Imperial Crown.

Chapter 347 Thousands of miles to the rescue
Judra came because he knew that the coalition of horse thieves and pirates had really arrived.

If Eagle City was breached, he, who lived right next to Eagle Territory, would not have an easy time either.

So even though he was jealous of Raven's achievements on the battlefield, he still mobilized his elite "Iron Furnace Legion" to come to Eagle City for support.

But on the battlefield, there was no time to explain so much.

"There are too many bandits. The people behind us have almost retreated. Let's retreat back to Eagle City." Jude said quickly:
"Can you still move?"

Julia nodded, dropped the broken weapon, and carried the unconscious Thor on her shoulders.

Judra frowned.

Thor's injuries were so severe that his limbs were all twisted and deformed; his face was pale, and it was obvious that he had lost too much blood.

This kind of injury is not worth treating on the battlefield.

Judela said, "Leave him behind. He can't be saved. Bringing him along will only slow us down."

"He is the son of Knight Eric," said Julia.

Julia wants to save Thor not because of his identity, but Julia knows that those reasons are not important to Judra, and only this can convince her.

Sure enough, Judela's expression became serious: "Come here, some people, take this gentleman back safely!"

Leading 200 Ironforge Legion soldiers, Judra fought and retreated, protecting Julia and Thor and returning to Eagle City.

But the strange thing was that no matter how much Nancy invited her, Judra was unwilling to live in the Eagle Castle, and instead lived with her soldiers at the garrison inside the city walls.

"How strange, what's going on?" Nancy was confused.

"Yeah, it's very strange." Denise nodded in agreement.

As the news spread, not only Judra, but also the nobles of Xuefeng County came to support.

Viscount Broca, Baron Wessassin, Baron Zeyi, Baron Kate, and Lady Doreen arrived one after another.

Even Baron Seleva, who had always been at odds with Raven, came.

But except for the nobles of Xuefeng County, even the nobles of the five northwestern counties mostly chose to stand idly by.

Over the years, Raven's rise like a meteor has blinded many people.

This time, in the war launched against the Principality of Eivor, he won three battles in a row and fought a series of classic battles, which made his light shine even brighter and he seemed to be a famous general of the time.

It seemed that the Griffith family's momentum was unstoppable.

Nobles always act like this.

When you are in a low status, they look down on you; when you mingle among them, they will look at you, praise and criticize you, and then gradually accept you.

But if you want to move up, you have to endure all kinds of endless maliciousness.

The nobles had the same idea.

On the battlefield, you, Raven, only used our soldiers to transport food and supplies, and your wife Nancy maintained the logistics well. Now that your backyard is on fire, we have no soldiers and it is not wrong for us not to help, right?

Some people will go a step further - if I don't go to help Eagle City, no one else can go either.

Just like small peeling.

Now, he was sitting in his castle, wrapped in a fur cloak.

Opposite him was an old man with a gaunt face.

It was the dead of winter, but he was wearing heavy armor, looking like an old knight from a story.

"Viscount John, at your age, you should take more rest." Little Peeler poured a glass of wine for John:

"Why go through so much trouble just for a Raven?"

Viscount John did not touch his glass. He just picked up a piece of steak with his fork and put it into his mouth to chew quietly. Finally, he said:

"Raven is a good young man. He is now fighting for the Empire. I am an old man and cannot go to the front line to support him. I must help him stabilize the rear."

"Moreover, if Eagle City is breached and those bandits and pirates are allowed to escape, the entire Nord Province will suffer."

Little Peeler was still unwilling to give up. He lowered his head, his hair covering his dead white eye, and his right red eye, which seemed to be filled with blood, stared at John:

"The news has spread. There are 3 bandits, 2 pirates, and more than 10 people they are holding hostage."

"Raven has withdrawn all the troops from Eagle City. The defense is too weak. Even with your 2000 soldiers, we will not be able to resist."

"Neither pirates nor horse thieves have any discipline."

"Therefore, it is better to wait until Xiongying City is conquered. These bandits will naturally disperse. Then you can send out troops and defeat them one by one!"

Viscount John was chewing a piece of beef with tendons, but when he heard what Little Peeler said, he slowly stopped chewing and after he finished speaking, he simply spit it into the plate.

"Gunther, do you know why you will never be as good as Raven?"

Little Peeler's cheek twitched, not only because he didn't like being called by his real name, but also because Viscount John had touched a sore spot.

If it were any other viscount, Little Flay would have definitely retorted harshly.

But John was not only a viscount, but also his elder - the mother of Little Flayed, was John's cousin.

So he could only continue to listen to Viscount John's chatter.

“For many things, it’s about whether or not you should do it, not whether you can do it.”

Viscount John said slowly:

"Raven wanted to share the burden with the empire, so he led his troops to attack the Principality of Eivor. This is what he should do."

"As a member of the empire, it is my responsibility to protect his family and territory at this time."

"It's the same again!" Little Peeler stood up angrily: "You still use the same old-fashioned theory. You always know what to do and always think about others."

"My mother lived an uneasy life because of your consideration for others!"

“And now it’s happening again!”

"Is Raven so important to you? Is it worth it for you to die with your old bones?"

When Viscount John heard Little Peeler mention his cousin, a trace of shame flashed across his face, and then he sighed:
"You still don't understand."

"I went to Eagle City not because of Raven."

"If your territory were threatened in this way, I would also lend a helping hand."

Little Peeler sneered and was about to make a sarcastic remark, but when he saw Viscount John's serious and upright expression, he swallowed the sarcastic words back.

"...I understand. If you want to go, then go ahead."

Little Peeler tilted his head back and poured a mouthful of wine down his throat:

"But if my uncle knew that I couldn't stop you, I'm afraid he would blame me again."

"Then let's keep it secret from him for a while." Viscount John showed a sly smile:

"I'll set off early tomorrow morning."

……

Outside Eagle City.

The defense line was breached and the war progressed to the stage of attacking and defending the city walls.

At this point, we can see the benefits of Raven's insistence on placing Eagle City in the middle of the river.

It was just the beginning of winter, and although the river was frozen, the ice was not thick. Not to mention siege equipment, the center of the river could not even withstand a few people stepping on it.

Therefore, the pirates and horse thieves had to start building pontoon bridges - which hit the back of the hands of the defenders on the city!
There is a serious shortage of soldiers to defend the city now, and the workers scattered in the factories have become the best soldiers.

Although they have not received any military training, they are well organized, have clear division of labor, and are strong. Now that it is not time for close combat, they are all better than the other in defending the city!

Especially those gray dwarves.

Although they are not tall, they are naturally muscular, not to mention that they deal with steel and fire all day long.

Now, Bowell, the only gray dwarf without a beard, has become the commander-in-chief of the defense of a section of the city wall.

His short and sturdy body, only as tall as an adult man's chest, walked back and forth on the city wall, and burst out with a sharp and powerful voice: "You guys, don't just stand there, quickly string the crossbows!"

"Don't be idle, trebuchet at the back. Throw the stones at me once you've set them up.

What? Not calibrated? Whatever!
Who told you to hit the floating bridge? It would be the same if you hit the ice!"

Not to mention, in this cold weather, Bowell's voice really motivated the defenders.

After the bed crossbow was loaded, a hammer hit the wooden pin and the thick crossbow arrow flew out with a whoosh.

The bullet was dozens of meters away and could not miss at all. It went straight through the bodies of three horse thieves who were rushing from the pontoon bridge to the city wall, then smashed the pontoon bridge with a bang and cracked the ice.

The air was filled with blood.

The floating bridge broke in the middle and swayed on the smooth ice surface. The horse thieves who were still standing on the bridge felt like they were on a roller coaster, screaming and trying to maintain their balance.

Before they could even stand firm, the catapults in the city began to work their magic!
There are not many of them, only 13 units.

The weather is cold in winter, and the toughness of the catapult's belt is greatly affected.

But the same thing goes, can't you throw it at a distance of dozens of meters?

Whoosh whoosh—

The boulders were thrown high up, drawing beautiful parabolas, and then fell down after reaching the top!
Boom boom boom! ! !
The ice surface was broken by huge rocks, splashing out thick, cold springs mixed with ice chips.

With a crackling sound, the ice surface cracked.

“Ah! Ah~~~~”

"vomit……"

"Help, help—don't pull me!"

The floating bridge was shaken violently by the breaking of the ice and waves, and the bandits, who could only barely stand on it, fell into the water with screams.

Horse thieves are not pirates.

Wearing heavy armor, they were like lumps of iron. After sinking into the water, they could only spit out large strings of bubbles and then drowned in the cold and heavy river water.

It can provide rich nutrition to the fish in this barren season.

However, there was more than one pontoon bridge, and not all those involved in the attack were horse bandits.

And those elite pirates - the Lizardmen!

They bent down their limbs and ran like wild beasts on the ice, dodging the crossbow arrows shot from the city wall, then rushed to the bottom of the wall, grabbed the gaps between the bricks with their sharp claws, and leaped onto the wall!

Bowell had been waiting for them:
"Poirot, take your men!"

"coming!"

Poirot, with a big beard, rushed out of the troop transport path with a clay pot in his hand. He used a torch to light the cotton thread extending from the pot. Then he came to the edge of the city wall, took aim at the lizardman who was climbing the wall and smashed him down hard!

"Have something hot!"

This is a whole can of kerosene - that is, alcohol.

The lizardman nimbly changed direction on the city wall and dodged, but he did not avoid it completely, and some kerosene still stuck to his body.

Then the flames spread out like a blooming lotus!
Heavy armor and scales can protect against swords and crossbows, but they are useless against fire.

The lizardman opened his bloody mouth in the real sense, howled, fell from the city wall, then turned around and dived desperately into the river.

Flames began to burn on the ice.

The fire did not only explode in this place, and more than one lizardman made a similar choice, but the endings were not very good.

As we all know, lizards are cold-blooded animals.

Although the Lizardmen claim that they have dragon blood, their physical characteristics are not much different from those of lizards.

So when they enter the water, their blood circulation quickly slows down, and they cannot swim too far before losing consciousness, sinking to the bottom of the water just like those horse thieves.

It is a wonderful irony that the lizard people who can swim freely in the sea are stuck in a small river.

Of course, there were still some Lizardmen who were able to avoid the burning flames and thrown stones and climb up the city walls.

He was about two meters tall, his body more than half as wide as an adult male, and he had a sword as tall as a person in his mouth. As soon as he stepped onto the city wall, he instantly scared away the surrounding defenders.

Bowell looked at the guy who was nearly three times his height, swallowed his saliva, and screamed loudly:

"Hey, big fool, I advise you to get out of here right now, otherwise you'll be dead!"

The lizardman's head was very similar to that of a crocodile, with a long mouth and circles of bone scales on his brows. Hearing Bowell's words, he narrowed his eyes and grinned:

"I've never tasted a dwarf like you before!"

As he spoke, he swung the greatsword and chopped off Bowell's head.

Bowell stood there as if he had been appointed, and sighed:

"Why are you doing this?"

The next moment, a gray dwarf who was about the same height as Bowell, but more sturdy and with a thick beard, rushed out from behind him.

The lizard man was stunned.

Am I seeing double?

Then he saw that the gray dwarf who rushed out was holding a weapon in his hand that was ridiculously large even for a lizardman.

It's not a sword, but more like a single-edged knife. However, there is no such thing as a knife without any curvature at all!

It’s really hard to name!
Being able to wield such a huge weapon with that small body is indeed worthy of praise - but it is really laughable that a dwarf wants to compete with a lizardman in strength!

"Go—"

Before he could utter the word "die", the giant sword in the lizardman's hand broke cleanly under the sharp blade.

The blade sank into his armor again, severing the scales, cutting in at his left shoulder, and then out at his right hip.

The lizardman's upper body fell to the ground, looking at the gray dwarf in disbelief.

"Am I dreaming?"

Then his eyes rolled back and he died completely.

His lower body was still erect, and the cut surface was so smooth that it looked like cut asparagus.

It was not until the lizard man's upper body fell to the ground that he felt the shock. There were two popping sounds on the cut surface, and blood first gushed out, and then the severed internal organs arched out like earthworms.

"I told you not to mess with me!" Bowell kicked the lizard man's lower body and then retreated carefully for fear of getting splashed with blood.

Turning to look at his old friend, Bowell asked, "How are you, are you okay?"

The gray dwarf who had killed the lizardman, Sohei, who was running all the way on the Forge Master Road, shook his head and carefully placed the huge, odd-shaped long sword against the city wall.

This is the weapon he carefully forged, and it has not yet been enchanted in any way.

Heaviness and sharpness are often two different diverging points in the process of forging weapons.

Heavy weapons don't need sharp blades, and sharp weapons don't need to be too heavy.

But this knife combines the above two points and can be said to be a real monster among weapons.

He wiped the edge of the blade with his fingers and felt no burrs. Sohei nodded with satisfaction:
"Not bad."

"But the sample is still too small. I need to do more tests."

However, at least today, there is no such opportunity.

The sky gradually became gloomy, and the bandits and pirates retreated without any results.

At the same time, in the camp of pirates and horse thieves, the leaders of their two families, "Blood Eye" Mon Engal and "Pirate Captain" Joshua, were gathered together.

"Joshua, I feel like you owe me an explanation."

……

(End of this chapter)