The Pathway Of Wisdom-Chapter 84: The Count’s Convoy Returns. Part-1.

One Week Before The Colosseum Incident.

Far in the east of the city of Ilma in the ’Grand Swamp’ near the foot of the ’Bela Mountain Range,’ a massive troop convoy was travelling towards the direction of the city of Ilma.

Although there was a small narrow road that went through the swamp, it was not properly maintained often and was heavily eroded by water from the swamp all around.

*Splash!* *Splash!*

Just by walking forward, the troops and the horses made big splashes in the water.

Even on the road, the water was as high as an adult person’s waist, and nobody knew how deep the deepest parts of this massive swamp were.

The ground below was muddy and slippery; many soldiers nearly even slipped but were caught by their comrades nearby and thus managed to survive.

After all, they were all travelling while wearing heavy armor; one slip can cause them to go straight down to the bottom, and getting up in heavy armor on this slippery surface would be a nightmare!

And if you fell in some deeper place with armor on, it’s game over for you.

The commander and the soldiers were no idiots; they knew that wearing heavy armor while crossing the swamp was a very bad idea, but they had no other choice.

This massive swamp that was spread over a hundred square kilometers was home to many beasts and monsters!

Moreover, there were goblin settlements in the Bela Mountain ranges, and their primary source of food was the prey from the swamp!

Thus, it was possible to encounter the goblin hunting teams while traveling, and everyone knew that despite looking small and weak, goblins were very cunning and crafty creatures!

They were fully capable of making small wooden boats to sail on the swamp; they were very adept at hunting and moving in the swamp and had great agility.

A regular convoy of soldiers with no armor and no weaponry can never win against goblin attacks when stuck in this difficult terrain!

Battles are not just fought with numbers and weapons; terrain and weather are also major factors that influence the outcome of wars.

If not for the fact that the convoy had several ’Pathwalkers’ among them, they wouldn’t have dared to go through this dangerous route and would have chosen to go around the swamp instead.

Looking at his troops struggling to move forward, the commander of the troops, Jack, shook his head in helplessness.

"This route is really not ideal for troop movement... I would have preferred the other route that was in much better condition..."

"Although it would have taken a longer time to go around the entire swamp, at least it was safe and easier to move through..."

"Here... aside from our ’Pathwalkers,’ others won’t even be able to fight properly..."

Hearing the commander’s words, the vice-commander, who was riding on his horse right beside the commander’s horse, took a deep sigh and spoke.

"Well... what can we do... It’s not like we can go against the Count’s order..."

Hearing this comrade’s words, the commander shook his head in disappointment.

"This is the reason why I don’t like it when the nobles meddle in the affairs of us military personnel..." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Most of them don’t even know what’s right and wrong... they just care about their own selfish wishes... sigh..."

In the Kingdom of Kreimhild, the entire army is under the direct control of the royal family; the nobles are given authority to command smaller divisions of the national army according to their ’Noble Title’ and ’Territory.’

With the city of Ilma being located near the southern border of the Nation of Kreimhild and its ruler being a ’Count’ title holder, the army that the Count of Ilma had under his control was quite big.

Obviously, this convoy was not the entire army; it was just a small division of the army that the Count had brought with him during his trip for his own safety purposes.

In total, this convoy had around three hundred normal soldiers and logistics staff members and around a dozen ’Pathwalkers,’ who were all the strongest and most talented individuals in the city of Ilma.

The commander and the vice-commander in charge of this troop were actually the leaders of the entire military force stationed in the entire city of Ilma, but at the count’s order, they both had to leave their posts and accompany him on this private trip.

This was basically a case of severe corruption, as leaving their post was illegal for the commander and the vice-commander according to the laws set by the Royal Family.

But since both of them were Pathwalkers, the count had personally asked them to accompany him on his trip to the headquarters of the church of the goddess of war and combat.

They had no choice but to obey the orders, as they were under the count’s command, and if the count wanted, he could just submit any random false accusation against them, and they both might end up getting court-martialed.

This rule was made to make sure that the military commanders don’t end up creating coups against the local nobles in locations they are stationed in, but many nobles often take advantage of this law for their own private business.

Count Foley was no different; he had jeopardized the safety of the entire city of Ilma by taking away the highest-ranking leaders and its strongest people away from the city with him on his private trip.

Not only was the Count not considerate of the state of the army at all, but also his orders were very senseless.

Thus, the commander and vice-commander of the troops were very irritated by him.

And if even the commander of the troops himself doesn’t like the count, it’s obvious that the troops who were being forced to go through this horrible situation didn’t like him either at all!

But armies work on discipline and loyalty; none of them complained about this matter directly in the face of Count Foley.

When even their commander was following the orders faithfully, the soldiers also didn’t raise any complaints and, despite all the problems, kept moving forward at a slow but steady speed.