Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 389 Forced Execution and Mor's Unreliable Chosen One

How many enemies did the Blacksin Territory capture at Stromgarde?
Marshal Orstein's excitement was palpable: "My lord, we have captured an enormous number of prisoners in this battle. Because Baron Grant abandoned his army on horseback, we captured more than 20 nobles, thousands of knights, and thousands of armed squires, priests, and others in Stromgarde! Among them, there are no fewer than 300 elite knights, and more than a hundred ships, including warships and barges from the Church of Mannnan."

Su Li's gaze swept over the rough statistical list handed over by Orstein. Behind those cold numbers lay the astonishing force that Blue Mirror Territory and its allies had poured into Stromgarde. "More than 20 nobles, over a thousand knights, three hundred elite knights..." He tapped the list lightly with his fingertips, a cold smile curving his lips. "It seems that Baron Grant has dragged in every 'friend' he could to defend Stromgarde."

Baron Grant alone certainly couldn't muster so many knights from the kingdom. He must have made connections with quite a few territories and knightly families.

However, considering that they have been building a huge network of interests centered around the Lightscale Fish, all of this is not incomprehensible.

Orstein grinned, the still-wet bloodstains on his warhammer gleaming in the sunlight: "My lord is wise! These 'friends' we captured are no ordinary people! Besides the local knight lords of Blue Mirror Territory, there's the pirate lord Harald Brokenspear from Rust Anchor Bay, the lizardman beast tamer Zetak Scaleskin from Ash Swamp, and even the patriarchs of several large knight families from Blue Mirror Lake, as well as the leaders of mercenary groups sponsored by wealthy merchants from the Central Sea! Grant has really pulled out all the stops with his favors and promises!"

Hilde added, “These nobles and elite knights, especially the three hundred elite knights, are the true backbone of Blue Mirror Territory and its allied forces. Now that we have broken their backbone and have them in our hands, their families, territories, and networks of allies must be in a state of panic and chaos.”

The chosen knight, radiating the fiery golden light of the Sun Goddess and dispelling the lingering stench of the Sea God in the air, continued with her heroic bearing: "My lord, these prisoners, especially the nobles and knights, are not only a great spoil of war but also a significant source of influence. How we arrange and deal with them will directly affect our conquest of Blue Mirror Territory."

Su Li stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze sweeping over the ruined yet still magnificent main castle of Stromgarde, and further afield, the vast lands belonging to Blue Mirror Territory. The warm summer breeze ruffled his crimson cloak.

How to deal with it?

Su Li said grimly, "Demand ransom from those knights with families, and give them a month to pay double the ransom, or sell all of them into slavery! Then, separately identify the nobles, knight commanders, mercenary leaders, and important priests among the prisoners, and execute all those who are not from Blue Mirror Territory. I want everyone to know the price of interfering in our war!"

hiss~
hiss~
Everyone gasped in shock. Although in the border princely territory, the execution of nobles was not uncommon.

However, executing more than twenty nobles in one go was enough to cause a sensation and even shocked the imperial high command.

These were nobles with official titles, officially appointed by the empire. To slaughter twenty or thirty of them in one go was utterly chilling, a complete collapse of morals, and a surge in infamy.

Priest Rong En hesitated for a long time before breaking the silence and slowly speaking, whispering, "My lord, this may not be in accordance with the doctrine. These nobles are waiting for us to give them the basic treatment befitting their status."

Su Li waved his hand, interrupting his suggestion, and said, "I think this is very much in line with our Glorious War values. First of all, regarding our war with Blue Mirror Territory, we did not massacre prisoners, nor did we treat the Mannan Knights inhumanely. However, these people are not on either side of the conflict, yet they have been drawn into this war, so they are not entitled to the privileges of the Glorious War! If every war of ours is interfered with by so many people, our path to conquering the border princely territories will probably be extremely difficult! For the sake of our hegemony, for the sake of the fate of our soldiers, none of these interfering outsiders will be spared!"

Upon hearing Su Li's words, Hilde immediately bowed and accepted the order, carrying it out resolutely. The battle marks on her golden armor did not diminish her heroic bearing: "Yes, my lord. I will personally supervise the execution of all this!" Even if she were to suffer divine punishment from the Goddess of the Sun, this high-ranking steward would stand firmly by her lord's side.

Although killing these nobles might reduce Su Li's gold crowns by thousands or even tens of thousands, the significance for the future conquest and development of the territory is immeasurable!

There are always some conflicts between secular lords and religious priests, and these conflicts are precisely where they manifest themselves. The interests of secular lords cannot always be completely aligned with church doctrine.

However, Su Li's prestige is currently at its peak, so even if someone has objections or complaints, they dare not raise them directly.

Especially the high-ranking squire lord, the chosen one of the Goddess of the Sun, the Saintess of War, Hilde, firmly supported all of the lord's decisions, leaving the knights with no choice but to remain silent.

Su Li then turned to the dwarven commander: "Doglin, the defenses of Stromgarde, especially the riverside section, are severely damaged. I need you to lead your engineers to immediately assess and develop a repair and reinforcement plan. This fortress will be our bridgehead anchored on the Brienne River, overlooking the entire Blue Mirror Territory! At the same time, take stock of the 'treasures' left behind by the Church of Mannnan, and see if there is anything of real value besides those blasphemous items, such as... maps, letters, and ledgers."

"Leave it to me, my lord!" Doglin patted his chest, though the aggravation of his wounds made him grimace. The dwarf's enthusiasm for rebuilding and treasure hunting instantly overwhelmed his pain. He wasn't a follower of the Sun Goddess and didn't care about the lives of dozens of people. In fact, he hoped his lord would kill more to avenge his dwarven bloodline. After all, the dwarves were notoriously petty and vengeful.

He excitedly assured them, "The places where those sea rats (referring to the Mannana followers) hide their things cannot escape the eyes of the dwarves! As for the fortress, rest assured, we will build it ten times stronger than before! Let the dwarves' stones tell those who come after who the true masters of this place are!"

Su Li nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Demst, "You are in charge of reinforcing the city's defenses, extinguishing any remaining fires, and identifying dangerous individuals and potential converts among the prisoners. Those ordinary armed servants and soldiers who are willing to lay down their weapons and pledge allegiance to the territory can be given the opportunity to join the Blacksteel Knights of Atonement. Also, organize manpower to clean up the pile of garbage in the river as soon as possible... that not only pollutes the water source but is also a hidden danger."

Durmst felt a terrible headache coming on and wailed, "My lord, I demand overtime pay. After the war, everyone else can get back to work, but the real work for us knights of Mor is just beginning. Look at how much work you've assigned me! I haven't even finished dealing with the mass graves north of Hessenberg, and now you're sending me to deal with the spider's lair."

"The excavation work in the underground cave has only just begun. I haven't even taken more than a few steps on my journey of a thousand miles, and I'm already being sent to the Valley of Memories to deal with the ancient mass grave of the elves. This work hasn't even started yet, and I'm already here to deal with this huge corpse and the battlefield of fierce battle."

Hearing Durmst's wails, Su Li felt a pang of guilt. Perhaps the knights of Mor were sometimes neurotic not only because of their doctrines and constant exposure to death, but also because of the immense pressure of their work. In this dark and hopeless world, death was everywhere. Perhaps it was precisely because they saw no hope and knew that destruction was inevitable that these desperate knights would suffer mental breakdowns and become neurotic.

However, the battlefield situation absolutely cannot be left unattended. Otherwise, this vampire sea dragon, while perhaps only a pseudo-legendary in the hands of the Mannan cultists, could truly become a legendary undead monster in the hands of the Nightwalker Corpses. Even a few undead dragons appearing would be deadly enough.

Su Li pondered for a moment and said, "Stop complaining. In this battle, we captured nearly a thousand knights and thousands of prisoners and slaves, which will inevitably attract a large number of slave traders. While we sell a batch of slaves, we will also buy a batch of knights and priests from the Church of Mor. This will help alleviate the pressure on you."

The Mor faith was one of the most prevalent cults in the Old World. In this land of war, disease, and chaos, death was an eternal companion, an inescapable end. Thus, the inhabitants of the Old World, especially the Imperials, harbored an unhealthy fascination with it, to the point that everything contained symbols of death. From skulls adorning flags to the military culture permeating Imperial society, death was omnipresent, and its master was the Mor.

This resulted in Mor's knights appearing in all of the Empire's territories, including the border princely territories. A large number of Mor's knights must have been found in the many destroyed territories.

Demst was also very excited upon hearing this, and said, "No problem, my lord. I will do my best to handle the post-war affairs, and please allow me to select a group of Mor's knights and believers from among the prisoners to participate in the aftermath."

Su Li naturally had no objection to this. In any case, after the appearance of the Son of Mannan, the knights of other churches suffered heavy casualties, and probably not many people were left, so it wouldn't harm his interests much.

As Su Li was pondering this, Durmst continued, "My lord, I think perhaps we could establish a sanctuary for Mor here in Stromgarde, to oversee this place."

"Establish a holy site in Mor?" Su Li raised an eyebrow. This was truly rare; Durmst had actually brought up this matter himself. It was well known that this chosen one of the Mor Church rarely engaged in missionary work. This was mainly because of their deep-seated taboo surrounding death, making them unwilling to actively promote such matters. After all, the rise of every Mor holy site signified the birth of countless deaths.

However, Su Li was quite optimistic about Demst's proposal. Although Stromgarde suffered heavy losses in this battle, its status was still significant enough to warrant attention.

This fortress will be a key stronghold for the Hessian Territory to control the golden waterway of the Brienne River, and one of the keys to controlling the throat of the territory.

If Su Li wants to gain strong control over the vast and fertile territories of Flash Spear City and Black Forest Territory, it is essential to station troops between these two cities.

This fortress is a crucial military stronghold and absolutely cannot be abandoned. Adding a church holy site would indeed solidify its position and perfectly align with the location and function of Flashspear City. More importantly, with such a holy site, Su Li would hardly need to worry about any future problems on this battlefield.

No matter how rampant necromancers are, they wouldn't go so far as to dig up corpses beneath the religious sanctuary of the Church of Mor.

After conquering Stromgarde, Su Li wasn't in a hurry to immediately engage Baron Grant in a life-or-death struggle. He needed to manage the current situation, win over as many forces as possible within Blue Mirror Territory, and only after eliminating his opponent's wings and external support would he launch an overwhelming siege of Stromgarde. In this world where divine power was everywhere, caution was essential for survival. Otherwise, no one knew if the opponent might stage a comeback. After all, Su Li still didn't know what lay beneath Blue Mirror Lake.

That green ghost cavalry might have to be dealt with by the Mor Cult. A hasty decisive battle before understanding the enemy's backup plan is not in the interest of the Black Forest Territory.

Of course, even if the enemy has strong backup plans, Su Li is absolutely confident he can wipe out Blue Mirror Fortress in one fell swoop. After all, even living people can't defeat the mighty army of Black Forest Territory. Mannan even infused his divine power, yet Black Forest Territory still managed to overwhelm them with sheer military strength. A group of dead people would be even less likely to cause much trouble. Since they can die once, Su Li can guarantee they'll die a second time.

However, given the current situation, Su Li has no need to force a decisive battle at the cost of such heavy casualties. It's only a matter of time, a month or so. Even if he stabilizes the situation and postpones the decisive battle for a month, he won't lose much. He's not in a hurry anyway. Black Forest Territory has already broken through the enemy's border blockade and gained significant war benefits. The longer he waits, the more he can digest the spoils of victory, the greater his chances of winning the decisive battle, and the fewer casualties he'll suffer.

So after Demst made the suggestion, Su Li said, "I approve your suggestion. And I'm giving you a task. If you can complete this task, I will have the bishops approve a donation of 5000 gold crowns for your Church of Mor."

When Demst heard that Su Li had approved the establishment of the Mor Holy Land, he had just managed to squeeze out a trace of "gratification" that was more like crying (after all, in the eyes of the Mor Knights, the Holy Land meant that many people died here, and the workload would inevitably increase). But then the words "I'm giving you a task" were like ice picks, instantly freezing his little bit of "gratification" to shatter.

"Another...another mission?!" Durmst's voice instantly rose eight octaves, trembling with an almost desperate tone. His comical face was now contorted like an accountant owed wages for eight hundred years. "My lord! Look at my hands!"

He abruptly raised his hands, which were ashen and almost bloodless. Even through the handguards, his grief and indignation seemed to reveal the trembling fingers beneath, worn from overwork. "What have they been in contact with lately? The rotting mud of the mass graves in Blacksenberg! The sticky spiderwebs and shells in the nests of the creeping spiders! The dust accumulated over countless years by those ancient elves in the Valley of Memory, thicker than the Imperial tax ledgers! And now! Now they have to scavenge those rotting skeletons, soaked in that stinking ditch and infested with leeches!"

He then spun around on the spot, the heavy armor creaking and scraping like a desperate tap dance: "My precious darling!" He pointed to the silent black donkey beside him, carrying its horse armor and sneezing loudly, "It creaks as it walks now! Since joining the territory, my brother and I have only ever taken on the most difficult and dangerous missions: venturing deep into the Demon Realm of Seraphim, dueling with the demons of Khorne, battling the chosen ones of the Spider God, and now fighting a sea dragon fueled by the power of Mann's God to the point of cataclysmic destruction. Lord, please spare me, my old buddy and I still want to keep our old bones intact."

"Do you know what I saw when I entered its dream last night? It was dreaming of fixing donkey hooves for a giant dragon. That shows how much fear it has of giant creatures."

The surrounding generals wanted to laugh but dared not, their expressions strained. Doglin simply turned his head away, his shoulders twitching suspiciously. Even the usually dashing Hilde's lips twitched slightly. Dietrich silently drew a teardrop symbol of Sharya on his chest, seemingly praying for Durmst's tormented spirit.

Su Li was also somewhat amused and exasperated by Demst's usual neuroticism and death-laden "complaint session".

It's hard to understand why he entered the donkey's dream, and why this silly donkey was trimming the dragon's hooves. Perhaps it's because trimming hooves is the most enjoyable thing for it? So it also trims the dragon's hooves?

But he restrained his laughter, only slightly raising the corners of his mouth, and said, "Alright, Durmst, stop with your long, tedious complaints. This mission is quite different from your previous jobs of 'entering the Demon Realm,' 'digging holes,' and 'collecting junk.'"

Upon hearing this, Demst temporarily stopped "wailing," his dark blue eyes looking at Su Li with suspicion: "Not quite the same? Isn't it supposed to be me digging up some ancient mass grave? Or cleaning up an underground tomb that has been polluted by ratmen for hundreds of years?" His tone was full of deep distrust.

“Of course not.” Su Li cleared his throat and said calmly, “I want you to use your ‘professional’ sense of smell in the field of death, as well as the influence of the Mor Holy Land that you are about to establish, to find out something for me.”

"What is it?" Durmst asked warily, sensing that the lord was unlikely to come up with anything easy.

"Find out exactly what 'good stuff' Baron Grant dug up beneath Blue Mirror Lake." Su Li's eyes sharpened. "Especially those... green ghost riders."

Demst was taken aback: "Ghost Cavalry? My lord, you mean..."

“That’s right.” Su Li nodded. “It’s the biggest trump card of Blue Mirror Territory, according to the intelligence reports. Feedback from various intelligence gatherings confirms that there is still a Green Ghost Cavalry of Blue Mirror Territory at Blue Mirror Fortress.”

He paused, looking at Durmst: "Your task is to find out the details of that thing. What is its source? How large is it? Where are its weaknesses? How much can Grant control? Is there something even more dangerous lurking underneath? Use your methods to deal with 'them,' or... talk to 'someone' who knows the inside story."

Demst pondered for a moment. Although he was rather humorous, he was quite decisive when it came to serious matters. At least since joining the Black Forest Territory, he had completed every single task Su Li had given him perfectly, without exception. And this, as he said, included entering the Sorrowful Demon Realm to steal a Fiery Rose and dueling with the Chosen of Khorne in front of a huge audience!
These are all legendary achievements, enough to fill a chivalric romance novel. Many empire's bards were eager to discuss his feats.

To be chosen by Mor, Demst was, in an absolute sense, an outstanding elite.

He thought about it seriously for a moment, then said with a smile, "This task does sound quite simple. Lord, are you being too kind by suddenly giving me such an easy task?"

"Regarding the task you mentioned, I do have a very good solution: the divine spell, Mor's Words."

[The Divine Spell "Words of Mor"—A dead human soul appears before you and answers some questions. You must possess a body or part of a body that was once possessed by the soul. The soul cannot lie and must answer, but it can choose how much information to provide. The soul's knowledge is limited to what it knew in its lifetime. If you ask it a question it doesn't know the answer to, it will say nothing. Because the soul is released from the realm of death with Mor's permission, any corpse can only be the target of this spell once.]

“Using this divine spell, we can summon the souls of many Blue Mirror Knights. Even after our forces advance to the vicinity of Blue Mirror Lake, we can retrieve the corpses from the lake and inquire about the conditions at the bottom of the lake.”

Ask "them"!
This is quite creepy.

Su Li felt a chill run down her spine just thinking about it. It's no wonder that the knights of Mor are all so neurotic and abnormal after dealing with so many supernatural things.

If you don't let loose and relieve stress, even a normal person would probably break down.

Su Li immediately replied, "Then go ask. I don't care how you achieve it, I just want the result."

Su Li's orders were very clear and unambiguous, but Demst looked embarrassed, then spread his palms and said, "However, there is a small problem at the moment?"

Su Li frowned, a bad feeling creeping over her. This chosen knight of Mor might be up to something again! "What's the problem?"

"The problem is I don't know this kind of divine magic..."

(End of this chapter)