Titan Beneath the Heavens Chapter 223

After a long wait, on the 7th day of the 6th month, the Titan Imperial Guards Southern Army Group and Narcissus Knights Offensive Army Group One which entered the Kingdom of Slovenia finally returned a battle communique to the person in charge of Lighthouse Strategy, O'Neil Andrew Morisette, which read "Mission accomplished. The entire army has entered designated position."

At that moment, the imperial prince held a victory reception in Palmaria, the capital of Bodega Province. Although he had not yet received any news about his Red Tigers, Titan had already controlled most of Slovenia's territory. Hence, it was only a matter of time until the Red Tigers gain victory. Oscar was reassured about this.

On the 7th day of the 6th month, the spokesperson for the Roman Holy See Bishops also appeared in Palmaria. O'Neil Andrew Morisette personally went out of town to receive him. Even though the citizens of Palmaria knew about the arrival of a national hero in the city, all of them had never seen Oscar. When the bishop of the Roman Holy See entered the mountain city in an open-top carriage, the whole city burst into a delight to welcome them.

Pious Titans knelt on the ground as they chanted verses aloud, most of them sang praises for O'Neil Andrew Morisette. The people described His Highness the Prince as Titan's saint, the patron saint of the empire.

Why did the city residents believe His Highness the Prince was such a sacred being? No one really knew the answer. Some people mentioned it was because the Pope His Grand Eminence conferred the title personally, while some argued that the God of Light had delivered the message through the dreams of a devout priest. Anyway, Oscar knew very well that those sayings that came out of the mouth of the citizens were rumors spread by Marquis Glenn Alpré and his own staffs from the Southern Military Intelligence Sub-bureau.

The enthusiasm of the people of Palmaria followed the troop which carried the bishop of the Holy See and Prince O'Neil all the way to the town hall. The two important men could still hear ringing in their ears as they sat down to negotiate.

The person in charge of Bodega government affairs office in Bodega led the Bishop and Prince of the Empire into a secret chamber in the town hall. Only until now that the noises sounded softer. O'Neil Andrew Morisette did not beat around the bush and introduced the main topic of a private talk by asking only one question.

"Slovenia's gold, believers, and taxes. Everything will belong to the Holy See! If the Pope His Grand Eminence is not afraid of trouble, he can even appoint a lord bishop to manage the country directly, establishing a whole new state under the power of Holy See. What will be my share when that happens?"

Bishop Liluela was excited at the tempting conditions offered by the Prince of Titan, leader of Andrew. Even the newly appointed Pope His Grand Eminence of Faran descendant would not reject these offers! To establish a whole new state under the power of the Holy See had always been the dream of the entire Roman Holy See ruling collectives as they were limited by the absolute monarchy of Westland. This dream had always been a dream, without even the slightest possibility of realization, but now...

"I wish to inquire, what kind of things would Your Highness want?"

The wise O'Neil Andrew Morisette did not answer the Bishop's question. He would not reveal his intention so quickly and conveniently. He had offered such seemingly impossible deals to the Holy See because he hoped the other party would sacrifice even more for him. Perhaps the current Pope His Grand Eminence would propose more alluring suggestions.

The private talk was soon over since both parties had not reach any verbal agreement. Oscar accompanied Bishop Liluela to visit Tirana XI His Majesty of the Kingdom of Slovenia, who was currently put under arrest. The king was still himself, wild and uninhibited of his behavior. Even being imprisoned, he could not live without wine and women.

However, Tirana XI did not forget everything that the enemy had brought upon him. He suffered from nightmares every night. Only thoughts of revenge filled his mind! Although he knew that he would never get to fight back at the enemy who shamed and humiliated his country, that did not stop him from ridiculing and mocking his rivals, just like how he had done to O'Neil Andrew Morisette during their first meeting. He criticized the initiator of the invasion war with harsh comments, and his attack condemned the other party to shattered pieces. He believed that at least for a moment, O'Neil Andrew Morisette had been so enraged that he wanted to hang himself. However, Tirana XI had nothing more to lose.

Oscar would tremble with rage at the thought of this. It was not a wise decision to visit the high-grade prisoner with Bishop Liluela. The King of Slovenia also reproached the Roman Holy See. He mentioned that the Pope His Grand Eminence was the biggest hypocrite in the world and that the bishops of Holy See were all money-seekers who had eyes for only wealth but not justice.

Bishop Liluela and Prince of Titan left the prison with their faces blushed red with anger and embarrassment. They agreed on one thing in the carriage; both felt that there should not be such an absurd monarch in the world of religion.

"Rest assured, Your Highness! I will urge His Eminence to personally preside over the trial. The King of Slovenia will certainly become a historical term like you demanded."

Oscar only smiled at the response. To him, the King of Slovenia had already long been a historical term. In Palmaria, people described the imprisoned king as a pagan bastard. In order to hang this king who protected the pagans, the locals even organized two or three large-scale demonstrations. However, the local military had done well in keeping them under control. Therefore, there had not been any major disturbances so far.

On the 9th day of the 6th month, when the Prince of Titan woke up at the temporary residence of the nobles, he felt something strange beside him, "Sasha, have you gotten bigger?"

Oscar rubbed both of his wife's breasts slowly while pondering the possibility. When the two pink nipples swelled to the size of two grapes, the woman turned around impatiently.

"Do you really not want to sleep in? I have traveled through the night!"

"A...Aeolia?" O'Neil Andrew Morisette held the woman's face in disbelief. He was both shocked and surprised. "My dear God of Light! What's going on? Nobody told me you're coming! Is it Figg's order? What is he planning again?"

Aeolia grinned as she looked at the man in front of her. Her fingers carefully caressed the man's face over and over again as if she had been separated from the man for a lifetime. To be fair, it had been a really long time! It had been so long that Aeolia already forgot the man's scent and the…

"Oh!" The source of joy which came with a slight pain that made one go mad.

As Oscar carefully controlled the woman under him, he was imagining the rationality of Sasha turning into Aeolia, but his thinking was quickly dismissed by the woman's warm response. Physical intercourse was better than any verbal communication. The fusion of sweat and bodily fluids was superior to any form of spiritual contact. The man caressed the memory of the woman's body with his palms and lips, while the woman received and danced shyly in accordance to the affection with her burning desire.

When the sun moved slowly down to the middle of the sky, Oscar and his distressed lover tangled themselves in the pool of sticky bodily fluids. Embarrassed, Aeolia cleaned up after the man's weapon with a handkerchief. Four times of climax was too shocking for the delicate mind and body of Lady Wimmester!

"You performed some new tricks..." Aya tugged the man's chest hair as if that was the culprit who bullied her.

Oscar frowned, then he turned over and pressed the woman down by pinning at her hands. "What's wrong? Are you not satisfied?"

Aeolia laughed while making an extremely bashful look again. Her face was red like a ripe pomegranate. "Not again...not again! Please!"

"Ola!" Oscar rolled back to his side of the bed. The expression on his face resembled when he won the battle of Saijo Mountain.

"Oh yeah! Where did Sasha E go?" the young Prince suddenly remembered his wife. How ridiculous! He completely forgot that the God had swapped the person sleeping in his bed!

Aeolia rocked back and forth in laughter, "If Sasha knows that you only thought of her now, I believe the mistress will surely punish you!"

Oscar planted a kiss on the woman's forehead as if pleading, "Come on, tell me, what is this all about?"

Aeolia put on a serious face, "An unexpected event happened in the war zone. Hence, I rushed over through the night and arrived at about two o'clock in the morning. Coincidentally, Sasha woke up for the toilet, so the attendant told her about my arrival. She ordered to wait until today to tell you anything before sending me to your bed."

Oscar did not think much about why his wife would send Aya into his bedroom. He was only worried about that "unexpected event."

"This is what happened!" Aeolia began as she retrieved a stack of documents from the bag she had thrown under the bed. "Marshal Figg took control of the country's treasury as soon as he entered the capital of Slovenia. There was no one to be seen in the fortress, and the basement was still locked. Marshal ordered the artillerymen to open the vaulted gate by explosive, but guess what?"

"There is nothing inside?" Oscar held on his chin in disappointment. He had guess so after looking at Aya's embarrassed expression.

"Yes!" The person in charge of Military Investigation Bureau nodded through gritted teeth, "Tirana XI must have transferred the gold secretly before the war!"

"But that's more than a hundred tons of gold?" Oscar's eyes widened in disbelief, "The military reports earlier have never mentioned that the Tirana royal family shown any signs of wealth transfer, am I right? Do you know how much manpower and resources are needed to transfer more than one hundred tons of gold? Including shipping, it's impossible to do that without being found!"

Aya shook her head, "It's not impossible! If we do the math, tracing back the time to the leak of the Lighthouse Strategy until you started the fight, Tirana royal family could have been transferring this huge amount of gold during this period of six months. Besides, there is a secret route leading directly to outside the city inside the underground vault. My deputy personally inspected it and reported that there are clear ruts inside the tunnel, and the lamp oil stored there is enough for six more months of usage. Therefore, I think, if the transfer happened at night from the tunnel to outside the city, there is really no way that we could have noticed."

Oscar's hand finally left the woman's body. He had lost all his interest.

"Are there no clues left behind?"

"Indeed!" Aeolia nodded, "The Slovenian Princess disappeared along with the gold!"

Oscar looked at the woman, but he was not sure what the other party was about to do.

"What's your plan?"

Aya leaned back into the pillow in frustration. "Tirana royal family must have had a group of loyal guardians. The investigative force that combines both Military Personnel and Military Intelligence Bureaus could not retrieve anything of value. Most people in the capital area have fled, and no one notices that a massive transportation fleet has appeared on the national road, so..."

"Tirana XI is a King, after all!" Oscar already knew why the person in charge of the Military Investigation Bureau had to march to Palmaria under the starry night.

"But we have no other alternatives other than a surprise interrogation! We could be one step behind and the property of Tirana royal family may already be smuggled abroad. Although the sea route has been blocked completely, if this wealth falls into the hand of Engelish or West Percian, it wouldn't be easy to make them hand it over later!"

"What if he doesn't cooperate? Are you planning to torture a king? We will all be in trouble if the news is leaked!"

Aeolia laughed and shook her head, "I don't think that was necessary. Actually, I shouldn't have concerned you with this! The queen and children of Tirana XI are on their way to Palmaria. I just want to borrow this honorable lady and her children for one day!"

Oscar frowned. He disliked Aya's intentions and the practice of involving wife and children, but there was 140 tons of gold on the other side of the balance. Facing such a situation, the Prince of Titan said nothing but planted a kiss on the countess' forehead.

"Don't overwork yourself. I know you're doing these for me!"

Aya did not mention anything further and buried her head in the man's chest. The man could only see her eyelashes fluttering like butterflies' wings. Aya had dreamed of this moment for a long time, to only fall asleep peacefully in his embrace, even if it was just for a short time, anything longer would be an extravagant hope!

However, the life of a person who does not understand how to be grateful would go astray sooner or later. A long time ago, no one in the Kingdom of Faran's most solemn and luxurious Palace Divansaille had heard of the name Karlchette Nierer. Now, Karlchette Nierer was the highest-ranking officer among the sea of young generals under the Regent Prince's throne. At the same time, he was also the kingdom's Strategy Officer, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Coalition Headquarters, and the special member of Court Investigation Council! This series of titles not only symbolized fame and fortune but also trust from the country's ruler. Even if such a general commander of boundless prospects was born with disgusting facial features, the Regent Prince of Faran still found him an innocent princess from within the royal family. Karlchette Nierer accepted the arrangement without a second thought and now he was in love with the royal princess.

Catastrophes were bound to happen in the world, one after another! For Karlchette Nierer, an executioner in the eyes of the Titans was the most valuable star that the Kingdom of Faran recently doted most on. The second Anti-Titan Alliance Army Group Headquarters not only adopted his strategic proposal without making any amendments, he was also made a Deputy Chief of Staff.

The luck had turned in favor for Karlchette Nierer, the man of a thin angular face. He lived in the royal palace just a few steps from the main bedroom of the kingdom's ruler. Besides, there was always a large team of skilled paladin to protect him wherever he went. Although Titan's Military Intelligence was still after him and offered rewards to anyone who could bring him captured, General Karlchette treated that only as a joke. To him, this proved that the enemies of the kingdom were afraid of him, terrified even. 

According to the "Analysis Report of Titan's political and military terrain - during Church's year 800 Anti-Titan Movement", the tactical principle of Karlchette Nierer was actually really simple. Making the powerful companies as the backbone of the strategy, they launched a powerful assault on Titan at the same time in three directions from south, west and north. Although the Imperial Guards had an upper hand in number and equipment, history had planted many weak links in Titan's defense network. As long as the enemy focused on one of them for a principal breakthrough, the collapse of Titan's entire defensive system was only a matter of time.

After much deliberation, Karlchette Nierer felt that nothing under the sun was enough to worry him. However, according to a recent intelligence report from the Court Investigation Council, Titan Military Intelligence Bureau established another blacklist and his own name was actually at the top of the list. Although Karlchette Nierer felt that O'Neil Andrew Morisette regarded too highly of himself, that only made him even prouder!

After the rumors spread that the Titan Military Intelligence Bureau had issued a blacklist, the Regent Prince of Faran had personally written to Alanis I Her Majesty. In his harsh letter, he demanded Titan to give up such despicable assassination. Karlchette Nierer became more passionate in his work knowing that the kingdom's ruler had regarded him with such high importance. He worked overtime every night. Each and every tactical meeting, regardless of urgency, were indispensable to his advice.

On this day, the perpetrator of the Saint Hailey tragedy came to the second Anti-Titan Alliance temporary headquarters as usual. Although everyone around them looked at the new royal parvenu with envious eyes, Karlchette was getting slightly tired of it. He was eager to go to the battlefield and could not wait to see how the Titans would react when they were under siege from three directions.

It was already rather late when he retreated from the headquarters of the Faran army. The new royal upstart dined in Restaurant Truffle as usual, this time with the company of several of his colleagues in the coalition headquarters. It was not uncommon for these guys who fawned on the rich and powerful to familiarize themselves with this new major general. They shuffled between the court and the upper circle of the kingdom, speaking about military affairs and women as if they were the backbone of the country, even though contradictorily they were empty and worthless on the inside.

Restaurant Truffle held a full house of distinguished guests tonight, but that did not concern Karlchette. He had a specially reserved window seat and a tab opened by the royal family. He could order whatever he wanted and only had to sign on the corner of the bill.

Even so, Karlchette who deeply familiarize himself with the rules of fame and power was not satisfied. According to his vision, if he won the Anti-Titan Alliance, he would be granted the rank of hereditary title and even lands and territory. By that time…

An unattractive carriage stopped by the window and interrupted the man's vision of streetscape and his future. Karlchette Nierer threw the napkin away impatiently, "What's wrong with the groom? Doesn't he know that he wasn't allowed to stop here?"

Immediately, a military officer among them volunteered for the task. He had just made acquaintance with General Nierer who had a promising future ahead of him. Now was the time to earn his approval.

Karlchette waited for a long while, but the new friend he had just met never returned. He stood from his seat and looked out the window. The curtain of the dark carriage was drawn, and there was no sign of the groom in the rider's seat in front of the carriage. An extreme worry came to mind and Karlchette quickly called his guarding paladins, "It's time to leave..."

Chapter end