Chapter 265 The Last Enemy
Timothy entered the Lord of the Port of Clear Water’s circular room located at the top of the tower.
Different from the more commonly seen castle’s, this tower was both higher and narrower. Apart from dealing with government or for observing the outside, he was afraid that even gathering all of his cabinet ministers here to hold a council meeting was already impossible.
None of the furnishings in the room had been moved, it was as if the owner had just left and would soon return. Facing the entrance was a reddish-brown square table, books were neatly and tidily arranged on it. And in the middle were several unfinished manuscripts and a quill that was inserted into an ink bottle; as if just waiting for someone to come and complete the files.
Taking one step at a time, Timothy walked to the table and sat in the large chair. The seat was covered with a cooling mat that was sewn out of bamboo sticks. Something that was quite suitable for easing the sizzling heat of the final month of summer. A bucket of water had been placed next to the chair, it was evidently used to hold ice, also serving to dispel the room’s heat and lower the temperature. However, today’s weather was a bit gloomy, there were dark clouds over the sea, which lowered the temperature, and made the room appear to be less stiflingly hot.
Timothy leaned forward, placed his face close to the surface of the tabletop and gently smelled it, filling up his nostrils with a faint and sweet scent – this was Garcia’s most loved bluish green sunflower fragrance. It was produced at the Cold Wind Mountain Ridge, and when compared with rugosa rose and rosemary it had a more unique and refreshing feeling, as if it contained some of the ice from the north.
Only after using something for a long time, would it take over one’s smell. There was no doubt that his sister enjoyed sitting on this chair, her hands on this table, either listening to a report or busy writing a decree.
Thinking about this, Timothy couldn’t stop himself from laughing.
“Haha…ha…haha…hahahaha ———-” In the end, Timothy simply leaned against the back of the chair, raised his head and started to laugh at the top of his voice.
He had finally won!
Garcia had given up Port of Clear Water, and given up the Southern Territory, that was tantamount to giving up the throne of Graycastle.
After receiving news that the Black Sail Fleet was sailing north, he immediately summoned the troops under his command and drove more than five thousand slaves, rats and criminals to the southern border and attacked Garcia’s nest at the Port of Clear Water. The only resistance he encountered came from the Sandpeople from the extreme south. Timothy didn’t know what kind promise they had agreed on, but they attacked him one after another, having no fear for their own lives. Moreover, the troublesome point was that they were also in possession of the Berserker Pill.
The battle lasted for nearly half a month, but by exploiting his superior numbers, and repeatedly disrupting his enemy’s counterattack, Timothy was able to slowly erode the Sandpeople’s defense line. Nearly three thousand of his people had died in this battle of attrition, and if his men hadn’t received the support of the pills, Timothy was afraid that his mob wouldn’t have dared to set even a single foot on this battlefield. Not to mention ever dare fight against the fierce and barbaric Sandpeople here who had fought to their death.
The final result of the battle was that he had to cross over a layer of corpses to be able to enter Port of Clear Water’s Lord Tower.
The title “Queen of Clear Water” was history, the South of Graycastle had finally come back under his control.
“Your Majesty?” Probably from hearing his carefree laughter, the Knight keeping guard outside, pushed open the door and entered the room.
“No harm,” Timothy answered and got up. He pointed to the knight and then over to himself, instructing him to follow, and then went through a side door to step on the balcony.
He was immediately hit by the slightly salty sea breeze, which made his gown flutter. It seemed there was a storm approaching from looking at the dark clouds standing overhead that were growing thicker and thicker.
That’s truly unfortunately, Timothy thought, I was planning to see my third sister’s port, piers, and the Lords Tower all fall victim to the flames, but now it seems this will be impossible.
The last half year he had constantly been on the battlefield alongside his soldiers, there was hardly one month were he had stayed within King’s city. He had entrusted his Imperial Prime Minister to take care of all the government’s affairs – although Marquis Wyke had seemed to be very loyal, but loyalty didn’t mean that the other was able to forever lock their doorway and resist temptation, Gerald Wimbledon being the best example of this.
He needed to return to King’s City as soon as he could to stabilize the undercurrents of political unrest going on over there. The rain in the South would probably go on for several days, days he couldn’t waste with waiting over here.
“I will go back to King’s City early tomorrow morning,” Timothy opened his mouth and declared, “Except for my personal guards and the Knights from King’s City, all the other Knights and mercenaries will be handed over to you. Sir Ed Hawse, please take my place in defending the Southern Border. You must not allow the Sandpeople to even set a single foot within Graycastle’s borders.”
“You… will let me stay here?” The young Knight of the northern Hawse Family asked in surprise, “But I would like to continue to fight at your side, Your Majesty. I –“
“Knight, by defending the borderland you will also fight for me.” Timothy interrupted, “Listen, there are still many things you need to do, so I have to leave the Southern Territory in the hands of loyal and competent people who are able to deal with the aftermath.”
“But…” Ed was still a bit hesitant.
“I know what you are worried about,” the new King smiled understandingly and patted his shoulders. “Rest assured, you won’t stay here forever. When the matter regarding Port of Clear Water is finished, I will immediately recall you back to King’s City. After all, Graycastle is not unified yet, I still need to recover the Western Territory, and for that, I will need even more Knights who can charge in and break through the enemy’s lines. So, how could I ever forget you here?”
Hearing these reassuring words, the young man looked up with shining eyes, knelt down then said, “As you bid, Your Majesty!”
“Get up,” Timothy said while nodding with satisfaction. “There are three things you have to do next. First, you have to take all the remaining inhabitants of Port of Clear Water into custody and escort them back to King’s City.”
“Don’t you want to hang these traitors?” The Knight asked surprised.
“No, they cannot be considered as real traitors. If they had indeed joined Garcia’s side, they would have long left with the Black Sail Fleet. If I kill these people, it would only suit her more.” However, my third sister’s influence is really beyond my expectation, of the more than 10’000 inhabitants of Port of Clear Water, plus the captive slaves from Eagle City, there were actually only 400 people who didn’t want to leave with her. If not for the Sandpeople’s resistance, the Port of Clear Water would have been no different from an abandoned city.
“Your Majesty is benevolent!”
“The second thing you have to do is burn all the docks, shipyards and the Lords Tower, I want to let everyone in the South see that Garcia, the Queen of Clear Water, has ceased to be. Even if she comes fleeing back, only ruins will be left for her to return to.”
“Yes,” the Knight agreed.
“The last thing I ask is that you gather all the refugees for me.” Timothy looked at the horizon over the sea, then calmly said, “Furthermore, any homeless man, rat, bandit, and even the Sandpeople are acceptable. From the battle of Eagle City until today, the dispute in the Southern Territory has never been quietened down, so you should be able to find a large number of refugees living in the surrounding villages and towns. What kinds of methods you use to gather them doesn’t matter, only that before the war against the West begins you will need to provide me with at least 5’000 men.
Garcia’s escape proved the correctness of his strategy, as the ruler of more than half of Graycastle’s population, he should use them to fight against the rebels — under normal circumstances, with a team of 100 Knights leading an army of several thousand commoners, the Knight’s usually wouldn’t even need to participate in the battle. Their only responsibility would be the distribution of the pills and commanding the battle. In front of an enemy who had the advantage of absolute numbers, as long as they unceasingly attacked, the enemy would be unable to resist them. If Garcia had shown an unwavering will and decided to defend Port of Clear Water to the death instead of retreating, she would have been bound to be swallowed up by the masses of people turned mad by the pills.
Now he only had one enemy left, Roland Wimbledon in the western territory.