Chapter 520: Old John Once Was Also Full of Passion!

Seeing Dalis still seemed doubtful, Catherine made no further explanation.

Immediately, she swiftly led the convoy back toward the castle.

At this moment, Old John and Thomas were instructing servants and temporarily conscripted serf laborers to haul supplies onto the walls.

When they saw Catherine's party returning, they were all deeply astonished.

"Young Lady Catherine, why have you returned? You must leave at once! Scouts have detected over a thousand boarmen advancing toward Wheatfield Town!"

"They'll be here any moment—it will be extremely dangerous!"

Clearly, Old John dared not let Catherine stay, risking her life.

"Master John, I know boarmen are coming—that's precisely why I've chosen to stay."

"Open the gates quickly—I have over fifty men here who can strengthen the castle's defenses!"

"This…" Old John hesitated immediately.

Although adding fifty formidable knights and cavalry would certainly make the castle safer,

given Catherine's safety, Old John still dared not agree at once: "Young Lady Catherine, please evacuate first!"

"As for the castle, we do have confidence in holding it—otherwise we wouldn't have stayed!"

"But if we let you stay and something goes wrong, we might be blamed by you afterward!"

Hearing Old John's words, a sudden warmth stirred in Catherine's heart.

Gervas would blame Master John and the others for putting her in danger.

This already showed that Gervas cared for her, at least on the surface.

Yet the more he cared, the more Catherine refused to leave.

So her tone turned instantly imperious: "Master John, I will not leave."

"Either open the castle gates—or let me fight the boarmen right outside these walls!"

"This…" Old John truly hadn't expected the Countess Catherine to be so resolute.

So he could no longer insist—he ordered the castle gates opened.

Then Catherine entered the castle with her guards.

"Young Lady Catherine, why… why did you do this?!" Old John looked helplessly at her.

Originally, even if the castle fell, only those of us lowly ones would be in danger.

But now that Countess Catherine has joined us, the weight of responsibility on our hearts is crushing.

"Master John, you needn't worry about me! Treat me as an ordinary person!"

What could Old John say upon hearing this?

He could only reluctantly invite Catherine up onto the castle walls.

On the walls, serfs and male servants were hauling stones and two unusual types of throwing spears.

In addition, five black iron tubes had been placed on the walls.

These iron tubes rested on wooden racks, their purpose unknown.

But when he saw the number of defenders on the walls hadn't exceeded his expectations, Knight-Lieutenant Dalis's heart sank halfway.

"Master John, does the castle's rear have an escape route…?"

As soon as Knight-Lieutenant Dalis asked, every eye on the castle turned to stare at him strangely.

Dalis felt awkward and couldn't help explaining: "I only think—if disaster truly strikes—we must ensure the Countess has a chance to escape!"

Old John nodded: "Knight-Lieutenant, there is indeed a rope pulley in the castle's rear garden."

"If disaster strikes, you can use the pulley to lower a basket…"

"Perfect! Thank you, Master!" Dalis said no more.

Catherine glanced over but said nothing further.

She understood Dalis's duty.

So if Dalis had allowed her to return to Gervas's castle, then merely asking about an escape route was nothing she could object to.

Hooooh! Hooooh! Hooooh!

"Look! Boarmen—they're coming!"

At that moment, the guard's cry from the arrow tower instantly drew everyone's attention.

Looking toward the southern road the guard pointed to, a cluster of black dots appeared on the distant horizon.

Even from afar, the muffled roars drifted over.

"Everyone, prepare for battle! Lord Gervas marched out and entrusted the castle and lands to us!"

"Then we must honor the responsibility he placed on us! When he returns, we must hand him back the Stormhold and its lands, intact!"

"Now, tell me—do you have the will?"

"We do!"

"Excellent! Then let those damned boarmen come! When they reach our walls, show these ugly boarmen that Stormhold's warriors will kick their asses and twist their heads off to use as footballs!"

"For Lord Gervas! For Stormhold! For glory! Kill!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

With Old John's rallying cry, cheers erupted across the walls.

Catherine watched the elderly steward in surprise.

Previously, this old steward had struck her as merely steady and experienced.

Yet she hadn't expected him to deliver such a stirring, soul-igniting pre-battle speech.

"Young Lady Catherine, when I was young, I actually fought in several battles like this!"

"Back then, the eastern coast wasn't safe—pirates often sailed inland to raid our lands. That's why I have this experience," Old John, seeing Catherine's confusion, explained.

Hearing this, Catherine finally cleared up her confusion, then nodded and waited for the Pig-Head Men to arrive from afar.

However, the Knight Commander Dali beside him looked around at the surrounding Storm Guards with some surprise.

Barbarians were one thing — they were a naturally warlike race, so it was understandable they wouldn't fear the Boarfolk.

But what about the remaining hundred guards? What gave them that?

Let alone these minor noble guards, even guards of a ducal house or guards of a royal legion.

They'd probably show fear on their faces too, seeing these Boarfolk.

Just like facing the Northern Behemoth Orcs — that would be unavoidable.

These Boarfolk's combat power was hardly any weaker than the Behemoth Orcs'.

The reason they couldn't pose as great a threat to the kingdom in the South as the Northern Behemoth Orcs did.

Was that the Northern Behemoth Orcs had already been unified, forming a kingdom just like the humans'.

While these Southern orcs had not been unified — they still lived by their own tribes.

So there was even some rivalry between them, and clashes would break out between one another.

At most, a few would form loose alliances.

But still, they couldn't shake the Griffin Kingdom.

But that was only with regard to the kingdom as a whole.

For these guards, the Boarfolk should still be terrifyingly powerful.

Moreover, their numbers reached over a thousand — five to one compared to them.

If he weren't battle-hardened, Dali himself might have felt a touch of tension; so how did these ordinary guards manage to be so heartened, practically champing at the bit for a fight?