Chapter 89. The Rudiments of Intelligence
In the study, Eli drew a deep breath, then, out of habit, let his consciousness sink into his mind as he silently prayed.
A blue beam of light immediately lit up, and information poured into his awareness.
【Within the sanctuary in Nightsong Forest, the elf princess Irene and her companion Gulu have gotten into an argument.
In a fit of anger, Gulu has run away from home and is currently moving rapidly in the direction of Obsidian Territory Valley.】
Eli opened his eyes, and his blue gaze was filled with astonishment and a trace of absurdity.
A quarrel? Over grilled fish? She ran away from home? And she is heading here?
A string of question marks popped up in his mind.
How could they have quarreled? Irene... no, not Irene... Her Highness, could she have run into some kind of difficulty?
And what kind of madness had that noisy marmot gotten into now? What was she running to Black Territory for? To add to the chaos?
Knock, knock, knock!
The urgent pounding at the door cut off his thoughts.
“My lord! Captain Aika has returned! He is waiting outside to see you!”
The guard’s voice came through the door.
Eli instantly threw Gulu’s little farce to the back of his mind, his spirits lifting.
“Send him in!”
The door was pushed open, and Aika stepped inside, carrying the dust and weariness of travel with him.
The coarse robe of a traveling merchant that he wore was spattered with mud, and his cheeks had grown leaner as well.
“My lord!” Aika struck his chest in salute, his voice a little hoarse.
“You’ve worked hard, Aika! Up, speak.” Eli motioned for him to rise, his gaze sweeping over him.
“You weren’t hurt, were you? How did it go? What is Runestone City like now?”
A trace of lingering fear appeared on Aika’s face. “Reporting to my lord, it was indeed dangerous.
The five of us disguised ourselves as traveling merchants selling beast hides and cheap ironware, and slipped through the city gate at dusk while the crowds were thick and confused.
Security in Runestone City was very strict, but the soldiers guarding the gates seemed more concerned with whether people were carrying weapons or large quantities of grain.
They were relatively lenient toward small peddlers like us.”
He paused. “The hardest part was scouting their training ground. It was located in the western part of the city and heavily guarded.
We circled around for a long time. In the end, we spent a little money,
bribed a low-ranking officer in charge of procurement, got some information out of him, and found the location of the training ground.
Then, during the brief confusion when one group of soldiers was changing shifts,
two of the brothers and I slipped in through a breach in a section of the wall that had fallen into disrepair.”
Eli frowned. “That was too dangerous. Aika, you...”
Aika straightened his back. “My lord need not worry! To speak the truth, it was also a stroke of luck...
We were discovered by a sentry while leaving, and in the desperate struggle to break out,
I made a breakthrough at the brink of life and death.
I am now in the Silver Tier!”
“The Silver Tier?!” Unconcealed approval shone in Eli’s eyes.
“Good! Well done, Aika! That risk was not taken in vain!”
Receiving such direct praise from his lord, a flush of excitement rose on Aika’s dark face.
He suppressed his exhilaration and quickly returned to the main point.
“My lord, the three of us lay hidden in the trees outside that training ground for a full day and night. We saw everything clearly.”
“At present, Runestone City has a standing force of about four hundred soldiers.
Their equipment is fairly uniform, and their training is passable as well.
But their morale... does not seem especially high. In addition,”
Aika lowered his voice, and a trace of coldness entered it.
“the officials under Sabda are carrying out large-scale forced conscription inside the city!
As long as a man is young and strong, whether he is willing or not, he is dragged off to serve. Their methods are brutal.
At that rate, in only a few more days, his troop strength will likely swell to five hundred.”
“Five hundred...” Eli’s fingers tapped lightly against the desk as his mind began racing.
He compared it against the current state of Black Territory.
Black Territory currently had three hundred and fifty veteran soldiers who had survived the beast tide, plus the forty remaining Black Crow Knights.
On top of that were two hundred newly recruited soldiers, personally drilled by Buck.
That brought his total force to six hundred men. In terms of numbers, Black Territory held the advantage.
In terms of quality, Black Territory had Buck, a Gold-Tier Knight, holding the line.
There were fifty well-equipped and highly trained Black Crow Knights.
There were also three hundred and fifty battle-hardened veterans.
On Runestone City’s side, there was only the Gold-Tier warrior Sabda had brought with him.
Most of the soldiers were newly conscripted recruits and remnant troops forced together. Their fighting strength could not even begin to compare.
Aika nodded and added, “Aside from that, the atmosphere inside Runestone City is stifling, and the citizens are full of resentment.”
Eli’s gaze turned cold. Sabda had completely torn away all pretense now and was willing to drain the pond dry to catch the fish.
It seemed the temptation of Eli’s two cities had already driven him utterly mad.
Eli paced to the window and murmured to himself, his thinking becoming clearer and clearer.
“Five hundred troops... even with the two hundred household soldiers Count Alders promised him, that only makes seven hundred.
And if we add the remnant federal army from Scorpion Gorge...
How many can Sabda actually mobilize? Three hundred? Four hundred? Perhaps a little over a thousand.” He seemed to be asking Aika, yet also asking himself.
“A little over a thousand...”
“That sounds like a lot. But to force an assault on Obsidian Territory?”
He pointed toward the earthen-yellow wall outside, gleaming under the sun, now already approaching five meters in height.
A siege?
Black Territory’s walls were still rising. The main structure now stood nearly six meters high, tamped earth wrapped in stone, exceptionally solid.
One had to know that storming a city was never a game of simply piling up numbers.
Without an overwhelming advantage several times greater than the defenders, and without fine siege engines, a direct assault was suicide.
With the forces Sabda currently had, trying to storm Black Territory was no different from throwing an egg against a rock.
Even if the three parties combined and managed to muster a force of over a thousand men,
taking Obsidian Territory from a force of six hundred defenders who held the terrain and had a Gold-Tier expert in command would still be as hard as ascending the heavens.
Then... the answer was already becoming obvious.
Sabda’s target was most likely not a direct assault on Black Territory.
“So Sabda wants to play his old trick... to find a way to lure me out and force a decisive battle in the open.”
“Or... perhaps their main target is not Obsidian Territory at all.”
His gaze turned in the direction of Lucerne City.
“Lucerne City? Its walls are sturdier than Black Territory’s,
but Brandon only has a little over two hundred defenders there, and it is the link connecting the two territories.
If they feint east and strike west, and Lucerne City falls, then Black Territory becomes an isolated city. Its rear would be unstable, and if the army’s morale broke apart,
then Sabda could apply pressure from the front...”
“That truly is a fine scheme...” Eli murmured to himself as he considered every possibility.
Only... there was still no reply yet from the marquess.
He had to prepare with a second plan in hand.
As for Lucerne City... he intended to send Brandon a warning at once and have him recruit two hundred new soldiers and raise his vigilance.
With his thoughts now sorted out, Eli looked at Aika, and his tone softened.
“You and your brothers have worked hard. This mission was completed beautifully.
Take two days off and get some proper rest.
Go to old Sebastian and collect five gold coins each as your reward.”
“Thank you, my lord!” Aika bowed gratefully.
Then Eli walked up to Aika and looked deeply into the eyes of this old subordinate who had followed him all the way here.
“Aika, you have been with me from the Marquess’s Residence to Black Territory for more than half a year now, haven’t you?”
Aika froze for a moment, then straightened at once, his expression becoming incomparably solemn.
“Reporting to my lord! From the very day you were invested as a Frontier Knight and selected the knights who would accompany you,
this subordinate has followed at your side! Not one step has he left!”
“Good!” Eli struck him heavily on the shoulder.
“Your loyalty and your ability—I have seen them both clearly. The intelligence you brought back is of the utmost importance.”
He looked straight into Aika’s eyes, and his voice was steady and strong.
“The brothers who infiltrated Runestone City with you will no longer be assigned to the ordinary soldiers.
From this day forth, you, Aika, are formally appointed Chief Intelligence Administrator of Black Territory.
You and the men under your command will take your orders directly from me and be responsible to me alone.
You will be solely responsible for intelligence gathering and compilation both within and beyond the territory. Any manpower or resources you require may be requested directly from me.”
Chief Intelligence Administrator!
Aika felt a surge of hot blood rush straight to his head.
The immense sense of responsibility, and the glory of being trusted, made his whole body tremble slightly.
He dropped to one knee at once and slammed his right fist heavily against the armor over his left chest.
“Aika accepts the command! Thank you, my lord, for your trust!”
“Up.” Eli pulled him to his feet.
“Sabda’s scouts were able to slip in without a sound and stir up rebellion. Our own men, meanwhile, nearly died right beneath his nose.
In the past, we relied too much on... mm, too rough a method.
Now, I am handing this task over to you.”
“This subordinate understands!” Aika’s eyes were incomparably resolute.
“I will certainly do everything in my power and not fail your trust, my lord!”
The study door closed softly.
Eli sat back down in his chair, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the cold surface of the desk.
Establishing a dedicated intelligence department was not only an act of rewarding and promoting loyal old subordinates such as Aika.
It was also the most direct response to the series of shocks Sabda had brought him.
Sabda’s scouts had been able to infiltrate silently.
They had even found a point of weakness in a man like Huck and used him to incite unrest. That had sounded an alarm in Eli’s mind.
He had relied too heavily before on the “revelations” of the World Intelligence Support System.
It had indeed provided much critical information, but it was elusive and impossible to control proactively.
In the real world, a web of intelligence woven by loyal and reliable people, one that covered every corner within and beyond his territory, was of immeasurable importance.
Now, Aika and his department were the beginning of filling that fatal weakness.
It was still immature, only a rough framework, but at least the crucial first step had finally been taken.
Eli wrote the letter meant for Brandon, then stamped it hard with Pendragon’s black dragon crest.
He called for Coalball.
He slid the completed letter into the copper tube tied to Coalball’s leg, then gently rubbed the raven’s head with his fingers.
Then he opened the window and watched as Coalball gradually became a tiny black speck in the distance.
“Sabda... you truly have taught me a lesson.” Eli murmured softly, with not the slightest trace of pride in his eyes.