Baisitina, Zat, Hog, Mier, Muto, Sam, Old Neil, Sophia.
As his gaze swept over them, Zat, Muto, and Mier looked excited and eager to go. Hog was carving a toy wooden blade, but the way he kept glancing up revealed his true feelings.
Old Neil, the old Kobold and slave captain, didn’t shy away, though his eyes flickered.
But when his gaze fell upon Sam and Sophia, they both instinctively shrank back, like ostriches wishing they could bury their heads under the table.
"A war with tens of thousands of people... If I get thrown in, my old bones won’t even be enough to feed a Goblin," Sam muttered under his breath.
"Yeah, yeah, it sounds terrifying just hearing about it!" Sophia nodded in deep agreent.
The two looked up and t each other’s eyes, instantly feeling as if they had found a kindred spirit.
How could their little antics escape the Lord’s eyes?
With a cold sneer, he called out their nas directly. "Sam, Sophia."
The color drained from their faces in an instant, leaving them frighteningly pale.
’How could he have picked us?!’
"Sam, you will co north with . Sophia..." Levi drew out his words. Just as Sophia’s anxiety reached its peak, he delivered the final decision. "...you will remain and guard High Cliff Castle."
"That’s great!"
The Silver Dragon Maiden was so happy she nearly jumped for joy. Realizing her faux pas, she quickly lowered her head, but she couldn’t hide the smile spreading across her face.
’I can eat all the delicious food I want every day at High Cliff Castle. I have no desire to go to so war! Not only is there no food, but it’s dangerous. One wrong move and my Dragon Life could be forfeit.’
In stark contrast to Sophia, Sam looked like he was about to cry. His lips trembled, but in the end, he didn’t dare voice his refusal.
’A war involving tens of thousands of people... I don’t know who’ll win, and I don’t care. I’ve never witnessed such a massive spectacle in my entire life. If I get involved, one small misstep could cost my life.’
’Because even the most idiotic commander knows to strike the enemy’s Casters first to prevent them from inflicting massive losses on their soldiers.’
’Simply put, if I show up on the battlefield, I’ll definitely be the enemy’s primary target.’
Levi considered the remaining few for a mont before making the following decisions.
"Zat, you will gather one hundred Beastman Guards from the First Regint of the Burning Corps and one hundred fifty Feder Archers. You will accompany north. Hog and Muto, you will remain to guard High Cliff Castle."
Of course, he couldn’t take all his troops. Levi had no intention of marching north only to return and find his ho had been raided.
High Cliff Castle’s troop numbers had recently been replenished. Excluding Levi’s personal Guard Team, there were a full two hundred Beastman Guards, an expanded force of three hundred Feder Archers, and one hundred Jackal Wolfman Cavalry.
Including the Personal Guard Team, High Cliff Castle now had a total of six hundred fifty soldiers. This number of troops was outstanding for a Baron, not to ntion that his forces were almost entirely composed of powerful warrior Races.
Taking only about half his forces was a decision Levi had made after careful consideration.
This war was different from the campaign to the south; there was no need to bet everything he had. Bringing the most suitable number of troops was sufficient.
Three hundred soldiers, plus cooks and auxiliary soldiers, would bring the total to around six hundred people. A force of this size wouldn’t be too slow on the march, yet it would still possess the capability to contend in a large-scale battle—of course, this assessnt was based on the combat prowess of High Cliff Castle’s soldiers.
"Yes, Lord."
Though a little disappointed that he couldn’t go north with them, Hog still nodded.
"Don’t be too discouraged. I’m entrusting High Cliff Castle to you and Muto precisely because I trust you. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future."
Levi walked over and patted the loyal young wolf on the shoulder, offering a few words of comfort.
"Brother-in-law, I want to go too," Mier said pitifully.
Levi had tried to correct this form of address, but to no avail, so he had just let Mier call him that.
To be honest, Levi really hadn’t planned on taking Mier with him.
Although the boy had the natural physique for the battlefield, he also possessed a Talent for researching weapons. Thus, Levi hadn’t interfered much, letting him develop on his own.
After the death of the companions he grew up with, he had matured a great deal and would co to Levi to learn swordsmanship in his spare ti.
’Who says a scholar has to be confined to scholarly pursuits? I’ll be damned if I don’t raise a general skilled in both pen and sword!’
The Lord slamd his hand on the table, his mind made up.
Mier was still very young, just a little over sixteen, and was still highly malleable. In his previous life, he would have been nothing more than a high school student.
If he were forty or fifty, Levi wouldn’t have been nearly as confident.
"Alright. You can follow as an Attendant for now," Levi nodded.
Mier’s face lit up with excitent. He moved to hug the Lord to express his gratitude but was pushed away with a look of disgust.
’Two grown n hugging and clutching each other? How improper. Now, if it were your sister, that would be another matter entirely.’
And so, the matter was settled.
The various leaders of High Cliff Castle began to file out to make their tense pre-war preparations.
"Tina, I’m leaving High Cliff Castle in your hands for now. If the iron mine is attacked and you can’t hold it, just let them have it for a while. We’ll decide what to do when I get back."
The Lord instructed the Chief of Internal Affairs, the only person in High Cliff Castle with a decent head on her shoulders.
High Cliff Castle was now bristling with walls. While not particularly tall, they were more than sufficient in a poor backwater like the Wilderness. It was unlikely anyone would try to crack such a tough nut. The iron mine’s defenses, however, were weak and might be vulnerable to attack.
But it wasn’t like you could pack up an iron mine and carry it away. So even if it were conquered, Levi wasn’t too concerned; he would simply have to take it back again.
"Mm-hm, I will." Baisitina nodded. She gave the seemingly invincible man a deep look and said softly, "Levi, you must be careful. Co back safe and sound."
"Haha! Even if Fulina’s entire Thorn Corps is wiped out, I won’t lose a single hair."
Unable to resist, Levi playfully tapped the young woman’s delicate nose and gave a confident smile.
He wouldn’t have dared to make such a boast if he hadn’t cultivated the "Glowing Holy Word Treasure Manual." But now, all the Attribute Points he had accumulated for so long had been converted into a terrifyingly abundant well of Power.
The Holy Light Seed was also strengthening his body with every passing mont.
You could say that even he didn’t know just how strong he had beco. This horde of Minotaurs would be the first punching bag for him to test his current strength.
"I have no doubt about that," Baisitina said, rubbing her nose and nodding earnestly.
Her response, in turn, made the Lord scratch the back of his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.
’If Liya heard him say that, she would keep a polite smile on her face but would absolutely not believe a word of it.’
’Fulina would go straight into mockery mode, ridiculing him for his shaless boasting.’
’Sophia would nod along in agreent on the surface, while secretly thinking he was full of shit.’
’Only Baisitina would believe in him completely, no matter what he did.’
"You don’t need to worry about Mier, either. I’ll take good care of him." With that promise, the Lord departed.
All of High Cliff Castle began to organize supplies in an orderly fashion.
Three hundred Official Warriors, plus an assortnt of cooks, auxiliary soldiers, and the like, scraped together a force that barely t the seven-hundred-to-not-quite-a-thousand-man requirent for a Thousand-Man Squad.
More than ten Giants grunted and groaned as they pulled wagons loaded with weapons, Armor, and supplies toward the Thorn Corps’ encampnt.
The Warriors, in high spirits, raised the banner of High Cliff Castle and marched right behind their Lord toward the Thorn Corps.
After a brief handover and so final preparations, it wasn’t long before the Thorn Corps stirred, like a great, slumbering Giant Dragon awakening.
With the Cavalry Corps leading the way, the entire army ford a long, winding column, marching majestically through the wind and snow toward the Agate Plain in the north.
If the soldiers hadn’t been Northern People, already accustod to the bitter cold, there’s no telling how many would have died on the march alone.
The contingent from High Cliff Castle also wore padded cotton clothes and black cloaks to ward off the biting wind.
The cold wind howled, and snowflakes danced in the air.
Whether in his past life or the present, Levi, who had always lived in the south, was experiencing firsthand the true aning of a northern landscape: a world of ice stretching for a thousand miles, of swirling snow for ten thousand more.
It was only the beginning of winter, so while the Northern Lands couldn’t yet be described as a world of ice, the landscape was already a vast, unbroken expanse of white as far as the eye could see.
A layer of white snow already coated the ryegrass.
"I wonder how many Tribes in the Wilderness won’t survive this white plague," the Lord lanted, in a rare mont of reflection on the life and death of others.
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