Glancing around, Foltestai said, "Nilfgaard is our enemy, there is no doubt about that."
"Temeria itself is enough to deal with Nilfgaard, but it would be better if there was a gate to keep the enemy out. That's fine too."
"But what happens after that? What happens after we retake Cintra? Who will rule Cintra?"
Folterstadt pointed out a key question: "Lannister? Or is it Cirilla who has not appeared for more than a year?"
Lann frowned. He knew what Foltestai was going to say. But he still answered:
"It's Princess Cirilla, of course. She is Aunt Calanthe's granddaughter and the first in line to the throne."
"Well, now that you've said that, there's the second question."
"Thanks to your story of 'The Knight and the Princess', everyone in the North knows the relationship between the lion and the lion cub, but..." Foltste said, "You are no longer a knight, but a demon hunter, right?"
Lann's lion eyes looked directly at Foltestai: "Yes, I have never denied it."
"Well, as I said - everyone knows about your relationship, so what will happen to Princess Cirilla's marriage when she grows up? As far as I know, demon hunters are infertile."
Foltestai shook his head. "We can't spend so much effort to support Cintra, only to see it collapse again decades later because there is no heir. What should we do then? Hold another meeting and support Cintra again?"
Now the words really hit the nail on the head. Not only Henselt, but also Vizimir II, Queen Mivi, and Demave all showed hesitation on their faces.
Vizimir II frowned, but said, "That's something to consider later. Right now, Nilfgaard's problems are the most important..."
"But it is something that must be considered, sooner or later," Foltestai retorted.
The other kings had to admit that this was indeed an issue worth discussing.
"If you ask me, there is only one solution." Henselt laughed, "Let their princess - that Cirilla - marry the son of someone here. Is that what you are thinking of, Foltersted? I heard that you have many illegitimate children!"
"If I remember correctly, Henselt, you don't have an heir either, and you have never planned to have another one." Demavell of Aedirn said suddenly.
Henselt slammed the table and stood up.
Lann looked at Foltestai and knew that the king had not given up his original idea. It seemed that Adda had not been able to convince her father to give Cintra more help during this period.
Lane knew he had to make some commitments at this point.
"Princess Cirilla is only twelve years old this year, and is far from the age of marriage." Lan said slowly, "But I can assure you that Cintra will definitely have an heir with the bloodline of the lion in the future."
"Not only that!" Henselt stroked his beard, hoping for chaos. "The heir must be related to one of the people who participated in the meeting today. After all, we helped Cintra, so there must be something in return, right? This time I didn't consider myself at all, because I don't have a son!"
Vizimir II fell silent. Demave stopped arguing with Henselt and looked at Lann.
This is in the interests of all countries in the North.
Only Queen Mi Wei lowered her eyes and said, "My two sons are insignificant. They are not fit to be kings, nor do they need to be princes to bring disaster to other countries."
Foltestai praised hypocritically: "So your beauty and kindness are spread across the North, Miwei."
Lan En faced everyone's gaze and looked into their eyes one by one.
But his thoughts went beyond this meeting: if he remembered correctly, everyone present except Queen Miwei had died young.
When and how did they die? Can I speed up the process?
There are so many countries in the north...
Lann said meaningfully: "I am not a person who does not know the big picture. If your majesties insist, the future monarch of Cintra will definitely be a family with your heir."
"I also know that this is the best outcome for Cintra. But the princess is still young, and the specific engagement needs to be discussed."
"Excellent." Foltestai nodded with satisfaction, as if he had won a victory. "Our help to Cintra is also based on this agreement. If Cintra breaks the agreement in the future, we have the right to withdraw our help!"
This was a naked threat, and Lann was looking straight at the other person at this moment.
"Of course. Your Majesties, please rest assured that I will not give you the opportunity to withdraw your help."
Lann made a joke, and the kings present cooperated by laughing to varying degrees.
So Lann laughed too.
…
Just when everyone in the Haji Fortress thought they had achieved great success, a dark force was brewing not far away in the Pontar Valley.
In the forest camp, the non-human race troops who had previously brought fork-tailed dragons and corpse-eating monsters to Queen Miwei were reorganizing their equipment.
Of course, these non-human race troops have a more official name - the Scoia'tael.
Compared to last time, they now have a lot fewer people.
They are of mixed race.
The elves were tall and slender, and many had vine and leaf-shaped tattoos. They carefully checked their bows and arrows, and of course, their knives and spears.
The dwarves used the stones that served as stools as whetstones to sharpen their axes for the last time. They talked and laughed with the elves, without any sign of the tension between them and their fellow tribesmen from the outside world.
Halflings, about the same height as the dwarves but with slimmer arms and legs, were trimming leather slingshots, stuffing stones that had been polished to be as smooth as pebbles into the leather bags.
The gnomes, who are shorter than dwarves and halflings, can only do some logistical work, such as helping everyone organize equipment.
"You are more agile, why don't you act as scouts? Someone has to stand guard." A dwarf suddenly said to the halfling next to him, "Leave the charge to us, after all, you are not good at fighting."
The halfling curled his lips and said, "It's not that we are not good at fighting, we just prefer peace. But humans didn't let us go. This time I will show you how brave halflings can be to protect their families."
The dwarf wrinkled his nose and began to laugh.
The leader of this group of squirrels was a male elf, who was sitting at the edge of the camp.
In terms of body shape, he seemed no different from the elves around him, equally slender and strong.
He was wearing a red turban, and underneath it were a pair of light yellow eyes. Of course, they were not the cat eyes of a witcher, his pupils were of normal shape.
"Iorveth!" Suddenly a companion called out his name, causing the leader of the Squirrel Party to turn around.
"What's up?"
"We have received an order from Nilfgaard." The man who spoke was wearing a linen robe and looked like a spellcaster. "He told us to act immediately and disrupt the meeting."
After hearing this, Iorveth nodded and turned his gaze back to the forest, as if waiting for something.
"He gave the news too late. Even if we take action now, we won't be able to disrupt the meeting."
"But we can try to interfere with the North."
The elf leader stared into the depths of the forest in a trance.
From the eastern mountain peak, the faint sound of an eagle's cry could be heard.
From the plain in the west, there seemed to be another roar that sounded like a dragon, but not a dragon.
The sun gradually set, and one after another, elves and halflings emerged from the dense forest, all of them in a disheveled state, with injuries ranging from minor to serious.
"Thirteen people are missing." The adjutant in charge of counting the number of people stepped forward and whispered in Iorveth's ear.
The elf leader nodded solemnly.
Immediately, a dwarf came forward to help the injured companions and bandage their wounds.
Iorveth continued to stand at the edge of the camp until the moon rose.
But the person he was waiting for still didn't come back.
He couldn't wait any longer. It wasn't because the people who went out were so precious, but because the mission they were going to perform was of utmost importance.
"Let's go and take a look!"
Iorveth picked five trusted men and led them through the woods as if they were walking on flat ground. Even the evening wind could not catch up with their pace.
A faint smell of blood appeared in the air.
"Wow!" "Wow!" "Wow!"
The strange sound started led Iorveth, and when he looked up, he saw a group of wood crows.
These animals rarely appear in such large groups.
In addition to the mission target that the team sent out by Iorveth was going to contact, that guy was often followed by a forest crow.
In other words, their mission was accomplished, and they lured the target out from the depths of the jungle.
But where are they now?
"Tick-tock" "Tick-tock"
Iorveth soon saw them.
A vine that rushed out of the ground pierced through an elf's body like a sharp thorn, entering from the left waist and exiting from the right shoulder.
The ground beneath him had been completely dyed dark red, and his abdominal cavity was like a dried-up pool, still dripping with blood.
[The blood has not yet dried.] Iorveth thought, [They were just killed not long ago.]
Seven or eight crows swooped over the elf's corpse, pecking at the rare fresh meat.
The team led by Iorveth was furious and was about to go forward to drive away the crows so that they could collect the bodies of their companions.
But a hand with bulging veins held him down.
The owner of this hand is also uneasy, but he has a greater responsibility.
"Don't alarm our target, just move forward and see."
The elves looked at their leader hesitantly, and though they were reluctant, they still did as he said. They also knew the rules of survival in the jungle.
The team continued to move forward and soon saw the remaining companions -
Some of them had their limbs eaten by wild wolves, some were buried underground by countless twisted plants, and some seemed to have their bodies smashed directly by a huge palm.
Each of them died in a miserable way.
"The entire army was wiped out." The adjutant said with a grim expression.
"Their mission is accomplished." Iorveth muttered to himself, "But we can't take them home, because that might disturb the target they attracted with their lives."
"We sacrificed an entire squad to lure that monster towards humans."
"Iorveth, is this really worth it?" an elf team member couldn't help but speak out, "Can a monster really cause harm to the human army?"
The leader did not answer, but made several gestures to signal everyone to retreat.
The wolves and crows had not left yet, and the corpses were still fresh, so they needed to leave here as soon as possible, lest the monster was still wandering around and find them.
"If it's an ordinary monster, it's hard to say. But if it's this, maybe it can be possible."
Iorveth shook his head. "But I never thought I could really rely on them to accomplish anything. No matter how powerful a monster is, it is still just a monster. In front of an organized army, it is just a mantis trying to stop a chariot. I just need them to create enough chaos to give us an opportunity to assassinate."
After explaining his companions' doubts, he turned around and took a deep look at his companions who had died in the deep forest, then bowed his head in silence for them.
"Descendants of the mountain people, compatriots of Ain Sheed, all died on the road to freedom. Your blood and tears will not be shed in vain, they will only forge our sword of revenge..."
…
Haji Fortress.
It had been several days since the meeting ended, during which Lann had signed various cooperation agreements with various kings. The kings also used this rare time to communicate with each other and determine the general guidelines for the next few years.
The United Kingdoms of Lyria and Rivia promised to stand with Cintra, and there is no doubt about that. When Cintra strikes back against Nilfgaard, they will unite their forces to resist the Black Sun together;
Redania will provide Cintra with a certain amount of war supplies, which are things that even Lann cannot buy with money; at the same time, Vizimir II also promised to use his own port to provide Cintra with water transportation convenience, so that resources from other countries can provide timely support to Cintra;
Aedirn is adjacent to the United Kingdom of Lyria and Rivia. They will send a force to join Queen Mivi in fighting against Nilfgaard. It is also a rare country that directly sends troops to support.
Kaedwen insisted on purging the Scoia'tael first, but King Henselt, under the supervision of all parties, also made sure that he would not bring up the old scores with Aedirn during the battle on the front line. If he violated this, he would be attacked by other great powers in the North.
There are many non-human races in the territory of Temeria, so there are signs that the Scoia'tael are also emerging. Foltstad decides to form a special force to clean up the Scoia'tael and join forces with Kaedwen to suppress the rebellion. At the same time, he also supervises Henselt to prevent him from going too far in killing innocent people and exacerbating racial conflicts to the point where it will damage the interests of various countries.
At the same time, for Cintra, Foltestai promised to let the dwarves of Mahakam provide equipment support, but Lann had to negotiate it himself.
Although Lann already had dwarves such as Sieglin, Zoltan, and Machete to act as go-betweens, the dwarves were still nominally subjects of Folterstai - even if the relationship between the dwarves and Folterstai was the same as that between the Eternal Flame and Vizimir II of Novigrad.
In other words, if Lann finally agreed to cooperate with the dwarves, but Foltestai objected, the plan would ultimately not be implemented.
Now that Lane has obtained a verbal agreement from Foltestai, his worries have been cleared away.
Lann didn't want to ask for more. Having received direct help from three of the five participating countries, including military support from two of them, Lann was already very satisfied.
Go back and contact Marshal Visegid to unite the Cintra troops, and then go to Skellige to seek naval support. The troops will be enough to launch another Battle of Sodden Mountain.
More than enough to retake Sintra.
When the day comes when Cintra is liberated, Lann will truly have a country to back him up, and the available resources will experience an explosive growth.
By then, his strength will also usher in a real leap, and the many arrangements made in the early stage will be qualified to close the net...
His thoughts were wandering off to who knows where. Lann shook his head to drive the trivial thoughts out of his mind.
Things like closing the net are still vague. We should focus on walking steadily on the path ahead.
"Alice, which paintings do you think would be good gifts?"
At this time, in front of Lane were various paintings confiscated from Everec Manor, all of which were created by Alice before and after her marriage. There were various subjects, including portraits, landscapes, still lifes, etc.
The writing skills may be a little different from Alice's current level, but it is good enough as a gift.
Since Queen Miwei had started it, Lann planned to send a copy to every king attending the meeting.
Hearing Lann's question, Alice was in a trance for a moment: "Sorry, I was distracted..."
"Oh?" Lann raised his eyebrows. "Is it these paintings that remind you of the old days?"
Alice shook her head: "No, although the journey with you is still short, these wonderful days have made me almost forget the pain of the past..."
"I was just lamenting about Nilfgaard... When I was educated, it was a name only known by knowledgeable people. When Olgierd and I had just married, although I heard that it was rising rapidly, I never thought that it would become such an empire that unified the south today."
"It's your destined enemy, isn't it?"
Lan nodded. "I have reasons to fight him. As I grow older, these reasons become more numerous and more deeply rooted."
"I think," Alice said, "if we really want to deal with an empire that has unified the South, shouldn't a strong leader emerge in the North as well?"
Lann raised an eyebrow. "Did you mean 'King in the North'?"
Alice covered her mouth and chuckled. "I thought you would laugh at my strange ideas. But Lan, you can understand what I mean so smoothly, and even think of the title. Could it be that you have the same idea as me?"
The Lion Count was stunned for a moment, and the smile in his eyes became even more intense.
Alice dropped her eyes. "Am I too smart? This doesn't seem like a good thing for a lady?"
Lan En looked at the demon in the painting and shook his head: "Don't deny yourself. Excellence is not a mistake. Your wisdom is a surprise to me and a great thing."
The two looked at each other, then tacitly looked away and looked back at the painting in front of them.
They quickly selected three paintings that suited the recipients' preferences and gave them to Henselt, Demave and Foltestai respectively.
Lan was about to call the servant into the room when he suddenly heard a hurried knock on the door.
"Sir, sir! Something is happening!"
Lan was stunned. From the voice it seemed to be House. Shouldn't he be in the butler group? Why did he come back now?
"Enter!"
House burst into the room and saw Lane was about to speak anxiously, but was suddenly interrupted by a loud noise.
“Woo——”
The sound was loud enough for everyone in Haji Fortress to hear. It was a military bugle call.
And judging from the rhythm, it was no longer the contact number used to identify the enemy when Lann and others arrived, but -
"Enemy attack?"
Lann was suddenly startled. Here, where the great northern powers gathered, who would have the courage to attack?
The corridor suddenly became noisy, filled with shouts, curses, and the sound of steel shin guards hitting the ground.
Without waiting for Lann's order, all the Cintra soldiers gathered outside the house quickly and orderly, and the guards of each king also gathered around their respective lords, waiting for orders.
Striding to the window, Lann looked towards the nearby area and within his sight was the Kaedweni military camp.
A large fire was ignited under the unicorn flag. Several figures rode the stolen horses and rushed between the tents, throwing unknown drugs and various powders into the crowd.
It was already night, and Lan could not see the faces of the figures clearly, but the screams coming from far away in the military camp answered his doubts.
"Scoia'tael!!"
Lann frowned. He really didn't expect to encounter this organization in this place.
Along the way, Lane has heard too many people mention this organization in too many places and in various forms.
Simply put, this is a guerrilla group composed of "non-human races" who are dissatisfied with the status quo under the oppression of humans in the North.
There are two reasons why they are called "Squirrel Party": one is because these guerrillas would hang squirrel fur on their hats or clothes as decoration; the other is because these guerrillas always hide in the forest and feed on nuts like squirrels.
Of course, such organizations that initially emerged to resist oppression will often degenerate over time.
Lann remembered that later, due to various political considerations, some leaders of the Squirrel Party would transform themselves into officers in the Nilfgaardian army to fight against the North, which was also considered to be serving humanity.
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