This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

Dick sat down next to the old count, and the other five girls also sat down next to Dick. The Hoffman family's waiters immediately brought in steaming hot food. Before long, they were quite shocked by the amazing appetites of these beauties. They thought to themselves that the bulges on their chests were probably external stomachs, otherwise it would be hard to explain where the food they ate was stored.

Dick, on the other hand, got down to serious business with Earl Banner, discussing the future of this war between humans and beasts.

What Dick knew perfectly well, but deliberately pretended not to know and didn't say, was directly exposed by Earl Banner.

"We can't count on reinforcements from the capital."

"Are you worried they'll arrive too late?"

"No, I don't think they'll come at all."

As the old count spoke, a cold smile crept onto his lips. The power center of the empire had long been rotten to the core; those insatiable politicians only knew how to fight for power and profit, completely disregarding the lives of those in the provinces. And their great emperor, it seemed, had become indifferent to everything, for some unknown reason.

Dick shared a similar view. The idea of ​​those court nobles was to do nothing but be good. Rather than expending effort to achieve political achievements, they preferred to hold their positions without doing anything and wait for their opponents to mess things up before jumping out to criticize them. This had become a survival rule.

So even though Dick kept sending messages to the capital for reinforcements from the rear, he never actually relied on reinforcements from the capital.

They might come, but by the time they arrive, it will definitely be too late!

"So, we northerners still have to rely on ourselves."

As soon as Earl Banner finished speaking, his eldest son, sitting opposite him, coughed violently, reminding his father not to speak so recklessly. His father's words were quite "politically incorrect"—it was one thing to say at home, but how could he say it in front of outsiders?!

But Earl Banner didn't care at all, and continued speaking to Dick.

"By the way, kid, I heard that your family grows a high-yield crop that can adapt to our northern climate, right? Sell me some seeds! Name your price, and I'll throw in my youngest daughter for you, how about that? My fourth daughter is named Alita, she's just turned seventeen this year, and she's very beautiful."

Earl Banner meant to arrange a marriage between himself and Dick, but as soon as he said this, he was immediately targeted by more than one pair of sharp eyes. However, the old man remained calm and continued to promote his youngest daughter.

Generally speaking, aristocratic marriages are not based on love, but rather on political maneuvering. If both families are of similar background, the couple often lead separate lives, tacitly agreeing not to interfere with each other.

Therefore, in Count Banner's view, even though Dick was a womanizer and surrounded by beautiful women, it did not prevent the two families from getting married.

You should just have your fun and marry my daughter.

But Dick didn't want a marriage alliance, not only because his female subordinates would mind, but also because where to put the woman after bringing her over would be a big problem. After all, he had many secrets he couldn't reveal, and he simply didn't trust the woman he was marrying into.

Therefore, Dick declined Earl Banner's marriage proposal, but then expressed great interest in forming an alliance. Moreover, he was not only thinking about forming an alliance with Banner's family, but also about taking advantage of the opportunity brought about by the orc invasion to unite more northern lords and form a joint defense alliance.

Since the imperial central government doesn't care about us, why don't we just take care of ourselves?

Chapter 132: The Darkest Hour

Inside the coalition's field hospital, the fighting last night had added thousands of wounded, causing Natasha and her colleagues to work intensely for over ten hours before finally completing initial treatment.

Most of the wounded were not soldiers who participated in the battle, but human prisoners of war rescued by the raiding force from the orc camp. These captured humans were treated extremely cruelly. The orcs treated men as food and women as breeding grounds, and did not care about their lives at all.

Especially now that it is winter in the northern part of the empire, the temperature drops to minus twenty degrees Celsius after nightfall. The brutal orcs are keeping these human prisoners in the open fields overnight, so many of them have suffered severe frostbite.

Even though Natasha had extensive experience treating frostbite, she worked from dawn till dusk, saving many lives.

After treating most of the wounded, Natasha dragged her tired body back to her clinic at the hospital, rubbing her stiff shoulders as she looked through the medical records that the nurses had just brought.

Just then, a pair of small but warm hands pressed down on Natasha's shoulders from behind, startling the unsuspecting female doctor.

"Who? Dick! You scared me."

"You must be exhausted, your vigilance has dropped so much."

"That's true. There are too many wounded, and some of the more serious ones may not make it through the night."

Natasha showed Dick the medical records, her compassionate heart as a healer compelled her to do everything she could to help these unfortunate people. But conventional medicine has its limits, and in such situations, one must resort to supernatural powers like divine magic. However, the church priests refused to intervene, arguing that their magic should be used for more important purposes, not to save a few insignificant civilians.

After several negotiations, Natasha's impression of those charlatans had plummeted. Some of them even cast lecherous and malicious glances at her, making Natasha wish she could pull out a grenade launcher and slap them in the face on the spot!

As Dick listened to Natasha's complaints, he massaged her shoulders. The female doctor was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and desperately needed someone to talk to to relieve her stress.

After listening for a while, Dick hugged Natasha from behind and gently comforted her.

"Thank you for your hard work. My Natasha is a wonderful doctor. Don't worry, I will deal with those charlatans. I happen to have some conditions that they can't refuse."

Dick hugged Natasha for a while, feeling her body, which had been stiff from fatigue, relax considerably. Just as he was about to let go and get up, Natasha silently grabbed Dick's hand, placed it over her shoulder and directly on her rounded breasts, and then said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Could you massage me a little longer? I told people I need to rest, and no one will be coming to the treatment room anytime soon."

Dick understood perfectly what was supposed to be a hint. He had Natasha sit on the desk, and while kneading the female doctor's large breasts, he kissed her red lips. Soon, the examination room was filled with their suppressed, low moans.

Feeling Dick's heat penetrating her body, Natasha's pink eyes seemed to fill with spring water. Her plump thighs were tightly wrapped around Dick's waist, one hand supporting her body, the other stroking Dick's face, almost greedily demanding his lips.

“Dick, am I really that bad that I did this in the clinic?”

"No, because I seduced the innocent female doctor."

"Then...can you come and seduce me more often in the future?"

"of course can."

During their break, the two relaxed in the clinic. Natasha felt all her fatigue vanish, leaving her with a tingling, warm feeling in her body. Dick had infused her with so much energy, it was almost overflowing.

The two cuddled on the small bed for a while longer until Joel came looking for them. Dick reluctantly left the clinic, tucking Natasha in before leaving and giving her a final kiss.

After Dick left, Natasha stared blankly at the ceiling, a smile she couldn't suppress creeping onto her lips. Like a little girl in love, she was so shy that she huddled under the covers and rolled around.

Meanwhile, after leaving the examination room, Dick asked Joel what had happened.

Joel said she didn't know the specifics either, but Count Hoffmann had come to her saying he had important matters to discuss.

Soon, Dick met Hoffmann, and even Earl Banner was there; both men had solemn expressions.

"what happened?"

"There's two pieces of bad news. First, the female shaman has run away."

"Wait a minute! They ran away? How did they get away?"

“We don’t know either. Half an hour ago, the dungeon guards discovered during their patrol that the cage holding the female shaman was empty, and the blood god statue in the black coffin also disappeared.”

Hoffman looked extremely embarrassed as he said this, after all, the person was locked in his dungeon, and the Blood God statue was temporarily placed in a treasure vault with mechanisms, but it was lost in the blink of an eye, which made his Hoffman family seem very incompetent.

"And what's the other bad news?"

"The reinforcements from the Central Government can't come, but they sent us this via magical communication."

As Hoffman spoke, he handed a note to Dick. Dick took it and looked at it; the words on it gave him a strong sense of déjà vu.

"Hold on tight, and there's a way. Damn!"

Dick chuckled coldly and flicked the paper away, turning it to ashes in the flames.

Although he and Earl Banner had a premonition that Dick was unlikely to send reinforcements to the north, it was still infuriating that the capital sent such an irresponsible statement after things had come to this point!

In fact, Dick only learned later that the reason why the central government did not send reinforcements was that at the same time that the capital was invaded by orcs in the north, a shocking scandal broke out, namely the sensational "Imperial Guard Embezzlement Incident".

For years, the corrupt officials in the Imperial Capital's Supply Department systematically embezzled from the 300,000 Imperial Guards, skimming off everything from their pay to their daily necessities. Because they indiscriminately embezzled from every single soldier, the scheme went undetected until internal strife broke out due to a dispute over the distribution of spoils, leading to an inside leak.

After the incident escalated, many Imperial Guard soldiers went to the military headquarters to demand an explanation. The whole situation almost turned into a mutiny. Even the emperor couldn't control these furious soldiers, let alone send them out to fight.

As for mobilizing the local lords south of the Central Mountains to send troops to support the north, the response was extremely limited. Moreover, since the main force led by Beast King Ramon was already at the gates of the pass fortress, these reinforcements simply could not get through.

Chapter 133: Taking the Initiative

With the capital city out of reach, northerners have to rely on themselves.

This is the basic consensus reached at this small meeting of the three leaders of the coalition.

Despite the recent victory of the allied forces, the situation in the north remains extremely serious. The invading orc army of 100,000, along with 20,000 elite troops led by the Beast King, are attacking the pass fortress in the central mountains. This elite orc force is not something the allied forces can currently handle.

In addition, there are more than 30,000 troops in a standoff with the border legion. Attacking them could relieve the border legion, but they are too far from the coalition forces, and long-distance marches are very risky.

So after much deliberation, they decided to deal with the sweeping legion that was right in front of them first. These orcs had gone crazy on human territory and their troops had scattered into disorganized and undisciplined bandits, which made it easy for them to concentrate their superior forces to defeat them one by one.

After only one day of rest, the allied forces assembled an elite mobile force, ready to launch a preemptive strike, aiming to annihilate small groups of orcs while guiding refugees toward the allied camp.

It is worth mentioning that after the plan was announced, some lords strongly opposed the operation, feeling that taking the initiative was too risky. They thought that if they fell into an ambush, the troops would suffer heavy losses or even be wiped out, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

This mobile force not only integrated all of the coalition's nearly three thousand cavalry, but also drew away most of the high-ranking warriors and mid-to-high-ranking mages, all of whom are valuable high-end combat forces.

Most of those who voiced their opposition were small lords with little wealth. They couldn't afford to support high-ranking warriors and mages, and their private armies were a motley crew that hadn't received proper military training. No of their men were drawn from the attack force.

These people joined the coalition less to contribute and more to seek protection. Therefore, they were reluctant to see the coalition send out its elite forces, as this made them feel very insecure.

Fortunately, at this moment, Earl Banner stepped forward. The old man was of high rank and seniority, and his loud voice was full of energy. He directly confronted these opponents and berated them, leaving them speechless.

And so, a mobile force comprised of over 70% of the Allied forces’ elite troops set off, with Dick and Earl Banner among them.

Not long after crossing the river, the troops faced their first battle, encountering a group of orc cavalrymen who were hunting refugees.

The orcs were few in number, only about a hundred riders, while the refugees they were hunting numbered in the thousands. The orc cavalrymen were like a pack of wolves attacking a flock of sheep, constantly harassing the refugees but not in a hurry to launch an attack.

Dick and the old count observed from a distance for a while, concluding that the orc cavalry were merely stalling the refugees, intending to buy time until the main force arrived to encircle them.

So the two quickly devised a tactic: the old count would lead three hundred cavalry to rescue the people, while Dick would lead the main force to lie in ambush downwind, waiting for the orcs' main force to sacrifice themselves before they would rush out and give the enemy a big surprise!

Once the tactics were decided, the old count immediately led the three hundred cavalrymen assigned to him and charged forward. Fearing that something might happen to him, Dick specifically ordered the steady White Spearman to follow and protect the old man's safety.

The sudden appearance of three hundred cavalrymen from the flank startled the orcs, but for the refugees trapped in dire straits, these warriors were like angels bringing them hope, sweeping away the dark clouds hanging over their heads with overwhelming force.

These three hundred cavalrymen were all warriors trained in martial arts, and most of them were private soldiers from the three counts.

A powerful lord invests in his private army in a way that ordinary nobles cannot imagine. In particular, for elite cavalry, the lord will specifically select young people with the potential to learn martial arts from among the commoners in his territory for training.

Even the weakest low-level warrior is not someone that ordinary people can easily fight against.

These three hundred cavalrymen routed the orcs in a single encounter, and the most outstanding performer was undoubtedly White Spear. In order to protect Count Banner, she deliberately rode ahead of him, killing the orcs and causing them to fall to the ground. The old man followed behind for a long time, only to find in astonishment that his lance had not even had a chance to draw blood, and he felt a little resentful.

"That kid, could he have sent his woman to steal my thunder?!"

Soon, most of the orcs were killed on the spot, and then a few were deliberately let go so that they could go back and report to the main force.

The old count, who had failed to snatch the "beast head," approached the group of refugees, removed his helmet to reveal his identity, and then asked them where they had come from.

At that moment, an old woman was helped up to the count from the crowd. Old Banner recognized her at a glance and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"Anna! It's you! You're alive!"

"Eugene, it's so good to see you again."

The old woman Anna was the old count's distant cousin. The two had lived together when they were young and had a very good relationship. Even after Anna was married off to a viscount whose family was wealthy through a family alliance, she continued to correspond with her maternal family and would occasionally visit them.

When the old count saw his cousin among the refugees, he immediately knew where they came from.

"What happened to the Goodmans? Their castle is built on a hillside; it shouldn't be so easy to breach, right? Where's Boris? Why isn't he with you?"

Faced with the old count's urgent questioning, the old woman's eyes revealed a look of sorrow.

“Goodman Castle is gone. At first, we were able to hold it, but four nights ago, a traitor opened the gates and let the orcs in. The castle fell quickly. I and some family knights escaped through the secret passage with the old, weak, women and children. Boris… he said he was the head of the family and couldn’t escape!”

Upon learning that his cousin-in-law had died in battle, the old count was filled with sorrow. Fortunately, the Goodman bloodline had not been broken, and several underage children in the family escaped with Anna.

From the questioning just now, the old count also discovered a very important piece of information: there was a traitor!

"Damn it, how come there are so many traitors? Are the orcs' infiltration efforts really that effective?"

Muttering to himself, the old count knew this wasn't the place for reminiscing, so he immediately covered their retreat to the east. But less than half an hour later, the rear guard came to report that a force of about two thousand orcs was heading their way.

Orcs are fast runners; although they can't outrun those on horseback, they are much faster than humans on foot.

The old count knew he had caught a big fish, so he immediately dispatched ten cavalrymen as guides to lead them toward the allied camp. If they hurried, they should be able to arrive before nightfall.

He then led the remaining knights to turn around and prepare to meet the enemy, and ordered his personal guards to fire signal flares into the air.

A single arrow pierces the clouds, and a thousand armies rush to meet!

Chapter 134: The Beast King's Ambition

"What is the current situation of the sweeping army advancing eastward?"

"The progress over there isn't going very well. The human lords have recovered and started organizing a counterattack. In the past few days, several tribes that acted alone have been annihilated by a human cavalry unit. That human force is said to be very elite, with most of the cavalrymen being warriors who have trained in martial arts and are no less capable than orc warriors in one-on-one combat."

"Hmph! I warned them long ago not to underestimate the human race. But this is good. Let them suffer a bit. As long as the survivors aren't hopelessly stupid, they'll know who to listen to in the future."

Inside the camp of the main orc army, King Ramon of the Orcs was discussing with his black-robed strategist the series of setbacks the sweeping legion had recently encountered.

The army, originally with a total strength of over 30,000 men, would have been a formidable force if it had moved together. However, it deliberately broke itself into smaller units, giving the enemy the opportunity to defeat it piecemeal.

Rather than calling them a mindless mob, it's more accurate to say that this is simply the nature of the orc race!

Traditionally, orcs were inherently savage, brutal, and uncivilized. They had no concept of ethnicity or nation; their highest form of collective identity was the tribe. Calling them nomadic tribes would be an understatement; in reality, they were primitive communities that relied solely on hunting and gathering for survival. In bad years, they would even venture south to human territory to plunder.

Ramon's ideal is to transform the title of "Beast King" from an honorary one into a true ruler with real power, thereby uniting all the orc tribes on the Great Wilderness and establishing an orc kingdom.

However, Ramon's grand vision was not understood by all his people. While some intelligent tribes recognized his ideas and volunteered to serve under him, there were also some stubborn and incorrigible tribes who felt that Ramon was destroying the ancestral laws that the orcs had maintained for thousands of years.