Chapter 377: Chapter 126: The Mountains Have Spawned Savages

In Red Leaf Town of Vidom County, Baron Theodore was returning from his fields, humming a little tune along the way. Life was quite pleasant.

As a noble of Auric Province, Baron Theodore was a classic example of the military merit faction.

Baron Theodore was the second son of a Knight and had served in the Kingdom’s Standing Army. His life might have passed uneventfully otherwise.

But Theodore was very fortunate. The legion he served in, the Kingdom Central Line 15th Army, was now disbanded. A dozen or so years ago, however, its Commander had been a truly remarkable figure.

That man was Marshal Grantham.

He gained much experience under Marshal Grantham, and later, the war between the Beastmen and humans erupted.

The southward invasion of the Beastmen was both a disaster and an opportunity for the Frankish Nobles.

Countless nobles would fall in this war, and yet countless more would be created.

In the past, even if Baron Theodore had achieved astounding merits on the battlefield, his advancement would have likely ended at the rank of Knight.

It couldn’t be helped. He was merely the second son of a Knight, with no powerful patron looking out for him. And while he had his share of battlefield achievements, they were hardly dazzling.

But then, he met Grantham.

To the old guard of the kingdom’s upper echelon—the southern bloc, the northern bloc, and the royal family—Grantham was a mortal enemy. The military merit faction had seized innumerable interests from the kingdom.

But to the nobles of the military merit faction, Marshal Grantham represented a shortcut to rapid success.

Baron Theodore was a man forged in this very environment.

As Baron Theodore was surveying his lands, he suddenly heard a scream from afar. Faintly, he could also make out what sounded like the roar of a beast.

Years of experience honed on the battlefield put Baron Theodore on instant alert.

"Beastmen?!"

"Magical beasts! There are magical beasts coming down from the mountain!"

"Savages! There are savages!"

Hearing the ceaseless screams from afar, Baron Theodore glanced at the two guards by his side.

These two were old subordinates he had brought with him from the Central Line and were now two honorary Knights in his Baron’s Domain. Of course, while they held the title of Knight, they hadn’t even reached the Extraordinary rank.

But this was more than enough for Baron Theodore to cherish them. After all, these men were hardened veterans who had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Theodore himself had once been merely the second son of a Knight. The most his father had been able to provide was a sharp sword and a suit of armor—not even a horse. As for soldiers, that was simply out of the question.

Many of the Kingdom’s Standing Army units Theodore had served with in the past were, in fact, Marshal Grantham’s family troops.

This was the predicament for most of the military merit faction: their family foundations were too shallow, their promotions had been too rapid, and their actual power could not keep up with their gains.

"We’ve got a situation! Amor, go assemble the domain’s garrison," Baron Theodore ordered one of the guards.

"As you command!"

The guard departed, and Baron Theodore immediately rushed toward his house.

It wasn’t that Baron Theodore was trying to flee—his sword and armor were inside his house.

Halfway there, he rounded a corner and bumped into one of his people. The man’s face was a mask of panic, and he was gasping for breath.

"My Lord!"

"What’s going on?! What happened?" Theodore demanded, frowning at the man before him.

"Savages! A whole group of them! They came pouring out of the mountains!"

"We were tilling the western fields when they rushed out, killing on sight! More than a dozen people are already dead! I was the fastest runner, so I don’t know if others behind me made it! My Lord, you have to do something!"

More than a dozen!

A sharp pain shot through Theodore’s heart when he heard that number.

Unlike the southern and northern blocs, which each had powerful family clans to back them, the military merit faction was made up of commoners and men of low birth.

They had to bear the full burden of developing the domain in its early stages. The price of Peasants was already exorbitant, to say nothing of the obstruction and pressure from other nobles...

The loss of more than a dozen people was a crippling blow to Theodore.

"Get going, now! If you see anyone else on the road, tell them to flee west!"

Theodore dismissed the man, then rushed into his house to grab his gear.

By the time he was fully armed, the militia that his guard had been sent to assemble began to arrive.

With rage brewing in his chest, Theodore led the Soldiers and immediately rushed toward the source of the commotion.

But when he arrived at the scene, a chill ran down his spine.

Just outside Red Leaf Town, on the newly cleared farmland, a horde of figures caked in mud and leaves, brandishing crude wooden clubs, were roaring as they advanced on the town.

These weren’t savages! They were clearly a troop of Beastmen caked in mud.

He had been fighting Beastmen for decades. He would recognize them even if they were reduced to ash.

If it were just a small squad of Beastmen, it would be manageable. His own Extraordinary rank was approaching Silver, and with the dozens of militiamen at his back, he could have taken them down.

But there were at least a hundred Beastmen before him! And more were streaming in from the distance without end.

Many of the Beastman Soldiers were radiating Battle Aura.

In that single instant, the sight of this Beastman force extinguished all thoughts of resistance in Theodore.

’What is there even to fight? We’re not on the same level at all!’

’He, Theodore, only had a handful of men. What could he possibly use to fight this horde?’

He looked at the surrounding buildings—the fruits of all their labor these past days.

"Retreat! Everyone, retreat! Head west!" Theodore scanned his surroundings and gave the painful order.

In all of Vidom County, Theodore knew of only one noble who could possibly contend with a Beastman Army of this size.

Viscount Klem of Vidom City.

...

"Pah! These humans are no fun at all. They run the moment they see us. After being cooped up in the mountains for so many days, I was hoping to let loose a bit."

Orc chuckled as he watched the humans flee into the distance. The long trek through the mountains these past few days had left him feeling utterly pent-up.

Mendes raised an eyebrow, feeling a hint of irony in those words.

After all, the last time he, Mendes, had encountered humans, he had also turned tail and run without a second thought.

"It would be nice if all human soldiers were at this level," Mendes sighed, watching them flee into the distance.

’Sometimes, even Mendes himself wondered how the skill gap between different human armies could be so vast.’

The fantasy didn’t last long; reality quickly pulled Mendes back.

"Have you finished the headcount? How many Soldiers do we have left?" Mendes asked Orc.

"About one hundred and fifty. A lot of them got scattered along the way." A hint of resentment crept into Orc’s voice as he spoke.

Ever since being driven out of Sri County, Mendes had made a bold decision in order to shake off their pursuers as quickly as possible.

To take the mountain paths.

There had been no other choice. The human soldiers pursuing them were too close, leaving them no opportunity to regroup and resupply.

The effect was remarkable; in less than half a day, they had shaken off the human pursuers.

But everything has its price. Of the nearly one thousand Beastman Soldiers, most had gotten lost in the mountains—especially the Gray Dwarves. A Dwarf’s short legs offered no advantage on a long march.

"Then let’s stop here and wait for a while... I made arrangements beforehand, but I don’t know if they’ll be able to arrive in time." Mendes gazed back at the mountains from which they had come.

As one of Prince Odoruo’s key Officers, Mendes naturally had a map of the lands beyond the border.

He had only dared to lead them through the mountains because he possessed this map.

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