Chapter 432 — The Noble Virtue
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
Two patrol soldiers sent south of the fortress brought back word of the Cecils' full-scale advance—and brought back as well the "letter" they had delivered to Boulder Fortress.
The commander of Boulder Fortress summoned all his military officers at the first opportunity, and summoned also the Southern nobles taking refuge within the fortress.
In the main hall of the castle district, a knight-captain was relaying the tidings from the front to his superior:
"General, three to five thousand men are marching north, and they have a great train of wagons—loaded with all manner of strange contraptions, perhaps the casting apparatus for the 'sky-fire blast.' They have already entered the hills south of the fortress, and will reach the plains in about three days…"
The Southern nobles stirred somewhat, though on the whole they remained calm, while the other knight-officers fell to muttering among themselves. A mid-ranking knight-commander rose from his seat and looked at Sir Maqi: "General, what did those Cecils write in their 'declaration of war'?"
Sir Maqi nodded and casually produced the letter that had just come into his hands—"a personal letter from Duke Gaoyang Cecil"—and every gaze in the hall was at once drawn to it. The Southern nobles especially seemed to slow even their breathing in that instant.
Sir Maqi already knew what the letter contained. He first glanced at the Southern nobles, then said unhurriedly: "I shall read its contents aloud for you."
The letter was not long—unlike most noble correspondence, it was neither elaborate nor ornate, nor stuffed with flowery rhetoric; rather, it was plain and direct as a note—
"…More than forty nobles of the Southern Region jointly declared war upon the Cecil family. After their defeat, the surviving ringleaders fled into Boulder Fortress. In view of the aforementioned nobles' unprovoked aggression against Cecil land and people, they have been adjudged war criminals under just law. The Cecil army now comes to your gates to receive the prisoners of war. We trust you will distinguish right from wrong, hand over the war criminals, and permit our personnel to enter the city and conduct a search."
Sir Maqi took less than a minute to read the letter through, and then the whole hall sank into silence.
Only two minutes later did a knight-officer break the silence with a cry: "What is this?! What kind of diplomatic document is that?!"
"Quite right—this is no negotiation, of course," Sir Maqi said, looking at the knight-officer with a smile born of sheer fury. "This is a command issued from on high, more arrogant than a king ordering his own attendants about! It seems our founding hero, back from the dead, has no intention of negotiating with us at all."
Upon hearing the letter's contents, the Southern nobles grew restless and uneasy, as though genuinely afraid that Sir Maqi before them might hand them all over in exchange for the fortress's safety. Only now, seeing the knight's reaction, were they somewhat reassured. Viscount Mali Oran seized the moment to speak: "Sir, you are quite right—the Cecils will never negotiate with us according to tradition. Their lord has always ignored every virtue and every rule; negotiating with them is a waste of time, and will only lead us into a trap!"
Sir Maqi nodded slightly. Seeing this, Viscount Kangsike beside him promptly rose as well and said: "Sir, the Cecils won't arrive for another three days. We can use this time to make more preparations…"
"Make more preparations?" Sir Maqi looked at this tall, gaunt man who not long ago had been utterly dispirited, drowning himself in drink and dissipation. He knew that although Viscount Kangsike's family line was not long-established, the man himself was shrewd and quick-witted, and so he did not mind hearing him out. "What do you mean?"