Chapter 773: Shortsighted

Two days later, several senior figures in Peace Haven receive intelligence on Orak's family.

Once he understands the full story, Rawkins, Peace Haven's Chief of Military Affairs, sits in silence for a long time.

While he broods, his son, home for the holiday, peers through the study doorway. "Father, I don't want to go to school tomorrow. Can you ask for a day off for me?"

Rawkins's face darkens. He snatches a book from the desk and hurls it at the boy. "Get out!"

His younger son flees in disarray, no doubt to seek help from his mother. Rawkins raises a hand to his forehead.

The boy used to seem intelligent enough, but beside Pabos, he is practically bubbling with stupidity!

After lamenting for a while, Rawkins summons his trusted subordinates. He has several matters to explain.

He needs to keep anyone else from becoming as spectacularly foolish as his son during the upheaval ahead.

For now, Peace Haven lives up to its name. The land is peaceful and tranquil.

Yet more people learn of the Hundred-Year Calamity every day, and Peace Haven continues recruiting soldiers.

Training for the reservists and militia is also being arranged as quickly as possible.

With fighting intensifying on the Northern Mountain Front, the Phoenix family has begun redirecting vast resources toward preparations for war.

Kaku, who had been staying on the Northern Mountain Front, unexpectedly brings his legion home to Phoenix family territory during a rotation.

Duke Jansen flies into a rage. He has Kaku dragged out of the castle and tears into him.

"You fool! The Northern Mountain Front concerns the safety of the entire kingdom, yet you abandoned your post without permission."

"You have utterly disgraced the Phoenix family, and you even dare to desert. Do you really believe I won't punish you under military law?"

Kneeling under the whip, Kaku stubbornly raises his head. "I am not a deserter!"

"I volunteered to support the Northern Mountain Front. I fought there and battled the Northern Mountain Raider army."

"My legion was rotated out to rest. Why shouldn't I come home?!"

Duke Jansen kicks him to the floor. "Still talking back! Don't think I don't know what you want. You took so many resources from Peace Haven."

"Now that your legion is assembled, I have no objection to your taking it to the front for experience."

"I also know you hoped to use the opportunity to win over the mixed legion."

"But use that rotten brain of yours! The mixed legion has survived countless battles. Its soldiers have their own honor and convictions."

"They held the most dangerous part of the Northern Mountain Front for two years. They will follow only the strong."

"If you want their recognition, loyalty, and support, you have to show courage and take responsibility."

"I thought you understood that. I thought you had the courage to fight on the Northern Mountain Front's blood-soaked battlefields."

"Never did I imagine you would make a brief appearance and come straight home."

Kaku protests, "Father! You know the Northern Mountain Front is a meat grinder too!"

"Do you know how many of our family's best soldiers have been needlessly lost in the mixed legion?"

"Why must our people stand on the front line? The kingdom has so many legions. Are they deliberately wearing our forces down?"

"And what about Peace Haven? They have plenty of elite troops, yet they spend the Phoenix family's finest troops as favors!"

"How many Phoenix family soldiers must die before we survive the Calamity War?"

"Peace Haven has no shortage of recruits. It can replenish its forces without end, but what about us?"

"Two years have passed, and we have already sent five thousand elite soldiers north."

"How many more can we mobilize next year?"

"And the year after that?"

"At this rate, the mixed legion will exist in name only before the Calamity War ends. It will be filled entirely with Peace Haven soldiers!"

Duke Jansen's hands tremble with rage. "Idiot! Useless fool! At a time like this, you are still trying to preserve your strength?"

"The Hundred-Year Calamity is called a calamity because vast numbers of nobles are destroyed by it."

"And just as many new nobles rise in their place!"

"As long as we survive the Calamity War, we can rebuild no matter how badly our strength is diminished."

"Every noble house on the continent with centuries of history, including the Phoenix family,"

"grew to its present stature by enduring one Calamity War after another."

Duke Jansen raises the whip again.

The study door opens, and Duchess Vanessa steps inside. "Orak's fate is unknown. Are you planning to beat this son to death too?"

At the sight of his wife's tear-streaked face, Duke Jansen draws a deep breath and lets the whip fall from his hand.

He waves impatiently at Kaku. "Get out. Go back and think about what you've done. You are not to leave the castle without my permission."

"As of today, your title is reduced to viscount. That is your punishment for desertion!"

Vanessa glares at Jansen, helps her son to his feet, and leaves the study.

That evening, she returns. "You cannot treat Kaku like this. He is our only son now!"

"You know that the stronger Henwell becomes, the less likely the church is to let Orak return."

"We may never see him again in our lifetime."

"Kaku has his faults. He isn't outstanding, and I understand that you have always been disappointed in him."

"But he is not as worthless as you think. He is already far better than most noble heirs."

"Don't compare him with Orak. Orak began following you into battle at sixteen."

"He was tempered through blood and fire, life and death. Have you forgotten how many times he nearly died?"

"Don't compare him with Arius either. We know better than anyone how gifted Arius was from childhood."

"And certainly don't compare him with Henwell. The continent has produced only one Henwell in all these years!"

"Kaku is still our child, perhaps the only child we have left!"

"Can't you give him a chance? Give him some time to grow!"

"Arius is willing to accommodate him, and Peace Haven is willing to give him opportunities. Why can't his own father tolerate one mistake?"

After Vanessa leaves, Duke Jansen closes his eyes in pain and murmurs to himself.

"They accommodate him because they are waiting for the day when they no longer have to."

A long time passes before Duke Jansen rises and looks out the window.

He stands there for a moment, then seems to reach a decision and turns back to the desk.

He takes up his pen and begins to write. "My child, Henwell, I am sorry. By the time you read this letter..."

Several days later, Duke Jansen personally leads his household guards and the Phoenix family's elite troops north. Together, they form a legion bound for the Northern Mountain Front.

His son created this mess, so Jansen has to repair it.

Arius may not have said anything, but Jansen cannot put him in a difficult position.

More than half a month after Jansen goes north, Duchess Vanessa orders Kaku released from the castle.

Kaku takes charge of recruiting and training the militia and reservists Jansen left behind, all in preparation for the Calamity War.