Chapter 258 - 257: Reason for Not Coming

Vittorino Dennis was the Viscount of Sharp Horn City and a Silver Knight.

At the assembly of nobles in Wushan Castle last month, not only had he attended in person, but he had also said he would personally lead his elite troops on the expedition against the Polante Thief Gang.

Ronin hadn’t expected him to be absent, so he sent someone to make inquiries and only then learned the reason for his nonappearance.

Apparently, a large Sea Magical Beast, a seven-to-eight-meter-long Sword Shark, had suddenly appeared in Dennis Port. It had destroyed many merchant ships recently and even caused dozens of casualties.

In order to resolve the port’s problem as quickly as possible, Viscount Vitorino had taken his elite Knights aboard a warship to try and eliminate the beast. However, he hadn’t anticipated the creature piercing the hull, causing the warship to slowly sink.

If the Sword Shark hadn’t been so brazen as to charge onto the deck just as the ship was about to sink completely, only to be killed by Vittorino and his men in a flurry of attacks, who knows how things would have turned out.

Although they won the battle, Vittorino and his elite Knights were all injured. The Viscount himself was especially hurt; the Sword Shark had torn a chunk of flesh from his thigh, and he was now recuperating in his castle, unable to get out of bed.

Clearly, he would be unable to participate in this war against the Polante Thief Gang.

It wasn’t just him; the elite Knights who had been severely injured while fighting the Sword Shark at sea were also in no condition to participate.

Defeating a Fifth-level Magical Beast like the Sword Shark at sea—just hearing about it was enough to know how dangerous it must have been.

But in Ronin’s view, ’Who knows how much of that story is fabricated. I even suspect a Sword Shark might never have appeared in Dennis Port at all. It’s all just an excuse Viscount Vitorino made up because he doesn’t want to join the war.’

He sighed. With the Viscount not coming, their side was now short two high-level combatants for no good reason.

’But what could he do about it?’

’It’s not like Ronin could just ride a Giant Dragon all the way to Sharp Horn City to see for himself if Vittorino was truly bedridden, could he?’

Besides, even if he did go and saw the man jumping around hale and hearty, he still had no authority to order him onto the battlefield.

Ronin was only the Commander on the battlefield. Off the battlefield, like the other man, he was a Viscount sworn to Wushan Castle.

What’s more, Sharp Horn City was far more prosperous than the current Wubei Territory.

However, although Vittorino and his elite Knights were unable to participate in the war, he still dispatched a three-hundred-man contingent that arrived at Giant Stone Territory on schedule to express Sharp Horn City’s loyalty to Wushan Castle.

Ronin wasn’t yet clear on the contingent’s actual combat strength, but in terms of numbers, it was certainly impressive—the largest of all the reinforcements sent by the nobles.

Compared to Vittorino, the other nobles were not nearly as "generous."

Putting aside the bankrupt Baron, Kona, who sent a grand total of three men, the other Barons, Pioneer Knights, and the like were considered to have sent a lot if their detachments numbered thirty to fifty men. Most were in the range of ten to twenty.

Mounted on his Cloud Stepper, Ronin stood on a high slope looking down at the nobles’ disorderly, scattered camps outside Giant Stone City, and couldn’t help but frown.

’He truly doubted it. Could an Alliance Army like this even fight?’

A fine horse galloped over. Rogner swung himself out of the saddle and came before Ronin to report.

"My Lord, I’ve used your authority as Commander to get a clear picture of the situation with Sharp Horn City. The one leading them is Mahammet Love, a Knight sworn to Viscount Vitorino and a Bronze Level."

"Under his command are two Intermediate Knights and five Basic Level Knights. The rest—the Infantry and Archers—are all commoners. They have no Cavalry."

’A Bronze Knight was respectable, but the rest of their forces left much to be desired.’

"Rogner, tell me, why do you think Viscount Vitorino is unwilling to participate in this war?"

Ronin had his own theories about this behavior, but he still wanted to hear an outsider’s perspective.

Rogner hesitated for a moment before slowly voicing his thoughts. "He probably feels there’s no benefit to be gained from this war. The more he invests, the greater his losses will be."

"Elaborate. Why would he feel there’s no ’benefit to be gained’ from this war?"

Rogner gave an awkward smile. "I’m afraid it has something to do with your father, Earl Wiggin."

He then explained his views in full.

To put it simply, any of them who were even slightly well-informed—be it Viscount Vitorino, or others like Marvin and German—knew that Wiggin had a stake in the Chishan Town Iron Mine.

If Wushan Castle were to recapture Chishan Town in the coming war, they would absolutely not leave it in Coren’s hands to manage.

And knowing Earl Wiggin’s nature, he would most likely place the Chishan Iron Mine, and perhaps even the entire town, under his own name.

Hearing this, Ronin couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

’Vittorino and the others have followed Wiggin for a long time, and it shows. They’ve completely predicted his intentions.’

’The only difference was that Wiggin didn’t want the rights to manage Chishan Town—he couldn’t be bothered with it. Instead, he planned to give it to Ronin.’

Under these circumstances, the valuable things the nobles supporting the war could hope to gain became quite limited.

In the end, some nobles would likely only be able to plunder some spoils from the battlefield.

As for the other things—gaining military experience, increasing their prestige and influence, and so on—those were all intangible. To the lesser nobles, they weren’t as practical as cold, hard cash.

For these people, since the lion’s share wouldn’t fall to them and the small scraps were negligible, why would they dispatch their elite forces?

It was better to just send some Lanon Slave Soldiers to make up the numbers, have a few Knights lead them, and call it a day after answering the summons and making a good showing.

As for why Marvin and German weren’t so "reserved," the reason wasn’t hard to guess.

In the former’s case, his second son, Rogner, served under Ronin, and Ronin was the Commander of this war.

As a father, Marvin naturally had to make a good showing to support Rogner.

In the latter’s case, Ronin had saved the lives of his son and daughter, and had even eliminated his hidden enemy, Reisen, at the banquet. Out of gratitude, German would naturally send more men.

"So in the end, the main force in this war will still have to be the dozen or so Knight Squads from the four factions combined: Wushan Castle’s three Knight Orders, the Wubei Territory, Pasture City, and Lake Town."

"A dozen or so Knight Squads are more than enough, My Lord."

Rogner said, "The enemy has, at most, the strength of a single Knight Order. The advantage is ours."

"Perhaps."

Ronin waved his hand. "I’ll have to trouble you to inform the leaders of these contingents. Since everyone has already arrived at Giant Stone Territory, we will begin moving out together tomorrow. After we enter Giant Stone City tomorrow and rendezvous with Toru, Coren, Philip, and the others, we’ll find a time to hold a meeting."

"It would be my pleasure, My Lord!"

He had given the task of liaison to Rogner mainly because the man knew many people, unlike Macken, Ridder, and Joffrey, who were not as worldly. This was Rogner’s advantage.

Ronin returned to his own campaign tent and summoned Ridder, Macken, and Elron.

’In this war, it seemed the Wubei Territory wouldn’t be able to hide its high-level combatants any longer.’

’But for the Chishan Town Iron Mine, it was worth it.’