Free Web NovelChapter 19: Expedition preparation³
After my bath, I got dressed in my pajamas with the maids’ help, and when I returned to my office, I found the files neatly organised and arranged on my desk, whilst Caio greeted me.
"I hope the bath pleased you, young master."
I nodded to him and sat down in my chair, beginning to leaf through the files whilst Caio placed a cup of soothing tea and a plate of pastries on my desk.
I began to eat, resting my chin on my hand as I perused the papers before me. I hate anything called official paperwork , especially military reports, because most of those who write them have a supernatural talent for turning even the most thrilling battles into boring pages about ’supply movements’, ’the effectiveness of transport lines’ and ’casualty figures’. Can’t they write it like a novel? I’m sure I sent them one of the best action novelists I know! Why can’t they make proper use of their human resources?? That man’s domain was literally called the world of stories!
Hah... But as you can see, there’s nothing I can do about it. And since I’ve got myself into this mess by going off to battle, I’d better read this stuff if I want to prove to that man that I’m competent and reliable!
So I took a quick look at the file titles in front of me
🔘Organisation of the resumption of the expedition beyond the Frozen Sea.🔘
🔘Reports on the Black Snow City – Vhaldr🔘 ƒreewebɳovel.com
🔘Soldier Information – 1,000 soldiers.🔘
🔘knights Information – 90 knights.🔘
🔘CODE765312\Confidential Information – Information on 10 Requiemknights.🔘
My eyes lingered on the last file, slightly taken aback.
Well...
That’s surprising... and certainly not a small number.
As I mentioned, Requiem Knights are not merely an elite force... they can confidently be called the true strength within the Ducal Army. This alone shows me just how much the Duke cares about this Expedition ... Hah... I really shouldn’t mess things up now that I’ve spoken up and caused all this chaos by going...
No, actually, if it’s that important, why did this man, who suffers from a split personality, agree to let me lead this Expedition in the first place?! I, who have no experience of real combat, let alone leading a terrifying battle like this!
Is it perhaps because the success rate of this Expedition doesn’t even exceed 00.1%? But if the Duke really wants to send me to my death, why is he sending ten of the Requiem Knights– with me?
he is certainly good at making one feel confused, even by his own decisions.
Huh...
I put the rest aside and opened the least important one, though at the same time it could be considered the most important for some reason, according to my teacher in the theoretical military lessons.
Soldier Information
The file contained the names of the thousand soldier, their origins, even their ages, a brief profile of their families, and the weapons they use
Although some of them have acquired abilities from there domains, you can’t really consider them anything special, because if they had something special, they would have become knights or been in more elite forces
Take Claudio Spiro here, for example. He has the ability to turn himself into a statue.
Perhaps he could have been the perfect spy, but the problem is that he has to breathe to stay alive – which means a breathing statue. So there’s no point in using him as a spy, or perhaps the Duke sent him off long ago as a gift to the Emperor or the Second Prince!
But according to the text here, this ability of his saved him about 27 times in battles where he pretended to be a statue and held his breath, and no one noticed him... Well, you could say he’s a bit of a lucky man because none of the enemy ever wondered why there was a statue on the battlefield... Well, perhaps because most of the battles he took part in were against monsters.
Just forget about him...
I sat memorising the information whilst eating whatever Caio put on my desk from time to time
I locked myself in my room, reviewing and memorising the files for three days, and I’ve actually memorised everything about the 1,100 soldiers and knights in my future army
Lying on my bed with my head hanging down, I stared blankly at the penultimate file – Organisation of the resumption of the expedition beyond the Frozen Sea.
I skimmed through it with a touch of boredom because I simply no longer had the desire to read or memorise anything
I found nothing of interest, just an explanation of the nature of the region, the creatures inhabiting it and those one might encounter, a description of the race of magicians and methods and advice for fighting them or escaping them when confronted, and even several notable ruins, some of which were warned against due to their danger and others marked with a symbol - looted, etc., etc.
But I paused for a moment, frowned, then sat up straight and looked intently when I found several folded pages with hand-drawn maps of the lands beyond the Frozen Sea... not general or incomplete maps
The first contained a complete map of what the Duchy calls the Fallen Kingdom
and the second one showed the secret passages and hideaways throughout the Kingdom
The third was a detailed map of the royal capital
And strangest of all was the fourth map, which contained a blueprint of the royal palace itself, along with the routes to the royal vaults, the secret passages and chambers within the palace, and how to reach them safely
Now... it’s clear I was right in all my assumptions—even the Duke has admitted, at least in part, that the Duchess wasn’t just some lost peasant girl who happened to be sleeping on the frozen sea, waiting to snare a Duke who would turn her into a princess
Hmm. Well, what can I say? The Duchess of Askelund, Perdita Askelund, was a woman whom the mind could only imagine as being of noble lineage. There was even a time when the former Empress ordered that she be barred from attending any of the parties she herself would be attending, due to her excessive beauty and elegance.
She had such an influence in the world of ladies that when the fashion and elegance of those days are mentioned, they are named after her: the ’Perditan Era’, when women and girls became obsessed with her, with what she wore, and with the way she cared for her skin and hair.
commoner girls took her as a role model because, to them, she was a commoner who had risen to the rank of duchess and was strong and beautiful enough to silence the arrogance of all the noblewomen
On the other hand, as for the noble ladies who were fed up with intrigues and games, they were never fooled by her claim that she was a commoner, especially knowing how difficult it was to learn etiquette, manners and everything else; as for the commoner girls, they could not even imagine that there were rules just for breathing and sitting!
Therefore, they never viewed her as a peasant or a man-hunter; rather, they were more concerned with her skincare and haircare routines, to the extent that even the Empress was forced to concede to her in this regard. but they did not mind a little gossip and idle chatter to speculate on her true origins!
She is literally the only woman whose elegance and beauty no one would dare to question; so much so that many conspiracy theories circulated about her being the Emperor’s secret daughter at the time, and some still believe these theories to this day. Even I, for a while, had my doubts, but I dismissed the idea after little Eve caught my attention.
It cannot be that both parents of the tragic heroine are merely normal people.
Since the Duke is just a normal person, that means the legendary figure with the mysterious background must be the Duchess!
And now look at this beautiful thing before me.
Are you telling me that our Duchy is magnificent enough to have gathered all this information? If they really could access the secret passages and rooms in the royal palace, why didn’t just loot it!! freewebnovёl.ƈom
So it’s quite clear that this information came from a different source, and the only legendary figure I can think of is the Duchess of Askelund
because it’s obvious that the person who drew these maps... or at least the one who provided the information, is someone who lived there and knew every geographical detail of that kingdom by heart. This also explains why the Duke is so interested in that kingdom’s legacy, because it is his children’s inheritance!
And perhaps that is also why he wanted one of us, Perdita’s children, to go there!
So the question is,
who was Perdita Askelund really?
A princess or a queen of that kingdom?
Why did the kingdom fall, why did she flee it, and how did she survive?
In the end, I think the best decision I made was volunteering to go there
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(A\N):
By the way, I’ve changed the name of the Duke’s third son from Marius to Julian.
