[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela":3,"chapter-exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-chapter-34":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Exiled from the Start and Dominating the Wasteland with an Intelligence System",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1688634,2155,"Chapter 34 : Chapter 34","exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-chapter-34",34,"\u003Cp>Chapter 34. Winds Stir in Lucerne\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Medici? The Southern Frontier?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Southern Frontier... lay thousands of miles away, with the entire heartland of the kingdom and the vast forests of the Western Frontier in between.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>House Medici was famed for trade, seafaring, and unfathomable wealth. Its influence was tangled deep, with its reach spread across the coasts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sabda Medici, the duke’s second son... why would a noble youth of such exalted status turn his attention toward Black Territory?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I have nothing to do with them...” Eli murmured to himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He searched through the scattered fragments of the original owner’s memories. Aside from a few fleeting banquet impressions from the noble circles of the royal capital,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>there was no direct connection at all with House Medici, and especially not with this young master Sabda.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could it really be only because of Obsidian Territory’s location?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A cold sensation, like being watched by a venomous snake hidden in the dark, quietly crept up his spine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How much had they managed to uncover?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or was it... merely the routine attention one neighbor paid another?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Forget it. Soldiers blocked what came with arms; water was stopped with earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli’s gaze refocused on the more urgent threat before him—Lucerne City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He rose and walked over to the small table piled high with parchment rolls and charcoal pencils.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Picking up a quill pen, he dipped it in ink and swiftly began writing across a sheet of sturdy papyrus.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To the esteemed Marquess Marcus Hohenzollern, Supreme Military Commander of the Western Frontier...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli first set down the speculation he had been pondering for some time:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I, Eli, humbly venture the following guess: Grumm’s forces are likely not an isolated case.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the city-state allied army has retreated, internal strife and uneven division of spoils remain within their ranks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is entirely possible that other powers, like the city-state of Falei, have secretly left behind elite troops to occupy strongholds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If such remnants are scattered throughout the occupied Western Frontier, supporting one another from afar and secretly coordinating, then the harm they may do to the Western Frontier would be immense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I beseech Your Lordship to examine this matter carefully. It cannot be left unguarded against.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After writing that passage, Eli paused. In the end, he still included his doubts regarding Medici.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In addition, regarding Sabda Medici, second son of the Duke of the Southern Frontier:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Your Lordship possesses any information regarding his territory or the forces under his command, I would be deeply grateful if you might share some of it with me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the end, he once more emphasized his position—that he would serve the Western Frontier to the death and fight to recover its lost lands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The face of the ever-loyal Eli Black—La Roche—Hohenzollern turned a little red.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ahem.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He signed it, stamped it, and sealed it with wax.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aika!” Eli called out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The captain of the personal guards, Aika, answered the summons and pushed the door open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli handed him the sealed letter. “Send someone to Thorne City and place this letter into Marquess Marcus’s hands personally.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If His Lordship has any written reply or verbal instruction, bring it back at once.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At once, my lord!” Aika accepted the letter, then turned and strode out of the Council Hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had only just finished dealing with the matter of the messenger when the heavy wooden doors of the Council Hall were shoved open again, bringing in a gust of dust and road-weariness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Brandon had returned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old soldier was covered in dirt from head to toe. Even his graying beard was speckled with dried mud, and his face carried the exhaustion of a hard journey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My lord!” Brandon’s voice came with urgent breaths. “Something’s happened!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli’s heart sank. He gestured for him to sit. “Slowly. Lucerne City?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes!” Brandon snatched the waterskin Ella hurriedly passed to him and took several hard gulps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As you instructed, I’ve been keeping watch outside Lucerne City the whole time. And just over these past few days—”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He drew in a deep breath. “There’s movement, my lord! Not a small one, either! A large force has entered the city! At least four or five hundred men!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were flying a jumble of different banners, but their equipment looked fairly well-kept. They didn’t seem like a gang of vagrants thrown together at the last minute!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They... they gathered outside Lucerne City from several different directions, then entered in groups!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Brandon spoke faster and faster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Judging from the look of it, they were definitely the main forces Grumm sent out earlier to ‘acquire grain’ and stand watch. They’ve all been recalled!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli’s fist clenched soundlessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected! That lurking wolf, Grumm, was finally about to bare its fangs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A large-scale concentration of troops could not possibly be for some petty skirmish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Have they moved out yet?” Eli’s voice was tight as a drawn bowstring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not before I left my watch position!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The city gates were shut, and there was no sign of any large force moving out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’m afraid they’re preparing for a major operation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the target... is very likely to be frontier outposts like ours nearby.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Obsidian Territory... will probably be the first to bear the brunt.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Brandon’s analysis matched Eli’s own thoughts exactly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Grumm had held his forces in check before, then either his strength had been too scattered, or he had been wary of the Western Frontier Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It seems this Baron Grumm is even more cautious than we imagined... and even more ruthless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time! What they lacked most was time!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What Brandon had brought back was the situation before he departed. By now, the forces over there might already have completed their assembly and could strike at any moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brandon!” Eli made his decision on the spot, his eyes burning as he fixed them on the old soldier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ve worked hard, but you need to make another trip immediately!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This time, Coalball will go with you!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, my lord!” Brandon wasted no words. He gave Eli and Ella a hurried salute, then turned and left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only Eli and Ella remained in the Council Hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ella stepped forward worriedly and gently wrapped her hands around Eli’s tightly clenched fist, feeling the chill in his palm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She said nothing. She only tried to pass a little warmth into him through the heat of her own hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli tightened his grip around her hand in return, but his gaze had already gone through the window, toward the east, toward the direction hidden behind the mountains.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Buck, get here quickly...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, in the center of Lucerne City, inside Baron Grumm’s temporary command post.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nine figures sat around a heavy oak long table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their armor was not of a single standard, but every set was well-maintained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each face bore the weathering of a hard march and a suppressed savagery, their eyes sharp as blades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were the core of Grumm’s strength—eight Silver-tier knights. There had once been ten.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wavering oil lamps cast their shadows in twisted shapes across the cold stone walls, as if nine vicious beasts were waiting to devour men whole.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My lord,” the first to speak was a bald knight seated at Grumm’s lower right, his face slashed by a hideous scar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You summoned us all back in such a hurry that even the ‘grain raids’ were halted... have those black lions from the Western Frontier made a move?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other knights also turned their eyes toward the man seated at the head of the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Grumm von Andar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked to be around forty. His build was not especially imposing—if anything, he was somewhat lean—and he wore an old-style dark blue Falai officer’s uniform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He slowly lifted his eyelids, and his gray-green gaze swept across every face at the table, making several of the knights straighten their backs without thinking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A move?” Grumm’s voice was flat and not particularly loud. “The Western Frontier Army hasn’t made a move.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He paused. “It was the outpost I had placed in the southeast, the one under Vulture... it was ripped out by the roots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Night Owl, whom I sent to investigate, has also lost contact. I’m afraid... he’s very likely dead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Vulture’s outpost was wiped out?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And Night Owl too...?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment Grumm’s words fell, all eight Silver-tier knights shot to their feet, their faces filled with disbelief and furious shock!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vulture’s outpost! That was their most important forward post and raiding transit station in the southeastern direction from Lucerne City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had been guarded by Vulture, a Mid-Silver Tier knight, and manned by another fifty or sixty hardened bandits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Night Owl, moreover, was famed among them for stealth and tracking. And now he too had vanished without a sound?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who did it?! Was it an elite detachment of those black lions?!” the scar-faced bald knight, Otto, known as “Bloodaxe,” roared, eyes nearly splitting with rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Impossible!” Veli, called “Bloodthorn,” who was responsible for monitoring the movements of the Western Frontier Army, immediately retorted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There hasn’t been any unusual mobilization at all from the direction of Thorne City! Their main force is still squatting on the line like turtles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A small detachment couldn’t possibly have taken out Veli’s people without a sound!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then who was it?” another knight with a sinister face, Karl, known as “Shadowhand,” asked darkly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Could it have been others left behind around here turning on us for profit?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Grumm’s icy gaze swept across his agitated subordinates like invisible freezing water, instantly quelling the uproar inside the stone fortress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Quiet,” he said flatly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The knights immediately fell silent and sat back down, though the fury and killing intent in their eyes only grew fiercer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who did it is not important right now.” Grumm’s voice remained as flat as ever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What matters is that someone, right under our noses, on our own territory,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>killed our people, stole our things, and... provoked us.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His gray-green pupils slowly shifted and finally settled on Veli.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Veli, you are responsible for watching the Western Frontier Army, but you also keep an eye on the surrounding area. Recently... have you noticed any unusual ‘neighbors’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Veli rose at once and bowed respectfully. “My lord! I was just about to report on that!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around the time Vulture’s outpost was uprooted, several of our scout teams active near that post encountered armed knights of unknown origin!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their numbers were not great. Our scouts originally intended to capture one alive, but they resisted desperately, and in the end our men killed them all on the spot!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They bore noble crests on their persons. They seemed to be... nobles...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Unknown identity... well-equipped... nobles...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His gray-green eyes turned slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not the Western Frontier Army. Not leftover troops from the other city-states...” He sounded as though he were muttering to himself, yet also arriving at a conclusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In that case... only one possibility remains.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They are those Frontier Knights who came to the Western Frontier to pick through scraps, not knowing the height of heaven or the depth of earth.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My lord, could there be some mistake? Those fools...” Otto the “Bloodaxe” could not help objecting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fools?” Grumm cut him off. A cold curve, a rare sight indeed, touched the corner of his lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fools who wiped out Vulture’s entire outpost and made Night Owl disappear... I would quite like to see such fools for myself.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He gave his subordinates no further chance to question him. His voice sharpened abruptly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Pass the order!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stone fortress instantly fell silent enough to hear a pin drop. Every knight straightened in his seat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“First, send out every scout unit!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Using Lucerne City as the center, search every direction within a hundred li! Especially the southeast!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Priority is to search for newly established frontier strongholds of notable size! Find it! Confirm its position! I want the most detailed intelligence possible! Immediately! At once!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Second, all soldiers within the city are to cease all outward raids!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Accelerate preparations! Inspect weapons and armor! Be ready to move at any time!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Third,” Grumm said, his gray-green pupils narrowing, enunciating each word with terrible clarity,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“find that stronghold...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And then kill every last one of them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At once, a bloodthirsty red gleam burst into the eyes of all eight Silver-tier knights. Their right fists slammed hard against the armor over their left chests.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By your command, my lord!”\u003C\u002Fp>",2060,"2026-06-06T13:50:45.567Z",1,"novelbin.me","41708992d1d7292dc30485229278bc5dfb0038669aa424baf2422f1377af2bbc","exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-chapter-35","exiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-chapter-33",112,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fexiled-from-the-start-and-dominating-the-wastela-cover.jpg"]