Work Prophet
Chapter 611 - 43 Revenge

Chapter 611: Chapter 43 Revenge

After capturing Jacob, the Lady immediately arranged for an interrogation, but due to the severe torture and Jacob’s own resolve to die, he could not withstand half a day’s questioning.

However, Miss Rabbit still extracted a lot of useful intelligence from Jacob, finally ascertaining the exact number of the Dwarf army they were facing.

This time, the Dwarf Kingdom had dispatched a formidable army of thirty thousand troops, intending to use the Dragon Ridge Mountain Range as a passage to invade the West Territory.

They lost about a thousand men after clashing with Marquis Kuren and the army he led, then the Lady used her cunning tactics, which lacked martial virtue, to eliminate another twelve hundred soldiers. Now, a little more than twenty-seven thousand remained.

On the other hand, Miss Rabbit, in her haste to advance into the mountains, only managed to muster an army of five thousand.

Even after accounting for the three thousand men they had just rescued, the disparity in numbers was still significant, the enemy outnumbering them by more than three times.

The Lady, now aware of the situation, expressed in disbelief, "Would those Dwarves die without securing an advantage? Their army of twenty-seven thousand fighting against our eight thousand still resorts to such scheming and tricks?"

Duren shook his head upon hearing this, "In a direct confrontation, those Dwarves would indeed have a high chance of winning but the losses would certainly not be insignificant. And while they have declared their intent to march all the way to Lion Heart Castle, such a chant is likely just a bluff. However, their desire to swallow West Territory is certainly genuine."

"They are likely to send reinforcements, but the entire Dwarf Kingdom has just over a million inhabitants, roughly the same as West Territory. If I were the commander of that army, I too would try to avoid hard battles as much as possible."

Beyond that information, Jacob also revealed that there were three members from the Wing Tribe covertly planted in the Dwarf Kingdom, each arriving in Bratis Continent at different times.

Jacob was among those who arrived later; it was only about a year and a half ago that he reached this strange continent.

After spending six months learning the Universal Language, and through the introduction of his compatriots, he met the "Howling" Dwarf King, Herry, and successfully became Herry’s private military advisor.

He joined the Dwarves on this military expedition, providing military consultancy and aerial reconnaissance.

It was not until then that Miss Rabbit realized that the Wing Tribe had coveted the Empire for so long, with Gabriel secretly bringing in the Dragon Egg and partaking in the tournament, having established outposts all over the continent.

However, Edward II seemed to have caught onto their scheme, openly rebuking the Dwarves and Elves after the tournament ended, exposing their clandestine filthy dealings with the Wing Tribe members.

Edward II soon died from drinking poisoned wine, and Gars, who succeeded him on the Skeleton Throne, did not yet have a firm foothold, and had to guard against his own brothers. Not wanting to offend two neighbors at such a time, he dropped the matter.

Perhaps it was the sudden exposure of their connection with the Wing Tribe that made the Dwarves decide to immediately launch a major invasion of West Territory.

The Lady also learned from Jacob about another traitor, Ilkand, the murderer of Marquis Kuren, and his whereabouts.

Jacob told them that the Dwarves had sent Ilkand back to look for reinforcements, instructing him to deceive the incoming forces and lead them to Gravel Valley.

Miss Rabbit, however, had not seen Ilkand yet, but given the vastness of the Dragon Ridge Mountain Range, it was entirely possible for the two groups to have missed each other along the way.

After seven or eight days of plundering and resting, the army had temporarily averted a food crisis, and the previously rescued wounded had largely recovered and could rejoin the battle.

Consequently, the Lady gathered the noble commanders within the army once again and announced,

"We must avenge Marquis Kuren!"

There was no dissent to this, as they all were vassals of the Figrola family; avenging their liege was part of their duty.

"Three forces played a part in the death of Marquis Kuren," Miss Rabbit began to organize her thoughts and analyse.

"First are our own traitors, Hugo and Morse, one lured the Marquis into that valley, and the other cut off our army’s supplies, ultimately leading the Marquis and the ten thousand men he led into peril.

"Of course, there’s Ilkand as well," the young lady continued, "a fear-riddled, life-clinging traitor who broke the sacred oath and killed his own liege by his own hand—an unforgivable crime!"

Her words stirred a chorus of agreement among the crowd, with some nobles even drawing their swords to take oaths to slay these three traitors.

As the murmurs subsided a bit, the lady continued, "Then there are those Dwarfs, greedy and cunning, who have long coveted our lands.

"This time they stealthily mobilized a large army, aiming to invade our homeland, and it was them who trapped Marquis Kuren in that valley; they most certainly cannot escape this vengeance."

"Exactly, we must make those damned Dwarfs pay!" Fabrice concurred.

He had suffered greatly this time, trapped in that valley, at one point believing he would not make it out alive.

There were many nobles who shared his sentiment, their hatred for the Dwarfs bone deep.

"Lastly, the Wing Tribe; all of this was incited and planned by them from behind the scenes. The Wing Tribe member I just captured, named Jacob, it was he who thought up this battle plan, but now he’s dead.

"So, we still need to defeat that Dwarf Army and capture those three traitors."

However, before the lady could finish her speech, she was interrupted.

"And don’t forget those Wildmen!"

"Hmm?"

"I said, let’s not forget those filthy Wildmen; they are accomplices of the Dwarfs, and we should annihilate them all!!!" spoke the representative of the Soto family.

And his words also garnered the majority’s support.

After all, the entire debacle stemmed from those Wildmen, who unleashed raids in the west to begin with, with the disastrous defeat following suite.

"Uh..." The lady hesitated, sensing that the Wildmen were indeed partly responsible, but she knew total extermination was not an option.

It wasn’t because some of them were women, children, and the elderly—after all, there was no Geneva Convention on the Bratis Continent.

The main issue was that complete annihilation conflicted with the plans she and Li Yu had, as they still needed the Wildmen to help them combat the encroaching Dwarf Army.

But now, the cries for the total slaughter of the Wildmen were increasingly overshadowing any other voices.

Miss Rabbit subconsciously glanced towards Li Yu in the distance; whenever she faced a difficulty in the past, her first instinct was always to seek him out.

She noticed that Li Yu was also looking at her at that moment, his eyes filled with a look of encouragement.

The lady lowered her head, deep in thought for a moment, then she drew the flintlock pistol from her waist and fired a shot into the sky.

The sudden loud bang and flash of light quieted the crowd down instantly.

Once all eyes were on her, the young lady spoke up again, "We cannot kill those Wildmen."

"Why?" someone asked.

"Because they are still useful. They are key to our defeating those Dwarfs."