Chapter 12

“The marquis is not here?”

“Yes.”

“Then where is he now?”

In the center of the east side of the Mirror Lake camp, in the largest and most luxurious tent, a man and woman were talking.

If Colin was here, he would immediately recognize that the man who was half-kneeling on the ground was the knight of the Saint Hilde family who had issued the emergency recruitment order to the Firefox mercenary group.

That arrogant knight from before was now bowing to him.

“The marquis, he…” facing the woman’s question, this knight seemed a bit hesitant.

“Knight Bliss, if this question involves military orders, you don’t have to say it.” The woman didn’t make things difficult for the knight as she said in a low voice.

This was a tall woman wearing a slightly loose snow-white fox fur coat. Her beautiful golden hair hung down from her shoulders and back. Her hair flickered with lights and shadows as if she had some kind of magic power. It was hard for people to look at her closely, but they could not help but be entranced by her.

A translucent black veil covered her face, but the elegance and nobility that lie deep in her bones could not be hidden.

Her every move carried a distinct temperament.

This kind of authoritative temperament could only be possessed by a true noble.

However, the mage hat on her head and the purple magic staff in her hand indicated that she was a mage.

This was a little strange.

In the human empire of this world, although the nobles and wizards were not mortal enemies, they were still incompatible creatures.

The reason was very simple, the wizards did not have faith.

In the eyes of these spell casters, only the arcane truth was the eternal pursuit.

And their gods were just powerful mortals who had mastered the arcane truth.

Therefore, in the eyes of the noble knights who believed in the Lord of Glory, these mages were complete blasphemers and heresy who should be burned to death on the stake.

However, in the Glorious Empire, where the nobles held absolute power, although the mages were not welcomed, they did not suffer much persecution.

The reason was simple, the mages were powerful enough.

Of course, mages who did not believe in gods were the same as warriors. The ceiling of their strength was tier 6, and there had never been a saint-level mage before.

However, it was a little different from warriors.

Even if mages could not enter the saint-level, they had a way to display the strength of a saint-level or above.

This method was a forbidden spell.

With sufficient preparation, expensive casting materials, and an extremely terrifying price, a tier 6 mage could cast a forbidden spell.

During the period when the Church of Light and the Wizard Council were at their most intense, ten tier 6 wizards had once cast a forbidden spell known as Falling Stars.

This terrifying forbidden spell had wiped a city with a population of over a million off the map!

Of course, the wizards had also paid an extremely heavy price for this forbidden spell.

Seven of the ten tier 6 wizards died on the spot, and the remaining three died one after another within the next five years.

However, their sacrifice also allowed the church and the nobles to deeply understand the horror of mages. In the end, the two sides reached a certain degree of reconciliation.

However, the enmity left behind by a thousand years of struggle could not be easily resolved. In addition to the irreconcilable contradiction in their beliefs, the nobles and mages were two different forces; strangers to one another.

Therefore, the female mage who was able to make the knights of the St. Hilde family treat her respectfully and was suspected to be a great noble acted particularly strangely.

Seeing that the female mage did not continue to ask about Marquis Charles’ whereabouts, Knight Bliss was relieved.

But after hesitating for a moment, he reminded her, “Miss Vera, you’d better leave this camp as soon as possible. It’s… not safe here…”

“There’s no such thing as safe on the battlefield.” The female mage looked at the knight strangely and said indifferently, “Since I’ve come here, I’m already prepared for battle.”

“No, you don’t understand what I mean.” Knight Bliss said in a slightly more serious tone, “What I mean is, this place is extremely dangerous!”

The female mage’s expression changed. She stared at the knight who was half-kneeling in front of her through the black veil and asked in a serious tone, “Knight Bliss, what exactly is the mission given to you by the marquis?”

“My mission is to patrol the camp on the west side and maintain order,”Knight Raymond said to Colin.

The two of them walked into the camp on the east side. Compared to the messy camp on the west side, this place was much quieter and more solemn.

However, it was a little too quiet.

Colin frowned as he looked at the situation in the camp. The unease in his heart grew more and more serious.

“Only patrolling and maintaining order? I didn’t ask you to stand guard around the perimeter?”

“No.” Raymond shook his head. It was obvious that he had the same doubts. “It’s not just our squad. I haven’t seen any cavalry squad spread out to stand guard.”

Colin’s brows furrowed even more tightly.

The importance of vision in war was self-evident.

However, now, this battalion stationed by the Mirror Lake had actually given up on probing the surrounding situation.

This was tactical suicide!

Other than the possibility that Marquis Charles was an idiotic commander, it could only mean that the importance of this camp was very low.

Though it could be that they were meant to act as bait!

“I’m afraid that the main force of the army has long been out of the camp.” Colin looked at the overly quiet eastern camp and asked Raymond.

“Yes, Young Master Colin. These days, there have been troops leaving the camp, but they haven’t returned.”

“So, the main force of the regular army has long left quietly. Now, there are only the mercenary groups and commoners who were summoned by the emergency recruitment order. Of course, there are also knights like you who have lost their lordship.”

“Yes, our real mission is actually to keep an eye on the untrained soldiers and prevent them from running around.”

“It seems that…” Colin was halfway through his sentence when he saw a group of cavalry coming out from the center of the camp.

The one in the lead who was riding a white horse was actually a woman.

Moreover, Colin recognized the knight who followed closely behind her at a glance. It was the one who issued the emergency recruitment order to the Firefox mercenary group.

This was a big chance to escape!

Colin, who had already realized that he was in a dangerous situation, immediately walked over.

Since he could not find Marquis Charles, then he should be able to escape his fate of being cannon fodder bait by finding this important figure in front of him.

However, Colin had only taken a few steps when he was frightened by the ear-piercing sound of the bugle call.

Colin suddenly turned his head and saw a flock of birds startled from the woods in the north.

Then, amid the trembling of the earth, a thin black and white line appeared on the horizon.

The trolls were coming!

Like water dripping into a boiling pot of oil, the entire Mirror Lake camp immediately erupted.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”

“Don’t run around! Fall into formation! Stand up to face the enemy!”

The shouts of the officers were of no use at all. The motley crowd gathered in the camp on the west side was completely thrown into chaos by the sudden shock.

This was the consequence of not keeping watch. When the enemy attacked, there was simply not enough time to react.

In fact, even if there was enough time to react, it was impossible to resist the regular army of the trolls just by relying on the group of soldiers that had been carelessly recruited in this camp.

Colin was very clear that what was going to happen next would definitely be a one-sided massacre!

Therefore, he pointed at the woman who had rushed to the east and said to Raymond in a deep voice,

“Let’s go, follow her closely!”