Chapter 208
Elison shook his head and answered, "No, What I am saying is all the mercenaries are dead at the Mercenary camp which was made by Prince Hector along with the soldiers protecting the camp, this is very big sir . Not a single man survived that battle against Count John's men . Meanwhile, the Leaders of Barbarians and Barrens are dead as well . "
Luke was confused as he asked again, "What do you mean, How do you know that both of them are dead as well? Weren't they previously at the Eastern port? Explain to me clearly . "
Elison nodded and spoke, "Their heads were on display at the Southern castle of North-Frontier City . After enquiring the guards at the Southern Castle, they said that Barbarians and Barrenmakers tried to invade them yesterday which resulted in the current situation . Their aim most likely was to capture the castle and take the ballistas or to make a base and claim their superiority in the region which they failed miserably . "
Elison calmed down and slowly started explaining the whole event which took place yesterday . Hearing Elison, Luke had a grave face as he understood the situation .
Luke was flabbergasted as he asked in a hurried tone, "What do you mean? Did he kill 70,000 men in one single day? He didn't even spare the guards at the Mercenary camp . Have they gone crazy?"
Elison sighed as he nodded and answered, "Yes, the camp was burning for a long time with a lot of bodies over here . Many people have witnessed it already . Rumors are already being passed everywhere . But the thing is a lot of nearby villagers are migrating to North-frontier city . The thing is, Yesterday, one of the lackeys of Jim revealed about their dealings with Prince Hector and Baron Antonio in front of the whole village when they attacked them . And this is being spread to all the nearby villages that is increasing this migration by villages . "
Luke slapped his forehead as he was completely shocked . He murmured after hearing about the deaths of 70,000 men, "Lunatic, completely Lunatic, That general is a complete lunatic . Why did that dolt Jim had to target the Villagers again and anger that General? Is there any reaction from that Count? Meanwhile, If that migration is true then a lot of people are leaving their fields and this would be catastrophic . "
Elison spoke with a grave face, "Yes, the count completely supports the actions taken by General Anak . Here is the news report about the event . This is also the reason, why people are cheering for the eradication of Mercenaries . However, many people fear that general . We can use that to our benefit . "
Luke massaged his forehead as he thought about this situation, "Hmm . . . Okay, arrange a meeting with Count John for now . "
"Okay, Milord . "
****
General Irwin furrowed his brows as he read an article about the eradication of 70,000 Mercenaries .
Irwin asked his subordinate, "Do you know anything about it? Or that count is simply bluffing about this . "
The subordinate answered, "No Sir, The information provided here is correct, I did report to you about yesterday's assault by Jim and co . at the nearby village, where you wanted them to sort it out themselves .
He continued, "They really did kill 70,000 men in their assault yesterday when they attacked Goldrush mercenaries at camp and The barbarians and Barrenmakers at their borders at Southern Castle . They were led by their new General, Anak . He was the one who gave the orders to kill all of them when they attacked at camp and when they were invaded . And there is another news . We also got a report from Ambassador Luke . "
Irwin had a surprised as well as serious face as he grasped reality real early, "Woah, It seems I forget about that small skirmish . It looks like the skirmish turned into something big . It seems this General would be quite a handful if he was in our army . That general is quite audacious to announce his arrival in Aelius by eradicating 70,000 mercenaries in a single day . This guy would give Bellion a run for a challenge . Continue . "
The subordinate spoke, "From the looks of it, it seems that they have always hidden the true firepower of their ballistas . Their ballistas had 2 . 1 times the range of our ballistas which was concluded after we made investigations of the border at the Battle site . We are only able to surpass them in power and range when we are using Magic metal Balllistas along with Dragon materials (these are quite rare) . While Radiant church's Templars are going to Join us today, This is the letter given by his majesty today . "
Irwin nodded as he read the letter, "Hmm . . . It seems they have a plan . However, now this is all for naught or else we too will face big casualties in front of those ballistas and it would cost a lot to make ballistas from Magic metal and Dragon parts . How many magic Ballistas do we have currently?"
"78 Currently . "
Irwin nodded as it tallied his current count, "They can be good enough . I hope everything goes well . "
Irwin thought and smiled, 'This would be a bloody battle . That Count surely hid himself quite well all this time, no wonder he was so aggressive . This time he too will be in for a surprise after watching the runic Magic Metal Ballistas . It's good that we still have a better range than those guys . '
***
Slowly the whole of Aelius kingdom got to know about the first battle of Northern front,
"Woah, is this serious? 70,000 people killed in one day? Does that Count really not fear anything? He even killed the soldiers of Prince Hector and Baron Antonio . I wonder how would they react after this . "
Minister Plato had a grave face as he asked, "Tell me what happened, why did the situation get out of hand . This is not a small matter . That Mad General killed 70,000 without even blinking while that Lunatic count is supporting his actions . If our army faces such a General . That means we will be facing a lot of deaths . I am ordering to cancel the invasion . "
The subordinate answered, "It's not possible Milord . Orders have already been passed by King to Lord Irwin yesterday . The Templar Captain, Johnson is already going to Join Lord Irwin at Dolores . They would soon start their attacks with the new magic ballistas with the dragon materials as they have a bigger range . As far as the 70,000 deaths are concerned, The situation got out of hold because of the Mercenary Jim . After being hunted for days, it seems they were frustrated and hence they decided to use their usual tactic against that count which backfired them greatly . We got this news from one of the villagers . Most of the Villagers now don't trust Prince Hector and are now leaving for NF City or for other domains where they can trust a lord . "
Plato murmured, "It seems What Eanred saw was likely this . This guy Anak is bad news . He should either be in the Royal family or Dead already . We need to make changes . It's good that their trump cards just got revealed and King has made an alliance with the Radiant Church to reduce the losses . It's good that King heard Eanred's query . "
****
Prince Hector was thoroughly enraged as he saw the Border town which seemed like a ghost town currently, "That guy dares to kill my men and loot the fort so brazenly? I will make sure that he faces an appropriate response to the actions taken by his men . They think they are hot-shit as they were able to kill some mercenaries . They have just opened the doors of hell after this action . "
Alistair reported without any advice, "There is another bad news of Barbarians and Barrenmakers getting wiped yesterday, Milord . "
Hector cursed as he saw the situation, "Damn it, those guys couldn't even wait for a day thinking that they would lose out on looting . Even Duke Norman has is pussying out after this result . Damn it what do we do . "
Alistair sighed and thought, 'Good, or else we would have faced the same fate . No wonder that count was so confident . Those Ballistas were indeed hiding something big . That new General surely is a lunatic considering he killed all the men without thinking twice . It's better if we don't provoke them again . Even that Count is supporting that Mad General . '
Antonio thought and spoke, "Milord, what if we convince Duke Norman to attack that Count when the Royal family and the Radiant church attack them? I am sure he would be open to such suggestions . "
Alistair looked at Antonio and then spoke to Hector, "Milord, Joss reported something which would interest you . I wonder if I can speak?"
Hector nodded and spoke, "Continue . "
Alistair nodded and reported, "That General was reportedly able to use space, fire and wind magic when he fought Jim . He is also proficient at incredible speeds . Joss has remarked that only a few guys can fight him head-on in Aelius . If we want to do something then we need to take care of that guy first . In the previous fight with Jim, he was toying him with a knife without using any magic and this was seen by many men . I am sure this is very critical news for us . "
Antonio thought as he heard Alistair's discouraging words, 'Damn this guy . '
Hector thought deeply and spoke, "Hmm . . . Ok, We will think about both the proposals . That count is getting dangerous day by day so he needs to be taken care of earlier . I guess we need to strike when everyone is going to attack them . I will consult Mary who will try to convince duke of our decision . meanwhile, try to contact that general, he can be useful to us . Given his range of skills, I am sure he would be interested in working for the Royal family instead of working at a small run of a mill domain . "
***
Duke Norman was quite alarmed after hearing about the end of mercenaries, He thought for a bit, "This is very dangerous, I never thought that guy would take such crazy decision . It seems Alistair was right when he consulted me previously maybe I should heed his advice or it would be fatal for me . There are already some guys who refused to heed my calls . But that Count will be more Dangerous if we can't do anything to him now . "
Mary spoke as she heard Norman, "Dad, why don't we wait and watch while keeping our army at the borders, because the Royal family too will have a reaction when they hear of 70,000 deaths . We should take our chances when the Royal Family launches an attack . "
Duke Norman nodded as he thought deeply, "Yes, this would be for better and Blackwolf too is currently alert on his borders with the demons and Demi-human and Beasts . Meanwhile, our interests are tied by soap manufacturing currently . I am sure he won't use this chance to attack us . Okay, we will go with your suggestion . "
