Chapter 134: The Enclave

"What you say has some merit; perhaps I have underestimated the Ant-men." Sylvia studied the map for a long while before turning her gaze toward Victor. She sighed, then added with a playful, enigmatic smile, "Victor, why are you so convinced that the Ant-men would bother to make such a wide detour just to attack the Centaur Hills?"

Victor felt a jolt in his heart, but he remained calm. "It is merely a guess. In the face of a hundred thousand ferocious Ant-men, I believe one cannot be too cautious."

Victor had not expected that even the slightest slip would be detected by Sylvia. Yet, he could not tell her that he had intercepted the Ant-men's spoils and that she was his accomplice; once the Ant-men realized what had happened, they would surely not let them off the hook.

Sylvia did not press the issue further. She nodded, her slender, fair fingers tracing a line across the map. "This mountain range is the border between the Great Marsh and the Centaur Hills. The marsh is a low-lying basin, and the western side of these mountains features a drop of about a thousand meters, with cliffs that are steep and treacherous. As long as I seal the three entrances to the marsh, no matter how many Ant-men come, they will never be able to breach the Centaur Hills."

Victor nodded in agreement. The entrances to the Great Marsh were slopes that were low in the west and high in the east. Building sixty-meter-high fortresses there and digging twenty-meter-wide trenches would make the terrain insurmountable, even if the number of Ant-men were tripled. This was the advantage of the geography.

Sylvia glanced at Victor and continued, "The range continues northward into the territory of the Tudor Kingdom, where it splits into two. One branch stretches 1,600 kilometers further north, with the Endless Forest to its west. The other turns 400 kilometers to the east, known as the Giant Stone Mountains due to its abundance of stone. That region nominally belongs to the Duke of Erickson, but in reality, it is a true frontier, teeming with monsters. If the Ant-men were to bypass the Erickson family's lands to reach the Centaur Hills, they would have to trek at least 5,000 kilometers, passing through many monster-infested areas along the way. Do you understand now?"

Victor understood Sylvia's point, but he disagreed with her assessment. He pondered for a moment and asked, "Sylvia, do you believe my concerns are superfluous?"

Sylvia smiled and shook her head, her ruby lips parting. "No! You were right to warn me. In fact, even before the Ant-plague broke out, I had intended to build fortifications in the northern part of the Centaur Hills."

Victor's heart stirred. "Are you targeting the lords of Tudor?"

"It could be the lords of the Tudor Kingdom, or perhaps the monsters and orcs on the edge of the Endless Forest. And now, we must add the Ant-men to the list. Ever since the Forest Centaurs migrated, every faction has been eyeing the Centaur Hills with greed." Sylvia pointed to two locations on the map. "We originally planned to build two large, mutually supporting fortresses here and here. Without rock bricks, this project would have taken ten years to complete."

Sylvia rubbed her temples and added, "Victor, you have truly set me a difficult task. Assuming the Ant-men really do attack the Centaur Hills from the north, these two fortresses must be constructed as quickly as possible. To be honest, building five large fortresses in succession will be a heavy burden, and the family does not have enough soldiers to garrison all five at once."

"So, I must know," Sylvia asked earnestly, "what is the basis for your judgment that the Ant-men will actively attack the Centaur Hills?"

Victor thought for a moment, frowning. "It is a consensus that the Ant-men enter the Centaur Hills to forage and cull their own numbers. But you don't believe that is the only behavior of the Ant-men, do you? You told me that the Ant-men likely destroyed an empire of 'Others'; wouldn't that empire have known the Ant-men's weaknesses? It can be inferred that the Ant-men must have other methods of attack, or they would have been wiped out by that empire long ago! Furthermore, the fact that the Ant-men leaders flee suggests they are vital to the swarm, and we have killed many of their leaders. Of course, these are just my guesses. But would you stake the safety of your territory on a gamble?"

Sylvia was stunned for a long time. She said with chagrin, "Damn it, I was blinded by the benefits of land and rock bricks; I should have realized this sooner. The Forest Centaurs might have deliberately spared the Ant-men leaders, and the Ant-men were using the Centaurs to cull their excess numbers. They had formed a tacit understanding, but we stepped in to replace the Forest Centaurs and broke that unspoken agreement. You are right; the Ant-men will likely not let us off."

Sylvia placed one of her slender hands against her fair, smooth forehead, her beautiful eyes clouded with dejection. For this moment, she was no longer a powerful Gold Knight or a wise family leader, but appeared vulnerable. Victor couldn't help but feel a surge of pity. He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her slender waist, and comforted her, "My dear, this is not your fault. The Ant-men will devour all the crops. Unlike the Forest Centaurs, we have no choice but to kill their leaders."

Sylvia leaned into Victor's embrace, feeling a mix of strangeness and warmth. It wasn't that she never felt weak, but since embarking on the path of a knight, she had never experienced being cared for. After a moment, she stared intently at Victor until he felt a bit uncomfortable, then she said fiercely, "Think of a solution for me!"

Victor sheepishly let go, failing to notice the hint of coquetry in her fierce tone. He cleared his throat. "Well! The Ant-men leaders are clearly different from the cannon fodder. Since we've already killed many, we should just kill as many as we can."

"Of course! I don't intend to spare them. What I'm asking is, what about the northern fortress?" Sylvia rolled her eyes at him, sounding dissatisfied. She didn't even know if she was dissatisfied with his answer or with him letting her go.

Victor laughed. "Strength in numbers; recruiting more people will solve these problems. With enough population, the speed of construction will increase, and we can select more soldiers."

Sylvia was stunned for a long time before saying in disappointment, "That is your solution?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Victor asked, puzzled.

Sylvia retorted, "Ignoring the issue of food, where am I supposed to recruit population from?"

"Doesn't the kingdom have many free citizens?" Victor asked, surprised.

Sylvia sneered. "Free citizens? Would they be willing to run to the Centaur Hills to do manual labor? Would they be willing to join the army and fight the monsters of the frontier? If they had such qualities, they wouldn't be free citizens. Blackcastle Town took in 120,000 people, the vast majority of whom were discarded by other families; otherwise, why do you think I would feed so many people!?"

"Are free citizens really that useless?" Victor asked in astonishment.

"What do you think? Leaving aside the landless peasants, those lazy, cowardly free citizens who dream all day are complete trash. Other lords would be more than happy to ship them out of their territories. These people can neither build castles nor serve as soldiers; even if you recruit more, it's useless," Sylvia sighed.

Victor was left speechless. He admitted that not everyone could be a qualified subject; those who were discarded were often a result of limited land or genuine personal flaws. However, the main reason for Sylvia's opposition was that she was confined by the feudal system. In this world, a lord could accomplish almost nothing outside of that system. Victor had no intention of pointing this out; the limitations of the feudal system were his opportunity.

Sylvia pondered for a moment and said helplessly, "The most critical issue now is that we don't know when the Ant-men will strike again. Since there is no better way, I can only give the northern territory of the Centaur Hills to a powerful lord in the kingdom, let them build their own castles, train their own armies, and serve as our northern shield."

Victor said, stunned, "You... you are giving the northern land to other lords?"

"Victor, compared to war, compromise and cooperation between lords are far more common. Back then, King Leon only forced our vassals to join other factions through political means to undermine our York family. If not for the fact that Leon had a bit of bad luck and ran into that guy Neovist, he almost would have succeeded. Facing three Gold Knights, I had no choice but to compromise. The situation is the same now. The August family is dead set on having our York family establish a principality in the Centaur Hills, which we naturally cannot agree to. This time, by ceding the northern land of the Centaur Hills, I assume it will help the Senate decide to stand on my side, and the August family will have no choice but to compromise." As she spoke, Sylvia sneered again.

Victor's heart stirred. "How much territory do you intend to cede?"

"A count's fief is a necessity," Sylvia stated firmly.

Sylvia's grand gesture made Victor inwardly gasp. A count's fief was at least 15,000 square kilometers, accounting for nearly one-tenth of the total area of the Centaur Hills. Sylvia was using a count's fief to lure a powerful family to garrison the north of the Centaur Hills, acting as a northern shield for her core territory. It was hard to say whether this trade was a loss or a gain. However, Victor believed that if any family knew that the Ant-men might attack from the north, they would certainly not jump into the pit just to pick up this bargain.

Victor didn't care about the fate of other families. His gaze followed the mountain range on the map further north, and gradually an idea formed. He said, "Sylvia, could you give me a small piece of land on the northern border, near the mountains? It doesn't need to be big, 50 square kilometers will do!"

Sylvia looked at the spot Victor pointed to and asked suspiciously, "What do you want that land for? Don't look at it as being near the Duke of Erickson's territory; in reality, there isn't a single village there. It is a wilderness completely overrun by monsters."

"Uh, are you saying that the Duke of Erickson, like you, is just marking out territory there?"

"Pah, I am not that shameless. At least I built you a castle," Sylvia said angrily.

Victor rubbed his chin and sighed, "Fine, that is indeed a castle, at least the Senate recognizes it."

"You know, I keep some Dust Falcons. These birds are very intelligent and can monitor a vast area. I intend to build an outpost there. If the Ant-men really do attack from the north, we can prepare in advance," Victor explained.

Sylvia's eyes lit up, and she said coyly, "I will give you 300 square kilometers of land, provided you help me tame 20 Dust Falcons. How about that?"

Victor looked up at the sky, speechless. Sylvia's recurring tactic reminded him of the scammers who sold land on the moon.

Seeing Victor's look of disdain, Sylvia's eyebrows arched in anger, and her snow-white hand reached directly toward his cheek. Faced with the impending torment, Victor had to yield.

"Don't pinch! Fine, I can help you tame the Dust Falcons. But I can't guarantee anything. Those falcons rely heavily on me; if they don't see me for a long time, they will run away. Besides, there aren't that many of them. I can only tame three for you."

Sylvia beamed and kissed Victor on the lips. "I know taming Dust Falcons is your bloodline talent. As long as your pets can help my knights search for the retreating Ant-men leaders, that's enough. Even if the falcons run away, it doesn't matter; you'll continue to help us, right?"

Victor looked at her radiant smile and felt a moment of daze, realizing how intimate they had become without him noticing.

"I will discuss this proposal with the others in the family. Regardless of whether we cede a piece of land to another family, that northern plot of land already belongs to you, at least legally. My Viscount." Sylvia had returned to her usual wisdom and clarity.