Imperial Crown.

Chapter 76 March
On the bloody heights, the north wind howls.

On the endless plain, the howling gale blew the snow on the ground into pieces.

The air was dry and the snow was as fine as flour. From a distance it looked like a white sandstorm or a canvas painted with scattered white oil paint.

A dark group of people marched through the wind and snow.

The first horse's hoof sank deep into the snow, startling a crow that seemed to be looking for grass seeds. The crow let out a shrill scream, adding a bit of noise to the world where there was only the sound of the wind.

"Damn it." Eric cursed angrily, exhaled a puff of white air, reached out to pull the ice off his beard and threw it on the ground.

"What a damn weather!"

Along the way, Eric didn't know how many times he had cursed like this, and it was conceivable that this would never be the last time.

The air was bone-chillingly cold and the wind was as hard as a knife.

Even with the ointment applied, the exposed face and eyes still felt uncomfortable. Even though Eric was "gifted", it was still the same. It was common for him to cry in the wind, and his face would often be covered with ice beads while he walked.

Eric looked closely and found that the crow that had been driven away before was right on his horse's head. It looked sleek and seemed to be living a very good life.

This made Eric a little angry. People weren't eating well, but this bird that brought bad luck was so energetic!
"Get out of here!" He slapped the crow casually, but missed, and the crow flew up with a caw.

"What bad luck!" Eric kept this sentence in his heart.

It has been nine days since we set out, and three days since we officially reached the Bloody Heights.

Starting five days ago, in order to hide their strength and to better implement the plan of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, Eric was ordered to lead the team ahead, while Raven followed behind with his personal soldiers.

For safety reasons, Raven sent the copied map to Eric along with Simon.

But that's life, you never know which will come first, tomorrow or an accident.

Especially when you are traveling, especially when you are leading hundreds of people!
The day after they separated from Raven, they had to spend the night among the horses because a camping site they had scouted in advance was filled with snow.

The next morning, two people did not wake up, and more than 20 people showed symptoms of dizziness and fever.

That same day, they officially climbed the Bloody Heights.

It was a sunny day.

Although eight horses in the huge packhorse team fell into the snow pit when they climbed up the Bloody Highlands, Eric was still in a good mood because there were no casualties.

He sped up his progress and wanted to cover a longer distance, but at noon, more than 20 soldiers suddenly became blind and started shouting.

As a veteran, Eric knew what was going on. In the Iron Legion, this was called a "black dream" because it appeared for no reason and passed quickly like a dream.

Baron Raven, on the other hand, called it "snow blindness".

Eric told the soldiers about the possibility of this situation and also told them how to deal with it - don't panic, and shout for help from your companions.

But when all this really happened, more than half of the blind soldiers fell into panic.

Some claimed they were cursed, others thought they were poisoned by horse thieves on Bloody Heights—

Although they had never seen a single person, let alone a ghost.

In the panic, six or seven people even rode their horses recklessly.

Fortunately, Eric gave the order in time, and several captains and Simon responded quickly, but there was still a guy who broke out of the team and fell into the snow valley with his horse.

The team will not stop because of the lack of one person.

Two hours later, the blind soldiers regained consciousness, but the low morale of the entire army was not relieved.

Bad things happen one after another.

A strong wind blew on the bloody heights, and it seemed that it would never stop.

Everywhere I looked was a vast white and gloomy world.

Many times, even if the warhorse is actually moving, people will have the illusion that they are standing still.

After two days, even Eric occasionally wondered if they were just going in circles.

Just then, a black dot appeared in his field of vision.

The black spot quickly enlarged, and Simon, riding a half-demon warhorse, broke through the wind and snow and came in front of him.

He pulled the reins and saluted, "Sir Eric!"

Eric hurriedly returned the greeting: "How is it, did you find anything?"

"The garrison site fifteen kilometers away is still there." Simon wiped the ice marks on his face: "Although there is some light snow, the wind is not strong enough to blow in."

Eric exhaled softly upon hearing this: "...Thank you for your hard work."

After saying that, he turned back and shouted, "Cheer up and speed up! We can rest in another hour!"

After a short pause, the voices were passed down one by one, but most of the soldiers still had numb eyes. After all, the "one hour" mentioned by Eric could be long or short, and no one knew how long it would take.

Only a few remained excited and energetic.

Among them is Visdon.

He rode to Eric's side, breathing heavily, and smiled at Simon: "Thank you for your hard work!"

Simon nodded with a straight face, then rode his horse to the rear of the team, obviously not forgetting what had happened.

Weisdong did not give up, but followed with a licking face: "Um... Simon, how long do you think it will take us to find the lair of Heleti?"

"It's hard to say." Although he didn't like Visdon, Simon still maintained a high level of manners: "If it doesn't snow next, we can probably get there within six days, but if it snows..."

Weisdong asked: "What will happen then?"

"..." Simon sighed, suppressing his impatience. "The heavy snow will cover many conspicuous things that can be used as landmarks. If we force a march, it is normal to get lost or take a long detour. It is possible that the time will be doubled or even longer."

"Oh..." Weisdong nodded in distress: "I see, that..."

He reached into his cloak and fumbled around, then handed a piece of black jerky to Simon: "The exploration work is very hard, this... is for you."

Simon looked at Visdon in surprise, with a suspicious gleam in his eyes.

When did this second young master change his personality?

"This is what my mother prepared for me before I set out." Weisdong misunderstood his meaning and quickly explained, "I didn't steal the supplies!"

Simon hesitated for a moment after hearing this, but still took the jerky: "...Thank you."

The team continued to move forward, and after two hours, they took a detour and finally arrived at the place Simon mentioned before dark. This was a cave hidden in a mound, with traces of artificial excavation, and it was probably abandoned because the water source dried up.

The entrance of the cave is not big, just enough for two people to enter and exit side by side, and it is located in the leeward side, so there is only a small amount of snow in the cave, which basically remains dry and clean.

The soldiers dismounted and poured into the cave, while the war horses and pack horses were tied to the door.

"Whitey, get a blanket and seal the hole!"

Gale gave the order once everyone was inside the cave.

"Yes!" White, who had just sat down and had not even had time to take a breath, immediately stood up and carried out the order.

Ever since he was punished by Baron Raven, White has become a "screw" in the team. He can be ordered around by anyone and is responsible for doing all the dirty and tiring work.

Although White was unhappy, he knew that it was all his own fault.

Who made him talk so mean at that time?

After sealing the entrance with nails and wooden boards, the wind suddenly became much smaller.

But what White didn't realize was that the hole he had just sealed was immediately opened a little by a black beak, and then a pitch-black eye blocked it.

A fire pit was built in the middle of the cave and a bonfire was lit. Water bags were densely packed next to it. White threw his own water bag on top, then returned to his position, sat on the ground wrapped in a dirty blanket, and took out the food.

The Baron never treated them badly in terms of food, especially during this march, everyone had a large piece of black bread and two pieces of bacon for every meal.

But White did not put them into his mouth. Instead, he stared at the campfire in a daze like the other soldiers.

It’s not that they are not hungry, but they need time to wait for the campfire to melt the snow in the water bags.

For White, the most painful thing about this expedition was not marching in the snow, not the cold and dry air, not the hardship of the march.

But after a day of cold and fatigue, I couldn’t even have a hot meal.

It was nothing at first, but as the days went by, every time I woke up, I would feel my body getting stiffer and stiffer, and I would feel cold from the inside out.

Looking at the blazing bonfire, a trace of desire flashed in White's eyes. He wanted to lean against the bonfire and warm his stiff body.

But he couldn't do that.

Commander Eric and the three captains also stayed away from the campfire and ate and drank the same food and drink as them. Even the most pampered Weston did not get any special treatment, so how dare White?

Outside the campfire, a circle of bulging water bags gradually softened. After everyone had taken one, White took his own - there was no mark on it, so it didn't matter who it belonged to.

He took a big bite of the black bread, took a sip of warm snow water to soften it, put it down his throat, then used his teeth to tear off a piece of hard dried meat and swallowed it.

This way of eating can only be described as eating, which is boring, mechanical and uninteresting.

The same food, the same way of eating, tastes pretty much the same.

Eric and five other extraordinary people as well as one Vesdon formed a small circle and were discussing with each other.

"Tonight, Gore and Link will be on guard duty." Eric looked around at everyone and said, "Tomorrow it will be Mosingam and I."

"We are getting closer and closer to Heleti's lair. Everyone should work harder and stop changing shifts. If there is an emergency, one of us has to be in top condition."

Link tossed the water bag back and forth with his hands. "I'll be alone tonight. I'm a fire warrior, so the cold doesn't hurt me that much. Arrange for Gaul and Mosingan tomorrow. You're the commander, so you need to get enough rest."

"I'm level two, and you're only level one." Eric snorted, "My physical strength is much better than yours."

"Let me do it!" Weisdong volunteered: "I have never been on guard duty before, who can take me to try it out? I promise to be obedient!"

The air was a little awkward for a moment. At this moment, Simon spoke up: "Link is right, Lord Eric. You are the commander and the only second-level commander. You must stay in the best condition to deal with emergencies."

"So, why don't I keep watch?"

"No!" The other four officers objected in unison.

The sound was a bit loud and immediately attracted the attention of the soldiers.

When the curious eyes faded away, Eric lowered his voice and said, "Any of us can stand guard, except you. The whole army is counting on you to scout the way."

"If something goes wrong with you and we can't find a place to camp in time, morale will probably collapse."

This statement made a lot of sense, and Simon could only nod.

"Then it's decided." Eric ordered: "Link will take Visdon to keep watch tonight, and tomorrow it will be Gore and Mosingan. If there is no problem, you two groups will take turns from now on."

Everyone nodded in agreement, especially Weisdon, whose face was filled with excitement.

After eating together, everyone dispersed and returned to their respective seats. Eric wrapped in a blanket and leaned against the wall, staring at the fire in a daze.

If he only knew before that no one dared to march into the Bloody Heights in winter, now he has a deep understanding of the reason -

cold.

The Baron prepared enough cotton clothes, blankets and tents, provided nutritious food, and used a quarter of the packhorse team's transportation capacity for fuel alone.

But this is far from enough.

The Bloody Highlands is so desolate that you can't see a single tree even after walking for dozens of kilometers, let alone cutting down trees for fuel and heating.

Just to keep this fire burning, nearly 100 kilograms of firewood can be used in one night, which is about the carrying capacity of a pack horse.

It is a luxury to find a completely windless place like today. Most of the time they would camp in a leeward valley. A mere fire pit could not provide any heat at all. No matter how thick the equipment was, it could only barely keep people from freezing to death.

In order to ensure that the entire army had hot meals and kept warm in the cold climate, at least ten people had to share one fire pit, and ten fire pits would consume the energy of about ten pack horses in one night.

One twentieth of the carrying capacity of the entire packhorse team!

So in order to ensure that the fuel is not exhausted prematurely, wood must be saved.

Even if they cannot provide warmth, as long as the fire is burning, it can keep these numb soldiers from collapsing.

"The Baron's decision is indeed correct. We must fight quickly and decisively without any delay." Eric murmured.

Marching in winter is so difficult that it is even more impossible for Heleti to be prepared. This attack may be completely beyond his expectations, and the balance of victory will still tilt towards them.

"I don't know where the Baron and his men have gone."

The crow at the cave entrance rolled its eyes, and suddenly flapped its wings, flew up into the air, ignoring the cold wind, and flew away to the southwest.

"Ka-"

……

(End of this chapter)