The Water Magician

Royal Castle Palace, King's Office.

"Why are they still entrenched there?"

He did not shout.

A small, but sharp voice filled with annoyance was uttered.

The speaker was King Raymond.

"The reason is quite..."

The one responding was King Raymond's right-hand man, Count Park Fletcher of Kirkhouse.

"Moreover, the blazing flame mage is capturing cities in the East one after another!"

"Yes..."

King Raymond continued to voice his frustration, while Parker could only nod in agreement.

Oscar and the imperial mage brigade's advance speed was far beyond expectations.

Who could have predicted that a magical unit of barely a hundred would take a city every two days?

And yet, their own losses were almost zero!

"Is that even possible!" King Raymond had shouted that in his mind countless times.

However, the biggest issue lay elsewhere.

"Why are they capturing cities in the East? The treaty with the Empire clearly states, 'No territorial or city cessions.' The cities they capture will belong to us... why are they capturing them..."

Indeed, the treaty established with the Empire before the war stated that the cities and territories captured through war would be transferred to King Raymond.

The royal capital was strategically vital, which necessitated the Empire's army to sacrifice in order to capture it. And they had succeeded.

Subsequent investigations reported that there were other reasons for wanting to capture the royal capital, but ultimately, those attempts hadn't gone well.

In any case, the royal capital made sense.

However, as for the other cities... even if the Empire's army struggled to capture them, they would eventually be ceded to King Raymond.

There was no reason to capture them.

"And how far do they intend to advance..."

The area around the royal capital remained loyal to Raymond, so the imperial mage brigade passed through unhindered, capturing Stone Lake and Wingston along the Second Avenue.

Both were crucial cities in the East, with Wingston being the largest city in that region.

Reports also indicated that they had forced the surrender of Duke Arwin of Shrewsbury, a great noble and a member of the royal family.

How far would they go, even to subjugate such a great noble?

Neither King Raymond nor Parker could grasp the intentions of the blazing flame mage, Oscar.

While the two remained clueless about Oscar's motives, a new report came in.

"I report that the imperial army's mage brigade has captured the city of Slanzewi in the Eastern Kingdom."

"Slanzewi?"

King Raymond grimaced at the report.

Until now, they had been advancing eastward along the Second Avenue, capturing Stone Lake and Wingston.

Now, suddenly, they had moved south to Slanzewi.

Indeed, Slanzewi was the second largest city in the East after Wingston.

Moreover, when the roh bridge was still standing, the eastern highway connecting Slanzewi, the roh bridge, and Run boasted significant trade volume throughout the kingdom.

However, since the collapse of the roh bridge and the deterioration of security in the East, Slanzewi's status had considerably declined.

After all, it was the "fire" at the Lord's Manor and armory in Slanzewi that had ignited the eastern civil war, leading to the replacement of the lord, the death of the knight commander, and the power grab by the vice commander. Consequently, Slanzewi's name now held a very negative image among the kingdom's nobility.

In any case, the two could not understand why the imperial army would want to capture such a Slanzewi.

While they were aware of the existence of the "black powder," they did not know that it was only produced in the East and stored in Slanzewi.

Ignorance is a sin.

This holds true for those in positions of responsibility.

After leaving King Raymond's office, Parker was approached by a subordinate.

"Your Excellency, just now, the knight order's garrison was attacked."

"Rebels! They attacked before... But now, isn't the imperial army's main base located there? Do the rebels have enough strength to assault the main base?"

The knight order's garrison was once the location of the Royal Knight Order's base, where the former knight commander Bacala was killed during the upheaval in the royal capital.