It was a huge incident that would shock both continents. Claude suddenly understood why Bolonik said, "Claude, we're done for."
Even if Saljorak took the blame, the vice-commanders of the theatre wouldn't be able to escape responsibility even if they weren't in Lanu or if they were heavily injured like Claude.
After all, the one who was assassinated was a high-ranking general of the kingdom and a leader of one of the older noble families.
Aueras hadn't been in a stable political situation in the past few years. The old king was bedridden and there was no heir to the throne. The eldest and second princes fought fiercely for the crown prince's position.
The people of Aueras were rather depressed due to the five-year war in the east, but they were still considered a powerful country on Freia.
Even though Shiks, the hegemon of the northern region, had started a colonial war over Nubissia, they still managed to win three times in a row, earning them respect and becoming a first-rate military power on Freia.
Now, a high-ranking general of the kingdom was assassinated during a military parade right in front of such a great achievement. That was no different from a slap in the face to the kingdom.
The problem was that the assassins and killers were magi. Normal soldiers wouldn't be able to deal with them.
If they couldn't find the assassins, not only would General Saljorak take the blame, even General Skri, Bolonik, Claude, Beecklin, Sir Bennett, and General Eiblont would become the scapegoats of the kingdom's higher-ups. They might even become targets for the older noble families to vent their anger on.
"Are there any survivors?
Didn't the magi and killers capture any of them alive? "Claude asked.
"No. The five Magicians who were shot by the muskets were turned into meat paste by the enraged soldiers. You only have the corpses of seven Magicians on your side …" General Saljorak shook his head helplessly, "After the assassination, we only reacted two hours later and sealed off the entire town of Lanu. However, we couldn't find the whereabouts of the Magicians even after ten days of searching from house to house.
We suspect that they left the town right after the assassination and we don't know where they are now. "
Claude felt a headache coming on. He asked Angelina to massage his temples. "So we don't know who the magi are?"
"No, we're quite clear about that."
"They're Greytower magi from Higros Island. They're magi killers and assassins.
There were many records about them in the various kingdoms of Freia. Their specialty was that they would infiltrate their target's location with different identities and wear grey robes when carrying out a mission. Once the mission was over, they would take off their robes and disappear without a trace.
It's said that after the evil magi were chased to Higros by our ancestors six hundred years ago, the most radical magi who wanted to attack the continent founded the Greytower assassin organization. They infiltrated Freia to assassinate nobles and generals, clearing the path for magi to return to Freia.
Against these unscrupulous magician assassins and killers, the ancestors of that time also used all kinds of strategies to deal with them, such as luring, setting up ambushes, and as long as they found one, they would surround and capture them regardless of the casualties. In the end, these gray-robed magician assassins and killers were dealt a heavy blow, causing these gray-robed assassins and magicians to pay a heavy price and disappear without a trace.
Most of the past six hundred years of Freia's history was filled with battles between the various countries and the magi. Almost every country on Freia had kings, politicians, and generals assassinated by the magi.
In order to guard against the magi's attacks, the various countries set up special departments to deal with the magi assassins and killers.
But in the past two hundred years, the magi's lives on Higros had become more and more difficult. It was said that they lacked resources and the number of magi joining them had dwindled.
They had no choice but to pick out the less talented children from the islanders and groom them from a young age. This meant that they had to waste even more time to groom a qualified assassin or magus.
Sixty-seven years ago, the last time the Greytower magi caused a commotion on Freia was during the marriage ceremony between the king of Morothek and the princess of Lesnia. Nearly thirty magi assassins were planning to take out all the dignitaries and influential figures from various countries, but they fell into a trap set up by the guards and were all killed on the spot.
That was a huge blow to the magi and they were never able to recover from it. Up until now, there had been no news of the magi's activities on Freia.
A country had once sent spies to Higros to investigate the movements of the Greytower magi. The result was that rather than saying the Greytower was an organization of assassins, it was more accurate to say that they had become a faction of magi on Higros. However, they still maintained a tough stance towards Freia.
"However, there aren't many of them left and they don't have much influence in the magus congress, so it's hard for them to recruit suitable students or those with extraordinary talent in magic.
The report suggests that the Greytower should be downgraded to a lower level of vigilance. They believe that in the next few decades or centuries, the once famous organization of assassins on Freia will disband on its own and disappear with the passage of time. "
It seemed that General Saljorak had spent a lot of effort on the magi who came to assassinate him. He could even recite their history.
However, Claude was still a little doubtful. "Can we really be sure that the magi in grey robes are members of Greytower?
It's not like someone else is wearing grey robes pretending to be an assassin organization. "
Saljorak nodded. "We can be sure. The magi who were killed all wore the grey robes of Greytower as recorded in the documents. There's a special Greytower insignia on them.
Also, the robes are made from Higros's local products, Sigri hemp and Siros fine wool. Those two materials can't be found anywhere else. "
So that's how it is. No wonder so many magi appeared out of nowhere. However, Claude found it odd that the magi's spells weren't as powerful as he had imagined.
If there were only one or two of them, even if he didn't have a revolver, he would be able to deal with them for a while by relying on his rank as a 2-ring rune mage and the spells he had mastered.
"By the way, I asked the magi why they came to assassinate me before I fought them. They said it was for the bounty. King Majid III of Shiks offered a hundred thousand gold keptons for my head," Claude said, recalling what the magi said.
Saljorak's expression changed drastically. "That's impossible, General Claude. Are you sure those magi said something like that?"
"I'm sure. The magi said they told me the truth about why they came to assassinate me so that I wouldn't die with regrets.
What's wrong? Why are you so flustered? "
Claude found it odd that Saljorak's expression would change so drastically after hearing that.
"General Claude, magi from Greytower would never assassinate people for the sake of money. Their targets are usually political figures, influential figures, kings, dukes or people they believe to be a threat to magi and Higros.
They think that they are noble mages. Although they use the methods of assassins, they do it for the noble goal of reviving the magic civilization, not for the despicable business of being assassins for money. This is also one of the reasons why it is easy to guard against them. "
Saljorak smiled bitterly. "If the magi really told you that, it's not that we've got the wrong target. Someone is purposely pretending to be Greytower magi to confuse us.
Or there's another possibility, which is that the Gray Tower mages have completely changed their mission, and have become an assassin organization that seeks money and resources. "
Claude looked at Bolonik and Skri. "Have you reported the assassination to the royal capital?"
Bolonik nodded. "Yes, General Skri did it the next day. It's a huge matter that has to be reported immediately. I reckon the royal capital will receive the news in another seven or eight days.
Also, after I arrived at Lanu Town, I did a thorough investigation of the situation and wrote a detailed investigation report and sent it over. The three of us were signed on it. "
"What's the current situation with the royal guard?" Claude asked again.
This time, it was Skri who replied, "Not too good. Everyone is panicking.
Of the senior officers of the Division, two were killed and six wounded.
On the other hand, the soldiers of the Imperial Guard Division had suffered more than 300 casualties when they tried to surround and resist the Magicians.
I can't help but admire them for that. They're much tougher than our own soldiers. The soldiers of Monolith's third folk were terrified by the magi's spells and could only turn and run when they saw them.
On the other hand, the soldiers of the Imperial Guard Division had a clear division of labor. They knew how to surround the gray robed Magicians, even going so far as to use their own lives to block the retreat of the gray robed Magicians so that their comrades behind them could reload and light the match.
The five grey-robed magicians who were left behind were all shot dead by the soldiers of the Royal Guard Division, while the soldiers of the Monolith 3rd Division were in complete chaos. They couldn't even maintain the most basic order at the scene.
After that, I asked the soldiers of the Imperial Guard Regiment. They told me that the Imperial Guard Regiment had organized training on how to deal with magicians.
That training is unique to the royal guard. They're stationed in the royal capital and have to defend against the attacks of the demonic magi from Higros.
But now that the incident is over, the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard Division are starting to panic. They feel that coming to the overseas colonies warzone was a huge mistake. The general was assassinated, and they came for nothing … "
Claude closed his eyes. Everyone thought he was exhausted and was about to leave when he stopped them. He looked at Bolonik and said, "Head out. Take the royal guard and attack Port Vebator."
"What?"
General Bolonik was shocked. "How can I go to war now? The people are panicking because of the assassination, and the Praetorian Guard Regiment might not obey my orders.
Claude, you can't be taking that magus' words seriously, right? He said that Majid III's bounty of 100,000 gold keptons for your head might be a lie.
If you use that as an excuse to accuse Shiks, you'll be laughed at. Nobody would think that Greytower magi would assassinate their targets for money. "
Claude could only shake his head. Bolonik's greatest strength was his steadiness. His defence was as solid as a rock.
But at the same time, their biggest weakness in attacking was their steadiness, because if they could not grasp the timing of the opportunity, it was easy to lose the initiative in the battlefield …
"We have to treat that as the truth," Claude said firmly.
"I just thought about it. I can't think of anyone who would send so many magi to take the lives of our generals apart from Majid III of Shiks.
The reason is simple. The biggest beneficiary of this assassination is none other than Shiks.
If someone came to assassinate General Aljess because of a personal grudge, then I might believe it. The Kingdom and the old noble families didn't want General Aljess to be promoted to the Kingdom's Marshal, so they planned this assassination. However, I believe that they couldn't find so many mages to be killers and assassins.
"But I don't understand why they would want to assassinate me. Even though I'm a lieutenant-general, there are more than a hundred generals like me in the kingdom.
"Also, I'm not the jarl of one of the standing corps or the ace corps. I'm far away in the colonies on Nubissia and can't even get close to the center of the kingdom's power. Even the jarls of the second line corps have more connections than I do in the kingdom.
Even if the Gray Tower mages were to assassinate me, I was still far from their standards. Even if I had privately offended some powerful figure, it was impossible for them to send seven mages to assassinate me.
"So, no matter how I think about it, I think the magus is telling the truth. Majid III is only willing to pay a hundred thousand gold keptons for my head because I wiped out three of Shiks' main corps.
"Also, I'm not the only target of this assassination. General Aljess, Sevict and the others are also on the list.
"Why would they want to assassinate us? Shiks wants to stall for time and protect Port Vebator.
"General Aljess' goal in the war theatre is to take down Port Vebator. I believe Shiks has long received that information.
"Now that General Aljess has been assassinated, this expedition is over. We can only wait for the royal capital to make a decision on how to deal with the assassination.
"It'll take at least half a year for the royal capital to send people over to deal with the matter. Shiks, on the other hand, managed to protect a good port city like Port Vebator because of this assassination. They won't have to worry about us attacking them.
"With the delay of half a year, Majid might be able to quell the riots in Shiks three times and rebuild his corps to send troops to Port Vebator to continue the colonial war.
"Now that we've lost this golden opportunity to take down Port Vebator, if the situation in the kingdom changes in the future and we can't defend against the Shiksan colonies and lose our territory, we'll be the main culprits of this defeat."
Skri nodded. "Claude is right. We can't let this assassination affect our strategy to take down Port Vebator. Ending the colonial war as soon as possible is what the kingdom needs. We can't delay it any longer.
"Also, we can use this reason to boost the morale of the royal guard. Let's say Shiks put a bounty on the lives of the generals in the war theatre. If Claude's bounty is 100,000 gold keptons, General Aljess's bounty is 300,000 gold keptons.
"They're using the bounty to stall for time and prevent us from attacking Port Vebator.
"Also, the royal guard's main goal in coming to the war theatre is to get credit for taking Port Vebator. Even though General Aljess was assassinated, many of the high-ranking officers who came with him are scions of established noble houses. I believe our slogan of taking down Port Vebator to avenge General Aljess will gain their approval and cooperation. They'll listen to your commands.
They know very well that if you don't bring them along, they'll have come here for nothing. "