City of Sin

Book 4, 78

The Sin Of War

A giant teleportation gate had already been constructed in a part of the Joseph Family territory on the borders of the Sacred Alliance. Supporting the heart of the formation was a pair of fleshy wings, one that would definitely shock an experienced great mage. These wings belonged to a type of greater devil called the mirage devil. These creatures possessed the ability to tear through spacetime, and their wings were the source of this power. This pair that could support the teleportation of tens of thousands of troops likely belonged to a general right under an archdevil.

Such priceless wings slowly dried up as their essence was extracted by the teleportation formation, constantly reinforcing the planar passage. Groups of warriors in full armour listened to the commands of their officers, grouping up in formations before marching within.

Light infantry, heavy infantry, spearmen, heavy cavalry, archers, mages... All sorts of troops enter the portal one after the other. Following at the end were an entire fifty rune knights! These rune knights had multiple different types of armour, clearly pooled together from four different families. Raymond followed along once the army was through, accompanied by numerous saints and grand mages.

The only thing this army lacked was a clergy. Priests and clerics wouldn’t dare to move through a temporary passage that wasn’t protected by a Lighthouse of Time on the other end. The brands of their gods shone brightly like beacons in the void, making it extremely likely for them to be noticed by foreign gods.

Not long after the vast army entered the teleportation gate, the wings turned to dust without even leaving a skeleton behind. The moment they disappeared, the portal turned unstable and exploded into ruin. This enormous army would not return without success.

Duke Joseph and his guests watched the entire thing on a projection within the command centre, remaining silent for a long time. Even if every family in this alliance was enormous, the scale of the army made it a huge gamble. However, it was worth it to obtain Faelor and exterminate a terrifying opponent whose growth was phenomenal. They had already made all necessary preparations. Richard’s base would lie on the other side of the portal, and as long as they succeeded in seizing it they were basically undefeatable.

......

Richard suddenly jolted from his sleep, a sense of danger filling his heart. His heart was pounding as though it wanted to fly out of his chest, warning him of some unknown danger.

However, as he sat up and looked around his room, everything remained peaceful. The wind blowing in from the open window brought with it the unique scent of Faust, forever with a perfect balance of warmth and humidity as though the city of miracles was stopped in time. The amethyst moon’s soft light shone down on the room’s floor, replacing the pale gold that had seen him off to sleep.

The unease in his mind kept getting stronger, refusing to fade away. It was only ten in the night, but no longer able to sleep he got dressed and out of the bed before making his way towards the study. He looked out into the island shrouded in purple, looking as small groups of twos and threes passed by occasionally.

The island’s teleportation formation began to glimmer the colours of the rainbow and someone hurried out. The feeling in Richard’s heart intensified and he glanced towards the night sky, seeing the pale gold colour of timeforce forming a bundle that flew straight for his window like lightning. By the time he managed to recover from the shock, the light was already close enough to reveal Noelene’s face.

The priestess quickly explained the incident to him, and his expression immediately changed, “Faelor’s coordinates were leaked?”

Noelene nodded.

Richard quickly calmed down, going dead silent as he started to pace around the study. A short while later, he looked up with a grave expression on his face. However, the shock had faded into an unbounded rationality that left Noelene filled with praise.

“Alright, I understand. Priestess Noelene, how much time do you think I have left to make my preparations?”

Nolan muttered to herself for a while, “A full day at the last, and a month if you’re lucky.”

“Heh, it seems like my enemies have prepared for this for quite some time. They won’t give me a month, but a day’s time... That should be enough for me to do something.”

Noelene nodded, “Alright, I’ll return to the Church. The guards obviously need to be strengthened, and the paladins will all be punished!” Hints of bloodlust appeared in the priestess’ tone. Even ignoring her relationship with Richard, their cooperation was pumping millions of gold coins into her hands every month.

However, Richard laughed, “There’s no need for that. The coordinates were bound to leak sooner or later, I’m surprised it even took them this long. Without enough power myself, I wouldn’t have placed the portal in the Church. In the future, just ensure the guards remain more vigilant. There’s no need to punish them.”

His words calmed Noelene down a little, “Sigh. Those who were on duty will still be punished, but I will take your opinion into consideration.”

Richard watched her figure disappear into the night sky and left the study, heading for the barracks outside the castle. In the meanwhile, he sent a few messengers to summon Nyris and Agamemnon immediately for a meeting.

Most of his followers stayed in the barracks, and with his mental orders they had rushed over in full armour by the time he arrived. “Head to Faelor and mobilise all troops, we might have trouble brewing soon. I’ll be right behind you. Olar, go to the Forest Plane and transfer all the rune knights there to Faelor, get Lina as well. No need to mind the teleportation fees.

“Tiramisu, pick out some strong soldiers and take a look in the warehouse. Get all the enchanted equipment you can!”

After some more orders, the followers immediately dispersed. Richard left for the study to await the arrival of his friends. They were always quick when it came to important matters.

As he passed by the corridors, he saw Coco again.

“Lord Richard...” Coco bravely stood in his way, face slightly pink. She had obviously dressed up meticulously, adding a bit of charm to her cute, pure looks. And yet, he only frowned coldly, “Is there anything wrong, Coco? If it isn’t important, wait until I’m back. I have urgent business to handle!”

Upon hearing the words ‘urgent business’, the girl immediately cowered and shook her head hard, “N-no... It’s not that important. S-sorry for interrupting you.”

Richard immediately passed by and headed upstairs. This was the limit of where Coco could go; any higher and she would reach his study and the command centre, which she could not enter freely.

It wasn’t long before Nyris and Agamemnon appeared in quick succession. The prince looked rather dazed, obviously here straight from bed. He seemed rather huffy as he sat opposite Richard, unspeakably adorable and charming.

However, Richard was in no mood to appreciate that side of him right now, “I just received word that the coordinates to Faelor have been leaked. The Church already found spatial undulations headed that way. It’s quite possible that my enemies are on their way with an army.”

Nyris was startled, “Faelor? Isn’t that your base?”

“Yes. This can’t be anyone simple. They’re heading straight for my throat!” Richard narrowed his eyes, a freezing glint flashing from within, “It seems like the Forest Plane can’t satisfy them.”

Nyris and Agamemnon both frowned at the same time. Richard had challenged the Schumpeters to find him in the Forest Plane. This was a personal plane that Gaton had seized from the Schumpeter Family, so as the substitute head this was symbolically his. However, the enemy was going straight for his actual base in Faelor, which meant they had been planning this for a long time. This was a precursor to a full-scale war.

The Fourth Prince smashed his fist on the arm of the sofa and shouted, “This isn’t some trivial matter! You’re the royal runemaster and have the right to request the Emperor’s assistance. Attacking you is, to some degree, an attack on the royal family! I’ll apply for Father’s soldiers to head to Faelor and help you guard it. No matter how many may come, each and every one will die!”

“Let’s talk about that if I can’t hold on myself,” Richard said with a shake of his head. There were far too many secrets on Faelor he couldn’t afford the royal family learning of. Besides, it was easy to bring in the royal guards but sending them back was an entirely different story. Nyris didn’t have enough status to command the royal family’s soldiers. Thus, even if the application was approved Richard would have to deal with a general sent out by Emperor Philip and not the Prince. Even the best case scenario would be an agreement to give them a certain portion of the benefits from Faelor, but his position wouldn’t be nearly as good as it was in the Forest Plane.

“What do you need us to do?” Agamemnon asked.

“I’ll have to withdraw all defensive forces from the Forest Plane. Before the issue in Faelor is dealt with, I will not be able to guard it. I’ll need you both to increase your presence there to maintain the situation.”

Nyris and Agamemnon exchanged a look, “That’s fine. Anything else?”

“You should know that I’m currently enlisting rune knights, but not much time has passed and I haven’t found the appropriate candidates. I hope to buy some rune knight candidates from you who are talented, but from now on they must be loyal to me.”