My villain wants to save himself, but the yandere heroine disagrees

"Ah? Please ask." Virgil was a little surprised, but still respectfully prepared to listen to the other party.

"Before, people in the town above said that we'd better move." The old man said. "But they also said that our location is not the front line of the battle. The front line should be able to withstand the attack of the orcs. Even if it is breached, there will be intelligence sent back to help us evacuate."

"That's why we stayed in this village. However, before we received any news, the orcs entered our village and tied us up."

Virgil finally understood that the old man was blaming the army and officials for not notifying them properly.

But it is understandable. After all, the front line collapsed almost instantly. No one expected that the orcs would put such great pressure at the beginning, and no one could adjust and respond in time, which led to the orcs quickly expanding their victory results.

In such chaotic circumstances, inadequate notification led to the villagers being killed without knowing it, and the responsibility does not lie entirely with the officials.

Commanders who failed to adjust and respond in a timely manner also bear a considerable part of the responsibility.

"I'm sorry, we didn't inform you enough about this and you almost got killed." Virgil said this and bowed to the old man apologetically.

"I'm not blaming you, after all, you saved us." The old man said this and sighed. "It's just that I also experienced the last orc invasion and I know the pattern of their attack."

"Why did the orcs invade in just a few days this time... Has our empire really made any progress in these years?"

Virgil remained silent upon hearing this.

The village girl behind the old man seemed to realize that something was wrong with the atmosphere, and she quickly pulled the old man's sleeve.

"Okay, Grandpa, stop talking about this. We just got our lives back, so let's consider evacuating now."

"Ah." Upon hearing this, the old man nodded.

If he had known that the imperial army could lose so many cities on the front line at the beginning and without letting out any news, he would have taken advantage of it long ago.

"By the way, let me help you with the evacuation..."

……

Baru was sitting in a military tent in a field military camp at the moment, and he was not in a good mood.

In the past two days, small groups of troops that were heading to other villages to search for supplies have been losing contact. Baru initially estimated that they must have encountered human ambush troops.

In these two days alone, Baru's casualties had reached five thousand soldiers, half of whom were ambushed by humans when they separated from the main force and acted alone, and the other half were ambushed by humans while searching for the missing troops.

Five thousand people is not a small number, which is equivalent to 5% of his army.

The originally happy mood due to the rapid progress was ruined by these things.

"Chief Baru." A tall orc walked in from the door. He looked very angry, and there was no respect for him in his tone.

"The warriors sent by our Iron Spear tribe to search for the missing troops were ambushed by a small group of humans and suffered heavy losses."

Judging from his appearance, there is no doubt that he is here to ask for accountability.

"Sorry, it's my fault. The scouts didn't do a good job of investigating the terrain near the battlefield."

In fact, this cannot be blamed on the scouts.

There are many mountains and forests nearby with dense woodlands, which are very suitable for hiding. There are also many secret trails that the orcs don't know about.

Although this land belonged to the orcs a long time ago, the orcs have been away from here for too long. During the last invasion, the orcs did not leave any topographic map of this place for their descendants, so this time they were essentially walking this road again.

"I don't need to hear an apology!" the Iron Spear Tribe chief said angrily. "As the joint chief, you should now come up with a solution.

We followed you, not to let our precious soldiers die in this forest!"

"I just know that I will try my best to find a solution..." Baru nodded.

"If you can't come up with a solution in the next few days, don't blame me for burning this place down." The chief of the Iron Spear Tribe said this and prepared to leave.

"Wait, what did you just say?"

"I said, I'll burn this place down!"

"Yes!" Baru clapped his hands when he heard that. "I've got an idea!"

……

"So, on the battlefield, it's all about the right time, right place, and right people." Orson taught Litt while sitting in the command center in Phoenix City.

However, their postures were a little ambiguous.

Litt sat on Orson's lap and watched Orson write and draw on the paper.

Her hair rubbed against Orson's chin, occasionally making him feel distracted.

This was Litt's request. Orson couldn't persuade Litt, so he had to agree to Litt and could only do this when there was no one around.

"It's hard for us to grasp the timing, and the same is true for the other party."

"And the geographical advantage is now in our hands." Orson pointed to the sand table not far away.

He ordered his officers to make it overnight.

At first, the officers did not know the use of this topographic map made of sand. However, when the troop deployments of both sides were accurately reflected on the sand table map, the officers found that things that they could only imagine in their minds suddenly became vivid. This made it easier for the officers to formulate combat strategies based on the terrain on the battlefield.

Of course, in order to make a sand table, it is necessary to ensure that the terrain is shaped correctly. To this end, Orson gathered all the hunters in the villages around the battlefield and asked them to help formulate and correct the terrain in various places, so as to more accurately restore the terrain of the battlefield.

"Orson, what you mean is that we can use the terrain to deal with the enemy, or even rely on favorable terrain to kill the enemy on a large scale?"

"Yeah." Orson nodded. "Do you know why I only sent mercenaries to carry out guerrilla warfare tactics?"

"why?"

"Although guerrilla warfare is a large-scale battle in strategy, it is actually divided into countless small-scale battles. Therefore, there are strict requirements on the military quality of soldiers," Orson explained.

"The current size of the empire's soldier phalanx is at least one hundred, and the average size is between five hundred and one thousand."

"In order to make up for the difference in individual strength, soldiers who have received formal military training often fight in groups to unleash their full strength, but mercenaries are different."

"Most mercenaries are relatively small in size, and the largest mercenary group has only a few thousand people. Under these circumstances, except for forming a battle formation when necessary, most of the time they fight in scattered groups."

"In terms of the coordination ability of a small team of several people, regular soldiers are far inferior to mercenaries."

Of course, Orson would not say that letting more mercenaries die would result in less losses for his side in the future.

I spent so much money to hire them, they can't be sent here just to keep things going, right?

Although Orson did think so in his heart, if he said it out loud, his tall image in front of Lit might be damaged.

Chapter 5: What's in my mind

"Mr. Orson, Mr. Orson, something terrible has happened!" While Orson was still instructing Litt, the door was suddenly pushed open by someone.

The person who opened the door was Carlisle, who became the deputy commander of the front line because of Orson's arrival.

When Carlisle saw Orson and Little's attitude, he was stunned for a moment, looked at each other in confusion, and then he closed the door and walked out.

When he opened the door and came in again, the relationship between Orson and Litt had returned to its original state, with Litt standing behind Orson's chair.

However, one can still see their mood at the moment from their awkward expressions.

"General Carlisle, what happened? Why are you so anxious?" Orson raised his head and looked at Carlisle in confusion.

"It's like this, Master Orson..."

……

At the front line, Virgil led his team through a forest path to lead the villagers from several nearby villages who had not yet been evacuated.

Just as he was about to lead his mercenaries to the front line, he saw fire coming from a hill in the distance.

The raging fire quickly spread across the entire mountain, burning down all the hiding places that the mercenaries had used to fight guerrilla warfare.

Then, the fire continued to move towards Virgil.

Spread in the direction of.

The mountains and forests in the eastern part of the Antica region seemed to be about to be burned down by the fire.

The guerrilla warfare has only been going on for a few days, and the damage done to the orcs has not yet begun. As a result, when the fire completely burns the forest, the orcs' advance will be slowed down for a while, but once the forest is burned, the orcs' advance will no longer be harassed by mercenaries.

After receiving this information, Virgil quickly made his own judgment. Then, he led the mercenaries and passed through the unburned forests before the fire spread to other forests, and continued to go around the enemy's flanks and rear.

If we don't take advantage of this period of time to gain more results, it will be too late later.

Although his mercenary force only had 400 people, they were all carefully selected by Orson. The strength of each mercenary was at least level three, and they had worked together well and had very high professional qualities. Therefore, after receiving Virgil's orders, the mercenaries did not complain at all, but carried out the orders from their superiors.

……

"Oh, I see." Orson nodded. "General Carlisle, guess why I sent mercenaries to delay the enemy's attack?"

"Uh..." Carlisle hesitated for a moment, then asked: "Mr. Orson, are you trying to... delay time?"

"Yeah." Orson nodded. "Do you know why I want to delay? Compared to the orcs, our war costs are obviously higher. If we delay, we may win, but the wealth of the Dukedom of Antica will be slowly destroyed."

"Please forgive my stupidity..."

Orson smiled and pointed in the direction of the royal capital on the empire map behind him.

"I'm waiting for someone there to arrive."

"Where?" Carlisle followed Orson's finger and looked at the map, "But didn't the royal family send troops there?"

Just at this moment, hurried footsteps were heard at the door again.

"Your Excellency the Commander... A troop has arrived outside the city." A soldier walked into the room, bowed his head and saluted, then reported the military situation.

"What's the number?"

"National Silver Dragon Knights..." The soldier lowered his head and uttered these words.

As soon as these words reached Carlisle's ears, he felt dizzy as if his head had been hit hard.

"Wait... I, did I hear you right, the Silver Dragon Knights?"

"Yes." The soldier nodded. "The leader is the Knight Commander, Prince Arthas."

"I understand. Let them enter the city and invite His Royal Highness the Prince here."

"Mr. Orson, are you doing all this to wait for the arrival of the Silver Dragon Knights?" After the messenger left, Carlisle looked at Orson in disbelief.

National Order of the Silver Dragon, also known as the Royal Order of the Knights.

This order of knights is controlled by the royal family and is the strongest ground force in the entire empire, bar none.

According to legend, before the establishment of the human empire, it was still in the form of tribes. At that time, each tribe was accompanied by a dragon. The tribe that eventually established the empire was the one that defeated the evil red dragon Holland together with the founding dragon, the great silver dragon Skaia.

Therefore, after the establishment of the Human Empire, the most powerful armed royal knights were named after the Silver Dragon.

Later, dragons gradually faded out of human life. It was said that they moved elsewhere in order not to disturb humans. In the dragon history written by the human empire to commemorate this period, silver dragons also represent kindness and wisdom, while red dragons represent tyranny and evil.

Needless to say, the strength of this knightly order is self-evident. Whenever there are wars of all sizes happening across the empire, the Silver Dragon Knights will also go and participate as appropriate.

Therefore, through long-term training, the absorption of high-quality talents and actual combat training, the Silver Dragon Knights have become the representative of the empire and the symbol of imperial power.

Half an hour later, Orson saw Carlisle off, and footsteps were heard at the door again.

Orson looked up and saw Prince Arthas appear at the door.

He quickly stood up and went to the door to greet Arthas.

"Your Highness, I am truly grateful that you have come all the way to help Antica." Orson said this and bowed his head to thank Arthas.

"It's okay, it's okay. The affairs of Antica are a major event concerning the entire empire. As a prince of the empire, I have an obligation to come this time." Arthas smiled.

The assistance from the Silver Dragon Knights was not originally included in the royal aid to Antica. It was after Arthas discussed with his father Odysseus that he brought the Silver Dragon Knights to the Antica region in his personal name.

After all, in Odysseus's view, the support he provided to Antica was sufficient.

There is no need to send in more troops.

Although sending more troops could indeed eliminate the threat of orcs more quickly, if other dukes did not send troops and he himself sent more troops, the power of the royal family relative to the local areas would be weakened again, which Odysseus could not accept.

Arthas led his troops to the front line with a clear purpose.

I, Arthas, have expressed my willingness to help you, Orson. When the war is over, you, Orson, must also show some sincerity in return to me, Arthas, right?

What Arthas wanted most was undoubtedly the support of the Duke of Antica.

In his opinion, the northern Prussian region is located in the heart of the empire, rich in resources, and less subject to threats. It would be difficult for him to find an opportunity to make the Duke of Prussia owe him a favor.

But this orc invasion of Antica was almost a perfect opportunity for Arthas to win over the Duke of Antica to his side.

If he could win over the Duke of Antica to his side, the Duke of Prussia, who had an engagement with him, would also turn to his side. In addition, the Duke of Antica was also married to the Duke of Orleans. It could be said that his actions had increased the favorability of the three dukes.

And there were only six dukes in the entire empire.