Throne of the North.

Chapter 733 The Second Orc War (19)

Xiangshan Plain Fortress.

Viscount Landa, who was directing the reconstruction of the fortress, received news of the sudden appearance of werewolves. In a panic, he hurriedly returned to the high wall and looked at the densely packed werewolves in the hazy light and shadow of the northern border.

"The quantity is incorrect."

"Send scouts to search the mountains on both sides and see if these treacherous werewolves are planning a sneak attack."

Viscount Landa's skill in commanding troops was not something he possessed from the beginning; it was something he honed over the years at the Xiangshan Plain fortress.

The massive fortress was now in a state of war, and the soldiers were on edge, watching the werewolves slowly approaching from the north.

"Prepare!"

The massive ballista was taut, ready to fire enchanted arrows at any moment.

However, at this moment, the werewolves in the north stopped, and several humans were thrown to the ground. In the middle of the standoff between the two armies, several humans captured by the werewolves trembled as they made their way towards the Xiangshan Plain Fortress.

They were terrified; their legs trembled so badly that they could barely lift them.

Under the watchful eyes of both humans and werewolves, the group took nearly two hours to walk a distance of less than two hundred meters, finally collapsing against the high walls of the fortress.

Pale-faced and devoid of all strength, they probably no longer had the courage to appear on the battlefield.

Viscount Landa didn't understand, and it took some effort to pull these people up from the foot of the high wall.

"Who are you? Why are you in the werewolf army?"

The men couldn't even stand properly; the moment the soldier let go, they were already kneeling on the ground, panting heavily and unable to speak.

Finally, with the help of bread and warm water, these people finally spoke after a long time.

“Your Excellency, we are, we are Lord Rick’s slaves, we were captured by the werewolves.”

"Rick? Lord Rick?"

Viscount Landa recalled that there was only one Rick in the Northwind Province.

"The werewolves didn't kill you?"

"No...no, those monsters asked us to help them build wooden houses, and, and to make tools and grow potatoes."

According to their description, it was an inhuman existence, but the people around them all had strange expressions on their faces.

You slaves are made to work, and you're even given meat to eat?
Werewolves hunt and eat meat, so distributing meat to these slaves was a way of ensuring they had some. However, these slaves, constantly under the werewolves' watchful eye and living in fear, had no interest in such things. Moreover, the werewolves had been wild and violent for the past month, killing many human slaves and essentially returning them to their original state overnight. Naturally, this terrified the humans who had survived, and they no longer saw it as a pleasant place.

"Why did the werewolves send you back?"

Viscount Landa stopped the others from asking questions and asked the most crucial one: without the guidance of nobles, these slaves would have no ideas.

The group finally remembered their purpose.

"They, those orc monsters, they say they want to negotiate with Lord Ryan."

"Ryan?"

There is only one Ryan in the Northwind Province, and unlike Lord Rick, Ryan's name is renowned.

"Negotiations with Ryan?"

Viscount Landa was confused. Why would orcs and werewolves negotiate with humans and Baron Ryan?
Could there be some kind of conspiracy involved?

Before long, an arrow flew out from the Xiangshan Plain Fortress and was caught by the werewolf.

"His Majesty."

Adun looked at the human's letter, but it couldn't read.

But it doesn't matter, this letter comes from the power of magic, conveying not only the voice but also the meaning that the human nobles want to express.

Baron Ryan is not at the fortress for the time being; he has gone to deliver a message.

"Human nobles".

The werewolf king crushed the letter with a single claw. If it remembered correctly, the sender should be the nobleman who killed the previous werewolf king.

A powerful human nobleman, and now I have to negotiate with him?
For countless years, there has never been such a precedent: orcs and werewolves engaging in friendly communication with humans?

On the other side, Viscount Landa shook his head as he looked at the ferocious werewolf army.

I've never heard of such a thing.

"What exactly did Ryan do?"

The werewolf army's approach to the city gates put the human army on edge, hoping they would not attack. However, the lack of an attack left the human soldiers puzzled.

"What happened? Why aren't those monsters attacking?"

Inside the fortress, many soldiers were discussing how tense the situation was. If they weren't distracted, they were even afraid that they might accidentally let go and send the arrows flying.

"I don't know. Did you see those spineless cowards just now? They seemed to be delivering a message for the werewolves, saying that the werewolves wanted to see a noble lord."

"What noble lord? I took them to see Viscount Landa before, and they kept talking about some noble lord named Ryan."

"Ryan? Lord Ryan of the Frozen Territory?"

"Perhaps so, there won't be another Mr. Ryan."

Why would a werewolf request an audience with Lord Ryan?

"Who knows? Maybe these damned monsters are afraid of Lord Ryan. Do you remember last time, it was Lord Ryan who brought those dragons and defeated those damned werewolf monsters?"

"Yes, they must be scared and are planning to beg Lord Ryan for mercy."

Ryan's prestige in this land has spread far and wide, deeply ingrained in the hearts of the people.

In any case, the humans felt much more at ease since the werewolves didn't launch an attack; they could just stand there and wait.

Ryan arrived that afternoon.

"It seems these werewolves aren't very good at finding their way around."

He admitted that Ulf's methods of capturing those werewolves and returning them to the Frozen Territory were not gentle, and the journey was long and arduous. Only experienced horses knew the way across the snowy plains, and those werewolves might not be able to find the location of the Northern Wall fortress again.

However, standing on the Xiangshan Plains fortress, seeing that the werewolves opposite him had not launched an attack, Ryan knew that he had succeeded.

The werewolves who were released killed the High Priest Erdi.

"Ryan."

Viscount Landa stopped Ryan from leaving, somewhat worried.

"Werewolves are cunning; could this be some kind of conspiracy?"

"Don't worry, Viscount Landa, I know what they're up to."

Viscount Landa no longer tried to stop him, but instead became curious.

He wanted to know what Ryan had done.

"We cooperated with the werewolves."

Ryan said this, then waved his hand and landed at the foot of the high wall. The human soldiers around him looked at his arrival with awe.

Cooperation? Human nobles and savage orcs/werewolfs?
Viscount Landa was baffled. Could this really work? Watching Ryan ride away on his white horse, Viscount Landa felt he was beginning to lose track of Baron Ryan. However, the two sides were now close allies, and if Ryan could truly subdue the werewolves without a fight, it would be a great thing for them, his following nobles.

The iron hooves of the warhorse Winter's hooves landed on the snow. It was much colder here than inside the fortress. This land, uninhabited year-round, offered no warmth whatsoever. The orcs could adapt, but the humans only felt the terror of the Scourge North.

"Human nobles..."

King Ardon and the other werewolf clan leaders stared intently at Ryan with their wolf eyes. Many of them were familiar with Ryan's face. Only the lowest-ranking orcs lacked brains and memories, but they could still distinguish human faces.

Some werewolves bared their teeth; they had killed the previous werewolf king, His Majesty of the Silvermoon.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you werewolves still talk about avenging the late king?"

Orcs are indifferent to life and death, and it's not just orcs; the human world isn't much better, especially among human slaves.

Ryan stood alone on the snowy plains of Fragrant Mountain, facing thousands of werewolves with hideous faces.

Faced with Ryan's taunts, the werewolf army stirred, but not a single werewolf crossed the line to launch an attack.

"It seems you are very sincere in wanting to cooperate."

Ryan nodded in satisfaction, remaining mounted on his warhorse, and continued:
"In that case, let's get straight to the point."

"This meeting is for the calamity of your bloodline, the call of the wild."

"I only just learned that your werewolf clan has such a glorious history. It's a real pity. If you weren't orcs, perhaps you could have become friends with the Empire."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Suppressing his anger and murderous intent, Adun growled.

"Can you really free werewolves from their primal call?"

Behind Adon, all the werewolves, including Ay, were present.

"get rid of?"

Ryan laughed, shook his head, and answered amidst the werewolf's increasingly agitated and angry movements:

"I think you werewolves still haven't truly learned human language. Get rid of them? Ridiculous. What I helped them with was control."

"You werewolves are made strong by blood. If you were to get rid of your werewolves, you would only become weak. At that time, you could sit at the same table as the kobolds."

"What I did was to empower you werewolves to control the call of the wild."

"What you fear is losing your mind and becoming a beast, ultimately having your soul devoured by wildness, but you do not reject powerful forces."

"What I'm doing is making you werewolves stronger."

"And so that you will not become beasts."

"You call this power liberation? How laughable and ignorant."

Huff!

Some werewolf clan leaders could no longer contain themselves, and their powerful energy erupted, almost overwhelming their desire to attack Ryan.

"ridiculous!"

Ryan snorted coldly, his expression turning indifferent. The next moment, the vast sky and earth behind him burst into flames, the surging flames illuminating the world dimmed by the setting sun and reflecting off the hideous werewolves.

"Hasn't that fire last time cleared your heads? You're still behaving like ignorant beasts, unaware of the fear of legends. What, has the call of the wild begun to devour your souls?"

"It seems that soon you werewolves will be called dog-men. I wonder what your status is among the orcs?"

Ryan knew very well that negotiations with the orcs could not be accomplished with gentle words. All alien races revered powerful forces, and only the strong, the strong who could crush them, were qualified to conduct friendly negotiations.

The power of legend certainly has that ability.

Can werewolves accept such mockery? Of course not. They will tear apart the weak, but they can have a wider range of principles when facing powerful beings.

"Judging from your appearance, this call of the wild has always existed, but it only erupts when the moon is closest to the mortal world each month? Isn't this curse from the great being you killed? Why is it related to the Moon Lady?"

Ardon licked his lips, suppressing the murderous intent surging within him.

"We don't know the reason either, but according to the traditions passed down from our ancestors, perhaps that great deity was part of the moon."

“Every time there is a full moon, the werewolf gets too close to Him.”

What answer is this?
Ryan wanted to ask more questions, but suddenly thought of two other people.

Can Dawn, Sunbird Ifrit, and Dawn, Eternal Gaze, Fransca be considered part of Dawn?
I think it should be possible.

"I probably understand."

He nodded, which puzzled the werewolves. What did he understand? We don't even understand ourselves.

"In short, the curse is the call of the wild, a terror that werewolves cannot escape."

“And I, Ryan Clayton, a human nobleman, have the ability to help you resolve and control this calamity.”

"Moreover, it can make werewolves even stronger."

After Ryan finished speaking, he looked at the werewolf in front of him and said with a smile:

"You invited me here for negotiations, and I believe this is a transaction. Since it is a transaction, what are you going to offer in exchange for my help?"

"We will abandon our attack on the human empire's lands and let the war end."

"The war is over?"

Ryan shook his head and looked at the werewolves again with a mocking expression.

“There’s no need for us to continue this war, and I don’t believe that you werewolves can really break through my defenses. In fact, if this continues a few more times, your werewolf clan will be reduced to a second-rate orc clan. By the way, you’re no longer one of the six royal clans, are you?”

"To our west, the war of the divine kingdom is nearing its end, but until now you are not qualified to enter the battlefield of the divine kingdom to fight for your great gods."

"That reason is not enough to qualify you to do business with me. Besides, you are trading with the Empire, not me, Ryan."

"Don't get the target wrong."

“Lyan Clattenon, remember my face. I am the only one who can resolve the bloodline curse calamity within you.”

Werewolves are cunning; there's no such thing as a free lunch.

"Besides, do you think I'll pay a price for helping you control your primal instincts?"

"That's the curse of a great being. Even I have to pay a huge price to suppress and control it."

Adun looked at Ryan, and it certainly felt that this human nobleman wouldn't have it so easy.

“You humans love gold. There are many gold mines in the North. I can give them to you.”

"And magic crystal mines. Werewolves have countless riches, which they can trade with you."

Ryan shook his head again.

"Money can buy many things, but money cannot buy great power, so this wealth is not what I need."

Seeing that there were no other werewolf kings left, Ryan spoke up.

"Since you can't think of anything to offer in a trade, then listen to me."

(End of this chapter)