Chapter 486: Only Me and My Subordinates!

"Ger... Gervas?"

As the figure beside the Beast King came into view, no small number of nobles, great and small, froze on the spot.

And among these people were the Grand Commander and the two dukes.

Of course, the most excited in the crowd were naturally Adams, Mil, and the others.

Mil was staring wide-eyed at this moment, rubbing his eyes repeatedly. "G... goodness, am I seeing things, or am I dreaming? Iain, pinch me quick and let's see!"

"Oh! Got it!" Iain was also staring blankly, lost in thought, and hearing the words, subconsciously pinched Mil's shoulder hard.

"Ah!" Mil instantly let out a scream, mainly because Iain also suspected he was dreaming, so he used real force.

Fortunately, Mil had no time to care about anything else right now. Discovering he could feel the pain, he immediately exclaimed with delight, "It hurts... so I'm not dreaming. Then, is that really Gervas up ahead?"

"Everyone! It's been a long time! I hope you've all been well!" Gervas naturally took in every gesture and reaction of the crowd.

Moreover, he had also learned through his intelligence network that the Beast King's side had already faked his death.

So, he could understand the reactions of Mil and the others.

"Gervas, is it really you? You're still alive?!" Adams also came back to his senses, excitedly squeezing forward, wanting to get closer.

However, before he could get close, he was instantly blocked off by several beastman soldiers.

"Adams, of course I'm alive! Are you all doing well?"

Adams' eyes instantly reddened. "Gervas, we're doing fine! It's just that some time ago we received news of your death, and we thought you really... really had fallen in battle!"

"Is that so? Adams, I imagine there must be quite an interesting story behind all this! But let's save it for later and talk it through slowly!"

"And right now, we have something more important to discuss, and that is the upcoming battle situation between the kingdom's army and the beastman army!"

Adams also knew what mattered most. "Understood! Gervas!"

Gervas nodded, then turned his gaze toward the Grand Commander.

"Grand Commander, Duke Henan'de, please come over here. We now need to head to the Beast King's command tent to negotiate with His Majesty the Beast King!"

The Grand Commander and Duke Henan'de immediately responded, "No problem, Gervas!"

Then, the two stepped forward.

And this time, the beastman warriors did not block them, directly clearing the path for the two to pass.

At this moment, Duke Lieshi also subconsciously stepped forward a few paces, wanting to follow along.

But upon seeing this, those beastman warriors immediately blocked the passage again, keeping him outside.

Duke Lieshi immediately furrowed his brow. "What is the meaning of this?"

Gervas pretended not to hear, showing no reaction at all.

The Grand Commander glanced thoughtfully at Gervas, then said to Duke Lieshi, "Duke Lieshi, it will be enough for myself and Duke Henan'de to go. The army here still needs you to help keep an eye on things!"

Duke Lieshi's face alternated between green and pale, and in the end he could only retreat back with a gloomy expression.

And the Beast King, not delaying any further, immediately led the way ahead toward his council tent.

Gervas, meanwhile, deliberately lagged a few steps behind, since he needed to inform the Grand Commander of the specific situation so the negotiations with the Beast King would go smoothly later.

And he didn't need to take the initiative to speak himself.

Seeing that the Beast King had already pulled ahead and feeling he had found his chance, the Grand Commander spoke up first. "Gervas, what's going on? Weren't you captured by the beastmen? How is it that you've suddenly come from the north?"

"Also, is the army supporting us this time the Western Army? How many ten-thousands of men do they have in total, and who's leading them? Is it the Western Governor?"

"Uh..." Gervas was rather taken aback, then his expression turned slightly odd.

Clearly, the Grand Commander had misunderstood the situation this time.

But that was normal, after all—who could have imagined that with only a thousand-odd men of his own, he could make the beastmen compromise and sit down to negotiate.

"It's not the Western Army? That's impossible. Those griffin knights just now said they came from the west, so they can't be reinforcements from the east..." Seeing Gervas's expression, the Grand Commander immediately cried out in surprise.

After all, in his view, reinforcements from the west were certainly more reasonable than those from the east.

And the Beast King clearly hadn't expected that the reinforcements he had in mind—none of them existed.

Seeing this, Gervas didn't drag things out any longer. "Grand Commander, actually... there is no army!"

"How... how could that be? Gervas, are you joking?" The Grand Commander instantly froze.

Gervas's expression grew slightly solemn. "Grand Commander, I wouldn't dare joke about something this important. It's true—there is no supporting army. From the north, there is only me and my subordinates, a mere thousand men in total!"

"Only you and your subordinates, a thousand men?" The Grand Commander's eyes went wide. "Then what about those five griffins from earlier? And why is the Beast King willing to negotiate with us?"

"Grand Commander, those five griffin knights are also my subordinates. I simply hadn't revealed them before!"

"As for why the Beast King is willing to negotiate with us, that's a long story. It starts from after I went to Baron Carr's castle..."

Then, Gervas recounted everything—how he was attacked at Baron Carr's castle, how he headed north afterward, and how he "happened" to learn of the royal tent palace's location.

In the process, Gervas held nothing back, saying everything he could.

Only regarding how he obtained his intelligence, Gervas either used the griffins' scouting as cover,

or claimed it was unexpected information he happened to come by after capturing an enemy-held checkpoint...

In short, such matters left no trail of evidence. Even if the kingdom wanted to investigate later, there would be no one to question.

Of course, the Grand Commander and the others clearly had no time to concern themselves with such trivialities now.

After hearing Gervas's account, he and Duke Henan'de were already too shocked to speak.

"Gervas, does this mean you not only evaded pursuit by a beastman army of twenty thousand, but also successfully broke through the beastmen's royal tent palace?"

"And captured that Wang Fei Princess Sukama and the Beast King's youngest prince?" The Grand Commander no longer knew how to describe his current feelings.

"Yes, Grand Commander. Originally, I had only planned to capture a few Wang Fei, then use them to threaten Morar's army and ensure my own escape!"

"But later I learned that Wang Fei Princess Sukama and the new prince held extraordinary significance for the Beast King, so I decided to take the risk and head straight south to see if I could save the army!"

"I didn't expect my gamble to pay off. It seems the Beast King truly cares about Wang Fei Princess Sukama and the new prince!" Gervas answered with an honest look.

And the Grand Commander and Duke Henan'de were immediately moved.

What kind of spirit and character is this?

Gervas spoke lightly, venturing south to see if he could save the army!

For if even a single accident occurred, Gervas might have directly squandered the chance he originally had to survive.

"Gervas, I previously always believed that people are selfish, only to varying degrees!"

"But until I met you today! I now know that such a brave and selfless person truly exists in this world!" The President's gaze toward Gervas had already shifted to that of an elder looking upon his own descendant.

And Gervas knew that the more critical the moment, the more he must remain humble.

"President, I am not as good as you say; I simply felt that if the army could truly be saved, even taking a risk would be worth it!"

"Moreover, it now seems I basically bet correctly! So, I was just lucky!"