Chapter 26: A Bold Plan – Part 1

Like most of the early towns in the territory of Hylfanis, Esock was located in a clever and compact spot—surrounded by steep cliffs on all sides. With its gabled rooftops and artificial excavations taking advantage of the terrain, two-thirds of the sky above Esock was blocked, creating a jar-like structure.

Later, due to housing needs, the town was reduced several times, leaving no square at all. The houses stood densely packed, often connected by multiple levels, giving it a very chaotic appearance.

Under Neos’ orders, Star 745 ignored these issues. First, Nyi rode a giant rhinoceros to charge through the area, while the more sturdy structures were dealt with by siege spiders. Then, Hes used earth magic to shake the ruins, and the warriors used whatever tools they had to clean up the mess. Green finally suppressed the dust and rain, completely destroying half of the town.

With this open space, the caravan members and livestock could be housed in the earthen ovens built around the cliffs, and thus the group settled down.

Meanwhile, Elan and Korkar were tasked with dealing with the wandering spirits and ghosts in the area. In a town like Esock, which had been ravaged by bloodshed, there were bound to be many vengeful spirits. Although the caravan members weren’t weak-willed enough to be harmed by such things, nightmares and disturbances were inevitable. Elan and Korkar, who specialized in spiritual matters, found it easy to perform rituals to release the spirits—doing good deeds, and of course, it also benefited them.

During this process, Korkar became a bit greedy and thought about taking over Esock’s cemetery. He thought, “I wonder if the dark forces have already interfered. With the situation so bad now, it’s better to help people rather than turn evil.”

When Korkar suggested this to Elan, she agreed readily. It was a rare opportunity, and she wanted to see if she could gain a few more guards.

But before they could find suitable spirits, they found a living person first.

“Someone must have deep hatred to do such a thing,” Elan said, looking at the unassuming hollow tubes buried in the ground. They were clearly used for ventilation. The person had likely been buried in a coffin, but the perpetrators left such tubes—insufficient for comfort and barely allowing breathing—clearly to torture them.

Elan wanted to call someone to dig them out right away, but the horseman Korkar was cautious. “What if we misunderstand and release some monster?”

Elan pointed at the midday sun. “I hope it’s a monster!”

“That’s not right. We should inform the captain.”

Elan thought, “You’ve been successfully brainwashed by Simon—something like this requires reporting to higher-ups.” Though she thought so, she still agreed to report it. After all, the person in charge wouldn’t mind waiting a little longer.

When Neo received the news, he was seemingly leisurely sitting on a thick wooden stool in front of an earthen kiln, roasting snake meat under a broad-leaf tree. Dark corrupting forces seeped into the land, preventing crops from growing well, while poisonous insects like scorpions, centipedes, and snakes thrived in abundance. At first, the soldiers of Star 745 were hesitant to eat them due to their grotesque appearance, but Neo’s absurd theory that “the more poisonous, the more nourishing” successfully convinced them. From then on, various poisonous insects became common on the tables of Star 745. Surprisingly, they were delicious, and the soldiers said they felt warmth in their lower backs after eating them—what a sensation, only men could understand it.

Due to the growth of his flesh-and-blood armor, Neo had an enormous appetite and often needed extra meals, which the members of the caravan had long since gotten used to. He threw a piece of golden, greasy roasted snake into his mouth and chewed on it bone and all, while quickly figuring out what was going on.

“Town residents? Unlikely! Even if they were clever enough, they probably wouldn’t have the time.”

“People from the dark forces? That’s also unlikely. If they wanted to torture someone, they’d have plenty of ways to do it without going through such trouble. Besides, the monsters came to Esock for a ‘feast,’ so they probably won’t cause any complications.”

“Then only the regular army remains. They passed by here after the dark forces…”

Neo had a rough idea of what was going on. He took a few people with him to investigate personally, without notifying Green.

When the coffin was carried out by the soldiers and the lid was lifted, one of them immediately recognized the person’s identity from their clothing and insignia.

“Captain, it’s a general!” the soldier turned and shouted at Neo.

Neo, who was standing further back, grunted and stepped forward to take a closer look.

The person in the coffin was very weak and hadn’t seen light for a long time. When the coffin was suddenly opened, tears streamed from their eyes even though they were closed, but they were overjoyed to be rescued, appearing agitated and disheveled.

“General, please calm down. You’re very weak right now, and your body might not withstand excessive excitement. We are a joint force from the Sky Temple of Refuge Valley Town and the Elemental Tower. You’re safe now. You need to recover…”

The words were polite and appropriate, but in such a situation, Neo wouldn’t follow the usual course of action. He wouldn’t just heal this high-ranking official and then what? Put him on display?

In just a short time, Neo made a decisive decision. Taking advantage of the person’s unstable state of mind and excitement, he ordered Nancy to use hypnosis to peek into their memories, then used a highly concealed method to make them faint.

Neo ordered that the general be carried into the earthen kiln and, as usual, sent someone to call Green for treatment.

Green, who had just woken up from his lunch break, was surprised upon seeing the general. “It’s General Shegridden! This confirms beyond doubt that there’s a rebellion in the Aidalara army.”

By now, Neo had already begun receiving relevant information from Nancy, but he put on a good show, expressing appropriate surprise. In Hylfanis, not to mention those who worked in the military, even ordinary people and citizens knew very few about Shegriden—after all, there were only five generals in the entire region, three of whom commanded local regular troops, and Shegriden was one of them. Even on ordinary days, over 3,000 soldiers followed his orders.

“The briefing says General Shegriden is the second-in-command of Operation Aedala. It’s quite astonishing that he ended up in such a place. The dark forces’ infiltration into local military and political affairs has reached such extreme levels!” After casting a healing spell on Shegriden, Green began chatting with Neo in the outer room.

Green’s healing spell could repair damaged tissue cells and restore physical strength, but it had no effect on consciousness. Whether Shegriden would regain consciousness depended almost entirely on Neo’s will. Unaware of this, Green thought it was normal for Shegriden’s consciousness to recover slowly after suffering greatly trapped in a coffin, and he insisted on waiting with Neo for him to wake up.

“Amazing… Hmph…” Neo disdained Shegriden’s character. Just as many seemingly random events have underlying inevitable factors, Shegriden was a typical case of reaping what he sowed. He slept with his twin brother’s wife, and when his brother came to confront him, in a fit of anger, he hired someone to silence him. Soon after, he openly took over his brother’s widow… Throughout this process, although the dark forces played a significant role, Shegriden bore primary responsibility. His corrupt private life was one thing, but he even dragged it into official matters. The so-called trusted subordinates he heavily supported were actually pawns of the dark forces, who turned on him at critical moments, replacing him with his still-living brother who hated him, thus quickly taking control of an army of over 4,000 men.

“Someone!”

The soldier on duty at the door entered, stood at attention with his head held high and heels together, saluting Neo. With Star 745 gradually getting on track and the soldiers’ deep admiration for Neo, this small team gave the impression of being part of a seasoned military force—solemn and strict.

“A temporary military meeting. All officers must attend. Go and notify them immediately.”

Meetings where everyone was required to attend usually meant something very important was being announced. Zankin, Carnito, and the others knew the rules. Upon receiving the notice, they would put aside whatever they were doing and rush to attend. Mages like Green and Hess, along with representatives of spellcraft mages, also attended the meeting.

“Setting foot in Esok now seems like stirring up trouble.” Neo’s speech matched Simon Windwalker’s rough, uneducated style. But Carnito and the others were already used to this style and found it easier to understand.

As for Green and the others, they found the language vulgar, but the content was not—indeed, it had never been vulgar. Even this time, as soon as Neo spoke, they vaguely realized some issues.

Nio continued, “Well-planned and intricately linked—use such adjectives for this incident yourselves. Use your imagination. If even General Shegriden could be captured, what about the other links?”
“…” Everyone did think about it, but no one spoke up, knowing it wasn’t necessary. Usually, when Nio said this, a conclusion had already been reached.
“There’s a saying,” Nio offered a formula: “The blacksmith dies, the horseshoes break, the warhorse falls, the knight perishes, the battle is lost, and the nation is destroyed.”
After saying that, Nio waited a moment before adding, “What I’m trying to say is, we usually hope that bad things happen one at a time, but in reality, it’s always a series of nightmares. Dark forces infiltrating the army—this is almost certainly not a simple incident. The raid on Aedala drew in the army, trapping them in this remote place due to internal chaos.” He pointed to Aedala on the magical map. “And then? What happens if that army becomes a bait that must be rescued?”
Nio pointed to the three towns of Asya, Refuge Valley, and Plavang, then roughly indicated the path to Aedala. “Cut off reinforcements while attacking the main force. At the same time, what can those three towns do once their military strength is depleted?”
“…” Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
Nio then called a halt. “That’s enough. My goal isn’t to scare you. Besides, this is just my personal bold prediction. What I’m saying is, this could be a major event—one that has already begun but hasn’t fully erupted. Even if the enemy isn’t aware that we’ve rescued General Shegriden, they’ll still be disturbed by our small group, which wasn’t supposed to make a difference. Because Esock is their sensitive nerve, at least for those who buried Shegriden here alive.”
After everyone processed this information, Nio continued, “You might ask how our enemies can receive information so quickly.”
Nio answered himself, “I sent a request for help the night before last, and almost verbatim, that message was passed on to those fighting us the next night. This is the efficiency I usually ask everyone to achieve. Right now, the enemy is better at this than we are.”
“Involved in such a major event, I can no longer rely solely on keeping information secret. After all, even if the traitors in the Temple are already aware, sending reinforcements still involves negotiating with the governor of Refuge Valley and the military. And then? General Shegriden’s fate is already a good example.”
“So…” Nio glanced at each of them. “Although all of this is a combination of assumptions, speculations, and conspiracy theories, I still ask everyone—how was that phrase again? To be ready for battle at all times! Yes, that’s the word. We don’t know if what awaits us is reinforcements or the enemy. We can’t even be sure if everything in Refuge Valley is normal and if they can still send reinforcements. I demand that everyone be prepared for battle. We must consider the worst-case scenario—Esock might become a graveyard once again. I think burying some traitors and villains this time would be worth the suffering of Esock. What do you think?”

It’s a guess, but not far off. Though he’s obtained more information from Shegridden to help make judgments, he’s still far from being 100% certain about anything. Nio simply put himself in the other party’s shoes.
He wondered if Hylfanes’ local forces were easy prey for the dark forces. No—more like tough muscle. Given the dark forces’ situation, they had no chance of winning through conventional tactics or attrition against the three major factions. They had to take risky actions, deliver devastating blows in quick succession—just like capturing Idara—by striking suddenly and eliminating any one of the three major towns. That would drastically change Hylfanes’ entire situation. What would Frey’s Freedom Wings do then? The massive losses would already be incurred.
If this assumption held true, then their side was undoubtedly stepping into the eye of the storm, or becoming the thorn stuck in the monster’s throat before it devours vast amounts of flesh—something that must be removed. Especially since they sent messages from Idara before fully controlling its army and stationed large amounts of supplies on the edge of the enemy lines, which meant they had supplies ready even before deploying troops. Now, they might even have Shegridden as a variable…
“No great achievements, no honors; no honors, no way to rise quickly.” A sharp glint appeared in Nio’s eyes. “It’s the right time, the right place. If you’re the mouth of a python, I’ll be the red scorpion sting. Don’t give me time to catch my breath, or else…” After the meeting, Nio stared at Shegridden, who seemed like a plant, as a bold plan took shape in his mind.
“Nancy, use the information from Shegridden to find out about the middle and senior officers in his army. I don’t want his personal evaluations—just his impressions of how these people usually behave.” Nio didn’t trust Shegridden’s ability to judge people, but he believed Shegridden’s army wasn’t completely “dead,” after all, it wasn’t his personal property.