore, Clyde had to face much greater numbers.
Despite that, Clyde didn’t change his plans. He ordered the human army to attack Ferro, starting the war for the Needham Plains. Before, the troops of the three earls in Leopold Lake Area had fought each other without any unity. Consequently, Clyde had had the opportunity to capture the Leopold Lake area.
The Needham Plains were different. Marquis Charles possessed absolute control over the area, and it was very unlikely for his troops to undergo internal strife. Clyde’s troops couldn’t take advantage of any chaos to fish in troubled waters like before when dealing with the three earls. They could only push forward step by step until they thoroughly beat back Marquis Charles’s troops.
Defending Ferro Town were over 5,000 armed troops under Baron Haydn. Since his commanding ability was subpar, these defenders were not troublesome opponents. Clyde only needed to pay a bit of attention. Nevertheless, Viscount Aaron defended the nearby Joyce Fortress with over 15,000, well-equipped troops under Marquis Charles’s direct command. Compared to Baron Haydn, Viscount Aaron was far more difficult to deal with, so Clyde feared him sending reinforcements at a critical moment.
Before the battle, Baron Haydn had been enjoying himself in Ferro’s castellan residence. Far from the center of the Needham Plains, Ferro was outside the range of Marquis Charles’s supervision. Thus, he acted like a ‘Local Tyrant’ who did as he pleased. Viscount Aaron, the commander of the nearby Joyce Fortress, didn’t care about him and also didn’t supervise him.
“His Excellency Marquis Charles is really stingy. He gave 70% of the allocated funds to Viscount Aaron. That blockhead who doesn’t know how to enjoy himself wasted it all on a fortress. It’s stupid to not fish for free benefits. 30% of the funds is enough for me to enjoy myself.”
“Your Excellency Baron Haydn is wise. Viscount Aaron is a boorish fellow. You will, no doubt, soon obtain his Viscount peerage.”
“That’s right. Merely, there’s no future path. The other party is a direct subordinate of Marquis Charles, not someone our miscellaneous troops can compare with. Furthermore, it has been too calm lately. Without any conflict, there is no reason to apply for more funds.”
In his castellan residence, Baron Haydn had just risen from his bed. With short, black hair, he was a handsome young man with a roguish expression. He looked more like the profligate son of some rich family. Because the prominent tycoon families influenced the political affairs of Victor Alliance’s empires, family background and lineage were near meaningless. Anyone could gain a noble title with enough money. Many nations’ peerages below earlship could be sold as pleased with clearly marked prices. Baron Haydn had purchased his own peerage. Although a valuable ally as he was the young master of a wealthy clan, the baron’s commanding ability was bleak, so Marquis Charles had arranged for Viscount Aaron to be stationed in the nearby Joyce Fortress. Unlike Baron Haydn, Viscount Aaron had advanced to his position due to military exploits and had combat experience. He was different from Baron Haydn, this playboy.
In the nations of Clark Alliance, Victor Alliance’s rival, blood lineages were the most important. Even for the lowly Knight peerage, a blood lineage was necessary. The blood of a slave could never rise to aristocracy. The aristocratic promotion system was not fair in either place. Only the Olan Treaty Alliance, the neutral faction between these two big camps, gave everyone a chance. Over there, the middle and lower nobility were chosen via examinations similar to the imperial civil examinations of ancient dynasties on Earth. After all, the nations of the Olan Treaty Alliance had adopted feudalism, completely different from the other two.
Holding a wine cup, Baron Haydn tasted his fine red wine that emitted an intoxicating fragrance. At this moment, he was not wearing the formal attire of an aristocrat but rather loose and comfortable black nightclothes. Its lapel was not closed, revealing his chest. A thick gold necklace around his neck appeared particularly dazzling. He looked more like a rich, traveling young master, not a baron guarding a town.
Around Haydn, several special maids served him. These beautiful maids were all completely bare. In addition to accompanying him in drinking, they provided all kinds of other special services. Other than not wearing a collar and not having enslavement imprints, the special maids of Victor Alliance differed little from the slaves of Clark Alliance. The only difference was that the former were high-end service workers forced into their job for protection or money, and the latter were property. This was the difference between capitalistic and pro-slavery nations. The services found in both were not much different.
Baron Haydn enjoyed himself to the fullest. Sitting on the backs of two prostrate white lambs with a maid massaging him from behind, and two maids on his right and left specially assigned to massaging his thighs along with another two serving him food and drink, he had a whole team supporting him. Before presenting him the bottle, a maid would sandwich it between her bosom and warm it for a while, so the bottle would have a special body fragrance for Baron Haydn to enjoy. In front of Baron Haydn, the most beautiful white lamb knelt. With a charming expression, she swallowed his crime tool. This scene was on an indescribable level.
Baron Hayden lounged in his make-shift seat. The cost of these special maids had been paid using the funds allocated by Marquis Charles. Although he himself was rich, free prostitutes were a delight on a whole new level compared to spending one’s own money. In the middle of the room were several similarly naked dancers swaying their supple and graceful bodies. With their lithe movements, the dancers tempted people to commit a crime. The level of eroticism was slightly inferior to the pole dances Clyde had received in the past, but it had a great visual impact.
Baron Haydn was inferior to Clyde. In terms of the attractiveness indexes and societal statuses of these special maids he had invited with money, they were far inferior to Clyde’s women. The most important point was that these special maids were “nth hand goods” and had plyed the sex industry for a long time. As for those on Clyde’s side, all were unused “virgin goods.” To some men, this created a huge gap in their values.
“Twisting your tongue is not strong enough! Open your thighs more. Yes! Like that… I… I, what’s going on? An Earthquake!?”
“Your Excellency Baron Haydn, it’s not good. The enemy is attacking! Steinbeck Fief’s army is attacking!”
“Why are you panicking? Just use the arrow towers to snipe them, and those miscellaneous mobs of Steinbeck Fief will run away without a fight.”
While Baron Hayden was enjoying himself, the earth shook violently. In addition, a loud crash pounded outside the castellan residence as if something huge had hit the ground. Baron Haydn’s trusted aide frantically rushed over and reported the situation while gasping for breath. Because he was too nervous, he had no time to appreciate the amorous scene.
At first, Baron Haydn remained calm like he were a seasoned general who had seen all kinds of scenes; to such a man, this was only a small matter. Before the war, he had obtained a lot of information about Steinbeck Fief. He knew that this army was composed of militiamen. Similar to his army, both were miscellaneous mobs. Therefore, shooting some arrows would be enough to make them retreat in fear.
Thinking this, Baron Haydn waved his hands before pressing the head of the white lamb in front of him as she was preparing to go up for air. With a grunt, he spurted his seed. That beautiful white lamb seemed to have experienced this kind of matter many times as she didn’t show even a hint of disgust. She maintained her charming smile and swallowed the sinful fluid, even licking her lips.
Just as Baron Haydn tensed to spurt his second shot, the roof let out a loud bang, sending many shattered rocks raining down along with a cloud of dust. The hall instantly became chaotic. Baron Haydn was so scared that he turned soft just as he was about to obtain bliss. Not many people could bear this feeling of instantly falling to hell from heaven.
When the dust settled, it revealed a hall in a chaotic state. The maids were so scared that they had curled up against the walls or under tables while trembling. After seeing the falling rocks, Baron Haydn’s face drained of blood. Although he was a profligate son, he could still recognize the stone shots of a mangonel. The nearby castellan residence was directly smashed into ruins by a falling boulder. Since that boulder had previously been set alight, it ignited the castellan residence, starting a raging bonfire with heat waves that made the air shimmer.
Baron Haydn sighed in relief. He silently congratulated himself for indulging in pleasure in the wing-room behind the flower garden, not the castellan’s residence. This unconscious move had saved his life. If he had still been in the castellan residence now, he would now be a bloody pulp. The rocks that had hit the roof were merely scattered fragments from the main collision. Their power was not great.
“This… this type of payload could only be thrown by a giant mangonel! What’s going on? Even if the army of Steinbeck Fief had the money, it would still lack the people to control one!”
“Your Excellency Baron Haydn, the entire town suffered the enemy’s projectiles. Our losses were too big. Even our weapon storagehouse and granary were burned. Moreover, there are still more boulders heading our way…”
“Light the beacon fire! Request for Viscount Aaron to send reinforcements.”
“Your Excellency Baron Haydn, before Steinbeck Fief’s army attacked, we sent the signal, but… there have been no movements from Viscount Aaron’s Joyce Fortress so far.”
“No, Viscount Aaron would not bear a grudge over my small indiscretions with the military expenditures and refuse to send reinforcements. Something’s wrong. It’s over! I #$@^%! (swear words) …”
Baron Haydn had no time to care for his image. He hastily changed into his armor and left after throwing a few pouches of gold coins at the maids. Ignoring them, he let them do as they pleased. When he walked out, he saw burning boulders falling from the sky like a meteor shower, accurately hitting important military sites in Ferro.
Baron Haydn finally realized the seriousness of the problem. His former frivolous expression disappeared, and cold sweat drenched his back. These 10,000 troops of Steinbeck Fief had several siege weapons that even empires would find difficult to employ. Even for an empire, simultaneously controlling ten giant mangonels would be their limits. Based on the constant bombardment, Steinbeck Fief controlled dozens of giant mangonels. In addition, their reloading times were so short it was as if they had a plug-in Goldfinger. Ferro was in imminent danger, but Viscount Aaron still lazed in Joyce Fortress. Baron Haydn didn’t know what to do!
