Chapter 52: 27.1

Chapter 27-1: Urgent Report From the Border (1)

News of the assassination attempt made on the princess by the son of Prince Lazaar and the subsequent sealing of Prince Lazaar's manor had already spread through the entire city. In fact, the news had become so prevalently known that when the common folk ran into one another on the streets, their usual greeting had changed from "how are you?" to "did you hear about...". Some speculated that Prince Lazaar had planned this entire incident, assassinating the princess as a catalyst to his rebellion. Some speculated that the son of Prince Lazaar had been framed and mentally manipulated somehow. There were also some who speculated that the son of Prince Lazaar was in love with the princess, but the princess had taken a liking to the son of Count Friar. Thus, in a fit of rage from his unrequited love, the son of Prince Lazaar had decided to murder the princess. In any case, all types of rumors about the incident were circulating throughout the city, and one would hear several different accounts of the event after just a single stroll through a pub, but no one knew for sure what had actually happened.

Over the past few days, there had been no news coming out of the royal palace, stating that King Cameron was going to punish Prince Lazaar, but at the same time, the palatial guards surrounding Prince Lazaar's manor also hadn't been withdrawn. Thus, everyone in the city, regardless of whether they were nobility or common folk, could speculate as to what had happened.

Thankfully, the princess was able to recover from her severe injuries and return from the brink of death, much to the joy and celebration of all of the city's common folk.

During the past few days, King Cameron had been constantly contemplating whether it would be wise to strike out against the Lazaar Family, but he had refrained from doing so due to the urgent military report that had arrived on his desk from Burmen.

As it turned out, the Skycourt Kingdom had attacked. General Gilgen of the Skycourt Kingdom was leading 100,000 troops from the regular army and a regiment of 50,000 to 60,000 mercenaries to attack Burmen from the north, and within the span of just a few days, over 20 citadels in Burmen had already been conquered.

The stand-in governor of Burmen, Eden Lazaar, had already submitted several urgent reports in succession, stating that there were insufficient troops in Burmen and requesting reinforcements from Sarus.

King Cameron had initially thought that this was a ploy from Eden Lazaar to try and save his own father, but given the amount of time it would've taken from these reports to be delivered to Sarus from Burmen, it was clear that these reports had already been sent out prior to the attempted assassination on Onean. There was no way that Eden could've predicted the incident in advance, so it was clear that he was telling the truth.

Shortly thereafter, information began to arrive from various different avenues, informing King Cameron that the province of Burmen really was being attacked by the Skycourt Kingdom.

The fact that the Skycourt Kingdom was launching an invasion so close to the princess's assassination struck King Cameron with a vague sense of unease, and he couldn't help but feel that this was no coincidence.

Prior to this, he had been considering how he was going to punish the Lazaar Family, but given the dire situation in Burmen, he had no choice but to release Lazaar back to Burmen to lead his troops and resist the invasion. Only then would the situation be stabilized. He knew that in the entire royal court, Lazaar was the only person capable of succeeding in this role.

Having said that, King Cameron was still quite reluctant to let Lazaar go. He had finally managed to get Lazaar back to the capital city, and on top of that, there was a very good reason for him to heavily punish the Lazaar Family. This was a golden opportunity, and he didn't want to let it slip.

What complicated the situation even further was that among the list of several magic ingredients Master Piro had asked him to conduct an investigation into, one of them, namely the liver juice of the Scarlet Dragon, which was an extremely rare magic ingredient, was found to have ended up in Governor Jenkins's hands from the black market after exchanging hands a few times in between.

Thus, given the current situation, he didn't want to release Lazaar, but he had no choice but to release him. He wanted to kill Jenkins, but he couldn't do that, either. In order to maintain parity between the two factions in the royal court, Jenkins had to live so long as Lazaar was still alive. Even though his precious Onean had almost lost her life as a result of Jenkins's sinister plot, he could only swallow this bitter pill for now.

After that, all of Sarus's important officials were summoned to the main royal palace by King Cameron. Even Prince Lazaar had been released from confinement to attend this gathering, and everyone in Jenkins's faction wore wary expressions in response to seeing Prince Lazaar.

"This morning, we received an urgent military report stating that an army of 150,000 troops has invaded Burmen from the Skycourt Kingdom. Within the span of just a few days, over 20 citadels of Burmen have already fallen," King Cameron said with a grim expression. "What do you all think we should do about this?"

The entire palace instantly erupted into a raucous frenzy upon hearing this. It was clear that none of the officials had received this news yet, and everyone was looking at one another with astounded expressions, unable to process such a massive bombshell. It had been close to 20 years since the Skycourt Kingdom and the Effer Kingdom last clashed, and it was very perplexing to everyone why the Skycourt Kingdom had suddenly invaded.

"Your Majesty, my son is still quite inexperienced in leading troops, so I take full responsibility for the citadels that he has lost," Prince Lazaar said with a fearful expression.

"He can't be blamed for this. There are only 70,000 troops stationed in Burmen, so it's no surprise that they're struggling against an army over twice their size," King Cameron said.

Meanwhile, Jenkins's brows were tightly furrowed. Judging from King Cameron's words and attitude, it appeared that he was no longer planning to punish Lazaar. However, after briefly contemplating the situation, he realized that killing Lazaar was no longer feasible given the threat on the border.

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"Lazaar, you've defended Burmen for many years. Do you have any plans to counter this invasion from the Skycourt Kingdom?" King Cameron asked.

"Your Majesty, I haven't received any reports from the front lines, so I can't say for sure what I would do. However, the Skycourt Kingdom's army has come a long way to invade our borders, so their soldiers must already be quite weary. As such, our army can retreat to an important pass and focus solely on defense. An army of 150,000 will undoubtedly require massive amounts of supplies, so we can retaliate once their supply chain becomes sufficiently strained," Prince Lazaar replied.

"I'm afraid I must disagree, Prince Lazaar. The Skycourt Kingdom has caught us off guard, but we shouldn't overestimate our enemies just because your son is incapable of dealing with them." An official from Jenkins's faction stepped forward with a mocking expression. "The Skycourt Kingdom can't be allowed to get away with invading us without any consequences. They have encroached upon our soil! We can't just hide like turtles in our shells and weather the storm!"

Many of the other officials from Jenkins's faction immediately concurred with this statement, suggesting that fire should be fought with fire and that reinforcements should be sent to Burmen from Sarus.

King Cameron was naturally aware of what Jenkins's faction was thinking. If they were to follow Lazaar's suggestion and fight a war of attrition, then all of the credit would go to Lazaar for defeating the enemy. However, if they could send troops to the front lines from Sarus, then after the battle was won, everyone would've contributed, so they would all be rewarded.

Prince Lazaar took a cold glance at Jenkins's faction, but didn't say anything.

"What do you think, Jenkins?" King Cameron asked as he cast his gaze toward Jenkins, who still hadn't spoken yet.

"Your Majesty, it's been close to 20 years since our Effer Kingdom last clashed with the Skycourt Kingdom. Now that they're launching an invasion without any warning or reason, if we choose to adopt a stance exclusively of passive defense, then it'll send a message to everyone that our kingdom is weak and doesn't dare to face the enemy. If that happens, the Skycourt Kingdom will only become more and more emboldened, which could lead to more frequent invasions of our borders," Jenkins said.

All of the officials of Jenkins's faction immediately offered their verbal support to this sentiment.

King Cameron made a quieting gesture, and only then did all of the officials fall silent again.

"If we do send reinforcements from Sarus, who do you all think would be the most suitable candidate to lead our troops?" King Cameron asked.

On this occasion, Jenkins was the first one to step forward and offer his opinion. "Your Majesty, I think you should lead our troops to the front lines in person. If you do that, the morale of our army would undoubtedly receive a significant boost. I am also willing to accompany you to the front lines, Your Majesty."

Following that suggestion from Jenkins, many of the officials from Jenkins's faction also stepped forward to express an urge to follow King Cameron to the front lines.

King Cameron's expression remained unchanged, but internally, he was coldly denouncing Jenkins.

What a cunning old fox you are, Jenkins. If you accompany me to the front lines and we win the battle, I'll naturally have to reward you for your contributions. Even if we're defeated, you don't stand to lose anything. At the very least, this would be far less risky than for you to lead our troops to the front lines. 

However, he was planning to lead the troops in person anyway. Not only did he want to force back the troops of the Skycourt Kingdom, he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to get rid of Lazaar as well. Lazaar had been stationed in Burmen for many years, and this was a golden opportunity to eradicate the entire Lazaar Family in one fell swoop.

"Alright, your voices have been heard," King Cameron said, and all of the officials gathered in the main palace immediately knew that he had already made a decision.

"Lazaar, return to Burmen right away to stabilize the army and set up a defensive line. Make sure that every single pass is well defended. I will lead reinforcements from Sarus to the front lines shortly. Do you have any objections?" King Cameron asked as he turned to Lazaar.

"I'll be sure to do everything in my power to ensure that no more citadels and land are lost, Your Majesty," Lazaar immediately replied as he kowtowed to the ground, but at the same time, he was quite bewildered that the assassination on the princess was simply being glossed over.

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