I'm not that kind of orc

Leilogard stood up again and looked up to this side, with a victorious smile on his face.

He turned around and waved his hand in the direction of the army.

The low-pitched horn that symbolized the retreat of troops sounded, and the earth-shattering steps and shouts of the orc array gradually subsided, and then a long dragon composed of torches stretched out from the end of the array, and retreated in an orderly manner towards the distant valley.

Several chiefs also turned and walked towards the array.

Igna didn't leave right away. She looked up and glanced here, as if she was on guard against back arrows, and seemed to be looking for something. Finally, she looked away and left there.

The demonstration of the orc army is over, but heavy clouds still hang over the garrison area.The shocking sound of orderly footsteps seemed to remain in this land, and it seemed to have turned into a ghost and floated to this side. It clearly stopped, but it echoed in everyone's heart.

"Things are getting tricky." After a long time, Roland whispered the aspirations of everyone present.

Black Cloud Overwhelms the City (6)

This demonstration by the six major tribes made the garrison area completely busy. As the highest person in charge of the garrison area present, Tolivia issued several instructions to her subordinates, including raising the alert to the state of battle, summoning nearby combat forces, and dispatching Supplies and evacuation of residents in the nearest residential area, as if a war will start tomorrow.

Naturally, I can't interfere with the defense work of the elves, and the same is true for Helgia's side for the time being.But we didn't go back to Helgia's camp, because Tolivia suddenly stopped Alsena who was about to leave, and asked her to "talk to the representatives of Saidian in the conference hall later." .

At this time, Arsena didn't have any reason to refuse, she agreed, and then she turned her head and asked me to go with it as a matter of course.As a result, I stayed in the conference hall with Arsena and waited, and Princess Alyssa, who was worried that I would be forcibly sent away, also followed.

Silence reigned in this space, and this silence originated from Princess Alisa, who kept her eyes down from the beginning to the end.The attitudes of the six major tribes are becoming more and more tough and aggressive. Being designated as a hostage under such circumstances, it is impossible for her to feel better as she stands on the cusp of the storm.

Arsena and I exchanged glances several times, but in the end neither of us knew what to say at this moment.

At the scene, only the voice of Wikas, who was guarding outside the house, giving instructions to the knights could be heard.I heard him ask the knights to increase their alert level, and at the same time ask them to check the airship and keep it ready to launch at any time.

The demonstration of the orcs made the entire garrison area tense like a string, whether it was elves or humans.

Nearly an hour later, Wikas walked into the room: "Your Highness, they are here."

Althea nodded.

Then Vikas walked over and stood upright behind her as in the previous meeting.Afterwards, Tolivia, Roland, the presiding judge and the priestess entered the room in turn.

"Your Highness Arsena has kept you waiting for a long time." Tolivia took a seat on the other side of the round table, and cast her gaze directly at Arsena, deliberately not looking at me.

"It's nothing... You said you have something to talk about, can you tell me what it is now?" Alsena straightened her expression, assuming a look that should be involved in a major meeting. She was just an observer of the previous negotiations. Once, it was clear that Saidian was going to discuss something with her as the representative of Helgia.

"I think Your Highness, you should have seen it with your own eyes. The aggressive intention of the orc tribe to our country is very obvious, and there is no hope of shaking hands and making peace in the next negotiation—it would be better to say that it is impossible for us to make peace with us." They compromised a step, and I think it's time to talk about the promises that your country made before."

I remembered that Roland mentioned to me about Saidian's recent situation after being declared war by the six major tribes - among the neighboring countries in the civilized world, only Helgia made a promise to send reinforcements when the negotiations broke down.

"Of course we will keep our promise." Arsena folded her hands, "As I said before, if the negotiations fail, we will send troops to support our allies."

"Of course we also believe in Helgia's chivalry, but I estimate that the reinforcements that your father, King Firiant, will prepare for us will not be enough." Tolivia stared closely at Arsena's Eyes, "The time will not be as timely as we expected. Tomorrow will be the second negotiation, and the day after tomorrow will be the last one. Maybe the orc army will attack the night the negotiation breaks down...Of course, it is also possible to prepare now Call here."

"You mean you want us to send reinforcements here now? Do you want to specify the number of people?" Arsena frowned, "Are you planning to make a request to us?"

"It's not a request, it's a transaction." Tolivia suddenly took out a roll of parchment, put it on the table and pushed it towards Arsena, "Just now I urgently contacted Her Majesty Seretis to meet her again. Discussed the plan of paying remuneration in exchange for your country's support. This is the remuneration we planned and the amount of support we expect."

Arsena grabbed the parchment and started reading line by line, and Vikas behind him also fixed his eyes on the content of the parchment.

After a long time, Arsena raised her head: "Saidian wants us to participate in this matter as mercenaries?"

"That's right, in fact, I submitted this urgent proposal to His Majesty on the day we were threatened with a declaration of war. Just now, His Majesty officially approved the proposal." Tolivia said, "This kind of thing is very important Your country is not a rare thing, right?"

"We are no strangers to the mercenary business. We have done a lot of 'mediation' work as mercenaries, and we have a perfect system for forming mercenary groups." Arsena said and glanced at the sheepskin Paper, "But with all due respect, the amount of your remuneration... I'm afraid it's not a small burden for Saidian now? Why don't you use some of it for negotiation, even if it's just for testing?"

"When the country is in crisis, it's no longer time to haggle over every detail, but cutting your own flesh and feeding it to wild beasts won't make them restrain, Your Highness. Those orcs have planned to invade us from the very beginning, just like they did during the war in the abyss, talk to them Conditions are meaningless at all." Tolivia's voice suddenly became cold.

"This reward is enough to recruit double... or even more troops in the mercenary market of various countries. Why did you choose us?"

"Compared to those stragglers, the alliance that promises to support us is more trustworthy, isn't it? And we all think that your country's prestige has this value." Tolivia raised the corners of her mouth with deep meaning.

I gradually came to my senses.

As the leader of the main combat faction, Tolivia has already started preparing for the war.Although Saidi'an is currently short of population, he can still get enough compensation for hiring support troops. They are going to let Helgia officially intervene in this matter through hiring.

The value of Helgia lies not only in sending troops, but also in its deterrence as a powerful country. The fact that Helgia is willing to accept this kind of employment deal itself can be used as a huge bargaining chip in negotiations, and it can even be used as a bargaining chip for Saidian. hole card.A sudden large bet in a big bet can sometimes scare off opponents.

But she obviously didn't know orcs.

We weigh the pros and cons, but we are never afraid to fight.Although no clues have been found yet, it is certain that the other five major tribes must have some major purpose in sending troops to the south.I have a hunch that if the tribal coalition can do such a risky thing as declaring war to threaten a country in the civilized world for this purpose, I'm afraid they won't stop because of Helgia's intervention.

Of course, I can guess that Tolivia, who is a radical main fighter, doesn't mind the development of starting a war and then losing both sides.She didn't trust the orcs, so she didn't even think about resolving this matter through negotiations. In her eyes, the only way for this country to fight desperately was correct.She hates orcs and sees us as a huge threat to this country, and in her eyes, as long as this threat can be eliminated, even if it has to pay a huge price, it is worth it.

Her prejudices limit her vision, so she uses all her strategies on this dead end.

And now, to make matters worse, after the six major tribes showed a tough stance, the queen of the elves began to lean towards the main battle faction.

Black Cloud Overwhelms the City (7)

It was early morning when I returned to my lodging in the Helgia camp.

The situation has become very serious.

After Tolivia proposed to hire Helgia's military force, Arsena did not give a clear answer, but only promised to submit the proposal to her father immediately.

But regardless of whether the king of Helgia will agree to this proposal, I guess the six major tribes will not stop here. The fact is that the conflict between Saidian and the six major tribes is gradually escalating, and the negotiations are heading towards a breakdown. slide.

The orcs assembled more troops to hold a demonstration at the border, while the elves began to lean towards the main battle side, and both sides began to sharpen their knives, just waiting to stab each other in the neck when the battle started.

A few hours ago, I was still discussing with Roland how to stop this dispute, but we hadn't even found any usable clues, and reality slapped me in the face in just a few hours.

In fact, this is really a foreseeable result. Both parties have no trust in each other at all, and it is only a matter of time before they will enter a vicious circle of intensified conflicts.

I just never thought it would get worse so quickly.

When leaving the conference hall, Roland "whispered" to me with a spiritual spell: "There is no time."

That's right, there is no time. The day after tomorrow will be the last negotiation. If there is no way to come up with by that time, the two sides will go to war in an all-out manner.

However, until now, we have not even figured out the real purpose of the tribal coalition forces.

There is no way to start, no hope at all.

I pushed open the door of the room with a heavy heart, but was surprised to find that the light was still on in the room, and there were two sleeping figures in the room.

Feilan was lying on the table, while Angelica was curled up on the bed, both of them were sound asleep.I still remember that when I left, I asked them to go back to their respective rooms, but it seemed that they all stayed in this room in the end, maybe Angelika insisted on waiting for me, and Feilan didn't dare to go back alone. People couldn't help falling asleep.

Helgia's camp is deep in the garrison area, some distance away from the defensive wall on one side of the border and the camp of the elf guards. The movement from that side cannot be transmitted here. It is estimated that Arsena and the others also received a message from the knights. The report just got there.

But in any case, these two girls are a little too lacking in sense of crisis. It is clear that someone just invaded the camp at night-even though I thought about it, I have no intention of letting them vacate the room. After all, I have gone through such a series of things. I don't feel sleepy anymore, even though I haven't closed my eyes since I came to this defense area...

Thinking of this, I froze for a moment.

Forget about Feilan, would Angelica, who only needs to sleep for four hours a day, be so sleepy?

Could it be that after these two girls came to see me that night, they didn't sleep as much as I did?

"..."

In the end I didn't enter the room and closed the door softly again.

Let them rest first.

I stood at the gate for a while, and finally decided to take a casual walk around the camp.

The black cloud above the defense area still hasn't dissipated, and the moonlight is not visible, but the knights of Helgia have arranged more spar lamps and bonfire stands in the camp, illuminating the entire camp——Experience After the previous invasion and the demonstration of the orcs on the border, the entire Helgia camp has entered a state of complete alert just like the elves in the garrison area. Wikas ordered the entire camp to be sealed off, not even a mouse was going to be released. Come in, there are knights patrolling around, and the airship parked nearby is also ready to start at any time.

I walked for a while, and suddenly remembered that I had seen an open field with a pool of water in the camp before.

Go over there and blow the night breeze, and let your head calm down.

I still have some impressions of the structure of the camp. I walked through the camp trail lined with wooden huts and tents, and I quickly found the open land.

A cool night wind blows head-on, and I see the sparkling water surface, and the slender figure standing by the pool.

Princess Alisa.

She put on a long gauze dress and stood by the pool with a blank expression, not knowing what she was thinking.

She still followed Arsena back to this camp. In the conference hall, Tolivia originally wanted to continue persuading her to accept the arrangement to go back to the palace after finishing her proposal, but this time Arsena stood up: "It should be safe enough for her to stay with us. If any accident happens, we can take her to evacuate in an airship."

Uncharacteristically, Tolivia didn't bother her more this time.After being silent for a while, she dispatched a group of subordinates to set up extra vigilance near the Helgia camp. Obviously, after experiencing the orc demonstrations, she didn't have much time to spend packing a reluctant princess back here. It's up.

And to a certain extent, Arsena was not wrong. Now this camp is guarded by human knights from Helgia and elf guards in the garrison area. With a complete induction barrier, it can be said that it is the safest place in the entire defense area.

Seemingly hearing my footsteps, Princess Alisa slowly turned her head and looked this way.

"Student Bullock? Ah, good evening..." She looked a little surprised, but then squeezed out a smile from her haggard face, "No, it's not evening now."

Her smile is like a dead leaf that has been rubbed up, with a texture that will break at any moment.

"His Royal Highness Alisa..." I blinked my eyes in surprise, "Shouldn't you stay with Alsena?"

"She said she was going to contact her father and go to the airship." Princess Alisa's voice was faint, "She told me to go to rest first, but I still wanted to come out for a walk, so I ran out secretly gone."

"She's right, you look like you need a good rest," I said, looking at her.

"But I can't sleep." She lowered her eyes again and said softly.

I didn't speak.

Tonight will be a sleepless night for many.

We were silent for a long time. There were no insects at night in this season, only the rustling of the wind blowing through the canopy of the trees.

"That, Classmate Bullock." After a long time, Princess Alisa spoke, looking at me carefully and said, "You said I insisted on staying like this... isn't it a bit willful?"

"Can I be honest?"

My rhetorical question is tantamount to an answer.

"Eh?" She widened her eyes, "But at that time you..."

"Well, I was helping you stop the two female soldiers who wanted to take you away by force, but that was just me trying to help you. I am on your side because I respect your ideas, your courage, Even if it's a little willful of yours. But if you have to be reasonable, I don't think it's wrong for your mother to send you back. Although the troops that appeared at the border today are indeed just demonstrations, it's really not a place here. How safe it is is not a place where you, a princess, should put yourself in danger."

"Yeah, it looks like... a war may start at any time." Princess Alisa looked sad.

"Ah, um." I should be a little embarrassed.

Because what she pointed out is the truth.

Princess Alisa was silent here, and it took a while before she spoke softly: "...a lot of people will die, the soldiers are fighting here, but I, who is most responsible for protecting this country, can be allowed to escape? Just because... I'm a princess?"

Black Cloud Overwhelms the City (8)

"No, Your Highness, the responsibilities of each position are different. I used to evacuate to cover my chief and stay in the rear. Soldiers have the responsibilities of soldiers, and leaders have the responsibilities of leaders." I repeated my past. The truth learned in the soldier camp, "A leader is like a battle flag. Sometimes he rushes to the front, which can boost morale, but if the flag falls, the soldiers will be at a loss. Leaders have the responsibility to let their banner stand until the end, and even if it falls, it should fall at the end."

"But the current leader of this country is my mother, not me." Princess Alyssa shook her head, "And even if I stay to the end, I'm afraid I won't be able to fulfill my responsibility as a leader. The princess was born, so I have to fulfill my responsibilities as a princess. In fact, I also love this country deeply, and I am willing to dedicate everything to protect this country like my father and king. But now..." Her eyes flickered After a while, "I can't do anything."