"Keep chasing. Don't let them regroup," Rosen ordered, still on high alert. Though the expeditionary army had scattered like frightened birds, many mid- and lower-ranking officers were still alive. If given time to recover, they could reorganize the remnants, forcing Rosen's side into a passive position. The battle would take time, but he couldn't afford a stalemate over a single fortress.
"Leave it to me," Vick replied confidently. Commanding the city garrison to crush fleeing enemies was an easy task for him.
"Take these prisoners back. See if any are worth keeping," Rosen said calmly.
The night pursuit raged until dawn, ending only when the routed soldiers fled to nearby fortresses. With the forces at Valos Fortress already divided, taking another fortress was nearly impossible. The pursuit had gone far enough.
"What kind of joke is this? An army of eighty thousand failed to take Valos Fortress and was instead hunted down overnight?!" The nobles who sheltered the retreating troops were shocked after hearing what had happened. It completely shattered their understanding of the situation.
Was Valos Fortress some kind of death trap? Even if it were, this outcome was beyond belief.
The war had barely begun, yet the expeditionary army had already suffered devastating losses.
As the nobles gathered more reports, the information was confirmed: Captain James had been captured alive. The news spread quickly—an event certain to reshape the fate of the entire Andia Kingdom.
"The giant warrior was captured alive? Now he's being used as forced labor? That monster of strength has fallen to the Valos Fortress!"
"What?! The expeditionary army is annihilated?!" The king was stunned by the report. He had been waiting for victory, but within a single day of fighting, his army had collapsed. Regardless of how it happened, the result was utter defeat—proof of his forces' incompetence.
Rage and panic followed. The king immediately realized this would ignite an uncontrollable political storm.
The next royal conscription confirmed it: over thirty percent of the nobles claimed they had lost too many men to offer further aid. Another twenty percent provided troops, but far fewer than required. Only half the nobles met the requested numbers—and even then, the quality was abysmal, many soldiers being mere laborers.
Those "builders" were usually cannon fodder. Only under capable leaders like Sparks could they resist trained soldiers. Otherwise, they stood no chance in direct combat.
"Report! Child Fortress has just fallen to the rebels from Valos! The marquis was killed, and the rest have surrendered!" Another message arrived, shaking the already furious king.
"Useless fools! How can a single fortress turn the world upside down? Even if Duke Valos were still alive, he couldn't achieve this! And now his mere successor has cost me so dearly! Alen, bring me Alexia's head—now!" The king roared, sending even his personal guards into the fray.
"Your Majesty, if I leave, the assassins lurking in the shadows could strike at you. It would be fatal," Alen replied evenly.
The king's expression shifted several times before he restrained himself. In the end, no one's life was more precious than his own.
"Mobilize the royal and noble armies to crush every fortress defying my rule. Permit them to use builders as the vanguard," he commanded helplessly. Even the troops meant to attack the Blova Fortress had to be recalled. The priority now was containing Valos Fortress and shrinking its territory.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Thus, instead of subsiding, the war only expanded with each localized victory.
"We now control three fortresses," Rosen said during a meeting. "Send Valos's builders to help fortify the others. Spread the ideology—if all builders receive the same treatment, our forces will grow like a snowball. But don't let them grasp too much power. Without virtue and restraint, it'll spiral out of control."
"Understood."
After their first major victory, Rosen gathered his forces and struck swiftly at the nearest fortress—Child Fortress—capturing it within a short time.
Compared to Valos, Child Fortress was weak, a soft target. Taking it gave Xia enough strength to stand as an equal power, a fact that would alarm the nobles—but also entice the ambitious ones, giving them an excuse to delay aiding the king.
"Fifteen hundred Lantis warriors are enough to control Child Fortress?" Rosen asked Alice.
"Plenty," she replied confidently. "We just need to control key figures and maintain a strike force. The builders will become our strength."
"Good. Then we hold for now," Rosen said, studying the map of Andia. "Once we withstand the royal army's counterattack, we move to the next phase."
If they could defend all three fortresses and earn the support of both builders and commoners, their growth would snowball.
After all, even if the Andia Kingdom outwardly obeyed the world nobles, its foundation would rest on a new order. Destruction alone was not the goal.
"Report! Emergency! The city wall has been breached!" A Lantis guard burst in mid-meeting.
"The wall?! How many royal soldiers?!" Everyone was stunned. Valos Fortress was far sturdier than most—how could it fall so suddenly? Was it a special ability? A massive army?
"Only one man!"
"One man?!"
"Yes! According to the pirates, it's the world's greatest swordsman—Hawkeye Mihawk!"
"What's going on? Has Hawkeye made some kind of deal with the king or a noble? He's broken through our wall for no reason—his intentions can't be good." Rosen frowned deeply.
Their hard-won stability was now at risk. Hawkeye's arrival turned everything unpredictable.
He was a mysterious man, and Rosen knew little of his past. Perhaps he had ties to the Andia Kingdom.
But the real problem was—if the world's greatest swordsman truly came for Valos Fortress, who could possibly stop him?
(End of Chapter)