Chapter 197: Push Further
Tapk! Tapk!
King Swordsmen walked by the sides of a slim man. He was Viscount Syria's counselor.
When they reached the middle of the hall, Asher leaned against his palm, watching the man slowly approaching while looking at the soldiers on the left and right parts of the hall.
Seeing this, Nero took a step forward.
"Kneel before His Lordship!" There was slight anger in his voice, causing the man to quickly drop to both knees.
Asher lifted up his head and puffed out. It was clear he wasn't paying much attention to this man's clumsiness.
"I want the map of this castle. Where is it?"
"A… at Lord Syria's study."
The man stuttered.
"Bring it."
Two swordsmen lifted the counselor up and took him out of the hall. As he was being led out to go find the map, Paul walked in.
He fell on one knee and bowed his head. "Your Lordship."
"Arise. What's the situation of the people?"
"We have made sure no one starts up an internal conflict, but the people are in a state of panic."
"They're supposed to be." Alex responded.
Paul looked at him. "Our might makes them fear us."
Asher grunted. "We'll move them. Find out if there is a teleportation channel, and if there isn't, invite Aquila. In the meantime, I want to know their population and devise means to move them to Goshen."
"As you wish."
Paul got to his feet.
"Goshen will become more vulnerable with its massive numbers. To safeguard it, this castle must be modified."
Asher rose to his feet, walked to the windows, and looked at the walls. Now the flames were out, but smoke kept rising to the sky.
The walls were completely ruined, and it would take a long time to rebuild.
"Call the counselors." Asher said solemnly while watching his men patrol the castle to keep the peace.
At this moment, the people could do anything, so they needed to see the armored men on the streets to keep them in check.
.............
Some days later, Katarina and Sapphira walked into the hall.
"I won't end here."
These were the first words that came out of Asher's mouth, causing the counselors to raise their eyebrows.
"What do you mean, my lord?" Katarina tilted her head.
"Apart from the settlements, towns, and villages littered around the next big fenced city is Tiberias, the great capital."
"What?!" Katarina's eyes widened.
"My Lord, Tiberias isn't like any city we have faced. It has garrisons of powerful troops, some of which are entirely made up of knights."
Sapphira said as she approached him and laid her palm on the back of his own palm.
Everyone in the hall, soldiers, Nero, and Katarina exchanged eye contact.
None of them made a sound. Maybe their lord didn't realize it, and making a sound would alert him.
Asher looked at Sapphira. "House Tigris is at war with House Mormont. This is our opportunity to strike them. House Mormont will take the advantage to strike harder, making it hard for them to attack us."
Sapphira smiled softly, then gestured toward Katarina with her eyes. This indicated that he didn't have any need to convince her from the beginning.
She was already with him.
Asher turned to Katarina.
"Did you have any vision?"
"I didn't, but even I know fighting the great white tigers and defeating them won't be easy."
"Send a message to General Adam. I need him to send 5000 Ashkelon knights. I also need the Bladebreakers and the Stormbringers. Tiberias will and must fall."
For some reason, Sapphira felt whatever Asher was feeling wasn't just him alone. It was also from his ancestors.
House Tigris had oppressed and taken over their dominion for decades now. It was time to take back what was rightfully theirs.
The elite troops were about to gather together once again to face Tiberias. Asher knew they would be prepared since Viscount Syria would have spread the news, but he didn't care.
He would march over 10,000 knights and 1,000 heavy cavalry knights to the walls of Tiberias. Although the Ashkelon knights wore lighter armor and used smaller shields, their armor was half-step diamond-ranked ones.
This gave them the advantage over other gold-ranked knights!
"You'll also have a crossbow unit and a priest unit to assist you."
Shocked, Asher looked at Sapphira. "A priest unit?"
"I have been doing some scouting and training those who have potential in secret, but Aquila caught wind of it and has started the same. Last week, she came back from Ashkelon with 10 mage apprentices."
"How many does she have now?"
"About 100 mages." Chapter Read:
Asher blinked several times. "What about the priests?"
The priests, to him, were of greater importance because they were the ones who could conjure barriers, blocking both magical and nonmagical attacks.
This would make a great difference in the sieging of Tiberias.
They could build a barrier wall against the city, allowing the troops to close the gap!
"I have 50."
50 was an outstanding number considering how rare priests were, and these 50 were gathered out of a population of over 220,000!
"Bring them to me."
.........
"How is that possible! How could you, a viscount, lose to a wretched cripple!!" Liya screamed at Viscount Syria.
Her face was crimson, and she glared at him with so much hatred, but the man could only lower his head.
"He's not wretched anymore if he could build a heavy infantry of thousands of knights." Count William's second son said with crossed arms.
"Shut up!" Liya snapped. Ice spread out underneath her feet, but Slade grabbed her, keeping her away from Viscount Syria.
"How did he take over such a fortified castle in one day?" Sofia asked with a soft tone. She sat in the head seat.
"He had siege relics, thousands of knights, infantry knights, and archers. His mounted soldiers did not even attack. He also has great strategists and must have gotten information about the castle to its minutest details."
"And how was that possible?"
The Viscount clenched his fist. He could sense these people were trying to push all the blame on him.
He was here to inform them of the great threat that House Ashbourne had become, but it seemed they were too blind to believe it.
Lifting up his head, Viscount Syria spat, "He'll come. He'll do the same to this great city if you keep questioning me instead of retaliating."
"You dare speak to the count's wife with such disrespect!"
Boom!