When Duke Calvin walked into the Emerald Forest Castle, Edith was already waiting for him in the hall.
“My dear daughter—”
“Why are you only arriving now?” she interrupted mercilessly. “As early as a month ago, I wrote to you, asking you to fully cooperate with the First Army's assembly and preparation work, and to meet their requirements as much as possible.”
The Duke's outstretched arms froze in mid-air. “I notified Earl Hair of Willow Valley Town at the time, and also sent the butler to supervise the matter. Isn't that considered full cooperation?”
“Of course,” Edith said, folding her arms across her chest in dissatisfaction. “Your personal presence in the town would better demonstrate the sincerity of the Northern Lands, and the battle with the church is of great importance. No amount of attention is too much.”
“But this is, after all, Earl Hair's territory—”
“Please, Father, the nobles are about to disappear. Are you still concerned about your vassals' territories? I thought that after the rebellion of the Hos and Lister families, you would be a little more decisive.”
Duke Calvin felt a little embarrassed. “I thought that after not seeing each other for a few months, my daughter would at least give me a hug and express some longing, instead of starting to talk about lungong matters before even sitting down.”
“Is that so?” Edith sneered. “I wonder who was throwing a tantrum in the room, shouting about this damned daughter, calling me ungrateful and an unappreciative wolf cub? If I guessed correctly, you even wanted to smash something, but you couldn't bear to, right?”
The Duke was taken aback. “I…”
Damn it, which bastard leaked that out!
Before he could figure out how to respond, Edith had already walked over and hugged him. “Welcome to Willow Valley Town, Father. Is that good enough?”
The resentment in his heart immediately vanished, and he touched his daughter's green hair, feeling a mix of emotions.
Clearly born to his first wife, her personality was very different from her mother's, and even completely different from his own. Sometimes he didn't even understand how Edith had grown into the person she was today. She lacked nothing in appearance, intelligence, or talent. If it weren't for seeing some of his wife's youthful features on her face, he would have suspected that Edith wasn't his own daughter.
But when they embraced, the Duke felt that familiar closeness of blood—she was still the pearl of the Northern Lands he had raised with his own hands.
After a while, Edith pushed him away with distaste. “You smell of sweat. You should go take a bath first. I brought a few bars of soap from Neverwinter City. Take one and try it. The cleaning effect is much better than soap nuts.”
“That can wait,” Calvin said, looking around. “By the way, where is Earl Hair? Why isn't he here in the hall to greet me?”
“I sent him back to his manor outside the town.”
“What?” The Duke looked at his daughter in surprise.
“He didn't take His Majesty's decree seriously, nor did he take your orders to heart. If I hadn't arrived in time, he probably would have provoked the advance troops,” Edith shrugged. “Not everyone can see the road ahead clearly, and some don't even have the courage to open their eyes. I won't say another word to such people. Driving them away is the most convenient option.”
“He'll obediently hand over the castle and the town?”
“He won't, but I have the First Army,” she smiled. “This army conquered the royal capital in a single day. What do you think a dozen or so knights can do?”
He didn't know if it was just his imagination, but in the short span of two months, Edith had become somewhat different from before. Her smile was more natural, not the aristocratic smile she deliberately put on for social occasions. And there was a hint of freedom in her eyes, Calvin thought, a look that had disappeared long ago after she came of age.
She likes her current life, he realized, at least more than she liked it in the Northern Lands.
This made him somewhat jealous, yet also quite moved.
Perhaps, as his daughter said, stripping away the identity of a noble would indeed mean losing some rights, but it also unlocked the shackles that bound them to their fiefdoms.
Now she was heading towards a wider
territory.
Arriving at the castle room, Calvin drank two large cups of black tea in one gulp, and only after letting out a long breath did he ask, “What we have to do now is wait for His Majesty to arrive?”
“There's still a lot to do,” Edith said, opening her notebook. “Grain, horses, cloth, herbs—the supplies needed for the war must be transported to Willow Valley Town. Oh, right, I received a new secret letter from His Majesty before. Iron and copper ingots must also be transported here, the more the better.”
“He wants to empty out the entire Northern Lands,” the Duke muttered to himself. “Do you really think His Majesty Roland can defeat the church?”
“He may not be able to break into the Holy City of Hermes and completely eradicate the church, but it won't be too difficult to stop the church from entering the kingdom below Coldwind Ridge.” She paused. “What His Majesty lacks most is time.”
“Time?”
“You haven't seen his factories, so it's hard to understand the power of Neverwinter City.” Edith looked at her father. “Whether they are knights, mercenaries, the Inquisition, or fanatical believers, they are no different in front of bullets. And these incredibly powerful bullets are produced in the factories like flowing water. Any commoner, with just half an hour of instruction, can use firearms and bullets to kill enemies. If they train for a month, they can become a soldier who can fight on the battlefield, and after three months, they are an invincible First Army.”
“What… are you trying to say?”
“People grow far slower than bullets, Father. It's different from swords and armor. A blacksmith and a dozen apprentices can forge ten sets of armor and thirty swords a year, but a factory can produce thousands of bullets a day—after grinding the knights armed with swords into powder, there are still hundreds left to distribute to those who want to become knights. By the next day, these bullets can be sent to city residents and newborns. A month later, the bullets produced are enough to turn the city into a deserted, dead city.”
Calvin opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.
“It's normal if you don't believe it, after all, these things sound a bit subversive, but I followed the First Army and participated in Operation Tooth Extraction, and saw with my own eyes how they dealt with the enemy,” Edith said slowly. “So, as long as the First Army holds the line, His Majesty will eventually get the victory he wants—in three months, Neverwinter City can train another army of thousands and corresponding weapons, and that's not enough time for the new Inquisition to learn how to hold a sword.”
“…” The Duke was speechless for a long time before shrugging his shoulders. “Okay, let's just say everything you said is right. Since you have such a high opinion of His Majesty Roland, why didn't you reply to my letter? I mean… about the matter of marrying His Majesty.”