Chapter 399 — Lemont's Dead End

"I still can't believe it... that we've won just like that..." A trace of disbelief still lingered on Hetty's face. She had already received intelligence from the northern and western fronts: this war, which ought to have been vast and grueling, had been decided in so short a time—far beyond anything she had imagined. Even though Gao Yang had shown complete confidence in victory beforehand, she had always assumed it was merely the Ancestor steadying people's hearts. And there was still one question she had not worked out. "Ancestor, I actually have a question... how did you know those knights of the Holy See would attack from the south wall?"

Because I saw it, of course—on the satellite's magical-environment imaging map. But that was not something he could say aloud.

Gao Yang rubbed his chin and, with an expression that said "the situation is entirely within your Ancestor's grasp," replied: "Setting aside the north and the west, if someone wanted to raid us, the only routes open to them were the mining road in the east and the Dark Mountains in the south. The mines are a poor choice: once they attacked from there, if they failed to take the entire mining town at the first blow, the Cecil main city would be alerted and they would lose the advantage of surprise. So they were bound to choose the Dark Mountains."

Gao Yang paused, then went on: "The Dark Mountains lie close to the south wall, and the broken terrain there is easy to hide in. Even with sentries on patrol, a high-tier Transcendent could use the ground to creep quite near the wall. And there is a more important point: Count Horsman's main force is attacking toward the north of the Cecil domain. In that situation, a surprise strike from the other side is the natural plan."

Hetty was convinced by Gao Yang's analysis and had no further doubts; she only said, with a trace of worry: "Ancestor, I am concerned about that enemy who escaped. If the intelligence is correct, he is very likely the regional bishop of the Sun Church's southern diocese. The Sun Church's influence in the Southern Frontier is weak, but they are still powerful, and now their regional bishop has led knights of the Holy See to attack the Cecil domain directly in the name of crusading against evil. That is no longer merely aiding a noble's war—it amounts to a formal declaration of war. And now that bishop has escaped... I do not know how much trouble he will bring down on us."

Gao Yang raised an eyebrow and looked at Hetty with considerable amusement: "If it were the old you, the first thing you would worry about now would be what harm a head-on war with the Sun Church's southern diocese might do us. But your attention seems to have stopped getting tangled up in that sort of thing."

Reminded by Gao Yang, Hetty realized how her way of thinking had changed. The lady who spent her days fretting over the Cecil family could not help a faint, bitter smile: "I don't know how it changed either. By the time I came to my senses, we were already at war with every noble in the Southern Frontier... why should I worry about the southern diocese?"

Gao Yang shook his head: "Don't worry. Before the fighting started, I had Suo Jilin take a picked squad into the Dark Mountains to stand by. By now they should be—"

Before Gao Yang could finish, Suo Jilin's voice came from beyond the door: "That bishop is dead. We found his body."