“It should be obvious that they’re at a disadvantage…” Gi Gu said.
“If they haven’t replaced him yet, then the enemy general should be that man who named himself Yuan. He’s a persistent one. It would be best not to let our guard down,” Gilmi replied.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
After Gi Gu finished talking to Gilmi, he ordered his subordinates to keep attacking. As the catapults were mobilized again, Gilmi looked at Gi Gu strangely.
“You sure have taken to the siege weapons.”
“I hate humans, but these things are good. After all, with them around, our soldiers won’t have to die.”
When people think of Gi Gu Verbena and his blood stained flag (Felduk), people often imagine a bloodthirsty goblin. This bloodthirstiness was considered strong even for a goblin. Part of the reason behind that is because people tended to compare him to Gi Ga Rax, who defeated the humans with mercy and forbearance, which further emphasized his goblin-like violence.
“Is it so strange?”
Gilmi became thoughtful for a moment before answering.
“Yes.”
In the end, he decided to tell the truth since lying might only worsen their relationship.
“What an honest goblin!”
At that, Gi Gu burst into laughter and pointed at his expanding army below his eyes.
“I ordered Gu Tough to take 400 soldiers with him and work with the humans, but their coordination still needs work. I’m having Gu Big use 300 soldiers to handle the siege weapons of the humans, but their control is still sloppy. It’s probably because they don’t understand very well how it works. If even the siblings that have been following me since the start are like this, it only stands to reason that the ones who evolved just recently can only be worse than them. But…”
As Gi Gu’s cheeks loosened, his expression resembled that of a blood relative thinking of his family.
“We are goblins. I am proud to be a goblin. It’s fine to be nice to the humans. It’s fine to work with the other races too. But the goblins must never fall behind.”
As Gi Gu spoke, Gilmi could feel a fire hidden within each word uttered that caused him to stare in amazement at Gi Gu. When he thought of how a goblin like this could be raised under the king, just a little, he became envious.
“We are goblins.”
As Gi Gu said that, he stuck his chest out in pride.
But on the other hand, if the Goblin King were not around, then perhaps a goblin like this would rise to power. Gilmi didn’t dwell on that thought for too long before dispelling it.
It was a dangerous thought.
Thinking of what-ifs regarding the king’s presence or absence was not a good thought to follow as far as protecting his tribe went.
At the very least, for as long as the king was alive, it was not a thought he should say out loud or show on his face.
Feeling like he’d touched a taboo, Gilmi shook his head.
◆◇◆
Ever since the goblins started pushing the southern front lines, their advantage has been uncontestable.
Every time the sound of the horses’ hooves that shook the land approached, the nobles of Germion Kingdom and their soldiers would tremble in fear. So long were their spears that the humans would find it difficult to handle them were they to try and wield them for themselves. Their cavalry was heralded by the black tigers followed by the three-eyed unruly horses and the carnivorous terrifying horses. They would skewer any and all that impeded their path as they vividly invaded the southern territories of Germion Kingdom.
Gi Ga Rax successfully occupied the biggest city of Southern Germion Kingdom, Grauhauze, but he was not satisfied. He left Zaurosh of the Proud Clan (Leon Heart Clan) in charge of negotiations – he could be said to be his right-hand man – while he led his soldiers and conquered the minor feudal lords one after another.
“Vilan-dono. How goes our supplies?”
Gi Ga Rax’s army also got the Kushain Believers to temporarily support them and was able to invite the tactician, Vilan Do Zul, to accompany them.
“Everything is going well. We also managed to minimize the looting.”
Vilan’s persistence and calmness could show itself the most in maintaining logistics. It was true that the supply lines of the goblins were taken care of by ‘The Ones Behind Everyone (Kurua)’, who are represented by Gi Gi Orudo, one of the four generals, and Gi Bu Rakuta,
but the one who was able to make the most of it was – strangely – a person they had invited from outside. This person was none other than Vilan Do Zul.
Calculating the distance and the food consumed by the monster beasts was unfortunately too difficult of a task for the goblins. The Goblin King could do it, but he was a busy man, and most of his time was already being spent dealing with the war.
Although the southern front lines were indeed important, the king did not have so much spare time that he could divert his attention to personally take care of their supply line.
“In that case…”
“Yes. Zaurosh-dono also said that everything is progressing as planned.” Vilan nodded.
Gi Ga smiled ferociously. “Let us present His Majesty a completed southern invasion.”
“We’ll have to organize the situation then.”
“Please. I’m sure if the Hero of Cultidian himself were to talk, everyone would understand.”
Vilan frowned a little, but he cleared his throat and started explaining to the goblins and the other races lined up.
The black tigers and the Tiger and Spear Army (Aransain) that broke through the southern borders of Germion Kingdom used their speed to trample over the armies of the minor nobles. Coupling that with various methods of negotiations, they were able to neutralize most of the enemies’ armies.
Try as the armies of the nobles might to resist, they successfully kept their losses to a minimum as they chased them to the north.
