Chapter 309 - 233: Flood and Fierce Beasts

"So you think you can win with numbers, huh? Come up here if you’ve got the guts and let’s see if you’re all just a bunch of wimps!"

Several of the Beastman Barbarians guarding the gate roared with laughter.

More and more people from High Cliff Castle were drawn over by the commotion. The Centaurs on the perimeter gripped the nocks of their arrows and watched coldly. If the other side made the slightest move, an Arrow would pierce a skull from a hundred paces away in the next instant.

The soldiers’ faces were pale and uncertain, their Adam’s apples bobbing frantically. They felt like lambs to the slaughter, but lowering their weapons would make them look weak. An unspoken tension mounted.

"What are you doing? What the fuck are you all doing? Trying to start a rebellion?"

Just as the atmosphere reached a breaking point, a booming voice roared out before its owner had even arrived.

A young man in fine Plate Armor strode forward with a commanding presence, pushing aside several Barbarians to appear before the crowd.

He sized up the situation in an instant, then kicked the rear of a nearby Beastman who was looking smug. "Put your damn weapons away!" he ordered. "They’re for fighting the enemy, not our own people."

At his command, a series of sharp, unified sounds rang out as the Barbarians, who had been spoiling for a fight, sheathed their weapons. They marched off in tidy steps, moving in near-perfect synchronization within their ten-man squads. The Centaurs on the perimeter relaxed and resumed patrolling the town, preventing any other soldiers from hiding in a corner to stir up trouble.

Count Andao, who had just walked out, couldn’t help but be deeply shocked once again. Such discipline and formation were typically so rigorous that only a nation’s most elite honor guard could master them.

But that was the result of dedicated training, yet now it was easily displayed by a troop from the Wilderness, a place often dismissed as a cultural desert.

And this cohesion...

Count Andao considered something: even in a first-rate legion like Debei’s, if the commander were to fall, the most elite soldiers would still crumble under the pressure.

But he strongly suspected that if the Lion Hunter Knight leading this unit from High Cliff Castle were to fall, their enemies would face an even more ferocious counterattack.

He himself held immense prestige within his own army, but he knew he was nowhere near achieving that level of devotion.

The soldiers, who had been hoping to score some loot, breathed a sigh of relief. If they hadn’t been forced into a corner, they really wouldn’t have wanted a bloody conflict with this so-called "backwater Militia." Fortunately, the Lion Hunter Knight was quite reasonable.

"Lord, your men..." A one-eyed Swordsman in Leather Armor, clearly the officer of the squad, stepped forward as his men sheathed their Longswords.

"Get lost!"

"Hahaha."

The Beastman guard, who had looked aggrieved just a moment ago after being kicked, immediately burst into wild laughter.

The one-eyed Swordsman froze. But seeing the Lion Hunter Knight staring at him with a cold smile, he dared not utter another word. Of the thousand things he wanted to say, all he could manage after a long pause was a single word: "Fine."

Then he led his soldiers away, scurrying off dejectedly.

After this incident, these grunts would probably all know that this Baron Castle now had an owner.

"Old An, these are your soldiers, aren’t they?"

The Lord had seen Andao hiding in the shadows long ago. He walked over with a grin and slung an arm around the Count’s shoulder.

"You’re not angry about what I did, are you?"

"You’re now the famous man who conquered Kalia Town, slayed three powerful Summoned Creatures—the Stone Giants—and captured a Baron. Your reputation is terrifyingly grand. Who would dare be angry with you?" Count Andao shot him a look, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

"It’s just a matter of the times creating the man. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time," the Lord of High Cliff Castle said, thick-skinned enough to wave it off nonchalantly.

Count Andao gave him a second look. He hadn’t expected this crude brute, who usually projected the image of a boor with no aristocratic bearing whatsoever, to be capable of such thought-provoking words.

"In fact, those men have gotten far too arrogant. I was just wondering who could knock them down a peg, and you’ve saved me the trouble," Andao said, shrugging off the Lord’s hand as he started walking toward the exit.

"No matter how you slice it, you conquered this town. You deserve the most credit, so this Baron Castle is naturally yours. I’ll go warn them."

He waved his hand and left without looking back.

He clearly knew the next step was the rather practical matter of claiming the spoils, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to stay.

"Brother-in-law, I didn’t realize that Count was so savvy."

Mier, who had been acting as the Lord’s personal Attendant, remarked thoughtfully as he watched the Count’s retreating figure.

"Savvy? It all comes down to strength. Put anyone else in my position, and they’d probably be squabbling for days over who gets this Baron Castle."

Levi shook his head, resting a hand on the pommel of his sword as he turned and walked into the castle.

He had forbidden the people of High Cliff Castle from pillaging and plundering, but that rule referred to robbing defenseless civilians.

The wealth within this castle, however, was the spoils of war. It was what they had earned, and they were merely here to claim their rightful prize.

Kalia Town was an ordinary farming town, so its Baron Castle was naturally not very luxurious.

Beyond the outer walls, the inner buildings consisted of a three- to four-story main keep at the center, along with stables, a warehouse, and kitchens.

Of course, there was no shortage of the castle’s original staff: cooks, Maids, Attendants, and a few grooms.