“Why?” Sunier asked.
“Because there is a secret tunnel leading to the Holy Crown City directly!”
“What?” Sunier was completely shocked. As a commander from war in the past, she knew clearly what this meant.
“I have already disseminated this news. At least the troops from Black Raven City have known it and sent a huge army to attack the secret tunnel whereas the troops of Holy Crown City were resisting the invasion desperately. When I was leaving, they were still fighting fiercely. Ho ho…” Han Jin grinned. “The combat between the Holy Crown City and the Black Raven Cityalarmed the army from Beitman. It dispatched several messengers, requiring the two parties to retreat from its territory. Unfortunately, neither of them agreed.
“No wonder…..” Moxinke patted on his own thigh, “I saw several knights riding northward this morning despite this terrible weather. They must be going back to send messages.”
“Beitman has been on the verge of disintegration. If the four owners of its acropolises do not unite together, they can hardly put threat to Holy Crown and Black Raven. Anyway, neither of them will consider the requirement from the owner of a small acropolis.” Sunier let out a light sigh, “I know you dislike Holy Crown City and try your best to make troubles for it. But… Lord Dismark is clearer than us how important this tunnel is and has planned it for several years. Black Raven City hasno advantage at all.”
“Have you forgotten what kind of troopsof the Black Raven are?” Han Jin cracked a smile, “And, that’s not only a secret tunnel. It is more like a large underground labyrinth!”
“A large underground labyrinth? How large is it?”
“It connects directly to the underground of Holy Crown City. Can’t you imaginehow large it is?” Han Jin made a half smile, “I suppose, the good days of Holy Crown City have come to an end!”
“You… you really have made great troubles for Dismark.” Sunier exclaimed, “If it were not the underground labyrinth, they would have made peace due to this snow. But now, none of them would cease the war, until one party finally occupy the underground labyrinth completely.”
“The fiercer the combat between them is, the betterfor us.” Han Jin said slowly, “And this time, part of the territory inBeitman has already become a battlefield. Will it do nothing but to look on passively?”
“It won’t.” Sunier shook her head, “Beitmanwill not give the impression of weakness since its own territory has been invaded. Otherwise, no matter which party wins, the winner will target itas soon as possible!Beitman must display its strength immediately.”
“Now that they are all busy with the combat, no one will take notice of us.That’s good news for us, isn’t it?” Han Jin laughed, “I am fully aware of how vulnerable we are at present. If we just make progressin slow pace as usual, we will sure be strangled in the cradle easily as long as any of them notices us.”
“I am glad you know it.”Sunier mocked.
“So, our only chance is to make this landmore disordered and insaner, and to make them more hostile to each otherevenfight against each other more desperately.” Han Jin said word by word, “I sneaked into the military camp of the Black Raven City after coming out from the underground labyrinth…”
“Are you out of your mind?” Sunier reproached.
“I used a special magic, don’t worry about me, they wouldn’t discover me.” Han Jin still wore his smile, “What I saw there was the low morale of the soldiers from the Black Raven City. News came that Dismark made a new strategy after being rejected of the military support by the Wild Willow City. It abandoned small cities and towns, strengthened its defense and cleared the fields to protract the war, whichdestroyed a large amount of military forces from Black Raven and DepewCity. Moreover, even between the two allies, Lord Zaganide and Lord Malith have had quarrels several times…”
“All these were heard from the soldiers?” Sunier asked.
“Yes.”
“Even such important military intelligence was disclosed. It seems that….. neither Zaganide nor Malith has the intention to continue the war.” Sunier said in a low voice, “But, I suppose they’ve already reached their goals. Both of them are greedy men. The main reason is, Malith invades Holy Crown City is to get money. Dismark is good at making his territory a rich place, in this case he is relatively a good leader, totally in contrast to the other two. As for Zaganide, moneyis not likely the only thing he longs for. He also wants the civilians, everyoneknows most of his own civilians have been slaughtered. He is not only a brutal and bad-tempered man himself, but also allows his subordinates and armies to slaughter civilians and slaves randomly. The territory under his government is like a hell, or even worse, and that’s not exaggeration at all!”
“You are right.” Cessacioun continued, “That bastard is the most notorious and a barefaced Darkness Druid. He killed all his people, and then went to the land of someone else to rob, and killed the people there again, and the same later. If God is watching, the bastard like him must have been punished to death thousands of times! But…” Cessacioun stopped, and shook his head with a bitter smile.
“If we can choose…” Sunier paused, “I really wish to help the Holy Crown City, instead of the butchers from Black Raven City.”
“The problem is we have no choice.” Han Jin smiled, “And no matter how cruel Zaganide is, he hasn’t raised his butcher’s knife against us. On the contrary, your previous allies, the soldiers from Holy Crown City, are now sparing no efforts to kill us.”
“It’s meaningless to argue about this.” Sunier glanced at Moxinke and Cessacioun, “You… I have known your answers from your eyes.”
“We are partners, aren’t we?” Cessacioun showed her a smile.
“Yes, of coursewe are partners.”She stood up, smiling, and walking to the door.
“Sunier??” Cessacioun called her in surprise.
“What?” She looked back at him, butsoon fixed her sight on Han Jin, “Rest assured. I’m not leaving. No matter how remote this dream is, I will keep my promise.”
“What did you promise?” Moxinke asked curiously.
“It’s a secret.” Sunier replied with a smile and pushed the door open.
“You two… should have a secret?” Moxinke squinted at Han Jin, “Tell me, how many things are you on earth hiding to us?!” He queried in a roundabout way. In fact, what he was really interested was not any secret between them, but the magics Han Jin knew. To escape from the besiegement of the knights was totally impossible for himself. So he was sure that Han Jin knew many other magics that hadn’t displayed to them yet.
“Why?” Sunier asked.
“Because there is a secret tunnel leading to the Holy Crown City directly!”
“What?” Sunier was completely shocked. As a commander from war in the past, she knew clearly what this meant.
“I have already disseminated this news. At least the troops from Black Raven City have known it and sent a huge army to attack the secret tunnel whereas the troops of Holy Crown City were resisting the invasion desperately. When I was leaving, they were still fighting fiercely. Ho ho…” Han Jin grinned. “The combat between the Holy Crown City and the Black Raven Cityalarmed the army from Beitman. It dispatched several messengers, requiring the two parties to retreat from its territory. Unfortunately, neither of them agreed.
“No wonder…..” Moxinke patted on his own thigh, “I saw several knights riding northward this morning despite this terrible weather. They must be going back to send messages.”
“Beitman has been on the verge of disintegration. If the four owners of its acropolises do not unite together, they can hardly put threat to Holy Crown and Black Raven. Anyway, neither of them will consider the requirement from the owner of a small acropolis.” Sunier let out a light sigh, “I know you dislike Holy Crown City and try your best to make troubles for it. But… Lord Dismark is clearer than us how important this tunnel is and has planned it for several years. Black Raven City hasno advantage at all.”
“Have you forgotten what kind of troopsof the Black Raven are?” Han Jin cracked a smile, “And, that’s not only a secret tunnel. It is more like a large underground labyrinth!”
“A large underground labyrinth? How large is it?”
“It connects directly to the underground of Holy Crown City. Can’t you imaginehow large it is?” Han Jin made a half smile, “I suppose, the good days of Holy Crown City have come to an end!”
“You… you really have made great troubles for Dismark.” Sunier exclaimed, “If it were not the underground labyrinth, they would have made peace due to this snow. But now, none of them would cease the war, until one party finally occupy the underground labyrinth completely.”
“The fiercer the combat between them is, the betterfor us.” Han Jin said slowly, “And this time, part of the territory inBeitman has already become a battlefield. Will it do nothing but to look on passively?”
“It won’t.” Sunier shook her head, “Beitmanwill not give the impression of weakness since its own territory has been invaded. Otherwise, no matter which party wins, the winner will target itas soon as possible!Beitman must display its strength immediately.”
“Now that they are all busy with the combat, no one will take notice of us.That’s good news for us, isn’t it?” Han Jin laughed, “I am fully aware of how vulnerable we are at present. If we just make progressin slow pace as usual, we will sure be strangled in the cradle easily as long as any of them notices us.”
“I am glad you know it.”Sunier mocked.
“So, our only chance is to make this landmore disordered and insaner, and to make them more hostile to each otherevenfight against each other more desperately.” Han Jin said word by word, “I sneaked into the military camp of the Black Raven City after coming out from the underground labyrinth…”
“Are you out of your mind?” Sunier reproached.
“I used a special magic, don’t worry about me, they wouldn’t discover me.” Han Jin still wore his smile, “What I saw there was the low morale of the soldiers from the Black Raven City. News came that Dismark made a new strategy after being rejected of the military support by the Wild Willow City. It abandoned small cities and towns, strengthened its defense and cleared the fields to protract the war, whichdestroyed a large amount of military forces from Black Raven and DepewCity. Moreover, even between the two allies, Lord Zaganide and Lord Malith have had quarrels several times…”
“All these were heard from the soldiers?” Sunier asked.
“Yes.”
“Even such important military intelligence was disclosed. It seems that….. neither Zaganide nor Malith has the intention to continue the war.” Sunier said in a low voice, “But, I suppose they’ve already reached their goals. Both of them are greedy men. The main reason is, Malith invades Holy Crown City is to get money. Dismark is good at making his territory a rich place, in this case he is relatively a good leader, totally in contrast to the other two. As for Zaganide, moneyis not likely the only thing he longs for. He also wants the civilians, everyoneknows most of his own civilians have been slaughtered. He is not only a brutal and bad-tempered man himself, but also allows his subordinates and armies to slaughter civilians and slaves randomly. The territory under his government is like a hell, or even worse, and that’s not exaggeration at all!”
“You are right.” Cessacioun continued, “That bastard is the most notorious and a barefaced Darkness Druid. He killed all his people, and then went to the land of someone else to rob, and killed the people there again, and the same later. If God is watching, the bastard like him must have been punished to death thousands of times! But…” Cessacioun stopped, and shook his head with a bitter smile.
“If we can choose…” Sunier paused, “I really wish to help the Holy Crown City, instead of the butchers from Black Raven City.”
“The problem is we have no choice.” Han Jin smiled, “And no matter how cruel Zaganide is, he hasn’t raised his butcher’s knife against us. On the contrary, your previous allies, the soldiers from Holy Crown City, are now sparing no efforts to kill us.”
“It’s meaningless to argue about this.” Sunier glanced at Moxinke and Cessacioun, “You… I have known your answers from your eyes.”
“We are partners, aren’t we?” Cessacioun showed her a smile.
“Yes, of coursewe are partners.”She stood up, smiling, and walking to the door.
“Sunier??” Cessacioun called her in surprise.
“What?” She looked back at him, butsoon fixed her sight on Han Jin, “Rest assured. I’m not leaving. No matter how remote this dream is, I will keep my promise.”
“What did you promise?” Moxinke asked curiously.
“It’s a secret.” Sunier replied with a smile and pushed the door open.
“You two… should have a secret?” Moxinke squinted at Han Jin, “Tell me, how many things are you on earth hiding to us?!” He queried in a roundabout way. In fact, what he was really interested was not any secret between them, but the magics Han Jin knew. To escape from the besiegement of the knights was totally impossible for himself. So he was sure that Han Jin knew many other magics that hadn’t displayed to them yet.
