King
Chapter 560 - 560 120 Worry_1

560: Chapter 120, Worry_1 560: Chapter 120, Worry_1 “Are you sure you’ve not led us astray?”

Hudson asked, feigning severity.

Everything was going according to plan; under circumstances of losing aerial control, it was challenging to continuously monitor a team tens of miles away without interruption.

Every transmission could be considered to be bought at the cost of scouts’ lives.

Any slight carelessness and they’d be killed by the Hawkmen before reaching their destination.

At this point, even the Magical Beast Knights wouldn’t dare run rampant.

The number of skilled fighters in the kingdom’s Border Army was limited, and all of them were heavily influential.

Hudson did not have the power to treat them like expendable foot soldiers.

The loss of information on the Southeastern Province Noble Alliance Army was entirely expected.

This was bound to happen as long as Earl Piers did not fortify his defenses.

Given the time, it is only four or five hours since the notification was sent and, even if they were fleeing, they had only travelled about thirty or forty miles.

If people were sent to find them now, they would be found quickly.

Instead of rushing to find them, he was questioning whether his subordinates had led them the wrong way.

Obviously, Hudson’s intention to rescue the Southeastern Province Nobles’ Allied Forces was not as strong as it appeared on the surface.

“Earl, we can be sure this is the place!

Look at the footprints by the lake—they prove that a large army had just gathered.

We don’t know why, even though we informed them to hold their positions and wait for help, they suddenly disappeared,” explained the scout team leader who was guiding the way.

Intra-noble grievances were often complicated, even those within the Noble Consortium struggled to keep track, let alone the foot soldiers.

A glance at history proved that many military disasters were caused by waiting for rescue.

Whether reinforcement troops could be relied upon depended on who they were marching with.

Naively hoping for reinforcement from the enemy in a timely manner was overly idealistic.

According to regular reasoning, Earl Piers’ actions were beyond reproach.

Unfortunately, reality is always full of surprises.

Hudson and his troops arrived at the scheduled meeting point only to find that the Southeastern Province Nobles’ Allied Forces were nowhere to be found.

He symbolically inspected the footprints by the lake before waving his hand and saying, “Right, you have all been working hard on this journey.

Go and rest first!

Signal for the entire army to set up camp here.

We will continue our operation after we ascertain the situation.”

A fairly standard order without any surprises.

A rescue operation needed a target.

Theoretically, the movements of a large army would be noticeable, and following the left-behind footprints might lead them to the target.

However, that was merely a theory.

The soldiers were utterly exhausted from the forced march.

In order to preserve their fighting power, they had to rest and regroup.

The Southeastern Province Nobles’ Allied Forces had strayed off course on their own.

This wasn’t a case of Hudson ignoring their plight.

Even if news of this spread, everyone would simply say that they had it coming.

The consequences of their poor judgment ought to be borne by them alone.

Despite their wasted journey, Hudson chose not to comment.

However, the noble officers below had already reached their limit.

Complaints and criticisms echoed nonstop.

While high-ranking nobles understood that this development was a result of political maneuvering between the commanders, the middle and lower nobles couldn’t comprehend all the nuances.

Hudson decided to ignore all these.

Let them grumble, and better for it to be widely known.

Misjudging the intentions of a gentleman based on the vile hearts of the petty is liable to loss of reputation.

For a giant entity like the Dalton Family, the best way to facilitate their downfall is to simmer them slowly, not striking them head-on and attracting hatred.

The more the officers below held grudges, the better.

Only with resentment in their hearts would they slack off in their search for the Southeastern Province Nobles’ Allied Forces.

Delay their actions slightly, slow down their reports a little, and soon the day will end; the rescue will become tomorrow’s concern.

If other armies that need rescuing are found nearby, it might well drag on even longer.

At this point in the operation, Hudson had already gathered over thirty thousand soldiers of the Northern Expedition Army.

No matter how you looked at it, it could not be considered a failure.

The number of troops under his command was increasing, which also slowed down their movements.

In such a situation, coming across the main forces of the Orcs would definitely not end well.

What surprised him was that the Orc Army was not only not seeking them out, but they were also purposefully avoiding them.

While part of this was due to his awe-inspiring reputation, it was mainly because the situation inside the Orc Empire was more complicated than he had expected.

The Orcs’ chosen avoidance was not out of fear; it was the five royal clans of the Orc Empire trying to conserve their strength, hesitant or even afraid to waste too many of their troops on him.

Hudson was more than happy with the enemy not approaching him.

His mission this time was to ‘rescue,’ and not to fight the final battle with the Orcs.

Even if he won a few splendid battles, they would hold no meaning to him.

On the contrary, rescuing more noble escapees was of greater practical significance.

The bond of being a ‘lifesaver’ would make the act of forming alliances easier.

This rescue mission might just be the best opportunity for Hudson to establish a network of connections and integrate himself into the major noble circles of the kingdom in a short time.

…

In the Silver Moon Wolf Clan Army…

“You said that the Bimon Cavalry, who are nearest to the enemy’s reinforcements, are deliberately avoiding the enemy?”

Duke Daniel asked in a frosty tone.

The chilling aura he emitted seemed about to freeze the air.