Chapter 441: We Don’t Need An Armchair Strategist

Leone’s Territory Mission was to prevent the enemy from advancing to the Borderlands.

Their time limit was a week.

The mission would be deemed a failure if the enemy reached the territory of the Aslan Tribe.

After Daedalus calculated the distance between the Aslan Tribe and the Stoneguard Fortress, the young chieftain learned that the distance between the two spanned a hundred miles.

With this in mind, Leone had built a fortress thirty miles away from Stoneguard Fortress.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this was their first line of defense.

But before getting there, the Britannian Army would have to first cross a deep gorge spanning two hundred meters to reach the other side.

This was one of the aftermaths of the previous war between the barbarians and the Kingdom of Britannia.

At that time, they had been up against Gundar’s Spirit Warrior, which changed the topography of the land.

The one who had faced the shaman then was a powerhouse of the Kingdom of Britannia with about the same strength.

The two fought a one-on-one battle, with Gundar gradually gaining the upper hand. In the end, the powerhouse of the Kingdom of Britannia fled to save his life, forcing their army to retreat.

It was history, and the destruction from their battle remained to this day.

However, Leone had made things more problematic for the current Britannian Army.

He had asked Lord Azar to widen the length of the gorge from east to west, forcing the enemy to take a long detour, which would eat up a lot of their time.

Aside from that, the young man also did something quite amusing.

What was that?

He made a bridge!

He asked Daedalus to make the bridge look as rugged as it could, making it look like it had been there for a very long time.

He also made sure that the bridge, made of hard rock, was wide enough for military wagons, allowing them to move side by side with enough room to spare.

Sure, this bridge looked very suspicious, and everyone would think that it was a trap.

But even so, it was a very tempting way to cross to the other side without wasting time.

Despite Otto’s harassment, the Britannian Army managed to travel nearly twenty miles during their march and arrived upon the bridge.

It was already starting to get dark, so they prepared their camp hundreds of meters away from the gorge and the bridge.

The leaders of the campaign then had a meeting on what they would do the next day.

"We need to take a detour," Duran said calmly. "It is very obvious that the bridge is a trap."

Vogel nodded. "I agree with you. We should take a detour."

"And how long will this detour take?" The Royal Inquisitor frowned. "Half a day? A day? We are on a tight schedule here. Can’t you just ask the mages to double-check the bridge if it’s faulty?"

The two generals glared at the Royal Inquisitor in response, making him flinch. However, remembering that he had the backing of the King, he glared back at them.

"What?!" the Royal Inquisitor asked. "Are you thinking that my proposal is wrong?!"

"Listen, you might be His Majesty’s representative, but we are the ones tasked to lead this campaign," Duran replied. "We don’t need an armchair strategist to tell us what to do!"

"Y-You!" The Royal Inquisitor’s face reddened with anger and shame after being ridiculed by the general.

"Both of you, please calm down," Vogel commented from the side before shifting his attention back to the Royal Inquisitor. "Just as General Duran said, we are the ones tasked by His Majesty to lead this war. That means that even you need to follow our orders."

"Preposterous!" The Royal Inquisitor scoffed at those words. "I only obey the King’s orders. Both of you have no right to command me!"

Duran and the Royal Inquisitor glared at each other.

Frankly, Vogel was very tempted to smack the living sh*t out of the bastard, who only wanted to cross the bridge to save time.

His instincts were telling him that the bridge was a trap, and he would rather take a long detour than play into the enemy’s hands.

"Hmph! I don’t care if you want to take a detour or not," the Royal Inquisitor stated. "The Royal Guards and I will be crossing that bridge tomorrow no matter what. Make sure that we are properly escorted by at least a thousand men. I will prove all of you wrong!"

Without even waiting for the two generals’ reply, the Royal Inquisitor left the tent and returned to his own quarters.

"If only you weren’t the Royal Inquisitor, I would have already snapped your neck in half," Duran muttered in irritation. "That bastard will throw the army into disarray."

Vogel nodded in agreement. However, they really couldn’t order the Royal Inquisitor because he answered to their King alone.

"So, what shall we do?" Vogel asked. "Will we send a thousand men to accompany him to the other side?"

Vogel clicked his tongue before crossing his arms over his chest. That bridge was clearly screaming, "I am a trap!" But, since they couldn’t let the Royal Inquisitor walk to his death, they would have to send a thousand-man escort to keep them safe.

After pondering for a while, Duran came to a decision. "Let Dominic and his men serve as their escorts. The rest will be made up of Marco and his men."

Vogel frowned but didn’t oppose Duran’s idea.

Dominic and his men were elite magic knights. Although they had lost their Gryphons, they were still powerful knights in their own right.

As for Marco and his men? Vogel was no longer surprised that Duran had once again planned to use them to do dangerous things.

But since someone needed to do the job, the Vermilion Bird General decided that he would just watch from the side and see what would happen.

"Tomorrow, let’s order the Earth Mages to check if the bridge is strong enough to allow soldiers and wagons to cross over it," Vogel proposed.

"Both of us believe this is a trap. However, we should at least make sure that it’s safe to cross, or we would be punished if something ever happens to the Royal Inquisitor."

General Duran scoffed back, but he didn’t oppose the idea. He knew that Vogel was right. If they didn’t even try to form a compromise with the Royal Inquisitor, the latter might badmouth them in front of their King, which would make things difficult for them.

The night passed without any incident, much to the relief of the soldiers.

The following morning, the Royal Inquisitor woke up early and immediately ordered his escort to prepare for the crossing after having breakfast.

As planned, the Earth Mages first inspected the bridge from both sides and confirmed that its rocky structure was more than sturdy enough to support the weight of the soldiers and the military wagons.

"Hmph! I told you there was nothing to worry about," the Royal Inquisitor said smugly as he mounted his horse.

Duran and Vogel watched from a distance as Dominic led his elite magic knights onto the bridge, followed by Marco and seven hundred of the Frontera Family’s private army.

The bridge remained completely still as the first hundred men crossed it, with not even the slightest crack appearing beneath their feet.

"Continue," the Royal Inquisitor ordered, clearly pleased with himself.

Soon, the entire escort began crossing the gorge, with the Royal Inquisitor and his Royal Guards positioned safely at the center of the formation.

Duran narrowed his eyes as he watched the massive stone bridge, convinced that something would happen as the soldiers crossed over it.

Yet, despite his suspicions, nothing happened. The soldiers continued moving toward the other side without encountering any danger to their lives.

In the end, the Royal Inquisitor, his Royal Guards, Dominic, Marco, as well as the rest of the men, all crossed the bridge safely and arrived on the other side of the gorge.

"See?" the Royal Inquisitor shouted. "I told you there is nothing wrong with this bridge. Now, what do you have to say for yourself, General Duran?"

The general remained calm, but deep inside, he was also wavering.

He wasn’t the only one either. Even Vogel was starting to think that it would be a good idea to cross the bridge to save time instead of making a long detour that would take them several hours to half a day to complete.

While all of this was happening, a lone squirrel was casually munching on some nuts on top of a tree branch.

Just as the Royal Inquisitor was thinking that the two generals were dumb, Blitz was actually rejoicing over the fact that there was a dumb high-ranking official within the ranks of the Britannian Army helping its Master execute his nefarious plan.

Of course, the chances of this happening were low.

But now that the seeds of doubt had been planted within the two generals’ minds, the little possibility of Leone’s plan succeeding was increasing with every passing minute.