After I died, my personal maid rebelled.

Across the vast lake, the fire in Green Canyon burned from night to day, with ships carrying large amounts of military supplies coming and going, and urgent reports being delivered to Elena's desk.

Inside the castle in Ironlake, Eleanor stood before the French windows, silently watching the billowing black smoke swirling above Green Canyon.

The sounds of fighting ceased at some point, and the brutal annihilation battle came to an end with the soldiers' reports.

"My lord, Commander Kate asked me to tell you that the Second Division and the Knights have successfully achieved their strategic objectives, and the enemy has no further action at present."

"Okay, go and rest now."

Elena let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief, her face showing no trace of joy at her victory.

It's time to enter another war of attrition... In Federico's words, the enemy can use a rotation tactic, launching a relentless attack on Green Canyon day and night, while the soldiers of the 2nd Division can only pray that their commander doesn't suddenly pull off some kind of performance art.

These performance art pieces include, but are not limited to: fighting the enemy shirtless; blowing the bugle call for a counterattack; swearing like a shrew in the street; throwing one's own underwear down from the city wall; posing on the city wall even when injured...

Taking advantage of this lull, Elena planned to send the cavalry regiment and the 4th Regiment to rotate the 2nd Division. The cavalrymen were excellent archers and should be able to hold out for a while.

She sighed again and slowly turned around, causing the young women in the office to scramble around in a flurry of activity.

I don't know where they picked up this bad habit, but these young girls who graduated from Central University really liked to secretly stare at her.

Elena tilted her head slightly, gently urging them to work hard, then took some documents and headed to the military camp.

As soon as the door closed, the girls started chattering excitedly and began a lively discussion.

"The melancholic senior, Elena, is so cool."

A fangirl's comment received a chorus of agreement.

I was blinded by Thorne's false charm before, but after arriving in the Northern Territory, I realized that Lady Elene was the brightest star.

Born into a low-ranking noble family, graduating first in her class, and rising from a maid to become the second most powerful person in the Northern Territory, capable of commanding thousands of troops, Lady Elene only took four years.

Speaking of Elena's life, in her previous life she was a powerful and influential figure, a prime example of someone who could reverse the future...

But more than anything else, they wanted to know how Elena had won over the Duke.

After all, everyone has seen lecherous nobles; even the king married the most beautiful Queen Barbara. But everyone only says that the Duke of Oswald was cruel and cunning, but no one has ever said that the Duke was lustful.

Many people coveted the Duchess's position, but Lady Eleanor became his personal maid.

"I bet the Duke must be the bottom."

"That's right, otherwise none of this can be explained."

……

Oswald, who was still somewhat dazed and shivering for no apparent reason, finally caught a glimpse of the outline of the Ice City from his horseback.

Oswald couldn't remember how long he had been unconscious, but the painful, vivid memory of that unconsciousness was something he never wanted to experience again.

But the system told him that installing the energy body heart was only the first step.

Because the heart is a very special organ that can regulate a person's emotions, the system was constantly helping Oswald detoxify his emotions during the more than half a month that Oswald was unconscious.

Now, Oswald's condition has improved considerably, and at least he's no longer having wild thoughts.

So don't ask why there are leaves stuck in our teeth; the most important thing for the three of us is to make the most of our lives.

Oswald was stunned as he quickly pulled a pine needle from between his teeth.

(What exactly did you do with my body, Hatsukami?)

"Don't worry about it, I'm just helping you increase your natural approachability."

Upon hearing this, Oswald rubbed his face vigorously, vowing never to give his body away again.

Under a clear blue sky dotted with white clouds, August is the hottest time of the year in the northern part of the country. However, for Harbin, the towering chimneys erected in the outer city may be the real reason for the excessively high temperatures.

Lowering his hood and gesturing to the shocked, tearful garrison to keep quiet, Oswald handed the reins of his warhorse to the garrisonman, then patted him on the shoulder and leisurely entered the city.

He hadn't felt it when his soul was normal, but after suffering a lot of torment, Oswald felt a sense of indescribable relief as his symptoms lessened.

With his hands behind his back, he leisurely walked into a factory in the outer city. The factory was mainly researching a new type of heavy crossbow, and judging from the pulleys on the model, it already vaguely resembled a modern composite bow.

"What we need are weapons that can penetrate armor by a single soldier! Single soldier!" Old George stomped his feet in anger; the disobedient Mechanicus cultists always managed to irritate him.

"Can you do it according to the blueprints I gave you? If you can't, just say so, and I'll have the dwarves take charge!"

"When it comes to individual weapons, the best one is definitely the Molotov cocktail," the alchemist in charge of providing materials interjected, seemingly oblivious to the prestige of the Northern Territories' elite profession.

Dwarves, magicians, carpenters, and mechanics are all utterly pathetic.

The Mechanic was silent for a moment, then waved his hand, and the group pushed the ballista, which might weigh two tons, back onto the carriage.

So it was an armor-piercing weapon? He thought it was a city-breaking crossbow...

"What's wrong? Is the fighting not going well at the front?" Oswald asked quietly from behind old George.

"It's nothing, it's just that the Confederate Shield Guards are a real problem, you ask..." Old George's words caught in his throat, and he turned his head blankly, only to see Oswald stuff a cigarette directly into his mouth.

Old George hurriedly took off his cigarette and grinned.

Men don't need to exchange many sweet words. The two of them went to the wasteland outside, leaned against the railing, smoked and watched the steaming heat rising from the various factory buildings.

Oswald hoped to skip the steam age, but it was clear that the Mechanicus had already developed something similar to a steam engine.

Facing the hot wind, old George talked about the recent situation. Overall, there hadn't been any major troubles in the Northern Territory, except that some strange fellows had appeared in Ice City.

In the first war with the Central District, Elene led her army to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop, earning the Northern Territory a lot of labor. Even her own men were given five prisoners, but most of the surrendered soldiers were taken to mines.

Compared to Ice City, Broad Valley City is developing much better. Ice City mainly focuses on researching steam power and weapons development, while Broad Valley City has the large furnace technology taught by the dwarves, and its steel production is now frighteningly high.

Luna recently held a meeting with them, saying that the current mainstream weapons of war are not efficient enough, and the Northern Territory must master more convenient armor-piercing weapons to improve the individual combat capabilities of the Northern Army.

"Actually, we could try starting with modifying the arrowheads and creating new weapons, even if they can't be used in this war."

Oswald smiled and comforted him, noticing that old George was a little anxious, but weapons development always takes time.

As they were talking, Oswald shook off his cigarette ash, and a pale blue figure quickly appeared before him.

"Wow, big brother!"

Luna came running up crying, and Oswald frowned immediately. He threw away his cigarette butt, grabbed Luna's head, and stopped her from hugging him.

Luna's hands froze awkwardly in mid-air: ? ? ?