Chapter 417: Winterhold!

Wow!

Over seven hundred and sixty heads?

Hearing Gervas's answer, the knight guards following the Grand Marshal and the two Dukes all erupted in uproar.

If it were a ten-thousand-man legion, or even a great noble legion of five or six thousand, achieving such a record, the crowd could still accept it.

But the number of Gervas's subordinates was just witnessed by everyone; the number of orc heads he beheaded was nearly double his own subordinates.

Did this not mean that each of his subordinates could, on average, kill two enemies?

In the past, only the orc race fighting against the human race could fight many with few; no human fighting against the orcs could ever fight many with one.

"Gervas, did I hear wrong! Are you sure it is over seven hundred and sixty orc heads!"

The Grand Marshal's eyes were full of light, yet he forcibly suppressed his excitement and confirmed again.

If Gervas could truly achieve such a record, perhaps he could write a memorial to the Capital, sending Gervas's merit directly before His Majesty the King.

After all, such talent was absolutely a blessing for the Kingdom.

Hearing this, Gervas directly waved his hand toward the distance; immediately, two knights carrying two large bags walked over.

The leather bags were opened, revealing rows of green ears of the Behemoth orcs inside.

Looking at the two bulging bags.

The Grand Marshal no longer doubted; his eyes burning, he looked at Gervas. "Gervas, do not blame me for confirming this so solemnly with you, because I have already decided to send this matter along with the victory report from Bokacheng to the Capital, straight to His Majesty the King!"

"Additionally, Gervas, I will soon issue a general commendation to the entire army, so that your name for bravery becomes known to all the nobles in the army."

"Let them all learn from you, Viscount Gervas!"

"Uh!" Gervas heard this, and his original smile instantly froze. "Grand Marshal, please do not!"

Hearing this, the Grand Marshal's face was full of confusion. "Gervas, I said, with me here, no one can steal your merit during this expedition! So, you need not worry!"

Gervas naturally understood that the Grand Marshal's promise for this legion was still valid.

But his true worry was that if his matter spread back to the Capital, it would very likely attract the Second Prince's attention.

Imagine, originally the Second Prince did not know he appeared in the Northern Border, nor did he know he was establishing great merit.

But if he knew, what would his reaction be?

Would he allow Gervas to grow strong and truly obtain the opportunity to become a Count?

Gervas could tell with his toes that the Second Prince would very likely send people directly to come up with schemes to kill him.

Right now, it was only Minister Weilade and that Solite; Gervas could still cope.

If the Second Prince personally entered the fray, the situation would not be so relaxed.

So, to satisfy a momentary impulse and attract the Second Prince's attention, this was absolutely not worth it.

"Your Excellency the Grand Marshal, I am not worried about my merit being stolen; I still have great faith in the Grand Marshal's promise!"

"What I truly worry about is being targeted by the orcs; the incident at Graystone Bridge happened just like this. If it were not for the fortunate assistance of Hou Jue Austin's family, we would probably have been in danger!"

"Therefore, I beg the Grand Marshal not to publicize my matter for now, nor inform the Capital side."

"Of course, after the war ends, if the Grand Marshal still wishes to help me claim merit then, I will be extremely grateful and will certainly set up a table of fine wine and food to invite the Grand Marshal to drink!"

Hearing this, the Grand Marshal and Grand Duke Hernand exchanged glances.

"Gervas, how should I describe you? Clearly, all along this road, when you killed orcs, you were ruthless without hesitation."

"Your personal count of orc heads, up to now, has already surpassed that of all the great noble legions combined!"

"Yet, you say you worry about the orcs knowing your existence... Sigh, alright, who can blame you for being a great hero? Then I will comply with you!"

"After the war ends and the orcs are completely driven out of the Kingdom, I will write a letter for you to reach His Majesty the King's desk!"

"Thank you, Grand Marshal!"

Thus, after registering the heads, today's great battle was considered completely concluded.

Because of Gervas's request, the Grand Marshal also abandoned the idea of issuing a general commendation for him to the entire army.

Afterwards, Gervas and his subordinates were assigned to reside in the South District within the city.

The crowd rested for one night, and the great army set out again to continue north at noon the next day.

The reason for not resting for several more days this time.

Was because after continuously defeating the orcs, the army was at the peak of momentum; the Grand Marshal did not want to miss such an opportunity.

Preparing to pursue the victory and drive the orcs out of the Northern Border in one stroke.

And in the following three days, they were all on the march.

On the road, all the towns along the way were shattered; at a glance, the scene was one of looting and burning by the orcs.

As for human figures, not a single one could be seen; only dry bones and corpses gnawed by unknown creatures were visible.

"These damn orcs! How I wish that one day, we humans could completely exterminate them, thus avoiding the misfortune of tens of thousands of serfs and commoners in the Northern Border being slaughtered and looted every year!"

Even though the nobles usually treated serfs as private property and had little compassion.

Yet, looking at the constant appearance of corpse fragments amidst the ruins and broken walls by the roadside, the nobles could not help but burn with anger.

Truly, the orcs were inhumane; regardless of gender, regardless of age, anyone who was human could not escape this misfortune.

Of course, even those with some luck who did not die in the ruins were certainly already looted by the orcs and prepared to be taken back to the Northern Border wasteland.

By then, the fate of these people would not be much better than being killed directly on the spot.

Continuing forward for two more days, a city finally appeared again in front of the crowd.

This city was named Winterhold; it once possessed a civilian population of one hundred thousand.

And it was also one of the most prosperous cities on the Northern Border.

Arriving here meant that half of the land occupied by the orcs had already been reclaimed.

Originally, the nobles thought there would be a hard-fought battle before reclaiming this border stronghold.

Contrary to everyone's expectations,

When the army was still ten li away from Lindongcheng, the mounted scouts spurred their horses back with a message that filled everyone with joy.

The orcs inside Lindongcheng had simply fled!

"You're certain?" the Grand Commander could hardly believe it.

"Grand Commander, I am absolutely certain—when we arrived, the orcs in Lindongcheng had just escaped, barely ahead of the ones we had already crushed!"

"The gates of Lindongcheng were wide open; seeing this, we first entered the city to investigate."

"After confirming no orcs remained inside, we immediately shut the gates and returned at top speed to report!" The scout's face was flushed with excitement.

"Your Grace, what do you think?" The Grand Commander no longer doubted and turned directly to the two Dukes.

Duke Hernand furrowed his brow slightly, but after a moment's thought, he said: "This is astonishing, but if Lindongcheng truly holds no enemies, we have no reason whatsoever to refrain from entering!"

"I agree—perhaps the orcs were so terrified by us that they knew they couldn't hold out and fled ahead of time!" Duke Lieshi also voiced his opinion.

The Grand Commander nodded. "Then, Your Graces, I shall order the army to accelerate its advance!"