Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 361 - 2: The Battle of Kings

What sin did I commit to give birth to such a daughter?

King Iao III lamented.

How lovely and cheerful she was as a child; the whole kingdom celebrated her birth, and Alster even sent her a diamond of the purest and strongest quality.

But after learning martial arts, she changed entirely, becoming as cold and hard as a diamond.

She would never flatter with sweet words, didn’t know to conceal her true nature, never cared about others’ feelings—such a character would suffer greatly in court.

He dared not entrust the kingdom to her; with such an unrefined disposition, she could not be a king.

People outside believed she was calm, gentle, graceful, and poised, some court maids thought so too.

Very few knew her true face.

And he, greatly suffering from her, wondered how his princess viewed him.

He had raised her for over twenty years—yet she thought her father was a waste!

Good heavens!

All Gods above!

Is this what a child should think!?

"Tana, the mission of our family is to maintain the order of the previous king..."

He was about to launch into another long discourse. freёweɓnovel.com

Tashina couldn’t understand why her weak father valued this vague and elusive order above all else.

He’d rather let the Black Iron Land rot in his hands than hand it over to her for rejuvenation.

She truly believed she could make the Black Iron Land great again.

With unstoppable military strength, what couldn’t be achieved?

He feared this, feared that, feared the wind, feared the rain, like a quail, like a drenched chicken.

Because he was inherently a coward.

She could see the true nature of those people.

The Conqueror Family had a vast lineage, but only the line of the Black Iron King was legitimate; unless the line ended, they would not select heirs from branch lines.

All three Black Iron Dukes had the right to choose the king, but the Black Iron line had never ended.

Even if Iolion had been a timid and weak crown prince since childhood, it did not matter, for once crowned with that Black Iron Crown, the strong will of the previous king would subtly influence the latter king, granting him an unwavering fighting spirit.

The only thing Tashina admired about Iolion was that after wearing it for more than a decade, he remained the same.

"...So, Tana, do you understand?" King Iao III asked after finishing.

He tried to reason with Iota Hina with the logic from family heritage.

The Conqueror Order was an order that maintained peace, with the Black Iron Kingdom as its main body, which must not initiate war first, or this order would collapse, dragging the vast kingdom to ruin.

But he also knew that Tashina yearned for war, so he never allowed her to wield power, keeping her by his side to learn but forbidding her to speak, only letting her observe.

Afraid she might utter some outrageous statements.

"You coward!" she coldly scorned.

Her attack was so strong that it blackened Iolion’s vision.

Tashina turned and left.

She had enough of Iolion’s preaching.

Finance Minister Damian happened to come over. Seeing Tashina coming off the hall, he immediately saluted, "Good afternoon, Princess Tashina."

"Hmm." Tashina nodded, her face as calm as a placid lake, like a gust sweeping through the corridor, her steps never pausing.

Iolion’s voice came, "Damian, if it’s bad news, don’t tell."

Damian entered the Royal Hall and stated respectfully, "As you wish, Your Majesty, the good news is that the Holy War Army from the Church Court will take another seven days to reach Black Castle... by which I mean, besiege us."

"Ah! They’re coming just like that?"

"Our Lord of Fury was driven away by your wrath; Stone Castle shows signs of mobilizing troops, but another good news is that it seems the Lord of Fury doesn’t intend to join the Holy War Army; his army’s whereabouts are unknown—too many nobles oppose you, the outside is a mess, we’re lucky to get even this bit of good news."

The minister clearly saw that upon hearing these words, the face of the Black Castle’s master was filled with uncomfortable, suffocating expressions as if overwhelmed.

Yet the seven sharp swords of the Black Iron Crown stood tall among them, as heavy as mountains, binding his head tightly, seemingly making his life unbearable.

Damian thought to himself, when a man of limited ability is thrust into a high position, is happiness greater than pain, or is pain greater than happiness?

He twirled the cat’s eye ring on his finger and recalled the princess he’d just met...

She bore the bloodline of the former king, always calm and composed.

It’s a pity that, without wearing amber, her will was as tenacious as evergreens in the snow, hard to break through the level of her thoughts.

Even if he could, he dared not probe it.

Not all those in power are like Iolion; some are terrifying creatures like the River Valley King.

When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

...

"Is this all there is?" Tashina asked.

The old eunuch Tusos said, "Your Highness, this is all the forces within the King’s Domain that are willing and able to heed our call."

Tashina was somewhat dissatisfied.

The King’s Domain had hundreds of thousands of people; it was just this year’s disaster that allowed for the gathering of only five thousand conscripted soldiers—most coming for the food and pay. She told herself that with just over a dozen Conquest Knights, she could cut through them.

Of course, defending the city was another matter.

"This is not enough."

"We also have the Iron Guards of Black Castle."

"Iron Guards..." Tashina fell into contemplation.

Could the combined Iron Guards and conscripted soldiers hold out until reinforcements arrived?

Or not, preparations needed to be made for something else.

She recalled what Duke Pine said when he left—the Duke was unfathomable, never revealing emotions, one of the few people she couldn’t understand.

He said, "Tashina, Black Castle will fall, don’t stubbornly resist."

And she replied, "The Black Castle is on my sword, and the sword comes from the great former king."

"That greatness is gone; no one can hold onto it," he said, "Tashina, give up resistance, you are too few."

"My father ordered the kings to mobilize troops, Uncle Pine, this is a war of all kings, a war of kings!"

"You long for war, but the war may not be as you wish, Iolion is on the wrong path, he doesn’t know to adapt, perhaps because the crown has changed him too much—when Alster brought me and Gael to Black Castle, Iolion was shockingly slight, he cried after being scolded by the old king at the crown prince feast, Alster couldn’t stand it and punched the old king, which scared Iolion into stopping his crying... I mean, things that were right a hundred years ago may not be right now, they need change."

"Grand Duke Alster died unjustly."

"It wasn’t me, nor was it Gael... but the others are all untrustworthy, Oak is the same, they have the blood of foreign races flowing in their veins."

"Lord of Fury, but I heard you are also of foreign race."

"We shed that blood of the deep sea long ago, the people of the deep sea vanished long ago, we are purebloods of the Human Clan. Tashina, the gravest mistake Iolion made was using pirates to drain Gael’s power, do you know the consequence, the highlands are near extinction now, the war of kings you were expecting, the highlands will be the first absentee, Wandong’s power fell, civil war for years, as is an absentee. Oak may not even be willing to send troops over—their family’s armies haven’t stepped one foot into the hinterland in this century."

Tashina remembered after Pine said this, he left Stone Castle with his guards. This also showed that the Lords of Fury and the Church had no patience left to play power games with her father.

Now indeed, the beacons were lit everywhere, the land was full of smoke and fire.

And those terrifying forces unseen before would all make their appearance, stepping into this war like swallows returning to the forest.

...