Chapter 344: The Queen's Decision
"That little princess... is one of the Three Prophets?"
Eric blurted out.
Several people looked at each other.
"Perhaps. It is well known that Brennus is working with the Three Prophets. If the Fallen Army had not suddenly appeared, Jiaoyan Bay would have been captured long ago."
Godric sighed.
"But that's not right. There is no territory of Brennus around Sarleon at the moment... His sphere of influence only extends to the area around Kayneburg, and it is said that he even had a conflict with the Firdsweil people of Highcliff Castle. How can he attack Sarleon? Fly over here?"
Alina stood up and said, "Besides, his son is in my hands. He can't ignore Malbert's life, right? How can he attack Sarleon City?"
"Brenus could do anything now. I wouldn't be surprised even if he were to marry that little girl... I even think he's just a puppet now."
Godric shook his head and looked behind Amy.
There was a map hanging behind Amy.
Currently, only the eastern region and the Beibu Gulf of the Kingdom of Sarleon are still under control.
Cliff Bay, Mizum Castle, Kaine Castle and other places, which were once the northwest of the Kingdom of Sarleon, are now the territory of Brunus, or the territory of heretics - this place is full of heretics and fallen people.
Godric and Leofric were besieged by the Fallen and forced to evacuate Mistymoon Keep.
Brennus got a chance to catch his breath, then he made Princess Denise the king, declared that his side was the orthodox one, and then launched a counterattack behind the Fallen.
At that time, the Ravenstern returned to the north, the Firdsvain suffered heavy losses in Lion Lake City, and Brennus' counterattack was unstoppable for a time.
So he launched an attack all the way south, and at one point broke through Haringosburg and reached the city of Sarleon.
The marks of stone throwing and chiseling on the walls of Sarleon were left by Brennus's troops.
In fact, there were people in Sarleon who defected to Brunus, and some nobles were trying to persuade Amy to surrender, and some nobles even tried to cooperate with the enemy from inside and outside.
There were also many people who took the opportunity to cause chaos.
But after Amy and the female soldiers personally captured more than a dozen nobles, no one dared to mention surrender anymore, and there was no noisy voice in the throne room - she sentenced some of the nobles who committed serious crimes to death by hanging for treason and desertion, and expelled their families from the city.
At the same time, she also drove out of the city all the nobles who planned to defect to Brunus or surrender, forcing them to face Brunus' army directly.
In fact, those people didn't even have the chance to see Brennus, because they met the Fallen first.
This resulted in thousands of deaths outside Sarleon.
After Leon's disappearance, Amy's heart became much crueler than before.
Without Li Ang's protection, she now has to protect herself.
Although this response quickly earned Amy the reputation of a 'tyrant', the people of Sarleon City were united anyway, and no one tried to stir up trouble anymore.
Moreover, the fact that Brennus fought with the Fallen was completely exposed to everyone - the Fallen did not know how to cooperate in the show, and the tragedy under the Sarleon was caused by them.
After discovering that Brennus' army appeared with the Fallen, most people in the entire Kingdom of Sarleon now regard Brennus as a heretic and resist him with extraordinary determination.
The Lion Knights, who already had a bad reputation, became a target of public condemnation.
After that, Brennus made no progress in Sarleon, while Godric and Klose led the Silver Hand to launch a surprise attack on Haringosburg, cutting off Brennus' retreat. Brennus had no choice but to withdraw his troops quickly and retreated to Cliff Bay.
After this, Brennus did not launch any more attacks.
Both Firdsvain and Ravenstern had fought great battles with the Fallen, so naturally they would not cooperate with Brennus - although the kings of these two countries were not good people, they were monarchs after all, and they really could not do anything like joining forces with the devil.
Therefore, it would be difficult for Brunus' power, or the heretic power, to expand further.
Everyone knows that there are a large number of Fallen in Brennus's territory, and they are not easy to deal with. Of course, no one will attack them on a large scale, but as long as they appear in other places, everyone will try their best to resist them.
The Longhowl Castle, Shorthowl Village, Azgod and other places have now been captured by the Firdsvain.
Long Howl Castle and Short Howl Village are actually sparsely populated, but Azgod is a big town where Earl Edin the Red Sword leads a large army to station.
Kelredan Castle was occupied by the D'Shar lord Caliph Tahir, which was also a densely populated city. However, after Tahir conquered Kelredan Castle, he lost his power in Singal - Ramon expelled all of Tahir's men and the Knights of Dusk from Singal.
Today, Singal has once again become an independent city-state, refusing entry to lords of any country.
General Agasson's troops were stationed in Luxin Village, and General Cleon's troops were stationed in Belmont Farai - these were all "reinforcements" sent by the Bacchus Empire. They were indeed helping the Sarleon Kingdom fight, and these two generals would never harm the civilians of the Sarleon Kingdom.
But everyone knows that the continuous wars with Fierdsvain and D'Shar were all provoked by them...
Deerheart Village and Belmont Farai are both located next to Deerheart Lake. They are important agricultural towns around Sarleon City and were once the two most densely populated places in the Kingdom of Sarleon.
The army of the Bacchus Empire is entrenched in these two places, and its intention is obvious - through the Deer Heart Lake and the Sava River, all the output from the richest land in the Fierce Lion City can be quickly sent back to the territory of Bacchus!
Up to now, the Kingdom of Fierce Lions has become poorer and poorer during this year, while the Bacchus Empire has basically recovered.
But no matter what, there is indeed no Brennus or heretic forces around Sarleon. In fact, the only one capable of directly attacking Sarleon is the Bacchus Empire. The Firdsvain were repelled some time ago, so they should be unable to launch an attack for the time being.
Moreover, the two generals of the Bacchus Empire are also principled. If they encounter the Fildsaway or D'Shar people, they may not try their best, but if they encounter the heretics and fallen people, they will definitely kill them.
No matter how powerful the heretic army is, it cannot bypass so many surrounding forces and directly attack the Fierce Lion City.
"Perhaps, this letter from the heretic has nothing to do with Jiaoyan Bay..."
Kavira suddenly suggested a direction that no one expected.
"If it has nothing to do with Jiaoyan Bay, then who was the letter sent to? There should be no spies in Sarleon City, let alone heretics - the female soldiers are patrolling every day, and everything is normal."
Godric was puzzled.
"I don't know, but... that little girl, her name is... Denise, right? Where is her hometown? Is there anyone else at home? Her relatives and friends must want her to be the king..."
Kavira asked.
The girl from the fishing village is indeed not very educated, but perhaps it is this simple logic that allows her to see the most easily overlooked places.
Of course, there was no one left in Princess Denise's family. Her biological father was Eren, her adoptive father was Ulrich, and her mother was the former queen - they were all dead, even her maids.
Therefore, no one subconsciously thought about whether the little princess, whose body was most likely occupied by the three prophets, had other "family members".
"Her hometown should be in Baranli... We need to check. If something happened in Baranli... then it's a serious problem."
Eric muttered.
The town of Baranly is the Queen's Town, and is also the fief of the successive queens of the Kingdom of Sarleon. It is known as the back garden of Sarleon City, and Ulrich is also buried there.
Due to the war that had been going on for more than a year, almost all areas in the western part of the kingdom fell into the hands of other countries. During this period, countless refugees came to the town of Baranli or the City of Sarleon.
At this time, the number of refugees in Baranli may be greater than the population of Sarleon. Once you enter Sarleon, you will be subject to martial law, so most ordinary people stay in Baranli.
Especially the central area of Queenstown, which is now home to tens of thousands of refugees and is where Amy has been doing her best to provide relief.
In order to keep the refugees alive, she even sold all the gold ornaments in the Royal Palace of Sarleon City. Most of the grain produced by White Hart Castle and Maixiangling was also consumed in this area.
…
A few days later, in the throne room.
"...There was a riot in Baranli! The refugees were instigated by some people with ulterior motives and attacked our grain distribution stations that were distributing disaster relief. We were too short-handed to deal with it, and the relief grain was robbed..."
Eric frowned and said, "The current situation is already difficult to control. It's best to blockade the entire city. We may have to face a difficult battle..."
"The patrol has encountered some rioting refugees. General Cleon also sent a message mentioning this matter . Some rioters went to Belmont Falls... Cleon does not want to harm civilians. He plans to withdraw his troops temporarily, otherwise there will definitely be more serious conflicts..."
Godric was also anxious: "But if Cleon withdraws, the Firdsvain and the D'Shar will definitely turn all those refugees into slaves..."
"This was done by the nobles who originally lived in Queenstown. They claimed that the long war made it impossible for them to live, and they said they wanted to welcome Denise as king to end the war... But in fact, some of them took the initiative to go to Jiaoyan Bay several times, probably to negotiate a deal with the Three Prophets."
Alina was holding a small notebook, which contained the intelligence obtained by her spies.
"I'm afraid our manpower is not enough to stop the incited mob...Serleon City's reserves are also..."
Eric was still calculating military supplies carefully.
"Okay... stop talking..."
Amy stood up, head bowed, arms resting on the conference table.
"The nobles... hehehe... the nobles! Do they want Sarleon so badly?... For the sake of power, they can collude with the devil, betray anyone, and even watch everyone become corrupted..."
"Perhaps, it's because I'm a woman... and a tyrant at that!"
Amy sneered, suddenly stood up and walked down the silver throne, walked to the middle of the throne room, raised her head and looked at the dome.
"Everyone... I dreamed about Li Ang last night. He was covered in wounds, had a beard, and his hair was longer than mine..."
Amy turned her back to everyone and suddenly talked about her dream in this serious occasion.
"I remember he said something to me, but I couldn't hear it... I was shouting at him, but he didn't seem to hear me either."
"I can see him holding a handful of magic gold coins, as if he's searching for something - probably looking for the coins he lost... Maybe he's saying that he left me so much wealth, but I spent it all!"
As Amy spoke, tears began to flow.
She wiped away her tears, closed her eyes, and turned around: "I think he will be back soon."
"Amy... kid, you must be tired... Go and rest, I'll take care of this. Eric, take your people..."
Godric put his arm around Amy's shoulders to comfort her, then turned around to make arrangements.
"No, father, I want to give up Sarleon City! Just like Leon asked Emperor Marius to give up Siyuan City... I don't want to be stuck in this quagmire anymore..."
Amy walked back to the throne.
"Leon once left us the most wealth in the entire continent, but it was all consumed by this bottomless pit in this year! Thousands of people were sent to the battlefield by us, and hundreds of thousands of refugees were displaced... It's like an abyss!"
"Alina has advised me many times to give up Sarleon City... but I was unwilling to do so... I was wrong, Alina, I should have returned to Changhe Town long ago!"
"This time, I have made up my mind... and I hope you will allow me to be so willful - I will take away everything in Sarleon, including all those who are willing to leave. I will give this city and Haringosburg to those greedy nobles!"
"Don't they want this city?"
"Give it to them!"
…
The first full-moon night of October is the Winter Advent Festival.
In the town of Baranly, beside Deer Heart Lake, in a gorgeous cemetery.
A disheveled, ragged man was being fished out of the lake.
"This guy looks like he's about to die... There are refugees everywhere, why bother with him... And he's a man! We're in the cemetery now, it's easy to be discovered!"
A female soldier is persuading another woman with a shovel.
"Today is Winter Advent, no one will come to the cemetery, and this town has just been in riots, no one will care about us. Didn't you see what he has in his hand? If I'm not mistaken, it's gold coins! I'm short of money now..."
The woman who was rescuing the man looked to be in her thirties and was wearing a blue unicorn robe - she was a noble, and a Ficavian noble.
Blue background, white unicorn, this was once the coat of arms of Queen Vikavia.
"Your Majesty, you shouldn't touch these dirty lowly people..."
The female warrior shook her head, stretched out her hand to separate the 'queen', and used a shovel to dig at the man floating in the lake.
"I've been kicked off the throne, why should I be so particular... Wait, this guy is a noble! Look at his clothes..."
The woman known as the Queen suddenly screamed.
On the tattered black clothes a small golden emblem, a golden griffin, could be vaguely seen.
"That's true... How could a commoner have gold coins... Since you are a noble, it doesn't matter..."
The female warrior dropped her shovel and directly used her hands to drag the man out of the lake - it seemed that she was only willing to touch the nobles with her hands...
"Is there still hope? Hey...what kind of gold coin is this? I've never seen it before..."
The 'Queen' began to pry open the man's fingers, and took out a few gleaming gold coins from his clenched palms.
"His heartbeat is very slow. I don't think he can be saved..."
The female warrior touched the man's heart and shook her head.
"Then bury him. I took his money, so I should find a good place to build a grave for him... There must always be a reward."
The Queen sighed with some regret: "What a pity! If he could be saved, he might be able to bring more money or some troops..."
"Then... let's bury him in this tomb? This is the tomb of King Sarleon... it's fair to him. Hurry up and dig the tomb, Your Majesty. King Sarleon's burial objects must be more valuable than those few gold coins! You can't build an army with such a small amount of money..."
The female soldier picked up the shovel and pointed to a tombstone not far away.
The tombstone reads: "Here lies King Ulric, a capable king who inherited both the martial prowess of his great grandfather and the wisdom of his predecessor."
