The next day, Ella's team finally headed towards Winchester. There is a medium-sized gravel road in the forest, which is used for daily travel between Winchester and Southampton. After making sure that there was no ambush in the forest, Ella's army could finally walk on it with confidence. A thousand men from Southampton, led by Castlered, were more familiar with the terrain and were therefore placed in front to lead the way. Grahid's men came second; Ayla's 3,000 men were at the end.
Nothing happened in Southampton, which made Ella's soldiers feel a lot more relaxed - at least it showed that the enemy's power was not as great as imagined.
The whole march was quite easy. Only Ella kept a sullen face and let the horses jolt without saying a word.
The measures Alfred took to protect against the Tianfang Empire put great pressure on Ella. She knew that her martial arts was poor, and she also knew that the Tianfang Empire's invasion would eventually come. In order not to be captured by the Tianfang Empire before the war started, she took part of her time to learn swordsmanship.
The contract with Drague has increased Ella's physical fitness and given her a little more confidence - but, since even Alfred, known as the "King of Knights", has to be mentally prepared to be beheaded . So can the swordsmanship she learned really have any effect?
In fact, she should have realized it earlier - even Mellie, who could resist more than ten elf-level magicians by herself, was easily eliminated by the apostle.
Alfred's policies in Britain made her experience for the second time the oppressive feeling of the apostles' approach. The first time was when she faced Yin Ben Xina.
"Maybe I shouldn't have saved Gregory at that time."
Touching the cold cross in her pocket, she even had such an idea.
But even this fantasy plan cannot erase the huge power gap between her and the Tianfang Empire: Gregory died in the Alemannic Federation, and the Tianfang Empire will soon have a new apostle to replace Gregory. Not only will this fail to attack the Abrahamic Church, it will even make the Tianfang Empire turn its attention to the West earlier. Moreover, if the new apostle is the same as Yin Ben Xina, she will only be more dangerous
Dust noticed Ella's annoyance and rode closer to her.
"King of Sweden, what's wrong? The investigation in the forest didn't make you addicted to swordsmanship? Then do you want a sip of wine?"
Ella glanced at the wine bottle in Dust's hand: "Master, I told you, you can't drink alcohol while marching."
"That's when we have a mission. Now we just need to ride on horseback. Isn't it very free?"
The previous reconnaissance in the forest was not a success, and Dast could not become a general just like that. But Ella still became a small officer in Dust, responsible for investigation affairs. But this time, with Southampton's troops scouting from the front, Dast had nothing to do. Seeing that Ella was unwilling to take the bottle, he shrugged, unscrewed the cap and poured a sip into his mouth.
"Master, you are not allowed to drink either!" Ella said, "Nothing will happen during the march. You are an officer now and may be assigned tasks by me at any time. Master, if you want to become a general, you have to do it. So be ready for battle at any time!”
"It's really strict. It's impossible for me to get drunk with a sip of wine. If the smell of alcohol is sprayed in your mouth, it will help disguise..." Dast lazily tried to tell the difference for himself, but when he saw Ella's unfriendly eyes, he hurriedly stopped. He picked up the flask and said, "Okay, okay, I won't drink. Don't glare at me! You look exactly like Anna when you glare at people. I'm even afraid that you will suddenly pounce on me and take off my arm!"
Looking at Dust, Ella suddenly asked, "You have so much strange knowledge, do you know astronomy?"
"Astronomy? I can use the North Star to find my way. As for the other things, they are not practical at all... What's wrong?"
Ella sighed: "It's nothing. I have a secret skill here, which must be taught to someone who knows astronomy, is smart, and makes me feel at ease. Since the master is not suitable, I will continue to look for someone."
Seeing Ella's expression darken again, Dast laughed and said, "King of Sweden, I heard something from Southampton yesterday. It was very interesting."
He wanted to use this topic to divert Ella's attention and make her feel better. But Ella still sat on the horse with her head down, as if she hadn't heard. Dast had no choice but to deliberately emphasize: "Maybe it has something to do with Winchester's current situation?"
"Winchester?" Ella tilted her head slightly, "Doesn't Southampton not know about Winchester?"
"There is no direct information. But Southampton is an important city on the road to Winchester. Can we get some peripheral information? No, I heard a strange thing from a dancer in a pub last night. The thing about it—speaking of it, that dancer’s waist is really thin and she dances very well.”
Dast deliberately changed the topic in the second half of the sentence, trying to further arouse Ella's curiosity. But before Ella could speak, Amy's voice came from the side:
"The dancers in the Southampton pub have very thin waists and dance well. Okay, I'll note that down."
Dast turned his head following the sound and saw Amy writing down what he said in a small notebook. His expression suddenly changed: "Why are you writing these down?"
"Who knows. Maybe someone will want to read it in the future." Amy put the notebook away with a smile, then patted Fenrir on the head, "Fenrir, let's go to the front and take a look. "
"Wait a moment……"
Before Dast could say anything, Fenrir took Amy and ran away like the wind.
"Master, don't worry about that dancer!" Ella's curiosity was piqued on the other side. "What strange things have you heard about? Tell me quickly!"
"Disciple, it's not that my master doesn't want to talk." Dast said with a sad face, "The little notebook in your maid's hand may be related to my wealth and life."
"If you want that book, I can help you find a solution later. But what exactly did you find out? Things related to military intelligence are important matters and cannot be delayed. Tell me quickly!"
With Ella's assurance, Dust finally calmed down.
"That was before the Scottish fleet tried to land at Southampton and lost contact with Winchester. Counting the time, I'm afraid it was still before Alfred sent you a messenger asking for help." Dast said, " There was once a strange fleet of ships that docked at Southampton. The fleet was small, and the people on it were wearing strange clothes. I don’t know where they came from. But those ships were exactly the same as the longships of your pirate kingdom! They rested in Southampton for a while. The Queen set out for Winchester and never came back. The ships they brought were captured by the Scottish fleet that later attacked Southampton."
