"It's been a long time, Captain Liver!"
"It has been. Let the Imperial Guards enter the city first."
Lancer dismounted his horse and walked over to meet Riva a distance away from the city gate, and Riva didn't act old, as he genuinely liked this 'junior' of his.
He was strong enough, courageous in battle, and most importantly, tough.
"General Najenda, it's been a long time."
"It has."
After a simple greeting, everyone entered the city one by one. Lancer then suggested going directly to the conference room, which no one refused. After all, the Imperial Guards had a logistics department to handle everything.
"Captain Liver, I'd like to ask about the current situation of the fortress. Although I read the report about this place from Great General Budo, there's a delay. What's the situation now?"
"The situation is not good. The fortress originally had five thousand permanent soldiers. The foreign tribes' attacks caused more than 500 soldiers to withdraw from the combat sequence. Later, General Najenda and I brought 5,000 local troops as reinforcements, but because they are not used to the weather here, there have been close to 800 non-combat casualties. Although the soldiers who have been able to hold on until now should not have any major problems, they can only have up to 70% of their combat power. Furthermore, the strength of the local army is inferior to the border army, so I'm afraid..."
Although he didn't say anything more, it was clear how helpless Liver was about the military strength of the Northern Fortress. No wonder they could only hold their ground and not pursue. After all, if they encountered a 'trap', even if the pursuing soldiers weren't annihilated, the time they were delayed would be enough to jeopardize the entire fortress...
"So, do the northern foreign tribes have no weaknesses?"
"They do, and quite a few. First, although the snowy mountains don't sound as harsh as the desert, in reality, as long as you control the oases in the desert, it is thousands of times better than here. But it's different here. Almost all the tribes, regardless of their size or strength, are in a very difficult situation. This has also led to very intense conflicts between them. But this time, for some unknown reason, they have gathered together. Besides that, the most crucial issue is 'supplies'. I suspect that someone is secretly providing supplies to these tribes, but all the main roads are blocked, and the small paths are monitored. Logically, it should be impossible for any supplies to be sent to the snowy mountains..."
Liver words made Lancer expression also become serious. He had originally thought that the situation here would not be too different from the 'desert', but he didn't expect the difference to be so great.
"Then has a full-scale assault been considered? Although the foreign tribes are fierce, I remember that the number of northern foreign tribes shouldn't be too large, right? Although it might increase our casualties, being dragged on like this is undoubtedly a slow death..."
The matter of Honest forming a 'rebel army' in the south was only known to a few people in the south and the Imperial Capital for now. The news about the 'rebel army' had been completely sealed off, so Lancer didn't tell the other party that his main target was in the south.
But just as Lancer asked, Najenda also interjected.
"It's impossible."
"What's wrong?"
"The biggest casualty count before was because our people chased them out of the fortress. Those foreign tribes used the injured and the elderly of their tribe as bait and triggered an avalanche..."
Well, there was no need to say anything more. This matter was indeed very tricky...
The entire conference room suddenly fell silent. Everyone stopped talking, and only heavy breathing could be heard. Lancer then noticed that Riva was sitting at the conference table with his arms crossed as usual. Seeing this, his eyes lit up.
"Captain Liver, I believe that you, having been here for so long, must have some kind of plan, right?"
"I don't have a specific plan, but I think we might have gotten one thing wrong."
"What did we get wrong?"
"Although the purpose of me, Najenda, and even you, Lancer, being transferred here is to deal with the 'northern foreign tribes', wasn't everything fine here before we came? When did these guys start acting up? Was it when they were gathered by some unknown person? Or was it when these guys could act without any inhibitions?"
Although it was a question, the answer was already out.
Even if the enemy was united, they wouldn't dare to send out troops recklessly without enough resources. After all, even if they were fighting on their home turf, their logistics were still much worse than the empire's. Furthermore, supplies were already scarce in the snowy mountains, which made it even more difficult.
After figuring this out, the excitement on everyone's faces was fleeting. As Liver said, even if they knew, what kind of plan could they have? Up until now, they didn't even know how the enemy was getting their supplies.
But after his mind was opened up, Lancer seemed to have guessed something.
Indeed, normally it would be impossible, unless it was————————an Imperial Arms!
Imperial Arms might seem like just combat weapons, but that's not the case. Or rather, the abilities of Imperial Arms are not limited to combat.
The most obvious pure combat weapons are Lancer 'cloak', whereas Budo Imperial Arms can utilize 'electricity'. And Esdeath's original Imperial Arms could create ice...
"Maybe those foreign tribes got their hands on an Imperial Arms that can bypass our blockade, or even an Imperial Arms that can increase food production."
"Is that possible?"
The others might not have had a say, but Najenda did, because she was one of the few Imperial Arms users of the empire. In her opinion, although the power of an Imperial Arms was terrifying, it was only for 'destruction'. It's much harder to create than to destroy. As for bypassing the blockade? Even if the person themselves could bypass it, how would the supplies be transported?
"It's possible, at least I know of one Imperial Arms that can do it."
Lancer didn't say what it was, and the others didn't ask. After all, 'Imperial Arms' could be said to be the highest secret of the empire.
"It seems we still need more information, at least to figure out whether it's 'transportation' or 'self-sufficiency'."
"Have the scouts work harder, and at the same time, notify our 'informant' embedded among those guys. At least find out where the supplies are coming from. They don't need to do anything extra!"
"Yes!"
The so-called 'conference' should be an exchange of information, where the thoughts of all participants collide, just like now.
Liver, based on his experience and information, determined the 'key', and Lancer, based on his knowledge, looked for the 'possibility'. Although the enemy's situation was still unclear, they at least had an outline. The entire Northern Fortress finally began to operate again instead of being completely stagnant like before...
But it wasn't just the Northern Fortress that was operating. The Western Fortress was preparing for a new round of 'purges', and the Imperial Capital continued its cleansing. As for the south... that one man never stopped moving.