He opened his eyes in a daze and found the room before him to be rather familiar. However, his entire body was in pain. It was as if he was bound tightly by something and couldn't even move a finger.
He opened his mouth to speak, only to find that he didn't even have the strength to do so.
A human face appeared in front of him, but he couldn't make out who it was. A wave of exhaustion washed over him and he closed his eyes once more, falling into darkness.
He didn't know when he regained consciousness. He felt as if he had returned to his past life and became the university graduate called Chen Xi. All his memories from his past life flashed in his mind.
He found a job after graduation, went on a blind date, got married, got cheated on, got divorced and went to seek refuge with his boss. He spent his time with women in the city. All the peaceful scenes of modern life flashed before his eyes as if they had all happened just yesterday.
Then, his memories of the conflict with his elder brother, his father's teachings, his siblings' reluctance to leave, and so on flooded into his mind.
The one that left the deepest impression on him was his military career. He returned to the battlefield. Be it the time he lined up for the enemy's formation, the time he waited in the bushes for the enemy scouts to appear, or the time he commanded his soldiers to fire at the enemy, all the scenes flashed before his eyes. It was as if he was looking back on his short life.
Am I dead? Claude found himself drifting in the endless darkness. There was no time and no sound. He felt like he was floating in midair without any sense of direction.
After an unknown period of time, he finally felt a sliver of light appear in the darkness.
He couldn't help but follow the light, and his speed became faster and faster. It was a speed that he couldn't control. In the end, he seemed to have turned into a ray of light that went straight for the light and melted into the increasingly brilliant light.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw that it was morning. He found himself in the familiar bedroom of Weyblon Manor. He was lying on the carved mahogany bed that was said to be a hundred years old.
However, the room had become a spacious sickroom. Apart from the long table in front of the window, the other furniture had been moved elsewhere. The room seemed rather empty.
His throat felt really uncomfortable and his tongue felt numb and dry. He licked his lips and suddenly felt thirsty. He wanted to drink some water.
He tried to speak, but all that came out was a light cough. He turned his neck to look at his surroundings and saw a pale face filled with both joy and sorrow.
"You, you're awake, Claude …" The woman pounced on the bed and reached out to touch Claude's face.
"K- Kefnie, l-give me some water …" Claude said with difficulty.
"Oh, water, I-I'll get you some water right away."
Kefnie hurriedly got up and went to the table in front of the window to get a silver teapot. She quickly poured a cup of warm water for him and placed it on the bedside table. She then sat on the edge of the bed and carefully propped Claude's body up. She used her weak shoulder to support his back and slowly fed him the water.
He drank half a cup of warm water to nourish his body.
He finally felt a little better and his mind started to clear up.
"Do you want more?" Kefnie asked carefully.
Claude shook his head slowly and closed his eyes. He leaned into Kefnie's embrace for a while and said, "I'm sorry, Kefnie. I made you worry. Can you tell me how long has it been since I was injured?"
Kefnie burst into tears and hugged Claude tightly. "D-Did you know? That day, you were carried in covered in blood. We were all terrified. I-I thought you had already left us … Then, Perunt rushed over and fed you a tube of medicine and treated your wounds.
He said that if you could wake up within half a month, you would be saved.
Thanks to the blessings of the war god, you woke up after only 11 days. "
Claude finally understood why his mouth felt so uncomfortable. It was the so-called nutrient fluid that was forced into his mouth.
This was a kind of medicine that allowed the human body to automatically absorb the necessary nutrients in the body to save the lives of the heavily injured soldiers who were in a coma. This medicine allowed the human body to automatically absorb the necessary nutrients in the body so that they would not die on the sickbed due to the lack of nutrients.
He had tasted the nutrient fluid before. It tasted bitter and unpleasant.
He could still feel the pain from various parts of his body and his chest felt stuffy. He even felt like vomiting from the cup of warm water he drank.
Kefnie sensed his discomfort and hurriedly put him back on the bed. "Wait a moment. I'll go get Anna right away."
Kefnie ran out of the bedroom like the wind. Claude could only smile bitterly. He hadn't even asked himself how serious his injuries were.
When he sat up in Kefnie's arms, he glanced at his own body. Although he was covered in a thin towel, he could vaguely tell that both his legs were in splints and his chest was bandaged like a mummy.
Coupled with the pain and numbness from various parts of his body, he knew that his injuries weren't light.
However, it seemed like he didn't lose any parts of his body. Claude still felt relieved.
Hurried footsteps sounded outside the door. Soon, he saw Angelina rush into the bedroom. When she saw him looking at her, tears welled up in her eyes and dripped onto the floor.
She slowly approached the bed and whispered, "Second Brother, you're awake?"
Claude forced a smile and said, "Yes, I'm awake now. Anna, thank you for making the revolver for me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to see you guys again … By the way, why am I recuperating at home instead of at the battle command's infirmary?
Also, why are you the one treating me? Did the healing center follow the expedition troops to the frontlines? "
Angelina lowered her head and wiped her tears away to hide her expression. "Mother, Kefnie and I asked you to stay at home. That way, it'll be more convenient for us to take care of you.
The one in charge of treating you is Doctor Perunt. He's more skilled in herbalism than I am and his concoctions are more effective.
However, he's very busy and will come to see you whenever he's free.
Now that you're awake, we'll inform HQ. "
After that, it was Angelina's turn to examine Claude's body. It took quite a while before she was done. Seeing that there weren't any adverse effects or signs of worsening, Angelina breathed a sigh of relief. Claude was also informed of his injuries.
His legs were broken and his back was badly burned. Those were the consequences of the fireball. His right abdomen was penetrated, his left arm was cut, and his internal organs were injured. Claude was lucky he didn't die.
Claude wanted to know how he managed to escape from the magus who released the fireball. Angelina said that Gum saved his life.
Gum was jolted awake by the second fireball. Ignoring his injuries, he used his revolver to kill the magus who was about to check on Claude. Then, he poured the perfect healing concoction Angelina gave him into the mouth of the unconscious Claude. Then, he endured the pain and commandeered a carriage to send him back to Weyblon Manor.
Wait, why did he have to send me back to the manor? He remembered that he was at the outskirts of the square. Wouldn't it be closer to meet up with HQ there?
Big Gum, why did he have to take the long way …
Claude really wanted to get to the bottom of it, but the exhaustion of cooperating with Angelina's examination left him unconscious once more.
When he woke up, he felt extremely hungry. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was already dark and there were candles lit in his room.
The commotion of his awakening quickly alerted the people on duty around him. Not long after, Angelina, Kefnie and his mother appeared before him. Only then did he realize that the person on duty was Myjack.
Kefnie fed him a bowl of herbal congee. It tasted rather strange, but it helped him recover some of his energy. He looked at Myjack and asked, "Why are you here?
Isn't your Battalion 131 supposed to cooperate with the Royal Guard Division to attack Port Vebator? This is a good chance for you to earn some military merits … "
Myjack said, "General, we received a message from the hawks in the rear. When we learned of your assassination, General Allen immediately ordered me to lead the 131 Thunder Battalion back to Lanhu Town overnight to act as your guard."
Your safety is the most important thing right now, not some merit. "
Claude could only smile bitterly in response. Without the credit he got from the siege, he didn't know how long it would take for Myjack to be promoted to the rank of colonel-colonel.
After all, taking Port Vebator would be the end of the colonial war with Shiks.
Without the merit from foreign wars, it wouldn't be so easy to get promoted.
"By the way, how are Gum's injuries?" Claude asked Angelina.
"His injuries are a little lighter than yours. He's recuperating in the guest room downstairs. I'm his herbalist."
Claude finally relaxed. This was the first assassination he had ever suffered in his life. Almost all of his guards, Gum and the coachman were dead.
The only ones who survived were Claude, Gum, and two other heavily injured guards.
Kefnie had to sleep with the two children and left first. Claude then had to endure another round of nagging from his mother.
After he managed to appease her with much difficulty and drank a bottle of healing potion with Angelina's help, Claude fell into a deep sleep once more.
When he woke up the next morning, he found that Bloweyk was the one on duty next to him. He had another bowl of herbal porridge and cleaned up his feces with Kefnie's help. After changing the bedsheets, Bloweyk brought Perunt, the chief herbalist of the war command center, in to give Claude a checkup.
By then, the visitors from HQ had also arrived.
The first to enter was Skri with his right arm in a sling, followed by Saljorak and Bolonik, who were in charge of security.
"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be accompanying General Aljess's royal guard and the two main battalions of 1st Monolith to attack Port Vebator?" Claude asked curiously. "What are you doing here?
But after asking that question, Claude noticed that something was amiss. Skri was injured, Bolonik looked defeated and Saljorak's hair had turned white overnight. He seemed to have aged more than a decade in an instant. His face was haggard and his eyes were bloodshot.
"What happened …" Claude was bewildered. What happened to make the three generals in front of him look so dejected and defeated?
"There's nothing to go on, Claude. We're done for," Bolonik replied with a bitter smile.
Skri managed to maintain his composure. "Let me tell you."
Following Skri's explanation, Claude understood that when he was assassinated, the officers and generals of HQ who were waiting for the parade and departure ceremony were also ambushed.
It was also the work of the grey-robed magi. They split into two groups to assassinate General Aljess and Claude. The only difference was that they failed on Claude's side and succeeded on General Aljess' side.
General Aljess died on the spot. General Sevict, who was by his side, also met with misfortune. General Kirlin was luckier and only suffered heavy injuries.
Even Sir Bennett, who accompanied General Aljess during the parade, was heavily injured.
Apart from that, the officers of HQ suffered heavy casualties. They were by General Aljess' side at the time. Seven of them died on the spot and nine were maimed.
As for the high-ranking officers of the royal guard folk, eight of them were injured or killed.
Fortunately, General Skri wasn't with General Aljess and the others. Because the square where the departure ceremony was held was changed at the last minute, General Skri was coordinating the order of the parade. When he heard the commotion in front of him and confirmed that General Aljess and the others were assassinated by the grey-robed magi, he immediately organized a counterattack.
However, because they were preparing for the parade, all the officers had put away their muskets. Even the sentries on duty didn't load their guns with bullets and gunpowder. As a result, they didn't have the ability to counterattack quickly when they were ambushed by the magi.
They could only use their lives to stop the magi from killing them and stall for time so that their comrades at the back had time to reload their guns and ignite their muskets.
Bayonets and sabers couldn't stop the magi from breaking out of the encirclement. They couldn't even hurt them.
Coupled with the chaos caused by the people around the square who were preparing to watch the parade, the assassination became a complete tragedy.
Just the number of onlookers who were injured because they were trying to avoid being trampled reached more than a thousand people, and the number of soldiers who were killed in pursuit of the Gray Robed Magicians also reached more than three hundred.
Of the eleven magi who came to assassinate Aljess, only five were killed by the muskets and their corpses were left behind.
Claude spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot. No one would be able to withstand such grievous news.
Angelina screamed. Perunt rushed over to check on him, but Claude only had him wipe the blood off with a towel and stopped him from lying down to rest.
Claude finally understood why Bolonik and Saljorak were in such a dispirited state.
Bolonik inherited a terrible mess and he was the only one left to take charge of HQ.
Apart from Eiblont at Wickhamsburg, he was the only suitable candidate.
Saljorak's assassination was also a huge blow to him. The two of them had been good friends for years.
Saljorak was a disaster that came out of nowhere. He was the only one who could take the blame for the assassination. After all, he was in charge of the local garrison, security and anti-spies.
A general of the kingdom was assassinated before the military parade and the departure ceremony. Someone had to take responsibility for this terrible news.
Even though Aljess had made the decision to change the location of the parade and gave the assassins an opportunity, he had already been assassinated.
However, he had already been assassinated. Death would solve all problems, and those who were still alive would have to suffer.
The only way to let Saljorak off the hook was to capture all the magi who came to assassinate him and force them to confess.
But that was impossible. Those were Magicians, not people General Saljorak's local garrison could handle. Moreover, they had escaped long ago after the assassination was successful …