Osmond looked at the battle on the battlefield, and there was no ripple on his calm face. He had long been accustomed to seeing people die, to seeing the flames devour the flag. It's nothing, he is a soldier, and people who come down from the battlefield will have extraordinary compassion, because they know the horror of death more than ordinary people. However, these people also know better how to take care of their compassion, which is really going to kill them.

"Looks like this is my last. Osmond sighed, but his face didn't look very sad, "Did this war also end in failure? Hmph, but this defeat was also expected." ”

After tidying up his appearance and making sure that there was nothing wrong with his dress, he slowly turned around and looked at the guest who had just arrived.

"Maybe this era is no longer in vogue, but let me say it again. In the name of the Lord's brilliance and the Lord of Munster, Dungar O'Brien I is here to fight, knight, and take your name. ”

Sven looked at Osmond quietly, no, he should call him Duke Dungal, and watched as the duke drew his sword and stood in front of him according to the battlefield etiquette of the previous era, and then reported to his home. The Duke of Dungar was meticulous in his movements, as if he was really treating them as a sacred ritual and genuinely showing his respect for his opponent.

"Knight?" Swain stepped forward slowly, he had a saber in his hand, but he didn't raise the knife like Duke Dungar, "No, there are no knights, only steel all over the ground, and people who don't know whether to live or die. ”

"Really, what a pity. Duke Dungar also put down his sword, his expression looked a little lonely, "I thought that in the end, I could fight with dignity as a knight, even if I died like this, it would be a glorious ending, but now it seems that this can probably only be a regret for me." ”

"What's the point of saying that?" Swain didn't stop, he walked around the sand table and walked three meters in front of Duke Dungar, "Wouldn't you follow the knight's creed and you wouldn't use those intrigues on the battlefield?"

"No general will give up on strategy, and victory is nothing more than fame or faith. Duke Dungar stretched out his hand and motioned for Swain to sit down, "However, we must not forget the kindness in our hearts, and the Lord can forgive us for turning into a demon for the sake of war, but if we really regard ourselves as demons and act unscrupulously, then even our own families will not accept such people." ”

"It's horrible. Although there was a fierce battle outside, Swain was not in a hurry at all, sat down leisurely, and chatted with Duke Dungar, "I heard that you participated in the Holy War Crusade at the age of fourteen, and it seems that you are really very devout in your faith, but, if I remember correctly, you should have rebelled three times, which is not at all consistent with what you said." ”

"The beliefs of being a man and the actions of a man are always different. The Duke of Dungar did not feel ashamed at all, and simply admitted, "After all this, you have not yet told me your name. ”

"Sorry, rude. Swain bowed slightly, as if he were not on the battlefield but visiting a friend in the countryside, "I am Swain Noe Jericho, Earl of Midnight. ”

"Earl Midnight?" Duke Dungar was slightly surprised, he looked at Swain carefully, nodded and said, "So, you inherited Jericho's magic way?"

Swain raised his eyebrows, there had always been a legend that Duke Dungar was once a member of the Knights of the Holy Iron Order, and now it seemed that this legend might be somewhat credible.

"What are you going to do now?" Swain didn't want to say much on the subject, "are you going to fight me here, or do you want to make a final struggle?"

Duke Dungar shook his head, a smile suddenly appearing on his face. "For me, this war doesn't really matter much. The generals who command and the soldiers who participate in the war are actually just doing day jobs for others, and no one will look at this kind of unrewarding work. So, this war, from the very beginning, made me very uninterested, unlike you, in order to win and survive, you can do it to this extent. ”

Swain frowned, Duke Dungar's smile making him a little uneasy. "It looks like you've already guessed our surprise attack, so why send the main forces out?"

"No, I didn't guess your surprise attack. The Duke sighed, lowered his eyebrows and looked outside, looking into his gaze, Swain guessed that the Duke wanted to look at the horizon and the rising sun, but unfortunately it was all obscured by the fog.

"I've been here before, and the western suburbs of Deweide have always been where I train my troops, so I have some idea of the terrain around here. Flooding your positions with water is the best I can think of, after all, the soldiers I command now are a rabble, and there is no tacit understanding between them, and there is still a lot of suspicion, and I can't fully control these troops. The Duke sighed, Swain could understand that with Duke Dungal's good fighting, he would not be unable to achieve any results during this time, and the only explanation was that he really couldn't control the troops well.

"For my employer, the deaths and injuries of these troops are an inconsequential matter, they are not his people anyway, and they may even become a problem for him, so why not simply consume them here?"

Swain was a little surprised, he thought that Duke Dungal's steady and steady progress during this period of time was his famous general's demeanor, but now it seems that the duke's heart is not ordinary black!

"But even so, with your resourcefulness, you won't be so careless, give us a chance to surprise us. Swain asked, this was also his biggest puzzle, why a famous general like Duke Dungar would easily let him succeed in a sneak attack without any precautions.

The Duke didn't answer immediately, he ripped the map from the table and placed it between him and Swain. "With a force of 20,000 men, I gave up my position, and quietly came to my position under the cover of fog and night, and I have to admire such a decision. However, if you do this, there will also be a problem, although I have avoided my main force and successfully attacked my main position, but my main force is still intact, so you will have to face a choice, if the main force I send chooses to attack Astrad I College and Karin Castle, what will you do? Or, if they choose to return to the rescue, do you have the confidence to fight?"

"None of this is a problem. "Swain is very sure that the commanders of those Ministry of the Interior troops will not choose to come back to rescue the Duke of Dungal, not to mention anything else, the internal contradictions within this force, and the huge casualties caused by the Duke of Dungar's onslaught ordered them to storm the day before yesterday, are enough to make their selfishness sprout," Her Royal Highness Caterina of Karin Castle has been transferred, so even if they go there, there is no way to gain anything. ”

"You're so confident, haven't you forgotten what happened yesterday?" said Duke Dungar chuckling, seemingly disdainful of Swain's confidence.

Hearing Duke Dungar mention yesterday's incident, Swain frowned slightly, and he couldn't help but secretly guess whether the Duke was talking about Young's attack on Karin Castle or Caladog's assassination of him. If it's the former, Swain doesn't worry too much, because he doesn't need to think about it in his plan, but if it's the latter, then Swain has to be cautious, if Karadoge is really resurrected by Manfred, then I'm afraid the mad earl has more secrets that Swain doesn't know.

Seeing that Swain was silent, the Duke of Dungar thought that he was worried about Katarina's affairs, so he continued: "Don't be too confident in yourself, now that you are here, although you have caught me, on the other hand, don't you also form a kind of containment of you? Moreover, those division commanders, after learning that this camp had been attacked, even if they could not find anyone in Karin Castle, would attack Astrad I College and take the students there hostage. ”

"Then let them be. To the Duke's surprise, Swain was particularly indifferent to this, "Human life is too insignificant compared to victory, whether it is a young and strong man, or an ignorant child, or a weak old man and woman. War is such a thing, it devours human life, no matter who it is, it is only nourishment for its growth. ”

Duke Dungar's face turned ugly, and he was not only indignant at Swain's words, but even began to wonder if it was necessary for him to continue talking to Swain. "Is that what you think? I am disappointed to think only of human life as sustenance for war. I originally thought that the people who have been able to hold out in front of me for so long should know the mercy on the battlefield, and at least not treat human life as a meaningless addition or subtraction, but now it seems that you are just a conspirator, and you don't deserve to be counted as a soldier at all. ”

"I wasn't. Swain stared coldly at Duke Dungal, "And your opponent on the battlefield is not me, but Baron O'Brien." ”

"O'Brien, hmph-" Duke Dungar sneered, even though Swain said that his opponent was his own descendant, the Duke didn't feel anything, "but this plan must have been conceived, otherwise, you wouldn't have come to me and listened to me say so much." ”

"But no one else will know about it. Swain shrugged, "There's no need to know. ”

The Duke took a deep breath, and things seemed to be a little different from what he had expected. It was indeed a difficult thing for the Duke of Dungar to serve someone like Manfred against the country to which he had been loyal, but he was forced to fight for it because of Manfred's contract. So, while he accomplished the task given to him by Manfred on the one hand, he was also trying to maintain his position. When he sent the main force of the Ministry of the Interior, he had already considered the possibility of his own attack on the army, but the Duke did it anyway, and the generals of the Ministry of the Interior would not come to his rescue, which he knew very well, and what he wanted, these generals loyal to Beria would definitely attack Karin Castle and Astrad I College, and if the eldest princess was caught, then the task assigned by Manfred would be completed. The Duke of Dungar himself was here to contain the enemy's main force, so that he could avoid personally capturing the people of the Gyan family. As for saying that he would die here, the Duke didn't care about this kind of thing at all, he was already a person who had died for an era, would he care about dying again?

However, the Swain he was facing now was different from what he had imagined, and the Duke's undisguised indifference to human life worried the duke. If he could ignore the lives of the students of Astrad I, he could also ignore the lives of the people of Dévil, and worst of all, such an unscrupulous approach to victory would probably lead him to an alliance with Manfred.

What Manfred needed most now was a weighty Gion to be his puppet, and Swain happened to have that on his hands. Manfred can't come to the forefront, and Swain's identity is no problem, so how terrible it would be for two people to join forces!

The Duke of Dungar simply did not dare to imagine.