Chapter 519: Troubles of the Northlands

“Currently, the Expeditionary Army’s food reserves were quite abundant, even counting the newly arrived Resistance Army. Ammunition and weapons as well… uh—”

Hodge hesitated for a moment before asking in confusion, “My Lord, with all due respect, the Expeditionary Army likely couldn’t use up all this ammunition and equipment. Didn’t our reserves seem a bit too much?”

Hughes merely waved his hand and began to laugh.

“This doesn’t matter. The factories in Castel and Blood Harbor lacked no production capacity at all, and railway transportation consumed little. It never hurt to store more equipment. Wasting production capacity was far better than failing to supply ammunition, forcing soldiers to pay with their lives, wasn’t it?”

Hodge pressed his lips together and nodded heavily.

“Besides these reserves, how was the rear-transfer arrangement for the Resistance Army?”

“We first arranged for the injured to be sent back. After all, although the Expeditionary Army’s camp didn’t lack supplies, its medical conditions were still somewhat poor. Sending them back to Blood Harbor could save many more lives. Now, aside from those whose injuries were too severe to withstand the jolting of the train, almost all of the rest were being prioritized for transport back to Blood Harbor.”

“Send them back first. The number of doctors in Blood Harbor was actually insufficient as well, but conditions were still better than at the front.” Hughes let out a sigh.

Castel’s greatest shortcoming at present was, in fact, medical care.

In previous battles, either Castel crushed the enemy completely, leaving almost no casualties, or they fought monsters—touching them meant death, leaving no opportunity to be wounded and withdrawn.

This resulted in low demand for doctors, and doctors rarely had patients to practice on.

But with this batch of injured Resistance fighters sent back, Blood Harbor’s hospital instantly became saturated.

“I already had a batch of doctors urgently transferred from Castel. That group of Hospital Knights—damn it, let’s just call them the Hospital Knights. Those Banshees couldn’t expect to go to the battlefield now; anyone who had studied medicine had been sent to the hospitals. For now, only learning medicine could save Castel!”

Hodge nodded. Although he didn’t understand some of the words, he roughly grasped the meaning.

“Besides these injured, the remaining Resistance fighters numbered several thousand. Lord Alexei temporarily arranged housing for them near the Expeditionary Army’s camp. Once we finish transferring the wounded, they will be sent back in batches, and the speed will improve significantly.”

Many injured could not move freely and required beds to stabilize their condition. Once they were sent, the train cars could be fitted with seats again. Then one car could carry many more people, which was equivalent to gaining a large amount of transport capacity out of thin air.

Hughes nodded, joy appearing on his face.

Castel needed a large population, and the arrival of these Resistance fighters was extremely timely.

Unlike the original inhabitants of Blood Harbor, the homes of these Northland refugees had already been destroyed. They had also pursued Castel for so long, so their natural loyalty to this place was extremely high.

And having survived the forging of war, those who remained were the cleverer and stronger ones, presumably more capable of adapting to Castel’s new environment.

More importantly, this was his promise to Nora—Castel would be the refugees’ home, and now it was time to fulfill that promise.

Whether it was Nora, the Resistance Army, or Castel, all were working hard to fulfill their own promises. No matter how many obstacles lay in between, none of them ever gave up. The fact that the refugees could reach Castel at all was already a miracle.

A miracle written by all of them together.

“My Lord, there is actually one more matter.” When Hughes turned back, he discovered Hodge wearing a rather strange expression.

“What is it?”

“Um, it’s like this. After news spread throughout the Northlands that the Resistance Army was stationed here, many original Northland residents came rushing over and chose to join the Resistance Army.”

Hughes raised his eyebrows. This truly exceeded his expectations.

“I remembered the Resistance Army was mostly White Raven People, wasn’t it? Why were Northlanders joining them as well?”

The White Raven People’s appearance was quite distinctive—their pure-white hair and white irises were recognizable at a glance. Northlanders, on the other hand, mostly had blond hair; Alexei was a typical Northlander in appearance.

Hodge gave a bitter smile.

“Indeed, but they still joined the Resistance Army. The entire Northlands had been fighting for more than half a year, and the nobles’ taxes rose again and again. They simply couldn’t survive anymore. Wherever the Resistance Army went, without needing much mobilization, crowds of people would join them.”

Hughes fell silent for a moment and sighed.

He was born in a peaceful era. Although he had experienced human suffering through several Descents, he had never encountered actual war.

When he came to Castel, the island, though remote, had never been touched by war. By the time the Deep Sea War came, Castel already possessed the strength to fight.

Hughes had never truly faced people living under the ravages of war.

“How… how many of them came?”

“Our trains were transporting the wounded to Blood Harbor day and night, yet the number of Resistance fighters in the Northlands kept increasing instead.”

Hughes’ expression grew increasingly serious.

The spot where the Expeditionary Army was stationed was nowhere near any of the major cities, yet so many people still came. This only proved that the situation in the Northlands was already on the brink of collapse.

“No. We cannot delay the reckoning with these noble forces any further. If we stall again, they’ll drag the entire Northlands down with them. Hodge, how goes your offensive?”

Hodge took out the map he had prepared long in advance and spread it across the table.

“My Lord, look—there were four territories in the Northlands. Three Grand Dukes and Earl Bazel. The southern Grand Duke Dragonfang mobilized nearly all the soldiers he could command this time, and that army has already been annihilated by us.”

“Grand Duke Alvarez on the eastern side directly chose to surrender and ordered all his vassals not to resist. We thought it was a trap at first, but unexpectedly, he truly handed over all his authority. Lord Alexei is still handling that matter, and future developments will depend on the specific situation over there.”

“Then there was the western Grand Duchess Octavia. Her territory was rather far from the railway we laid. The Expeditionary Army Lord Alexei sent hasn’t reported back yet, so it will likely take a few more days.”

“And finally, the northern Earl Bazel’s domain. This was where the real trouble began—we couldn’t find Earl Bazel or his army at all!”

“Couldn’t find them at all?”

“Yes. An entire army. Before our attack on Wolf Castle, Bazel slipped away with all his elites. Logically, an army like that would leave plenty of traces. Their daily consumption of food and supplies was a significant problem too. But somehow, they simply couldn’t be found.”

“Could this be related to Lina? I remembered Isaac reporting this matter earlier—Lina was with Bazel.”

“That’s entirely possible, my Lord.”

Hughes nodded heavily. Bazel’s disappearance had cast a shadow over their victory. He had a premonition that the two sides would inevitably fight again in the future.

“My Lord, there is one more matter. It concerns Nora and her body.”