Masked Knight

In fact, Rody very much hoped that he could just straightaway lead his troops to attack the Northern Roland Continent. It was not good for tens and thousands of the soldiers to guard the North and just wait for the enemy to attack.

The northern provinces of the Empire were not fertile. The land there was barren and was not suitable for producing food. For centuries, whenever there was a war between the two continents, that location would be the front line. Even if it was not the battlefield frontline, it was still the forward position.

For centuries, these provinces of the Empire were commonly known to the Empire as the war zone.

The Radiant Empire had control of an entire continent. No matter whichever aspect, it was much stronger than any kingdom on the Northern Roland continent. Only a coalition of all the kingdoms on the Roland Continent could compete with the Empire.

For centuries, there were many large and small crusades. Some were conducted during the reign of Abbas the Great. After forming the government for the entire Radiant Continent, the greatest Emperor in the history of the Empire decided to conquer the Northern Continent, the only land not yet conquered.

Unfortunately, Abbas the Great could not unify the two continents. The Lightning God’s Whip could not even stop the valiant armored cavalry of the grasslands. Hence, he could only lament and sigh at the vast ocean.

The Empire’s army was large and strong. The four main armies combined had a full million soldiers. Including all the garrisons from the provinces, the number of soldiers in the Empire reached nearly two million. This number did not include the reserve troops.

The Empire had well-equipped infantry and powerful warriors. There were also brave war warriors under the banner of the Tulip Family and the Radiant Continent’s most powerful cavalry, the Lightning God’s Whip.

However, the Empire had one major weakness — the navy.

Dandong lamented when he was still alive. He said that if the Imperial Navy had half ... no, even only one-third of the strength of the Lightning God’s Whip, then it would not be a dream to conquer the Roland Continent.

Besides its commanders and sailors, the most important advantage of a navy derives from its warships. Unfortunately, the Imperial Navy could only be considered third-rate when compared to its infantry and cavalry. In fact, it was not even third-rate.

Historically, the Radiant Empire had failed in their attacks on the Roland Continent because of its weak navy. These failures happened three times during Abbas the Great’s reign.

During the first attempt, the Empire created a big and powerful navy. Naturally, it was considered ‘powerful’ in the opinion of Abbas the Great. Unfortunately, the cruel reality made the Emperor furious.

The Imperial Navy was almost annihilated in the Strait of Thunder. Very shamefully, the commanding general of the Northern Navy, whom Abbas the Great had placed high hopes on, was captured by the people of Roland.

The second time was a little bit better. Abbas the Great knew he could not rely on the navy and decided to use his powerful cavalries. During that crusade, the Imperial Navy only played the role of a transporter. As the coastline was long, the opponents could not block everywhere. There would be a suitable place for landing. It was history’s largest marine transportation. The people from the Roland Continent sank a few ships. But finally, one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers set foot on the Roland Continent. The Lightning God’s Whip and their horses finally gained a foothold on the Roland Continent!

However, the subsequent situation once again fell into a predicament.

The one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers who landed on the Roland Continent were almost annihilated and only ten thousand soldiers were taken as prisoners of war. The Empire had to pay a huge sum of money to redeem the prisoners.

This time, the Empire lost two hundred thousand elite soldiers. Abbas the Great was undoubtedly very furious. The Strait of Thunder seemed like an impassable natural trench. It steadfastly blocked the Empire cavalry’s progress and protected the Roland continent.

Then for the third crusade, the people of the Roland continent made the mistake of letting their earlier victories go to their head.

After the Empire’s first two failed crusade, the kingdoms in the Northern Roland continent believed that the Empire in the South was not that powerful and finally decided to attack the South.

Their powerful navy sailed unimpeded through the Strait of Thunder and a large number of troops set foot on the Radiant continent. The armies from the coalition of more than a dozen kingdoms sailed south in two groups. They intended to conquer the Southern continent in one fell swoop.

The ocean belonged to the Roland people but the land was still the forte of the Radiant Empire.

During the first two wars, the Empire had lost many brave soldiers and elite cavalrymen. However, the Empire was still strong and powerful. Most importantly the Empire still had the Duke of the Tulip Family.

It was also during the third crusade when the sage Dandong appeared. Nobody knew where this great man appeared from but he had helped the Duke of the Tulip Family to defeat the enemy. He created countless strange weapons during the war, had endless wisdom and also a strange mindset.

After landing, the troops from the Roland continent had traveled far inland. In the end, two of their large armies were defeated by the Duke of the Tulip Family such that they were forced to retreat to the sea. But in that war, although the Empire had eventually repelled the enemy, they could not make up for the disgrace of almost being overthrown in their own land.

The only bright spot was the appearance of Dandong.

The people of the Empire were all guessing as to how Abbas the Great would take revenge on the Roland Continent. After all, even though he was able to conquer the entire Radiant Continent, he was being attacked in his own land. It was the shame that an Emperor would tolerate. Everybody was waiting for him to counter attack.

However, Abbas the Great’s strength lies in his mind. After reflecting on the matter for three days in the palace, he gave the order to stop fighting against the troops on the Roland Continent.

The three failed crusades had caused the Empire to shed too much blood. The natural barrier had prevented the conquest. Until a solution to resolve that problem was found, continuing the war would undoubtedly only be a waste of the precious lives of the Empire’s warriors.

That was why the navy was forever the humiliation of the Empire.

The warships of the Empire’s navy were naturally much much weaker compared to the warships of the Roland Continent. The Roland Continent produced a strange ironwood. Ironwood was different from other woods. It was as hard as iron but as light as ordinary wood. It was undoubtedly the best material for shipbuilding. With that special material, the people of the Roland Continent created the world’s most advanced warships and the most powerful sea fortresses.

Regrettably, that ironwood could not be found on the Radiant Continent.

Historically, the Empire had secretly tried to import those woods but failed. That was because the people in the Roland Continent knew the value of the wood and prevented it from being transported to the South. Of course, through a lot of effort, the Empire still managed to obtain some seeds and seedlings of that tree.

Unfortunately, they were disappointed with the results.

Due to the differences in the climate and soil, the transplanted ironwood trees in the Radiant Continent could not survive. The majority of the trees perished within a month. On the rare occasions that they survived, the quality of the wood was much worse than the ironwood in the North. The amount of wood produced was also greatly reduced.

As a result, the Roland Continent’s proud navy still maintained their undefeated record and remained the king of the Strait of Thunder.

Of course, the things Rody knew were a little different from the historical records.

According to Dandong’s notes, Rody, at the very least, knew that the ironwood trees could be successfully transplanted on the Radiant Continent.

Dandong seemed to have mentioned several methods in his notes. Those methods had strange names like ‘greenhouses’, ‘hydroponics’ and ‘temperature regulation’, etc. Rody could not understand these words.

What surprised Rody, even more, was that Dandong’s notes had an earthshaking revelation. Wood is still wood, however hard it is. What is so great about wooden ships? Give me some time and I would be able to come up with an armored fleet!

Iron?

Ships made of iron?

Rody’s heart was full of doubts as he thought to himself. Things made of iron, when dropped into water will immediately sink. Can iron really be used to build ships?

However, Dandong had already created a series of miracles. As a result, Rody had to somewhat believe Dandong’s words. If it were invented by Dandong, it might really be possible.

The important fact was that those were all only recorded by Dandong in his notes. He had never mentioned those things to anybody and he also did not suggest anything to Abbas the Great.

In his notes, Dandong also mentioned that the Empire’s navy was weak and the problem could not be resolved just by having stronger warships. The people on the Roland Continent had a strong navy from hundreds of years of accumulated experience. The difference in warships was only one of the reasons. Even if the Empire made such new warships, it might not be useful.

In fact, the terrain of the Roland Continent was very gentle. The whole Roland Continent was like a piece of paper with a large hole in the middle. The large hole in the middle occupied one-fifth of the total area of the Roland Continent. That was Baikal Lake. A river, the Baikal River, connected that lake to the Strait of Thunder.

As there was a large lake in the middle of the continent, the people on the Roland Continent had developed their skills in water warfare. As a matter of fact, the dozen kingdoms in the continent have had naval battles against each other for hundreds of years. They had accumulated a lot of experience from the naval battles.

If the two continents were to fight, the navy from the many kingdoms of the Roland continent would join forces. From the Baikal Lake, they could sail uninterrupted through the long river to get to the Strait of Thunder. However, the Empire didn’t even have a navy that was worth looking at.

A powerful army was also not created by training and drills only. They need to go through a real war, through the baptism of fire, to hone a sharp edge.

Dandong had also pointed out, at that time, that the Radiant Empire should not start the fourth crusade.

The first three holy crusades had caused the Empire to lose a lot of their national strength. There were still a lot of internal matters that were not yet resolved. The most important thing was not to conquer the ‘Northern lands held by heathens’, but to quickly increase the strength of the huge Radiant Empire.

Dandong understood that with Abbas the Great’s temperament if he knew how to build proper warships, he would certainly start another war. That was why Dandong remained silent.

Rody stood at the top of one of the towers of the city. He looked at the vast ocean. The waves of the Strait of Thunder roared in anger. Rody then thought about the things written in Dandong’s notes.

"At that time, the timing was not right. But now the opponent had decided to attack us instead. Must we only wait for them to attack us?" Rody then whispered to himself. "A ship made of iron... interesting..."

They guarded for another month at the coastal Thunder City before the Radiant Empire finally received a message from the Roland Continent. The messenger came to deliver the declaration of war. The people on the Roland continent uphold what they call the ‘Knight’s Spirit’. It was strange to the extent that even their declaration of war had an elegant feel to it.

The declaration of war should have been short and direct. Instead was worded with phrases of grandeur and refinement: ‘In order to defend the dignity of God’, ‘In order to spread God’s light’, ’to bring more people into his sanctuary’, ’We declare war against you on our honor as knights’, ’On such and such day and month1, we will land at the Thunder City shores’, ’hoping that your side will submit to God’s will and surrender with dignity. Otherwise, we will fight a fair battle according to the Knight’s Spirit’.

Rody smiled wryly after reading the declaration of war. He grabbed a sword from a nearby soldier, and as he threw1 it at the feet of the messenger, he coldly said, "Go back and tell your commander. This is the reply of the Duke of the Tulip Family!"

Rody then stood on the walls and watched the messenger leave the city, through the wilderness and then to the coast. After that, the messenger got onto a small boat and left. Rody looked up at the sky and smiled calmly.

Sieg stood behind him and asked, "Your Excellency the Duke, are the people from the Roland Continent brainless? Since they are here to invade us, why bother writing a declaration of war and even tell us the time and place they would disembark. Isn’t this clear that they are giving us a chance to prepare? The northern coastline is long and our navy is useless. We would not have been able to stop them. They just needed to find a place to safely disembark and then reorganize before fighting us. Won’t that be better?"

"Commander Sieg... Oh, wrong. Should be Deputy Regiment Commander Sieg now..." The Regiment Commander of the Northern Legion, a nephew of Marquis Garoline of the Lion Heart Family, Milo, then shook his head and coldly said, "The people from the Roland Continent advocate the ‘Knight’s Spirit’. They believe that they would gain glory only if they defeat their opponents in a fair and dignified manner. Sneak attacks would only sully their honor as knights. As a warrior, I admire their spirit. But, as a general, I can only sneer at their rigid methods."

Rody looked at Milo while Milo pretended not to notice that gaze.

In fact, these two days the relationship between the two of them was not that good. They had met once before, in a banquet in the Imperial Capital. At that time, Rody was still an ignorant boy who had just started to act as an imposter of the Duke of the Tulip Family for just a few days. Then, he was badly humiliated by the arrogant Milo. After that, Milo was played out by Jojo.

When Rody thought of Jojo, his heart ached. He then glanced at Milo with a complicated expression.

People’s minds were very complex. Rody did not really hate Milo. Milo was only on bad terms with him because of their families’ conflicts. Besides that, Rody was not really the Duke of the Tulip Family. Milo had been very infatuated with Jojo but now that beauty is gone. Rody could not help but feel sad. He recalled Jojo’s smile and the time she stood together with Milo and him. Even the memory of the infighting among the three of them had become a fond memory.

Is it a fond memory because Jojo was alive then?

When I first arrived in the North, Milo looked at me with a deep pain in his heart. Is that also because of Jojo? When this Regiment Commander of the Northern Legion heard of Jojo’s disappearance, he had almost rushed back to the Imperial Capital.

Rody did not love Jojo but he had always felt guilty towards her. Right now, standing in front of him was a man who was deeply in love with Jojo. In any case, Rody did not hate Milo.

Milo finally could not ignore Rody’s stare. However, he seemed to have misunderstood Rody’s thoughts and coldly said, "Your Excellency the Duke, do you have a different opinion from me?" Rody took a deep breath, shook his head as he tried to get rid of the depression in his heart. He then said, "Your Excellency, Milo, I think that you are correct. However, I do see things a bit differently."

Rody smiled and slowly said, "The people of the Roland Continent advocates the Knight’s Spirit but they are not idiots and neither are they inflexible. They are also cunning too. Their secret cooperation with Reuenthal from the Northwest proved that much. I think they gave us a declaration of war and even told us their target because they could not help it.."

Milo did not say anything. He just looked at Rody coldly.

Rody pretended not to notice his cold gaze and continued, "They would cross the ocean. After they disembark, the most important thing they need to do would be to obtain a foothold. They need to seize a stronghold! After that, they would be able to reorganize their soldiers and coordinate supplies! This would also help them to prevent us from counterattacking! Currently, the military stronghold closest to the coast is here, Thunder City! Because of the Empire’s centuries of preparation, there is no place near the coast that would allow them to obtain a foothold. Their army cannot simply come ashore to fight. This is why, no matter what, they must first attack Thunder City. This is their only choice."

1. Throwing the sword is the reply. It means ‘we choose to fight’ I am not sure if it exists in real life but I have seen similar customs in video games.