Chapter 685

“…What are these guys thinking?”

Or-han was deep in thought. It was a situation he had never experienced before.

The soldiers of Dane had disappeared, and only clueless civilians were left abandoned inside the city. It was like a feast laid out on a platter.

“It’s as if they’re tempting us to come in… Are they planning to lure us into the city and then counterattack our scattered warriors for plunder?”

Instead of charging straight into the city, Or-han sent out dozens of scouts to thoroughly search the surrounding area and figure out the enemy’s intentions.

If it were the old Or-han, he would have charged in without a second thought, breaking through any traps with brute force. But his near-death experience in the fiery pit had transformed him into a more cautious man.

“If their goal is a counterattack, what method are they using?”

Various assumptions flashed through Or-han’s mind.

First, the civilians were actually disguised soldiers, planning to assassinate the Ai-shan warriors when they let their guard down.

“…No. That’s too thorough for a disguise.”

Most of the civilians left in the city were women and the elderly. There were hardly any adult men in sight.

Unless the King of Dane was a madman, there was no way he would use the elderly, women, and children as assassins.

Second, the Dane army was hiding in the forests or mountains outside the city, planning to surround the Ai-shan forces once they entered the city.

“…That’s not it either.”

Or-han dismissed his own speculation.

The scouts had already confirmed that there were no troops hiding nearby. They had searched the forests and mountains thoroughly but found no trace of anyone.

Third, they planned to trap the Ai-shan army inside the city and burn them alive.

“…No way.”

Compared to the other two assumptions, this one seemed more plausible. But if they closed off the city and set it on fire, tens of thousands of Dane civilians would also burn to death.

“Are they willing to sacrifice tens of thousands of their own people just to stop us?”

It was the strategy of a madman. Whether it succeeded or failed, a tremendous amount of blood would be spilled.

—

“What should we do, Kagan? Further reconnaissance seems pointless…”

A middle-aged Paladin cautiously asked.

Despite the tempting prey right in front of them, why were they just sitting around scouting instead of attacking? The other Paladins had similar expressions.

Or-han considered explaining the strangeness of the situation and the possibility of a trap, but he gave up. They wouldn’t understand even if he explained.

Even if he warned them about the trap, they wouldn’t admire his caution. Instead, they’d think he had become cowardly after losing an arm.

“…Send in the vanguard. There don’t seem to be any enemy troops, so three hundred should be enough.”

So, instead of explaining, Or-han formed a vanguard of about three hundred troops and ordered them to plunder the city.

Like miners using canaries to check the safety of a coal mine, he used the three hundred Ka`har as sacrificial pawns to gauge the enemy’s movements.

And soon after, Or-han was plunged into even greater confusion.

“…Nothing? Really?”

Nothing happened to the three hundred vanguard troops.

They charged toward the city, crossed the castle gate, and rampaged through the city, slaughtering the unsuspecting Dane civilians.

“Bandits…? No, could it be…!”

“It’s the Ka`har! The Ka`har have invaded!”

Though it was only a force of three hundred, it was more than enough to massacre people who had never experienced battle.

“This can’t be, why…?!”

“Ahhhh!”

Their arrows pierced the heads of women fleeing in panic, and their horses trampled children. Blood spurted like fountains with every swing of their sharp blades.

“Run! We’re all going to die!”

“Mom! Moooom!”

The Dane civilians screamed in terror at the sudden disaster and fled in all directions.

“Where are the soldiers, the defenders?!”

The fleeing people cried out in confusion.

Even as the Ka`har invaded and slaughtered, the defenders were nowhere to be seen, let alone trying to stop them.

“They said they were conducting field training to prepare for monsters…”

“Training, my foot! Those bastards ran away! They abandoned us and ran away!”

If they had really gone for field training, they would have returned by now.

Unlike the civilians inside the city who couldn’t see outside, if they had been training outside, they would have noticed the cavalry charging toward the city.

So, the Dane civilians quickly realized the truth. The city’s defenders had ruthlessly abandoned them and retreated.

They were sacrificial offerings.

Left as plunder for the Ka`har raiders to distract them from pursuing the retreating defenders.

…But it was too late to realize now.

“Ahhh! Save me!”

Cries, screams, and death throes instantly filled the city.

Elderly people were trampled by their fellow citizens, and young men who tried to resist with farming tools were skewered like pigs, their guts spilling out.

Like sheep facing wolves, tens of thousands of civilians were helplessly slaughtered by the mere three hundred cavalry.

Watching the carnage from afar, Or-han was utterly baffled.

“Truly, there was no trap, no preparation, they just abandoned all those civilians and ran…?”

Even for Or-han, who prided himself on having experienced everything, it was hard to believe. But there was no other explanation for what he was seeing.

“What a mad country.”

Finally, Or-han understood the enemy’s plan.

The King of Dane had retreated his army to preserve his forces, sacrificing the defenseless civilians as tribute to ensure his own safety.

“By opening the way and offering plunder, they want us to leave Dane alone and head north toward the Empire.”

The attitude of sacrificing tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of civilians for the safety of the royal family and nobles. Even by Ka`har standards, it was an ugly sight. Though it was undeniably helpful.

“Kagan, should we continue to wait like this?”

Several Paladins asked, looking at the city where screams echoed. Their eyes gleamed with desire. They clearly wanted to rush into the city and revel in the slaughter and plunder.

“…It doesn’t matter.”

Now that he had confirmed there was no trap, there was no reason to hesitate.

In fact, he needed to act aggressively. Three hundred men alone would take forever to plunder the entire city, and the soldiers’ morale, dampened by their previous defeat, needed to be boosted.

Or-han canceled the standby order and sent in half the army to completely subjugate the city.

The Ai-shan army stayed there for a day, thoroughly plundering the Dane civilians. They killed all who resisted, took all the food they could carry, burned the rest, and gave the surviving women to the soldiers.

The next day, after the Ka`har army left, only the corpses of those who had lost everything remained.

With no time to take the surrendered Dane civilians as slaves to the Great Plains, Or-han ordered them all slaughtered.

To appease the bloodthirsty soldiers and slightly boost the army’s combat power through the Life Force Technique.

—

The second city was also eerily empty of soldiers.

However, perhaps having heard of the massacre in the first city, the civilians there immediately offered everything they had, bowing their heads and begging for their lives.

After some thought, Or-han accepted their surrender. He declared that if they handed over enough food, valuables, and young women, he would spare them.

It was a strategic decision.

The soldiers were already satisfied with the slaughter in the first city, and if they killed those who surrendered without hesitation, the next cities would resist fiercely.

Moreover, there was no reason to kill them.

“Even if we kill all of them, the soldiers’ power won’t increase significantly. Killing tens of thousands would only mean each soldier kills a few at most.”

The efficiency of boosting the Life Force Technique through slaughter was abysmally low, and losing soldiers in the process would make it worse than not doing it at all.

Thus, the second city avoided the carnage.

Though they lost eighty percent of their food reserves and had to sacrifice all their young women, they at least kept their lives.

—

The unstoppable advance of the Ai-shan army was halted when they reached the third city.

“That flag…”

Or-han frowned as he looked at the military banner hanging on the city wall.

It wasn’t the flag of Dane. It was a familiar emblem, one that had fluttered on the detested Berengeiria Wall.

The flag of the Empire stood tall on the city wall.