Chapter 393: Family Shopping Trip

"Due to that massive oversight, it was pretty easy for our army to just barge right in and take over not just Vaneira’s old territory, but also the Avarice kingdom itself. They did not even put up a fight. The royal family basically grabbed whatever gold they could carry and fled the capital before our vanguard even reached the gates. So we got incredibly lucky there."

Claire let out a short breath.

"Now the only major thing remaining on the table is to take over the Ironhold Kingdom," Claire continued. "But they still have their standing army completely intact, so it’s going to be a little harder to break through their defenses. Do you have any specific plans for that?"

Adrian just stood there and looked at her.

He stared at her for a few long seconds.

"I literally gave you a week long public holiday," Adrian said flatly. "And this is what you’ve been thinking about all along? Military logistics?"

Claire just shrugged her shoulders. It was a lazy, dismissive gesture that looked extremely similar to the way Adrian usually shrugged when he he felt like stuff wasn’t a big issue.

"Well, like I said before, this is my literal job," Claire pointed out. "And it’s incredibly hard not to worry when it is something that is directly related to my future."

Adrian frowned. "What do you mean related to your future?"

She gave him a smug expression.

"Well, it basically determines whether I’ll be the queen of a smaller empire or a much bigger empire, you know," Claire teased. "My future is very related to how much land we conquer now."

"Ha? Ahahahahahaaaaa!!"

Adrian burst out laughing. He reached down and lightly flicked her on the forehead.

"Yeah, yeah. Oh great queen," Adrian joked. "Or should I call you empress now?"

He turned his head and looked out toward the main gates of the mansion compound.

"Well, I guess I’ll just postpone the whole strategic thinking part for now," Adrian said. "Let’s just go out and have a little bit of fun. I already missed out on the past two days of the festival because I was bedridden, so I would much rather just have fun for a day or two before I get back to the paperwork."

Serena looked up at him in disbelief.

"Do you really think we are going to just let you go back to work when all of us are lazing around and having fun?" Serena asked. "Why don’t you actually take this chance to reward yourself with a real holiday too?"

Adrian blinked.

"What do you mean holiday?" Adrian asked, genuinely confused. "As the Lord of this place, it’s my literal job to make sure that everything is running fine. Long holidays are basically a luxury that I cannot afford. There is always way too much going on behind the scenes."

He turned back to look at Claire.

"And you don’t have to worry about Ironhold anyway," Adrian assured her. "I’ve already sent a few of our best assassins over the border. Long ago, actually. Even before we marched the army back to Oresfall, I gave shadow squad the green light. I already sent the entirety of the Shadow Squad directly toward the Ironhold capital."

Claire’s eyes widened slightly.

"And I’m confident enough in their stealth skills that they will succeed in taking out the chain of command," Adrian added. "So there is nothing that requires our direct involvement right now. I would much rather avoid a massive, drawn-out war that gets my men killed if I can just cut the head off the snake quietly."

He turned and stared out at the open training field. It was super wide and completely empty right now since all the soldiers were out enjoying the festival.

"Also, the Ironhold Kingdom’s army is extremely huge," Adrian said casually. "Unlike the Crestwall Empire, their royalty actually believes in having a much more open market when it comes to low-tier knight training manuals. So they naturally have a lot more awakened knights."

He stuffed his hands back into his pockets.

"They don’t exactly give training manuals out for free to every single peasant like we do here in Oresfall," Adrian explained. "But they do give them out to hundreds of promising people every single year. They host a massive, week long festival where the commoners compete in arenas just to get drafted into the royal army. It is a highly prideful, cultural event for them." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Claire nodded slowly as she took in the information.

"Yeah, that is something I actually did not know at all," Claire admitted. "Detailed information about the inner workings of the Ironhold Kingdom is very hard to get. Our spies usually get caught at the border. So I wonder how you even got your hands on something like this."

Adrian just smiled and didn’t say anything. He obviously wasn’t going to tell her about the novel, but the reality was that the top brass of Crestwall did know about Ironhold’s army. There was a reason why they weren’t attacked until now.

Before Claire could press him for answers, Aria suddenly moved.

She looked up, reached out, and grabbed Adrian’s arm tightly.

"Papa, let’s go shopping!" Aria demanded excitedly. "Let’s go shopping right now!"

Adrian chuckled at her sudden burst of energy.

"Alright, alright. Let’s go," Adrian agreed.

He leaned down, grabbed her around the waist, and effortlessly lifted her up before placing her securely on top of his shoulders.

Aria giggled loudly. She leaned forward and basically hugged his head, looping her small arms tightly around his forehead to keep her balance.

Claire and Serena chuckled at the cute sight. They both stood up from the wooden bench and smoothed out their dresses.

"So, a family shopping trip?" Serena asked playfully.

Adrian looked over at her and smiled.

"Yeah. I guess a family shopping trip," Adrian agreed.

Aria looked down at the three of them from her high vantage point on Adrian’s shoulders. She smirked mischievously as she made direct eye contact with Claire.