Warhammer: Should I also sit on the Golden Throne?

Chapter 126

"Our army has been defeated! Our army has been defeated!"

The noisy sounds echoed through the streets of Anit.

Giles, the governor of Anet, listened to the sounds from the street with a hostile expression, while the faces of the free people showed restlessness, unease, and panic.

Foolish free citizens, idiotic free citizens.

"They're just a few thousand equally idiotic free citizens and a few dozen second and youngest sons who are essentially recycled waste. How can these free citizens be so blind to the situation?"

Giles turned his head and walked to the long table in the conference room. He sat down in his own heavy ebony chair inlaid with gold. The chair was carved with the head of a high-ranking rider of the Anite, with an extremely exaggerated and prominent chin.

For Giles, the defeated unit was simply a waste of resources.

It would be good if a group of potentially turbulent second sons of a family, along with a bunch of free men who do nothing, could conquer the city of Deshya and restore Deshya's rule.

Anite City could also use this opportunity to exploit Deshia City, something they had already experienced during the last Deshia rebellion.

As for their defeat... that was indeed unexpected by Giles, but it wasn't much of a loss for Anite.

"Who is leading this team?" Giles asked after a moment's thought.

"My lord, this is my second son, Ful, born of a concubine. He doesn't even have our chins," said Turandot, the prime minister of Giles, to Giles.

As he spoke, Turando reached out and touched his broad, prominent chin—a sign of his pure bloodline.

"So he was born to a concubine, his bloodline isn't pure, and his mind probably isn't very sharp," Giles suddenly realized.

The high-ranking riders of Anet value their bloodline most highly. Their principal wives are often close sisters or aunts, while their concubines are more distant relatives.

Therefore, children born to concubines often have impure bloodlines, lack a broad and prominent chin, and are likely to have extremely low intelligence.

The larger the chin, the purer the bloodline and the higher the IQ—this is a consensus among Anet's high-ranking riders.

Like Giles, whose jaw protrudes higher than his nose and whose mouth can hardly close, this is evidence of his pure bloodline.

"My lord, some free men have run back from the banks of the Anet River. They're spreading rumors in the city that once Anet falls, the gladiators will divide the wealth of our high-ranking riders among them, which is causing some unrest among them."

"It was General Haber who spoke," said the military commander.

Giles glanced at Haber with disdain. Haber had the smallest chin in the conference room, which meant he was also the least intelligent.

"Turandot, tell him the results of your investigation."

"My lord, I led my men to arrest more than a dozen free men on the street and interrogated them, asking them if they dared to take the property of the high-ranking riders. They were all terrified and said they dared not," Turando said confidently.

"See? That's why people say those gladiators have low bloodlines and low intelligence!"

Giles laughed loudly, "Do they think that just because they say they'll divide our property among the free people, they'll dare to accept it? The free people don't even have the guts!"

"Then I'm relieved." Habur was relieved to hear that Turando had already conducted the investigation. "However, sir, the free people are somewhat intelligent and know to fear us, but the gladiators don't have that kind of brain."

"Oh? What do you want to say?" Giles frowned and looked at Haber.

"We need to educate the gladiators, to teach them fear." Habur smiled slightly. "So I have a plan. We can capture a few hundred free men in the city, string them together on iron poles, and line them up on the road between Deshya and Anet, and let them teach the gladiators what fear is."

"That's a great plan!" Turandot couldn't help but exclaim in praise.

"It's a good plan, but I have a suggestion for improvement," Giles said. "They have to be alive; the freemen have to be alive when they put them on."

"As you wish," Haber nodded in agreement.

Just then, the conference room door suddenly opened, and a high-level rider rushed into the room.

"My lord! My lord! Your Excellency the Consul!"

"What's wrong! Why are you in such a panic!" Giles scolded.

"It's news from Diya, incredibly good news."

The high-ranking rider hurriedly told Giles, "Lord Sopra of Dicia has just issued a bounty."

"He'll reward anyone who can take Zhou Yun's head...reward..."

The high-ranking rider swallowed hard, moistening his throat, and with all his might, uttered the word, "Reward: One Panacea!"

The high-level riders present all stood up abruptly, their eyes wide, wondering if they had misheard.

After confirming that it was indeed a panacea, they revealed greedy expressions.

"...the five hundred and third."

Red sand, mixed with the smell of blood, slapped against Angron's face as he looked at the corpse standing by the roadside with pain.

Those must be the free men of Anit. They were captured and brought to the sides of this road, iron bars were driven into their bodies and out of their mouths, then high-ranking riders used knives to cut open their abdomens, letting their entrails flow freely, and finally nailed their arms to the side, pointing them toward Anit. They must have been alive when they were pierced, and every free man's face bore the marks of the pain left by the struggle.

Looking at them, the Free People soldiers were filled with terror, the gladiators with rage, and Angron received even more.

He could sense the lingering pain of these free men, and he could also hear the unrestrained laughter of the high-ranking riders as the free men struggled.

"The five hundred and twelfth." When the thick, majestic walls of Anet City appeared on the horizon, Angron finished counting the last corpse of a free man.

Five hundred and twelve...

"Their deaths are my fault," Angron said softly. "I had the ability to save them..."

"This is not your fault."

Zhou Yun poked his head out from inside Anglong's basket and said to Anglong, "We need to rest, we need to wait."

After defeating the punitive force of Anet City at the Anet River, they did not continue south to the city in one go. Instead, they rested for several days, training free people, rewarding outstanding soldiers, promoting outstanding free people to squad leaders, and most importantly, waiting for Zhou Yun and Supra to complete their private meeting.

"We must get Supra to put a bounty on us, and we must wait until the news of the bounty reaches Anet."

"Otherwise, given how well-fortified Anet is, if our high-ranking riders choose to hold their ground, we'll never be able to break in."

“No, I mean I originally had the ability…” Angron shook his head, looking at his hands. “If I hadn’t been cursed, if I still possessed the power I should have had, would we need to wait? Would we need to be so cautious?”

"How many lives that shouldn't have died have perished because of my powerlessness?"

"Then don't hate yourself for it." Zhou Yun placed his hand on Anglong's shoulder. "Hate those who cursed you, hate those malicious gods, hate this shameless fate."

Anglong nodded heavily, clenching his fists.

Zhou Yun looked at Anglong's palm, but was thinking about something else.

As expected, we still lack a suitable weapon.

In Nuthria, only the weapons of high-ranking riders possess the power to bear the power of the Primarch.

However, high-ranking riders only use things like silver vines, which require energy from killing and sacrifices in the arena, making them completely unsuitable for Angron.

Angron's favorite weapon is the pair of battle axes, which allow him to fully utilize his power.

This is why Zhou Yun gave the spear to Kleist instead of Angron.

The spear in Angron's hands was like a giant holding a needle; he couldn't unleash his full power at all.

Zhou Yun has been learning forging from Vulcan on Nocturne Star these past few days, but he has been learning techniques such as identifying ores and judging furnace temperature, and has not found an opportunity to forge weapons again.

Perhaps he should be more honest with Vulcan. Zhou Yun has also sensed the personality of the Fire Dragon Lord these past few days. If he frankly expresses that he really needs to forge weapons, Vulcan might agree without asking any questions.

"My lord." Flami rode up to Anglong's side and looked up at Zhou Yun in the basket on his back.

"Look, Anet City is not like Deshya City. The city walls here are thick and high, and it is equipped with deflection shields similar to Deshya's but much stronger. There are more than a thousand high-ranking riders in the city who are capable of fighting." Flami's voice was tense.

He was actually a good general and an excellent logistics officer. He was adept at handling forms and making statistics, and even Robert praised him.

However, he was still a free man, and had all the common problems of free men.

He saw the thick walls of Anet and began to feel fear.

Zhou Yun knew that this was a common mentality among free people.

But this mindset is exactly what Zhou Yun needs right now; he needs the free people to have genuine fear.

Robert selected Anette as the target for Zhou Yun and his team.

He knew that the walls of Anet were thick, that Anet inherited the deflection shield from the dark age of technology, and that under normal circumstances, this place could not possibly be captured.

But Robert still chose this city.

Even the thickest city walls need people to defend them, and even the most fortified city is useless if its interior is weak.

Zhou Yun had gleaned some information about the city of Anite from the minds of high-level riders, learning that the city's high-level riders preferred incestuous marriage.

Later, Zhou Yun seized some family trees of high-ranking riders in Deshya City, and the chaotic inbreeding left Zhou Yun speechless.

Robert's calculations confirmed that the high-ranking riders in Anet City were now experiencing intellectual disabilities due to inbreeding.

This seemingly impregnable fortress is actually home to a group of intellectually disabled children born from consanguineous marriages.

Furthermore, according to Robert's speculation, the dozens of high-ranking riders in the expeditionary force who appeared to have intellectual disabilities should already be...

This represents the pinnacle of intelligence for a high-level Anite rider.

With just a little enticement and a little performance, the high-ranking riders of Anet City will hand over the city to them on their own.

Zhou Yun turned to look at the free people, at those free people whose faces were filled with fear. The corpses of the high-ranking riders on the road and the fortified city made them begin to have thoughts of retreat.

"Flame."

"Give the order to retreat."