Chapter 383: Changed Rules
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
According to the information Blavi had, Archknight Fernando had ordered his entire army to attack Reddenburg after Anfey had left Shield of Light legion with Ozzic and a few others. It would take Anfey a few days to go back and forth, so he figured Fernando would have taken Reddenburg during that time. Anfey asked Ozzic to take his unit to the front and travel directly to Reddenburg.
It was not a peaceful trip. Many death spirits came at them like one swarm of flies after another. Fortunately, these death spirits could not pose any threat to a group of more than a thousand mercenaries and were killed. After fighting this kind of battle against zombies, mercenaries seemed to get used to his kind of weak attack.
After three days, Anfey led his mercenaries to Reddenburg. As Anfey expected, Reddenburg had become a command post for Shield of Light legion. About a hundred flags with different embroidered designs flew around Reddenburg. These flags had practical usage. Every flag represented a group. The one with a war horse on his hind legs in the center of a shield represented the frontiers of the Shield of Light legion. The one with a knight’s spear in the center of a shield represented the cavalry. The one with a roaring lion in the center of the shield represented Fernando’s personal bodyguards, which meant the central command was in the Reddenburg. Not only each battalion, but also each squadron and regiment had its own flag. It helped the commanders to give clear instructions to their people.
By now, Anfey could be considered a big shot. After finding out Anfey was back, Fernando and Christian both came out of the headquarters to welcome and greet him. As they walked back to the headquarters, Archknight Fernando walked in front, with Anfey and Christian walking behind. An unwelcomed voice rose: "Master Anfey? I heard you lost your wife? Please accept my condolences. Hahaha…"
Anfey was shocked and turned around to where the voice came from. Marquis Djoser and a few Knights of Light were approaching. Marquis Djoser had a gloating smile on his face. The Knights of Light looked a little awkward. Although many knew that Suzanna was missing, few had detailed information about it. They just thought Suzanna must have been attacked by death spirits.
This was not good news for most Knights of Light. They did have conflicts with Anfey for sure, but necromancers were their biggest enemy right now. Whether they could win the battle with necromancers would decide their fate. Anfey was on the same side in this battle and had made some major contributions. He even worked with Slanbrea and killed Necromancer Annunciata. It just showed they had no class if they were happy about Suzanna’s unfortunate fate.
The Knights of Light felt a little awkward, but Christian already looked mad. Even Fernando looked a little annoyed. Compared with Anfey, Djoser was of little use except for his Marquis title and some influence in the upper classes. Anfey was a capable and got things done, so seemed to be more helpful to Fernando.
"Of course. Suzanna is nothing special to you. You have some elf maids with you. It is no big deal…" Djoser was interrupted by a slapping sound.
Anfey had appeared in front of Marquis Djoser and hit him. Anfey did not punch too hard because he did not want to kill him right now, but not too light either because he would not be able to vent his anger otherwise.
Marquis Djoser put his hand on his cheek, stunned. He did not think Anfey would ever dare to hit him in the public. Everybody knew he was a marquis in the empire.
"How dare…" Djoser yelled.
However, Marquis Djoser’s yell was interrupted again. This time his sound reverberated back. Anfey swung his arm and punched Djoser on the other cheek. Anfey kept swinging and hitting Marquis Djoser without holding anything back. He put enough strength into the punches to make sure Marquis Djoser swayed from left to right but did not fall to the ground.
"Master Anfey," Fernando called to Anfey worriedly. He felt Marquis Djoser was very nasty to Anfey, but he had to stop Anfey, since Marquis Djoser helped him before.
Anfey gave Djoser one last shot as Djoser spun in a half circle and fell to the ground. He looked at Anfey with dull eyes. His mouth was open but did not make any sound. He was not scared by Anfey, but Anfey had given him a concussion. The weak old man lost consciousness and could not even feel the pain or react in any way.
The Knights of Light behind Djoser hurried over and blocked Anfey from Djoser. Anfey kept his poker face and walked away.
"Master Anfey, you are…" Fernando had a bitter smile on his face. In addition to constraints from Christian, Fernando’s authority was limited. Even if Anfey had killed Djoser, he had no way to punish Anfey. To provide stability in the organization, he had to have Anfey on his side. The only option he had was to talk to Anfey and convince him. If he took a hard line with Anfey, he would only put himself in a defensive position. Two Knights of Light held Marquis Djoser up. His face had swollen and blood dripped down from the corners of his mouth down to the chest. His eyes were still dull. Fernando was worried that Anfey had hit Djoser so hard it would cause brain damage.
Anfey causally shook his hands like nothing had happened. He did not respond to Fernando’s pleas. Christian said quietly, "Anfey, let it go. We have time. We will get him sometime."
Christian’s response actually shocked many people. He was such a gentle and polite young man. He never talked to anyone so aggressively. People actually changed as their circumstances changed. Suzanna and Anfey had done so much so they could live safely. Christian thought Suzanna and Anfey were his closest friends. Marquis Djoser’s gloating had made me feel terrible for Anfey. If he did not have such a sensitive position, he already would have beaten Djoser up himself.
Fernando cringed. Christian made it sound like punching Djoser today was not enough, and they would get him later. Fernando could say anything to Christian at that moment. He said, "Master Christian, we have waited for Master Anfey for so long. Let’s not waist time talking about it now."
"What happened?" Anfey asked, shocked.
"According to our plan, we should have continued forward after we took Reddenburg. As you can see, Shield of Light legion did not move at all." Fernando heaved a sigh. "Let’s talk inside."
"Ok." Anfey nodded and followed Fernando in.
No one, including Anfey, realized Anfey’s fight with Marquis Djoser had changed the way he handled things. Besides dealing with some weak and small groups, Anfey had been very cautious and never wanted to pick a fight with anyone. He had always fought back after others picked fights with him. After realizing Zeda was the grandson of Master Swordsman Philip, Anfey regretted killing him. He still thought he should not have killed Zeda even though he himself was in serious danger.
At that moment, after realizing Manstuly was behind the druids and the unpredictable potential of elves, he would still kill druids and elves. Knowing Djoser was a marquis of the empire and the consequences of making a large group of nobles unhappy with him, he still hit Djoser.
Fernando, Anfey and his group quickly walked into a tall and grand residential house. As everybody took a seat, Fernando rubbed his hands and looked at Christian. "Master Christian, should you tell him or should I?"
"You can tell. You know the situation better than me," Christian said.
"Ok." Fernando hesitated for a second and said, "First of all, I have to admit I made a huge mistake."
"Master Fernando, you have blamed yourself already several times. You really do not have to do that," Christian said with a smile.
"No, I have to make it clear." Fernando shook his head. "Because of my mistake, the whole plan fell through. I have to take responsibility."
"That serious?" Anfey asked in surprise.
"Yes, very serious. I planned to divide the army into two units, one to help Shuklan City and the other to help Madrid Town. I think you know about this plan as well, but we cannot go anywhere now." Fernando looked helpless. "You must have seen a lot of death spirits when you came back from the northwest?"
"Yes, I did," Anfey said.
"If you do not mind my asking: Why did you suddenly leave the legion?" Fernando looked concerned.
"Some friends were trapped by death spirits. It was urgent, so I did not have time to talk to you about it before I took my mercenaries over there," Anfey said.
"I see." Fernando nodded. He knew Anfey was just giving an excuse. He was really interested in the reason why Anfey suddenly left the legion, but it was not a good time to discover Anfey’s secrets. He returned to the topic at hand. "My plan was built on a premise that we have to save trapped mercenaries and wipe out all the death spirits around every territory we take over. The previous Death Wars taught us that all death spirits acted in a whole unit. If we were attacked by any death spirits, the nearby death spirits would come and help them. At the moment, they are not under the command of necromancers, but I still think the nearby death spirits would come help other death spirits. If I pick a fight with them, I think we could easily wipe out all the nearby death spirits."
"Death spirits are currently in chaos without the leadership of necromancers. When we passed through the Transverse Mountains, we had many fights with them. Every zombie group had a leader. Did you notice they would not help each other?" Anfey said.
"I did notice that. I thought they were just wandering zombies left behind. The main force of death spirits should have continued their traditions of willing sacrifice and unity and had uncontrollable desire for human flesh and blood. However, the reality is the frontier unit under my command had a fight with death spirits and killed some zombies after they arrived Reddenburg. This fight was to attract more hatred and gather more zombies here. Do you know what happened the next morning?" Fernando asked with a bitter smile.
"What happened?" Anfey asked.
"The zombies trapped in Reddenburg fled. No zombie remained. I never thought they would flee. Are there even death spirits anymore?" Fernando said slowly.
"You should know that zombies now have the ability to evolve. The most evolved zombies not only can communicate with other zombies, but also communicate with us. They are just like humans. They have desire, reasoning, fears, and even know how to beg," Anfey said.
Fernando went quiet for a while and nodded. "I know, but I kept thinking the way I previously thought about them. This is why I need take responsibility for making that mistake."
"How many zombies fled?" Anfey asked.
"About 8,000. Not many zombies were trapped in Reddenburg from the beginning. Now they are all gone. This is not the most important thing. I thought the fight with zombies around Reddenburg would attract nearby zombies, but they did not react to it at all," Fernando said quietly.
Fernando picked up a cup of water and poured some water on the table. He drew something in the water. After a while, the water gathered together again. "Right now, we have similar situations. The zombies we killed were very limited. There were many death spirits behind us, to the northwest and northeast. If we leave here, they would take over this area again. To ensure the safety of Reddenburg, we need divide our army and try to wipe out all the death spirits."
"That would take a long time," Anfey said.
"We have time, but the trapped mercenaries would not be able to hold out until we get there," Fernando said slowly.
"Are you saying…" Anfey said.
"In general, we will divide the army into two units. The main force will be responsible for wiping out the death spirits behind us. The elite force would go and help the cities in danger. This is a tentative plan. I have not thought through how to do it. We can discuss the details together. I just have had a bad feeling recently. Those necromancers acted too weirdly. It’s possible they have some conspiracy we do not know about," Fernando said.
"Why would you think that?" Anfey asked.
"Take Reddenburg, for instance. If necromancers had directed nearby death spirits to come, Reddenburg could have been conquered a long time ago. They did not ask death spirits to come. Instead, they all suddenly disappeared. I think there only could be two possibilities. One is they are so happy with the situation as it is now that they do not even care about taking over Reddenburg. This does not fit the necromancers’ style though. The second possibility would be they do not have any extra effort to spare. Then the question would be, What are they doing now?"
"Shadow Empire?" Anfey suddenly remembered what Black Eleven found.
"What did you say?" Fernando asked in surprise.