"My lord, we've returned." Fierce Tiger Ross and
Lorist let out a breath of relief, but his mood immediately grew heavy. The return of Fierce Tiger Ross and Yuri meant that the enemies on Hilowas Island had withdrawn — they hadn't remained on the island to engage in battle with Bodenfeng and the others who'd arrived as reinforcements. But the enemy's withdrawal also meant they had accomplished their purpose of coming to plunder, and the scene on Hilowas Island was sure to be too horrible to look upon...
"Tell me — what's the situation on the island?" After a deep breath, Lorist still asked the question.
The expressions on both Fierce Tiger Ross and Yuri's faces turned grim...
"My lord, it was terrible. Those slave traders and slave-catching squads from the Havistan Khanate — they're not human, they're beasts! Everyone on the island over the age of fifty was basically killed, and children under ten weren't spared either. I even saw several babies, one or two years old, impaled on spears by the roadside..." Yuri's voice choked with emotion, thick with grief and fury.
Fierce Tiger Ross shook his head, seemingly very unwilling to recall the horrors he had witnessed. "My lord, Hilowas Island has become a hell. The central square in White Bird Town — that became a slaughterhouse... Those slave traders selected the elderly, the disabled, and the weak, and carried out a mass execution right in the square. The ground turned black with blood, and the corpses piled up like mountains...
Everyone who saw that scene was driven to the brink of madness. Before we set sail on the return trip, over four thousand bodies had already been cleared from the square. Among them,
Lorist clenched his fists tightly. During the imperial civil war, many people had regarded Hilowas Island — far out at sea — as a refuge from the chaos, bringing their families to settle there. Among them were mostly elderly people who hoped to spend their remaining years in peace on the island. They never imagined that while they had escaped the fires of war raging on the continent, they could not escape the cruelty of the slave traders who came from the sea...
"My lord, the constable of White Bird Town, Kristen, led over fifty people to hide in abandoned sewers and escaped the slave traders and slave-catching squads' search. We rescued them. Additionally, when we attacked the Seaview Manor, we found Master Hede's eldest son, Dolokova, and his party being held prisoner. They had been surveying mineral resources on the island when they saw smoke rising everywhere outside and rushed back in a hurry, only to fall into the hands of the slave-catching squads..." Yuri reported.
"Wait..." Lorist was startled. They had attacked the Seaview Manor?
"When you arrived on the island, there were still enemies there?"
"Yes, my lord. We also captured fourteen ships, two of which were large ocean-going armed merchant vessels," said Fierce Tiger Ross.
"When we reached Hilowas Island, dawn had just broken. We found fourteen ships still anchored off the southern beach. Sembarwood ordered the fleet to approach directly, only to discover not a single soul on board — the ships were instead packed with all manner of random goods. Then we captured nearly a hundred sailors in several nearby houses.
According to these prisoners, there were still over a thousand enemies on the island, all sailors from those dozen-odd ships and members of the slave-catching squads. The reason they were still on the island was that the sailors wanted to搜 loot furniture and miscellaneous items from the empty houses in White Bird Town to take back and sell, while the slave-catching squads were searching for fleeing or hiding residents..." Yuri added.
"There were still people who had fled?" Lorist felt a spark of hope — he thought of
But what Yuri said next dashed Lorist's hopes completely. "Of course there were. The constable and his people were hiding, for instance. But by the time we rescued them, they had been starving for days. If the basement connected to the sewer hadn't had a few old cowhides, that many people could never have survived for over a month...
The ones who had mostly fled were villagers from those seven villages. Like the garrison captain of that mountain village, who led half the village's inhabitants into the mountains. But the elderly and infirm who remained in the village were all killed by the slave traders and slave-catching squads. They burned the village too, and sent people into the mountains to hunt down the fugitives. They ended up capturing over a hundred people, all locked up in the Seaview Manor.
The prisoners said their leaders were a Great Swordmaster and a
"A Great Swordmaster?" Lorist's heart tightened. The Gold Knight and that so-called Duke Guvman were nothing to worry about — just a major slave owner. But having a Great Swordmaster still on the island was a serious concern. If the man employed guerrilla tactics or sneak attacks — striking once and retreating — the trouble would be immense.
"How did Bodenfeng handle it? Did that Great Swordmaster cause us any casualties?" Lorist asked urgently.
Fierce Tiger Ross curled his lip dismissively. "That cowardly Great Swordmaster? What use was he! When Bodenfeng heard that Seaview Manor was garrisoned by four to five hundred men, he sent a company of heavy infantry and a company of single-wheel steel crossbow carts — just a thousand men — to lure that Great Swordmaster out. Who would have thought that those thousand men would be enough to make that Great Swordmaster and that Gold Knight cower with all their forces, refusing to fight, shutting themselves inside the manor and refusing to come out, preferring to turtle inside like scared little turtles.
After that, we had no choice but to force an assault. That finally cornered the Great Swordmaster into coming out to negotiate, saying that if we let them go and gave them two ships, they would leave Hilowas Island immediately. We demanded they surrender their weapons, but that Great Swordmaster threatened us, saying if we didn't let them leave, he would go on a killing spree...
Well, an arrow volley later, that big-shot Great Swordmaster took an iron crossbow bolt to his right thigh, and lay on the ground crying for his daddy before surrendering without a fight. That Gold Knight did put up resistance for quite a while, but I eventually smashed him down and captured him alive. Over two hundred of the rest who survived also surrendered."
Hearing this, Lorist was delighted. "You captured both the Great Swordmaster and the Gold Knight alive?"
"Yes, my lord." Fierce Tiger Ross nodded. "We successfully reclaimed Seaview Manor and rescued over three hundred captured villagers from the manor, along with the escort guards who had accompanied Master Hede's son Dolokova on their mountain survey. Only three of them were still alive — seven had died fighting back.
Then Bodenfeng ordered the heavy infantry companies, each paired with a single-wheel steel crossbow cart unit, to split into seven or eight teams and conduct a sweep of Hilowas Island in a dragnet pattern. They eliminated and captured the remaining slave-catching squads and sailors, and rescued over two hundred villagers and refugees who had been hiding or fleeing.
My lord, we heard from several of the surviving refugees that Shrade and Jim were captured by those slave traders..."
Lorist slumped back into his chair in defeat, slamming a fist weakly against the table. After a long pause, he spoke. "Did those refugees say how they were captured?"
Fierce Tiger Ross thought for a moment. "The refugees said that Shrade and Jim rushed to the refugee camp with about twenty guards, gathering the camp leaders and demanding that the refugees be armed for self-defense — if they had no weapons, then tools and farming implements, and at the very least wooden clubs. Just as everyone was in a panic, the slave traders and slave-catching squads from the Havistan Khanate caught up with them. They had been targeting that refugee camp as their main objective...
Shrade and Jim led their twenty-odd guards in a fierce resistance. More than half the guards were killed. Then it seems a Great Swordmaster showed up and took them all down. Without their leaders, the refugees panicked. The slave traders and slave-catching squads killed many who resisted — one to two thousand people died. In the end, everyone was forced to kneel on the ground before being spared. Those refugees managed to slip away into the mountain forests during the chaos, which is how they weren't captured..."
Lorist let out a long sigh. "How many people on Hilowas Island survived?"
This time it was Yuri who answered. "We're not certain. We estimate around six hundred to seven hundred. As soon as the island was cleared, Bodenfeng had us return ahead to report to you, my lord, and to escort the Great Swordmaster and Gold Knight here for your judgment. As for the other prisoners... well... the horrors on the island had all of us burning with rage. So after a brief interrogation, we ordered the soldiers to erect crosses on the southern beach, and just as you had ordered, we nailed them all up..."
Over a thousand prisoners, and even the normally composed Bodenfeng had not hesitated to order them all nailed to crosses — one could imagine just how horrific the scene on Hilowas Island must have been, for every single family soldier to willingly carry out such a cruel command...
"Oh, right, my lord. Bodenfeng and the others are requesting an emergency resupply of disinfectant powder and healing potions. Hilowas Island must undergo epidemic prevention measures immediately. Those damned slave traders and slave-catching squads didn't even bother to collect their own people's bodies. The island is covered with corpses, and with the hot weather, many have already started to rot and stink..." Yuri remembered an important matter.
"Schward..."
"My lord, please give your orders." Schward stepped forward.
Lorist quickly wrote out a handwritten order. "Send someone to deliver this order to the Medical General Headquarters at
"Yes, my lord. I'll send the guards to relay the order at once." Schward hurried out, and soon the sound of rapid hoofbeats galloped away.
"My lord, what should we do next?" Yuri asked.
"When will Sembarwood's fleet be back?"
"About ten days or so. This time when he returns, he'll bring back all the surviving villagers and residents. He may have already departed," Yuri guessed.
"Mm, he should be back around the end of July. I want his fleet to make several extra trips in August, transporting the Heavy Infantry Corps and the Single-Wheel Steel Crossbow Corps to Hilowas Island first. After that will be
Fierce Tiger Ross's eyes lit up as he listened from the side. "My lord, are you going to launch a campaign against the Havistan Khanate? I want to go too..."
Since Fierce Tiger Ross had guessed his intentions, Lorist saw no need to hide them. "Our
"My lord, there are plenty of people who can hold down the territory. Look — Malek,
"You're too late. Malek already came to me first — he'll be replacing Dolles to command the Single-Wheel Steel Crossbow Corps." Lorist laughed.
"And besides, my lord, you know how my cultivation technique works — I only progress quickly when I face off against powerful opponents. Right now, apart from me, which other Gold Knight in the family can withstand a first-rank Great Swordmaster's sword strikes, my lord? I've heard the Havistan Khanate has around a dozen Great Swordmasters. Having me along would provide some extra support..."
To be able to join Lorist's campaign, Fierce Tiger Ross was dredging up every excuse he could think of. Yuri, standing to the side, secretly chuckled. In any case, Lorist had already assigned him and the Scout Battalion to the campaign. He chimed in, "Big Brother Ross, don't forget your duties. You're the overall commander of both Lance Cavalry Regiments. You can't just abandon your own regiments, can you?"
Fierce Tiger Ross glared at him fiercely. "No problem. My deputy, Knight Vasimah, is very capable. It makes no difference whether I'm there or not."
He turned back to Lorist and pleaded, "My lord..."
What a headache. Lorist waved his hand. "Fine. Get the lance cavalry affairs sorted out yourself, and I'll think about it."
This amounted to agreement. Fierce Tiger Ross ecstatically picked Yuri up and spun him around twice. "Yes!"
Yuri cursed and kicked him a couple of times, but Fierce Tiger Ross didn't mind at all. After setting Yuri down, he remembered something. "Oh right, my lord. If we're going to campaign against the Havistan Khanate, we don't have enough ships. If we can't transport all the expeditionary forces over in one go, the campaign will be very difficult to fight..."
Lorist nodded. "I've already thought about it. One of the tasks I sent Earl and Tagel to
Well, Lorist was dead set on carrying his requisitioning policy to the extreme.
Fierce Tiger Ross was delighted, however. "My lord, I'll go with you to commandeer the ships."
Yuri said不满ly, "My lord, don't pay attention to this pervert Ross — he even hugs men! Let me go with you to commandeer those ships instead."
Lorist said, "Enough. Requisitioning other people's ships isn't exactly something to be proud of. Stop bickering. There's no rush — we'll handle it in time. Three days from now, the Flying Fish from Dawn Academy will deliver the medicinal materials and apothecaries to Hilowas Island first. The round trip will take fourteen to fifteen days. I need to return to Rock Fortress — I've invited our three allied partners for a meeting over the next few days. Once we've secured the rear, we can launch the campaign against the Havistan Khanate. You two just got back, so take a couple of days to rest, then go take care of your own affairs. And don't mention the campaign to anyone — I haven't told anyone about this plan yet."
"Yes, my lord." Fierce Tiger Ross and Yuri saluted at attention and turned to leave, but just as they reached the doorway, they came back.
"My lord... you haven't dealt with the Great Swordmaster and Gold Knight we escorted here yet..." Yuri said.
"That's right. And we also have the interrogation records we obtained from them during the boring days on the ship. Yuri, have someone bring them for the lord to review," Fierce Tiger Ross added.
"You already have interrogation records?" Lorist asked.
"Yes, my lord. During the days on the ship with nothing to do, we went and interrogated that Great Swordmaster and Gold Knight. That Great Swordmaster even confessed to peeping on his parents when he was a child." Fierce Tiger Ross answered.
Lorist laughed. It was clear just how miserable it must have been for that Great Swordmaster to fall into these two's hands — to confess even that meant he clearly had nothing left to hide.
"Since there are interrogation records, whether I see them in person or not makes no difference. Just handle them the same way as those sailors last time — nail them all to crosses," Lorist ordered matter-of-factly.
Fierce Tiger Ross and Yuri both froze.
"My lord, but that's a Great Swordmaster and a Gold Knight! That Great Swordmaster even said that if we spared his life, he would be willing to serve our Norton family..." Yuri murmured.
"Heh, no thanks. Our Norton family has no need for the service of heartless, conscienceless murderers who don't even regard their own kind as human and whose hands are stained with the blood of the innocent — and what if he is a Great Swordmaster? Every man in our Norton family is a man of iron backbone and burning blood. Having a Great Swordmaster who is no better than a beast serve our family would only disgrace the faces of our noble Family Knights and every single soldier in our family's armed forces! Go relay the order — nail them to crosses for me!"
Lorist's contempt for that Great Swordmaster and Gold Knight made Fierce Tiger Ross and Yuri's eyes gleam, their backs straightening even further, their faces radiating pride by association.
They answered almost in unison: "Yes, my lord!"
...(To be continued.)