Chapter 197: A DANGEROUS ALLIANCE

VOLUME 3: CHAPTER 197 – A DANGEROUS ALLIANCE (1/3)

When the messenger from the Kushain believers arrived, the Goblin King was in the middle of a war council. Their objective was none other than the Kushain believers’ territory. It was in that very meeting that the messenger from the Kushain believers showed up brazenly. Hence, no one could blame the goblins for greeting him with such savage smiles.

The poor messenger couldn’t help but pale at the sight of all the goblins. With goblins bigger than humans gathered before him, he felt as if they were licking their lips as they looked at him. Like a frog stared at by a snake, or a moth attracted to the flames, or a rabbit hunted by a lion, so his heart was in disarray.

The Goblin King alone, around whom the council was centered, quietly watched the unexpected development with his eyes closed as he considered the possibility of an alliance. What were the advantages? What were the disadvantages? Or how would the battle progress? The Goblin King thought of all sorts of possibilities as he listened to the messenger.

“I-I… Have come b-before your presence… L-Lord Master of monsters…” The messenger spoke in pauses, but the Goblin King thought this much was already commendable considering he had yet to faint.

“Ku ku ku… An alliance, huh. It would appear that humans looking to die have come before us seeking an alliance,” Gi Za said with a mischievous cold gaze and a wicked smile.

“Oh? An alliance…” The fierce giant goblin, Rashka, said.

He who was rumored to be an evil spirit from the underworld, held his club over his shoulder as he looked down at the human.

The poor messenger could only allow the cold sweat to drip off his back as Rashka walked around him with a terrifying smile.

“…” Meanwhile, the sword king, Gi Go Amatsuki, said nothing, but looked at the messenger sharply.

Gi Zu Ruo, adopted a similar stance, as he fiddled with his spear and quietly watched things develop. He was making sure that he would be able to move as soon as the king gave the order.

The goblins that were duke class and above were already like this, so what more the others? Gi Gi Orudo allowed his monster army to graze and play, and Gi Gi Arsil was doing some maintenance on his short sword, a little something he learned from the Ganra tribe.

When the Goblin King said nothing, the messenger felt like the angels had come for him.

“Very well… We shall accept that alliance.”

The Goblin King’s voice wasn’t loud, but his words resounded clearly. It was because the other goblins listened carefully to his words.

“Y-Yesh…” The messenger had only spoken a few words, but his energy had already been sapped dry. Still, he prayed to his god and wrung out every bit of strength he had left.

“U-Umm… our country is c-currently surrounded by F-Fatina’s army, so…”

“You couldn’t possibly be asking us to save you now, are you?” Gi Za said as he glared at the messenger frostily.

The messenger felt like his lifespan had been cut in half as he quietly nodded.

“Your Majesty, there is no need to listen to the grumblings of this human. This is an opportunity! If there is a war to the east, then we should take the south!” Gi Za said.

The Goblin King turned to him and the messenger shook.

“We should wipe out all of our enemies!”

“…Messenger, whose idea was this alliance?” After hearing Gi Za’s opinion, the king turned to the messenger once again.

“I-It was her h-holiness…” The messenger replied.

The Goblin King closed his eyes and pondered. Mira Vi Burnen. According to Zaurosh’s intel, she was supposedly a resourceful person.

“Very well. We will send out our soldiers as proof of our alliance then.”

“T-Thank you, y-your majesty!” After the messenger prostrated himself, he immediately left the scene, got up his horse, and rode back to Cultidian.

“…Do you really intend to ally with them?” Gi Za asked the Goblin King seriously. It was as if his attitude earlier was nothing more than an act.

“Of course, but our army shall head south,” the Goblin King replied.

The place the Goblin King pointed to on the map was Elrain Kingdom. From there he drew a ‘U’ and went up north to Cultidian.

By bringing the defensive line of the south down, they would be able to protect the border lands while expanding their territory.

Until now they couldn’t aim for the south since the risk of provoking the other countries and getting themselves entangled in more wars was too great, but after clashing with the Order of the Blue Bird Knights and antagonizing Pena, there was no reason to fear the issue anymore.

“From here on out, we will regard all members of the Ashunasan Alliance as an enemy. Let there be no mercy for all who block our path!” The Goblin King had been speaking calmly until now, but when he said these words, he spoke with authority, and the goblins bowed their head in response.

The goblins felt that a war that needed just that much resolve was coming.

With the 10 days of extension, the Goblin King promised to go to Cultidian. He called Zaurosh and explained to him about the alliance and that they would be going to the south together.

“It’s dangerous. If by chance we happened upon an enemy on the way south, we won’t have any reinforcements.”

“I’ve considered it.”

“But…”

“It has already been decided. If you can’t come, then I will have to entrust the defence of the border lands to you.”

Zaurosh thought for a moment, but in the end, he decided to go with the Goblin King. Although militarily speaking, this was encroaching on a taboo, but that was only during a war between humans. With someone as outstanding as the Goblin King around, it might just be possible, Zaurosh thought.

Besides, the southern Ashunasan deserts needed to be suppressed.

After their battle with the Order of the Blue Knights, Pena has been quietly rebuilding their knight order, but Elrain Kingdom used that as an opportunity to gradually increase their influence.

Although they defeated Saldin just recently, their increasing influence hasn’t slowed down one bit. In fact, it was increasing even faster. With a country full of people with limitless potential like that before his eyes, even if it weren’t Zaurosh, anyone would feel threatened.

That night, the Goblin King divided the entire army into three and left the borderlands.

Ra Gilmi Fishiga led the right flank.

The Goblin King led the main force.

Zaurosh led the left flank.

After the Leon Heart Clan finished migrating to the western region, the goblin forces received an additional 500 soldiers, bringing their numbers up to 4,500. That number included Felbi and the elves.

The Goblin King’s objective was a small village without any walls. Hidden beneath the darkness, the Goblin King attacked the village and quickly subjugated it, then they continued on to attack the next town before they got word of their attack.

The Goblin King made the representative of the village swear not to be hostile to them, then he asked them to provide them a map of the surrounding area.

The Goblin King didn’t bother to look for food or acquire any hostages. Instead, they quickly moved on to conquer the next town.

Like that the goblins conquered one town after another in a pace unheard of among humans. In 3 days, the Goblin King had conquered 20 towns and were already heading up north.

The speed of their march was so quick that it broke through any predictions the southerners could have made. Even the tactician of the Red King, Carlion, doubted his ears when he heard the news.

Tl Note: It just occurred to me that I’ve been translating the Order of the Blue Knights wrong all this time. It should be Order of the Blue Bird Knights. Or even better… the Blue Chicken Knights. Bawk!

VOLUME 3: CHAPTER 197 – A DANGEROUS ALLIANCE (2/2)

While the king was away, the western region was left in the hands of the knight class goblin, Gi Ga Rax. It was to this goblin, whom the king deeply trusted, that an urgent report was brought.

Germion Kingdom has made its move!

After secretly forming an alliance with the Red King, Germion King was finally able to kick its lazy butt into gear and mobilize its troops for the western region. Already, nearly 2,000 soldiers have gathered at the eight fortresses at the border.

The gravity of the information that the assassin unit Gi Ji Arsil left was so great that Gi Ga immediately made the decision to take all of his forces to deal with the problem.

“Send a messenger to the king! Send messengers to the elves and the descendants of the crystals as well!”

Gi Ga had heard what was to be done should a crisis approach them when the king was absent. When he remembered that, he sent a messenger not just for the goblins but for the elves and the demihumans as well.

When Gi Ga spoke of the issue to the civil official representative, Fei, he immediately announced it to the entire western region. His work was so smooth that the goblins could not understand it.

They called for reinforcements to gather at the western capital. Those reinforcements numbered 3,000 men strong.

The influential tribes of the demihumans, such as the fang tribes led by the tyrant, Mido, made haste for the western capital. In 5 days, all reinforcements had gathered at the western capital. Gi Ga immediately set out with the army to go east.

Their objective is to suppress the human army gathered at their fortresses and buy some time until the king returns.

Gi Ga’s army bellowed out howls as they neared the fortress, but the soldiers of Germion Kingdom weren’t about to lose, and they too cried out in response.

The people responsible for the human vanguard were none other than the ones Gowen Ranid tasked with the evacuation of the western region.

These people burned with zeal as they thought of reclaiming their hometown. They cried out loudly in response to the howls of the goblins. Morale was high.

Yuan, who led the people of the western region, stood at a tower of the 8 fortresses, looking down at the 3,000 soldiers of the goblin army.

“…There’s surprisingly a lot of races other than goblins.”

Just a cursory glance showed that there were a good number of demihumans, orcs… etc. mixed in.

“I didn’t think they would actually be able to expand south while protecting their turf.”

Yuan, who had to protect the eight fortress while Gulland was away, thought bitterly of himself after receiving the order to defend, but he no longer had any flights of fancy of fighting the goblins on the plains and surviving safely.

After all the battles he fought with the goblins under Gowen’s command, Yuan finally understood how dangerous the goblins were. Their resilience was terrifying. Not to mention, every time they fought, their army seemed to grow bigger and bigger. That struck fear into the heart of Yuan.

“I’m counting on you, Gulland,” Yuan said as he wished Gulland the best, for the latter had received a special mission from the king.

◆◇◆

The army from Fatina was easily able to surround Cultidian. It was almost as if they had been waiting for the Kushain believers to tighten their guard. But just as one would expect from Carlion, despite how easily they surrounded them, there wasn’t a single opening in their encirclement.

Elrain Kingdom knew that the Kushain believers had no reinforcements, so they prioritized the encirclement. They also prepared the siege weapons, but they didn’t seem to have any intentions of using them.

Meanwhile, Saint Mira was standing at the high walls of Cultidian to lift the morale of her soldiers. She knit her brows as she saw how Elrain Kingdom behaved, but very soon she remembered her role, and she smiled once more as she called out to her soldiers. It was a small thing, but these small things piled up, and she knew that they would be able to lift the morale of her soldiers.

She was the last bastion of hope to the Kushain believers, the last thread of hope in hell, or an existence like that of a living god. Because of that the people prayed to her with respect greater than what they gave to the late Benem Nemush.

“Saint.”

It was just one word, but with it came a great weight that she had to carry, so she did her best to act the part by smiling gently at the people. After all, she was their hope.

The saint, who hid ambition and poison within her heart, could see the expanding enemy army from the bottom of her eyes.

She’d already guessed that Elrain Kingdom would surround them, so there was nothing to be surprised about. The problem was that their encirclement was too tight.

Currently, Cultidian had about 150,000 people. If she felt like it, she could muster that entire 150,000 and use them as soldiers, but when the Kushain believers did that back during the holy war, it put a heavy burden on them. Which is why only about 20,000 could currently be counted as soldiers.

The enemy numbered 15,000.

That was probably why they were using a firm formation to contain them.

Surrounding the walls was no easy task. For at one point, over 300,000 people lived behind these walls. If one were to try surround such long walls, they would naturally end up being spread thin. So, in order to compensate for that, the army of Elrain Kingdom had to make use of a fortified military formation.

It was so fortified that it actually became hard to tell which one was defending. That was the sort of defensive line the army of Elrain Kingdom were quietly constructing. There was an eeriness in the way they quietly built their formation.

The southwestern wall to the southern wall was especially thick, while the northern part was thin.

“It couldn’t be…”

After soothing the people, as Mira watched the enemy army build their formation, she muttered to herself.

—Could Elrain Kingdom be waiting for the goblins?

That was the conclusion Mira arrived at.

Although she thought she’d killed all of Elrain Kingdom’s spies in Cultidian already, there were still some left. And they continued to feed information to Elrain Kingdom —No, to the Red King’s tactician, Carlion.

As she thought that, everything finally started to make sense.

Because that formation was clearly not mean for fighting the Kushain believers.

It was basically a defensive formation. But what were they defending themselves from? Perhaps, it’s because they expect the goblins to come, so they intend to meet them and focus on them. As proof, the part of their formation that ran from the southwestern wall to the south was also thick.

“But in that case…”

It was crucial to know just how much the Red King knew.

Do they know that the Kushain believers have allied themselves with the goblins? Or are they just hoping to turn the tables against the goblins, who they think are trying to profit while others fight?

The messenger she sent came back just a few days ago. He came back looking like he’d just come back after fighting for his life. According to that messenger, the goblins ‘accepted’ their offer for an alliance.

The goblins said they would come after 10 days. If they were to launch an attack with them, they could sandwich the forces of the Red King.

“But…”

The memory of her last defeat when she was seen through lingered yet. That memory shackled her.

Even though this conclusion was as clear as day, she still couldn’t help but hesitate. That showed just how humiliated she was by her last defeat.

Without being able to gather her thoughts, she sighed.

She figured they should consider the worst case scenario.

“Calm down, Mira Vi Burnen. You are the saint. The saint that will lead the people.”

Mira whispered to herself as she looked ahead, where clouds of dust rose up as many goods were brought to the army. They were probably food.

“…Food?”

The moment she thought that, it was as if electricity had jolted her mind.

As long as humans live, they need food. That’s a given. But even if that’s the case, the amount of food the enemy was carrying was too much.

When Mira thought of how much food would be needed to feed 15,00 soldiers, she… stopped. There was someone more suited for calculating this sort of stuff.

As Mira desperately stilled her impatience, she returned to her room and summoned Vilan.

“Vil! How much food would you need to feed 15,000 soldiers?”

“H-Huh?”

Seeing Vilan confused upon being asked like that, Mira explained to him that the enemy army was carrying more food than necessary.

“Are they thinking of a long battle?”

“Right… I think they might be planning on waiting for us to starve after wiping out the goblins who are coming from the south.”

As Vilan became thoughtful, Mira asked him what he thought.

It was probably best to assume that their alliance with the goblins have been found out. They probably intend to use that to lure the goblins and wipe them out with the same strategy they intended, as the goblins will probably be the ones sandwiched instead between an army from Fatina and the Elrain Kingdom’s army.

No matter how monstrous the goblins’ strength may be, taken from both sides like that, only death would await them.

“I did think they were using an odd defensive formation.”

The food gathered at the southern part of their formation was probably meant for the reinforcements that will come later.

The defensive formation of theirs that could survive a pincer attack from the goblins and the Kushain believers is already half complete.

“So long as they’re able to defend against us, they can win. If they can wipe out the goblins, then with the army of Elrain Kingdom, they’ll be able to take the borderlands, and even subjugating the weakened Pena will be easy.”

But the tighter the defense, the harder it will be for them to move.

“Then in that case…” Vilan said.

“We’ll work with the goblins and attack them. There’s nothing else to it.”

As Mira considered using her last trump card, the ‘holy war’, she ordered Vilan, “This time, we shall be the victors!”

After Vilan nodded, Mira ordered him to get ready to sortie.