Fetching a bowl of water for Zain, a commander slowly approached him, holding it outwards.
Looking at it suspiciously, Zain lifted it and sniffed the contents. There was no scent, just like regular
water. Then, he took a sip. He shook his head. There was nothing strange in the water.
"I don't think there is anything wrong with the water," Zain revealed. His eyes narrowed. 'Are the
soldiers just super thirsty because of the hot weather?' he wondered.
There could be a few reasons, but Zain couldn't pinpoint one of them as being the exact one. The way
he saw it, the royal army had been fighting with Enoch's army for two days. If the morale of the royal
army became affected because of water supply, all of their previous casualties would be in vain.
"Give them the water. I want every single one of the soldiers to be fighting at their peak strength.
Tomorrow will be the final day of the battle!" Zain ordered. He was well aware that their water supply
was only enough to last them for three days. Before they ran out, they had to fight the rebel army and
guarantee their victory.
Soon, chants broke out in the logistics camp. "Long live Prince Zain! Long live Prince Zain!"
Feeling proud of himself, Zain brought the other commanders back to his tent and they determined the
strategies they would use in the following battle.
Zain wasn't the only one that was carefully preparing. Enoch had also predicted the battle between
Zain and his army the next day. He was determined to trample the royal army into the ground.
When the third day of the battle between the royal army and the rebel army arrived, the generals and
soldiers on both sides were full of hope and energy.
The fights were well-matched at first.
However, six hours later, the royal army started to become parched. Unable to resist the thirst, they left
the battlefield to look for a source of water.
Over time, more of them fled the fight, causing the morale of the royal army to plummet. Now, the royal
army was starting to fear the rebel army's pursuits.
By dusk, over half of the soldiers from the royal army were dead or injured. They had come with three
hundred thousand soldiers, and now, only one hundred thousand remained. The rebel army had
suffered much less losses. They also had one hundred thousand soldiers left.
Even though the numbers were even, the rebel army had only lost thirty or forty thousand soldiers, and
the royal army had lost over one hundred thousand soldiers in three days.
As he watched his army struggle from the sidelines, Zain was filled with concern. Making the situation
even worse, their water supply had been used up. Continuing the battle at that point would be useless.
In the end, Zain had no choice but to order his army to retreat to the entrance of the Red River Valley.
As a result, the battle between the royal army and the rebel army had ended. Enoch had won, just like
Rocky had predicted.
Now that the royal army had given up and allowed Enoch to win, the news had spread and their
reputations had suffered.
Rocky and his companions, who had witnessed the first battle between Zain and Enoch, headed back
to join the Ghost Fief's army. Their plan was to lead the Ghost Fief's army towards the royal army in the
Red River Valley.
After two days of resting and checking that the coast was clear, Zain took his people away from the
Red River Valley. They walked a short distance and came upon a clean river. They chose to set up
camp there.
It wasn't long before the Ghost Fief's army caught up with them.
As soon as they arrived, Rocky and Gilbert walked into Zain's tent to meet him.
The inside of the commander in chief's camp was brimming with the commanders. When they saw
Rocky and Gilbert enter, they all looked at them and silently glanced away. It was like they were scared
to breathe. It was clear that from Zain's depressed expression that he had scolded the commanders.
"Leader Gilbert, Odin, now that you're here, I have something to ask you," Zain said when he saw
Rocky and Gilbert walking towards him.
"Your Royal Highness, we're listening," Gilbert replied, saluting politely.
"Did you test the water when you collected it?" Zain asked. They were all sitting around a small table.
After taking the time to investigate the situation, Zain had learned that all of the soldiers had been very
thirsty over the past three days, especially after drinking the water.
He had reasons to suspect that the Ghost Fief's army had tampered with it.
"Of course I did. It was fine," Gilbert swore.
"Then why did the generals and soldiers feel very thirsty after drinking the water that you provided?"
Zain demanded. He was quickly losing his patience.
"Do you think that we did something to it? When did we find the time? Godly Genius Israel tested the
water with us. He also supervised us while we fetched and filled the water into the bamboo tubes,"
Gilbert pointed out, looking at Zain with feigned surprise.
Immediately, Zain flipped his attention onto Israel.
Israel gulped. A cold sweat was running down the back of his neck. He had to agree with them that the
situation looked suspicious. And they were right. He had been the one in charge of monitoring and
delivering the water. If he answered carelessly, it was very likely that he would be blamed.
"Your Royal Highness, I did watch the Ghost Fief's army collect the water, and I also tested it. I can
guarantee that there was no problem with the water when I last saw it," Israel confirmed. There was
nothing else he could do or say to spare himself from punishment.
"So the water is not the reason why our soldiers were so thirsty?" Zain asked, narrowing his eyes.
"It sounds that way," Israel replied, nodding his head.
"Fine. Then who can give me an explanation? We lost the battle because most of our soldiers were so
thirsty that they couldn't focus on fighting!" Zain demanded. His anger was continuously growing, and
he wasn't getting any farther in his investigation.
The commanders exchanged wary glances. There was no evidence to explain what had happened on
the battlefield, so they didn't even have a guess as to what the reason was.
"Your Royal Highness, I might know what happened," Rocky said after a moment of thought.
"Go on, Odin. I don't have all day!" Zain said, spinning to look at Rocky.
"Before the fight, the royal army had conquered a fortress inside the Red River Valley. Later, there was
a fire in the valley that eventually reached the fortress. It filled with thick smoke that caused people to
choke," Rocky explained.
"That did happen. You have a point," Zain replied, nodding his head slowly.
"Yes. I'm sure that the smoke is what caused the problem to occur," Rocky continued.
"What do you mean?" Zain frowned. He wasn't sure that smoke could cause so many people to
become so thirsty that it would affect their fighting ability.
"Well, I'll put it into simple terms. In an environment that's full of smoke, one will choke and cough a lot.
While coughing, the body inhales a large amount of smoke and unclean materials which will then cause
damage to the throat, lungs and spleen. If too much is inhaled, the person will suffocate and die,"
Rocky said calmly and confidently.
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