Just Light Novels
Chapter 596: 594 Remodeling_1
Chapter 596: 594 Remodeling_1
The sky gradually darkened.
The defeated Troll Army had formally surrendered to the Blood Knight Army. Of course, many trolls, unwilling to surrender, were risking their lives to flee north.
However, Colin had already dispatched dozens of hundred-men teams to chase down the fleeing trolls and eliminate the Troll Army south of Wind Roar Fortress.
The rest of the Blood Knight Army set up camp near the ravaged battlefield, cleaning up the aftermath of the battle.
Detachments of surrendered trolls were continuously placed on the outskirts of the camp.
“Your Highness, will the Blood Knight Army spare us prisoners?” Ubam, curled up in the snow, whispered to Prince Abbas beside him.
“I don’t know…” Prince Abbas replied, his face desolate, seemingly with little hope for the Blood Knight Army’s mercy.
After all, in previous defeats, both Marquis Garcia and his successor, Count Angler, had traditions of killing captives.
This time might not be any different.
Accepting surrender now only aimed to dismantle the Trolls’ will to resist, thus reducing the difficulty of winning. Once the overall situation was settled, what probably awaited these troll prisoners was cold, brutal death.
“Your Highness, rather than being killed by the Blood Knight Army, we should…” Ubam lowered his voice even more, “escape under the cover of night!”
The moment the sharp arrow shot over, killing intent also attacked. The two of them immediately sensed it.
Tang Zhen quickly bounced away from the spot and saw a thin black shadow quickly flash in front of him. It was an arrow that ambushed him.
Fortunately, the speed of these arrows wasn’t too fast, giving the two of them a chance to dodge. However, in the face of this sudden arrow, Tang Zhen was still scared out of his wits.
The feeling of an arrow piercing through the heart made one’s scalp tingle.
After dodging this sinister sneak attack, the two of them pulled out their weapons at the same time and leaned back warily. Their weapons pointed at the surrounding grass.
At this moment, looking at the surrounding grass, eight or nine people actually jumped out of the grass. They surrounded him from all directions, the weapons in their hands flickering with cold light.
These people were also in ragged clothes, but compared to ordinary wanderers, their expressions were too fierce. At this moment, they looked at the two of them with a trace of greed.
“Raiders!”
Qian Long looked at the guys in front of him and a trace of vigilance appeared on his face.
Tang Zhen was shocked when he heard that and cursed his luck.
These raiders could be said to be notorious. They were hated by everyone like street rats.
There was no limit to what they did. They only wanted to do as they pleased. Killing for fun was common. Even human flesh was one of their recipes.
In many buildings in this world, there were actually secret methods to communicate with each other, and there were also organizations similar to mercenary unions. With the help of this communication platform, they issued a wanted list. The guys ranked in the top ten of the bounty were all raiders working in the wilderness.
Once these raiders were captured, they would definitely be hanged. Very few escaped.
They were simply crazy and evil!
This was Tang Zhen’s impression of the raider team, but now, these bastards were targeting him.
A breeze blew gently in the wilderness. Tang Zhen vaguely sensed a murderous aura.
One of the members of the raider team looked a little familiar. In an instant, Tang Zhen recalled that he had seen this person in the grocery store before!
At that time, he and Qian Long were counting the beads, and this guy seemed to be standing at the side. Now that he thought about it, this guy had planned this all along!
It looked like these guys had long noticed him. After seeing him and Qian Long walk out of the wanderer town, they followed them to rob them.
If the robbery was successful, his and Qian Long’s lives would probably be in danger. These raiders wouldn’t allow anyone who knew their identities to live. Otherwise, once they were reported and recognized, they wouldn’t be able to easily sneak into the wanderer town.
Robbing a fat sheep in a wanderer town was one of the main sources of income for this group of robbers.
Unfortunately, they had offended someone they shouldn’t have this time!
Since one side had to die, there was nothing to hesitate about.
Before the other party could say anything, Qian Long, who was at the side, already shouted angrily. He stretched out his hand and threw out a sharpened one-foot-long twisted steel pole.
The steel pole was heavy and heavy as it headed straight for the robber at the front.
It turned out that this large steel needle-like weapon was previously tied to Qian Long’s thigh holster. When it encountered enemies, it could suddenly be pulled out and thrown out.
This “hidden weapon” that weighed more than half a kilogram stabbed directly into the robber’s heart.
Tang Zhen seemed to have heard a soft sound. Then, he saw the hidden weapon stab into the robber’s flesh. The corners of the robber’s mouth twitched, and his body involuntarily twitched. At the same time, he waved his arms unwillingly and fell weakly to the ground.
After succeeding in one attack, Qian Long kept moving around, waving his weapon and fighting the robbers.
His movements were very agile, and his control over strength was also very precise. He seemed to be very free as he leaped and dodged. Coupled with the sharp weapon in his hand, he was actually not at a disadvantage when fighting the two enemies.
However, there were too many enemies after all. Soon, Qian Long was attacked from the front and back. The situation looked dangerous.
Tang Zhen, who originally wanted to draw his saber and fight, didn’t dare to hesitate when he saw this. He took out a pistol from his waist with lightning speed and quickly pulled the trigger at the three robbers charging at him.
He no longer wanted to kill or injure. He only wanted to intimidate these bandits and save Qian Long.
However, because his firing distance was very close, the three bandits didn’t expect Tang Zhen to have a pistol, so they gave Tang Zhen an opportunity.
“Bang, bang, bang…!”
In an instant, the magazine was empty. The three bandits were all shot and fell into the grass covered in blood.
The power of firearms was ferocious. Before the three bandits could approach Tang Zhen, they had already lost their lives.
The gunshots and powerful lethality that sounded like raindrops shocked the remaining robbers. They looked at their fallen companions in a daze, and a trace of panic flashed in their eyes.
They knew that the weapon in Tang Zhen’s hand was a firearm, and it was an extremely expensive repeating flare. They had only heard of this killing weapon, but they didn’t expect that these two actually had a firearm!
What a bad year. This wasn’t an easy target, but a freaking deathtrap!
At the same time, this thought appeared in the hearts of all the remaining members of the raider team, and they were slightly distracted.
How could the red-eyed Qian Long let go of such an opportunity? He took the opportunity to cut down one of his enemies and quickly leaned against Tang Zhen.
The last magazine had already been emptied. Tang Zhen took out a magazine from the storage space and hurriedly wanted to replace it. Unfortunately, because he had never received training, he actually failed to insert the magazine three times in a row in a panic. He was so anxious that cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
If the bandits rushed up at this moment, they might be able to defeat him.
However, the bandits didn’t seize this fleeting opportunity. Just as he inserted the magazine for the fourth time and finally succeeded, the remaining bandits actually turned around and jumped into the grass together, fleeing in a sorry state!
Although they were ruthless, they weren’t stupid. They knew that if they stayed any longer, they might lose their lives here. Previously, they thought that Tang Zheng was an easy target. They didn’t expect the two of them to be so fierce. They had definitely suffered a huge loss this time.
The enemy’s weapon was so powerful. When would they run if not now?
Looking at the fleeing bandits, the two of them looked at each other and heaved a sigh of relief.
After checking the map and confirming that the bandits had run far away, Tang Zhen put away his weapon with trembling hands. At the same time, he cursed bitterly, “Damn…!”
Qian Long sat on the ground and panted heavily. The battle just now had consumed a lot of his physical strength.
After resting for a moment, Qian Long simply checked the wound on his arm. He stood up and began to search the corpses of these robbers. As the infamous wilderness raider team, these guys might have many good things on them.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plan. These guys were even poorer than him. In the end, he only obtained dozens of brain beads and some small useless things from these corpses.
On the other hand, among the weapons left behind by the robbers, a few of them looked very good. Qian Long put them all away.
Tang Zhen didn’t fancy these things, so he urged Qian Long to leave quickly. He didn’t want to be attacked again by these robbers.
“Abbas Volkin?”
“That’s me.”
“Come with us, the Count wants to see you.”
Prince Abbas hesitated before sighing and obediently stood up. He followed the soldiers out of the captive camp.
Watching Prince Abbas’s departing figure, Ubam furrowed his brow. Soon, however, he quietly started murmuring to another Troll military officer.
…
Prince Abbas walked into the tent to find Colin engrossed in a letter, frowning as if the content was causing him considerable consternation.
On the desk before him were two square wooden boxes. A faint smell of blood wafted from them.
Prince Abbas had a good idea of what was in the boxes.
“Good evening, Count Angler,” Prince Abbas respectfully greeted, in the most casual tone he could muster.
Only when Colin heard the voice did he put down the letter. He scanned Prince Abbas up and down, then with a faint smile, asked:Nôv(el)B\\jnn
“Prince Abbas, I hear you have quite a few human lovers, huh?”
A suspicion began to form in Prince Abbas’s mind about the purpose of Colin’s invitation to talk. He quickly replied with a laugh,
“Indeed, Count, I’ve admired the culture and arts of the Glorious Empire since I was a child. So whenever human caravans visit the royal city, I always invite them to my manor to be my guests. Over time, I’ve formed close relationships with a few human women.”
Colin stood up, walked over to the desk, and tapped lightly on the top of one of the wooden boxes. He said,
“Being a prince of the Troll Empire, having human lovers must have given you quite some trouble, hasn’t it?”
Prince Abbas gave an awkward smile and nodded, saying, “Indeed. And to tell you the truth, if not for this, Okamoto Volkin would not be in line to become the Troll Emperor.”
Colin chuckled and tapped on another wooden box, joking:
“If that’s the case, then in this box would be your skull.”
Prince Abbas was stunned for a moment, then quickly responded with deep meaning: “Count, you misunderstand me. If I were the Troll Emperor, I would never do as Okamoto has done – repeatedly disrupting relationships with the North Territory and even plotting your assassination!”
A radiant smile spread across Colin’s face before he asked, “So, how do you think North Territory and the Troll Empire should interact?”
Prince Abbas, without any hesitation, declared, “Peaceful coexistence and friendly relations, of course!”
“Peaceful? Friendly?” Colin’s tone suddenly cooled down: “But, Prince Abbas, you Trolls are always trying to retake the North Territory from the hands of humans. How can I possibly believe in the promise of peace you’ve just given?”
Prince Abbas took a deep breath.
He knew that the real test of the night had just arrived.
The survival of the Troll Empire rested on whether he could demonstrate the sincerity Colin wanted.
By convincing the Northerners that the Troll Empire was no longer a threat, they could avert disaster; otherwise…
“Count, actions speak louder than words, and so I am willing to prove the Troll Empire’s commitment to peace with concrete actions!” Prince Abbas solemnly declared, “If I am able to smoothly take the imperial throne, then I can promise you that during my time, the standing army of the Troll Empire will never exceed 30,000!”
Upon hearing this, Colin’s facial expression did not change much, clearly dissatisfied with this condition.
Prince Abbas had no choice but to press on reluctantly: “Moreover, the Troll Empire will completely abolish the border tax on Northern merchants!”
Colin still wasn’t moved.
“The Troll Empire will also tribute three million gold coins to the North Territory annually!”
Still, Colin said nothing.
“As well as another 100,000 Troll slaves, yearly!”
Prince Abbas was on the verge of clenching his teeth to pieces, yet he still couldn’t sway this proud and avaricious human in front of him.
He finally sighed dejectedly: “Count, this is the greatest sincerity the Troll Empire can offer. Otherwise, you can only destroy the Troll Empire.
But I hope you understand that, with your current strength, destroying the Troll Empire is not difficult; however, the North Territory would not benefit from it anymore.”
A scornful laugh escaped Colin: “How would there be no benefits? The absence of the Troll Empire would be the greatest benefit to the North Territory.”
Prince Abbas immediately countered: “Count, but you can’t possibly exterminate all the Trolls. Eventually, Trolls will reestablish a new empire and at that point, the North Territory will still have to face the threat from the north.
So why create such a fuss?
Transforming the current Troll Empire into a kingdom friendly to the North Territory not only saves trouble, but also yields more benefit, doesn’t it?”
“You’re right,” Colin finally nodded.
But Prince Abbas’ joy was short-lived when he heard Colin continue: “However, I have a different idea on how to transform the current Troll Empire.”
Prince Abbas took another deep breath and asked respectfully, “May I inquire about how you would like to transform the Troll Empire?”
Colin made a toothy grin:
“I intend to turn it into a Half-Troll Kingdom.”
What do you think?
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