Starting With an SSS-Rank Swordsmanship Talent

“After I took you to the fortress…” Alaric recounted the events that followed after Marco lost consciousness.

While he was telling Marco what had happened, Giovanni sensed an anomaly on the big-breasted Knight.

She had her lowered so no one could see her expression, but Giovanni, with his acute senses, could tell that she was crying.

He furrowed his eyebrows. He had no intention of comforting her. After all, they had once been enemies on the battlefield.

“So that’s what happened…” Marco let out a heavy sigh, his face filled with complex emotions.

He thought that he would die in that battle, but Alaric had saved him once more.

“Your Highness, you saved me for the second time. How can I repay this…”

Alaric cut him off. “You don’t need to repay me, Lord Marco. I only did what I think was right. Astania still needs you to protect the Western Region. I hope that you will continue protecting our lands.”

Hearing this, Marco lowered his head and promised. “I will faithfully serve Astania until my last breath.”

“Good.” Alaric smiled faintly.

Marco glanced at the people around and said. “Please leave. I would like to speak to the Highnesses privately.”

Hearing this, everyone including his wife and son left the room.

“What do you want to talk about?” Giovanni crossed his arms with a frown.

Marco took a deep breath and spoke in a cold voice.

“I cannot accept this! Many of our warriors died because of them!” His shoulders trembled as fury took over him.

“Your Highnesses, we must do something to appease the souls of our fallen soldiers.” He glanced at the two princes.

“Are you saying that you want us to attack Harune?” Giovanni’s eyes turned cold.

“Not necessarily.”

Marco shook his head and explained himself.

“We can ask Harune to compensate us for the damage they caused. Then we will distribute what we can get from them to the families of the deceased.”

“That is not a bad idea. However…” Alaric suddenly spoke.

Both Marco and Giovanni turned their heads at him.

“Harune will never willingly compensate us. Unless we force them to…” Alaric’s words made them frown.

“And how can we force them to compensate us?” Giovanni asked.

“Simple. We just need to attack them and pressure them into compensating us.” Alaric smiled coldly.

He still had an active mission that would require him to occupy three cities before he could get the reward. The rewards weren’t that great, but the Equipment Upgrade Card was quite tempting.

During the last battle, he realized how important it was to have powerful equipment.

If all his items were epic-rated, he wouldn’t have to worry about getting surrounded by hundreds of enemies.

“But we don’t have enough men to launch a war.” Giovanni stared deeply at him.

In the last battle in Aklan Pass, they lost over a hundred thousand warriors. It would take a while before they could replace those who had died.

Alaric nodded. “That’s true. The Western Region suffered a big loss this time so we can’t rally troops from them.”

Giovanni seemed to have understood his meaning and was startled. “Hold on. Are you saying that…”

Alaric smiled. “It turns out you aren’t that stupid.”

Giovanni was about to retort, but Alaric had already spoken.

“We can gather our troops from the other regions.”

“But doing this would take some time. Even if we urge everyone to hurry, it would still take months to move a large number of troops.”

“Who said we are in a hurry? Since we are going to attack them, we ought to plan this properly. Besides, we still need to get His Majesty’s approval before we can mobilize the empire’s troops.” Alaric replied.

The three exchanged their viewpoints for almost an hour before they decided to end the conversation.

“Let’s talk about this some other time. Lord Marco is still recovering so it wouldn’t be appropriate to stay here for long.” Alaric reminded them.

Giovanni still wanted to get things clarified, but he decided to temporarily put the matter aside. “Fine.”

“Lord Marco, once you have fully recovered, come and find me immediately.” Alaric sent Marco a look.

“I understand, Your Highness.” Marco nodded.

“Then we will be leaving first. If you need anything, just send someone to find me.”

After bidding him farewell, Alaric pulled Giovanni out of the room.

When they stepped out of the room, they saw that everyone was still waiting outside, chatting about random things.

“Your Highnesses!” They greeted the two as soon as they stepped out of the room.

“We are leaving.” Alaric nodded to Mathilda.

Marco’s wife and the medical practitioners sent them off.

Upon leaving the clinic, Giovanni glanced at Alaric and asked. “Where are we headed next?”

“I will return to the North. I need to gather more soldiers so I must speak with the northern leaders.” Alaric responded in a stern voice.

The mission wasn’t urgent so he wanted to return to North Pine Town to see his family.

“Are you going to see your newborn sister?” Giovanni smiled.

He had heard from his informants that Lucas’s wife, Maria Keller, had given birth to a girl.

Alaric smiled with a look of anticipation. “That too.”

Giovanni nodded. “Alright. Leave the central region to me. I will gather as many troops as I can from the central households, but it might take a while since I still have to convince that sissy Exlor.”

The two chatted for a while before they exchanged farewells.

“Wait!” Giovanni suddenly called out to him before they left.

Alaric raised an eyebrow. “Do you still have something to tell me?”

Giovanni laughed awkwardly and pushed the big-breasted Knight toward him. “Bring this woman with you.”

“What is the meaning of this?” Alaric frowned.

“I will be getting married soon so I don’t want any nasty rumors going around. Come on. Just do this for your cousin. She isn’t bad-looking anyway.” Giovanni replied with embarrassment.

“You will be getting married soon?” Alaric was stunned. He hadn’t heard about this from his family.

Giovanni chuckled. “We have been keeping it confidential, but the news should be released soon. Anyway, just take care of her. I’m off!”

The guy didn’t even wait for his response and left in haste.

Alaric could only helplessly watch him leave.

Looking at the big-breasted Knight, Alaric sighed helplessly. “What’s your name?”