Old Hank tapped the pipe in his hand and stared out the window with melancholy eyes.
The golden wheat field outside was undulating along with the autumn wind, emitting a soothing rustling sound.
It could be seen that this year was going to be another good harvest.
But the old man's mood didn't improve because of this. The shadow of war was gradually spreading. Even in Passus, people were afraid and worried about the flames of war.
In this case, what was the use of a good harvest?
They would either be taken away as armaments or burned down by the damn Glittergold people. Apart from that, what other choice did they have?
Thinking of this, the old man sighed.
He stretched out his hand and closed the clothes he was wearing to block the cold autumn wind.
In fact, what made Old Hank uneasy was the attitude of the feudal lord. Unlike ordinary people, as the mayor of Passus, Old Hank naturally knew that there was a new feudal lord ruling this place.
He had also seen the young noble who had caused a lot of discussion in the town before. Although he didn't know how this young man obtained the position of feudal lord and the right to rule Passus, Old Hank didn't care.
As long as this feudal lord wasn't too harsh, it was enough for them.
But what made Old Hank feel at ease was that although this young lord looked young, he was still very calm when it came to handling matters.
He was also not as extravagant as the other aristocratic children. He was initially worried that Zayen would raise taxes or collect some property after taking office, but he did not expect that not only did Zayen not raise taxes, he even reduced their tax burden.
This made the people of the entire Passus region feel much better, which made the old man feel very at ease.
He had a good impression of this new feudal lord.
It was just that things were a little different this time. The army of the Glittergold Empire had entered the Four Seasons Realm, and there were many rumors about war around Passus.
According to Old Hank's experience, at this time, the feudal lords would start to gather troops and recruit militias to prepare for war.
But until now, there was no movement from the young feudal lord, which made Old Hank anxious.
Although the residents of the town were very happy that they weren't recruited, Old Hank didn't think so.
He had been in Passus all his life and knew the situation here like the back of his hand.
He knew that there were almost no troops in this area, only three militias to guard against roaming bandits and protect the town. In addition, the only army stationed here was a garrison of about 500 people.
The soldiers of this garrison were all locals of Passus, and only the commander of the garrison was originally a member of the Parwood Family. After the transfer of the territory, the commander left, and the garrison commander position was vacant. Old Hank thought that the young feudal lord would send his confidant to command the garrison like other nobles. But he didn't expect that the young feudal lord didn't care at all and casually let Hank send someone to replace him.
Facing the feudal lord's relaxed attitude, Old Hank had no choice but to find someone he trusted to be in charge of the garrison. Fortunately, the person he found was quite prestigious, so he didn't have to worry about any problems with the garrison.
But …
At this moment, footsteps could be heard on the thick wooden stairs. Upon hearing the hurried footsteps, the old man opened his eyes abruptly and looked towards the door.
Under his gaze, the heavy door opened in a loud bang. Then, a middle-aged man clad in a garrison officer's armor walked in. He wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead, walked up to the old man, and nodded.
"I'm back, Dad Hank."
"How's the situation?"
Looking at the middle-aged man in front of him, Old Hank also revealed a nervous expression. This middle-aged man was called Barter, Old Hank's nephew and the current commander of the Garrison Guard Corps. Although Old Hank's recommendation of him was a bit nepotism, Barter did a good job and did a good job in this position.
Due to this reason, he was one of the few people in the entire Passus who was qualified to enter the 'manor' of the feudal lord.
As soon as he thought of the 'manor' of the feudal lord, the old man felt goosebumps all over his back. He had never seen such a majestic, beautiful, and elegant building in his entire life. Although Old Hank had never left Passus, he was sure that even the great temples weren't as beautiful and magnificent as the 'manor' of the feudal lord.
In fact, in the Passus region, the manor of the feudal lord could be said to be a place that everyone yearned for. But it was a pity that outsiders were forbidden to enter. Even Barter could only enter the outer gate, which was enough to make people envious.
And today, Old Hank requested Barter to probe the feudal lord's intentions and see how they should face the threat of war.
Passus was just a small place, and if the Glittergold Empire really attacked, they would have no way to fight back.
The only person they could rely on now was the feudal lord.
"There's nothing special about the feudal lord."
Hearing Old Hank's question, Barter said helplessly.
"He agreed that we can recruit some militia to be responsible for the border defense, but that's all. He didn't seem to be very worried about the Glittergold Empire's feudal lord. He only asked us to guard the border as usual and send a signal to everyone to evacuate once we find traces of the Glittergold Empire's army."
"That's all?"
Hearing until here, the old man's brows furrowed even tighter.
He originally thought that the feudal lord would send an army to be responsible for the border defense, but he didn't expect it to be like this. In this case, wouldn't the matter still be handed over to the garrison guard?
And … even if they sent a signal, what use would it be?
"But … Sir Overlord also said something …"
"What?"
Facing Old Hank's question, Barter said with a doubtful expression.
"He said that 'that's a problem between the Glittergold Empire and the Skal Federation, and it has nothing to do with us' …"
"Huh?"
Hearing until here, the old man was stunned.
What did that mean?
Just as Old Hank was bewildered, in the "manor", Zayen was also frowning as he stared at the reports piled up in front of his desk.
Regarding the matter between the Glittergold Empire and the Skal Federation, Jenn wasn't very clear, so after returning, he immediately sent Enoya to collect intelligence. After that, Jenn finally pieced together the whole incident.
According to the intelligence report, the Glittergold Empire's accusation was not baseless. In fact, one of their outposts had been attacked. After the attack, the Glittergold Empire did assemble its army to launch a counterattack against the Scal Federation. After that, the Scal Federation's outpost was also attacked, so the two sides fought.
On the surface, the situation seemed to be normal, but Jenn keenly sensed something fishy.
First of all, the Skal Federation had no motive to attack the Glittergold Empire at this time. It had to be known that in the previous ceremony, because of Jenn's deliberate mischief, all the families suffered heavy losses. In addition, the regime had just changed, so the country was still in a chaotic stage. How could they provoke the Glittergold Empire?
Jenn wouldn't believe that Old Papwood was trying to force the nobles of the Skal Federation to form a united front, unless that old man was really muddle-headed.
Secondly, there was a problem with the timing of the attack.
First, the Glittergold Empire was attacked, and then the Glittergold Empire gathered their army to counterattack the Skal Federation. After that, the Skal Federation was attacked, and they also gathered their army to counterattack. However, at this time, the Glittergold Empire's army had already advanced and invaded the Hoarfrost Mountains.
If the Skal Federation wanted to attack the Glittergold Empire, they would naturally gather their army long ago.
How could they wait for the Glittergold Empire to send their army? Wasn't there something wrong with their brains?
"This is really interesting …"
After reading the intelligence, Jenn narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself.
He wasn't worried about the authenticity of this intelligence because Enoya had personally gone to both sides of the battlefield and dug out the brains of the dead soldiers.
This naturally included the corpses of the members of both sides that had been attacked.
In their memories, the empire's sentry post had indeed been attacked by a group of knights wearing the armor of the Skal Federation.
The federation's side had indeed been attacked by a group of soldiers wearing the armor of the empire.
The problem was that no one else knew about this, so things became a little tricky.
If Jenn guessed correctly, the whole thing should be that a group of mysterious people first disguised themselves as federation knights and attacked the Glittergold Empire. Then, they turned around and disguised themselves as the empire's soldiers and attacked the sentry post of the Skal Federation before the Glittergold Empire sent their army.
This way, when the Skal Federation realized that something was wrong, they would see the sentry post that had already been attacked and the Glittergold Empire's army. In this case, anyone would probably think that the sentry post was destroyed by the Glittergold Empire.
But … what kind of person could do such a thing?
It had to be known that this not only required a good grasp of timing, but also the mentality of both sides. If one step was wrong, they might lose everything.
But now, it seemed that this wasn't the case.
Seeing this, Jenn had to agree with what Enoya had said.
This really did seem like his style …