Chapter 281:

Words : 1695 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

According to Einstein’s theory of relativity, time, this magical thing, can pass very quickly at times, especially when focusing on one task, time always seems to fly by. From this perspective, even if it’s only 10 seconds, that’s still impressive! For example, when soldiers in trenches are surrounded by enemies ten times their number, they may feel like days are passing like years. But when they receive powerful reinforcements and victory is within reach, the soldiers become excited and throw themselves into driving out the enemy and pursuing victory. Tonight’s events at Crimson Citadel perfectly illustrate this point. Those militiamen who were hastily assembled to defend the city performed especially bravely in the latter half of the battle. Even though Regent Miriam repeatedly emphasized that they should not engage in long-distance pursuit to avoid accidents, by the time dawn broke, the militiamen who had pursued the farthest had, under the leadership of Mr. Porter, chased the fleeing gnolls to a place not far from Morland Village. This was nothing short of a small miracle. This distance would take 4-5 hours even on horseback, but the excited militiamen seemed to feel no fatigue at all. The young men, carrying muskets and battle spears, were roaring and shouting with flushed faces, like a group of wild mountain men on a hunt, thrusting their spears at any gnoll that dared to resist. These once-terrifying foreign bandits now seemed like sheep ready for slaughter, with most gnolls only concerned with escape, howling as they fled for their lives. Their minds had completely collapsed under the repeated charges of the winged cavalry that seemed to have descended from the heavens. But one couldn’t blame them. In the past, many creatures more resolute than gnolls had found themselves in similar predicaments, and winged cavalry had no business appearing on a battlefield against gnolls – it was like using a cleaver to kill a chicken. Poor Kenport had simply chosen the wrong opponent. “I don’t know why I used to be afraid of these dog-things, they’re not worth fearing at all!” a teenager said, looking at the rising sun behind him. He said to Mr. Porter, who was leading them on horseback in pursuit of the gnolls: “20,000 gnolls defeated by us in one night, has this ever happened before, Uncle Porter?” “Mind your manners! Call me ‘Sir Knight’!” Knight Porter, sporting a peculiar Mediterranean hairstyle, snorted. He sat on his horse, trying hard to put on the imposing expression befitting a knight, although his back was already aching from the jolting ride. Faced with this question from his distant nephew, Porter thought for a moment and said: “It probably has happened before. After all, we’ve withstood 4 Black Disasters here without being defeated. Although I haven’t seen it with my own eyes, my grandfather used to tell me repeatedly about the scene during the 4th Black Disaster when I was little. ℞ÄΝΟᛒËS That was much more terrifying than now. Defeating the gnolls from Transia is nothing to brag about, boy. The gnolls from the Dark Mountain range are much tougher and more dangerous than these. But now’s not the time to talk about that. Let’s take a rest, we’ll move on in a bit, rest for a few hours in Morland Village and then head back. There’s still a lot to be busy with in the city.” “Can I join Lord Maxim’s People’s Army?” young Porter asked excitedly. “I killed 4 gnolls last night, I think I’m already a warrior! I want to join them, to protect our homeland together with those veterans.” “Dream on,” Knight Porter kicked this unrealistic young man with his boot, cursing: “Your parents didn’t entrust you to me so you could go risk your life on the battlefield. I’ve already arranged for you, in a few days you’ll go be the militia captain at the collective farm.” Just as Knight Porter was lecturing his nephew not to aim too high, the Computation Bead hanging on his chest suddenly vibrated. The Mediterranean-haired knight glared fiercely at young Porter, grabbed the bead and answered. “Knight Porter, new orders from the Lord have been issued. Your position is very close to Morland Village, go there immediately and meet up with the Witch Hunter militia team. Send all the gnolls you’ve captured along the way to the nearby quarry! Set up a small camp there, more gnoll prisoners will be sent over soon.” Regent Miriam’s stern voice came from the Computation Bead, instructing: “Choose capable assistants to temporarily manage the quarry prisoner camp, specialists will replace them later.” “What? Make the gnolls prisoners?” Mr. Porter exclaimed in shock. “It’ll cause trouble if we keep them together! These guys will start rioting as soon as there are enough of them.” “Make them work, teach them discipline with whips,” Miriam said. “Even the most unruly gnoll will have no energy left to cause trouble after digging stones all day. Besides, this is the Lord’s order. If you have any objections, report them first, but for now, carry out the order. Oh, and only take the submissive gnolls as prisoners, kill those who dare to resist directly.” “That’s more like it, that’s how we Transians do things,” Mr. Porter laughed, accepting the order and putting down the bead. He glanced at his nephew who was still sulking, his eyes rolled and he called him over. “Come here, I have a safe and profitable job for you. Don’t say your uncle doesn’t look after you in the future.” Especially the “left hand” that was currently shaking his. There was not the slightest hint of life force beneath the armor. There was no blood flow that could be sensed by vampires either. This was a prosthetic limb! “Ha, from the change in your eyes, I guess you’ve already figured it out,” the Countess of Seicob, who called herself “Sharon”, grinned with a sly smile. In front of her four new friends, she handed the helmet in her arms to Lady Sunny, then nonchalantly took off the gauntlet on her left hand. “Ah! An engineering prosthesis?” Miriam, who had studied in halfling territory and gained some knowledge, exclaimed. The gazes of the other three vampires also became strange because of this. The “left hand” of the countess before them was a silver-gray metal construct composed of complex gears, sliding rods, and connectors. It wasn’t specially encased, so when she moved her palm and mechanical fingers, the gears and lever structures operating in her palm had a kind of “precision feel”. Of course, in the eyes of the conservative and closed-off vampires, this sight was somewhat shocking. Especially for “old aunties” like Tris, who always disdained such mechanical constructs without blood filling. But Murphy’s eyes were full of curiosity. He felt that the scene before him fully illustrated the “unscientific” aspects of this world’s steam engineering. If the little players were to see this... Hmm, he needed to find a way to let them see this and post it on the forum, to increase the game’s popularity and discussion. “Scared you, didn’t I?” Countess Sharon seemed very satisfied with the reactions of the vampires before her. She raised her left hand, moving her five fingers, making them produce clicking sounds, then very proudly patted her left arm and left leg with her right hand. She said: “I lost parts of my body during an escape two years ago, but fortunately I’ve been interested in these machines since I was little, and my mother also had a halfling mechanic as a follower, so I’ve had a very capable engineering mentor since childhood. I have some talent in this area, so after fate dealt me this misfortune, I used my skills to complete what I had lost. So don’t underestimate me, everyone. I’m quite formidable.” “Click” As she finished speaking. A black muzzle popped out of her left palm with a mechanical movement, then retracted back into her hidden arm as her fingers moved. This was like a joke from this optimistic and brave little countess, which made Femis even more satisfied with her future “good friend”. This scene also made the light in Murphy’s eyes brighter. He knew that the “development team” led by him was about to pull off a big move for their cute and brave players! “Lord Murphy, Lady Tris, this is another reason why we brought our troops to Crimson Citadel to rekindle the holy alliance,” Lady Sunny said in a low voice behind the little count. “We hope to use your power to help Sharon return to ‘normal’.” “The power vampires possess has never had anything to do with ‘normal’!” Tris narrowed her eyes and asked: “So I must confirm, what kind of help do you two and your count hope to obtain from us?” “Isn’t what my wife said clear enough?” Osprey Knight Valand responded with some dissatisfaction: “We mean, please transform Sharon into a vampire! This way, not only can we use the power of midnight to heal her lost body, but we can also snatch her precarious life from the hands of death. You don’t think that the current physique of little Sharon, as the daughter of the Count of Seicob and the most outstanding descendant of the mountain people, is normal, do you? I’m a rough man, so I’ll speak plainly. If you can restore our count to health, then the winged cavalry and the Count of Seicob’s domain are willing to accept Transia’s new order and fight for Governor Murphy and this land. Our participation in last night’s battle was a demonstration of our sincerity.” Tris and Murphy exchanged a glance, they roughly understood the Osprey Knight’s meaning. Murphy looked at the little count and nodded, saying: “If that’s the case, then let’s follow the mountain people’s way of doing things. We’ll skip the boring diplomatic rhetoric and political maneuvering and get straight to business. Femis, get ready. We need to give Count Sharon a ‘full body check’ first.”

Chapter 281:

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