Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 436 The storm is coming
"Gondar hasn't responded?" Li Wei's heart, which had just been at ease, started racing again. His brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly. "Even if my cheap father-in-law is busy working his way up in the Garden of Ten Thousand Flowers every day, he should at least send a message! With such a large group of frost giants strolling over, does he really expect the North and Highcliff Keep to handle this on their own?"

Such a large number of frost giants can be considered an invasion of Debe by foreign forces. Asking for help from Gondar is a tried and tested approach that every noble would do immediately.

Especially since he was fighting a war abroad.

Even if I rode Sersney day and night to get back, it would probably take at least ten days to half a month.

"Sir, Governor Bernard requests an audience."

Just then, a barbarian lifted the tent flap and shouted, revealing a helpless-looking Bernard standing behind his imposing figure.

These barbarians don't care about the governor or anyone else. On their own little territory, they don't even respect the king without their leader's orders.

Therefore, even Bernard was kept outside and could not get in.

"This is my buddy. You bunch of idiots, just let him in from now on." The lord stepped in to smooth things over, and even though he was a bit overwhelmed, he still said with a smile, "What's the old man doing here at this hour?"

The two barbarian guards exchanged a glance, one lifted the curtain and the other welcomed Bernard inside: "Sir, we were wrong, we apologize, please don't mind."

Once the two carrots were out of the water, Bernard's resentment had long since vanished. He felt that arguing with a bunch of barbarians was simply asking for trouble.

"Leeway," Bernard said in a low voice as he led Fan in, "I just received two pieces of news. Would you like to hear the good news or the bad news first?"

"Good news." The lord rolled his eyes.

“The good news is that because you killed the demon lord, the remaining high-ranking Balrogs in Wirtz City have started fighting amongst themselves,” Bernard said. “The troops I just sent in have already taken down the city walls. We’re just waiting for them to finish their infighting before we move on to the next step.”

He obtained this information by capturing a few demons and questioning them. Unexpectedly, the Lord of High Cliff Fortress actually killed the demon lord and some of the main high-ranking demons.

Demons are infernal creatures that spontaneously arise from the bottomless abyss. They are inherently chaotic and evil, completely lacking moral constraints. They take pleasure in destruction, even killing each other, and only obey the violent intimidation of more powerful demons or demon lords.

So once they confirmed the demon lord's death, they began a chaotic war to seize power.

"So what's the bad news?"

Bernard glanced around, and after the lord waved to indicate that they were all his men who kept their mouths shut, he whispered, "We've lost contact with Debe."

Li Wei's eyebrows twitched instantly.

Archmage Faen also joined in, his expression grave: "Lord Li Wei, our expeditionary force relies on the 'Luneng Communication Crystal,' which is personally maintained by the court mages, for communication with the capital. It is absolutely impossible for it to be interrupted without cause, unless..."

“Unless someone deliberately cut off communications, or there’s something wrong with the capital itself,” Bernard continued, a rare look of worry on his face. “Losing communication means our reinforcements, supplies… everything is gone. It’s like our entire expeditionary force has been abandoned here in the Persian Gulf Empire.”

"If it had only been a few ounces of contact, it could have been attributed to a malfunction of the communication crystal. But it has been two full days now, and no matter how much we call out, the communication crystal still doesn't respond."

In fact, Bernard felt that he could no longer keep it a secret, so he came to give the Dragon Knight a heads-up in advance.

The communication was lost when a demon appeared in Wirtz, just as Levi and his group entered Wirtz to rescue the besieged Sith army.

To avoid demoralizing the troops, he kept it a secret, and no more than three people knew about it.

The atmosphere inside the tent instantly plummeted to freezing point. The demons of Wirtz City hadn't been completely dealt with, and now nearly a thousand frost giants capable of altering the climate had emerged in High Cliff Fortress, severing even communication with the capital.

After Bernard finished speaking, he noticed that the dragon knight in front of him had no change in expression, remaining as calm as still water. He couldn't help but admire him as the seasoned lord of High Cliff Fortress, possessing the composure of a great general who remained unmoved even when faced with an avalanche.

"Uncle, I also have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?" Li Wei said calmly.

"What? You have one too?"

Bernard raised an eyebrow: "Tell me the bad news first."

"More than a thousand frost giants are heading south from the wilderness. Judging from their current route, their destination should be Gondar..." The lord was interrupted by a deafening voice before he could finish speaking.

"What? That's impossible!" Bernard's face was full of disbelief: "The frost giants have been extinct for thousands of years. You didn't mistake a giant that has awakened the power of ice for a frost giant, did you?"

"Believe it or not." The lord picked at his ear, looking at the stupid guy with a pitiful expression.

As a true man of his caliber, he never falls into the trap of self-justification, because that would be a step down from the ideal.

"What's the good news?" Bernard saw the communication disk next to him and Tina's projection. He knew that Levi wasn't lying, but he was still a little incredulous. He nodded and continued to ask.

"Of course, it's because High Cliff Fortress isn't on their route." The lord laughed heartily.

Bernard rolled his eyes. At a time like this, only this dragon knight had the leisure to joke around.

"And to tell you the truth, the letter sent from High Cliff Fort to Gonda has not received any response. Those swine in the Noble Garden are like a bunch of pigs who died on a woman's belly." The lord pointed his finger: "If it were just once or twice, I could just assume that someone in the Noble Garden dislikes High Cliff Fort or wants to mess with our expeditionary force."

"But it's clearly not that simple now; something must have gone wrong in Gundari."

After finishing his analysis, Li Wei abruptly asked, "Do you know anything about that prince? What are his abilities like? Is there anything amiss?"

After much deliberation, Li Wei could only think of Prince Bedoy, who had a grudge against him in the capital. If the prince took advantage of the fact that a large number of Gonda's soldiers had joined the expeditionary force and the defenses were weak, and launched a crossfire like the Xuanwu Gate Incident in another world, then it would be reasonable for Gonda to lose contact.

“Impossible.” Bernard knew what Levi was going to say at a glance, but shook his head: “Although Bedoy has done a lot of ugly things, unless Harland is dead, he wouldn’t dare to do such a thing even if he had the heart of a dragon.”

It is said that a tiger father will not have a dog son.

But the reality was quite the opposite. Haaland was like a raging bear, seizing the throne through force and cunning, while Idobel was like a tiger cub living in its comfort zone, only able to bully others and act arrogantly.

Although the other party was the son of his good friend Haaland, Bernard always told the truth.

In his view, the other woman wasn't even qualified to inherit the throne, but it was a pity that, apart from her, all the other women in Harland's household were princesses. In De Beers, there was no precedent for a woman to be king.

"Could someone be orchestrating all of this behind the scenes?" Bernard, being a commander, had a keen sense of smell and inadvertently hit the nail on the head: "First, there was the demon invasion, then the frost giants reappeared, and now Gonda has lost contact and the situation is unclear. It's as if all these problems have erupted at the same time."

He looked at Levi, a barely perceptible hint of anxiety hidden deep in his calm eyes: "Levi, what do we do now? The demons in Wirtz City are still fighting amongst themselves. We need to clean things up as soon as possible, otherwise we'll be caught in a crossfire. But what about Debe…?"

"I'm entrusting the demons of Wirtz to you, and I'm also handing over the High Cliff Fortress Legion to you. I suspect that not only Wirtz, but the entire northern part of the Persian Gulf Empire has been occupied by demons. So after you occupy Wirtz, it's best to stay put and defend the southern provinces." The lord said slowly, "Even if Debe's support is cut off, the resources of the southern provinces are enough for the expeditionary force to survive."

"And Swain, while I'm away, have Master Farn keep an eye on him."

Although knocked-out teeth won't grow back, so too will courage, but Li Wei still chooses to be cautious, otherwise, it would be difficult to recover from a mishap.

“Okay.” Bernard nodded, then asked, “And what about you?”

"Me?" Levi grinned, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth, resembling a dragon baring its fangs. "I'm taking Sersney back to Debe!"

"A thousand frost giants want to cause trouble in the wilderness? Did they even ask me first! And what exactly is Harland up to with the undead? What's going on with Gonda? I'll find out all of that, not to mention..."

A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and his voice lowered.

"I'd like to see which little punk is pulling these tricks behind the scenes!"

Inside the tent, Bernard looked at the murderous-looking Levi, opened his mouth, but in the end only let out a heavy sigh, and patted Levi's shoulder hard: "Levi, be careful, you must find out about Gonda's situation, leave this to me!"

Li Wei elbowed the governor in the waist with such force that the governor winced in pain: "My men are in your hands now. If any of them die, I'll tie your daughter up and take her back to High Cliff Fort to be Mir's wife!"

Bernard's lips twitched.

……

Outside the tent, in the open space, Sersni had already dispelled her shapeshifting spell. Her massive dragon body was impatiently scratching at the ground with her scaly claws, each strike causing the surrounding earth to tremble and leaving deep craters.

Its massive head was lowered, its molten gold-like vertical pupils staring intently at Li Wei, hot breath exhaled from its nostrils, and a low, urging rumble came from deep within its throat.

Levi stopped dawdling and moved nimbly, leaping onto the broad dragon's neck. He leaned down and pressed his face against Sersne's neck, which was covered with fine scales.

Roar!
A deafening roar, powerful enough to tear the heavens apart, resounded. Sersni's enormous wings suddenly spread out, blotting out the sun and sky. The swirling wind instantly blew away the surrounding dust, grass clippings, and even the few barbarian soldiers who were too close, making it impossible for them to open their eyes. Its powerful hind legs slammed into the ground, causing the earth to groan under its strain. Its massive body, like a black arrow released from a bow, shot straight into the sky with a piercing shriek that tore through the air.

A fierce wind howled, whipping Li Wei's hair wildly backward.

He looked down at the rapidly shrinking military camp below, the blurry outline of Wirtz, and the vast and unfamiliar lands of the Persian Gulf Empire in the distance, his eyes sharp as knives.

The frost giants... Gondar is missing... demons are wreaking havoc... the timing is so coincidental it's outrageous.

As for Ifra, who left, we don't know how she is doing. However, apart from myself, her strength is top-tier. Ordinary people have no way to deal with this beautiful snake.

Outside the tent, Bernard looked up at the black line that quickly disappeared into the horizon. The worry on his face had not completely disappeared, but he felt more relieved.

Farn walked to his side, his aged voice tinged with a hint of emotion: "Lord Levi's strength remains a mystery. I believe he could easily deal with those frost giants."

Bernard nodded, but what he was actually worried about was his friend Harald.

Although the other party has done some things in recent years that he doesn't understand, it's impossible for them to turn a blind eye to such a big mess in Gonda.

……

Debai, Lionheart Avenue.

In the early morning, the wind blowing from the forest rustled through the trees on both sides of the road.

A horse-drawn carriage traveled on the compacted dirt road, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Mil sat in the back of the carriage, peering out the window at the scenery, feeling the gentle breeze on his face, and remained silent for a long time.

Since becoming an apprentice of the great sage Rudy, he had been left in Florence, the capital of the Holy Sith Kingdom, by the lord, and was only able to leave now that he had finished learning the basics of alchemical runes.

To be honest, after being away for so long, he missed his sister very much and couldn't wait to show off his alchemy skills to his brother-in-law.

"Wow, Debe is indeed different from the Sith Kingdom. The atmosphere of freedom is much stronger here."

Suddenly, a minotaur squeezed through the crowd, sticking out his bull head and looking around aimlessly out the window.

“Miss Peiya, there are windows on the other side too, why did you come to my side?” Mil asked with a resentful look, moving the bull horn that was poking his face away.
"Hey, you little brat, how can you be so disrespectful to your senior sister? Besides, the scenery here is better, what's wrong with me coming over?" Pei Ya put her hands on her hips, giving him a look that said, "You little brat, you need to respect your teacher."

Looking at the other person's body, which had been riddled with iron lumps, and then at his own flesh and blood, Mil wisely refrained from arguing.

Don't underestimate my senior sister just because she's a girl; she can easily beat him up.

He originally planned to come back alone, but his senior sister was shameless and insisted on coming with him, saying that the world is so big and she wanted to see it all.

He actually knew perfectly well why.

"Guest, we'll be arriving in Gonda soon."

The groom's voice came from outside the door, and the two stopped arguing.

Looking up, a magnificent city came into view at the edge of the horizon.

(End of this chapter)