Alice in the Land of Steam

When Mitch and his companions were making the most important choice in their lives, in the distant city of Bad Ain, Grayhill Eagle had just attended an important combat meeting. He was hopeful, but the discussion at the meeting disappointed him, so he chose to leave in the middle and came to the rooftop of the Governor's Mansion alone, overlooking this ancient city that had just been reborn from the flames of war. Five days had passed since the war, and the fierce battle that seemed to collapse the sky had long been forgotten. The city quickly restored its former order, just like it had been reborn from scars countless times in the past.

Street vendors, hurried horse-drawn carriages, pedestrians of all kinds, night watchmen who could not hide their fatigue, bakeries emitting fragrant aromas, and rumbling water-powered mills... Except for the blacksmith shops and steel factories in the city which have not yet fully resumed work, everything else looks no different from usual.

But is it really a new life? Grayhill Eagle is not sure. At least for now, he can only see confusion, fear and anxiety on the faces of those people. The expressions they look at the soldiers of the Kingdom Army and the rebels are the same as when they looked at the colonists in the past. The change of the flag of the Governor's Mansion may be just a change of ruler for them. How good can it be?

It wasn't like this before. At least, when Carson Borg first established the Ash Guerrillas, everyone he met had never lost hope for life and love for their homeland. They were brave, enthusiastic, and willing to lend a hand. But with the kingdom's inaction and the colonists' high-handed rule, these people gradually became numb. They always thought that the most ambitious goals can only be achieved by the most determined people. I am just an ordinary person. Why should I ruin my current life for a future that I can see but cannot touch?

People who think this way usually don't realize that what this war needs most is the participation of ordinary people. They also don't realize that even if they accept their fate and never resist, the peaceful life they want is gradually being destroyed.

Ten years ago, the colonists built a magnificent Governor's Palace in Suare, the city of Gray Hills. The commander of the 17th Legion was appointed to represent the will of the ancient empire across the sea and rule the people of this land. But even though he slept in the Governor's Palace with two hundred soldiers on guard day and night, he was always worried, fearing that news of rebellion would come from somewhere, and someone was secretly planning to sneak into the Governor's Palace and chop off his head. At that time, he was still very clear that force had never completely conquered these stubborn Gray Hill people, and the will to resist that was gradually sprouting under the black land made him feel uneasy.

But ten years later, except for the city of Suare, every city in the Gray Hill region, no matter how big or small, has a new Governor's Palace rising up in the best part of the city, coldly overlooking the ants below. Whenever the Governor of Gray Hill visited a city, he would stay in the Governor's Palace of that city, as if these gorgeous and majestic buildings were his own palace. However, where did the manpower come from to build the Governor's Palace? Where did the wealth come from to plate the bricks and floors with gold foil? Where did the power come from to make everyone dare not criticize privately? This is an unspoken but extremely cruel fact. Today, the permanent guards of the Governor of Gray Hill have been reduced to a mere thirty people. He does not believe that these thirty soldiers can protect himself, but he knows that there is no need for protection.

When ruling and being ruled gradually become a habit, few people will remember the original reason. The Eagle of Gray Hill wants to arouse the fire of resistance in the hearts of the people, but it seems that what he has done is still far from enough.

"So you are here, Mr. Carson."

The voice from behind interrupted Grayhill Eagle's thoughts. He turned around and saw a serious-looking middle-aged man walking towards him. It was difficult to describe this man's characteristics accurately in words. If Giovanni, the leader of the Miners' Brotherhood, was a resolute man who came out of the mountains and stones, then the man in front of him was simply carved out of stone, and it must be the hardest, most stubborn stone that would embarrass even the most experienced miners.

Judging from his appearance, the man was about 40 or 50 years old. His facial features were firm but not rough, like a sharp-edged rock. From the corner of his left eye, there was a hideous scar crawling to the lower jaw on his right face. It was a horrible wound that almost split his head in two. One could imagine how many life-and-death battles he had experienced in the past. With his status and power, there were many ways to remove this scar, but he did not do so, as if to leave it to commemorate something, and at the same time make this serious face look more resolute and unquestionable.

He was like a tiger entrenched in his own territory, sitting upright and straight, giving people the feeling that he would not bend even if his bones were broken. It seemed that he was always used to assessing and judging everyone he met, as if his own opinion was the only criterion for measuring the value of others, based on some kind of inherited instinct or habit developed during his military career. When his sharp eyes swept over casually, he replaced the obscure observation with a more direct scrutiny, taking in the other party's demeanor and movements, without concealing his intentions, but not letting the other party feel that he was being spied on. Because when a tiger is about to hunt, it will not reveal any flaws and be noticed by its prey.

The stronger the person, the more he can feel the oppression he brings. For example, the Gray Hill Eagle knew that there was a dangerous beast hidden in the man's heart the first time he saw him. In the eyes of the Gray Hill Eagle, any beast is not worth mentioning, because they can only defeat others with pure strength, but the beast in front of him is different. He never relies on strength to defeat others, but relies on the sword edge condensed by thousands of momentum and consciousness.

In other words, when you face him, you will feel like you are facing an entire army, all the soldiers under his command who are not afraid of life and death, and are not afraid of strong enemies. He is a general and a commander, but he is also the hurricane at the forefront of the waves, leading his army to be invincible and sweep away all enemies.

Although both are strong men, he is completely different from Carson Borg. The latter is good at fighting, but he is better at... war.

Fransander Boz Iskamael, one of the only three generals in the Kingdom of Noah, was best known for his victory in the war that turned the Gray Hills into a colony, in which he repelled the colonists' offensive and directly annihilated an enemy army. That was the only inspiring victory in the entire war, but unfortunately the outcome of a war would not change because of one person's brilliant performance. After the war, the Axis Powers protested against this and forcibly added the condition of depriving General Fransander of all his military positions to the Armistice Agreement.

Under pressure from the Axis Powers, the Kingdom's military failed this man who was devoted to his country. Although they gave him other compensation afterwards, it was not what he wanted. For many days and nights, General Fransander stayed indoors, isolated from the world, and devoted himself to studying the military technology and tactical system of the Axis Powers, just to avenge his previous humiliation. Now, he finally waited for this opportunity.

The strategy against Bad Ain was first proposed by him, and Grayhill Eagle was just an executor. The final result also proved that his understanding of the Axis army had reached an amazing level, and it was even possible that even the enemy did not know him as well as he did.

Even before he became the leader of the Ash Guerrillas, Carson Borg had long admired him. Now that he had met him, he always maintained a respectful attitude, because he knew in his heart that he was the same person as himself, with the same ideals, the same beliefs... and the same stubbornness.

"I'm sorry, General." In front of General Fransander, Grayhill Eagle temporarily suppressed the anger in his chest and said calmly, "It was a bit stuffy in the meeting room, so I came out to get some fresh air. I didn't expect to make you worry. I'm really sorry."

General Fransander did not accept his apology. Instead, he looked at him quietly for a while and shook his head slowly: "There is no need to hide anything, Mr. Carson. We are all the same people, so when communicating, you can put aside your concerns and speak freely. To be honest, I have been dissatisfied with those people for a long time, so I am standing here-"

He paused for a moment, then continued in a calm tone, "Of course, my excuse is better than yours. I came out to sort out my thoughts. If nothing unexpected happens, they are still waiting for me to return to preside over the meeting."

Carson Borg was slightly stunned. He probably didn't expect that this serious and rigid general would have such a humorous side, let alone that he would express his humor and wit so...specially. After a while, he couldn't help laughing out loud, but this time he was not pretending. He laughed happily, and the depression in his chest was swept away.

As for General Fransander's statement that he was dissatisfied with the people in the conference room, he was not surprised at all, and he also knew that among those people, General Fransander's deputy, Lotherd Magnus, was the most hateful.

Because he was not the general's original adjutant, but a close confidant of the Earl of the North, he was forced into this temporarily assembled "Legion of Volunteers" to serve as his eyes and mouthpiece. It was ironic that although the old king had great ambitions to regain lost territory, on the other hand he was concerned about the reaction of the Axis powers. Therefore, this army was nominally a volunteer army, of the same nature as the Liberators' Front. It was hard to tell how to evaluate such a covert move.

As for what the Earl of the North did, it was understandable. After all, this army was originally formed with the North Army as the core, and it was not excessive for the Earl to want to have a certain say in it. But he had clearly intervened in this war, but he still had the dream of preserving his strength and was unwilling to take risks for his own troops, especially the two assault corps of the Mountain Falcon Knights and the Divine Iron Guards, as well as the three mage corps composed of low-sequence extraordinary people, including Ice Curtain, Burning Flame and Wind Sound.

As for the other temporarily recruited legions, as well as the civilian uprising army of the Liberation Front, he did not take them seriously and even regarded them as expendable. Therefore, at the combat meeting just now, when the Gray Hill Eagle said that the current situation was hard-won and they should seize the opportunity to pursue, Losid openly opposed it and said that they were still weak and should wait and see and wait for the 17th Legion to react before taking action. If they rashly provoked a new war, they would only lose their original advantages. After that, he proposed that the Liberation Front could be temporarily split into various legions to cooperate with the regular army. This would make up for their lack of combat experience, especially the tactics of attacking enemy strongholds and cutting off logistics supply routes. Since they were effective, they might as well continue to implement them.

On the surface, these were selfless proposals, but Grayhill Eagle saw that he had ill intentions, and that he just wanted to take this opportunity to annex the rebels and use them as cannon fodder instead of the regular army to explore the way for them. He was still able to restrain himself and suppress his anger temporarily, but other participants, especially Boss Giovanni, could not stand it and started arguing with him at the time. The meeting room was suddenly filled with arguments and shouting. Carson Borg could not stand this atmosphere, so he chose to come out to get some fresh air.

Of course, the respite was only temporary, and soon he would have to go back to face this problem again.

Fortunately, it was not a complete loss. At least I knew the attitude of General Fransander. As long as I got his support, no matter how much that Losid jumped up and down, it would be useless. Maybe the general just found an excuse to come out and talk to me in order to appease me and the soldiers of the Liberation Front?
When Grayhill Eagle thought of this, he couldn't help but glance at General Fransander. The latter's intuition was particularly sharp. He turned his head and looked at him. After a long while, he slowly nodded and looked away.

"You must have a lot of questions in your mind, Lord Carson." He suddenly spoke up and talked about a topic that was irrelevant to the present: "For example, why did the Earl of the North, who had always been sitting on the sidelines and watching the situation in Gray Hill, bow to the capital and even send elite troops like the Mountain Falcon Knights to support him?"

Carson Borg was intrigued by him. This was indeed a question that had puzzled him for many days. It seemed that he should be able to get the answer from the general. However, Grayhill Eagle suddenly had a hunch that this might not be the answer he wanted to know.

"I'd like to hear the details." Despite this, he still asked sincerely.

"It's very simple."

General Fransander said in a calm tone: "The royal family and the ministers all agreed that the Earl of Gray Hill failed to fulfill his responsibilities as a lord. Externally, he fled back to the capital in disgrace after being slightly threatened by the Axis invaders, which was a disgrace to the nobles. Internally, His Majesty repeatedly asked him to return to Ansus Territory to take charge of the situation, but he shirked his responsibilities for various reasons. Punishing the losers and rewarding the meritorious has always been the way of governing in the Kingdom of Noah. Therefore, he promised the Earl of the North that if he could successfully recover Ansus Territory, he would divide the land into two, with the Earl of the North Territory and the Earl of Gray Hill each occupying one." (End of this chapter)