Terror
Terror
Although he had witnessed numberless incredible incidents since becoming Roland's guards a year ago, the new order he had received again blew his mind, making him feel... bewildered.
To advertise the bombing of the palace of the king's city and spread the rumor that it was actually a punishment Roland Wimbledon imposed on Timothy Wimbledon?
When the militia who used to attack the Western Region had retreated to the king's city, Theo had heard "warnings" from those soldiers. At that time, he had simply thought their warnings were another Roland's bluff or distraction strategy. He had believed that the prince's real intention was, as what Garcia had done, to attack and loot other cities before winter while Timothy was busy with defense work.
However, the subsequent order from Border Town alarmed him. It appeared that his Highness did mean to attack the king's city, as he had instructed him to make preparation for pre-war political propaganda. The latest order specifically stated that Roland would launch an attack on the first day of mid-autumn, which was exactly the time previously "warned" by the Militia.
The order read, "Advertise the bombing of the palace and tell the public it's a punishment". This meant His Highness would directly attack the inner city of King's City. Theo wondered how it could be possible. The city wall of the king's city was the strongest one throughout the Kingdom of Graycastle. It was as thick as two residence buildings putting together. Even bombarded by the cannon invented by His Highness, it was still impregnable. Apart from the fortified castle, there were numerous knights, guards and recruited militia defending the king's city. The prince would need to have an army of at least 10,000 people to penetrate the defense line.
As for employing witches to launch a sudden strike, it was also a too optimistic and unrealistic tactic. There were incessant God's Stones of Retaliation in the palace, and those in halls and bedrooms were giant in size. They would immediately render witches powerless once they entered the room. This was also why nobody had retaliated for the massive witch-hunt Timothy was conducting so far. After all, it was impossible to assassinate a royal family member in the palace.
The strategy would also bring another potential problem. If a witch did manage to murder Timothy Wimbledon, the church would probably benefit the most from its outcome... With simply a little instigation, the church would be able to condemn Prince Roland for colluding with Devil's minions to usurp the throne. By that time, nobles would have also united together to resist Roland's army. With that being said, Theo believed that as smart as the prince was, Roland must have already foreseen these prospective difficulties.
So, how would His Highness break into the inner city?
"Your Excellency, did you wish to see me?" Just then, Hill Fawkes pushed the half-open door and entered the living room.
Theo spread out his hands. "I'm waiting for a new order. Please take a seat."
"... OK."
Perceiving the surprised look of the former acrobat, Theo smiled wryly. Normally he would clearly communicate the order to these people, but this time, he felt hard to hand His Highness' task in advance. If the palace was not bombed, not only would he look very absurd to issue this order but it would also compromise the prince's integrity at the same time.
On the contrary, if His Highness did succeed, the shock created by this operation would be revolutionary. These people would build greater confidence in Roland's plan, for they would witness what a dangerous threat His Highness could pose to Timothy's ruling without even physically being here. It would be a much more earthshaking blow than oral advertisements.
In this light, Theo decided to pick a middle way, which was to ask Hill to wait for the bombing in the inner city. If the prince did implement his plan, then so much the better. If the plan failed, he would just say the messenger got held up with something on their way.
"Have some tea." Theo smiled. "Don't have a questioning look all the time. The most important thing for an intelligence agent is..."
"To conceal himself, Sir." Hill took the teacup and said, "I've seen many members of the patrol team on the street recently. It looks like that the number of the guards on the city wall has also doubled. Does it... have something to do with His Highness' order?"
"That's right. Timothy..."
No sooner had Theo finished his last sentence than a thunderbolt roared above the mansion. Windows rattled at the powerful sound. Although the shock was quite fugitive, Theo could clearly feel the ground was shaking. Hill was caught fully unprepared and the teacup in his hand fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
Hill was dumbfounded. "I'm sorry, Sir... but what, what just happened?"
"Follow me," Theo answered gravely.
As soon as the pair ran out of the mansion, their attention was diverted to a streak of black smoke around the palace area. Apparently, that was the cause of the previous thunderbolt. Theo had seen His Highness' cannons and flintlocks, so he knew only alchemical powder could create such severe damage. He also believed regular cannons could not generate such an intense shock. It was more like the offspring of the explosives that had been used to attack armored demonic beasts earlier.
Hill gaped in disbelief, looking perfectly incredulous. "So His Highness' warning is indeed true?"
"Yes." Theo was relieved. He turned around and put on an unfathomable look. "This is also the new order issued to you by His Highness."
***************
Timothy's face went livid. He looked at the fallen chandelier, too frightened to pronounce a word.
"Your Majesty, ahem... Your Majesty, are you OK?" The prime minister was choked by thick ashes in the air. "Hell, what just happened outside?"
Timothy was silent. His dry throat forbade him to make a reply promptly. A silver armored knight had just been crushed by the chandelier. The knight had just been about to report to him on the recruitment of refugees when the chandelier plunged and broke his neck. Timothy could not imagine what would have happened if he had paced one more step forward...
At this thought, all his hair stood up on its ends.
"Was that an earthquake?" The treasurer had yet to fully recover from the shock. "We've got to get out of the castle right now and go to an empty field."
"That's right, Your Majesty. It isn't safe in here!"
"Shut up, all of you!" Timothy growled. The moment he yelled, he noticed that he almost lost his voice as if somebody were pressing on his neck. "Knight Weimar, take me to the basement right now!"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Although a little nervous, Steelheart Knight was overall calm compared with the other ministers. He helped Timothy up and led him downstairs.
While they were walking, the new king noticed the ground was littered with broken glass. Through the broken windows, he saw the Hall of Sky Dome next to the castle was completely gone, except a few lonely stone pillars enveloped in smog. This was definitely not the effect of an earthquake, but of an explosion generated by a large amount of snow powder!
Timothy realized that it was almost suicidal to slip out of the castle now, for God knew where else Roland Wimbledon had deployed snow powder. Therefore, the basement built with thick, sturdy stones was the only safe place.
"Damn it!" Timothy cursed within himself. He wondered how his fourth brother possessed those alchemical weapons. Could it be possible that Garcia had given Roland the ingredients and asked him to wage a war against him before she had left Port of Clearwater, so both he and Roland would be consumed by the battle?
Even if that was the case, how did Roland manage to ship snow powder to the palace? Even an extraordinary witch could not possibly do so!
"You take the knightage to conduct a thorough search of the palace, especially of places for hiding snow powder, such as the drainage system, the garden and the barn!" As soon as Timothy stepped into the basement, he gave his order to Steelheart Knight. "Once you've found someone that appears suspicious, arrest him immediately, no matter he's a noble, a guard or a servant. I want you not to miss a single soul!"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The new king did not realize that his back had been covered with cold sweats until Knight Weimar departed.
He could not believe that Roland had indeed succeeded in hiding snow powder in his palace unnoticed!
It did not matter what method he had used. If he could hide snow powder in the palace, he could definitely put them in the castle as well.
"You aren't as safe as you've excepted. By then, every civilian will notice that your throne is hanging by a thread."
Timothy shuddered at this warning.
Terror started to slowly creep in and in the end seized him after his fury gradually dissipated.