Two days had passed, during which the Erdtree faithfully performed its duties, collecting 5,000 runes from the mana in the air and the buried dead, and soon Marika had a full load of 50,000 runes. Not only that Marika had a surprising discovery, she found that she seemed to be able to sense a very weak consciousness from the Erdtree, and it seemed to have a high affection for herself. When Marika asked the system about it, the system said that it was because the Erdtree is indeed conscious, but it was just born and was still toddler-like, and since Marika watered it with her own blood, the young Erdtree regards Marika as its mother. Inexplicably, she now has a tree 'son', and Marika doesn't even know where to begin on this bizarre situation.
In addition, Marika also placed sights of grace around the key points of her territory. Especially in the Great Forest of Uro, if there is an unexpected situation in the future that causes the city of Uro to fall, the residents of the city can use the sights of grace to teleport and escape to the Great Forest for refuge.
Another thing she worked on is the external claim of the Golden Dynasty. After all, the soldiers of the Golden Dynasty and Marika cannot directly tell the masses that they came from another world, lest they risk mass panic. So Marika could only make up a story. The Golden Dynasty was actually an ancient dynasty that lived in seclusion in the Uro forest, and only now came out to expand its territory. As for why Marika chose to run with this white lie? A hidden ancient dynasty or the visitors from another world, which is the most threatening to the surrounding countries? The second option is the obvious choice, the Golden dynasty has only just gotten off its feet, it cannot withstand the siege of the whole world.
But to say that the most interesting thing in the past two days is the spar between Artorius and the knights. The main reason for their spar was that the knights were not happy that Artorius, who to them is of little renown, was able to be chosen as the queen's bodyguard. Obviously Ladybug was excluded, after all, to them he was more like a servant than a guard, so there was no need to compare with him. For the sake of dispelling doubts surrounding Artious, Marika proposed to let them compete in a spar to convince them. Artorius would naturally not refuse, so the contest was held in the castellan's mansion. Without any trouble, Artorius won easily. After all, the Godrick Knights and the Banished Knights are considered no slouches when compared to the common knights in this world, but all of them pale in comparison to Artorius, the hero who battled the abyss for countless years. As Artorius crushed all the challengers with his superb swordsmanship, the jealous knights shut their mouths one after another, showing respect for Artorius' greater strength. This can also be regarded as the tradition of the Lands Between, where the strong rules.
Today, Marika and all her subordinates, Ladybug, Siduri, Artorius, and a Banished knight who was on dispatch duty gathered in the meeting room of the mansion. Bass basically didn't do any serious work, except for squeezing the people out of their money. So this room has been in disrepair until the day before the meeting, the maids opened the room and cleaned it.
The purpose of Marika's meeting with her subordinates today is to analyze the surrounding powers at play, deciding who they need guard against the most, and how to do so. It should also be mentioned, the information at the meeting was collected and provided by Siduri and Ladybug.
"Everyone, the purpose of our meeting is to discuss and analyze the strengths and threats of the countries surrounding us. The most obvious thing is to be said first, our biggest enemy at present should be the Kingdom of Inrud, after all, we just took their city away. So any intelligence regarding them takes priority."
Everyone nodded, and then Ladybug was the first to stand up and report his discovery. Today he changed back to his modern clothes for some reason.
"I have been gathering information with the adventurers for the past two days, especially about the spies who attacked the boss and me that day. I learned from a group of adventurers who have fought with these spies that although it is not completely certain, the spies were likely to serve under the king of Inrud himself. According to them, these spies were placed by the king to keep an eye on his nobles."
Siduri frowned and said:
"If the matter is as Sir Ladybug said, that spy may have conveyed the news of our occupation of Uro to the king of Inrud already. If this is the case, the Kingdom of Inrud will certainly send troops to take back Uro, what we have to worry about now is how many troops they will bring to attack us."
Siduri analyzed, and then went on to say:
"And when I was collecting information with the traveling merchants, I learned that the mortal enemy of the Kingdom of Inrud, the Fakerhi Empire, seems to be reviewing its military strength recently, and has the intention to invade the Kingdom of Inrud. And if they do want to attack the Kingdom of Inrud, Uro will be the place they must pass through."
"Do you know where they're launching their attack from?" Marika asked Siduri.
At this time, Siduri spread out a map she bought from a merchant on the conference table, and then explained:
"The empire is most likely to attack from the west," Siduri pointed to the west of Uro.
"The kingdom whose capital lies in the south should naturally attack from the south," Siduri pointed to the south of Uro City.
"Shit! We're completely surrounded!" Ladybug said nervously.
"Calm yourself. We have fewer troops than them, but our troops have more combat experience." Marika reminded him, and then looked at the map and analyzed:
"Most of the terrain in the south is uneven, so we can only deploy infantry and defensive projects here. The terrain in the west is mainly plains, this will allow us to deploy both infantry and cavalry to take the initiative against the imperial army. The infantry will be responsible for attracting attention, and the cavalry is responsible for the enemy's flank. But to follow this through, it seems that the priority now will be to attain a highly mobile team of riders"
"Wise judgment, your majesty," Siduri echoed.
"Do you have any comments?" Marika looked around the meeting room, only the Banished knight raised his hand to speak.
"Your highness, I think we can start to issue recruitment notices in the city and train some foot soldiers."
"Good thinking. But remember not to train them too intensely, the residents of Uro City have not yet received their grace, so their bodily quality will not be as good as our grace-given people," Marika reminded the knight.
"I understand, your majesty."
"Very good, let's end the meeting today! Remember, the future of the people of Uro City depends on us! We must not fail!"
"Yes! Your Majesty!"
After the meeting Marika summoned twenty Godrick knights and organized into a special battalion, which she named the rapid response team. They will act as the cavalry force on the battlefield. Marika also summoned two golem, and deployed these tall humanoid war machines on the west and south sides of the city respectively. With these golems, both ends of the city can be protected by their long range capabilities.
Meanwhile in the royal capital of Inrud…
The female spy Emily was sitting face to face with a handsome middle-aged man at the tea table for afternoon tea. The man combed back his hair, had sinister eyes like snakes, and was dressed in low-key yet luxurious black aristocratic clothing. This man is Emily's uncle, the Grand Duke Edward Richards. Sitting at the table, Emily had also changed her hairstyle and clothing back to her usual aristocratic style.
"So, is Your Majesty willing to send troops to Uro City?" Edward asked with a relaxed expression.
"Although Your Majesty is somewhat lacking in interest, after all, although Uro City occupies a somewhat important strategic location, it is not the most important point of defense. However, under the insistence of old General Aesop, His Majesty finally decided to send 50,000 men to recover Uro City." Emily reported blankly.
"That's good. Our intelligence indicates that the prince of the empire is about to move again. We have to get ready quickly… But 50,000 men, eh? In this case, it should be a certainty to recover Uro." Edward gave a little sigh of relief.
"No, this is not enough." Emily shook her head and said, to Edward's surprise.
"Are you worried about the empire? According to the old general's troop's marching speed, he should be able to reach Uro before the empire's forces." Edward was a little puzzled.
"I'm not worried about the empire, I'm worried about whether our army can take down that woman."
"That woman? Oh! You mean the woman with high mana and magical energy in the report?"
"Yes."
Hearing Emily's words, Edward raised an intrigued smile at the corner of his mouth.
"It seems that you think highly of her? If so, then I really look forward to meeting her!"
"Uncle, you don't seem to understand what I mean. That woman is more dangerous than all of us thought. She defeated me that day without any effort!"
"But even if she is a legendary level mage, she can't defeat the entire army, right?" Edward was even more puzzled.
"Uncle, do you know? I actually didn't tell His Majesty about something, because I was afraid that His Majesty would think I was lying and talking nonsense. But I know you won't, right?"
"Of course my good niece! Just say it." Emily's attitude made Edward have great curiosity about Malika.
"I used mana appraisal on her before I ran away that day. I couldn't believe my eyes at the time, and I even thought I was crazy! I have never seen so much mana on a living creature, even the great sage of our country Master Preston doesn't have as much magic power as hers! I think even the legendary demon king's mana energy is not as strong as hers. Her mana reserve is as deep as the deep sea! No existence in the world, even the undead, can bear such an unreasonable mana in one's body. She is definitely not human!