"No! No! Oh my god! The merciful goddess above! "The farmer saw a few black shadows appear on the horizon, and he was scared out of his wits.
A few bandits on horses, wielding axes and longbows, rushed towards the family in the middle of the road.
"Run! Run! "The farmer subconsciously signaled his family to run." I'll stop them! Run! "
"What nonsense are you talking about! You're the only labor. This family can live without me, but it can't live without you! " The farmer's father, the boy's grandfather, picked up a pitchfork, and his old face was full of determination. "Run!"
"Run!" After saying that, the old man rushed in the direction of the bandits.
The two children were still standing there in a daze. They were too young to understand what was going on.
"G-grandpa?" The boy was stunned. He looked at his grandfather's back. "G-grandpa?"
"Run! Lucas! Clara! Wuwuwu! "The farmer's wife pulled her two children and ran for their lives. The corners of her eyes were glistening with tears. She knew that her husband's father was using his own life to buy time.
"Father!" The farmer put his mother on the handcart and pushed it with all his strength. They were not far from Mjolden Haven. If they could run for a while, they might have a chance to survive.
"Hand over all your valuables!" In the distance, the bandits' greedy voice could be vaguely heard.
However, the sudden response stunned the family.
"That's right, I'm talking to you. Hand over all your valuables! Then … you can leave your life here as well! " A knight wearing a full set of chainmail and breastplate suddenly appeared on the side of the road. The knight rode on a warhorse, with the badge of a white wolf knight hanging on his chest. He held a warhammer in his hand and shouted at the bandits in the distance.
His voice was even more greedy than the bandits'.
“FUCK！ It's a white wolf knight! It's a trap! Everyone, retreat! " There were five bandits who had rushed over after hearing the child's cries. In the end, they actually encountered a White Wolf Knight?!
The leader of the bandits had a short stature. He held a long spear in his hand and rode on a short, inferior horse. When he saw a White Wolf Knight approaching him, he was so frightened that he hurriedly tightened the reins. As a result, the inferior horse, which had poor reflexes to begin with, fell head first, and even the bandit fell face first into the mud.
"Give it to me!" Ryan rode past the old man on his horse and snatched the pitchfork from the old man's hand without any explanation.
"Of … Of course, honorable Sir Knight!!!" The old man's hands were empty as he answered subconsciously.
Laing threw the pitchfork in his hand. The pitchfork broke through the sound barrier and pierced the chest of the first bandit, knocking him off his horse and bringing down another bandit.
"There's no other way. We can only fight!" At this time, only two bandits were left. They knew that the inferior horses they were riding were absolutely no match for Laing's horse. So, they could only turn their horses around and prepare to fight to the death.
Laing's horse was very fast. Just as the two bandits turned around, Laing had already passed by them.
Two heads fell to the ground.
What happened next was very simple. Laing ignored the bandits' pleas with a smile on his face and finished off the remaining three bandits. Then, he picked up the pitchfork and handed it to the old man. "Here you go."
"Thank … Thank you, Sir White Wolf Knight!" The old man immediately reached out and took it. Then, he knelt down excitedly. "Thank you! You are the one who saved our lives. May I know your name? "
"My name is Laing, 'Sledgehammer' Laing."
…
When Laing arrived at Mjolden Haven, he was leading several horses by himself. There were also many tattered armor and weapons hanging on the horses.
These things should be able to sell for a good price on the black market, Laing thought.
Thinking that he could make a lot of money without any effort, Laing was in a good mood.
He liked bandits the most.
Because if the other party was a bandit, Laing could become a real "bandit" and directly take everything from the other party through violence. For Laing, he was a knight of the kingdom. He was obligated to maintain the security of the kingdom. So, everything he did was legal.
These bandits were different from the bandits he had released in the Hordalan Mountains. These bandits were villagers who could not survive. They were forced to become bandits because they had no other choice. In this case, Ryan killing a few of the leaders and dismissing the rest of the villagers who still had a conscience was a more ideal result.
But for these bandits who specialized in robbing and attacking travelers and farmers on the road, Laing believed that there was no need to show mercy. Letting them go was like letting a tiger go back to the mountain. For these murderers whose hands were stained with the blood of innocent travelers and villagers, the only mercy was to execute them on the spot.
Then, their ill-gotten gains would be his.
His good mood did not last long. When he noticed the situation at the city gate, his good mood completely disappeared.
Groups of soldiers were running on the city wall. All kinds of defensive equipment were being assembled and reinforced. The sergeants shouted loudly at the soldiers to tighten their grip. At the same time, they strictly interrogated the people who wanted to enter the city, looking for possible barbarian spies.
The barbarians are here! This was the information Laing obtained from the villagers he met earlier.
"Crushing Bear" Birig led more than four thousand barbarians into the hinterland of Nord, burning and looting everywhere. Because almost all the troops were defending against the barbarians at the frontline, Nord's internal defenses were empty. When the king of Nord finally turned his troops to deal with Birig, the barbarian army had already carved a bloody path in Nord.
Yesterday, Mjörden Haven received a tip-off from the frontline that Birig led the Bearmen tribe straight to Mjörden Haven! It seemed that something in this port city was attracting them.
The city that received the warning entered a state of full martial law. The soldiers who had not been in a fierce battle for a long time gathered. All the conscripts gathered under the orders of the count and received their weapons from the armory.
Laing easily cut the queue and entered the city, but before he could take a few steps, a group of fully armed soldiers surrounded him. The commander of the army dismounted and walked to Laing, saluting him. "Greetings! White Wolf Knight 'Sledgehammer' Laing! It is a great honor to meet you. Our Lord, Count Albert Becker, has invited you to participate in the ongoing military conference. "
"Of course, but please allow me to go back to the inn to settle down." Laing knew that they were preparing for battle.
"Okay, we'll wait for you here."
Hurrying back to the inn, Laing found the sorceress sitting in the lobby waiting for him. She was wearing tight black leather pants and high-heeled boots. She crossed her long legs and asked, "Laing? Why are you only back now? I'm telling you, the barbarians are coming this way … "
"I know." Laing hurriedly put down his things and handed all the ill-gotten gains to the inn owner. Most of the inn owners had some dark ways to deal with these things.
"So, Laing, we can't wait to go out to sea anymore. I've talked to Sister Ditinda. Why don't we build a teleportation circle and go directly to Sky Castle, then use the teleportation circle there to go directly to Marlin Castle?" Teresa immediately stood up and followed him upstairs. "What do you think?"
Only then did Laing notice that the lobby was full of people, from merchants to citizens, shopkeepers and farmers. Everyone was talking about the barbarians' invasion, and everyone's face was full of tension. The barbarians were coming!
"That's because there's no other way. There's no stable teleportation circle here. If you want to build it yourself, the cost will probably be higher than the reward for this commission, right?" Laing quickly rushed up to the third floor, Teresa following closely behind him. "But you know, this city has already transferred a lot of guards because of the war. Now, even if we include the conscripted soldiers, the garrison will not exceed a thousand people! It's very likely that this city will not be able to hold on! "
"There's also the militia." Laing opened the door of his room and said indifferently.
"Militia? What can those farmers do? They're just in charge of sending themselves to their deaths … "Teresa was only halfway through her words when she suddenly closed her mouth subconsciously.
She had already promised Laing that she would treat everyone equally.
"I'm going to attend the pre-war meeting now." Laing did not refute her on this point, because Teresa was actually right. The militia could only do so much. The man reached out and patted the sorceress on the shoulder. "If you don't want to, then you can directly teleport back to Sky Castle with Lady Ditinda! I'm a knight of Nord, and I must fight to protect my country! "
"No, I'll stay and fight the enemy with you!" The sorceress rejected the man's suggestion.
"… Thank you." Laing nodded. "What about Al, Frey and the others?"
"The paladins have already gathered at the Church of Justice. In this battle, no one can stay out of it." Teresa replied calmly, then watched as Laing hurriedly left.
Count Albert Beck, the "tax collector" of Mjörden Haven, was standing in front of his three-story castle with two of his knights in front of a map, looking at the situation of the battle.
Albert was a middle-aged man in his forties. He looked more feminine and gentle, unlike Villard who was a rough man. He had dark circles under his eyes and an unhealthy flush on his face.
Standing with him were his two knights, Nicolay, nicknamed the "Walnut Knight", and Valdemar, nicknamed the "Bamboo Knight".
"I really don't understand why these bastards of the barbarians are coming to Mjörden Haven. I really can't think of any reason why they're coming here. After all, they're very close to Winterfell! " Albert was the first to curse. When he first received the report, he couldn't believe that Bregg was coming to his territory. Mjörden Haven was located on the western coast of Nord, and it was naturally defended by mountains. Moreover, it was only four to five days' journey from the Empire's territory. Not only that, there was also a pass on the way to Mjörden Haven — Oak Pass.
"According to the information from the scouts, Bregg's order was issued without warning. His troops had originally planned to attack Winterfell after destroying several villages, but … the Bearmen suddenly abandoned most of their loot and forced their way to Mjörden Haven!" Nicolay, the Walnut Knight, was a middle-ranked elite ranger with medium long hair. His weapons were a warhammer and a large bow on his back.
"The problem now is that we don't have enough defense!" Waldemar, the Bamboo Knight, was a high-ranked elite knight with a crew cut. He liked to use lances and muskets. These two knights weren't official members of the Knight Legion. Their strength was mediocre because the most powerful knight under the Count of Mjörden Haven was participating in the war against the barbarians in the north.
Mjörden Haven originally had 500 standing soldiers, but after the King issued a conscription order, Mjörden Haven responded by dispatching a large number of troops to the frontline. Now, Mjörden Haven had less than 300 standing soldiers. Even if they urgently recruited all the conscripts, it would be a big problem to form a garrison of 1,000.
However, the barbarian army had a total of 4,000 soldiers!
"In short, when do you think Bregg and his damned Bearmen will arrive at the city walls?" Albert knew that it was useless to wonder why the barbarians were suddenly coming to his territory. Who knew what those heretics were thinking?
"The garrison at Oak Pass will try to delay Bregg's advance so that Mjörden Haven can improve its defense …" Walnut Knight Nicolay frowned. His face was covered in grease. It was obvious that he had just eaten meat.
Oak Pass was built beside a mountain. It was the only route from Mjörden Haven to Chilly Winter. Mjörden Haven wasn't in a state of alert because of the barbarians' invasion.
"There are only two hundred soldiers defending Oke Pass. We can't hope that they can delay Birig's advance for too long. My knights, tell me, in the worst-case scenario, when will the Bearmen Tribe reach my walls?" Albert waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to worry about such trivial matters.
"At the fastest … thousands of barbarians will arrive at Mjörden Haven the day after tomorrow," Waldemar said after pondering for a while.
The room fell into silence.
At this moment, the guards at the door saluted. Then, Laing walked in and said, "Greetings, Lord Albert!"
"Greetings, Lord Albert! I am Count Albert of Mjörden Haven, Laing the White Wolf Knight. Welcome. We need your strength at this critical juncture. "Albert immediately stepped forward to welcome him.
After a brief description of the current situation, the four of them stood in front of the map again.
"Laing, you have participated in many battles with the barbarians. You know their strength best. Based on our current strength, can we defend this city?" Albert looked at Laing for help.
"Then tell me, how much strength does this city have left?"
"This city can probably gather about three hundred soldiers. Other than that, if we recruit all the conscripts …" Albert looked at his clerk.
The clerk walked up and said, "There are about 600 registered conscripts."
"What if we include the veterans?" Laing continued to ask.
"Even if we include the retired veterans, there will be no more than 800 people," the clerk replied.
Laing was silent for a long time. Finally, he spoke under Albert's expectant gaze. His voice was a little obscure.
"Recruit all the militia."
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
