Chapter 523: The Empty Campsite
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Your Majesty, our preparations are complete. We are ready to move out."
The general walked into the town hall of Long River Town with quick strides as he announced to the King.
Benjamin was standing by the King’s side when that happened. Their preparation process was not very demanding and the mages and apprentices were already outside, standing by ready to start the journey.
"Alright." The King nodded. "We will set off first. The rest of the soldiers will meet with us later on."
There were approximately 30,000 soldiers stationed in Long River Town, added with General Hawk’s men that have now joined the cause, their total strength added up to around 40,000 men. Recently, quite a number of places within Carretas had declared their loyalty to the King, and with the support of numerous wealthy merchants from all over the country, they were no longer suffering from a shortage of weapons and supplies.
They had also decided on the route for their journey.
They were not planning to do an ambush - it would be too difficult to manoeuvre and it was basically impossible to try and avoid detection with the sheer amount of soldiers they had. Besides, they all knew that the Church would probably hear about it the moment they leave Long River Town.
Thus, they decided to take the nearest main route and go directly towards Geallore!
The villages and towns along the route were not under direct control of the Church. The King had ordered some men to communicate with these towns to determine their loyalty; he soon found out that since they had decided to remain neutral, they would not intervene in the conflict between the King and the Church. Thus, they need not worry about the locals meddling in the issue.
All in all, the plan was simple - takedown Geallore and defeat the Church. That was the only factor that they needed to consider.
A loud horn trumpeted from the base.
Under the intense stares from people of Long River Town, the army started moving out.
The soldiers wore their armour and dragged their weapons as they marched onwards on the streets, full of vigour and morale.
From a bird’s eye view, the troop of soldiers was like a long black line etched into the ground. The person leading the soldiers held a flag up in the sky and the King, riding on a horse, was protected by a thick wall of men. At the end of the line were the carts filled with their supplies.
Benjamin’s apprentices were also among the carts.
There were approximately 50 apprentices that were joining the mission, and they were elaborately chosen by Benjamin. The King was immensely moved by this, but since they were only a bunch of apprentices, did not expect too much from them. Thus, they were arranged to be at the rear of the troop so they could safely participate in the battle.
Benjamin and his 20 mages, on the other hand, flew in the sky and had a birds-eye view of the area, acting as temporary sentries for the army.
The trip from Long River Town to Geallore would require almost a week of travel - even with the acceleration that Benjamin and his mages offered them from their magic. This was unavoidable, and the only thing Benjamin could do to keep his Water Elemental Sensing Technique active at all the times, making sure to avoid any possible sneak attacks along the way.
Some of the mages were sent further ahead to scout and gather information; based on their reports, Geallore was relatively quiet. The entire city was probably under lockdown once again, and the bishops’ death seemed to not have caused any major commotion either.
This worried Benjamin.
"You were undercover in Geallore for quite a long time lately. There shouldn’t be any surviving bishops in the city anymore, right?" Benjamin could not help himself from asking Miles about halfway through their trip.
"Nope, the one I killed was the last one," Miles answered, "However before I killed Bishop Cameron, he looked like he was trying to use something to contact the Church in the Kingdom of Helius. Maybe there is backup coming, I can’t be sure."
Benjamin nodded and did not prod further.
There was no need to worry about the backup forces, The Kingdom of Helius was so far, and Icor stood in between them. Benjamin and his soldiers would reach Geallore before them, even if the priests flew the entire journey.
"It’s the next intersection." The King finally spoke. "The soldiers from General Hawk will meet with us at the upcoming intersection."
"General Hawk..." Benjamin snapped back into reality. He shook his head in confusion, "What about him? Does he plan to join us in attacking Geallore?"
The King looked pained as he muttered out a reply.
"He passed his duties to a younger general and then chose to end his own life. He disappeared into the flames with the cross still embedded in him."
Benjamin was stunned after he heard the news. He shook his head to himself out of his daze.
...... He had really wanted to criticize the general’s choice, but after pondering it for a bit, he realised that there was no difference between death and living for General Hawk; after all, he had the cross in him.
It was better to end it all than to remain a toy of the Church.
With this, he flew up to the sky once again.
Not far away at from the route before him was a large campsite. It was probably General Hawk’s army that had set up camp whilst waiting to meet with the main forces of the King.
"Hmm... Hold on."
However, as he flew nearer to the campsite, he suddenly realised that something was wrong.
The campsite was empty.
Benjamin took a double take in the air and immediately approached the campsite. As he drew closer, his initial thoughts were confirmed: no one was around. The fuel in the campfire had gone cold as well as if no one had used it for the past few days.
Then suddenly he saw it - dried blood covered the ground.
When Benjamin noticed the blood, his expression immediately changed. He quickly flew back towards his army.
"Your Majesty, stop everyone immediately. Something has happened!" He next to the King and spoke solemnly, "The campsite ahead is empty. No one is around."
The King was puzzled.
"Why would that be? Are you sure you checked it properly?"
"Of course. From the remains of the campfire, I suspect that the camp was probably deserted yesterday. There were even traces of blood on the ground - something must’ve happened there."
The King frowned and started to think deeply.
Traces of blood... were the soldiers attacked? Did none of them survive?
He immediately thought of the Church.
Honestly, the Church must have known about them starting their journey. However, they only expected the Church to either gather have a last stand and try to defend Geallore or to try to take them by surprise and ambush them on the road. They never imagined that something like this would happen.
How could this happen?
Something seemed off.
"Did you see any bodies around the campsite? Or any signs of a struggle?" The King asked.
Benjamin shook his head, "Nope. Only blood and a desolate campsite."
At that moment, an eerie chill ran down the King’s spine.
No signs of struggle meant that there was no ambush. If so.... Where did the people go?
There was no way 10,000 soldiers in a campsite would suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth. No matter what had happened, at least one survivor could have escaped towards their direction and passed the message to their troops.
Unless.... Unless it was an unknown magical beast attack?
He studied his surroundings. Although it was not an endless plain, this was still the main route and magical beast activity was relatively low. Their journey went immensely smoothly the past few days, with only two minor skirmishes with the magical beasts that were easily dealt with.
But now, the smooth route before him suddenly looked mysterious and malicious.
"We.... we should be careful. Let’s investigate." The King said nervously.