Warhammer Divine Throne

The large-scale movement of the vampires made Laine lose interest in celebrating the festival. Instead, the Baron hastily celebrated Winter Festival and immediately devoted his energy to preparing for war.

In the few days after Winter Festival, at the end of December, heavy snow fell in Baron Gene’s Domain in Brittania. The heavy snow not only indicated a bountiful harvest after the new year but also announced that the Baron’s military preparations needed to be temporarily halted, as the peasants’ bodies were not strong enough to train in the snow.

Paladin Alfred and Holy Grail Knight Laine, along with Steward Kasenberg sat by the balcony watching the snow, with a pot of delicious beef stew placed between several wide-backed chairs.

”There’s some good news now, Afu. The vampires are gathering their forces much slower than we imagined. According to the scouts, the Blood Red Duke has repeatedly failed to awaken the undead, and many old graves have been washed away by the floods summoned by the Lady.” Laine raised his glass, pondering the matter, ”Even with the most aggressive calculations, the Blood Red Duke would need three months to assemble a large army. But I don’t understand why he is so determined to gather such a large army... Kasenberg?”

”My Baron.” The steward still sported a bald head, wearing a leather coat and holding a glass of Wood Elf fruit wine. Seeing Laine call him, Kasenberg signaled that he was listening.

”If I give you three months, how strong a defense can you build?” Laine asked, ”Honestly, within our means.”

”Three months, at most, we can build a wooden wall and some wooden watchtowers, then establish some defensive facilities like pits and trenches,” Kasenberg calculated briefly and expressed the expected outcome, ”It’s too ambitious to build stone walls in such a short time, my Baron, and the cost of stone walls is also immense. This would affect the spring planting.”

”Hmm, I understand.” After some consideration, Laine abandoned the plan for urgent wall building. The Undead Army is different from other armies, a mere wooden wall cannot stop these creatures.

”Good friend, are you preparing to battle vampires?” Alfred picked up a wooden bowl filled with beef stew, earnestly offered a prayer, and then began eating heartily.

The life of a Paladin is relatively austere, as they require a lot of meat but often don’t have enough money. Thus Paladins tend to hunt for their own food. For high-quality meat like beef, opportunities for Alfred to eat it are rare. All the money he earns is spent on expanding the town’s chapel.

Due to Alfred’s fervent evangelism, the Justice Church began to gain a foothold in Laine’s domain, with some peasants accepting Alfred’s baptism. With Alfred’s help, a few children have transitioned to Paladins.

”Yes, this war might not be so easy.” Laine nodded.

”Since it’s against the Undead creatures, please allow me to assist you!” Alfred said earnestly, ”Justice is the nemesis of the Undead, and Holy Water blessed by my Lord can inflict significant damage on them. My chapel holds a good stock of it.”

”I have nothing more to say, Afu, let us fight side by side!” Laine did not refuse. There was no need for formalities between him and Alfred.

Outside the balcony, heavy snow fell from the sky, the thick clouds like cotton wool covered every corner of the sky. Baron Gene’s Domain became a world draped in silver and white. The buildings and streets of Gene Town were covered with snow, with many peasants clearing the snow while patrol soldiers marched on the town’s walls.

”Good friend, I must say, the bowmen company has improved under Estelle’s training,” Alfred remarked, ”Normally, a qualified archer requires at least one to two years of training to mature, but you discovered the simplest method.”

”I never intended to train archers, Afu, as you know, a competent archer takes at least one to two years before they can hit targets accurately beyond fifty paces, and Bastogne Longbowmen take five to eight years to mature.” Laine nodded, speaking softly, ”But... crossbows are different.”

Indeed, Laine understood deeply that it would take considerable time to form a combat-ready army of peasant archers. Bastogne Longbowmen start training from ages 8-11, spending their lives in training. Duke Bohemond decreed that all peasants aged 12-65 in his domain must practice archery skills on Sundays after praising the Lake Fairy.

Laine couldn’t quickly form an excellent longbowman unit, but he could quickly raise an excellent crossbowman army.

The Dwarf Crossbows produced by Dwarf Craftsman Delong Feinson were weapons that satisfied Laine. Operating these crossbows required minimal technique, and Laine realized that what the peasants needed was a simple and straightforward hands-on tutorial: loading, aiming, shooting, all in one go—simple and effective.

Sure enough, under Estelle’s training, the peasants in the Gene Bowmen Company could, within just over a month, skillfully load, aim, and shoot.

Laine was pleased with what he saw. Such combat capability was sufficient.

Baron Gene’s Domain now had 1 Holy Grail Knight, 4 Ranger Knights, 13 Knight’s Squires, 85 Swordsmen, 201 Long Spear Soldiers, and 120 archers and crossbowmen. Compared to an ordinary baron’s domain, the size of Laine’s army could be described as sizeable.

Yes, there were also two wizards accompanying the army.

”My Baron, Mr. Francois has sent someone to ask whether you need reinforcements?” Steward Kasenberg said softly, ”He is concerned that your area might become the front line. Also, according to the scouts, Duke Bohemond is aware of the vampire movement and is also preparing his forces.”

”Apart from them? Besides Duke Bohemond and Duke Francois, have any other dukes reacted?” Laine suddenly remembered something and asked in confusion.

”As of now... no. Surely the dukes have received intelligence about the vampires gathering an army, but only these two dukes have reacted by amassing troops. Others, including Duke Boldro Bodrick, who’s closest to Musillon, have only begun mobilization, showing no signs of conscripting the masses or planning scorched earth tactics,” Kasenberg said, holding a parchment. ”There are no new orders from the king either, this is intelligence from three days ago.”

Laine sighed softly. He roughly understood why, besides Duke of Winford and Duke Bastogne, the other dukes hadn’t taken any concrete action.

This isn’t related to hostility towards vampires; rather, it’s relevant to Laine.

Because over a year ago, the chivalric war faced against the Arden Forest cost nearly all the duchies thousands of troops. Though a few thousand losses aren’t debilitating for the duchies, it stretched their forces thin. Castles and domains needed sufficient guarding forces, making the dukes hesitant about conscripting more troops, which might affect spring farming.

Only Bastogne Duchy and Winford Duchy, led by Laine’s Right Army, sustained minimal losses and seized a large amount of spoils. These units, baptized by blood and fire, had become elite.

These were the only two duchies capable of gathering armies immediately.

”My Baron? How do you plan to proceed?” Seeing Laine not respond, Kasenberg continued to inquire.

”What do you think, Kasenberg?” Laine deliberately tested his steward.

Kasenberg bowed his head, pondering briefly. ”My Baron, I think now is not the time to request reinforcements. The situation with Musillon is unclear, as is whether the vampires truly intend to start a war, or if the Red Duke’s target is us. Everything is uncertain for now. My Baron, you’re already feared by the king, hence you need to be careful with your actions, unless Her Highness Mogiana or the king explicitly instructs you to lead troops, you should be cautious.”

”Hmm, very well. What we need to do now is assemble our forces for war preparation, but we must keep a low profile, avoiding giving people gossip,” Laine nodded repeatedly. ”Let’s wait and see the reaction from His Majesty the King or Her Highness Mogiana.”

”Understood, my Baron!”

Preparations in the Baron’s domain began, under Laine’s command, soldiers gradually donned chest armor and more exquisite dwarf equipment.

These forces had started to be semi-professionalized.

In Laine’s conception, separating agriculture from military was the first step in advancing his army reforms. However, his current financial capacity couldn’t sustain a large profession army, so his approach was to semi-professionalize these soldiers, making their military role increasingly dominant over their peasant primary occupation, with major responsibility in military training, practicing two or three days a week, and farming the rest.

Baron’s soldiers enjoyed better food and higher status. Most importantly, Laine was a Holy Grail Knight, the Divine Chosen Champion of the Lady. The peasants in his domain deeply yearned to pledge loyalty to the Holy Grail Knight. In this knightly country, peasants were forbidden from worshipping the Lake Fairy, so attracting the Lake Fairy’s attention required special methods.

Peasants believed becoming Holy Grail Pilgrims, or fighting alongside Holy Grail Knights, were effective means. Thus, for a better life and to gain the favor of the Goddess, the number of enlistments was overwhelming.

The Baron encouraged peasants to hold devout faith.

Time quietly passed amidst preparations. Musillon’s vampire army steadily and resolutely gathered. Under the powerful undead magic of the Blood Red Duke, corpses in graves gradually revived, the formidable Blood Knights and Dark Grail Knights launched attacks, severely disrupting the sentry posts and defensive forces of the Knight Kingdom along the way.

Feeling the threat first was Duke Boldro Bodrick, just over a hundred kilometers away from Musillon. Sea God Manannan’s prince and Divine Chosen Champion had started fully mobilizing the duchy’s army to prepare for a possible vampire threat. Yet, he hesitated. The best defense against vampires was scorched earth tactics, burning all graves and clearing all bones. Vampires couldn’t supplement fresh blood and troops, making controlling undead armies vastly consuming.

The duke was hard-pressed to decide; undertaking scorched earth would strain his duchy for years.

And just as Musillon’s vampire army grew continuously, a positive signal finally emerged from the Knight Kingdom.

Lake God Witch Mogiana left her tower, appearing with a group of Holy Grail Knights at the Lake Fairy Cathedral in the Kakasong Duchy. Lake God Witch announced that vampires are our common enemy, the kingdom’s knights must vanquish evil for the Lady!

Thus, as snow melted in March the following year, war seemed inevitable.

Meanwhile, Mogiana, traveling along the road, received a strange magic communication signal.