After I died, my personal maid rebelled.

Boom!

As the city gate collapsed, the soldiers rushed into the city, and another bloody street battle began.

Kate, riding calmly on horseback, divided his soldiers into several six-man combat groups, relentlessly encircling and annihilating the nobles' mercenaries along the streets.

"My Nine-Word Whip is three meters long and one finger wide, made of dwarven steel..."

With a thud, Federico swung his iron hammer, smashing the adventurer's head like a watermelon.

Spitting out the brain matter that had splattered into his mouth, Federico put down the hammer, drew his knife, and carved a line on the shield in his other hand.

The twenty-third...

"Company Commander, get back to your unit quickly," a member of the combat team reminded him.

"They're here."

Back in his unit, Federico was a heavily armored soldier, responsible for standing at the very front center position.

The six-person combat team is the main combat method in their recruit training, and it is divided into three levels.

The first layer consists of one heavily armored soldier and two swordsmen and shieldmen, responsible for blocking the enemy's attack. The second layer consists of two spearmen, and the third layer consists of one crossbowman.

"Company commander, there's a big guy a hundred meters to the left front!" shouted the archer with the best eyesight.

"It's probably those damn nobles' monsters again. Brothers, let's go! This piece of meat is ours!"

Federico led his troops forward through the war-torn city. Twenty-three men, two hundred and thirty copper coins, divided among six men, amounted to only a little over thirty copper coins...

In the city we attacked this morning, a small team killed a monster, and each member received four silver coins...

What did Lady Elene say again? What price... value? Target? Never mind, I don't understand, let's just call it fat.

Along the way, panicked mercenaries would occasionally bump into them, but the team members would quickly take them down.

Everyone started to accelerate, and Federico was like a human tank, his armor clanking loudly.

As it drew closer, a chimera with two lion heads appeared before it, estimated to be four meters long.

With a snap, the bowstring vibrated, and the arrow flew over the chimera's head, piercing one of its eyes.

The crossbowmen, with arrows in their mouths, ran while using their feet to string their crossbows, already looking for an opportunity to launch the next attack.

With his teammates in front of him, he could attack the enemy with peace of mind, as long as he didn't suddenly encounter a mage.

Federico's speed did not decrease at all, and even though the Chimera had noticed them, he bravely raised his shield and charged at them.

Chimera let out a howl as it felt the immense weight of the shield. Federico, disregarding everything, roared and swung his hammer wildly.

Chimera, in pain, angrily struck out with her palm, which was barely blocked by two swordsmen and shieldmen working together.

"Kill them!"

The spearmen stabbed the chimera repeatedly in the neck, forcing it to retreat. Behind it, the crossbowmen pulled the trigger again, shooting out the eyes of one of the lion heads.

They created a blind spot, and the six of them lined up and quickly changed direction.

Another palm strike came, which Federico blocked with his shield. He then leaped up and smashed his hammer into the chimera's joint.

Under the cover of the swordsmen and shieldmen, the spearmen mustered all their strength to plunge the spearheads into the side of the chimera's abdomen, and blood gushed out immediately.

After a while of this struggle, as the number of wounds on its body increased, the chimera's speed slowed down. It roared in frustration, but Federico roared even louder.

Federico leaped up and smashed the chimera’s head with his hammer, his entire body stained crimson with gushing blood.

The spearmen and swordsmen went mad, continuing to stab and hack at the chimera even after it had fallen.

These magical beasts, kept by the nobles, were fed with living people. In their eyes, humans were nothing more than prey that would only run away in fear, until they encountered this group of madmen.

"Dead, dead, no breath."

In the end, it was the archers who persuaded them to stop. Damn it, how embarrassing! Everyone gathered around to watch.

"Alright, three lashes, you've got your piece of the action!" the soldiers watching chuckled and cheered.

"Hmph, don't compare me to you guys."

Federico jumped off the corpse, his face full of arrogance. Now, let's see who's better at military tactics than me...

With a loud bang, a large lizard, over ten meters long and with two pairs of small wings, fell heavily from the sky, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Elena slid down the lizard's head, landing lightly, her entire body spotless, not even a speck of blood on the blade.

As she passed by the crowd, she calmly sheathed her sword, shook her black gemstone earring, and turned her head to say, "What are you all standing there for? Quickly clean up the battlefield, appease the people, and after an hour's rest, we'll attack the next city."

The soldiers were stunned for a moment, then shouted in unison, "Yes, sir!"

After a brief rest and the execution of the vile nobles, Kate left a company of soldiers to garrison the area and ordered the army to continue its campaign.

Upon arriving in the southern business district, while the city's residents still retained some semblance of humanity, Federico's strongest impression was of the immense hardship endured by the local farmers.

When he fled to the northern territory, even though he stayed in a small village and lived a life of leisure and laziness, he did not suffer as much as they did.

As far as the eye could see, the so-called countryside was nothing more than a fence made of rotten wood in the mud. The people inside were so thin that their faces were bloodless, and their eyes were empty and dull as they stared at the passing army.

"Why don't they cut down trees and build a village in a clean, flat place?"

One soldier asked curiously, and another soldier chimed in, "Yes, Ice City still gives food to people who are starving. Once they're full and have the strength, they can go work for the Duke as laborers."

"Why don't you come to our Kuogu City? It's so much better there. We can even cultivate land for free."

Listening to their back-and-forth conversation, Federico could only sigh. Luckily, he had been fortunate back then. He had intended to escape to a distant place, but unexpectedly, he ended up in the Duke's directly controlled territory, thus turning misfortune into good fortune and escaping a disaster.

"Because all the land and all the forests here are the private property of the nobles," Elena's calm voice rang out from horseback.

"They pull boats for nobles during the day or farm the land in exchange for a little food, and at night they can only live in these unwanted places."

Her explanation was simple, yet it made the soldiers blush with embarrassment.

They initially thought these people were lazybones like Federico, and gradually, more and more eyes were being cast at Federico.

Federico... I shouldn't have boasted about the story of the Duke whipping me.

"When you join the army, besides thinking about changing your fate and earning money to support your families, you should also think more about these civilians. Your war is not only for yourselves, but also for them, so that in the future, the people of the Northern Territory will not become like them."

Federico nodded emphatically, as if he understood something. "Then, sir, we've captured so much grain, shouldn't we share some with them?"

"The militia will handle this. Remember, you are the Duke's new army, the sharpest blade in the future Duke's hands."

Elena was lost in thought; she seemed to hear Oswald asking her again: Is the knife still sharp?

I never expected to say the same thing myself.

"Your primary task is to eliminate the enemy. Only by eliminating the enemy can the people truly usher in hope."

Hope, hope...

Upon hearing Lady Elene praise them as the Duke's most elite troops, the soldiers proudly puffed out their chests.

Yes, they have all seen hope, and they want to let more people see hope.

As the sun began to set and the next city was in sight, Kate ordered a halt to the advance. After observing the terrain for a while, he reorganized the troops in an open area, sent out scouts to scout ahead, and summoned officers of all ranks to make battle plans.

The further south you go, the more rivers there are. Most southern cities have moats, which greatly increases the difficulty of their sieges.

Soon after, a scout with an arrow stuck in his back ran back and reported: "The city is under defense. The drawbridge has been lowered, the moat is about four meters wide, the city walls are five meters high, and there are no fewer than a thousand soldiers on the walls."

A thousand people? This is troublesome.

Kate was in a dilemma. It was getting late, and if they couldn't take the city quickly, the nighttime street fighting would only greatly increase the casualty rate of their soldiers.

"Report!"

A knight rode up, not to see Kate, but to dismount and hand a package to Eleanor.

"My lord, this is what the Duke asked me to bring to you."

"Thanks for your hard work."

Elena took the package, untied it, and her eyes lit up when she saw what was inside.

Her fingers brushed against the pure black scabbard. These were the two knives she had seen at old George's house, incredibly sharp enough to cut a hair in two.

So, this was prepared for me.

Eleanor stood up and ordered in an unyielding tone, "Kate, I'll lead the charge this time."

"My lord, you are going to..." Kate hurriedly chased after her, only to see that Eleanor had already mounted her horse and pointed out the three most elite combat teams in the Second Regiment, with Federico's squad among them.

"You, follow me!"

Boom!Boom!

The army began its attack, and the drums on the city walls resounded. The guards, composed of mercenaries, were on high alert, only to find that at the forefront was just one man and one horse.

Elena loosened the reins, drawing her twin swords. These swords were meticulously carved and polished by old George using the hardest teeth of the Undying Serpent as material and precious obsidian.

As for why the blade turned black, it's probably because the alchemists added some unknown magic and cruel techniques.

Holding the twin swords in her backhand, Elena knelt on the horse's back, her eyes sharp as an eagle's.

Approaching the moat, the galloping warhorse fearlessly leaped onto the drawbridge, using its back as a springboard. In the blink of an eye, her spinning, slicing twin blades severed all the chains on the drawbridge.

The drawbridge slammed down, opening the way for the attack. A barrage of arrows rained down from the city walls, but were easily deflected by Elene's incredibly fast blade.

A dozen seconds later, Federico arrived first, his tall frame raising his shield, and quickly escorted Elene to the foot of the city wall.

"Come!"

With a soft shout from Elena, Federico crouched down and raised his shield above his head.

The mercenaries on the city wall were stunned. These people... they wanted to...

With a light and agile body, Federico unleashed all his strength the instant Elene stepped on the shield, sending her flying higher than the city wall.

A splash of red caught my eye, and the moment I hit the ground, blood splattered everywhere.

With the skills of these mercenaries, they were not even able to see clearly Eleanor's sword-wielding movements.

Only when the red-haired woman walked by did they realize that their companions had become corpses that had suddenly disintegrated.

Elena moved swiftly, her black blade cutting through the air. In a few breaths, she emerged from the billowing blood mist and floated down to the city gate.

With a single stroke, Elene cleaved the crossbeam, glanced back calmly, and Federico and the others shoved open the city gate, roaring as they stormed into the city.

The city fell in three minutes.