Chapter 111: The Day War Arrives (2)

In truth, Duke of Dorin, Jelsen Parys, had long anticipated the lackluster performance of the noble private armies from the southern regions of the empire.

If it concerned their own interests, they would all rush forward, eager to curry favor.

But if it had nothing to do with them, they would scatter far away.

Nobles were a group of self-serving individuals, something Duke of Dorin understood well.

However, he had always believed that these nobles at least possessed basic intelligence!

"If the skin is gone, where will the hair attach?"

Did the nobles of the empire's southern frontier really believe that when the northern front fell, they could still remain unaffected?

Ha! Naïve!

Yet...

Under normal circumstances, these noble private armies were not particularly crucial. After all, at any given time, the emperor's imperial soldiers were always the main force in war.

However, this time, although the emperor had taken countermeasures and begun large-scale troop movements within the Norman Empire, none of these forces were directly dispatched to the northern border!

The struggle between the royal family and the Regency Council had never ceased over the years, but in recent times, it had intensified to an unprecedented degree!

The current emperor, Raphael Alexander, had long been displeased with the five old men of the Regency Council. After all, the more the Regency Council expanded its power, the more the emperor's authority was suppressed.

But no matter how he speculated before, Duke of Dorin would have never expected that the emperor's forces would choose to abandon the northern frontier and instead fight the Odin invaders within the empire's interior!

This would cause the noble lords of the northern and inner regions of the empire especially those like Duke of Dorin to suffer tremendous losses, potentially even losing the leverage to contend with the emperor!

In Duke of Dorin's view, if the empire's forces had gathered at the northern border from the very beginning, no matter how fierce the Odin warriors were, they would ultimately be unable to overcome the sheer numbers of the imperial army.

After all, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. No matter how rapidly the Odin Empire had developed in recent years, its national foundation could not yet compare to the Norman Empire, which had occupied the continent's most prosperous lands and thrived for years.

Thus...

Emperor Raphael Alexander was playing an outright strategic gambit!

"You all fight first while I watch from the sidelines. Once you northern nobles and the Odin warriors have fought each other to exhaustion, then I'll send in the imperial army to clean up the mess!"

In this gambit, countless commoners might be enslaved by the Odin invaders, and vast wealth might be plundered. But for Raphael Alexander, this was the perfect opportunity to reclaim the imperial authority he had always dreamed of.

A complete, undivided authority belonging solely to the emperor!

For such power, Raphael Alexander was willing to endure any losses.

However… this "kill a thousand, lose eight hundred" strategy carried an immense risk one misstep, and it would lead to utter disaster!

The thought sent a chill down Duke of Dorin's spine.

If the imperial forces failed to contain the Odin army after the northern border fell…

Would that not mean that he himself would lose his entire domain?

And if that happened, he would undoubtedly become the laughingstock of the empire!

At this point, Duke Dorin had no other choice. His only option was to expend every effort to halt the Odin advance and weaken their military strength.

Previously, Duke of Dorin had little confidence in stopping the Odin forces. After all, their supreme commander, Portia Mariano, was a seasoned general, widely known as the greatest warrior of the Odin Empire.

However, according to reliable intelligence, just days before the war was set to begin, Portia Mariano had been dismissed by the young Odin king!

Not only that, but the young king had appointed himself as the supreme commander of the Odin forces.

Not just Duke of Dorin, but most nobles in the Norman Empire found this utterly laughable!

"Since when does a king appoint himself as a general?"

Thus, after witnessing Odin King Ario O'Sullivan's bizarre maneuver, Duke of Dorin began to feel a faint glimmer of confidence.

Perhaps… if he gave it his all, he could truly keep these foolish Odin warriors outside the empire!

Of course, if the noble private armies he had assembled could hold off the Odin invasion, that would be the ideal outcome. But if they failed...

Then the Regency Council's excessive authority might truly be stripped away...

It was under the looming Odin threat that the northern nobles of the empire unexpectedly united.

Thanks to Duke of Dorin's lobbying in the imperial capital of St. Lawrence and Duke Eric's mobilization in the north, the nobles of the empire's northern frontier formed an alliance of mutual defense.

Private soldiers from different noble households were reorganized and distributed across various fortresses to fill in manpower shortages.

At the same time, many nobles unsealed their long-hidden treasuries, transporting cartloads of gold and grain to the fourteen fortresses at the northern border, praying that their troops could repel the barbarian invaders from the north.

With the full support of the noble estates, the Norman Empire's northern defense forces finally reached a total of over thirty thousand soldiers, barely attaining the strength for a decisive battle...

New Calendar Year 537, May 28

Odin King Ario O'Sullivan formally declared war on the Norman Empire, as tens of thousands of Odin warriors launched fierce assaults on the fourteen northern fortresses of the empire.

Though the Odin forces held a significant numerical advantage, the Norman soldiers, backed by the noble lords and fortified by the strong defensive walls, miraculously withstood the first wave of Odin attacks!

However…

That moment of hope did not last long.

New Calendar Year 537, June 7

A detachment of over ten thousand Odin cavalry, led by none other than Portia Mariano, the dismissed former marshal, bypassed the entire northern defense line by marching southward through the treacherous and trap-laden Monster Forest.

Evading the noble forces' carefully constructed defenses, they penetrated deep into the empire's interior, their spearheads aimed directly at Dorin duchy Territory.

New Calendar Year 537, June 8

Dorin duchy Territory fell.

New Calendar Year 537, June 12

All fourteen northern fortresses of the Norman Empire fell.

The entire garrison twenty thousand imperial soldiers and nearly ten thousand noble private troops was completely annihilated!