BXBX NOVEL Chapter 495 First Encounter (1)
Leon and the rest of the men scrutinized the \'little city\' that sprouted in their midst.
The twigs did not seem to stop their growing process and continued to shudder in growth.
After some time there were little sprouts that grew into the vine and twigs, some even had flowers. Then after some time, the movements stopped seemingly signaling to everyone that the artwork was already finished.
"Count them…" Leon did not take away his gaze towards the miniature camp in front of him, instead, he ordered someone.
Neil stepped forward along with Blanc and two other blades, they started counting the buds and sprouts in the area without Leon calling their names.
It seemed like this was not the first time they had done this thing as they all counted on a specific area where they stood, not overlapping each other\'s territory in counting.
It only took them five minutes to account for everything before Neil reported,
"Your Highness, the camp had approximately five hundred people around.
We have counted more than 450 sprouts which denoted knights from C-class and below, the twenty or so flower buds denoted mages within the B class and the fully bloomed flowers counted ten which meant there were 10 mages from A class above."
"Five hundred men, just a little double our main army\'s size!" When the knights heard the report, their eyes widened in amazement.
They were initially confused by how the entire matter went but they did not expect that everything in the miniature camp had meaning to it.
Could they have just witnessed the secret behind the astounding survival and success rate of the ever-legendary Crimson Blade Knights?
"Hmm… huddle around let\'s prepare for the attack at night…" Leon nodded and called back Biggie.
The golem appeared and obediently sat on Leon\'s shoulders, attentively listening while his master discussed their tactics and strategy for the attack.
In the village behind the border, the first thing Crown Prince Ranon did after getting himself ready for the day was to report on his Father\'s Emperor and the Pope\'s side.
"Are you sure that the Third Prince was advancing ahead of you?" The Vanderford Emperor confirmed once more, there was a light of excitement in his eyes.
They had expected that the Seirende would indeed send an advanced party but they did not expect that they would foolishly send their strongest one out with a flimsy team of five knights!
"Indeed, if his time traveled at the same pace as we have been traveling, they might encounter the first ambush camp in five days." Crown Prince Ranon replied with certainty.
"Good! Good! If we can manage to incapacitate him this early, then we will only worry about the two old grandmasters! Once they are down, the Seirende is as good as a cripple!"
The Vanderford Emperor exclaimed in delight. They then looked at the side beside him and ordered,
"Contact the first ambush army, and tell them to take on the Third Prince at all cost, he has to be alive, but ensure that he is effectively weakened…"
"Wait…" Suddenly, the Pope interrupted, which effectively dampened the enthusiasm of the Vanderford Emperor.
"What is it, Pope?" The Vanderford Emperor frowned in annoyance, clearly not showing any respect to the supposedly highest authority of the main temple.
The Pope did not bother to notice the disdain in the Emperor\'s tone, after all, the Vanderford Emperor is just a puppet used by his lord. He can allow him to play mighty for a few months or so.
"The Third Prince is not a normal person and could easily take down even our most recent modified puppet beasts. I am sure the Crown Prince also witnessed his might. It might not be enough for one army to handle him even if he is only alone." The Pope explained.
"Our armies are not just a bunch of hooligans gathered together! They are trained knights and a camp is no less than five hundred people!" The Emperor bellowed in disagreement.
"I already told you a thousand times that those would not be enough to handle the Blood Prince! Your Majesty Emperor, do not repeat the complacency you did when the late Idelfonso was almost taken down… in the end, the entire operation failed. We are even forced to wait for three more decades to move once again."
This time the Pope did not filter out his thoughts and gave the Emperor a piece of his mind. He did not understand why Lord Raven still insisted on using this kind of person as a puppet to rule the Vanderford. The young ones, like the Crown Prince, are better at thinking than this senile old man!
"Father Emperor, I hate to say this, but coming from someone who saw with his naked eyes how the Mad Blood Prince beheaded the beast puppets with his bare hands like he was picking fruit, I could only agree with what the Pope is concerned about. We need more people."
Crown Prince Ranon felt that the discussion would turn into an unproductive long winding argument so he tried to mediate between the two while safely pointing out only the Pope\'s original concern and not the latter words he said.
"Tsk…" The Vanderford Emperor expressed his disdain, but he clearly held back when he saw his brilliant son meditating on the Pope\'s side.
"Then what do you suggest we do, Pope." At least, he gritted his teeth and addressed the question to the Pope, not forgetting to heavily emphasize his tone.
"I suggest that we use the three camps altogether. Since the Crown Prince estimated that the Blood Prince will encounter them in five days, have them fall back a little bit towards the second ambush point and the middle army to advance to reinforce the frontlines." The Pope suggested.
"Are you crazy?! You know that once the middle is gone the main army will surely know what\'s lying beyond the middle and will go in a different direction?!" The Vanderford Emperor angrily said.
This time, even Crown Prince Ranon was distressed as he could only rub his aching temples while hearing the two elderlies bickering.
He no longer commented on the plan and allowed the strategists standing alongside his father to do the arbitration among the two arguing men.
It took them around an hour to finally meet halfway.
Since the original ambush plan really had to be modified, the Vanderford Emperor could only send for half of his sons who were originally on standby in the coastland region to enter the wasteland and reinforce the rear ambush troops and advance in the middle.
They agreed to this only because the Pope promised to join the rear army once they reached the coastal land.
They have to participate personally in ambushing the main army as a compromise for sacrificing an army of two thousand elite men stationed in the front and middle region of the Scorching wastelands to incapacitate the Third Prince.
When Crown Prince Ranon finally went out of his sleeping quarters, it was almost midday.
He went down to perform his \'duties\' in inspecting the prisoners while fishing for any updates from Leon\'s side.
When he heard that the other party had not yet observed anything amiss he appeared to be relieved. But only when he knew that he was rejoicing when he heard that they might be delayed in setting forth by a few days.
Crown Prince Ranon knew that the ambush armies needed to regroup, only when the armies became a troop of more than a thousand would he feel at ease.
Meanwhile, Leon was surveying their hiding place when he felt something amiss from Biggie\'s reaction.
"Vroo…. Vroo!" Biggie excitedly called out.
"What\'s the matter?" Leon beckoned Biggie to tell him what happened.
"Vroo, wrrrrrr! Veeee!" The men around could only hear some gibberish words from the mysterious golem but only Leon was listening intently.
"Alright. Good work Biggie." Leon nodded and gently rubbed Biggie\'s head with the tip of his fingers.
As his master, he could understand what Biggie was trying to say even though he used inaudible words. What he just heard put a smile on his face.
He huddled his men and explained the recent development reported by Biggie.
"Our waiting was not wasted!" The men could not help but be amazed by Leon\'s judgment to suddenly delay the attack. They never expected to have such a favorable development on their side!
"We will let them survive until the end of the day. Let them communicate with the other armies first before we move." Leon announced.
The men only nodded and forced themselves to hold their mouths to let out a battle cry.
Leon\'s crystal blue eyes swept into the men\'s fiery gazes and reminded them,
"Do not let your guard down, for this development could also be a double-edged sword for us. This increased our chances to be caught in the middle if the rear army was also ordered to advance…"
"We shall make the attack swift and strong! No one shall hesitate or it would mean our Empire\'s fall!"