Chapter 448: Has Gervas Been Captured?

Facing the commander-in-chief’s furious berating, the subordinate shrank his head and dared not respond.

After waiting a full moment, confirming the commander-in-chief had no intention to continue yelling, the subordinate finally whispered on: “Commander-in-chief, I’ve ordered all hands to conduct a full search within Lindongbao for the orc spies who set the fire!”

“What use is searching now? Even if you catch them, can you recover the army’s grain supplies?”

For the commander-in-chief now, capturing the arsonist could no longer make up for the grain shortage.

“Commander-in-chief!”

Just then, another subordinate’s report rang out from outside the door.

“What is it?”

“Commander-in-chief, something has happened outside the city—you must come see it yourself!”

“Something? What thing?” The commander-in-chief had no intention of paying attention.

Compared to grain, anything outside the city walls—so long as it wasn’t breached—wasn’t a major issue.

Yet the voice at the door continued: “Commander-in-chief, it appears the nobles we sent out days ago have all been captured by the orcs! The Beast King has brought them to the city’s edge, displaying them five hundred meters from the walls!”

“What?” The commander-in-chief, who had been indifferent moments before, instantly paled.

The Duke of Hernand and the Duke of Lieshi also frowned deeply.

Without another moment’s hesitation, the three rose and rushed toward the main wall of Lindongcheng.

Minutes later, the commander-in-chief and the two dukes arrived at the main wall atop their Moxunying .

The main wall was already in an uproar.

The reason was simple: five hundred meters outside the city, a line of human nobles in noble attire were guarded by orcs.

Though their hair hung loose and their faces were obscured, their clothing and the few banners placed beside them by the orcs could not be faked.

Beside these human nobles, the Beast King sat atop his dappled tiger!

“Ha! Commander-in-chief, you’ve finally arrived! I heard there was another fire inside Lindongbao last night—I wonder how much grain you still have left to eat?”

As the commander-in-chief and the two dukes appeared, the Beast King perked up and laughed loudly as he called out to the commander-in-chief.

“Beast King, that is none of your concern. Our royal army’s grain supplies are sufficient to hold Lindongbao for two full months. I advise you to withdraw while you still can!”

“Otherwise, when our reinforcements arrive, it will be the end of your orc kind!”

The army commander-in-chief would never reveal the true situation to the Beast King.

Even if the Beast King might already know about last night’s grain fire.

Of course, the Beast King didn’t care—because the firelight over Lindongbao at dawn had already revealed everything.

Thus, the royal army’s grain shortage was inevitable; whether the commander-in-chief admitted it or not made no difference.

“Ha! Commander-in-chief, you say your grain is plentiful? Then I’ll take your word for it!”

“Now, let’s get to the matter at hand—I have a grand gift for you. I hope you’ll like it!”

The Beast King gestured toward the dozen or so human nobles beside him.

“These nobles—I’m certain you, Commander-in-chief, know them well. They are the very nobles you sent out of the city before my orc forces arrived!”

“Originally, your plan was to scatter them across various locations, then have them circle around to ambush us when our orc army collapsed!”

“But it turned out our orc army didn’t collapse at all—we’re about to break through Lindongbao!”

“Ha! Commander-in-chief, am I not right?”

The army commander-in-chief’s face turned ashen as his gaze swept over the dozen nobles far away—but he could not make out their true faces.

Moreover, he was unfamiliar with most of these minor nobles conscripted into service.

“Beast King, I did send nobles out of the city—but those I sent were the finest among our people. Don’t think you can fool us by dressing up some conscripts as them!”

“Ha! Commander-in-chief, I expected you’d deny it. Let me ask you this: among your so-called finest nobles, does that include a Viscount named Gervas?” The Beast King laughed loudly.

The army commander-in-chief’s face instantly changed—he had mustered his confidence in that last remark precisely because of Gervas.

In his view, other nobles might be captured by the orcs, but Gervas could not possibly be.

After all, Gervas’s excellence and his battle-hardened subordinates—even if they couldn’t stand against the orcs—should have easily escaped.

Yet now the Beast King had named Gervas outright—could Gervas truly have been captured?

Were all these nobles truly the very ones he had sent out?

“Ha! Commander-in-chief, it seems I’ve hit the mark! By the way, besides Gervas, these nobles include Baron Nak, Baron Tric, Baron Debian...”

The Beast King named off more noble titles with mockery.

The more he named, the darker the commander-in-chief’s face grew.

Even the other nobles on the wall began murmuring among themselves.

The reason was simple: these were the nobles assigned to guard the five outlying checkpoints.

So even if the nobles outside were disheveled and unrecognizable, the Beast King had named each one precisely.

That meant he must have captured them and interrogated them.

“This is bad—those captives outside must really be our army’s nobles!”

“Yes! What do we do now? The orcs brought them here—what are they planning? Could it be...?”

The minor nobles chattered anxiously.

Prolonged siege and grain shortages had already crushed their morale.

Now, seeing so many nobles captured, they grew even more fearful of what lay ahead.

“Gervas was captured! This... what do we do now?”

“Damn orcs, bastards—how could this happen? Viscount Gervas and his men were so powerful—how did they get caught?!”

Among these minor nobles, a group was even more frantic than the rest—Mier and his companions.

When they heard the Beast King name Gervas, their hearts sank.

Originally, like the commander-in-chief, they had assumed the Beast King had somehow learned Gervas’s name and was using impostors to deceive them.

But as the Beast King named every noble, and as they saw the commander-in-chief’s expression, they knew his words were likely true.

Those who had come to see Gervas as their pillar could not accept this outcome.

“Beast King, what do you want?” The commander-in-chief did not silence the nobles’ murmurs—there was no way to suppress the situation now.

What he wanted to know was: what exactly did the Beast King intend?

“Commander-in-chief, what I want is simple—I give you one final chance: surrender to me!”

“If you agree, I’ll mercifully spare these nobles’ lives!”

“Otherwise... heh...”

The Beast King did not continue.

But his meaning was clear.

Yet the commander-in-chief’s reply was equally firm: “Impossible, Beast King—give up this idea! Our human army has no cowards—we’d rather die fighting than surrender!”

“Is that so? Then I won’t be gentle. These nobles will be your final fate!” The Beast King revealed a bloodthirsty smile.