"Don't worry," Swain caressed his sister's face, comforting her with the tenderness of his fingertips, "The Munster army is two kilometers away from the Astrad I School, although it is not too far, but basically the fire of war will not ignite the school. ”

Sophia's comfort was reassuring to Sophia, but she still had a worry in her heart. "Is the war about to begin?" she looked at her brother's face, the worry in her eyes not fading much.

"It doesn't look like that's going to be right now, at least not today. Swain's gaze looked beyond the cascading buildings of the Astrad I School, as if to reach the invisible positions of the two armies.

"Will you go to war, then?" Sophia clutched her brother's collar, her white knuckles making her heart clear.

"Don't worry," Swain patted his sister's cheek, his tone still flat, "I'll stay at the command and won't go to the front." The enemy was a rabble, and they could not even touch the positions of Munster's army. ”

Sophia didn't know if it was an exaggeration or a true statement, but she was willing to believe whatever her brother said. "yes, I just hope you're safe. With tears in her eyes, she said, "When the Southern Army fought in Lantz before, I, I didn't feel anything, but today, today, my heart has not been calm, and I am always afraid of the unpredictable future. Please promise me that you must return to me, because my heart cannot be at peace without you by my side. ”

"Don't worry, there's nothing to worry about. Probably sensing the uneasiness in his sister's heart, Sven's tone softened as much as possible, "If you really can't rest assured, then I'll give you a gift and take it with you, as if I were by your side, so that you won't be afraid." ”

Swain beckoned to Baron Deniz behind him, and the old baron immediately understood and handed over a silver box. Swain took the box, held it up to Sophia, and whispered, "Open it." ”

"What's inside?" Sophia stroked the lid of the box, the delicate pattern on it made her curious, although her brother didn't give her things, but most of them were jewelry and other things, and looking at this box, it was at least thirty centimeters, such a large gift, it didn't look like ordinary jewelry.

Sophia gently opened the lid of the box, but what appeared in front of her startled her.

"Pistols?" she covered her mouth, for she hadn't really touched the guns since she had grown up in the comfort of Fort Midnight.

Swain picked up the pistol in the box, which was so exquisitely built that it looked more like a work of art than a murderous weapon. The silver body of the gun is carved with exquisite rose patterns, even the safety bolt is carved into budding rose flowers, and the handle of the gun is wound with gold and silver threads, and the amount of gold and silver used on it alone is probably a lot of money.

"What a beautiful gun!" Sophia couldn't help but admire.

"This was something I had made to Hobarton and they sent it in first after they finished the first piece. The gun is a bit heavy, so you'll have to be careful, but I don't think you'll be using it at any time. Swain put the pistol into Sophia's hand, and as Swain said, the delicate pistol was not light, so much so that Sophia's hand sank a little when she took it.

Because of the gift from her brother, Sophia's mood was much better, and her tone was a lot more playful. "How do you know I'm not going to use it?" Sophia stroked the delicate lines on it, looking to really like the gift, "Is there a bullet in it?"

"Yes. Swain picked up a cartridge from Baron Deniz's box, "The special silver cartridge case made by the Grand Sanctuary of Garons, which is filled with mercury, and the bullets have been baptized with holy water, which is considered a prop to ward off evil spirits. ”

"Bullets still need to baptize?" Sophia couldn't help but laugh, "And who is this bullet used for, vampire?"

"If I could," Swain looked at Sophia deeply, "I hope not a single bullet will be used." ”

Sophia was stunned, she felt that her brother's words seemed to have a special meaning.

Sven turned suddenly, as if he had no intention of talking. "Baron O'Brien, the commander of Munster's army, will be here in a moment, and I'll have to talk to him about business at dinner, sorry, I'll have to get you out of the way then. ”

Sophia's mood couldn't help but feel a little lower when she heard that she couldn't have dinner with her brother, but she would do her best to meet her brother's expectations.

"I see, sir. ”

Swain turned his back to Sophia, nodded, and disappeared at the top of the stairs with Baron Deniz.

——————————————

Wei Ting looked at the young man in front of him, his face was not very good-looking, because Yang had just brought an order that he definitely did not want to hear.

"You're letting me listen to this man?" Wei Ting pointed to a man standing next to Yang, his face undisguised with suspicion, "This guy I've never seen or heard of?" I can't take this order. ”

"Please pay attention to your address, General. Yang looked at Wei Ting coldly, although he was young, Yang had quite an aura on his body, "You should call this gentleman a commander." ”

"Commander?" Wei Ting glared at the man, "I don't even know the name, you told me to call him Commander." ”

"Osmond. The man spoke suddenly, "You can call me Osmond." ”

"I don't care what your name is!" Wei Ting shouted, "I want to see His Highness Beria, I can't accept this order, let my troops be under the command of a guy I've never seen before, and I don't even know if this person has enough military literacy, I can't do this kind of thing!"

"His Highness Beria doesn't have this time to see you right now. Since Wei Ting's attitude is so bad, Yang doesn't plan to use honorifics anymore, "If you must see him, you can go back to the city, I think that now that the Tiamat Palace has almost been captured, you can go there and ask His Highness if this order was given by him personally, and by the way, congratulate him in person, and congratulate His Highness on taking the Tiamat Palace." ”

Wei Ting's face couldn't help twitching, of course he couldn't go to Tiamat Palace to meet Beria in person, not to mention anything else, if he really left here, then when he came back, it would be difficult to say whether the Southern Legion would listen to him or not, after all, in addition to the 10,000 men of his Southern Legion, there were four times as many troops of the Ministry of the Interior as him. Therefore, before coming to the command post, he had already realized that the command of the whole army was likely to fall into the hands of others, although he was unwilling, but Wei Ting knew that this was also a helpless thing, he was not Beria's descendant, nor was he a confidant, Beria would not hand over all the troops to him in the hands of a person who repeated twice.

But even so, if he didn't fight for it, Wei Ting was still unwilling, so he would rather quarrel with this envoy sent by Beria than fight for his due power, at least the right to fight independently.

Of course, what he said just now was not a lie, for this sudden appearance of Osmond, he really doubted the ability of the other party, Wei Ting didn't think that the people from the Ministry of the Interior could really command an army of 50,000 people.

"I want credentials. Viting stretched out his hand and made a pleading gesture, "I want to see a written order signed by His Highness himself." ”

Yang took out a roll of paper from his bosom and threw it to Wei Ting.

Wei Ting opened the scroll of paper and glanced at it hastily, the order on it was indeed not different from what Yang said, and the final signature and seal were indeed Beria's, because he had already received a guarantee from Beria when he was persuaded by Seresi before, so he was very sure that the signature was genuine.

Now Viting was really speechless, and he walked towards the man who called himself Osmond with a gloomy face. Of course, for the people in the Ministry of the Interior, Wei Ting was very skeptical about whether it was the real name of the other party.

"Your name is Osmond?" Vitin walked up to Osmond and moved close to him. This man is a little taller than Wei Ting, with a thin body and a dark gray hair, but his age does not look very old, and his face looks young, but there are some traces left by the years, so Wei Ting is not sure of the other party's age, and can only roughly judge that it is between thirty and forty years old, and it can be said that he is a little older, or he can be said to be younger.

"What wars have you fought in before, and what feats have you made His Highness Beria trust you so much that he made you the commander of the 50,000 army?" Vitin looked at Osmond defiantly, his eyes full of naked disdain and contempt.

However, Osmond did not react to Vitin's provocation, and he still looked at the other party calmly. "You don't need to ask that much, because these questions have nothing to do with the current fighting. ”

It looks like I should be thinking a little older. Wei Ting made a judgment in his heart.

"I'll remember, Mr. Dares. Wei Ting glared at Yang and said as if threatening, "If you lose the battle, I hope you two can still win the favor of His Highness Belial as you do now!"

After saying that, he walked out of the command post without looking back.

"What a presumptuous guy. Yang stared coldly at Wei Ting's distant back, in his heart, Wei Ting was already half a dead man.

"It looks like I'm going to have a tough task this time. Osmond's eyes were calm, and he didn't seem to care at all about Viting's arrogance, "The disobedience of his subordinates is the biggest threat to the army, especially when a big war is approaching. ”

"That's why we're inviting you here," Jan looked at Osmond, "only your military talent is enough to guarantee victory in this war." ”

Osmond smiled and nodded, then he shook his head again, pacing the tent in the incomprehensible light of the wood. "In my opinion, sometimes the outcome of a war is not determined by the battle on the battlefield, and there are always those factors that are either visible or invisible that interfere with the outcome of the war. For the most part, we call these factors diplomacy, but in the current situation, I don't think diplomacy is enough to describe these factors that interfere with war. ”

"Our enemies, we will solve them. Yang said solemnly, "But if there is no victory on the battlefield, there will be no final victory, right?"

"For the most part, yes. But there is also a kind of war called ......" Osmond stopped and stared at the map on the table, "there is no winner. ”

"It depends on how you define the word victory. Yang narrowed his eyes, his gaze becoming dangerous, "If achieving the goal is considered victory, it is indeed a war without a winner. But if victory means to make the other side lose, then there will be a winner, absolutely!"

"Oh?" Osmond turned his head and looked at Yang with interest, the young man now found him very interesting, "So, how do you define failure?"

——————————————

Dinner at Karin Castle is well underway.

The servants served one dish after another according to the process, although Baron O'Brien had also enjoyed a lot of delicacies during this time, but after all, it was a barracks, and the food could not be more delicious than the royal chef brought by the eldest princess.

Caterina sat in the main seat, while Baron Swain and O'Brien sat beside her, and there was no one in the dining room but the three of them.

"It's normal to have factions in the army, and the pedantry of those staff officers is not something that only happens in a day or two, I just hope that this will not affect your command of the battle. Sven cut a small piece of steak and brought it to his mouth, his movements were very graceful and calm, completely the most elegant aristocratic style, "They have what they want to do, and we have ours, as long as it doesn't interfere with the victory of the war, it doesn't matter if they are left alone, we should have this amount of energy." ”

Just like last time, Baron O'Brien looked very restrained in front of Swain, who was more than twenty years younger than him, not to mention that this time there was Princess Celestia by his side.

"I think they will do everything they can to win the war, and the Imperial soldiers can tell what is honor and what is stupid. Baron O'Brien smiled and took a sip of his wine, in front of the staff officers, he would do his best to speak for Swain, but when it came to the occasion, he would also say a few kind words for the staff officers.

"It's hard to say," Sven lowered his head, seemingly concentrating on his steak, but he didn't stop, "Some Imperial soldiers don't care about that, they only care about their own interests. ”

Swain looked up at Baron O'Brien.

"For example, General Hekarim Novitin. ”