Chapter 270 — Striking Again

Of course, some people panicked when the alarm bells rang—mostly the last few batches of new residents who had joined the Cecil domain before winter. They had received basic common-sense education but had missed the drill content concerning aberration attacks. These people were quickly soothed, however. The ubiquitous peacekeeping squads and the deliberately dispersed "old residents" would tell these new neighbors what was happening. Those residents who had lived through the New Cecil Domain Defense Battle were the calmest of all at this moment. Not only did they show no panic whatsoever, but they could even judge the current situation from the bells based on knowledge learned in advance drills: two short rings followed by two long ones meant the enemy was still far away and would not arrive for several days yet; the city would now enter an orderly state of preparation for war.

This still counted as a fairly "stable" situation.

Experienced residents who could read the situation from the bells began telling their new neighbors what to do next: maintain order, wait at home for the lord's orders, and be ready at all times to support the domain's defense forces within their capacity. This was the responsibility and obligation every Cecil subject must bear.

Ever since they had pitched camp in this savage land at the very edge of human civilization, the Cecil domain had always been prepared to face challenges. The First Cecil Domain Defense Battle was only the beginning. After that, Gao Yang had never relaxed the drilling of domain residents for war preparation. Unlike peacetime or peaceful nations, this borderland domain had to be ready at all times for total mobilization. And once war truly broke out, whether the residents had undergone sufficient war-preparation drills could even determine the life or death of this domain. He certainly did not dare slacken his vigilance in this regard.

But not everyone would figure out what was happening in the Cecil domain.

In the prisoner-of-war camp north of Knight Street, a dozen or so Typhonian soldiers, knights, and mages were still locked in their cells.

They had been held here for several days, but apart from routine interrogations, they had suffered no mistreatment. The so-called cells were merely converted from sturdy old barracks with warning magic mechanisms added inside and out—the living conditions were in no way inferior to ordinary barracks.

These captured Typhonian soldiers had assumed that once caught by the legendary Duke of Ansell, they would face extremely cruel ordeals. Yet upon arrival, they were neither sentenced to hanging nor subjected to beatings. Apart from the restriction of their freedom, they received treatment that could almost be described as "generous." After much deliberation, they concluded that this was most likely thanks to Suojilin's efforts on their behalf. That elven ranger was clearly an old acquaintance of Ansell's founding hero, and this connection had secured unimaginably favorable treatment for prisoners who by all rights should have been executed. Faced with such treatment, the Typhonian warriors' feelings were exceedingly complicated.

Complicated feelings and nothing to do—all the captured Typhonian warriors could do was ponder the meaning of life and discuss how much longer they would remain imprisoned.

They had been in the middle of just such a discussion the moment before the alarm bells rang. But once the bells sounded, they fell silent at once.

A Typhonian knight abruptly stood up, cocking his ear toward the bells outside, astonishment written across his face: "What's happening out there?"

"I don't know. Sounds like an alarm," a mage stood up as well, pressing his face as close as he could to the window fitted with fine steel bars and deliberately raised sill. He dearly wished he could summon a mage's eye to see what was happening outside, but the cell was riddled with runes and traps specifically designed to monitor mages—any casual manipulation of mana would only bring trouble on himself. "I can see a lot of soldiers running out of the barracks!"

"An alarm? Troops mobilizing?" The knight who had spoken first paused, then sudden delight spread across his face. "Could our people be attacking? Has the war started early?!"

"Impossible. Even if war had begun, it would start from the East Wolf Fortress defense line. How could an army fight its way from the border all the way here in such a short time?" another knight said immediately. "Maybe they're putting down slave laborers... it is a newly established frontier domain, after all."

A third knight stood up too, lowering his voice: "This... could this be an opportunity?"

The group in the cell fell silent at once. Pairs of eyes began darting uneasily about, as though afraid that even these hushed words might carry to the Ansell soldiers standing guard outside.

"...Our odds of escaping aren't good," the last of the mages, who had kept silent all this while, finally broke the silence. "Ansurians are everywhere here—did you notice the discipline of those soldiers outside? Even in the midst of chaos, they won't leave us any opening."

The knight who had spoken earlier was unwilling to let it go: "But if we don't run now..."

Before the knight could finish, a voice from the doorway cut him off: "If you run now, then I truly won't be able to save you!"

The Typhon warriors were startled; only then did they notice that Suojilin had at some point come to stand in the doorway. The high elf ranger looked at the "subordinates" before him and, after a long while, heaved a sigh: "Truth be told, I didn't want to come."