Chapter 444 — The Northern Gate

Before any of that, of course, Sir Marchi and all the officer-grade prisoners taken after the city fell were sent to a temporary prisoner-of-war camp, held in separate confinement under heavy guard. Gao Yang gave them decent living conditions, but he dared not relax security in the slightest; he did not think Sir Marchi would attempt an escape, but he could not vouch for what the man's old subordinates might do.

In his view, a man of Sir Marchi Onar's knightly spirit might not thrive in certain circles of noble power, but such men easily cultivated utterly devoted followers. Under the circumstances, it was necessary to hold every commander-grade prisoner in Boulder Fortress separately and guard them closely.

In the hall serving as the temporary command post, Gao Yang looked around at everyone present — the two Cecil knights, Philip and Byron; the two Kant knights, Wald Perrich and Margarita; Suo Jilin, commander of the Steel Rangers; the Viscountess Ropeni Gran; and Amber as his guard. These were all who attended the meeting.

"Everyone, we have won. Boulder Fortress is now Cecil's northern gate. But before we lose ourselves in the joy of victory, we must know that much work remains. Suo Jilin, report what you know first."

"Yes." Suo Jilin rose, the high ranger's expression serious. "The royal capital will soon learn that Boulder Fortress has fallen. After the magic barrier of Xuanyuan City went dark, the commander left in the city immediately released all the griffin messengers and carrier pigeons and sent a band of daredevils out through the northern side gate. We only managed to intercept some of them; the rest of the messengers have vanished over the Holy Spirit Plains. Failure to destroy the griffin roosts first is my fault."

"No — your numbers were limited, and your task was to destroy the mage towers first, not the griffin roosts," Gao Yang cut in. "This is within my expectations. The royal capital will certainly learn that Boulder Fortress has fallen — even if the garrison could not get word out, Count Pompey will quickly notice and send word at once. There are griffin messengers in the count's lands as well, and possibly even magical communications."

Here Gao Yang paused. "So the first thing we must do is reinforce the fortress's northern wall and thoroughly rebuild it — in fact, whether or not the royal capital receives the news, and however long it takes, the first thing we must do is this.

"Boulder Fortress was designed to defend against the Cecil family to the south, so its northern wall is far thinner and lower than the southern one. The fall of Boulder Fortress shows that old-style fortresses relying purely on walls and magic shields are behind the times — but they are still necessary. We must first thicken and heighten the fortress's northern wall; to that end we can even postpone repairs to the southern wall a while. Second, we must remodel the northern wall, cover it with the arcane web, mount magic-crystal railguns atop it, and in time install Calibrators as well. Finally, the fortress as a whole must be transformed: this place will be built into a combined heavy-industry and military stronghold, and the whole plain stretching south from the fortress will be brought within the bounds of this fortress city..."

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