Volume 3, Chapter 24 – Two Hundred Thousand Half-beasts?

Three days had passed since the day the army set out toward the Northern Fortress.

Three days were not long and not short.

After marching nonstop day and night, the one hundred thousand soldiers of the Kingdom Army were now only a few hours away from the so-called Northern Fortress.

The knight girl in golden dress-armor rode at the head of the column. At her waist hung a dazzling, ornate knight’s longsword.

She possessed perfectly refined features. Her long golden hair, the same color as her armor, was tied up behind her head.

Even though she had been marching for three days straight, not even the faintest trace of exhaustion could be seen on her face.

“Lancelot…”

Her golden eyes fixed straight ahead, she suddenly called out a name.

“Captain?”

The paladin named Lancelot rode over on an armored warhorse. One hand gripped the reins tightly, and the other held his weapon just as tightly.

Of course, holding his weapon like that was not because he was guarding against her or anything. He was simply prepared to draw it immediately if the vanguard encountered danger.

“I remember that before you became a paladin, your home was near the Northern Fortress?”

“Yes, Captain.”

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Lancelot nodded at her question.

“Mm. Since you know the Northern Fortress is already close, I’ll be giving you a rather important task.”

Hearing that there was a task to be assigned, Lancelot immediately straightened his posture atop the warhorse. His already upright figure became even more rigid and proper.

“Take a portion of the knights and go on ahead. Before the main force reaches the Northern Fortress, scout the surroundings and gather information yourselves. Understood?”

Even though the knight girl spoke in a serious and solemn tone.

The truth was that all she wanted was for Lancelot to take some men ahead as scouts.

Of course, she had also taken into account Lancelot’s familiarity with this land, which was why she assigned him this reconnaissance work.

“Understood Captain, I will depart right away.”

Hearing the knight girl’s order, the paladin named Lancelot accepted it without hesitation, then rode off on his warhorse.

A few minutes later, under the knight girl’s gaze, Lancelot led a group of over a dozen elite-looking paladins. They broke away from the main force and galloped toward the direction of the Northern Fortress.

However, even though scouts had already been sent out, the knight girl suddenly felt uneasy for some reason.

“Could it be the Beastmen from the Stronghold? No, I’ve been moving this fast… logically those Beastmen shouldn’t be able to arrive so soon right?”

In the end, she could only comfort herself like this.

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……

While the Kingdom was sending people to investigate the Northern Fortress, within the Stronghold, the Beastman army marching toward that same fortress was once again receiving a visitor.

Its commander, Grinrui the Skullcrusher, once again met with the cute catgirl who had successfully left Eden, the current chieftain of the Half-beast race, Yeluo.

“General…”

Since they were in the midst of marching, Grinrui did not halt the army just to meet Yeluo. Thus their meeting took place atop one of the Beastmen’s special marching war-wagons.

“Mm, Half-beast. Have you finished gathering information about that city?”

Seeing that the visitor was Yeluo, Grinrui’s tone remained flat, but Yeluo could clearly feel the contempt hidden in his eyes.

“Yes, General. After my investigation yesterday, the name of that city is Eden.”

“Mm? Eden City? Did you manage to learn what level of military force Eden possesses?”

“I investigated everything, General.”

Answering Grinrui’s questions, Yeluo began delivering the intelligence she had “collected” earlier.

“Eden’s military strength is weak. Its capable combat force numbers only around twenty thousand soldiers…”

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“The population is a little over four hundred thousand……”

“Among them, the number of Half-beasts accounts for roughly half, which is about two hundred thousand…”

When Yeluo reported the number of Half-beasts, Grinrui’s expression showed clear surprise.

“What did you say?? Half of them are Half-beasts? A total population of four hundred thousand?”

This was undeniably shocking.

After all, according to the intelligence he had previously received, the Half-beasts supposedly numbered around one hundred thousand.

But in reality, it was not only one hundred thousand. It was apparently, seemingly, roughly two hundred thousand Half-beasts…

“General, I cannot be mistaken. After all, the main residents of that city are mostly Half-beasts. You can see them everywhere.”

“So it really is two hundred thousand Half-beasts, not one hundred thousand?”

This situation was simply too troublesome.

Even though Half-beasts held an extremely low status within the Stronghold, they were still the Beastmen’s food-producing labor force.

Losing one or two here and there, the Beastmen would turn a blind eye. But if they lost one hundred thousand?

Without a doubt, such a matter would immediately reach the ears of every high-ranking figure in the Stronghold. And before this, there had already been an instance where the disappearance of one hundred thousand Half-beasts had attracted the attention of the Beastman Old King.

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Of course, according to the Beastman Old King, sacrificing one hundred thousand Half-beasts was acceptable if necessary.

But…

The problem was that this was no longer just one hundred thousand Half-beasts. The number had doubled. It was two hundred thousand Half-beasts……

This was no longer as “easy” as sacrificing one hundred thousand. His objective had now changed to two hundred thousand Half-beasts…

Even though Grinrui bore a fierce title like Skullcrusher, this did not reflect his personal style.

While he indeed enjoyed crushing the skulls of defeated enemies, that behavior was limited strictly to enemies.

In truth, Grinrui’s thinking ability far surpassed that of ordinary Beastmen.

Thus, upon hearing the number two hundred thousand Half-beasts, he was shocked and even momentarily unable to accept it.

To be fair, sacrificing one hundred thousand Half-beasts was acceptable. It was a price worth paying for the Northern Fortress.

But if it meant sacrificing two hundred thousand Half-beasts just for a single Northern Fortress…

For the Beastmen, this was a feasible method. But such losses essentially proved the Beastmen’s incompetence, since they would need to sacrifice two hundred thousand Half-beasts to take the Northern Fortress…