On the city wall, a soldier twitched his mouth and asked, "My Lord, are we just going to ignore them?"
Aiden said evenly, "Pay them no mind. It would be for the best if they attack us; then we won't have to find an excuse to provoke a war."
He recalled what Lucas had written in his letter—that the soldiers needed to experience defending a city as well. They would treat this as a live-combat drill.
And so, the two forces—one inside the city and one outside—remained in a stalemate for the better part of the day, all the way until dusk.
"Father, they don't seem to have any intention of talking to us," Tove said somewhat impatiently.
"As expected of a petty noble from a remote backwater; even his knights are so insolent," Kerrac said with a gloomy face.
"Then what do we do now, Father? We've been waiting here for a long time. Every time we ask, they just say their knight captain is busy," Tove complained, full of grievances.
"Let's go. It seems we need to formulate a new plan," Kerrac waved his hand, signaling them to retreat for now.
Clop, clop, clop...
Kerrac's group retreated toward the place they had camped last night.
"Captain Aiden, they've retreated," A soldier said with a grin.
"Let them go. They will definitely be back," Aiden said, a faint smile on his lips.
"Whoa..." Kerrac's group reined in their warhorses, stopping within the forest they had garrisoned the night before.
"Father..." Before Tove could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Kerrac.
"Go arrange the camp first. Although we camped here last night, do not let your guard down. Look around carefully for any potential dangers," Kerrac waved his hand and fell deep into thought.
The sky had turned completely dark. Tove arranged the campsite, adding a few more knights to the night watch.
Inside the main tent, Kerrac and Tove were eating dinner.
"Father, what do we do now? A forced assault?" Tove put down his dry roasted meat.
"No, I do not wish to waste too much of our forces on Liberty City," Duke Kerrac shook his head.
He hadn't forgotten that his greatest enemy was the First Prince; Lucas wasn't even a blip on his radar. Furthermore, Liberty City wouldn't be that easy to breach.
"Right, Father. Were you planning to use Lucy as a bargaining chip yesterday?" Tove suddenly recalled their conversation from the day before.
"Use Lucy as a chip? No, the best bargaining chip is Catherine," Duke Kerrac narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Catherine? Marry Catherine off to that lowly noble?" Tove's eyes widened, looking at his father in disbelief.
"Don't be so anxious, this is merely a negotiation. Just because I don't want to waste troops here doesn't mean I'll be stingy with them at Sedona City," Kerrac said with a laugh.
"I understand now! Father, you want to conserve our forces by deceiving them into thinking we'll marry Catherine to Lucas, just so they'll let us into Liberty City first, right?" Tove said excitedly.
"Are you that happy about it?" Kerrac glared at Tove.
Tove sheepishly lowered his head, then quickly added, "Father, I'll go on patrol."
"..." Watching Tove leave, Kerrac sighed, "It seems he still needs a few more years of tempering. He is completely inadequate."
...
Liberty City, inside the main hall of the city lord's Mansion.
"Captain Aiden, they are resting in the same forest as last night," A scouting soldier reported.
"They aren't making any moves, are they?" Aiden asked.
"No. They've increased their hidden sentries quite a bit, so we subordinates didn't dare get too close," The scout continued.
"Good. Keep having people watch them. Send word back immediately if there's any news," Aiden waved his hand, signaling him to step down.
"Yes." The soldier immediately withdrew.
"Let's see who can hold out longer." Aiden quietly looked at the map in his hands. If he were to send people out to attack... It was a pity they needed to train the troops.
...
Before the sky had even fully brightened, Duke Kerrac's group was already awake.
"We must enter Liberty City today," Kerrac said in a deep voice.
"Yes, the brigade is ready and can move out at any time," Tove said.
"Then let's go." After saying that, Kerrac boarded his carriage.
Clop, clop, clop...
It took over three hours today before Kerrac's brigade once again arrived before Liberty City. The city gates were still shut tight.
"Who goes there?" The knights on the wall were exactly the same as yesterday, drawing their bows and aiming their arrows squarely at Kerrac and his men.
"It's still us. Yesterday your knight captain was far too busy to see us. We've come again today; go and announce our arrival," Tove shouted, suppressing his anger.
"Wait a moment," A soldier replied.
Aiden was standing on the city wall, just like yesterday. He still had no intention of seeing them today.
Seeing the soldier walking over to report, Aiden immediately waved his hand and said, "Just say I'm still busy and tell them to wait."
"Yes," The soldier said respectfully.
He returned to the wall, poked his head out, and shouted to Tove, "Our captain is still busy today."
"You..." Tove gritted his teeth, swallowing the curses he was about to hurl, then turned and walked to the carriage.
"Father, this subordinate of Lucas's is simply going too far!" Tove cursed angrily.
"He still refuses to see us? It seems we need to think of another way." Kerrac pulled aside the carriage curtain and looked up at the Liberty City wall.
"Is Father going to force an attack?" Tove asked, gripping the sword at his waist. He was incredibly anxious and wanted to vent his frustrations.
"You're simply too reckless. A noble must rely on his brains, not rush into a fight on an impulse. That's something only a brute would do," Kerrac reprimanded him with a hint of annoyance.
"Yes, I know I was wrong," Tove respectfully lowered his head.
Kerrac looked at Tove for a good while before saying evenly, "A knight captain? Then let's bribe him."
"Why would Father bribe this lowly knight?" Tove still didn't understand what his father wanted to do.
"Bribing him doesn't mean I intend to use him. If giving away a noble title or some gold coins can get the job done, then as long as we can get inside, everything else is negotiable," Kerrac sneered.
"Oh? Father wants to bribe him into letting us into the city!" Tove's eyes lit up. Wasn't this the exact same method he used to deceive girls in the past?
"Bring me a quill and a parchment scroll. Since he doesn't want to see us, we'll just deliver the benefits straight to him," Kerrac instructed.
Tove personally fetched the parchment scroll and quill, placing them in front of Kerrac.
Kerrac lowered his head and began to write. The contents of the letter stated his desire to marry Catherine off to Lucas so they could rule the Western Region together. He also wrote down a promise: as long as Aiden opened the gates of Liberty City, he would be given a noble title and a thousand gold coins.
As for the promises written in the letter, whether he actually fulfilled them later was entirely up to him.
"Go. Have someone shoot this parchment scroll onto the city wall with an arrow," Kerrac said, handing the written scroll to Tove.
"Yes," Tove replied respectfully.
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