Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1991 How did you know in 1963?
When are you planning to deploy?

When Lann was changing shifts with Gideon Ofnir on the walls of Rodel, he suddenly asked a question out of the blue.

The surroundings were noisy and chaotic, tense and busy.

Rodel's soldiers strode back and forth on the city walls, carrying equipment or changing shifts, while above the towering walls, huge stones, lava-laden black flames, ripped through the sky.

It crashed directly into the outer city, which was protected by the first wall of Rodel.

However, since the outer city was so empty and there were no valuable targets, it was completely ineffective.

However, such high-arc projected lava was ultimately only a minority; most of the projected lava, magical impacts, and the shockwaves from the mountain demons' roars directly bombarded the walls of Rodel.

The deafening roar that shook the very air was deafening.

The demigod alliance outside the city unleashed attacks with the density of a torrential downpour!
Those various forces—shock waves, magic, flames—were so densely packed that they made one dizzy just looking at them! It sent chills down my spine!

Various forces formed waves, surging endlessly towards the magnificent and sacred walls of Rodel.

In the dynasties of the Age of Gods, the wars that broke out for the control of the dynasty's capital were so fierce that tearing the earth apart was commonplace.

The ground outside the walls of Rodel, having been affected by the aftershocks for so long, is basically shattered beyond recognition.

This is still at the foot of the Golden Tree, a plot of land that has been connected and reinforced by the Golden Tree's root system for countless years.

Standing on the city wall when the demigod alliance launches its attack, one's eardrums will constantly feel a tremendous roar and pressure.

The sacred walls of the Royal City of Rodel remained unscathed from this level of attack, but the impact still caused those on the walls to feel their footsteps sway.

Over time, the pressure on the eardrum and the disruption of balance will have a reverse effect on the cochlea and cerebellum in the brain through nerves.

Now, although the Knights of Rodel on the city wall have a fixed shift change order every day, nearly half of the knights have begun to experience persistent tinnitus.

These are early signs and manifestations of impaired brain function.

The knights of Rodel seemed quite familiar with this, but they were somewhat troubled by it.

That makes sense, considering that during the long period of the Giant Wars, siege warfare of this intensity was not uncommon. They all experienced it to some extent.

But Queen Mary was there to bestow blessings upon them, upholding the Golden Law. Death meant little, let alone a mere brain injury.
But what can the Knights of Rodell do now?
The Golden Law has collapsed, Queen Marika has been punitively imprisoned in the Golden Tree, and King Fladagan has disappeared on the same day.

Who else could grant them the blessing of being fearless against any enemy and having all their injuries heal instantly?

Red Dewdrop Chalice Bottle, there seem to be quite a lot of these normally, but that's not during wartime.

Nowadays, when war breaks out, the rate at which consumables are consumed is no different from when a warehouse catches fire.

Even if you have the Red Dew Holy Grail Bottle, who can keep the elixir generated in it every day?

And if we pin our hopes on conventional medical methods... how should I put it?

Perhaps because of the Golden Age, people really didn't need to care about pain and disease, so the medical field, represented by perfumers, did not make significant progress.

Their research hasn't progressed to the point of repairing brain damage yet, but they've heard that the president of the Perfumers' Guild, that influential Golden Law fundamentalist, is organizing to expedite research in this area.

It was a project that was temporarily launched during the war.

But for the strong, these nerve damages are nothing.

Lann and Sir Baizhi stood together talking. Although Baizhi was leaning on his cane and hunched over, looking old and frail, he remained remarkably calm on the rumbling city wall.

Not to mention the Witcher.

Lyman's Ear's sense of balance and adaptability allowed him to walk on the city wall as if it were flat ground.

Originally, Gideon Ofnir had already coordinated and was preparing to take a break from the city walls.

But as soon as Lann uttered this seemingly random sentence, he suddenly turned around, the darkness beneath his helmet pointing directly at the Witcher.

First he looked at Lann, then the helmet with ear-shaped decorations on the edge twisted around.

He quickly scrutinized every soldier and knight who passed by in a hurry.

Then, Bai Zhi grabbed Lan En's arm and led him to a corner on the city wall that was relatively far away from everyone else.

“How did you know?” Gideon Ophniel asked cautiously. “I shouldn’t have informed you because you came back from outside the city.”

The Witcher raised an eyebrow at this: "To guard against me?"

“To ensure thoroughness,” Gideon Ophniel retorted, “I believe that the defenses of the royal city of Rodel are sufficient to protect its inhabitants from external influences. But since you’ve been outside the city, things are different.”

"It's not targeted at anyone, just to be on the safe side."

“I understand.” Lan En said calmly.

“But I still have the same question,” Gideon Ophniel said, shoving Lann’s shoulder, “how did you know?” “You’re mobilizing troops.”

The Witcher answered as naturally as if he were casually talking about what he had for breakfast that morning.

But after Gideon Ofnir received a reply, a sudden burst of heavy breathing still came from the darkness beneath the helmet.

"Huff~" Bai Zhi barely managed to suppress his heavy breathing. "We're at war right now, Lann! Hundreds of troop mobilization orders are issued daily from Rodel to various locations! They're coordinating troop rotations or concentrating forces. When haven't we been mobilizing troops?"

"Tell me honestly, how did you find out? Don't try to fob me off with this excuse."

“I’m not making excuses.” Lan En waved his hand, his smile unchanged. “You’ve hidden the people you really want to move within the hundreds of transfer orders you issue every day, right? Once those orders have gone through their cycle, the people you want to move will be in their designated positions without you even realizing it. It’s a clever method, just a bit laborious.”

Gideon Ofnier suddenly fell silent.

He turned to face Lann, who was standing frozen in front of his helmet.

After a while, a voice, deeper and heavier than usual, came from the supernatural darkness beneath the helmet: "You... went and looked through the order files in the archives?"

"Otherwise what?" Lan En retorted. "Shouldn't I know what you guys have been doing during the month I was gone? Otherwise, how can I keep up?"

So your method of 'keeping up with the pace' is to go through all the command archives, find all the clues in the details, connect them, and trace back my hidden ultimate goal?!

What the hell...?
Bai Zhi was lost in thought.

As usual, he had been keeping track of what Lan En had been doing a few days earlier, resting in the round table hall.

Or rather, the rest period after the faded person completes a mission outside is actually a period of observation and review by the Round Table Hall.

The reviewers were mostly Gideon Ofnier.

So Sir Hundred Wisdoms also knew that when Lann first returned a few days ago, he spent several days tinkering with fire.

It took two days to tinker with the [Spirit Fire], and three days to observe the battle ash [Queen's Black Flame] on the greatsword of the hunting gods, together with Baglem who was recuperating from his injuries and detoxification.

Gideon Ofnir had no idea what Lann was trying to do with those flames, or what their purpose was.

Those who remain in the border region are all extraordinary individuals, each possessing their own methods that are entirely understandable to everyone, and Baizhi does not intend to delve into them further.

He opened the storeroom of the Round Table Hall to some perfumers, and Bai Zhi didn't mind.

But he really didn't expect that Lan En could dig out this level of intelligence in just two hours in the archives.

Relying solely on accumulating firsthand data and intelligence analysis?

He knew that Lan En had a knack for reading, after all, Lan En had read through his entire collection of books.

But it must have taken several weeks back then, right?

The orders on file in the archives, while not as informative as properly bound books, were nearly as numerous as his entire book collection.

Lan En only went into the archives for a short time, less than three hours!
Gideon Ofnir stiffened for a moment, but finally tapped the ground of the city wall lightly with his cane and let out a long breath.

"You, I mean before you were stripped of your blessing..." Sir Hundred Wisdom suddenly said, "could it be that you were doing clerical work under the War King? That's why we haven't seen you on the front lines?"

Gideon Ofnir was also on Rhodes' side during the Titan Wars, serving as a semi-official intelligence officer.

However, his abilities were truly remarkable, so he ended up spending most of his time on the front lines.

In response to this speculation, Lan En simply crossed his arms and shrugged, a noncommittal look on his face.

Neither admitting nor denying.

You guessed it yourself; it has nothing to do with me.

Lann didn't know what Gideon Ofnir was thinking, but he saw his helmet bobbing up and down as if he had figured something out.

Then he turned his body face to face with Lan En, while his voice was lowered even further.

The city walls roared, and the air seemed to tear apart.

In this situation, only Lan En could easily hear what the other person was saying. Anyone else would have had to struggle.

“We have indeed secretly mobilized a portion of our forces, a fairly elite force. You should know why.”

“I could guess,” the Witcher said, lowering his voice as usual, “but I’d like to know what the rationale is for this action?”

He didn't have the helmet that could conceal his face like Bai Zhi, but the Witcher controlled his expression very well. No one else could tell he was talking.

Since Gideon Ofnier had already spoken, he went along with it.

"The message came from Two Fingers and the Blessed King."

(End of this chapter)