World Development System 192 123. The start of Winter City Route.

Antonio immediately greeted General Irwin as he entered his camps, "Welcome to the Northern Domain, General Irwin, The Desert Fox. I hope you have an enjoyable stay here go leave with glory and honor."

General Irwin nodded and spoke to exert his domination and intimidation to the newcomers, "Hmmm... from my understanding, you guys are here for an important meeting and not some silly chat, right? So get to the point."

Antonio furrowed his brows a bit but still continued as he understood that Prince Hector can't answer him or he will lose at the start, "Of course General. We will get straight to the point. I understand that you already know about the decimation of Goldrush mercenaries and hence agreed to have a meeting with us. We hope to have a solution against that arrogant count. Even though we have blocked the ports and land routes for normal food trade, that count is still as arrogant as ever. Not even a bit of subservience to the Royal Family. I don't think he will obey the sanctions will try to bypass the sanctions, one way or the others."

Prince Hector joined and spoke, "I think after making this attack on mercenaries he has also very much made his stance clear regarding the Royal family's decree in the previous Justice department's verdict. I hope we can teach him a lesson again. I am pretty sure that Count must have known about Royal family's decree by his spies but instead, he has tried to pass it off since he didn't know anything about it."

Irwin understood that Prince Hector wanted him to act, He shook his head and spoke in a serious tone "Well I think this was an attack which was planned for a long time, I don't think it has any relation to our unilateral sanctions which were announced today. We are only here to mediate and take action when the time is right."Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

Prince Hector understood his meaning and asked for Irwin's confirmation as he didn't try to pursue his previous goal of Goading Irwin in a war, "What if that Count invaded our land in his last attack? Do you think you can take ignore our raids since we are only retaliating."

Irwin smiled and gave his own interpretations, "Of course we won't interfere unless there are some big events affecting the kingdom taking place. We are only here to prevent and if necessary take actions against the guys who massacred the whole Greenwoods village. The very fact that Count John's General killed every single man from the Mercenary groups, I think they might very well be the people who massacred the village, however, we will investigate and then decide upon it. We will close an eye when you guys retaliate against count John with your regular armies in the future as that general is quite dangerous. I hope our troops can meet when count John invades you guys again so that we can co-operate. I think you guys should talk to other mercenary groups. You guys should go for now, my men will be leaving for northern barracks. Give Duke Norman and your fiance, Mary Norman my regards,"

Irwin dismissed the meeting after watching his subordinate signal him about an important matter which needed his presence.

Prince Lukavv's action against Felix after King's declaration.

As soon as Lukavv read King's declaration, he had a smile on his face and gave an order to Duncan, "It seems, Hector has finally crossed the red line. Very well, Start the operation, this would be the best time to surprise father, the Radiant Church and the whole continent. The whole continent should know how Lukavv never forgets and takes his revenge. I want Felix alive, He will wish death if I ever caught him. Those guys at the Radiant church have to choose between supporting Fjord and Charlie or Support Felix."

Duncan cautiously asked, "Sir what do you think about Charlie?"

Lukavv smiled and shook his head, "Nothing, just a cunning kid. Well, I won't blame him since he is a son of a maid and hence trying all the means available to consolidate power. As long as he doesn't affect my interests, it's all good."

The next day the king furrowed his brows as he read a report on the attack to mercenaries.

King Lionheart asked Defense Minister Plato as they were into a meeting, "Who is this new General, Anak The Everburning? I never heard of this guy. Do you have any info? From the way, he killed off all of his enemies, not even sparing a single mercenary. This guy is quite ruthless or does he have some history that he has so much hatred against the Mercenaries?"

Minister Plato sighed in frustration and spoke, "No Milord, Even I heard about this guy for the first time. The guy is fully covered in mystery. I think he is a demon from the Bluesea family. There are also rumors circulating that he is a demon. From the rumors, it is also said that he is the strongest guy in the Ghosts and hence he was chosen to lead their army instead of Dearil, Jake, Jay or Grey. His subordinate Arlen himself is as strong as Grey. That Guy Arlen was a Vagabond and used to do odd jobs while sometimes also coordinate with Mercenaries if they matched his goals. Previously he worked with Hell's Playground mercenaries when it came to fighting against the Barbarians when the Barbarians Deputy killed his friend in the western domain, however, he left after he killed the deputy and was on his own. That was the time when Hell's Playground capitalized on it. However, There is some good news from North-frontier City."

"What is it?"

Plato nodded and spoke, "It seems Dwight was able to get close to Grand Potioneer Melanie after getting her approval yesterday. I think he can get the formulas very early from them."

Lionheart had a grim face as he spoke, "I hope it doesn't end like the previous incident where she killed her kin. Okay, continue to keep a watch, I don't really care about those mercenaries, it's good that they are playing the role of cannon fodder instead of Royals. They are anyway a nuisance to my rule. Tell Irwin not to interfere as long it gets escalated to the levels where we have an opportunity to strike and get something out of it."

Plato nodded and left as he down the orders, "As you wish Milord. I will convey your orders to General Irwin."

****

 Fjord read a report and furrowed his brows as he asked his men in a serious tone, "Why can't we find their dwelling till now? How were you guys not able to chase them with faster ships? And who is this new guy called Anak? I never knew that they got such a general in their ranks."

Jonas came with a report and answered, "Lord, those guys at traveled to the northern waters where there are wild beasts who become quite aggressive which is very problematic to us. In addition to that, there is a risk of the full fleet dying with those guys if they chose to fight in those waters and hence we kept a big distance with them. We never imagined that would dare to travel so deep in the north. It is all that guy, Blake's fault, last time as well he escaped there when we chased him with the Royal Family. As for the new general, there is no information on him apart from the fact that he is called Anak, the Everburning. I think he is the strongest guy in the ghosts and hence he was chosen to lead them from the front by Count John. There is some good news though, currently, we are able to make those ballistas, however, the costs are huge and performance is not comparable to those ballistas possessed by our enemies. We were only able to achieve a 50% performance. when we used magic metals we were able to achieve 80% performance. I think there are a lot of aspects which we aren't able to fully grasp. Using Magic metal would mean a lot of burdens however it is suitable for us now. I would suggest that we shouldn't arm the magic knights with magic metals but go with the production of ballistas for now."

Fjord gave his order as he had his own thoughts, He was in good mood as a big problem got off his shoulders after a ban on eastern port, "Nah, We will go with half and a half for magic metal ballistas and magic knights, We anyway have enough to arm our army. I am sure Erin can catch them in the sea now as they won't have supplies for long."

Jonas didn't raise his objection as he thought, 'We will die before even reaching them.'

Erin meanwhile was thinking, 'It's good that we were able to make a deal with Duke Norman, this way we will again regain our supremacy in the seas.'

***

The next day,

Jay immediately gathered with the army at the North-eastern part where they decided to clear a way through the forest to Winter City base and make a safe route.

It was early in the morning where the area was closed off by his personal in the name of building a Military factory. John already gave his decree to Jay so that there won't be any problems with civilian authorities as this was a very important matter of connecting North-frontier City---Winter City----Aurora Island.

Chapter end