Chapter 91: A Different Two-Headed Snake
Charles thought that Count Oden had lured the enemy into a detour and had not yet reached the Qicha Fortress.
So he asked Lord Andrew to divide his troops and search.
After sending someone to convey the warning to Qicha Fortress and asking them to light a beacon to summon reinforcements, Andrew divided the Royal City Guards into several teams and sent them in different directions to search in the direction of Serenmis.
Andrew acted very bravely and asked Charles to follow one of the armed escorts to lead the way to the place where he and Count Odden met the enemy.
But regardless of whether Count Oden or the enemy's army was found or not, all troops had to meet up at Qicha Fortress the next day.
This is not out of justice, but out of responsibility.
When encountering such important military information, we must send more scouts to try our best to find the whereabouts of the Bacchus Empire army.
From Qicha Fortress to the north is a vast wilderness of hundreds of miles in radius - nearby is the terrible no-man's land that Leon and Sarah passed through.
Because it is sandwiched between two large rivers and the nearby mountains form a basin, this wilderness is shrouded in fog all year round, making it difficult to find even a large army.
Charles led dozens of Serenity armed followers and wandered around for a whole day, but found no one. The Royal City guards had to follow the military order and return to the Qicha Fortress, so Charles had no choice but to go back with them.
At this time, three days had passed since Count Oden encountered the enemy.
When Charles returned to Qicha Fortress with his followers, he saw from afar that the flag of Qicha Fortress Lord Eldred had been lowered halfway...
Charles naturally knew what this meant - only when a respected and world-famous figure passed away would the flag be flown at half-mast.
Currently, the only person who can meet this condition near Qicha Fortress is the famous "Brave Shield", Count Oden, who has protected the northeast of the kingdom with the power of a single city for thirty years!
He rushed into the Qicha Fortress frantically, but was surrounded by the garrison as soon as he entered the city. He was disarmed along with the Fierce Lion Realm entourage who belonged to the Royal City Guard.
Charles shouted: "I am the squire of Count Oden! Let me go!"
Although no one knew that Charles was Oden's son, many people had seen him in the House of Lords, and he often went to various places to deliver messages, so many people knew him and knew that he was indeed Oden's trusted follower.
So he was indeed released quickly, but those Serenity followers were still detained.
Charles rushed directly into Baron Eldred's castle hall, just in time to catch Baron Eldred paying his last respects to the body of Earl Oden.
Charles collapsed immediately.
He has been with Oden since his youth. Although he is an illegitimate child, Oden is very good to him and the relationship between father and son has always been very deep.
However, despite the grief that felt like his heart had been cut out, and despite being distracted and unable to even walk, Charles could still sense that something was wrong.
——He didn’t see any of Count Oden’s men, and none of the Brave Shield Castle’s troops were there!
He was shaking all over, and questioned Eldred with tears in his eyes: "How could this happen? He brought the elite troops of Brave Shield! He couldn't have died at the hands of the Bacchus Empire! Where is the army of Brave Shield?"
In the Kingdom of Sarleon, if a commoner retainer dared to speak to a high-ranking noble in this way, the usual outcome would be to be beaten half to death and thrown into the river.
But Eldred had also met Charles in the House of Lords. Seeing Charles so sad, he probably thought that Charles was too loyal to Earl Oden, and that the rude offense of such a loyal squire after losing his mind was forgivable.
Therefore, Eldred showed great tolerance and even patiently explained a few words.
"Earl Oden returned to the vicinity of Qicha Fortress last night with several hundred royal guards. I saw his flag and Lord Andrew's flag on the city wall."
"But for some reason, they seemed to have a conflict outside the city. I was too far away to see the details, I just knew they started fighting."
"By the time I left the city to provide support, the Earl had already been killed in the battle, and the Royal City Guards had also run away... If I'm not blind, it was Lord Andrew's team that attacked him."
"I have too few cavalrymen to pursue Andrew, so I had to bring back the Earl ."
"You are the Earl's trusted follower. What you should do now is not to cry, but to hurry to Sarleon and Braveshield to report the news."
Charles was then driven out of the Qicha Fortress.
Because he didn't believe Eldred's words - he was the one who found Andrew and met him halfway, so how could he kill Count Oden for no reason?
But as soon as Charles said "You are lying", Eldred ordered him to be thrown out of the Qicha Fortress.
Charles was in pain and anger, but he could do nothing about it - he was the most polite attendant in the House of Lords, and he knew that since he had been so rude to senior nobles in a row, Eldred had not beaten or even killed him, which was already a favor to Count Oden.
But Baron Eldred's words were obviously not credible.
Charles now began to suspect everyone.
But the problem was that he was just a civilian attendant - no one knew he was the son of Count Oden, and now that Oden was dead, no one would take him seriously.
This is the tragedy of illegitimate children...
Charles had no choice but to rush to MacArthur Colline as quickly as possible - this was the last instruction given to him by Count Oden, asking him to come find Leon.
Only Leon knew that he was Oden's son and would listen to him carefully.
"Lord Leon, I don't know what happened exactly, but Baron Eldred certainly didn't tell the truth."
"He arrested Lord Andrew's Royal City Guards, but easily released me who was returning with the guards. I'm not a fool..."
After two days of running, Charles has calmed down a lot and sorted out the biggest problem.
"He is really unscrupulous... Even if he is not the mastermind, he must be the number one accomplice..."
The lord was already gritting his teeth at this point. Rainier and Eldred, father and son, were truly like father, like son.
"But what should I do now? I can't even take my father's body with me..."
Charles clasped his hair tightly with his hands, feeling helpless and frustrated, probably very upset.
He hadn't eaten for three days and his face looked as haggard as that of an old man.
Li Ang handed him a bowl of water, motioned him to drink it, and then slowly said: "Charles, you'd better not do anything now... Rest here first, let me think about it."
The first thing the lord thought of was the starting point of this matter.
Why was Count Oden killed?
This was after he had resigned from his position in the House of Nobles and handed over the military affairs - he was already old and had decided to return to Brave Shield Castle to guard the border, so why was he killed under such circumstances?
Considering that Eldred is Rainier’s father…is this also a plan by the Bacchus Empire?
Was it because Oden accidentally ran into the cavalry led by Governor Kairos that caused a chain reaction and he was killed?
No, the time is wrong...
It is now January 12, 355 Pendor.
On January 1, the two countries withdrew their troops from the Sava River Fort.
On the 3rd, Leon completed the knighthood ceremony and met Count Oden for the last time on King's Road in Sarleon City.
On the 6th, Leon returned to Machan County; on the same day, Oden encountered the Bucks Empire cavalry; Charles went to ask for help.
On the 8th, the Maixiangling was attacked by Rainier, and the White Deer Fort was besieged by the Bacchus army. On the evening of the same day, Oden died outside the Qicha Fortress.
On the 9th, Leon kidnapped two governors and lifted the siege of White Hart Fort; on the same day, Charles learned of Oden's death and was driven out of the Qicha Fortress.
On the 11th, Ralph's Rangers cleared the area around White Hart Castle, Lehman's Lion Knights entered White Hart Castle, and the Bacchus Empire retreated.
On the 12th, the sentries from Changhe Town rushed to Maixiangling, and Charles also came to Maixiangling.
As early as January 6, Oden encountered the cavalry corps of the Bacchus Empire, but White Deer Castle had not been attacked yet!
Leon immediately found Governor Justus who was still a hostage and said, "Justus, when did your Marshal Kairos lead the cavalry to the direction of Serenmis? You'd better tell me the truth now."
This was the first time that Leon addressed Governor by his name without adding any honorifics.
"He went there directly after defeating Archduke Alma at the foot of Karen Deer Castle a week ago."
Justus didn't know what was going on, but looking at Leon's unfriendly expression and the change in address, he naturally realized that the lord was probably in a very bad mood.
So he didn't be ambiguous and gave the real answer directly.
Justus had said before that Kairos had been to the White Hart Castle and had arranged the siege before taking all the cavalry to Serenmis.
The governor was obviously spreading false information at the time, because at this rate, Kairos would not arrive near Serenmis until January 10 at the latest, and Count Oden would not be able to meet him.
After being kidnapped, the governor seemed to be very cooperative, but he still did not tell the truth. He was still considering the empire's military intelligence and covering up Kairos's movements.
Since it was a week ago, it would be January 5th, which makes sense.
Kailos was leading a group of cavalrymen, and they were able to reach between Qicha Fortress and Serenmis from Karen Deer Castle within a day.
So, was Kairos planning to attack Serenmis or to stop Count Oden?
Or... for something else?
"What is Kairos's goal? Is the attack from White Hart Castle a feint or a main attack?"
Li Ang's expression suddenly froze, he realized that the Bacchus Empire also used the two-headed snake tactics!
It's just more covert and more dangerous, and the target is probably not just one city or one place...
But this time, Justus just looked at Leon quietly and shook his head: "I really don't know, I just followed the order to attack White Deer Castle."
He may really not know, or he may be hiding something.
But "I don't know" is actually a useful answer for Li Ang.
