Arc of Fire

The discussion had just concluded when Yakov came over with a notebook, "I have translated all the Prosen documents collected by the Allied Forces paratroopers. These documents mention a secret pact, based on which the Prosens must have silently entered Balas."

Wang Zhong, "How long have they been in there? If the Prosens have been in Balas for a long time, I am going to have to laugh at MI6."

Yakov checked the contents of the notebook and confirmed, "The Prosen troops at the airport have been in for a week now."

Wang Zhong, "Then when did the Imperial Guard’s Fifth Division get replaced by the Prosens?"

"The documents don’t specify, but it does say that the airport troops are the second batch to enter, and that they were received by ’their own people’ who had already been in Balas for a long time."

Wang Zhong took the documents and quickly leafed through them before casually passing them to Popov, then looked up at Yakov and said, "Go check the occupied headquarters of the Imperial Guard’s Fifth Division, see if you can find anything valuable."

"Yes, sir." Yakov saluted and ran off.

Amelia, "There are many secluded areas in Balas. If they built an airport there and then transported Prosens in through civilian airlines like Lufthansa, it would be normal for MI6 not to know."

Wang Zhong shook his head, "No, miss, that’s too presumptuous of you. After the Prosens arrived, they need food, clothing, shelter—these things can’t be without a trace. Professional intelligence agencies would definitely notice these clues."

In fact, intelligence gathering often doesn’t require sneaking into dangerous places like in the 007 movies and the Mission: Impossible series—much critical information is obtained through the analysis of seemingly ordinary public data.

Amelia, "I don’t mean to excuse MI6, but Balas wasn’t our intelligence focus before. The United Kingdom had always considered Balas as an appendage of Bahara, within the scope of our influence, and within that range, we hardly had any rivals.

"After all, Ante had just finished a civil war, and in the twenty years after the civil war, Ante rarely showed any desire for expansion."

After the civil war, the Secular faction had been devoted to winning over the old farmers, eliminating the Sanctified faction, and curbing the Old Nobility that clustered around the Tsar to regain control of speech, among other things.

In this situation, Ante really didn’t have the spare capacity to think about expansion.

Wang Zhong, "Are you saying that the Prosens came in too early, when MI6 was not paying attention to Balas? Aren’t you just making excuses for MI6?"

"I’m stating the facts to you," Amelia said.

Just then, Yakov rushed back with a very old-looking notebook, "General, I found this on the desk of the suspected enemy’s highest commander. It’s a diary. You won’t believe it, but this diary started six years ago. The Prosens had been secretly infiltrating Balas since six years ago."

"Really?" Wang Zhong snatched the notebook, glanced at the date it was opened to, and sure enough, it was from 909, six years ago.

Well, well, no wonder the Prosens call themselves the Vulture Legion. In Earth’s history, Sturmtiger also practiced in Banya under the name of Vulture Legion before beginning to expand.

Over here, people had sent men over to Balas way before the invasion of Melania and before the United Kingdom and Carolingian openly fell out, attempting to pull a tooth from a tiger’s mouth within the United Kingdom’s sphere of influence.

Amelia, "See, at that time, MI6 probably never imagined that the Prosens would infiltrate Balas all the way from afar, and they deployed very little force here.

"Like you said, realizing the truth from various clues requires manpower. Without manpower, it’s impossible to collect enough intelligence, nor is it possible to perform the meticulous analysis of this intelligence."

Wang Zhong, "Anyway, for now, we’ve figured out why there are so many ’skin-changed’ Prosens."

This situation reminded Wang Zhong of the game Hearts of Iron III, which he enjoyed playing before traveling through time. In Hearts of Iron III, there was a volunteer mechanic, and after volunteers joined, their units’ flags would change to the flag of the host country.

The computer players in the game were especially fond of using this mechanic, and Wang Zhong often saw a bunch of "skin-changed" enemy troops popping up along his front lines.

Yakov, "There are many more documents. I’ll translate overnight and see if I can sort something out tomorrow, such as the total strength of the Vulture Legion."

"Good," Wang Zhong looked at Yakov, his gaze and expression conveying appreciation for his proactive work ethic, "Pavlov should also be up all night setting up headquarters today, you all keep up the good work."

Having said that, Wang Zhong yawned grandly.

Amelia expressed a disdainful look, "You’re not going to sleep while your subordinates are working overnight, are you?"

Wang Zhong, "As a commander, my duty is to always keep my mind clear in order to quickly respond to battlefield situations. So, I must sleep; otherwise, I might make a wrong judgment due to fatigue and weariness, leading to severe casualties among the troops."

Amelia, not responding, stared at Wang Zhong.

"Okay," Wang Zhong said, "it’s really because I can’t be of much help with these specific tasks."

After all, Wang Zhong had not received professional staff training. He couldn’t even draft military maps properly, and it’s a good thing he didn’t have to now, or he would certainly make a fool of himself.

Without the help of cheats, Wang Zhong was nothing more than a military enthusiast.

Amelia, somewhat surprised, "You can’t be of much help with specific tasks? Aren’t you the head of the Suvorov Military Academy?"

Wang Zhong, "But back in my military school days, I was last in my class."

Amelia shook her head, "No, no, according to the information from MI6, you intentionally came last to save the Crown Prince Ivan from being the last. Your ability had become so strong that you could score as much as you wanted."

Wang Zhong hastily waved his hands, "No, no, that’s just a rumor from Yeburg. Anyway, I’m going to rest now. Tomorrow I need to think about how to deal with the Hell’s Army summoned by the King’s archmage."

Suddenly, the emergence of the regular Prosen Army could indeed be considered as "Hell’s Army."

Wang Zhong turned around and only then noticed that Nelly had been waiting behind him for some time.

So, he asked, "Nelly, is my accommodation ready?"

"It’s ready, please follow me."

Wang Zhong felt somewhat sentimental, "This city still has intact houses?"

Even the headquarters of the Fifth Division of the Imperial Guard had been hit by two rounds of Whirlwind fire, with half the building collapsed, requiring precious documents to be unearthed from the rubble.

Nelly: "No, I actually didn’t find a suitable house, so I pitched a tent next to Pavlov’s established headquarters. I’ve heard that it never rains here this season, so there should be no worries."

Wang Zhong: "A tent, huh... It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed this kind of treatment. In Nan’ant Prairie at least there were warehouses to sleep in."

The infrastructure in Nan’ant Prairie might be poor, but it still fared better than Balas. After all, Ante was one of the great powers, and a camel, thin as it might be, is bigger than a horse.

Nelly: "Let’s go, this way please."

Wang Zhong always felt his little servant orderly seemed extremely eager today, could it be to get him to leave Su Fang and Amelia as soon as possible?

He thought about it but decided not to voice the question, silently following Nelly’s footsteps.

---

When they reached the tent, Wang Zhong found it to be more impressive than he had imagined and asked Nelly, "Did you build this yourself?"

Nelly shook her head, "No, I got some workers to help with the construction. When they heard it was your tent, they became very enthusiastic."

"My name still has that effect?"

Nelly: "Go inside, it’s getting late."

Wang Zhong then lifted the tent flap and stooped to enter.

Inside was a faint fragrance that made one’s spirit become refreshed. Wang Zhong immediately located the source of the scent: an incense burner that was smoking.

Wang Zhong suddenly thought of the "magic of a grand sorcerer" they had just discussed and shuddered, quickly turning to ask Nelly, "Where did this incense burner come from?"

"I prepared it," said Nelly. "Why, don’t you like it?"

Wang Zhong: "Who supplied the incense that is burning in the incense burner?"

"I bought it at a Church store back in the country; there were many different scents. Do you want me to change it?"

Wang Zhong: "No, why does a big man’s room need incense? You never used to prepare this for me, did you?"

Nelly: "Before we left, I was wandering around in a Church store in Abawahan and saw this. The shopkeeper said it could soothe the nerves and improve sleep quality. Seeing you with serious dark circles, I bought it. Did I make a mistake?"

Because the sight of Nelly bowing her head in apology was so rare, Wang Zhong couldn’t help but gaze at her for a few more seconds.

Wang Zhong: "Okay then, let’s try out the effect of the incense today."

He plonked down on the camp bed, quickly took off his jacket and laid it over a stool at the bed’s side, then immediately lay back on the bed.

Wang Zhong stared at the "ceiling" of the tent and began to reflect on everything he had encountered today.

The sudden appearance of the Prosen troops, the rumors about the King’s grand sorcerer—how this expedition seemed to become more complicated.

As Wang Zhong was thinking, he suddenly felt a breeze on his body.

He looked towards the direction of the wind and saw Nelly gently waving a fan, sending waves of cool air towards him.

Her posture involuntarily brought to his mind an image from his childhood when his mother, worried that an electric fan might give her young son a cold, would fan him with a hand fan.

He used to drift comfortably into sleep, while his mother would be sweating profusely from the effort.

The resurfacing memory caused Wang Zhong to look at Nelly with a tender expression.

Nelly: "What, do you want me to sing you a lullaby?"

Wang Zhong: "Is that part of the service too? Then sing me one."

Nelly looked disgusted but nevertheless began to sing.

Listening to Nelly’s soft singing, Wang Zhong slowly drifted into sleep, and in that moment, all thoughts of war faded away.

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