Having a powerful lord as a father figure, what's wrong with just wanting to draw cards?

With some food still unpacked, Domi quickly exclaimed, "Thank you! I'll definitely finish it!"

"Work hard, Your Majesty, we are waiting for your results."

Squeak—bang.

When the gate closed again, Domi was alone again, and a feeling similar to that of an elderly person left behind in the countryside rose in his heart, but his heart was still warm.

Looking at the small glass jar lying quietly in his palm, he couldn't help but smile wryly: "Looks like I'll have to work even harder."

After packing his things, he returned to his building around 6 p.m. The chef was preparing a sumptuous dinner for him alone, and he planned to take a shower, enjoy a delicious meal, and then go to bed after a while.

My body isn't tired, but my brain is; it needs a rest.

He inserted the key to open his room, only to find someone already sitting on the sofa in the living room. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was Carlos!

As a peak archmage and a half-step forbidden magic mage, it wasn't surprising that he could sneak in. He even politely poured his father a cup of cappuccino... or so it seemed, just ordinary black tea.

Carlos crossed his legs, took an elegant sip, and then frowned at Domi's appalling tea-brewing skills.

But Domi didn't care and seized the opportunity to ask, "Father, when will your meeting finally end?"

This is not a regular meeting, like those discussing national affairs, which usually last for several days, and sometimes even half a month.

"I estimate about a week. I remember you have to go back to the academy for a competition. How about it? You're both the Minister of Intelligence and the Director of the Strategic Deception Bureau. Is that enough time for you to manage? If not, I'll talk to the academy and ask them to postpone the competition for a few days."

Domi was almost speechless with surprise. He had no idea that his cheap father had such amazing abilities.

"No need for that. I'll take care of things before I leave the capital... By the way, what exactly was discussed at the meeting? I'd love to know."

“That’s not important. The relevant records will be sent to the intelligence department every other day. You can check them yourself.” Carlos then changed the subject: “Now it seems that the question Queen Natiavida gave you is more important.”

"Why do you say that? Does it mean the marriage can't happen because I didn't pass the Empress's test?"

“That’s true,” Carlos said, making a startling statement: “Natiavida is different from the emperor. Her prestige among the people is unmatched by a warlike emperor. If she publicly states that she will not marry Shia to you, your marriage will be condemned by everyone, and your reputation will be extremely bad from the very beginning.”

“Our family certainly wouldn’t mind, but the royal family, who value face highly, might not be happy. And is this the kind of situation you want to see? A wedding that isn’t blessed by the whole world.”

After Carlos said that, Domi did feel that it was not quite right.

"I will try my best to pass..."

"Okay, good luck, my son. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

"So, Father, you came all this way just to have a chat with me like this?"

At this moment, Carlos had already stood up and was stretching his limbs: "Yeah, can't I come and chat with my son for a while if there's nothing wrong?"

"Alright, don't overthink it. Your father wouldn't harm you. I'm leaving now."

As soon as he finished speaking, Carlos vanished from Domi's sight, effortlessly and incredibly impressively.

Domi sat alone again, lost in thought for a long time, ignoring even the maid's knocking on the door.

After a few seconds, he took out the small jar that Shia had given him from his pocket, poured out a small black pill, put it directly into his mouth, and swallowed it...

As the night deepened, one room in the VIP building remained brightly lit.

193. Chapter 190, page 189: The Young Man with the Power of Deception

At this very moment, in the northern part of the empire, where the newly conquered territory borders the northern frontier, in an inconspicuous town nearby, a surprise attack is quietly brewing.

Slamia's elite soldiers, prepared for a desperate last stand, had already transformed the town into a temporary military base, where they were recuperating and building up their strength, and had also allied with some restless forces in the north.

As long as the motherland gives the order, their allied forces will march south together, heading straight for the vital northern part of the empire.

They did not seek to conquer anything, but only to delay the advance of the Imperial front-line legions and give their homeland a chance to regroup.

Inside the brick building that originally served as the town hall, the commander was studying a topographical map when he heard hurried footsteps coming from the corridor outside. The soundproofing in the town's buildings was extremely poor, and the commander knew without a doubt that bad news was coming. He couldn't help but sigh.

"May the god of glory bless my Slambia."

"Commander! The scout team's report is in! The Empire truly has no surplus troops stationed on the border; only scattered units are deployed along the entire border. The situation is excellent!"

"what?!"

Louis could hardly believe his ears. Had the Empire really abandoned its border defenses? With such a defense, they certainly couldn't stop them.

He took the report and read it carefully from top to bottom, afraid of missing a single word.

After he finished reading it and confirmed that it was correct, his face flushed, and he said "good" three times in a row:

"Now is the perfect time to launch an attack. Quickly inform our northern allies and tell them to prepare."

"So when should we set off?"

Louis turned to look at the strategic map spread out on the table, where the area that completely overlapped with the one marked by Domi was marked with a large red X:

"They'll never expect us to land here and join forces with the people of the North. Let's set it for 5 a.m. tomorrow and launch a surprise attack! May God bless Slamia!"

On the other side, at the imperial border, in a fortress under guard.

The cooks, disguised as border guards, changed back into their cook uniforms and hurriedly left, leaving behind only a few suits of armor that were merely for show in the fortress.

Similar scenes have been played out in almost all the border fortresses in this area.

The following morning, the profit-driven private army of the North joined forces with Slamia's elite raiding force and regrouped. To ensure unified operations, command was handed over to Louis.

He rode a tall horse, drew his long sword, pointed it towards the empire, and shouted, "All troops, attack!"

A large force consisting of 500 heavy cavalry, 2,000 infantry, and 2,500 archers set off.

The sounds of horses' hooves and marching footsteps were drowned out by the thick snow. Like silent ghosts, they rapidly approached their destination, a major town on the northern border of the empire.

Louis had it all planned out. If they could capture that place in a flash, they would gain more horses, supplies, wagons, and laborers to pull them. Most importantly, a well-maintained main road would lead directly to the heart of the Empire, greatly increasing their marching speed.

Once they enter the heartland, their mobility allows them to burn, kill, and plunder everywhere, enough to give the empire a major headache.

In addition to this, he had another purpose, which was to "fight war to sustain war," to call upon the countries that had been conquered and ruled by the empire along the way, to give them weapons, and to expand his own forces.

When their forces grew to the point that the empire had to take them seriously, the "do-or-die" plan was truly a success.

Louis, at least, was confident. The thought of leading tens of thousands of rebels against the tyranny of the empire filled him with excitement, and that momentum directly influenced those around him, boosting the morale of the entire force considerably.

After two hours of full-speed trekking, the scout returned and reported that he could already see the outline of the town.

"What is the situation with the defending troops?"

A scout dismounted and knelt before Louis: "Everything is as you predicted, Commander. There are very few guards in the town, and only a small squad of ten men patrols the area."

Louis's excitement was palpable as he proudly stroked his sensual chin.

"The Empire's folly is our call to counterattack! Order the cavalry to begin their dive! Infantry and archers, follow quickly!"

They were now hiding in the pine forest on the hills outside the town, with a flat expanse of snow in front of them, and nothing to stop the iron hooves of the heavy cavalry.

After a final check of their equipment, the cavalrymen were eager to fight. Upon receiving the order to attack, they spurred their horses and, accompanied by the neighing of their steeds, launched a devastating charge against the largely undefended town!

The spears, gleaming with a sharpness like white snow, stood in a neat row.

Even in the Empire, five hundred well-trained and experienced heavy cavalrymen are a force to be reckoned with.

"kill!!"

Soldiers, wielding longswords and shields, charged down the hillside with shouts. In an instant, the snow-white hillside was covered by a torrent of steel, a sight to behold.

At this moment, the cavalry force, acting as the vanguard, had already stormed into the town gates, rampaging through the area and destroying as many facilities as possible and killing soldiers as possible.

But as time went on, they gradually realized something was wrong: why were there no civilians on the streets of the town?

The scouts just said there were civilians inside. Did they all have some kind of premonition and hide in advance?

"Something's not right here. We should retreat!" The cavalry commander made a quick decision, but just as they were about to slow their horses down and turn them around, countless spearmen suddenly rushed out of the alleys on both sides.

It is well known that spearmen have historically been superior to cavalry, especially in close-quarters urban warfare.

The cavalrymen struggled for only a short while before being unhorsed by the overwhelming number of spears. Of the five hundred heavy cavalrymen, less than a hundred survived and escaped back to the main force.

They shouted that there was an ambush inside! There was an ambush inside!

But this isn't an online game; it's not like a few people can type a few words in the world chat and everyone will know the information. This is a real battlefield.

Louis only found out a minute later. He hurriedly ordered the messenger to sound the retreat horn, but the soldiers on both sides had already rushed in because they were too far away.

Then they saw a rain of fire shoot out from behind the town, and a large number of Imperial heavy infantry rushed out of the town's houses, along with the spearmen in the middle, and wiped out all the soldiers who had penetrated deep behind enemy lines.

Louis was terrified. If his guards hadn't quickly raised their shields to block him, he would probably have been riddled with arrows or burned alive in the next second.

"Commander, let's go!"

"But...but..."

"Hurry up... if you don't hurry we'll all be..."

Before the guard could finish speaking, his chest was pierced by the charging cavalry. The foul-smelling blood soaked Louis completely. He could feel the heat and stickiness on his skin and could no longer tell whether it was his own blood or the guard's blood.

When spearmen mount horses, they become cavalry.

A single, powerful shot, like a dragon emerging from the sea, pierced through both the guard and the commander who had died before achieving his goal.

"Enemy commander is dead! Disarm and you will not be killed!"

-

The news didn't reach the imperial capital until a day later.

Domi, who was working diligently in the intelligence department, received the good news from the border immediately. After reading it, he got up and went to find Simon without saying a word.

"It seems your plan has been a great success. Congratulations, this is a significant achievement." Simon was also very pleased, as the threat to the border had been eliminated.

"Your Excellency flatters me. I was merely the one who proposed it. The one who executes it deserves the most credit, doesn't he?"

Domi's meaning was clear: he wanted to give most of the credit to Simon, just to have a title for himself, and also to improve Simon's favorability. After all, even the emperor's reward was nothing to someone born in Bloomfield.

Simon gave Domi a deep look. With his sharp mind, he knew exactly what Domi needed right now: a reliable background to use as leverage to persuade others.

If the two had just met, he would just laugh it off as a joke.

But now, he felt that Dominic Bloomfield, this kid... no, he could no longer be called a kid in the strict sense. This person was definitely worth befriending; it was an investment in the future.

With this in mind, Simon already knew what to do next.

"Haha, then I shall respectfully accept your offer. However, I will also report Minister Dominic's contributions to His Majesty. Please do not refuse this request."

"Then I'll leave it to the Grand Secretary."