Throne of the North.

Chapter 661 Ambition Revealed
With the arrival of winter, the people of the North always had to worry about orcish invasions, as had been the case for many years.

However, since the all-out war between the orcs and the empire, the people of the North have not seen orcs for some time.

I'm finding it a little difficult to adjust.

This winter, when Zero Crossing City was overcrowded, the Northern Warriors Guild made the people of the city relive the ferocity of the orcs.

"In one month, the eight strongest adventurers will be chosen!"

"And before the Eight Knights were born, the cruel North had already prepared for them their wealth and squires."

"Those who bravely kill orc slaves will be received by the Eight Knights."

The Northern Warriors Guild's mission is to combat the invasion of orcs from the north. As long as they bravely fight against the orcs, the Northern Warriors Guild will give them a chance.

The arena in Zero Crossing City was packed with people, and even outside, many who couldn't squeeze in were listening to the commotion inside and discussing loudly.

"Are those orcs from the North?"

"It's completely different from what I saw in the south; it looks much scarier."

Adventurers from the south curiously peeked into the arena, marveling at the various orcs struggling and roaring. The orcs were tall, robust, savage, and irritable, and many couldn't help but show fear. Fortunately, there were tall stone walls separating them.

The sense of security from their elevated position made them look at the orcs with curiosity, wondering what the Northern Warriors Guild was planning to do.

A tall knight leaped down from a five- or six-meter-high stone wall, stood in the center of the arena with a sharp longsword in hand, and the next moment he swung his sword and killed two orcs that tried to approach him.

"It's the Ash Knight!"

"The original leader of the Eight Knights, it is said that he came from a noble family, but joined the Northern Heroes Guild to resist the orcs. The sword in his hand... is Frostmourne, which was painstakingly crafted by the legendary blacksmith Master Brok, and is even more powerful than the 'Snow Dragon's Roar' series."

"It's rare to see this gentleman under normal circumstances."

The 'old folks' of Zero Crossing City roared excitedly, explaining the glory of the Ash Knights to the people from the south beside them, thus enhancing their sense of superiority as natives of Zero Crossing City.

The towering Ash Knight, Liam, stood in the center of thousands of gazes, reveling in the spectacle, and then roared:
"Today's Zero Crossing Arena belongs to the slaves of the North Wind!"

"They pledge allegiance to their noble lords, follow the will of the nobles, and resist the invasion of the northern orcs!"

"And today, these slaves will realize their value here! Or..."

Liam paused for a moment, then called out:
"Die here!"

"The North shows no mercy to the weak!"

"The gods will not favor the dead!"

"Let them use their blood to please the esteemed adventurers!"

Boom! ! !
As the sound of chains and gears turning filled the air, the four large iron gates of the arena slowly opened, and one after another, emaciated, malnourished slaves dressed in tattered clothes walked out. They looked around in fear, and the shouts and roars coming from all directions made them tremble.

"Here are one hundred orcs and two hundred slaves from the Northwind Province, following the will of the esteemed Baron Ryan. If they survive this duel, they will shed their past identities and become squires of the Eight Knights!"

"Of course, will they survive?"

Liam roared, and disdainful mockery echoed from all directions above.

"Does a slave even deserve to be compared to us adventurers, Lord Ash Knight!?"

"Hahahaha, I think they'll be eaten by those orcs in an hour at most. I even saw werewolves inside, those are really scary guys!"

"Those damned slaves should just die!"

"The arena belongs to us adventurers!"

"Kill them all!"

"They don't even have weapons, are they going to tear the orcs apart with their teeth?"

Liam kicked aside the orc next to him and stood in the center, his powerful strength separating the slaves and orcs on both sides.

"Yes, they don't have weapons yet!"

"As slaves, everything they own belongs to the noble lords. The nobles agreed to let them come here, but they will not give them any valuable weapons."

"We cannot fight against the ferocious orcs of the North without weapons."

"They don't have any wealth to buy it!"

"So, adventurers present, are you willing to lend your weapons to these slaves?"

As soon as the words were spoken, someone shouted loudly.

"Why?"

"A bunch of slaves are not worthy of my weapons?"

Liam didn't respond, but just shouted loudly:

"This is a brutal test, a test of the promises made by the Northern Heroes Guild and the legendary Baron Ryan—"

Clearing his throat, Liam roared in a voice that could be heard by everyone outside the arena.

"As long as the slave survives this duel, any weapon he possesses will be returned to him tenfold in value. If he survives, the weapon in his hand will be returned to its owner at tenfold value!"

“A dagger worth one silver coin can be turned into ten daggers, or into ten silver coins.”

"At the same time, the weapon the slave possesses will increase in value tenfold if it kills any orc. Killing one orc will increase its value twentyfold, and killing ten orcs will increase its value one hundred and tenfold! Furthermore, Baron Ryan will personally grant that slave a status that transcends that of a slave or a commoner!"

For adventurers, killing an orc and taking its head would earn them a gold coin, while slaves would yield far less in value, since they were deprived of even their own human rights.

The Northern Adventurers' Guild serves adventurers, and naturally, it must also consider the countless adventurers within this arena.

Hearing Liam's words, many people were tempted, until the first person drew a dagger from his waist and threw it down into the arena below.

"Damn slaves! This scale dagger cost me five silver coins! Pick it up and kill those disgusting orcs!"

He roared, a hint of heartache in his voice.

Within minutes, many weapons were thrown down onto the battlefield by the adventurers. The slaves were still afraid, but they couldn't help but swallow hard when they saw the weapons.

Liam came to them.

"Don't forget your previous oath. This is your only chance to gain wealth and become the squires of the Eight Knights."

"Pick up your weapons and kill these orcs, or you will be the ones who die."

Dangdang! ! !
The bells rang out, the adventurers stopped feeding the slaves weapons, and the slaves crawled out, rushing towards what they considered to be the best equipment.

Many people rushed towards one spot, some even throwing off their leather armor, while others rushed for longswords, but they were too heavy for slaves.

A giant crystal hourglass appeared above the arena. Alchemists connected metal canisters together, allowing everyone to see the pure white sand flowing through it.

"How many people can survive in an hour?"

Liam leaped a few times and arrived at a spot—a circular stone platform suspended in mid-air. Standing there as the referee, he announced the start of the battle. "Savage monsters of the North, bare your fangs!"

“Foolish and ignorant slaves, do everything you can to survive.”

Without Liam standing in the middle, the cowardly orcs let out a deafening roar and then charged haphazardly towards the group of slaves opposite them.

Upon encountering the orcs, the slaves lost all will to fight and fled in a frenzy.

The arena is not entirely flat; it has pits, stone pillars, and mud pits, making its terrain diverse.

"Hurry up and kill it, you damn peasant, what are you doing?"

A chorus of angry curses erupted from all around, the adventurers furious at the slaves' behavior.

"Damn it, you actually coughed up blood after being hit by a single claw. Get up! Oh no, my sword is gone."

Inside the arena, the battle was almost entirely one-sided.

In a certain direction of the arena's viewing platform, where the area was relatively clean, many powerful knights and adventurers had arrived.

“What right do these slaves have to be our servants?”

A young knight sneered, thinking these slaves were utterly useless; their only purpose was to grow food, care for livestock, and ensure the knights had food and drink every day.

“Grann, you are too confident. You are not qualified to choose them. Only by becoming one of the Eight Knights can you obtain these slaves that should belong to noble lords.”

"And you, you have absolutely no ability to become one of the Eight Knights."

"Lao Li, I think you want to die in the North. If I'm not qualified, who can be one of the Eight Knights?"

“I think these slaves are not bad. If they survive to the end, I will choose the ten strongest ones to be my squires.”

"Only the eight most powerful knights can have squires. If you want slaves, why don't you go back and ask your lord to bestow them upon you? Haha."

"Then you can impersonate one of the Eight Knights!"

"you wanna die!"

The conflicts among knights have always been greater. These knights who came to observe had heard that they could choose their own squires, so they came so that if there were good warriors among the slaves, they could find out in advance and assign them to their own side.

Knights competed with each other in terms of weapons, armor, and the strength of their warhorses. If one's squire was stronger than another's, it was a kind of honor that could be used to defeat opponents.

"I'm sure I'll have a place among this year's Eight Knights!"

Many knights who couldn't communicate well turned and left. There was still a month left, and the slaves they saw today might not live to see thirty days later.

For those inside the arena, an hour passed quickly, but for the slaves on the battlefield, an hour felt incredibly long.

When the hourglass above his head ended, Liam leaped down and kicked the orcs away one by one.

Ten minutes later, the arena was once again clearly divided, and Liam said with some regret:
"Unfortunately, less than half of them survived."

The metal gate opened again, and the slaves fled in terror toward the deep cave entrance. The beastmen were also furious, but fortunately, the promised food was thrown out, and the beastmen swarmed to grab it, causing more casualties than in the previous hour.

As for weapons, they were scattered all over the ground. The slaves didn't care about weapons while they were running away. They picked them up as quickly as they could at first, but then threw them away as quickly as they could to make things easier.

The adventurers in the stands were furious.

"My Lord Ash Knight, why do you feed those orcs, leaving them hungry so they can kill the slaves who caused us to lose our wealth?"

Orcs in a state of hunger are the most terrifying; even human armies struggle to withstand them.

But this is obviously not feasible. If all the slaves were to die, how could any further planning be carried out?

Liam did not explain, but simply told everyone that for the next thirty days, there would be two such battles every day.

In the filthy, spacious room, the slaves lay sprawled on the floor as the bard brought a large amount of food—a feast these slaves had never tasted before.

"You can't survive until thirty days from now by running away."

"You have five days to rest, and during these five days you will be given three full meals a day, but these may be your last five days."

The bard addressed the group of slaves:

"To survive, we must defeat the orcs."

"Only by gaining the attention of the knights will they provide you with better weapons and shields. After all, those orcs will be starving for the last ten days."

On this day, two battles were held in the arena of Zero Crossing City between slaves and orcs, and the entire city of Zero Crossing City was filled with insults and ridicule directed at the slaves.

Ryan received the report from Zero Crossing City in the evening, around dinner time.

"The performance was not entirely satisfactory, but it was within reason."

Ryan wasn't concerned with that; instead, he asked:

"What did Miles and Mr. Hatton say?"

The butler, Beard, respectfully replied from the side:

"Lord Miles is somewhat dissatisfied. He considers slaves to be his precious asset, and if he were to provide you with slaves every year, he would need to spend extra money on this."

"He's made so much money, why would he need more?"

Ryan shook his head. Viscount Miles was becoming increasingly stingy in his efforts to fill his family's coffers.

"These slaves are not enough."

“I will have Brand lead the stag squires to the territories of other nobles and bring back more slaves. The nobles will not object.”

"Also, please invite Viscount Miles and his entourage."

Ryan's goal was to provide slaves with an upward path.

The nobles could not oppose Ryan's decision; they only had a few options.

One method was to buy slaves with money to satisfy Ryan's needs; another was to increase the number of slaves in his own people's population; and yet another was to oppose Ryan by telling him that their slaves had become commoners.

The nobles lacked the courage to refuse. These were the words Ryan spoke when he gained legendary power in Zero Crossing City. Coupled with that war, his voice carried unparalleled weight.

Moreover, Ryan also made a promise that the slaves they brought out would receive a share of the Northern Warriors' Guild's wealth and profits based on the proportion of those who survived.

This is a betting agreement: if a nobleman's slave survives to the end and was once entirely his, then that nobleman will conservatively receive a share of 10,000 gold coins.

The allure of profit, coupled with Ryan's authority, enabled the plan to be completed.

"Also... I will write a letter to the Kingdom of Sera, the Kingdom of Andara, and the Kingdom of Coran, inviting their nobles to Zero Crossing City."

Ryan's eyes were deep.

(End of this chapter)