Work Prophet
Chapter 73 - 34: Trapped in a Perilous City

Chapter 73: Chapter 34: Trapped in a Perilous City

Miss Rabbit’s tears were almost dried up, and her eyes were swollen like walnuts.

When she had set out, her group had numbered fifty-seven strong, yet upon their harried return to Teacup Castle, only a measly fourteen people and one dog remained.

The crux of the matter was that Li Yu had been left behind in Trinidad’s Feud, where by now his chances of survival were likely slim.

In truth, Ireya had been counting the days until Li Yu’s return, but this time coincided with a weekend, and Li Yu’s departure had taken longer than usual—a whole eight days. Moreover, the young lady was preoccupied with patrolling her territory and, in the dead of night, had encountered Trinidad’s call for help with blazing beacons; she had to persuade Alfred to rush to their aid.

In the chaos, she had forgotten that Li Yu was due to arrive tonight.

By the time she remembered, it was already too late.

The thought alone was enough to send the girl into acute heartache; she found breathing difficult, and her heartbeat nearly stopped. She collapsed there, lifeless, as if her soul had been lost.

The new Family Head of Arias had now disconnected from the world due to Li Yu’s death, thankfully without much impact on everyone else.

Aside from Jude, who had once escorted Ireya all the way back to Green Field and witnessed Li Yu’s miraculous appearance and disappearance, possibly realizing something at that moment, no one else knew that Li Yu had visited tonight.

As the beleaguered party fled back to Teacup Castle, it wasn’t long before even the castle’s coachmen and laundry maids knew that the lizard people bandits, normally ensconced in the swamps, had formed an army possibly over a thousand strong.

They had already overrun Trinidad Knight’s Feud, killing everyone there, and were now advancing towards Teacup Castle.

Panic spread instantaneously, with some weeping in corners and praying to the Silver Moon Goddess, while others worried about their families and clamored to return home.

Alfred did not stop any of those who wanted to leave, as he also needed them to spread the news of the lizard people’s attack as far as possible, in order to gather more villagers into the castle for refuge.

Ireya and her party had managed to escape on horseback, whereas the lizard people were on foot, and knowing them, they would likely indulge in burning, killing, and looting along the way; they wouldn’t arrive at Teacup Castle until at earliest dusk tomorrow.

And now, with a short time still until dawn, it meant they had almost an entire day to take action.

Of course, Alfred’s gathering of the people wasn’t purely out of altruism.

Defending the castle required manpower, not just warriors; those villagers, especially the young and robust, could prove useful with just a little training.

The Arias family had just suffered the loss of many elite soldiers, and the old knight needed people to fill these gaps.

Actually, he felt a tinge of relief that Ireya had insisted on supporting Trinidad earlier; had they remained at the Purple Sparrow Flower Knight’s Feud, a midnight ambush would have truly been fatal.

Although some manpower had been lost, it was the first time that the people of Rock Snow City had visually confirmed the hordes of lizard people swarming over the hills. Otherwise, even if someone had come to report the sighting, the castle’s inhabitants would unavoidably harbor doubts about the veracity of such claims.

After all, in the more than nine hundred years since the Arias family had become the master of this land, the lizard people had indeed invaded multiple times, but never in numbers exceeding one hundred.

An appearance of over a thousand people at once would cause most to disbelieve upon hearing the news. Sending out scouts to verify would cost valuable time, and by then, it was likely that the lizard people would already be at the city walls.

By that point, not a single civilian nearby would be left alive.

Sir Alfred ordered the beacon fires to be lit atop the tower and then made his way to the great hall on the second floor of the castle.

By this time, the key figures within Teacup Castle had mostly arrived. Some were still in their nightclothes, but no one was concerned with noble etiquette at the moment.

"What’s the current situation in the castle? Can we withstand the attack of those lizard people?" Alisa asked.

After bowing, the old knight answered, "The granary in Teacup Castle is well-stocked, sufficient to support us for a long time in a siege. Our supply of weapons and armor is also fairly abundant. The only issue is that we’re somewhat short on arrows; we’ve used some recently and have less than four thousand left, but I’ve already ordered more to be made.

"The biggest problem is still manpower. We now have only twenty-six soldiers left, half of whom are older. Thankfully, Miss Ireya had summoned fifty militia before she left. More civilians should be fleeing into the castle soon, and I can select some from among them for defense. Launching an attack is unlikely, but defending the castle shouldn’t be a problem."

"The carrots would have been ready for harvest in a month," someone sighed, "Now they’re all gone... Moreover, considering the viciousness of those lizard people, there won’t be survivors wherever they pass. The land that our family has worked so hard to manage for so long is about to turn into waste."

Their words plunged many into silence.

After a moment, Ireya’s uncle Lucio wiped his sweat and urgently said, "What time is it for you to be worrying about the fate of carrots and the lives of the civilians? Think about what we should do first. Relying only on the people we have, we can’t possibly defeat those lizard people and take back our land. If we just sit trapped in this castle, we’ll eventually meet our end."

"We need reinforcements," Alfred admitted as well.

"I’ve already released pigeons to send word to Rock Snow City," the newly appointed steward Yago said. "But even if Marquis Kuren is willing to send troops to our aid, it would take at least ten days, and..."

"And now that the fall harvest is nearly upon us, his marching could lead to delays in the harvest," Fosto, who had stepped down as steward and now served as an advisor to Ireya, added. "The Marquis Kuren should come to our aid, but it might not be until after the harvest."

"That’s too late," Lucio raised his voice, "What if we can’t hold out until then? Alfred, you also mentioned that our initial estimate puts the number of those lizard people at over a thousand. What if they are even more numerous? Two thousand? Five thousand? We will be in grave danger."

"We need to borrow troops from our neighbors. They are closer to us, so the risk of delaying the harvest would be smaller. Moreover, if those lizard people can’t bring down our castle, they might start causing trouble on their lands. Even for their own sake, they should help us."

"Everyone around knows what the conditions are like in the Gai Gu Swamp. Who would believe that such a number of lizard people could emerge from there? To be honest, if it weren’t for Ireya and Sir Alfred personally seeing those creatures, would you have believed it yourself?" Alisa said calmly.

"Perhaps we could seek help from the Silver Moon Church," someone else suggested. "Those damned lizard people worship their own undying, terrifying Evil God, and they’ve even openly defiled Pisya. If they occupy this land, the light of the goddess won’t be able to spread here anymore."