Chapter 430: Familiar Scene!

"Gervas!"

"This… this is impossible!" Willard's face turned ashen, his expression filled with disbelief.

Of course, upon hearing Solit say this, he had already sensed it deep down.

But the killer of his son being so powerful—such a staggering reversal—was something he could not accept!

"Commandant Willard, I actually learned of this some time ago. I didn't hide it from you intentionally; if the Duke of Shattered Rock hadn't told us, I too would have been kept in the dark."

"During the earlier skirmish of the vanguard camp, everyone believed Mil had earned great glory and stolen the spotlight."

"In truth, every time Mil claimed the most orc heads, it was always Gervas behind him!"

"But Gervas is extremely cunning. To avoid drawing too much attention, he convinced Commander Lyne to conceal his deeds—even the Supreme Commander, upon hearing Lyne's report, tacitly approved!"

"Roughly estimating, since the campaign began, Gervas has taken at least a thousand orc heads!"

"A thousand orc heads? Including the auxiliaries?"

"Of course not—including auxiliaries. Honestly, I've never seen a minor noble perform so brilliantly!"

"Fortunately, he's too arrogant himself—he dared offend the Second Prince, so he absolutely cannot be allowed to live!"

"And my recent idea isn't just about eliminating him—it also gives us an excuse to secure promises from the orcs outside the city, just in case!"

Willard's face flushed alternately pale and crimson.

After his last contact with the orcs, he had always lived in dread.

He feared that if the Supreme Commander or others found out, he would be finished.

Originally, as time passed, this fear had faded—but now Solit proposed doing it again.

"Commandant Willard, doing it once is the same as doing it twice!"

"Besides, last time there were no mishaps, so this time it certainly won't go wrong!"

"And with last time's lesson learned, I'm certain the orcs won't let that brat escape again!"

"Besides, don't you see the current state of our army? Reinforcements could arrive any time—or never. Our grain supplies are dwindling daily."

"The soldiers are starving every day, too weak even to stand—how will they fight the orcs then?"

"Under these conditions, our army faces only two fates: either starve to death, or be overrun by the orcs before we even starve!"

"Either way, if we don't prepare now, none of us will survive to return!" Solit, as a distant branch of an ambitious family, naturally prioritized his own interests above all else.

So, kingdom and honor meant nothing compared to his own life.

"Then what do we do? The walls are heavily guarded inside and out—there's no way to send anyone out now." Under Solit's goading,

Willard's once-cautious heart slowly eroded.

True—if death awaited him anyway, better to fight for a chance.

But this time is different from last time.

Last time, our army was outside the city, with plenty of room to maneuver.

Now we're trapped inside—entering or exiting is extremely difficult, let alone secretly contacting the orcs.

"Willard, don't worry about that. You just need to find reliable messengers, just like last time!"

"As for entering and exiting the city, I'll handle it. I can ask the Duke of Shattered Rock for help—he'll gladly assist us if we say it's to eliminate Gervas!"

"Good!" Willard nodded.

If such a powerful figure as the Duke of Shattered Rock truly lent a hand, getting in and out of the city would be no problem.

Soon after, Willard and Solit began their actions.

Willard was responsible for finding trustworthy messengers.

Solit went to the Duke of Shattered Rock and half-truthfully revealed their plan to target Gervas.

Both tasks proceeded smoothly.

First, Willard—having served as an inner council official in Eagle City for so long—had no shortage of loyal subordinates.

After making promises and offering rewards, he quickly found a suitable messenger.

As for Solit, when the Duke of Shattered Rock heard they wanted to use the orcs to kill Gervas, he offered no resistance.

He merely warned: the operation must be clean.

If discovered afterward, he would not lift a finger to help them.

Thus, on the night of the next day, Solit led a figure clad in a linen cloak and hood up onto the city wall.

The guards on this stretch of wall that night were from the Shattered Rock Clan.

The Shattered Rock soldiers had already been instructed and showed no surprise at Solit's arrival with the cloaked figure.

"Quickly—the rope is ready. You can return before dawn without issue!"

"Yes! Yes!" The cloaked figure nodded eagerly, then stepped into the basket and was lowered outside the wall with the soldiers' help.

Stepping out of the basket, he locked onto the orc camp's fires and sprinted swiftly into the distance.

"Roar! Who goes there?"

"Orc lords, don't kill me! I'm here to deliver a message—I wish to see the Orc King!"

Before he even neared the orc camp, the cloaked figure was spotted by the orcs.

He dared not hesitate and immediately shouted his purpose.

The orcs, weapons already drawn and ready to swarm, froze in surprise—and did not immediately slash him down.

…

In the Orc King's tent, the cloaked figure trembled as he knelt before the Orc King.

The Orc King held two letters, studying them carefully.

After a moment, he set the papers down.

He pondered for a while, then said, "Moral, take a look."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Moral had already felt this scene was eerily familiar.

When he examined the letters, he immediately recognized their familiarity.

This noble messenger—wasn't he the same one from last time?

The only difference was that this letter claimed Mil was not the key figure behind their previous defeat.

The true key was a man named Gervas.

And those spearmen and swordsmen who could stand toe-to-toe with orc champions—all were Gervas's men.

"Well, Moral?" The Orc King's voice broke the silence.

Moral glanced at the kneeling human in the linen cloak.

The Orc King understood—he had already been told in the letter not to know too much.

He ordered his men to temporarily remove the messenger, then spoke.

"Your Majesty, this Willard once contacted me before. And the information he gave last time was accurate!"

"He provided the exact locations of Mil and those spearmen."

"But strangely, shortly before we were about to annihilate Mil and his nobles, a human army arrived."

"It not only ruined our plan to kill Mil's men, but also caused over a thousand of my orc champions to return with only a hundred survivors!"

"So I've never been certain—was that a human plot, or something else entirely?"