When A Mage Revolts

At last, after approximately four hours, the royal army arrived at the empty plains outside the north city gate.

"Worchester is in front."

Seen from afar, the great and mighty army was like a piece of black sail on the yellow ground, looking extremely bright under the fiery sun. They had halted about a mile away from Worchester, and the commanding general, who was leading them on his horse, turned around to nod at Grant as he gave his report in a reverent and respectful manner.

The red and white flags above their heads fluttered in the wind; there were duplicates of crosses embroidered on every one of them.

"The Runic Defense Technique…" Grant, in the long robes of a Pope and sitting on a horse fitted with a silver shaffron, gazed at Worchester. His eyes slowly narrowed.

The commanding general immediately replied, "Yes, we've received intelligence on this a few days ago. These rebels have already set up the Runic Defense Technique the night they took over Worchester, so we've done our best to move all the Cannons of Holy Light out from storage when we'd set out for battle this time."

Hearing that, Grant turned his head and spoke in a voice that sounded neither pleased nor angry, "General Press, what is your battle plan?"

Press felt a momentary surge of stress and pressure.

They had suffered a great loss because of this thing in their previous attack on Icor, and as the commanding general at the time, he had even almost lost his life after they had been defeated and returned to the country. However, the Kingdom of Helius had gone through a series of internal conflicts, so there were not many people left who knew how to lead soldiers into battle. That was why he had been able to live on, in degradation. This time, he had been tasked with a great responsibility and had become the main general in charge of claiming Worchester back.

Although it was an honor, he was feeling extremely fearful, more than anything else.

If their attack this time was not successful either, based on that Pope's temperament… Press did not even dare to continue thinking about what would happen.

"My plan is to take them by force," He took a deep breath and pretended to look confident and well-prepared as he continued. "We must break through the Runic Defense Technique with a single blow. The soldiers have been marching and are tired now, so we'll first set up camp and rest. We'll pretend that we're attacking tomorrow, but in fact, we'll launch a sudden attack late at night today, and catch them by surprise!"

Having heard that, Grant's expression was… No one knew whether it was one of satisfaction, but at least he nodded his head after a few moments of pondering and muttering to himself.

Press secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

He hurriedly waved his hand and issued a command at the great army behind him to begin setting up camp on the plains here. The priests on guard, who had been circling about in the airspace above them, descended right then as well. Tent after tent, all with crosses painted on them, sprouted like fungi after a downpour, occupying the spaces on the entire main road. Subsequently, the main route connecting Worchester with the outside world was cut off.

At the same time.

Standing on the city wall in Worchester, Benjamin, with a grave expression, looked at the vast stretch of tents set up by the royal army.

Although he had long known that the royal army would arrive... He had barely hurried back to Worchester and steadied the hearts of his soldiers, but the enemy had already come to attack them. Because of that, even though he had prepared himself for it, he still felt that everything was happening too fast. A full-blown stress surged into his heart.

"How much of their condition are you able to check out?" He suddenly asked the System.

"They're too far, I'm only able to come up with an estimation of their numbers based on an analysis of the area and geometry," the System went silent for a few moment before answering helplessly. "Fifty thousand men. I'm uncertain about the number of priests. Probably more or less the same as you guys, I guess."

Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

On paper, at least, the difference between them was not very grave. The question now was, what on earth had the Church prepared as their trump card over there?

After observing the enemy for a while longer, he nodded at the guards on the city wall and turned to leave, going back to the city. Inside the city, the martial law had been completely enforced; every house had their doors and shutters closed tightly, and the streets were filled with chevaux de frise and heaps of gunny sacks to be used as roadblocks. Both soldiers of the Black Nightmare Army and mages were all currently stationed near the city gates, about to be done with their preparation for battle at any time.

Benjamin headed straight for the city hall.

So far, the city hall had become their commanding center. The strongest of the Academy mages were gathered here. The family knights of the six nobles, as commanders of the Black Nightmare Army, had also assembled here. They were waiting for Benjamin, who was the actual as well as the nominal owner of this army, to come and give his orders.

"Sir! The royal army has arrived, I think we should immediately set out and attack them, let's take the chance as the enemy is settling down and catch them off guard!" Benjamin had just entered when a few family knights ran up to him, restraining their grief as they spoke.

Looking at them, Benjamin shook his head. He gave a sigh.

"I understand your feelings. Our few honorable sirs have been killed by the Church, and I also wish very much to avenge them," he said reassuringly. "But… we have no advantage by initiating the attack. You understand how wars work better than I do, so you should also understand this principle, yes?"

Hearing that, the knights lowered their heads quietly.

Benjamin continued to speak, "To fulfill their dying wishes, we must not lose, no?"

"...You're right, sir mage."

One after another, the knights let out sighs. With helpless expressions on their faces, they nodded and withdrew.

The others then gathered together as Benjamin walked to the middle of the city hall and began the military meeting this time. Everyone did not look too well. The strength of the royal army, the great number of priests, the powerful armaments… Other than the advantage of being in a defensive position, they did not seem to be able to find any other aspects that were favorable to them.

However, there was one thing to be thankful for. No one was afraid.

"Using the Runic Defense Technique, we can delay them by an inordinate amount of time. The Church has lost the hearts of the people, and the longer we delay, the more advantageous the situation will be for us. Revolts happen once in a while in the northern region of the kingdom too, so if we delay this, their own background would be on fire, forcing them to withdraw!"

"The enemy might choose to force an attack, we should bring out all the elemental barriers in storage and do our best to fortify our defenses."

"We also have Cannons of Holy Light, we can sneak an attack and open fire when the enemy isn't on guard…"

In contrast with the situation back then when they had to defend Icor, no one was throwing cold water at all, and there were no so-called 'pacifists'. Everyone was actively brainstorming solutions, racking their brains trying to put forward an endless stream of battle strategies into consideration. Although the people who participated in this meeting were few, Benjamin ended up listening to almost a hundred solutions. There was not a moment of quietness in the city hall.

Finally, the meeting ended temporarily after two hours. They had formed an extremely detailed plan of defense. All of them turned around and headed back to make arrangements with the formation of their soldiers and the groupings of the mages.

Meanwhile, Benjamin walked into the room that had belonged to the mayor.

"We need to issue an announcement to the entire Kingdom of Helius," Looking at the person in charge of the Academy's Black Operation, who was in the room, he slowly spoke. "About the origins of the Black Nightmare Army, about the collapse that happened in the region of Pearl Lake, about the news of the King's death, and various truths of the sort… We've already become an independent force, we must let the entire country know what on earth has happened."

Although they had been plunged into battle, this was not a matter that they could push behind them and delay.

Thus far, the people seemed to have lost some confidence in the Black Nightmare Army. Even the citizens of Worchester did not feel that they could stop the attack of the Church. Because of that, it was necessary for them to stabilize the hearts of the people. At the same time, they could take this opportunity to increase the public pressure on the Church once more and cut off any backup paths for them.

The Black Operation of the Academy still had enough manpower in various places in the kingdom, and the members of the Black Nightmare Army were still active underground. They could complete this task.

"No problem," the person in charge nodded, saying. "We could release another issue of 'Truth News' and print our declaration on it. The attention of the Church is all on Worchester, they won't have the ability to deal with this."

"So it is, then!"

Benjamin immediately nodded in agreement.

Thus, the person in charge turned around and left to begin handling this matter. As for Benjamin, he took a deep breath after that. This was no longer a straightforward battle. It was not just about soldiers and swords, slaughters, gunfire… While all of this was going on, a battle without war was never going to end.

They needed to assemble everything that could be useful for there to be a possibility of them winning this war.