The cities of the Northern Tribes actually looked no different from the cities of the Empire, save for slight differences in folk customs and attire; the only real problem was the freezing weather.
The three of Kerridwen's group had no trouble living in such a city with their three hostages. Although the three little ones were born Assassins and had endured much hardship, the northern climate was still quite formidable.
Without an accurate map, one could easily get lost in the freezing world outside, just like those arrogant fools of the past who ended up as corpses buried deep beneath the snow.
Furthermore, Kerridwen and Hysilens weren't useless; with two demigods right here, how could you three little ones possibly escape?
Hysilens seemed to have received orders from Caesar, as she had been leaving early and returning late every day during this period. Aside from Kerridwen, not even Esdeath knew what she was doing, let alone the three little hostages.
However, even with Caesar alone, Chelsea and the other two had no way to escape. Even the Gaea Foundation's disguise could not fool the wise Kerridwen.
"How much longer is this going to last? How much longer must we stay in this city?"
Nearly two weeks had passed. When Hysilens returned, Meela, the leader of the three hostages, finally demanded an answer. How much longer were they to remain hostages?
"Don't worry, it won't be long. Perhaps within these next two days, you will gain your freedom!"
Compared to the previous days, Kerridwen's smile had grown increasingly confident, a fact anyone could see.
Thus Meela, Chelsea, and Taeko eventually sensed that something was wrong, but they had no way to leave and could only pin all their hopes on their master, Barbara...
Finally, before the dawn of a new day, Hysilens followed Caesar's orders and woke everyone up. Before the sun rose, they left the city and headed into the uninhabited snowy wastes...
"Have we been to this place before?"
"It seems so. We passed through here when we were with Master. Back then, there was nothing here..."
Meela and the others whispered as they looked at the familiar surroundings. Though this was a snowy field, there were now countless footprints appearing on the snow!
More and more anomalies began to appear, and the expressions of the three hostages grew increasingly grim. It was as if they had realized something, and their voices grew smaller and smaller.
As demigods, they could naturally hear those mosquito-like whispers, but they didn't care at all. Instead, Kerridwen led the Daughter of the Sea and the Dux Frigium straight toward the valley ahead.
"My god, is this... an army?"
After entering the valley, aside from Kerridwen and Hysilens, the three hostages and even Esdeath widened their eyes, unable to believe the scene before them.
The clever Meela finally understood why Hysilens had been leaving early and returning late for these past two weeks...
It turned out she was out recruiting soldiers and buying horses!
In the end, she had pulled together an army of no less than a thousand men!
"Caesar, the initial army of 1,531 men has finished assembling and awaits your instructions at any time!"
Hysilens bowed slightly and reported the specific number of this army to Caesar. These were all people she had gathered from around the city during this time.
At the beginning, no one took Hysilens seriously. After all, she didn't have much muscle and didn't look like a powerful expert at all.
But when Hysilens displayed her absolute strength and crushed the masses, no one had any objections left. After all, people admire the strong, and being able to follow an expert like Hysilens was, in a sense, an honor.
So within these two weeks, Hysilens had directly raised a strong army, and while she was at it, she subjugated several nearby bandit dens, bringing the army's numbers up to 1,531.
Although it was a temporarily assembled army and its combat power was certainly not as strong as a regular army, Caesar didn't care about that, because the time she would use this army was only for tonight.
And when tomorrow's sun rose, Kerridwen would have a regular army of over a hundred thousand men under her command!
"Since the assembly is complete, then everyone, set out on the expedition with me!"
"Caesar's personal expedition must have an appropriate target, and his title... just happens to suffice!"
"Become the stepping stone for my ascent to the throne!"
An army of a thousand men thus marched secretly through the Northern Country. Compared to the Northern Country's regular army, their numbers were far too small to attract the attention of those nobles.
But no one would have guessed what shocking actions this army, which set out in the morning, would take at night.
—
Night.
A dark figure quietly slipped into the Northern Kingdom, moving through the royal palace like a shadow, undetected by anyone.
When she stopped on a skylight, the moonlight happened to catch her face. It was a slightly aged face, and her eyes revealed an indescribable coldness.
This person was none other than Barbara, who had officially separated from Kerridwen and the others two weeks ago.
During this time, Barbara had already met up with the resistance and headed straight to the royal palace of the Northern Country to face the Northern King...
Nusnake Seika!
The purpose was to persuade him to form an alliance with the resistance to strike at the Empire together.
However, the trauma the North had suffered previously was too great; it was estimated they wouldn't be able to form an effective force for ten years. Thus, Nusnake directly rejected the resistance's alliance agreement and told them to return home as quickly as possible.
For the Northern Country, this was a decent choice.
But for the resistance, it was terrible!
Barbara had originally been wondering if she should assassinate Nusnake as Kerridwen had suggested... She had been hesitating, but Nusnake's attitude directly dispelled the last of the worries in her heart.
Just a faint-hearted ruler of the North; how could he possibly compare to her three disciples?
So Barbara came!
A translucent fishing line slowly descended from the ceiling, stopping only when it was a decimeter away from the sleeping King's mouth.
Barbara skillfully took out the poison she had refined and poured it down along the fishing line. After seeing the poison fall into his mouth with her own eyes, Barbara packed up her tools and prepared to leave.
"Even though this is the royal palace, the nearby guards are actually this weak? It seems they truly have no hope of defeating the Empire..."
From her infiltration to her preparation to leave, Barbara hadn't been discovered by anyone. This also indirectly proved the current weakness of the Northern Country; they simply didn't have enough experts, and couldn't even protect their King.
As long as Barbara left like this, no one would know when the King died tonight or who killed him... but such a situation was not what Kerridwen wanted!
So before Barbara left, Kerridwen had specifically instructed her: "If your assassination goes exceptionally smoothly and you aren't discovered by anyone... then make a big scene! It's best to let everyone in the palace know that their King has been killed!"
Barbara couldn't quite guess Kerridwen's intentions, but if she wanted to get her three disciples back, she had to do as the other party said.
So before leaving, Barbara set a fire, directly igniting the King's room.
At this moment, the entire palace was alarmed!
Looking at the dazzling flames, all the soldiers and officers in the palace realized...
Something had happened to the King!