Chapter 1442 - 1351: Touring the Camp

Chapter 1442: Chapter 1351: Touring the Camp

When Mufasel stepped into the Holy Alliance’s military camp, his first reaction was that it was overly uniform.

Lining both sides of the road were the standardized canvas tents of the Holy Alliance, with waterproof oilcloth draped on top.

They were almost identical, as if copy-pasted, even giving Mufasel an illusion of walking through a maze.

They were supported by baked hardwood poles, pulled taut by ropes, with key reinforcement parts firmly clamped, unlikely to collapse unless faced with a massive storm.

"You haven’t seen this before, have you?" Grand Duke Saranto’s smiling yet annoying voice made Mufasel grit his teeth.

As a former Count of the Falan Kingdom’s royal court, he was an old acquaintance of Grand Duke Saranto.

Once a pair of equally matched political rivals, now one has become a blood servant advocating for the Royal Court, while the other, despite losing the King’s trust, was bound to be reused sooner or later.

Only Mufasel could truly feel the disparity.

"No, I haven’t."

"That canvas is made at the Sharet Workshop in Xia Lvcheng City, the ropes are produced at the Wolin-Sani Hemp Rope Factory in Xiaochi City, and the metal components come from the Hot Spring Castle Dwarf Brothers’ Workshop...

You can see the label, all branded goods!

These manufacturers are partners with the Holy Alliance military, always supply goods to them, with excellent quality and reasonable prices.

There are always procurement standards for soldiers’ tents.

These manufacturers are well-tested, even relying on military orders for survival, and their quality is guaranteed.

Today’s Holy Alliance is different from ten years ago; when you want something, either a few dozen workshops make it, or orders are sent out externally.

In the last decade, the various workshops, worksites, and factories within the Holy Alliance have flourished; a military or government order can often be covered by two or three or even just one company.

The leftover materials from these military orders are turned into civilian products that, when placed on the market, have become known far and wide as excellent goods.

This inevitably made Mufasel a bit envious; whether in Falan or the Royal Court, military supplies like tents —

were either cheaply made in the Royal Palace workshops or produced by numerous civilian workshops with varying quality.

Thinking about how the entire Holy Alliance uses branded goods leaves him feeling quite sour.

Walking further, he could see more and more soldiers in action.

There are certainly soldiers in the barracks.

But compared to the barracks of the Royal Court or the Falan Kingdom, these soldiers seemed much better in morale.

Some played cards around a box, and none sat shirtless outside their tents gambling.

Some gathered in small groups, smoking rolled cigarettes with matches but none came in and out escorting camp prostitutes.

Compared to the frequent brawls and drunken disturbances in the barracks of the Royal Court and the Falan Kingdom, the camps of the Holy Alliance were much quieter.

No street vendors pushing carts, no overseers waving whips in sight.

Even the service soldiers and civilian laborers transporting materials complained with their mouths but continued working with their hands.

The sound of training could be heard, and in the grass next to the camp, many soldiers in leather armor were playing football.

Mufasel even saw several soldiers taking advantage of the good weather, sitting with pens, reading and studying!

This was far more shocking to him than the tents — a soldier, an ordinary grunt, was actually studying!

Truly eye-opening.

Seeing Mufasel’s amazed expression, Grand Duke Saranto felt both proud and helpless.

After twenty years of development, the Holy Alliance people, especially the new generation, have a deep ideological gap with the whole Imperial people.

Often, the Holy Alliance people’s exclusion is mostly this exclusion of civilized concepts.

They prefer to save money and believe more in money generating more money, lean more towards long-term planning, and prefer to maintain dignity and lasting credit.

As for the reasons, Grand Duke Saranto thought about it; he believed it was because the Holy Alliance opened up Divine Art healing to the public and released the witch doctor system.

At the same time, due to the Holy Sect’s ideas, the care for the lower class was strong, and with surplus food production, the average life expectancy greatly increased.

The former Imperial farmers often died at thirty or forty, so naturally, they lived only for today.

But many Holy Alliance farmers look forward to living until fifty or sixty, even seventy.

Rather than the present, they care more about the future.

Like these soldiers, the military camp life in their eyes is just a part of their life although the pay is generous, they will eventually leave.

Royal Court soldiers are better, but Falan Kingdom’s soldiers consider being a soldier the end of their life, living for today and dying on the battlefield.

Truthfully, comparing the Royal Court and Holy Alliance, Saranto always felt their ideas were more akin to the elves or El people.

No wonder the Holy Alliance people keep touting that they are the third El.

Unlike Grand Duke Saranto’s inner thoughts, after Mufasel overcame his initial shock, he gradually became calm.

The Holy Alliance and the Royal Court were equivalent enemies, something Serafe and Konyaz explicitly stated many times.

Since they were equivalent enemies, it was normal for them to have commendable aspects.

The purpose of his visit was not to learn from the Holy Alliance but to assess their strengths and weaknesses.

The setting sun and lone smoke, as soldiers transported materials and packed their luggage, it was apparent they were preparing to depart somewhere.

Judging by the soldiers’ relaxed demeanor, it did not seem like they were going to battle but rather like going on a spring outing.

Does this mean the Holy Alliance Army does not want to confront the Royal Court but plans to leave and flee instead?

Or could this simply be a performance staged for him, or perhaps the Holy Alliance people had not made a firm decision?

As Mufasel walked, he observed everywhere, but soon discovered a clue.

Counting the rising smoke, he realized there was a serious mismatch with the number of military camp tents.

In other words, the number of food items produced by the mess tents did not match the expected number of people.

Feigning sore feet, he paused beside a mess tent.

Just as he suspected, the food distributed to soldiers by the Holy Alliance was only vegetable and grain porridge soup and a piece of bread, dry and watery, but without any dishes!

Even the common steamed sausages of the Holy Alliance were missing; could their supplies be falling behind?

Mufasel almost instantly formed this judgment, yet he remained uncertain, considering it could also be a performance for his benefit.

This mission is extremely important, requiring utmost caution.

"Sir Mufasel, how was your rest?"

"Rested well, let’s go, let’s go."

"Actually, it’s not far. My tent is just ahead, once you go inside sit wherever, I’ll go get the Pope."

......

"What is that vampire looking at?" After Mufasel left, a small service soldier wondered, "Isn’t it for negotiations?"

"Did you whistle before scoring?" The service manager adjusted his hat, "It’s already ordered to eat canned food, peace talks are impossible."

Having a good meal before the decisive battle has almost become a tradition of the Holy Alliance.

Sometimes, the soldiers’ craving for pre-battle delicacies can even conquer their fear of the impending war.

"Does the canned food need heating?"

"Are you stupid? This is braised beef, it should be eaten cold." The service manager gave orders bravely, "Display all the snacks bought, the Senior Pastor stated, everyone not on duty tonight gets a glass of apple wine."