Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1183 Is this just the beginning?

In the following days, even though no one came to listen to the sermons, Metien still went to Tianxin Church every day, sometimes with Leticia and Shemi, facing Saint Shallia's murderous eyes, talking to each other about what game to play today, completely forgetting that he still had homework to finish; and sometimes he forcibly dragged Alice out of the room, ignoring her mumbling complaints, and begged the talented player to teach him more advanced gaming skills.

But no matter what she was doing in the church, whether she was kneeling before the statue of the goddess and praying for the warriors in the distance; or sitting on a bench holding a heavy tome and scratching her head over the obscure medical theories inside; or even when she was playing games with Leticia, Shemi, and Alice, she would occasionally look up and look through the stained glass windows of the church at a distance, as if expecting that the next moment, those people would appear in front of her safely, without missing a single one.

In contrast, although the other people on Yunjingkong Island were also paying attention to this action, they were not as nervous as Metien. This might be because most people had already realized the cruelty of war. Even those who had been naive in the past should have woken up when they saw the silver-haired girl turn into stars and disappear, such as Alice.

Only this pink-haired girl, even after going through so much, still retains her pure and kind nature. Is this a good thing for her? Ling Ge is not sure yet, he only knows that he may be somewhat relieved.

For this operation, the Ash Guerrillas deployed all the personnel they could currently use, including Mitch and his young army. Only a few seriously injured soldiers who had not recovered from their injuries stayed behind. Every day, battle reports came from the front, and these reports would eventually fall into Linger's hands. This might be a move by the Eagle of the Gray Hill to appease its allies, but it also gave Linger a channel to learn about the situation on the front line in a timely manner.

Every time he got a new battle report, Linger would analyze it with Saint Shalia, Olvera and Xino. These choices were meaningful. Saint Shalia was a must. Olvera had to update or supplement the intelligence in time according to the situation on the front battlefield. As a descendant of the White Knight, although Xino had never really set foot on the battlefield, her family background allowed her to accumulate profound military theories since childhood. She was the only one who could understand the battle report. In fact, there was another similar candidate, Countess Neville. Although she had not studied any systematic military theories, she had more practical experience. She was also the biggest contributor to Saint Jun Neo's conquest of the Taguao wilderness and the establishment of the Metosh Empire. She seemed to have more say in this field.

But when Lingge invited the Countess, the latter learned that he had also invited three other girls, and her eyes suddenly became meaningful. She sipped her tea gently, and then slowly said that the situation on your side was more complicated, and it was not convenient for an old man like me to participate, so let me drink afternoon tea quietly. At the end, she did not forget to remind Lingge to remember to invite Rolena, Ieta, and Gloria (or Bai Ye) as well, so that you can save a lot of trouble. As for Leticia, don't worry about it, I will discipline her.

Linger was a little confused about what the Countess said was "not very convenient". He didn't understand why it was inconvenient to just discuss the war situation. As for the candidates recommended by the Countess, he shook his head again and again. Rorona only knew alchemy, Ieta knew nothing about military affairs, Gloria was intellectually deficient, and Bai Ye was good but a loner. Would it really save trouble to invite them over? I think it would just add more trouble! As for Leticia, you don't need me to tell you that I wouldn't invite her. She's just a little brat. Just go play with Metien.

After hearing Lingge's reply, the countess looked at the young man with a complicated expression, with sympathy, dissatisfaction, and even a hint of disappointment. Finally, she politely asked Lingge to leave the room, and quietly hinted to him that if he was being hunted in the future, he could escape to her and maybe she could save his life.

Ling Ge was confused. Being hunted? It seems that I have only been hunted by the Witch Society? But if the Witch Society wants to hunt me, you, a Countess, can't stop it.

I thought about it over and over again, but I couldn't figure it out. In the end, I could only attribute it to the onset of dementia unique to the elderly.

I didn't expect that the Countess, who was so heroic in her life, would have moments like this.

With mixed feelings, the young man left.

Ahem, back to the topic, the battle report sent back by the Grayhill Eagle shows that the operation went quite smoothly, and the Ash Guerrilla troops cut off the connection between the Hyrule Pass and the four northern towns with almost no hindrance, and are currently eliminating the three strongholds of the 17th Legion stationed on the Hyrule Pass.

Considering that the Gray Hill Eagle was not the kind of person who was eager to show off and only report good news but not bad news, Lingge felt that these battle reports were still credible, so he took them to comfort Medien and asked her to relax a little, thinking that it might be over soon.

Although the young man knew in his heart that this was not the end, but just the beginning.

……

Three days later, good news came.

The raid jointly launched by the Ash Guerrillas and other resistance organizations in the Ansus region achieved brilliant results. The resistance fighters not only captured and destroyed the stronghold of the 17th Legion stationed in the Hyrule Pass, but also invaded the town of Aman, one of the four northern towns, destroyed the dock facilities used to berth the magic airship, and seized a large amount of supplies. However, due to the timely arrival of reinforcements from the other three towns, the resistance fighters had to temporarily retreat and the war ended hastily.

This news was not delivered to Lingge through war reports, but was told to Lingge personally by Miss Regina, the second-in-command of the Ash Guerrillas, who was responsible for preparing supplies and stabilizing people's hearts. It happened that everyone was staying in the hotel at the time, and they all learned this shocking news together.

"We actually didn't intend to carry the war to this extent."

Regarding the allies who have been fully supporting her, Regina said frankly: "The significance of this operation is to test the reaction of the 17th Legion to the united actions of our resistance organizations. Although we are united, we are still too weak. We need a period of time when the enemy relaxes their vigilance to take advantage of the opportunity. Moreover, we cannot even actively fight for this opportunity. We can only wait silently. At most, it will be a mild stimulation like this operation. Being able to destroy the stronghold of the 17th Legion in the Hyrule Pass is already the best result. It is also the scale we can grasp and the least likely to stimulate the enemy. But the people of the Hand of Ashes and the Forest Rangers are not satisfied with this result. They took the initiative to attack the town of Emman. Although it did expand the results of the battle, it did not actually have much effect."

At this point, she, who was always cheerful, couldn't help but look a little gloomy. The Ash Hand and the Forest Rangers were relatively radical factions among the many resistance organizations in the Ansers region. Before the war, they did not trust the ability of the Gray Hill Eagle and had doubts about this plan, which was understandable. Carson Borg made a compromise and arranged for them to be responsible for the safest harassment operations, but they acted on their own when the war was improving, instigating members of the other two resistance organizations to launch an offensive against the town of Emang, completely disrupting the original plan.

On the surface, their achievements were far more brilliant than those of the Ash Guerrillas, but what about the reality? With the invaders' mobilization capabilities, the damaged dock could be repaired quickly. Even if it couldn't, the other three towns could still serve as transit stations. The captured supplies were not taken away much because the enemy's reinforcements arrived in time. Finally, they ignored the fact that the town of Aimang was not a complete military facility and there were still civilians living in the town. A frontal attack would inevitably lead to the casualties of innocent people, which made the newly established alliance lose some of the people's hearts before it was consolidated. You know, the biggest reason why these resistance organizations were able to survive in the cracks was that they had the support of the people, right?
A simple example is, do the farmers and hunters living near the Black Forest really not know that the Ash Rangers are hiding there? Have they really not found any traces? This is impossible, as they are as familiar with this land as the adventurers who ventured here in the early years. The reason why they did not report it to the invaders is nothing more than supporting the liberation of their hometown with a simple patriotic sentiment. And the reckless actions of the Ash Hand and the Forest Ranger will not make them worried or even uneasy?
More importantly, the fact that the resistance army entered the town of Aimang completely changed the nature of this battle. What was originally just a tentative action seemed to have become a signal for war. In this way, even if the 17th Legion had relaxed its vigilance, it should have been alert again at this time, right? In other words, although this battle was won, it seemed to have failed strategically.

The above is Xino's analysis. Although she is looking at the problem from an outsider's perspective, it is more comprehensive. There are some places that even Regina has not thought of. But because of this, she is even more angry: "What a reckless group of guys! Maybe they shouldn't have--"

Her voice broke off, perhaps realizing that Carson Borg had no choice.

The Hand of Ashes and the Forest Rangers are two of the larger and stronger resistance organizations among the many resistance organizations in the Ansers region. Since we want to unite all the possible targets, we naturally cannot ignore them.

"What if," Linger thought thoughtfully, "they were not reckless, but had thought it through carefully?"

This sentence immediately attracted everyone's attention. Seeing Regina's expression of "How is this possible?", the young man smiled and explained, "Aren't the Ash Hand and the Forest Rangers the most radical factions in the resistance organization? In other words, they are also the faction that most hopes to fight a direct battle with the 17th Legion, right? In this case, their deliberate actions seem understandable."

"But how can they possibly compete with the Seventeenth Legion?"

Regina still didn't understand. If the Hand of Ash or the Forest Ranger had such ability, what had they done?
"They may not have the strength to do this alone, but don't they already have an alliance? The power of unity is exactly what they lack but need. The only problem is that the initiator of this alliance is still too conservative and does not meet their needs. For this reason, they need some actual results to demonstrate their strength and at the same time, compete for the dominance of the alliance..."

There was no need to make it clear, everyone understood what the young man meant. Xinuo raised his eyebrows and said, "It really kills two birds with one stone."

Bang!
“This is too despicable!”

Regina was so angry that she slammed the table and stood up. The loud noise startled everyone. Xie Mi, who was dozing against the window frame, was startled and almost fell off the windowsill: "What! What happened? Did the Witch Society attack Yunjing Sky Island? Let Leticia go first!"

Except for a little bat that showed a look of contempt, everyone else raised their heads and stared at Regina. It's not that they have any opinion on her. In fact, from her point of view, this reaction is the most normal. It's just that at this time, apart from looking at her, there seems to be no better way to deal with it? You can't remind her that this table is made of old fairy wood and is very valuable, right?
"Ah." Regina realized how rude her behavior was. Her face immediately turned red. She withdrew her hand and said hesitantly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. It's just that, uh, I didn't control my emotions well..."

"Miss Regina is really a person of temperament." Lingge was very considerate and found a way for her to step down. The bartender who was standing behind the bar came over and put a wine glass in front of Regina. The dark liquid like molten lava was shaking in the glass, and bubbles were gurgling, which looked very suspicious. She pretended to be deep and said, "An angry expression is not suitable for a beautiful lady like you. Why don't you try my latest masterpiece, which was inspired by the black forest of the Ash Hill - this glass of Ash Night."

"Ashes...what?" Regina hesitated.

"Don't worry." Xie Liya said considerately: "It's just a glass of water. Drinking it can effectively relieve your mood. Alas, I hate to see people angry, especially a beautiful lady like you. It hurts me more than Avra's insomnia."

Nonsense! Whose water is this color and has bubbles?

Also, what's with that dandy tone? Are all of you travellers like fairies like this?

Regina was speechless for a moment, while Celia gave the young man sitting opposite her a smug look, as if to say: Give up, you can't beat me in terms of love words, Lingge.

"..."

Give me some meow