Chapter 77 - Vol1 Ch77: Draconic hero

The successive victories of Royas had gotten a bit to their heads.

In the end, it was Eldridge’s policies that had continued to oppress the nobles in his country and raised them into ravenous wolves. In the early days of the war, it was also these ravenous wolf-like nobles who were the most enthusiastic.

After all, so much had been taken from them by Eldrigde’s policies. To change their status quo, they had to either overthrow Eldridge’s rule, or obtain what they needed in the war.

It was because of this that during the war, the nobles of Royas were extraordinarily vicious, defeating the troops of Interkam battle after battle. The successive victories had made these Royas aristocrats greedier and greedier.

From their perspectives, Interkam was now just a lamb waiting to be slaughtered that couldn’t mount anything resembling resistance. So three days ago, one of the aristocrats who participated in the siege chose to aggressively move out and take down the wall of Colomier.

As a result, when they were attacking the city, Nala led the reinforcement onto the battlefield through a secluded route, took advantage of her extreme intuition to choose the perfect moment and flanked this aggressive squad.

It was because Nala had established her prestige within the reinforcement army that these soldiers were willing to take the initiative and followed her attack. And their trust wasn’t for nothing, as Nala did indeed lead them to their first victory in a long time.

Through this battle, the Saintress of Salvation Nala, who has been fighting at the forefront of the battlefield, won the worship of many people through the hope she brought, her bravery and beautiful appearance. In the end, most people were visual creatures.

Even Negary, it was because his men were still essentially human that he took a humanoid appearance in front of most people. Part of the reason was to invoke a sense of racial identity, otherwise, there was no need for Negary to keep up a humanoid appearance at all in front of others.

Even when they knew Negary wasn’t human, as long as he kept up his appearance, he would still receive their respect and approval, thus making it more convenient for Negary to control them. If he instead took the appearance of a tentacle monster, even if Negary had the same fatal sense of charm and charisma as he does now, besides some people with special fetishes, most of those who submitted themselves to Negary would lack a sense of affinity.

It was undeniable that appearance played a great role in many cases. If Nala was a woman with a bucket waist and the face of a sow, it would have been a lot tougher to convince marshal Wells to give up command of Colomier rather than how smoothly it was going right now.

After the first victory, quite a few people had apparently been given a sense of confidence, as some nobles of Interkam had also begun to support Colomier. Although they were unwilling to submit to the king, they also didn’t want Interkam to be destroyed. With the emergence of Princess Nala and the hope of victory she brought, the various powers within the country finally began to reorganize and integrate themselves into the military.

At this moment, within the fortress city of Colomier, the commanding officers of Interkam were gathered to discuss their plan of action.

Although the right of command had been transferred to Nala due to Seth the First’s orders, Nala’s understanding of war was lacking, to say the least, so she was more like a mascot during this meeting.

The one who would truly decide the battle plan right now was still the previous commander, marshal Alan Wells and various knights with noble peerage. Among them, Rhys Laval, who had displayed his excellence in the previous battle, had also obtained a certain right to speak.

“We are currently inferior to them in terms of both number and equipment” Alan Wells explained in a deep voice: “After taking that previous loss, that bastard Kada will surely be a lot more cautious, so I believe it is best that we continue to fortify our defenses for now, Marshal”

“I think what sir Wells suggested makes sense. Since more and more support is arriving from forces within the country, keeping up our defenses would be best to ensure victory” one of the knights agreed.

During this period, the army structure was very complicated. The royal family had its own army, but it wasn’t too much bigger than an aristocrat’s personal army. An army consisted mostly of troops supplied by nobles in accordance with their duties, knights who volunteer their service, and large numbers of hired mercenaries.

While the army Marshal technically had full control over it, they were still subjected to the restrictions and opinions of noble knights. The way it currently was, vassals were afforded a lot of autonomy as long as they fulfilled their obligations, which was also one of the main reasons why the aristocrats would rather let this country perish rather than sending more troops to aid the war effort.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate” Rhys spoke up on the other side: “Royas’ army is stronger than we are, this is a fact, and also the exact reason why we can’t keep blindly defending as we have done, otherwise, we might not be able to keep it up”

If Royas was only a bit stronger than Interkam, then defense was indeed the correct approach, but in truth, even if they kept up their defenses the same way they had been doing, Royas’ army would still be able to lay siege and takedown Colomier in very little time, the difference in strength was simply too great.

“And so, if we really want to seize a chance at victory, we have to think of a way to actively initiate an attack and teach Royas’ army a lesson. We need to strike at their morale to put pressure on them, forcing them to halt their offensive momentum and buy more time to wait for support” Rhys said.

“Are you kidding me?” the knight scoffed: “Choosing to take the offensive instead of defending while being at a disadvantage is nothing but suicide”

“You think it’s impossible, the Royas army also think it’s impossible, and that’s exactly why there’s a chance for us to succeed in the first place” Rhys said with a sigh, this tactic carried great risk, and if they failed, it would mean total annihilation.

If possible, he would rather not take this risk, but the current situation was one where blindly defending meant they had no chance at winning.

“Then tonight, a squad of elites will move out from the fortress and perform a night raid” Nala, who had been listening blankly up to now, suddenly declared, and caused everyone in the room to be stunned.

“Sir Marshal, are you serious?” Alan Wells stood up in shock and asked.

“Yeah, let’s decide on that, I’ll lead the raid team tonight. Is anyone here willing to participate?” Nala nodded affirmatively, her instincts told her that this operation would very likely succeed, and if that was true, then why not?

“It’s too risky, Marshal…” another knight on the side loudly refuted.

“But Interkam has already reached the point where we have to take such risks” Nala looked up at the knight and softly replied.

“But… but there is no need for the Marshal to take the risk, I can also lead the team” the knight lost to Nala’s resolute gaze, lowered his head and spoke.

“I have nothing to fear” Nala’s eyes were bright and clear, then her tone suddenly turned solemn, “Knight, please tell me your name”

“Alkors” the knight stood upright with his hand on his sword, as if he was receiving some sort of glory: “Alkors Louis, heir of the [School of Steel]”

“Then, are you willing to come with me tonight?” with a smile on her face, Nala asked softly, exuding the proof of the draconic hero, a unique sense of charisma that could solicit the adoration of all.

Alkors clenched the hilt of his sword tightly, lowered his head, and answered with a softened tone: “As you wish”