Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 369 NEKOPARA
The sub-orc residents of "Dan-Azler", with their hands tied behind their backs by hemp rope, staggered and gathered in the central square of the Oasis of God's Grace under the push of the soldiers of the Frost Maple Ridge Expeditionary Army.

The square of the sub-orc settlement is located next to the natural spring in the center of the God's Grace Oasis.

The clear spring water in the spring's eyes reflects the bright noon sun over the Tongge Desert, as crystal clear as a diamond embedded in the yellow sand and green grass.

The breeze blows over the Oasis of Grace, so waves surge in the grass in the square, mixed with fine wildflowers growing among the long grass, and a faint floral fragrance is also mixed in this breeze.

Smelling the pleasant aroma in the air, Master Laurie thought to himself, compared with this desert oasis, what kind of rubbish is the land of stupid souls on the other side of the mountain...

However, the mood of the residents of "Dan-Azler" may not be as good as the scenery here.

Master Laurie squatted next to the central spring, digging his nostrils and filling his water bladder, while watching the group of sub-orcs in the square from a distance, standing in line according to men, women and children under the command of the Shuangfengling soldiers.

These sub-orcs of different races whose movements were restricted by the hemp rope showed very different expressions for a while:

There is sadness, confusion, humiliation, and anger...

There were even a few young werewolves with gray hair and wolf ears who tried to resist the soldiers of Frost Maple Ridge who were tying ropes to their wrists, but were stabbed in the neck by Eldridge. down.

But to be honest, this scene is much better than Master Laurie's previous expectation.

He originally thought that the lord would directly bring the Shuangfengling hussars to kill this humble federal settlement;
However, the reality is that although most of the sub-orcs living in the oasis are still full of anger towards the soldiers of Frost Maple Ridge, there has not been any fierce resistance or conflict - in the case of the catman who looks like the leader After the girl shouted "Surrender", almost all the sub-orcs put down their weapons and stopped resisting, even those sub-orcs who have always been known for their bravery and rebellion are no exception.

How does this crude settlement, which is obviously made up of multiple races, have such cohesion and obedience to a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl?
Master Laurie felt that this oasis territory looked interesting.

Of course, it's just "somewhat interesting".

According to the master's observation, the strength of this territory is actually not enough to enter the current Shuangfengling's eyes:
In the short firefight just now, the Frost Maple Ridge Expeditionary Army directly formed a unilateral crushing massacre on these sub-orcs. A group of people did not even have simple leather armor, and the only weapons were a bunch of hammers used by blacksmiths and farmers. How can the sub-orc man with a pitchfork stand in front of the horseshoes of the Shuangfengling cavalry?

From the dead ghost werewolf throwing the stone of fate, to the deadly feathered arrow of the Frost Maple Ridge riding archer, to the last cat girl surrendering loudly and begging for mercy, and the lord ordered a ceasefire. Minutes, but near the wall on the south side of the Oasis of God's Grace, it has become a bloody area full of corpses;
It’s also thanks to the little cat girl who saw the opportunity early—if she shouted a few seconds later, even she herself would be killed by the long swords of the Frost Maple Ridge cavalry, not to mention the orcs in the entire settlement of God’s Oasis:

At that time, the "Northern Blizzard Mage Group" had already started to chant a large-scale destructive magic!
The timely surrender of this group of sub-orcs finally made their fate, at a critical juncture, take an emergency turn from the road of destruction of "death without a place to die".

And after the sub-orcs gave up their resistance, the Frost Maple Ridge Expeditionary Army occupied this oasis settlement without any difficulty.

Master Laurie believed that the first battle of the Frost Maple Ridge Expeditionary Force was too easy to win - after all, a sub-orc settlement in an oasis, how could it be possible to guard against ghosts appearing from the yellow sand of the desert? What about the imperial cavalry?
He lifted the water bag from the spring, wiped the water stains on his robe, and couldn't help but glance at the densely packed sub-orcs in the square.

This group of sub-orcs can only stand silently in the sun, passively waiting for their own fate.

As for how the lord will decide how to deal with these captives, even Master Laurie is not sure now-from a utilitarian point of view, these sub-orcs are really useless to Frost Maple Ridge, in order not to waste supplies And to avoid future troubles, perhaps, as Sean Mountbatten suggested, killing them all is the right answer.

But raising the butcher's knife against a group of unarmed and surrendered humanoids...Master Laurie always felt weird.

So, the chief mage of the Igor family gave up thinking: After all, the lord still makes up his mind, doesn't he?

……

What Master Laurie, who was busy filling water, didn't know was that there was a fierce debate going on in the simple wooden house on stilts just tens of meters away.

This wooden house that has just been erected for a short time is the most regular-looking building in the entire "Dan-Azler"-different from the simple wooden houses, fur wooden sheds and even tents where other sub-orcs live, this The wooden house on stilts stands out from the crowd, and it is usually used as the residence of the leader of "Dan Azler".

Of course, after the Frost Maple Ridge Expeditionary Army occupied the Shennen Oasis, several senior members of the Igor family occupied the magpie's nest and set it up as a temporary command post and meeting room for the expeditionary army——

——However, after entering the room, seeing the long skirt garter hanging in the room and the simple cloth dolls piled up on the bed, all the humans were obviously stunned:

During the brutal war, they almost forgot that the leader of "Dan Azler" who made all the sub-orcs lay down their arms with just one sentence was actually just a young girl of sixteen or seventeen years old.

And watching her boudoir being invaded by such a group of "outsiders", with her hands pressed behind her back by a beautiful blond female swordsman, Marlena, who staggered into the room following these human invaders, was even more ashamed and angry His eyes were red again in embarrassment.

However, after the old fox person who was severely injured by the magic of the spiritual song master received timely treatment from the Enziai troll military doctor and was finally out of danger, the cat girl's mood has obviously calmed down a lot;

During the entire process of the Frost Maple Ridge Expeditionary Army occupying the oasis, searching houses, and controlling the prisoners, she kept her head down and remained silent.

Compared with a young girl, her emotional control is a bit too strong, and all the senior leaders of the Shuangfengling Expeditionary Army couldn't help but be amazed.

Of course, in the depths of Marlena's little heart, the reason why she is so calm is not so much out of nature, but out of desperation:
In the short firefight just now, Marlena has witnessed the tyranny and cruelty of this group of human cavalry. They are like sabers sharpened by blood and fire, born for war, plunder and killing;

Marlena even felt that the "Hammer of Purgatory" division that passed through "Dan-Azler" to the south last fall might not have the suffocating oppression of this group of human cavalry.

Unfortunately, it fell into the hands of such a group of war butchers, and the young cat girl has long since lost any hope for the future.

However, even with this kind of awareness, when Marlena was forced to follow the group of humans into the room that should belong to her, she was still terrified by what she saw and heard:
There were three people who walked into the cabin, besides Marlena herself and the beautiful blond swordsman who was in charge of escorting her: the handsome black-haired nobleman who ordered the ceasefire during the previous exchange of fire, an elf magician with gorgeous robes and elegant posture division, and a young human officer with sharp eyes in a neat gray military uniform and military boots.

Since she learned the Common Language of the Empire from her parents when she was a child, Marlena could understand from the conversations of these humans that the elf magician was called "Master of Spiritual Songs" and the young human officer was called "Sean... Mountbatten" seems to be the staff officer of their group of cavalry;
And the black-haired human who impressed her deeply seems to be the nobleman of human beings and the leader of all human cavalry——

——His name seems to be "Eliot Igor", but other humans call him "Lord Lord".

And as soon as he stepped into the soundproof cabin, the human officer named "Sean Mountbatten" ignored the existence of Marlena, and couldn't wait to say to the black-haired human nobleman:
"My lord, as I said, we don't have a second solution!"

The "Master of Spiritual Song" on the opposite side folded his arms, frowned and said:

"Chief of Staff Mountbatten! Let me remind you that your so-called 'solution' has another name called 'slaughter'!"

Sean Mountbatten turned his head, stared at the master of spiritual songs, and said bitterly:
"Master of Spiritual Song! Of course it is massacre! We are fighting, holy god! If we don't get rid of all these sub-orcs, what will we do in the future? They are the sub-orcs of the Federation, that is, our enemies——you want to say , shall we show mercy to a group of enemies and wait for them to tip off the Federation orcs in the north?"

Marlena felt her heart constrict suddenly—she suddenly realized that what the two of them were discussing was whether to drive out the "Dan-Azler" sub-orcs who had surrendered...

The cat girl's pretty face was pale, and she opened her lips tremblingly, but due to the intense fear and tension, she couldn't even utter a decent word.

And the elf magician was already retorting sharply:
"Chief of Staff Mountbatten! They have surrendered! Surrendered! They are our prisoners! Is the human style of your empire killing prisoners? Just like you did to our elves in the 'Old War'?"

The human officer known as "Chief of Staff Mountbatten" turned his head slightly:
"Master of Spirit Song...I'm not from the Empire, I'm from Shuangfengling...Please don't bring the issue of race into it! Let me ask you, do you know that we only have 500 goddamn people! 500 people! They are standing outside, ha, there are nearly a thousand sub-orc captives! Do you want to use 500 people to guard a thousand captives? Ah? If this continues, what kind of surprise attack are we talking about? What kind of invasion are we talking about? Just take these useless sub-orcs back home, and escort them back to Shuangfengling to count as a success!"

"I can't accept the act of killing prisoners in front of my eyes!" The elf magician also refused to give an inch, "This is my ethics as a magician and as an elf! Mr. Sean Mountbatten, you can become a warlord!" beasts, but Frost Maple Ridge cannot!"

Sean Mountbatten gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice:

"Then you should probably feel lucky... This matter is not up to me."

Silence fell on the room.

The human officer and elf mage, including the blond female swordsman behind Marlena, all turned their heads to look at the young human noble who sat on her bed and remained silent for a long time.

Marlena had noticed a phenomenon a long time ago—it seemed that everyone in this group of human cavalry, from top to bottom, had a habit of looking at this black-haired human: no matter if there was any dispute or question, they He almost instinctively cast his eyes on this young man, his eyes were even more pious than those shaman priests who worshiped the God of War in the Federation.

And now, too, they are going to seek...an oracle from this young human being about how to deal with the sub-orc captives of "Dan-Azler".

So, Marlena also trembled, forcing herself to raise her head, and looked at the too young "Lord Lord" with them, looking at those black eyes as deep as the night.

But what made Marlena panic and bewildered was that those eyes were also staring at her.

"I think..." the black-haired human lord opened his mouth in a deep voice, his voice seemed to be slower than a century's pace.

Marlena realized that this young human who was not much older than herself was also hesitating.

She knew that the life and death of thousands of elders in the entire "Dan-Azler" depended entirely on the next word that this human being uttered from his mouth.

The cat girl who was as delicate as a flower burst out a force from nowhere in her frail body.She let the tears well out of her eyes, but still under the surprised gaze of the blond female swordsman behind her, she begged the black-haired human:

"Please...don't kill us...please...we don't want to die..."

Sean Mountbatten turned his head away, the master of spiritual songs clenched his fists tightly, and the blond female swordsman behind her controlling Marlena's wrists seemed to loosen involuntarily.

The black-haired human sitting on the highest seat, the "Lord Elliott Igor", sighed after three seconds of silence.

"Go, all go." He waved his hands gloomily, "Let me talk to her first."

The voice of the human lord is not loud, but every word seems to have iron majesty.

Sean Mountbatten and the master of spiritual songs were only stunned for a moment, then bowed to the lord, and then walked out of the hut without looking back;

The blond female swordsman also let go of Marlena's wrist.She stood there and hesitated for a moment, as if she was worried about the safety of her master, but in the end she followed Sean Mountbatten and the master of spiritual songs and left the hut, leaving Marlena and the young human nobleman alone in the hut inside.

Malena shrank and stood in the center of the room, accepting the scrutiny of the young human nobleman.Even though she lowered her head and couldn't see the expression of that human nobleman, Marlena still felt cold all over her body, as if her clothes had been stripped clean by that gaze.

After an unknown amount of time, the human sighed softly:
"I am Elliot Igor, the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge."

Marlena vaguely remembered that in the human empire, "Duke" was a very big title.She raised her head cautiously, and said in a trembling voice:

"I, my name is Marlena... I am... the leader of 'Dan Azler'..."

"Duke of Frost Maple Ridge" Elliot Igor stared at her silently, and Marlena couldn't understand what kind of thoughts were hidden behind those eyes.

She could only force herself, gritted her teeth and said:

"Please, don't kill—"

But this Eliot Igor interrupted her pleading mercilessly:
"I should kill you guys. Sean is right. This is war... and the master of spiritual songs... Forget it. Miss Malena, on the way here, we planned to use the massacre of the city after entering the federation The ones that inflict eternal pain on the orcs. Unfortunately, you are the first Commonwealth territory we bump into."

"No, don't..." Marlena felt tears welling up in her eyes again, "I beg you..."

The words of begging for mercy sounded too weak and powerless even to herself, but Marlena really couldn't think of anything else to say.

She even realized in despair that when someone puts a butcher's knife on your neck, what you say is actually useless.

"We can't afford a thousand captives." The human noble said categorically, his cold voice once again overwhelmed Malena's bird-like cries, "We can't take you on the march, we can only keep you in There... and each of you could be a messenger to the Commonwealth, ruining the suddenness of this operation. Please don't pledge your loyalty to me, Miss Malena, I know you're about to— —Even if I believe you will keep your promise not to stab us in the back, but as I said, there are a thousand of you.”

Malena didn't even know what to say, so she could only let the tears flow more and more violently.

"This is war, Sean is right..." the young human murmured, as if he was not communicating with Marlena, but convincing himself, "If the 'Hammer of Purgatory' conquered Frost Maple Ridge, What will they do?"

"Hammer of Purgatory".This familiar name tore another scar on Marlena's already painful heart.

The young human nobleman noticed the change in Malena's expression.

"Miss Malena..." He raised his fingers and asked with a frown, "...do you know the 'Hammer of Purgatory' division?"

"I know, I know..." the cat girl opened her mouth and replied tremblingly—she didn't understand the meaning of this question, she only knew that every time she said one more word, maybe the "Dan-Azler" people Extending his life by one second, "Go, last autumn, they passed by our Oasis of Grace... went south..."

The human noble sitting on her bed showed a somewhat complicated smile:

"You didn't see them come back, did you?"

"Yes..." Marlena replied tremblingly.

"Yeah." The human noble smacked his lips, and looked at the cat girl with some playfulness, "Miss Malena...when I mentioned the name 'Hammer of Purgatory', there was fear in your eyes...can you tell me why?"

"Can you tell me why?"

——This curious interrogative sentence made Malena seem to return to the nightmare that haunted her countless days and nights.She doesn't want to remember.She doesn't want to narrate.She didn't want to answer.

But under the gaze of the young human, the nightmare still roared like a tide against the tide, submerging every sense of Marlena.She opened her mouth with difficulty, and was a little surprised to realize that there was not much emotion in the language she narrated:

"Go, last autumn...the hammer of purgatory passed through our divine oasis, when, at that time they camped outside the oasis, and they were still collecting food and grass from 'Dan Azler'... At that time... there was an orc long Spearmen came into our house... this is the house... my father, he, he was the leader of Dan Azler at the time..."

At this point, Marina felt her throat constricted and realized that it was the darkness in the deepest part of her chest, rising up her esophagus.But she swallowed, gritted her teeth and insisted:
"Father and mother...they handed over the food for the winter...then, then...the spearman saw me..."

The human noble moved silently.

Marlena's eyes were already blurred from another round of tears, but she bit her lips, and recalled with the brief clarity brought about by the intense pain:

"Father wanted to stop him... so did my mother... but he had a spear in his hand... He stretched out the spear and stabbed and stabbed my father, and then my mother jumped on him like crazy..."

"No need to say any more." The human noble said calmly.

But Malena isn't about to stop.She felt a calling to tell the full story of that night that she wanted to forget countless times in the future-using the last chance in her short life:

"Father...Mother...They didn't move...The orc spearman killed them, and he was frightened, and rushed out of the door...Elder Hawthorne heard the movement and ran over and saw the people in the house Condition……"

Marlena choked up a bit, trying to squeeze out a relieved smile, but bitter tears poured into her mouth along the corner of her mouth:

"That orc spearman... he was caught by the military police within half an hour. Lian, the head of the Gale Division of the Hammer of Purgatory, cut off his head with his own hands, and then came to apologize to me... and then ...and then...they went south and never came back..."

The cat girl lowered her head, raised her hand, and wiped her face carelessly with the back of her hand:
"Father...mother...they're all dead...leave 'Dan Azler' to me...please...don't kill 'Dan Azler' even for their sake ' people...if everyone is dead, I really dare not go to see them...don't kill Elder Hawthorne...please..."

The human nobles sitting in the shadows still did not speak.

Marina was desperate.She looked at the young face with tears in her eyes, and finally begged:

"You... If you want to kill, kill me, okay? Let 'Dan Azler' go, please, let Elder Hawthorne, Uncle Phyllis, Miss Mena go... ...If you want to kill, kill me..."

Speaking of this, Marlena suddenly remembered something, so she cried out as if grabbing a life-saving straw:

"Or, or... that orc spearman... I can give you whatever he wanted at the time... I beg you, whatever is fine, I can do whatever you want... I beg you... let it go" Dan Azler 'Come on...do whatever you want with me...I'll try...'

Marlena cried and begged like this, and she opened her neckline, but the human noble in the shadow stopped all her actions with just a cold word:
"stop."

Malena's hand rested on the hem of her long skirt.She was shaking.

The human noble sitting on her bed said softly:

"Miss Marlena...your narrative, about that orc spearman, about your parents, only made me more convinced that if Frost Maple Ridge lost at the beginning, what we faced was nothing more than a battle." It’s nothing more than an indiscriminate massacre of men, women, and children. War…that’s what it is, Sean is right after all.”

The young human nobleman sighed and said sadly:
"Massacre... We really need to massacre the city. In that infected area, I swore to fight for the people of the Igor family, and the rest are worthless in my eyes. But you know what, Marlena Miss, you remind me of many things. I remember a thing that was entrusted to me by a respectable old orc on that snowy mountain... I also remembered things that no Haven people remember ... I remembered that on a certain continent, countless innocent people were once destroyed in a bastard war... I remember too much, can I forget?"

Malena didn't know what the human nobleman was talking about, so she could only listen.

"So..." the human noble shook his head, "War...massacre...history is always like this, history is never kind. But...but...sometimes, the master of spiritual songs is also right—— The Spirit Master might even be the more correct one... We really cannot descend to the level of intolerable badness and allow ourselves to be the kind of people we hate the most - even in war. Tell me, Miss Malena, why?"

Marina trembled and said:
"Because...because...we don't want to regret..."

"The first step to not regretting is to never do anything that would make your future self or your past self look down upon." Xia Houyan said flatly, "Miss Malena, you can start celebrating—because I don't Be an orthodox Imperial Human or Commonwealth Orc because I remember more misery and tragedy than you. You 'Dan Azler' stay in this oasis and we head north tomorrow to slaughter those Real soldiers. This is not for you, but for us - if you like to report or something, you can go as you like, I would rather let the people of Shuangfengling lose a little intelligence advantage, and I will not let them become in the war A beast that deliberately slaughtered civilians."

"We won't report...I swear..." Marlena promised weakly, trembling.

"Fuck! This feels so fucking uncomfortable!" The young human noble, who had always looked gentle, suddenly yelled and kicked the bench next to the bed away, scaring Marlena into a shiver, "Miss Marlena , you and this 'Dan Azler', it's best not to make this lord regret this bloody kindness and generosity... I'm not good at playing this style of characters..."

"You...you won't regret it...thank you..." Marlena tremblingly said, "As long as you can spare 'Dan Azler', I can do anything..."

"Can you? Can you? Then come here." Xia Houyan stared at the cat girl, and laughed at himself, "At least let me be able to convince myself that this is not a pure loss-making business... War should always be A little loot..."

So Malena took a step closer timidly, watching the young and handsome human noble stand up from the bed and approach her.

For some reason, with tears in her eyes, the girl leader of "Dan Azler" suddenly covered her mouth, covering the corners of her mouth that were slightly raised with a hint of bitterness and pride.

(End of this chapter)