The city of Coennas, the Royal Palace.

Servants are trying to clean up the floors with water stains, flower petals, and broken porcelain pieces. Just now, the always gentle King Auston smashed a vase on the ground, and more than a dozen people in the palace were suddenly silent, but it was Prime Minister Adrien who glanced at the servants before they dared to clean it up.

"Your Majesty, the Archdukes have written in secret letters...... It's not unreasonable......," Adrien said softly.

"What's the point? The enemy has fled before he has yet to fight, and has forgotten his duty to the people of the territory? Rats! A group of rats! I will cut their titles and take back their territories!" King Auston seemed to have forgotten when he said this, and the territory he was talking about was already in the hands of the enemy, and it seemed meaningless for him to take it back or not.

“...... The king was furious, with the four of them, the army together was only 20,000 men, and in the face of the enemy's army of 150,000, I am afraid that even if they tried to resist, they would not be able to hold ......out for a few days," Adrien continued.

"Nor is this an excuse to flee! Aren't they still people besides the army, and what is more important than defending their own territory?" King Auston continued to roar angrily.

"Your Majesty, you also know that those peasants will only become a burden to the defenders in the face of the enemy's cavalry. Now, a few grand dukes have transported the grain away in advance, and those peasants, hundreds of thousands of mouths waiting for food, have become a burden to the enemy......"

But that doesn't justify their escape. "The king seemed to be a little calmer.

According to what the ministers have seen, it seems that the method mentioned in the letter of several grand dukes can be tried. Since the Gongta Grassland is a place where the enemy must pass through, it is better to gather the armies of other Grand Dukes and the major knights of the empire and block the enemy army there. Even if the enemy army had 150,000 men, they still had to divide their forces to suppress the peasants. We can muster 80,000 or 90,000 troops, and our army is familiar with the terrain, so it may not be impossible to turn the tide than to be broken by the enemy. ”

Adriando's right. The Teder Mountains, which traverse the continent from north to south, divide the Fermont Empire in two, and the gentle Gonta steppe in the center is indeed a must for enemy troops.

“...... Hum. Now there is only this way, come here, give me a letter, I will tell those bastards, all move for me, no matter what way you think of to defend the Gongta grassland. ”

The Minister of Finance, who had been standing still on the side, looked embarrassed: "Your Majesty, according to the usual practice, the mobilization of noble private soldiers needs to pay military expenses, such a large-scale ......"

"Military expenses?!Fuck his military expenses!Can't hold the territory, everyone is finished, those bastards should take out every copper plate as military expenses, and they are still hiding it, are they going to wait for the end of the war to give it to Edward's slut?!"

"Your Majesty, there is always luck until doom really strikes. We must not underestimate the greed of the nobles and overestimate their wisdom......" Adrien reminded the king.

"Do you want me to pay them for the army to defend your territory?" said the anger on King Auston's face again.

"Your Majesty, isn't the military budget on the Gongta grassland...... When the four Grand Dukes retreated, if they had taken away even the food, would they have forgotten to take the wealth with them?Since they were going to call in reinforcements, of course they should pay for the military expenses......" Adrien said with a smile.

"Yes, they should come out!, come on, write me a letter...... "King Auston cried out, and it seemed to him that Adrien was not as useless as he seemed.

After receiving the news of the start of the war, the two colleges in Tris Province immediately canceled the summer trials that were supposed to start in July, and all the students remained on campus.

On July 3, fifteen professors from the Academy of Magic and sixteen instructors from the Knight Academy, led by Dean Devis, rushed to the front line to support. Donner, Wesley, Roger, and seven other cadets from both colleges and universities went with them as reserve youth soldiers.

From receiving the order to leaving, there was only half an hour, and Donner did not have a chance to say goodbye to Richard and Kelly.

The carriage galloped through the quiet countryside, and from time to time peasant women or children stood on the side of the road, watching the convoy go away, and the unfamiliar faces were undisguised worry.

Donner looked in the direction of Dorne City, he didn't know if this expected war would destroy everything in front of him. He was a little worried about Richard and Kelly, and worried about his father on the island of Lanter.

He remembered Dean Devis's words that when the enemy's sword slashed up, he couldn't dodge...... Then, there was a feeling of pride or tragedy, which slowly grew in his heart.

It's time to use your body and blood to block the enemy's sword. Perhaps in his own hands, this magic gun, which should not belong to this world, will play a vital role in this war.

Six days later, when Donner walked into the camp, he realized how ridiculous the idea was.

Countless horses, soldiers, tents, and all kinds of strange war tools crowded the entire valley in front of you, stretching all the way to the banks of the Awa River at the end of the view.

It was a camp with tens of thousands of people, and Donner felt that even Idarua would not be able to make any waves under the impact of such a huge army. The idea that I wanted to influence the trend of the war on my own was too naïve.

This day was the ninth day of July, the tenth day after the start of the war.

For the past nine days, the armies of the Thorn Empire have flooded across the border between the two countries, and then, with little resistance, have captured six provinces and dozens of cities between the Morian Mountains and the Teide Mountains.

The four Grand Dukes of the western part of the empire showed considerable "rationality and tacit understanding" after the start of the war, preferring to give up their territories and subjects in order to preserve their strength, and retreated their troops and the wealth they could move to the Gongta grassland, on the east bank of the Ava River.

Here, the armies of the four Grand Dukes will converge with the eight Grand Dukes and the Seven Knights who have been ordered from all over the empire to fight the enemy to the death.

By the time Donner arrived, all but the three Grand Dukes had already set up camp.

This is nearly 60,000 troops, and for Donner, who has never seen war, let alone a war in the age of cold weapons, the spectacle in front of him is so spectacular that he can almost breathe for a while.

"Donnaveen!"

"In!"

"Minofarel!"

"In!"

A 300-strong youth reserve army, composed of outstanding cadets from all over the country, was arranged in a camp in the rear of the main army. An officer who did not know which knight order he belonged to, after counting the list of the young reserve army, announced: "Mino Farrell, from today onwards, you are the captain of this reserve army of three hundred people!

The so-called academy teaching group is an elite army of 1,200 professors and instructors who have rushed from major provinces. Kane, the head of the Imperial Capital Knight Academy, served as the head of the regiment, and Deves was unexpectedly appointed as the deputy commander.

Their camp is next to that of the Al-Shaba.

When Kane and Deves arrived at the youth camp, the officer had just finished preaching military discipline. After giving a standard military salute to the two deans, he loudly announced that he would hand over the youth army to the training corps, and thus he had finally completed his mission.

Dean Kane also stood up straight like a soldier, but as soon as the officer left, he immediately changed back to the appearance of an easy-going middle-aged uncle like a deflated ball.

"Children, don't be so nervous, when the war starts, the main force is in front, you are just a reserve, and the reserve army means that by the time you need to play, you will either have won or ...... It's the same whether you fight or not, haha. ”

The crowd burst into laughter.

"Now, I officially announce the next mission of the Youth Reserve!" the teenagers unconsciously straightened up again as Dean Kane raised his voice.

“...... Don't get into trouble! Alright, disband. ”

Seeing the children with teased expressions on their faces, Dean Kane laughed heartily and left with Dean Devis, who was always half-asleep, in sharp contrast to this interesting uncle.

I have to say that Dean Kane's brief speech was very effective, and the teenagers who were facing the huge pressure of war for the first time suddenly relaxed a lot.

In addition to Mino, Donner also saw Paz and Quisal in the ranks. After more than a month apart, several teenagers were very excited to meet again on the battlefield.

Quissar's injuries were completely healed, and he grinned and thanked Donner, presumably knowing that Donner had helped him after the duel.

Although Paz still looked like a wooden man, he still took the initiative to greet Donner.

It's just that Mino seems to have been avoiding Donner, and he's no longer as sunny as he was when he met in the final, but has been frowning.

Wesley actually took the initiative to find Alva, and after the two didn't know what to say, they actually patted each other on the shoulder and talked happily. Downer relayed to Wesley on the way back that Paz was accusing Wesley of being unfair to Alva.

Donner guessed that Wesley had just apologized to the other party, but he couldn't imagine how Wesley could settle the other party's grudge so quickly.

Roger also had a good conversation with several opponents in the event.

In a group of teenagers of the same age, there is a sympathetic friendship everywhere, and at this moment, this scene is not like a battlefield, but like an ordinary trial. It's just that the scene of the barracks that can be seen when you look up slightly reminds everyone that war is just around the corner.

The dinner in the barracks was very simple, with potatoes and thin broth, which was even a little difficult for these young men, who were mostly from noble backgrounds, but everyone was still in a state of freshness and excitement at this time, and no one would say anything about the food.

Interestingly, the amount allocated to each person was the same, and the reserve knights did not have enough to eat, and the magic apprentices could not eat enough, and the former was far more numerous than the latter, and the result was that from this day on, the reserve knights had to curry favor with the magic apprentices in order to have a little more for each meal.

Donner suspects that this is probably one of the reasons why the mages in the army are more noble.