Chapter 148 – Discussing Strategies

Chapter 148 – Discussing a Plan
After Paul returned to Lakeheart Town, he immediately gathered his inner circle that he considered absolutely reliable.

These people included Wakely Ford, the chief of the Council of State; Cecil, the minister of intelligence; Owen Schroeder, the chief of staff; Bryce Alder, the commander of the 1st Battalion of the Army; Ron, the minister of logistics; Kelley, the minister of equipment; and Phillip, the old butler in the castle.

Ford, Cecil, and Bryce were all old men left behind by the old Gladmans and were loyal to the Gladmans.

Schroeder is old-fashioned and upright, adhering to the way of knighthood, and swears his allegiance with an oath of honor.

Ron and Kelly have been servants in the Gladman family for generations since their ancestors, and Paul will not say a word if he lets them charge into the fire.

As for Philip, there is no need to say, from a young age to see this Paul grew up, he has long been treated as a part of the Greiman family.

And the old housekeeper also mentioned to Paul, he was saved by a wizard when he was a child, when Paul was not too believe.

He called these people to his office, and let the guards deadlock the door.

Of course, the female counselor, Laddie, was in the office as well.

Paul told them in detail what had happened on the way to Port Fullan, stating outright that the man who had attacked him was a sorcerer, that he had seen the other man’s incredible powers with his own eyes, and mentioning the power behind the sorcerer, the Secret Society.

When Paul had not yet returned to Lake Town, the people had already known about the matter of the Count Lord’s encounter with the assassin halfway through the urgent mail, but the letter only said that it was the opponent’s high martial arts skills that sacrificed a dozen or so of his guards, but there was no mention of the sorcerer.

Chief Ford also sent people to block off the streets when Paul returned, lest he be embarrassed by seeing the relatives of those sacrificed soldiers.

Now that they had heard from Paul’s mouth that the things of legend had come to reality, one by one their mouths couldn’t close in surprise.

Schroeder and Bryce, the two soldiers, were the first to regain their composure: “So, these guys can still be killed by muskets.”

Chief Ford asked, “Just now you said that another wizard saved you, so where is he? Has he already left?”

Paul said with a serious expression, “No, the sorcerer has not left. That’s why what comes next must be kept strictly confidential by you!”

He passed a look to the female counselor who was sitting quietly in front of the window.

The female advisor slowly stood up, “Gentlemen, I’m the witch that the Count’s adults spoke of.”

A silence fell over the room ……

It probably lasted nearly a minute before someone finally spoke.

“No …… not really?”

Bryce’s eyes were wider than bull’s eyes, and every muscle in his face expressed the disbelief he felt inside.

“Aren’t all witches supposed to be old and ugly in the legends? There are more folds on their faces than elephant skin ……”

The old knight recovered from his stupor and immediately pulled his sleeve, it was too rude to talk like that in front of a lady, even if the other party was a legendary witch.

“Incredible …… a living witch is standing in front of us!”

Cecil, Ron and Kelly swept their gazes with amazement over the female counselor, as if they were trying to find something about Laadi that was different from ordinary people.

The calmest were Chief Steward Ford and Steward Philip.

Mr. Butler, who had always been a firm believer in the existence of witches because of his childhood experiences, was only slightly surprised after hearing Ladi reveal her hidden identity.

As for Chief Steward Ford, he was even more unperturbed, as the number two person in the territory after Paul and the actual head of the government council, he had long practiced a strong psychological quality, and to use a phrase from Earth, he said, “A mountain crumbles in front of you without a change in color.” The old chief administrator said faintly, “This shows at least one thing, wizards are not all evil like the legends say.”

He stood up and nodded his head in greeting to the female counselor, “Miss Lardy, thank you for saving the life of the Count and the soldiers.”

Lardy quickly waved her hand and said, “You’re welcome Lord Chief, if it wasn’t for the muskets of Lord Gleeman and the guards, I wouldn’t have been able to fight off that male wizard in the state I was in.”

Paul secretly breathed a sigh of relief that the crowd was behaving normally.

“The reason why just a few of you are here is because you are the people I trust the most, and I hope you won’t reveal the identity of Ms. Laddie’s witch to anyone, especially the church, for reasons you all know.”

With a solemn expression, Schroeder raised his right hand with his index and middle fingers together and slowly recited, “In the presence of the God of Heaven, I swear on my knight’s honor! I will never reveal the identity of Miss Laddie to outsiders unless it is by the personal order of Lord Greymane.”

Using a knight’s honor, this could be said to be a very heavy oath.

The others also followed the old knight’s example of swearing with their most precious thing.

Paul inwardly laughed bitterly, why did he make it so serious, he just emphasized that he still trusted these people in front of him very much.

“Alright, let’s discuss the main topic, how to deal with this ‘Secret Society’? According to Ms. Lardy’s speculation, they are most likely lurking in the Northwest Bay brewing some kind of plot.”

Cecil, the Minister of Intelligence, said, “My lord, I will have my men look out for signs of this, but could Miss Counselor be of assistance to us?”

The female advisor immediately responds, “Of course, I am still an advisor to Lord Earl and the Council of State, so feel free to ask me any questions.”

“Then I will trouble Miss Advisor from now on.”

Schroeder asked the female advisor, “Apart from muskets, can’t weapons like swords harm you? Ah, I’m sorry, I’m not targeting Ms. Lardy.”

Lardy nodded understandingly and answered the chief of staff’s question, “It is not a trait of the mage himself, but an effect of the magic he casts. How effective it can be depends on the caster’s mastery of that magic.”

“The mage we encountered this time is using a defense spell called [Stone Skin Technique], which as the name suggests enhances the skin of the body to be as hard as stone. But wizards who can utilize the effects of the [Stone Skin Technique] so strongly that they are almost invulnerable to swords and spears are rare.”

“Combined with the [Giant Strength Technique] that makes his become infinitely powerful, he’s almost invincible against a group of people who don’t wear heavy armor.”

Schroeder secretly breathed a sigh of relief, so to speak even without relying on muskets, most sorcerers had a way to kill them if they were close up.

Bryce suggested, “Lord Greiman, it looks like we have to increase the production of muskets, it’s best if more than half of the soldiers in each battalion are equipped with muskets. Fear not, fear not, if a large group of such ‘rare’ wizards as Ms. Lardy calls them come, we will definitely suffer heavy losses.”

Cecil also said, “Combined with the drugs that the Navy captured from the pirates earlier and Miss Lardy’s description, they have a way to use some drugs to achieve magic-like effects, the ones that the pirates eat are fine to deal with, but in case the people who made the drugs continue to improve them and can achieve the kind of effects like the [Stoneskin Technique] plus the [Giant Strength Technique], that would be a huge disadvantage for us. Is that even possible, Ms. Lardy?”

The female counselor nodded, “It is possible.”

“Yes!” Paul agreed with them, “I also agree with increasing the amount of muskets equipped. What do you think, Chief Ford?”

Mr. Chief Steward stood up and said, “This is indeed a very important matter, and I am in favor of it. The Council of State will allocate money for the expansion of the ordnance factory. In addition, the internal defense forces will have to be equipped with muskets without discrimination, after all, witches may be mixed in with the commoners, and the protection of you and the residents must be taken seriously.”

“Very well, let’s do it then.”

There’s a lot going on tonight, so the quality of these two chapters might not be too high, so please bear with me.

(End of chapter)