When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 849 - 800: Will Duke Norn Dream of 1,000 Valley Sheep?

"Stop!"

The guard at the gate stopped the disheveled group of retreating soldiers in front of him: "Are you coming from Shuimi Town?"

"No, we are the garrison from Black Saw Village."

Upon hearing the familiar mountain Norn dialect, the guard relaxed and spoke in a more cordial tone: "Black Saw Village? Under which knight do you serve?"

"We are Armed Farmers under Lord Radomir. The Thousand River Valley savages burned our camp!"

Hearing these deserters' words, the guard mumbled to himself: "These Thousand River Valley people march quickly; arriving at Black Saw Village before sunset."

"What's in this cart?"

Saying this, a Norn soldier lifted the oilcloth covering the cart, and immediately showed a look of disgust.

Faces full of frostbite, wounds caked with blood scabs, and torn Bear Castle Territory heraldic surcoats.

"The cart is full of wounded and the corpses of comrades... When we got on, they were all wounded..."

The guard sympathetically patted the shoulder of the leading deserter: "Don't blame us for being ruthless, the wounded can stay, but the corpses must be disposed of to prevent plague.

In the camp, there's a warlock who can communicate with the Nether God. Let them preserve the souls in ashes, and you can take them home for burial; they will still ascend to the heavens."

The Norn people believe in the Miseria faith, yet have a unique dual belief system.

This entails the Old Gods managing the underground, and Miseria overseeing the heavens and humanity.

The Norn people not only worship both sides but also engage in this miraculous relay of divine protection.

After disposing of the corpses, amidst the creak of the drawbridge chains, the cart smoothly crossed the moat.

It seemed like the heavens favored this band of deserters, as just after they passed through the camp gate, beacon fires ignited outside the city.

"A large enemy force appeared to the southeast, bearing the Sun Gear Banner, suspected to be the enemy's vanguard!"

"At this hour? Isn't it yet time for evening prayers?"

"Quick, call back the soldiers from outside the camp and the town."

They did not know why the Thousand River Valley Army arrived in the afternoon, nor why Shisong Castle failed to block the enemy.

The core Norn warriors inside the camp still dutifully began preparing for battle, albeit with somewhat shaky figures.

The Duke had ordered no drinking after sunset, so naturally, they drank what they could before sunset.

If at that moment, a soldier had noticed that since Shisong Castle had fallen, how did the Norn soldiers from Black Saw Village get through?

Or had noticed why these soldiers, fresh from defeat, weren't hiding but were instead heading towards the camp gate?

Perhaps the ensuing events could have been avoided.

"Boom!"

The sand cannonball struck the wooden wall, sending splinters flying.

"Seize the gate!"

Embedded within the deserters and corpse carts, nearly a hundred elite death warriors sprang into action.

...

Duke Gottfried was shaken awake from his dreams.

Clearly, the "red tea" made from a mix of wine and pine wine did indeed have a sleep-inducing effect.

Groggily rising, Duke Gottfried moved the woman's hand from his stomach: "Is it time for evening prayers (5 PM)?"

"Not yet..."

"Didn't I tell you to wake me up for evening prayers?" The Duke's tone carried a hint of grogginess.

But when Gottfried saw his manservant and personal guard, he froze.

As the Duke's close aides, they were always clean, more meticulous than many rural nobles.

Now their trousers were smeared with mud, and their hair adorned with dew melted from the fire-lit snow.

"Is the ground slippery, or did it snow again?" Gottfried walked to the window, drawing the curtains open to let the warm afternoon sunlight spill in.

Stretching his arms wide, Gottfried basked in the sunlight.

"Boom——"

"...Why is there thunder on such a sunny day?"

Instinctively, Duke Gottfried questioned as he listened to the distant thunder.

But as he turned his head, from the manservant to the maid, everyone's faces bore not confusion, but horror.

...

At seven in the evening, Jeska stepped over the ice shards into this duke's camp,

which had clearly become Jeska's entirely.

Illuminated by torches on the wooden walls, the original Bear Castle emblem had been torn down and replaced with the devout Sun Gear Banner.

The former heraldry flags were now being hoisted by rebels with iron hooks, slowly dipped into pine tar barrels in the cold wind, to make torches.

The exhausted Norn New Army soldiers, with their last bit of energy, dismissed the townsfolk subtly inquiring about wages, and disarmed them.

In the center of the camp, the prisoners were tied in long rows with hemp ropes.

Several military officers, carrying barrels, weaved between them, feeding the prisoners hot stew with long-handled ladles.

For those still lying in the snow drunk and unconscious, they simply left them be.

Those who survive are deemed fortunate.

"Was Duke Gottfried captured? How about the mayor of Kino Town?" Jeska asked the attending scribe.

The scribe suddenly slapped his forehead: "Too many things, I forgot to report to you.

Both escaped, Kino Town's upheaval turned, saying every household has hidden the Sun Gear Banner, but it won't be unfurled until tomorrow morning."

"These petty bourgeois." Jeska chuckled.

Doing it so blatantly, do they think I can't see it?

"What are our casualties?"

"Over a hundred in total, close to two hundred."

"Carry all the fallen to the north slope for cremation." He took down his bloodstained deerskin gloves, the exhaled white mist drifting in the firelight, "Let the warlocks handle according to the Norn people's customs."

Jeska's camp soldiers were Norn people; if Bear Castle Territory could use them, so could they.

"Taking this camp is equivalent to defeating the main commander of the central army, the Norn Allied Forces in the northern suburbs will fall even if undefeated." Griffin popped up from somewhere, "In this battle, we've continuously broken the enemy lines. Losing to your majesty wasn't disgraceful at all; we would've lost to you."

"This was a fluke battle; we took calculated risks and got lucky, and they divided their forces, giving us a manpower advantage."

Having followed Horn for so long and fought in so many battles, Jeska was no longer the mercenary leader of old.

After this battle, the 4,000 Norn New Army soldiers will shed the "new army" label completely.

"You truly are a genius."

"War is training, morale, organization, equipment, logistics, and an exceptional commander." Jeska watched the Norn New Army gorge down their meals and fall asleep, "At most, I'm a commander; the rest is all their doing."

"Your talent is innate; the Saint's Grandson merely helped you to unearth it."

"Complimenting me won't lift the command restriction." Jeska said bluntly.

Griffin shrugged: "Being a military instructor is far more stable than warfare... May I ask what your next step is?"

"Now, it depends on how the King's army in the western suburbs responds." Jeska lay on Duke Gottfried's bed, comfortably stretching his shoulder blades.

"What do we do now?"

"Sort the spoils, and sleep!" Jeska placed an eye patch over his good eye and soon fell into a deep sleep.