The setting sun was like blood, and after the cheers, the soldiers of the Parliament Army began to change shifts.

Carrying spears and shields, they descended the city tower in groups of twos and threes along the stairs.

The main force of these city defense soldiers consisted of semi-professional mercenaries and Foot Knights, with the City Guard of Rapids City as supplemental forces.

A month ago, these citizens and shop clerks were street vendors calling out their wares. After two months of training and a month of war, they now somewhat exuded an iron-blooded demeanor.

"I heard that Sir Sorin sponsored a batch of beef?"

"Can we eat beef tonight?"

"Do you really eat beef? That's for Master Knight."

"I don't eat beef; having soup is good enough."

Massaging their sore muscles, the soldiers chatted idly, discussing what meals might be available tonight.

For this uprising, Rapids City had stored enough provisions for three full months. While the soldiers outside the city were chewing on hard biscuits, they could still enjoy bread.

As they talked about which brothels to frequent after a satisfying meal, one soldier grabbed his companion's sleeve.

His companion fell silent, turning his face with reverence and aversion, not daring to look at the passing Wizards.

Despite helping to repel the Church Army, the citizens still believed them to be evil heretical wizards.

Hiring heretics and fighting against them was merely a temporary expedient.

They were all good believers, only forced by circumstances to get involved with the evil devils.

Certainly, they did not accept the Wizards' help; it was merely a mercenary relationship.

Initially, there was substantial opposition from many citizen councilors regarding Governor Catherine's strategy to employ Wizards for their battles.

But as the intensity of the siege warfare gradually increased, faced with the Wizards' brilliant achievements, citizens had no choice but to tacitly accept their presence.

Although cooperation with the Wizards might tarnish the reputation of Rapids City and its citizens, they couldn't afford to worry about such matters for now.

The Wizards from Black Snake Bay had long grown accustomed to the soldiers' gazes.

Supporting each other, they moved wearily without wanting to speak, occasionally taking a sip from the medicinal wine hanging at their waists to steady their spirits.

After the Wizards left the city walls, the eerie atmosphere dissipated. The hungry soldiers, dragging their tired feet, headed toward the food tents.

Enviously watching the soldiers, the City Guards, though starving, could not yet go to the food tents.

They had to follow regulations and report to Petier in the command room first.

The command room, located on the second floor of the blockhouse behind the Monastery, was perfectly placed in the dead zone of the trebuchet.

The command room on the second floor was filled with various captains and officers reporting to the young man in the center.

"The third section of the wall is damaged, with ten casualties..."

"The damage to the fifth section of the wall is not severe, with no casualties but three deserters..."

Petier stood in the center of the command room, with a long table neatly laid out with unfolded maps and diagrams, marked densely.

A month ago, Petier was merely an insignificant logistical officer in the Parliament Army, but a month later, he became the actual overall commander of this city defense battle.

To put it simply: The army was still under Catherine's control, but Petier actually handled the tasks.

In terms of hierarchy in the Parliament Army, Petier was clearly the third figure under Catherine and Carl.

The reason for such a rocket-like rise was quite simple.

Three weeks ago, a stone shot by the Church Army hit and rebounded off the city wall, knocking down a bell tower.

Right next to the bell tower was the command room at that time, where the top city defenders and senior officers were meeting.

After the senior officers ascended in spirals or suffered heavy injuries, Petier, as a logistical officer, stepped forward to temporarily replace the chief commander and perfectly directed the defense to withstand the offensive of that day.

Catherine immediately promoted him to city defense advisor, heralding the beginning of nightmares for Ailard and others.

No matter how they attacked, every section of the walls was precisely defended.

Others might think the Parliament Army was too strong or the Church Army too weak, but only these City Guards knew that one of the true sources was this physically frail young man.

Every morning before the shift change, Petier would gather the City Guards from each section for a meeting.

The meeting's content was quite straightforward, divided into three parts:

First, assigning who should lead hundreds of soldiers, several wizards, and a few "Dragon's Breath" to which section of the wall, and who should lead dozens of soldiers and several wizards to another wall section.

Second, assigning who should take troops to be reserves for which sections of the walls and who should be responsible for cooperative defense in certain directions.

Third, plans of action for potential scenarios.

Then the meeting would adjourn, with everyone taking soldiers and supplies up the city walls to carry out defense according to procedure.

The magic lay in the fact that following the troop allocations Petier made for each section, the defenses each day were precisely able to repel the enemy.

Many even suspected that Petier might be a Divination Wizard or Mind Mage capable of foreseeing the future or eavesdropping on thoughts.

Otherwise, why was it that under his coordination, every time the last "Dragon's Breath" ran out, the enemy retreated?

Not one too many, not one too few, almost no wastage whatsoever.

"...The casualties on the seventh section of the wall are somewhat high, with twenty soldiers, but fifteen of them are lightly injured and can be bandaged to return to the battlefield."

"Okay, is there anything anyone wants to add?" The swiftly moving feather pen stopped, and Petier, with dark circles under his eyes, looked around and asked.

The city guards present looked at each other and shook their heads in unison.

"Alright then, meeting adjourned. Make sure to come earlier every morning for the meetings," Petier instructed the remaining soldiers and turned to head up to the third floor.

The city guards breathed a sigh of relief, greeted each other and proceeded towards the tavern.

Petier rubbed the corner of his eye, climbed the stairs to the third floor, where Catherine and other high-ranking members of the Parliament Army were gathered in the small study room.

According to the established practice, after receiving reports from the city guards, Petier was to go to the second floor to report to Catherine.

Seeing Petier's haggard appearance, Mitney walked over to the tea table and poured a cup of cold mint tea for Petier.

After thanking him, Petier placed the compiled brief on Catherine's desk.

"How's the situation today?"

"Not too bad, the casualties are only about seventy," Petier hesitated for a moment, "Governor, I must remind you, we're running low on both types of Dragon's Breath."

"Running low? How could that be?" Carl, standing by the window, turned around, his left arm in a sling, with a sword scar running from his chin to his ear.

"The Parliament designed Ansen Castle to withstand a siege for a month, but it was breached within two weeks, without any reserves left," Petier walked to the table and pointed at the numbers on the brief, "I tried my best to save, but it's still not enough."

"How long can the current supplies of the two types of Dragon's Breath last?" Catherine asked, scanning the numbers on the brief.

Petier licked his dry lips, pondered silently for a while, then sighed: "Considering the current usage speed, they will run out in two weeks at the earliest, less than three weeks if we conserve.

The original plan was to connect with the second batch of reinforcements in early August, but the situation is different, the council members planned too tightly, leaving no room for error."

"Can the Secret Party Alliance Army from Black Snake Bay come earlier?" Carl went to the table, picked up the brief while glancing over it and asked.

"I had sent them a message before the port's city wall was breached."

"Have they replied? How did they respond?"

Catherine looked gravely at Mitney, and Mitney reluctantly whispered to Carl: "News came from Black Snake Bay at the end of June."

"What? Why didn't I know?" Carl asked wide-eyed.

Mitney pulled a letter from a stack of documents: "After the last batch of supporting wizards arrived, the native defenses of Black Snake Bay weakened considerably.

Nidesar, the Sand Sculpture Knight stationed at the Red Copper Fortress, led troops to Dragon Flame Village for a sneak attack, abducting a large group of wizards skilled in the Fireball Technique.

Not only can Black Snake Bay not send wizards or Secret Party Alliance Mercenaries ahead of schedule, even the reinforcements scheduled for early August are postponed to late August. I feared it would affect morale, so I kept silent."

Silence enveloped the room, Catherine removed her glasses, leaned back in her chair and rubbed her brow, saying nothing.

The other Black Knights and council members glanced at each other, equally at a loss for words.

"How is the battle in Shangruifo?" a council member suddenly asked, "When will Lady Moliat arrive to rescue us?"

"Same as always." Mitney leaned against his desk, "Engaging in a tug-of-war around High Castle."

"Don't just think about being rescued," Carl still held onto his dreams of counterattack, "Perhaps we can launch our own counterattack?"

But Carl himself knew that losing the port initially made talk of a counterattack sheer folly.

He had to say it to keep up the morale of the Black Knights.

Petier seemed to have thought of something: "Can Horn from Joan of Arc Castle, I mean the Holy Grandson's Salvation Army, come to rescue us?"

"Seek their help? Isn't it too early for that? We Black Knights can still fight," Carl spoke vigorously, but his ending lacked confidence.

Feeling uncertain, Carl turned to look at Mitney beside him: "Mitney, why have you been silent?"

Mitney grimaced and pulled another letter from the pile: "This is news from Kasha County, the knights from Jinhe Town and the Salvation Army are at war, it's unlikely they can aid us within two or three months."

"Why at this time?" murmured a Black Knight standing by the door.

"Yeah, why would they rashly start a war with the knights of Jinhe Town?" another council member's voice rose.

"It's not their choice, nor ours to make," Catherine, who had been resting, finally spoke, clearing the air significantly.

Because the woman before them had, under the guise of war, proclaimed herself wartime governor, purging a significant portion of the opposition within the Rapids City Council.

If anyone wished to join those former council members in the dungeons, they might consider voicing opposition now.

"Maybe we should hire another batch of mercenaries?"

"The port is in enemy hands, the river channels are blocked by sunken ships; where can we hire them, and how would they even get in?"

"Then what do you propose?"

"...I don't have a good solution either."

Catherine opened her eyes, concealing the exhaustion within them, seeing the slightly discouraged atmosphere among the Parliamentary Army high ranks, she sighed:

"I initially didn't want to mention this, in case spies might send messages to the Church Army outside the city, but since they're almost here, it should be fine."

Her cryptic statement left everyone present baffled.

"Catherine, what do you mean?"

Catherine stood up, casting her gaze around the room:

"Kasha County has officially raised its flag against the Church, I estimate their reinforcements will arrive within three days, by then, we can break through and coordinate a decisive counterattack with them."

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