Chapter 373: Chapter 122: The Temptation of Military Merit

At Blake’s command, the Goblin Chiefs excitedly left the tent.

Commanding a great army for the first time, Blake felt an incredible sense of satisfaction.

’Now, what should I do?’

The satisfaction didn’t last long. Blake suddenly realized he had no experience commanding a large army in battle. His past fights had all been minor skirmishes; he’d never even watched someone else command a legion.

’The map!’

With that thought, Blake put on an act and began studying the map at his side. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it before someone rushed toward his tent, shouting.

"What are you doing?! Can’t you see this is Lord Blake’s tent?!"

He heard his own clansmen scolding someone at the entrance.

It was a classic case of riding his coattails; as Blake’s prestige grew daily, his clansmen had become increasingly arrogant.

Just as Blake was about to go out and see what was happening, he heard a string of curses from the entrance.

"Blake! The damn humans are already here! Where are my reinforcements?! Where are my reinforcements?!"

"Blake! Get the hell out here!"

’The humans are here?!’

In that instant, Blake’s mind reeled.

’Weren’t they just five li away a moment ago? How did they reach the camp so fast?’

Come to think of it, they had covered the distance from ten li to five li with incredible speed as well.

Blake was beginning to sense that something was very wrong.

"What’s all the shouting for?!"

"How dare you come running here after losing your position!"

Even though he knew it was his own fault, he couldn’t let this be his problem, not now.

Blake was no expert at commanding armies, but he was a master of political maneuvering. Otherwise, he never would have become the leader of the goblins.

Goblins were creatures that bullied the weak and feared the strong. When the clamoring Goblin Chief saw Blake emerge from the tent, his bravado instantly vanished.

"Well? I asked you a question! What is the situation? Where are the humans now?!" Blake continued, pressing the Goblin Chief.

ROAR!

Just as the Goblin Chief was about to explain, Blake heard the thunder of battle cries from the distance.

Accompanying the shouts of war was the piercing cry of a dragon!

It was as if he were feeling the effects of bloodline suppression; a sudden chill ran down Blake’s spine.

"The humans are here!"

Blake had known the humans were on their way, but that was when they were still at a distance. Now, with the human Soldiers practically in his face, he couldn’t help but panic.

"Quick! Quick! Organize your men and go block those humans! Tell the other goblins to charge forward now!"

...

While Blake was frantically gathering his troops to organize a resistance, the human army had already reached the outskirts of Ancient Dumu Town.

Mounted on Everton, Robson observed the situation on the ground from high in the sky.

He had to admit, having a flying mount was a wonderful thing. Robson was now rather glad he hadn’t just slain Everton with a single blow back then.

After all, ten thousand Gold Coins would be spent in less than half a year, but a dragon that gave you a full-map view wasn’t so easy to come by.

Looking down from the sky, Robson saw that Ancient Dumu Town was in utter chaos. He had no idea what the Beastmen’s Main Commander was up to; only after an incredibly long period of inactivity were the Beastmen in town finally beginning to rush to the battlefield.

And without exception, those rushing to the battlefield were almost all goblins and Kobolds.

"The Lord is back!"

"Get ready! Hurry, get ready!"

Having seen enough, Robson had Everton descend. He was greeted by a welcome as loud and overwhelming as a tsunami.

This was largely due to the new adjutant system. These men, who had received what Robson called "God’s Grace" and read his adjutant’s handbook, worshipped him with an extreme devotion.

After entering the army, the adjutants began to proclaim Robson’s deeds and spread word of Lord Robson’s magnificent glory, which inspired the soldiers in the lowest ranks.

Coupled with his recent reforms to the system of merits, Robson’s prestige in Affleck had reached its zenith, to the point that people began to forget he was a noble and a member of the ruling class.

As he leaped down from the Flying Dragon, Ais and Claude immediately came forward.

Robson simply nodded.

"Everything’s fine. Relay my orders: capture the Kobolds alive if possible. A captured Kobold, unharmed, is worth double the military merit.

"Don’t waste arrows. Attack directly!" Robson commanded.

Not wasting arrows was one of the benefits of having Everton.

Robson had seen it clearly from the sky just moments before. Right now, there wasn’t a single race in Ancient Dumu Town that could put up a real fight—it was just goblins and Kobolds.

Under these circumstances, using arrows would be a complete waste of resources.

"As you command!" Ais and Claude had been eagerly awaiting this moment.

"Kill all the goblins, capture the Kobolds alive! An unharmed Kobold is worth double the merit!"

"Kill all the goblins..."

...

It wasn’t long before Robson’s order had spread throughout the entire army.

The Soldiers, eager to earn glory, could no longer hold back. The moment they received the order, they erupted into a deafening roar of approval.

"Charge! For Affleck! For our Lord!"

"For Affleck! For our Lord!"

Once the order was given, the entire human army swarmed forward like a pack of starving wolves that had just seen the gate to a sheep pen swing open.

And were they not just like wolves?

Thanks to Robson’s reforms, the people of the Affleck Domain, young and old, now rejoiced at the prospect of war.

To these human Soldiers, the goblins weren’t enemies; they were walking military merits, ripe for the taking!

Robson barely even needed to command them, aside from some minor adjustments to their formation to keep them from trampling one another.

"The humans are coming!"

"Humans... Are these really humans?"

The two thousand human Soldiers, their morale soaring, swarmed in from all sides, creating the impression of an unstoppable army of tens of thousands!

As a commercial town, Ancient Dumu Town had no walls. The goblins now faced the full brunt of the human charge.

The sheer power of the approaching human army was a bucket of cold water dumped over the goblins’ heads.

In recent days, the goblins had been on a winning streak, having barely encountered a worthy opponent.

Being short-sighted creatures, this period of victory was enough to make them forget the humiliation of being driven out before.

But the human Soldiers before them dragged them back to reality, giving them a harsh wake-up call.

"Quick! Find the Chieftain!"

"Where’s the Chieftain? Where did the Chieftain go?"

"Over there! Form a defense! Form a defense!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.