After losing thousands of large bodies, the Wolfmen decided to retreat temporarily. Afterward, 250,000 Beastmen soldiers surrounded Sarni City to siege the city. Their leader, Commander Harrington, had dispatched a force of 30,000 troops to go around Sarni City and invade deeper into the territory of Sarnia Duchy to collapse the agricultural backbone of the city.
After the troop had barely passed Sarni City, they had disappeared into the misty cemetery behind the city. They had been massacred by the 300,000 zombies that had surrounded them in the graveyard; there wasn’t a single survivor.
Over 200,000 Beastmen troops were left, they had launched several surprise attacks against Sarni City over the next three days, but they all failed. Wolfmen corpses were piled high around the city’s moat. Even after losing over 10,000 troops, the Beastmen army had been unable to take even half a step onto the city walls.
In Duchess Bellina’s manor, Bella was currently discussing strategy with her roommates. The continuous sound of cannon fire roaring from the walls had already become a steady backdrop to their activities. Ivy and Ignaz were also present. Due to their lack of military knowledge, besides Pamela, the other three girls decided to serve as quiet listeners.
“It’s already been three days, yet those Beastmen still haven’t calmed down! Why hasn’t my royal father sent reinforcements?”
“Kriss, your old man would be more than happy if all us duchies were to fall! That way, he can politely reclaim the land that he has given out.”
Not only Kriss but also Princess Pamela found it very strange that her royal father hadn’t sent reinforcements to the Gabriel Empire. The Manasvir Empire should have had plenty of troops to spare!
As for Sarnia Duchy’s stalwart defense of the southern border, the Gabriel Empire had been the first to know about the situation. After a round of rough calculation, the Emperor had personally promised Bella that as long as she could hold out, then he would give her an even greater title.
This declaration had already been delivered to Bella’s own hands by a Lion Eagle Knight. After glancing at it, she had thrown it straight into the trash. This old scoundrel had even tried to get her to send Princesses Pamela, Kriss, and Lisha to the backlines. Bella had immediately expelled the knight after reading it.
What nonsense was “It’s safer in the backlines; if Princess Pamela were to suffer an accident, then it would be hard to explain to the Manasvir Empire?”
It was complete nonsense. Bella was confident that nowhere was safer than to be with her. This old scoundrel, his imperial mandate was written full of flowery prose that spanned several large pages, yet there wasn’t a single word about plans of reinforcements or a counterattack. Did he think that Bella was a child that he could fool at will?
Bella had thrown out this mandate because she was waiting for the Gabriel Empire to quote an even greater reward. Sarni City was located at the perfect location, blocking access to the most optimal path for the Beastmen armies to invade the Gabriel Empire. There was no way the Beastmen could go around the city and leave a hostile force of 60,000 soldiers at their backs.
To Bella’s understanding, Pamela and Kriss wouldn’t be able to refute such a request with ease. Their family’s royal father’s disposition, they knew better than even Bella. Presently, Sarnia’s defense army’s morale was soaring. With the aid of their new firearms, these people, who had initially been refugees escaping from the invading Beastmen, had transformed into a proud militia.
“Bella, those new firearms, can they…”
“No! Princess Pamela, this technology is not for sale. Also, you have a somewhat idealistic view of these firearms.”
Bella rejected Pamela’s request. Arquebuses and copper guns were not modern firearm technology. Manually reloading firearms was an extremely time-consuming process. The fact that they were able to have such an impressive showing here in Sarni City was because many Death Ghosts were aiding in the reloading process. The gunmen would be able to fire as if they had “unlimited” ammunition due to the Death Ghosts reloading for them.
According to aerial scouting reports from the demons, the Beastmen Race’s other three armies were converging on Sarni City. There would be almost 1 million enemy Beastmen surrounding Sarni City soon.
Sarni City’s gunpowder and ammunition production continued every day; there was almost currently enough for over two months of continuous use. Bella had no fear of the Beastmen. Let alone one million, even if the entire Beastmen Race came out, she had the confidence of lasting until the end.
However, only defending was not an option. Bella suspected that the Beastmen and the Dark Humans had more cards up their sleeves. Under Bella’s orders, tens of millions of demons were gathering in the Darkness Sacred Region. The counterattack against the Beastmen and the Dark Humans would happen soon.
“Bella, is there anything I can do to help! These past couple of days, I’ve been rather useless; I feel awkward…”
After the meeting concluded, Bella had just arrived at the Lord’s Mansion’s observation deck and was about to enjoy the night scenery. Suddenly, Noreya had appeared and begged to help. Bella, seeing Noreya holding onto her hand like a little girl, almost smirked. However, she managed to keep it in due to her fear of being “backstabbed.”
“What are you laughing at… Bella, it’s your fault anyway, not letting me move out.”
Perhaps it was due to realizing that her current actions were a bit too sweet and loving as if she were acting like a little girl holding her lover’s hand, Noreya withdrew her small hand and glared at Bella. She had initially wanted to sneak out and assassinate the enemy army’s commander, but Bella stopped her.
In these types of large scale defense battles, assassins were waterboys. Besides assassinating the high-ranking officers of the enemy camp, there wasn’t much else for them to do. These couple of days, Noreya had only been able to sit atop the inner walls and try out her firearm abilities with an arquebus; she didn’t have much fun.
“Baby, that’s because I cherish you! Noreya, I know that you are powerful, but I have my plans for assassination. Will you listen to me?
“Who… Who’s your baby… Fine, I understand. If you have an assassination mission, you better tell me first! Compared to President Ivy and Lola, my capabilities are much higher.”
Words covered with honey have always been effective against girls, and even the cold and proud Noreya was unable to withstand Bella’s coaxing words. Noreya disappeared with a bright red face; she must have entered the assassin’s stealth state.
There were Dark Human mages in the Beastmen army, and they might have had anti-assassin measures in place. If Noreya were to be captured or killed, then Bella would be regretful. Instead, she thought of a new strategy to attack the Beastmen.
“Lady Bella, Lady Dolores has already finished adjusting the big guy. She’s just waiting for you to point out the target.”
“Excellent. Return and tell her that we will test it tonight. Also, tell someone to drive the device over here. I’ll be performing secret maneuvers tonight.”
Not long after Noreya disappeared, several demon guards descended from the sky in front of Bella, reporting their latest findings. These past couple of days, the Beastmen had been attacking the city nonstop, causing Bella not even to have time to do anything to her sisters. She felt slightly resentful of the Beastmen due to this, and if she couldn’t wreak some havoc in the Beastmen camp, then she would feel stifled.
On the southern border of the Gabriel Empire, what was formerly the capital of Norlander Duchy, Nolan City, had been captured and occupied by the Beastmen army.
Duke Brandon had escaped with a small number of close subordinates toward the Gabriel Empire’s borders and had hidden away. It wasn’t just Duke Brandon either. All of the nobility that successfully escaped had decided to stay underground for the time being. They didn’t return to the Gabriel Empire because they would be arrested as traitors by the Emperor, even if they were Dukes.
At that time, they would be thrown directly into prison and would not have any wiggle room left, especially since there were plenty of people eyeing up their positions. Now, looking at the current state of Sarnia Duchy, it appeared as if it would be able to hold out to the end. At the time, the Dukes in hiding would be able to come back and reclaim their land. After all, the Beastmen had never shown any inclination to occupy their conquered territories in the past permanently.
The Beastmen were a nomadic race; they didn’t do farming, nor did they have much use for the human’s conquered territories. After they had stolen enough grains and treasures, they would naturally return home.
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