Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

Chapter 376 After the Defeat

"What bad luck, so incredibly bad luck!"

The heavy city gates slammed shut behind them, and only then did the two brothers, who had led over a hundred men back in a disheveled state, finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Like most castles in East Inassus, this castle, belonging to the Earl of Outer Dole, is exceptionally sturdy. Although no additional walls have been built outside, it is extremely difficult for outsiders to breach it, even with the castle's own defenses.

"Brother, I told you, widows and widowers are equally unlucky. Why do you keep harping on that woman? Our unlucky brother with his dead wife is good enough. The woman who killed him is a jinx! A jinx among jinxes!"

"Shut up, stop being a Monday morning quarterback, you idiot." His brother gave him a gloomy look. Their leader was killed by that woman's bad luck, that was their official story. Anyway, it was perfectly normal for women of the Ampiri tribe to be treated as witches.

But right now, this foolish younger brother seems to have even fooled himself—others may not know what happened to their brother, but surely they do!

“I never expected that woman to have such a trick up her sleeve, no, she even had two plans,” the older brother-killer said, his face now completely devoid of the fear he had shown during his defeat. It was as if the one who had just fled in such a sorry state was his younger brother, and had nothing to do with him. “Where did you find those mercenaries? You didn’t even notice that someone had infiltrated your ranks!”

"This...you're blaming me?!" Such a blunt question infuriated the younger brother. "You were the one who gave me the list! That piece of trash, Dou Lezhiji, is even listed in the third row! I even have that piece of paper you gave me here, you can't—"

"Shut up! I am your elder brother!"

"My brother is buried under the rightmost beech in that row! Are you planning to bury him one square to the right?!"

The two brothers, their hair and beards bristling, glared at each other. Around them, their followers were filled with unease, while the mercenaries watched the scene with great interest. Many had already prepared cheers and shouts, just waiting for these two to draw their swords so they could offer them up without reservation.

An eerie silence lingered for a long time. Finally, the older one let out a long sigh and lowered his head as if he had used up all his strength.

"Let's stop arguing about this. That woman is still outside, waiting to take our heads off."

"What should we do?" With a formidable enemy at hand, an unprecedented pressure weighed heavily on the two brothers' hearts, and they were bound together by a rope, unable to fly away from one or jump away from the other.

But even if they "work together," what good will it do? That woman recruited a magician, and a single fireball could crush the remaining members of their group!

"Look, who's back?" Just as the two were at a loss, a somewhat hoarse voice slowly strolled out from the small tavern next door. It was an old man with a hunched back, wearing coarse cloth clothes stained with oil, carrying a bottle of strong liquor and swaying back and forth, looking at the two noble youths with a mocking gaze.

"Oh, our two young masters are back! That vixen must have been executed, and the former master's seal must have been brought back as well, right? So, are you already deciding who will be the next earl?"

"Stop mocking us, old man," the younger nobleman said fiercely, raising his hand and then waving it down again. "You're a duple, can't you see we've been defeated?"

Upon hearing the name "Dubule," the old man swayed again, as if he were about to fall to the ground at any moment, but in an instant, he regained his balance and casually put the bottle neck into his mouth.

"Ha, I really couldn't tell, young masters. After all, I'm just an old codger whose body has been drained by alcohol. I'm greedy for money, ask for exorbitant prices, and have no sense of self-preservation."

The old man's words, spoken with a pointed remark, made the two young men's faces burn with embarrassment, for that was exactly how they had described him not long ago.

What troubled them even more was that just a few days earlier, the old man had proposed giving them all the money meant for hiring others, and then leaving Skadi to fend for herself in the wilderness—he had foreseen their failure.

"Old man," the elder brother said, forcing himself to ride up to the old man, "we know we were wrong, and your assessment of the situation was very accurate. I wonder if you can still help us now?"

"No, a thousand times no!" Dubul shook his head until he was dizzy. "You only know to turn after hitting a wall? With the few remaining few of you? Bend over and see if the lady will spare your lives!"

"We can give you everything you asked for before, double the amount!" the younger brother shouted hurriedly. If there was anyone who could possibly salvage the situation now, it was probably only this old man.

Putting everything else aside, just look at his personal connections! Mercenaries who have lived this long must know at least a few mysterious figures, or some important people, or both.

As long as he's willing to help, there's always more to be done...

"Go back to your milk, you little brat," the old man sneered. "Double? What are you going to give me? Even if it was what I asked for back then, you couldn't give me a single drop, it's all just drool!"

"Be thankful for your good luck and your good brother. He built this castle quite well. At least you still have time to wash your necks—or wash your asses, hahaha."

When Old Dubul spoke, there was a hint of a forced smile on his face. He then spun around halfway in place, turned around, and prepared to continue plunging into the place that had consumed his time, body, and even soul.

“Old man, she has found a Dubler,” the brothers said, realizing that bribery had failed, so they had to think of another way. “He is the one who defeated us!”

"Oh, then he must be very strong?" The old man stopped in his tracks, but still showed no intention of returning to his old ways. "--None of my business."

"I've been retired for almost thirty years now, do you expect me to compete with some young punk..."

With a "whoosh," a sword that had been defeated in the previous battle without even having a chance to bleed was placed against the old man's neck: "Old man, I'm afraid that's really what we're hoping for."

"Tsk, young man," the old man tilted his head, glanced at the two of them for a moment, and then sneered, "Threaten me? I can't beat the current Dubul, but I can handle two brats who haven't even grown their hair yet?"

The young nobleman felt an irresistible force pass through the sword, and in an instant, he fell off his horse!

Chapter 377 Outer Doule Castle

"You ungrateful brat..." The old man casually grabbed the wine bottle in his other hand, preparing to cut the other man's head open. However, before he could finish muttering his words, he heard a series of urgent alarm bells ringing from the sentry post on the outer wall.

"She's back! She's back!"

The guards' panicked shouts made the nobleman lying on the ground only regret why old Dubler had been so slow and hadn't smashed him to death with a bottle: "Now?! Are you sure?"

“Absolutely true!” the guard replied. “Sir, shall we open the door—”

According to the inheritance laws and customs of Eastern Inassassins, the two children outside are the rightful heirs to this castle. However, in reality, it doesn't really matter to the guards whether it is the countess outside or the two young masters inside who take over the castle.

It's not their turn to do it anyway, so what difference does it make who does it?

"Wait! No! Prepare for defense! Defense!" The younger brother, still on horseback, hurriedly stopped them. "They only have a few dozen men. They'll never get through in their next life!"

"Dozens of people?" The guard's voice sounded strange. "Sir, in my opinion, there are at least two or three hundred people outside!"

"Varied--"

Stunned by the news, the two scrambled up the city wall, even the old Dubule came to join the fun. Looking down along the battlements, sure enough, a cloud of dust rose in the distance, a spectacle that could not have been stirred up by just a few dozen people.

As for why Skadi's "troop strength" suddenly increased seven or eight times in half a day, the answer is not too hard to guess.

"Those traitors! Cowards!" The young nobleman slammed his fist on the battlement in anger. "Mercenaries, and those tenant farmers! You traitors, this is blatant betrayal!"

"Ha, I thought you were used to this by now," old Dubler chuckled at the opportune moment. "Surrender, you two, there's nothing you can do."

"Absolutely not! They're just a rabble; they don't even have siege equipment. I refuse to believe they can—"

"Whoosh—" Before the words were finished, a bright light suddenly rose from the ranks of soldiers who had not yet reached the city walls, carrying immense force as it slammed into the ground not far in front of the city walls, creating a sea of ​​fire that quickly consumed everything flammable. The terrifying force made the defenders on and below the city walls tremble.

This is definitely not a miss; it's a demonstration of power! Even if the spellcaster could miss at this distance, would she really miss again when she was standing below the city walls?

Perhaps the opponent only has this one spellcaster, or such a fireball is not enough to destroy the city wall or gate. Perhaps the opponent can't use such a powerful spell many times a day—but even if they use it once a day, how long can they last?

"Don't panic! Take up attack positions!" The nobleman began issuing orders with an air of importance again, but this time, the people who had just fled were not interested in it at all—the two brothers would run away as soon as things went wrong, and some people in the crowd were already starting to regret it. If they had been a little slower, they might be in the attacking force right now!

“It looks very sturdy. Count Doule must have put a lot of effort into it,” Reslaufer said, standing just outside the range of the crossbows on the city wall. He casually pushed the two children who had come close to him back. “...Who let them out again? Keep them under control!”

Is this a place where these two little ones can run around?!

The little girl, who had been with Leslaufer and the others for quite some time, quickly ran out and led her two newly adopted cousins ​​to the back—just on the way there, Skadi had recognized this girl with the same surname.

In fact, neither the adults nor the children were quite sure of the other's identity, but since Raslaw had acted as a go-between, the truth wasn't really that important. Once those two clumsy yet ruthless idiots were dealt with, Skadi certainly wouldn't be short of food for this child.

However, what disheartened the little girl was that her younger siblings reacted to her much colder than they did to Leslaufer, and she didn't know why.

“He specifically allocated a portion of the original tax revenue to maintain and repair the castle and its buildings, both inside and out. He also said that he planned to build the first outer wall in a few years…” Skuld sighed softly, “Unfortunately, he won’t live to see it.”

“Trouble starts within the family,” Daisy sighed, but her tone quickly changed. “Shall we burn the ‘family’ to ashes?”

Although the phrase the poet quoted, whose origin is unknown, clearly doesn't refer to a city wall, we can't ask for more from her.

“Let’s forget it,” Leslaufer thought for a moment and rejected the suggestion. “This is our own stuff, and we worked so hard to fix it. It’s better not to damage it too much.”

“We should be able to use the same strategy again,” suggested Dole’s Thorn, the chapter leader employed by Skuld. “We can feign a retreat and send men disguised as scattered troops to infiltrate the castle. Once the gates are open, everything will be fine.”

“I’m afraid it won’t be easy to achieve,” Skuld shook her head. “The other side has already seen our scale. Even those two guys have a head on their shoulders.”

“And that would be too much trouble,” Raslaufer also disagreed, but for a different reason than Skouti. “We’ve just returned home and we’re already attacking a city? Spare me, Skouti, give me your halberd.”

"Not a buddy?!" The bard was so shocked when he saw Leslauver holding a halberd in one hand and a two-handed greatsword between its branches in the other. "Two heavy two-handed weapons with heavy affixes, is your equipment even legal?!"

“Stop talking nonsense, Daisy,” Angelita tugged at her from behind. “What do you know about heavy-duty things? Uncle Leslaufer has his own plans.”

"You... sigh, sigh!" Daisy rolled her eyes at the girl who was completely absorbed in Leslaufer, exasperated. "Mary, you'd better talk to your princess, she—"

“Don’t try to absolve yourself of all responsibility, Miss Daisy,” Margaret smiled slightly. “I don’t owe His Highness any money.”

"Alright, you can keep wasting your breath here," Leslaufer laughed, removing his upper armor down to a close-fitting chainmail shirt before striding towards the castle. "Beast! You'll come with me to conquer the city!"

Leslaufer's voice wasn't loud, but it penetrated the ears of the goblin bear who had been hiding nearby and was now in a daze. The hairy beast pointed to himself incredulously:

"I?"

Chapter 378 A One-Man Siege

"It's that mercenary! What does he want?"

When Raslaufer strode confidently into the range of the crossbows, even reaching the foot of the city walls, the people on the walls looked at each other, somewhat bewildered.

It's only been half a day, and of course they haven't forgotten that this Dubul had just utterly thrashed them, but... the past is the past, and the present is the present.

It's true that they were beaten helplessly in the wild, but now they are standing on the city wall and on the other side of the wall, and the other side is charging over by himself. What is he trying to do?

What's more, the other party was inexplicably carrying two large weapons, each about two meters long. This was practically an act of self-inflicted injury—even a greenhorn would know that doing so would only cause the two hands to restrain each other, consuming physical strength exponentially while also sacrificing the original effective length and inertial power of the two weapons!

Raslaufer was naturally aware of this. Even when using a dueling sword or a battle knife at the same time, he would switch to gripping the middle of the two-handed greatsword, essentially using the two-handed sword as a one-handed sword, in order to coordinate the two hands as much as possible.

But now, he's holding these two weapons, not to wield them.

"Listen up, you all!" Leslaufer took a deep breath, making sure his voice was loud enough to be heard on the city walls. "This castle was built by the late Earl Doule, and many of you know that! You also know very well what kind of people his two brothers were!"

“Although I am not from the outer territory of the Lord of the Lord, I live nearby. I have long heard of the Earl’s reputation and talent, and I have just defeated his brothers. How can you bear to let everything he has sacrificed fall into the hands of two fools?”

"If the Earl had no children, then their succession would have been a last resort. But now we all know that the Earl has a son and a daughter, so the inheritance of the Earldom should naturally fall into their hands! If you still have any conscience, honor, or any of these qualities, you should immediately kill those two traitors, open the city gates, and welcome your true lord home!"

"Old Lei is so eloquent?" The bard, standing not far away, couldn't help but be taken aback.

“If it weren’t for these city walls, he usually wouldn’t waste so much time talking.” Mary pursed her lips. There was no question of good or bad; it was just that circumstances were beyond her control.

After Doble's words, the city fell silent. Although some people did begin to ponder Reslaufer's persuasion, many more began to have doubts—Eastern Inasasians, on their own homeland, were talking about "conscience," "honor," and "brains"?

When has anything like that ever existed?

"Nonsense!" A head suddenly popped up on the city wall. When Raslaufer looked up in the direction of the curse, the other person was aiming a crossbow at him.

"Are you suggesting that this land be ruled by a few children? Utterly absurd! You must have been sent by Nedoule! Enough with the nonsense, take this arrow!"

The man appeared to be a servant or similar figure to one of the two noblemen. Although he knew how to use a crossbow, his skill was clearly insufficient in Raslaufer's eyes. Duple simply dodged slightly to the side, thus avoiding the crossbow bolts being launched from above.

"You dare to hide!" With such a significant height difference between the upper and lower sections of the city wall, the uninhibited followers suddenly displayed the same courage they had when reprimanding commoners or even slaves. Seeing that their first arrow missed, they immediately slammed their crossbows to the ground, cursing loudly as they began to reload, preparing to fire another arrow at Raslaufer.

There was only one Dubul below the city. Even if we killed him by force, did he think he could fly up and settle accounts with us?

With that thought in mind, the squire reloaded the gun and stood up again, taking up his firing position to try to fire at Raslaufer again. However, this time, before he could pull the trigger, he realized something was wrong.

What about that Duple?

From the attendant's perspective, Raslaufer was no longer visible. Instead, a thick, dark, straight object, carrying a gust of wind, was hurtling straight toward his face!

With a deafening roar, the follower didn't even have time to utter his last cry before his head exploded like a watermelon! A long halberd soared up from below the city walls, smashing the follower's head in the face before continuing its momentum, pinning the corpse straight to the battlement behind him, which faced the city!

This time, not only did the air fall silent, but everyone's hearts and minds were also completely still in that instant!

"it is good!"

The hoarse cheers on the city wall roused the stunned crowd. It was the old Dubul who was cheering. However, the people who turned around had no time to investigate the sin of cheering for the enemy. The two brothers rushed to the edge of the city wall and looked down, only to see what they would never forget in their lives.

But then another greatsword was thrown up by Raslaufer and firmly embedded in the wall. After a short run-up, Doppler leaped up. His figure, no longer bound by heavy armor, was like that of an eagle. Using the longsword that had just been thrown as leverage, he jumped up again and slashed a strangely colored battle knife into the wall above!

He's up here!

"Fire arrows! Fire arrows now!" "Fire my ass! It's too late, quickly stab him with spears!"

The two young noble brothers were going crazy, issuing orders haphazardly as they fled again. Fortunately, the mercenaries were far more professional than their employers; even though they had just been defeated, more than a dozen of them raised their weapons and began stabbing wildly downwards.

Generally speaking, there is no room to dodge or retaliate during such two leaps. Such a hail of guns would almost kill you. However, Dubler was already used to facing these things. Even in the air, he managed to reach out and grab one of the guns. By the third leap, he was already higher than the top of the wall!

"Kill him!" a mercenary leader shouted in terror, grabbing a short spear. But before he could swing it, his body suddenly swayed. Sensing something was wrong, he instinctively touched his neck, and when his warm hand left, it was covered in blood.

"This is really..." He realized what had happened, but it was too late for him to even warn others.

Pushing aside spears that couldn't be swung properly, Raslaufer punched two mercenaries to the ground. Even unarmed, he was still able to wreak havoc. What shocked and puzzled everyone even more was that those who hadn't even approached Raslaufer suddenly collapsed to the ground without warning! What kind of power was this?!

In a quick glance, Raslaufer precisely spotted two or three dark, ghostly figures in the crowd—his allies who had joined him in the siege.

"Go after them." He looked down at the two men still trying to escape.

Chapter 379 The Impatient Goblin

Even the mercenaries of East Inassus were no match for a figure like Raslaufer. When he pulled the halberd that was stuck in the city wall again, the crowd began to scatter like a receding tide.

No one is willing to sacrifice their life. Or rather, no one is unwilling to give up their life—it's just that many things are not worth it.

What good would it do to fight to the death? Do you think the few men on the city walls could overwhelm this Dubul? Escaping and saving our lives is the priority!

As several corpses collapsed around Raslaufer, the mercenaries, without exchanging words, quickly reached an agreement and cleared the path leading down to the city walls. Although they were still "besieging" the city, not one of them dared to advance their spears any further; they merely pleaded with Raslaufer to go down and hunt down those he had to kill.