The Lord Of Blood Hill-Chapter 30: Iron Wall Legion

Seeing the timid Henwell, Saxon furrows his brow.
"You show little sincerity, sending a child here."
Faced with Saxon's reprimand, Henwell looks like he's about to cry.
"S-sir. I'm just a captive they caught. They're threatening me with my sister to deliver a message to you."
Glass smiles gently, "Don't be afraid, child. Are you from Ika?"
Henwell nods, "Yes. My home is in South Rat Village."
The nobles exchange glances and shake their heads, indicating they've never heard of the village.
However, they don't doubt him. Nobles often aren't familiar with small villages and have little interest in them. Henwell's fluent southern Ika Kingdom accent confirms he's indeed an unfortunate captured child.
Glass continues, "What message do they want you to deliver?"
"They said both sides should place their goods in designated spots, then send people to retrieve them. No middlemen, no guarantees. Each side sends someone to inspect the goods. Once confirmed and free of ambush, they signal their people to collect them."
The nobles remain silent, but Henwell senses their hesitation and decides to add more fuel to the fire.
"They also said that we would be obtaining what we want in the form of spoils of war. You're not trading with the enemy; you're fighting them."
"Not only will you drive them away, but you'll also gain spoils and rescue some captured Ika citizens. This would be a great achievement, something you can and be rewarded for, not punished."
Hearing this, the eyes of the nobles light up. Indeed. It's not a trade; it's reclaiming spoils of war.
Seeing that all the nobles are tempted, Saxon realizes that the battle won't happen.
He has no chance to stop it; even if he were to harm the boy, the nobles could still trade in secret. So, he decides to leave the matter to Glass and refrains from getting involved.
However, as he's leaving, he turns to Henwell and says, "Go back and tell them that all children like you must be released, including you."
Henwell feels a touch of gratitude towards this military-born lord and gains some respect for him.
But it's too late now; he's too deeply tied to Fabio, who would never let him go. Henwell nods and begins to listen to what Glass and the others have to say.
Upon returning to the camp, Henwell chooses not to mention Lord Saxon's demand to Fabio.
Three days later, Henwell leads the death squad sent by the nobles of Stone Monument City to the designated location.
There, dozens of captives and two carts of gold and silver are waiting. After verifying everything, the scouts confirm there are no issues and signal for a cavalry unit to come and take the goods away.
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As they're leaving, a knight asks Henwell, "Are you sure you don't want to leave? We can send someone else to notify them of the pickup location."
Henwell squeezes out tears, "I can't. My sister is still in their hands."
The knight sighs and lets Henwell, riding on a mule, leave. That afternoon, a large amount of supplies is delivered to the camp. The next day, as agreed, Fabio leads his troops out of the area.
With a good start, everything becomes easier.
During this transaction, Henwell also proposes an additional condition: offering some extra gold and silver for the nobles to write letters of introduction—without seals—simply notifying other nobles they are friendly with that Fabio and his men are trustworthy for trade.
Thus, Fabio paves the way with money, ensuring ample supplies along the route.
Of course, there are some stubborn or overconfident individuals who fail to recognize their own strength and attempt to challenge Fabio.
Naturally, they end up getting thoroughly defeated. By now, Fabio's new army has the aura of a regular force, gradually moving away from the style of a peasant militia.
What they don't know is that this army has already earned a new title—the Iron Wall Legion.
Over the next few days, their victories spread far and wide, and Fabio grows fond of the name Iron Wall Legion. He decides to officially adopt it.
Now, Count Obiken is quite bewildered; he never expected his youngest son to cause such a sensation. As Fabio leads the Iron Wall Legion forward, their reputation continues to grow.
Everyone unanimously agrees that the Iron Wall Legion is incredibly powerful. Only by acknowledging this can they emphasize how precious the "spoils" they supposedly took from the Iron Wall Legion are.
Many nobles understand what's really happening, but none will speak out.
Instead, they collectively enhance the lie, making it even more convincing.
When a lie is repeated enough, even the most skeptical will start to doubt whether it's true.
More than two months later, the border defense forces of the Ika Kingdom feel uneasy. The renowned Iron Wall Legion has reached their territory.
If they try to stop them, they fear they'll be defeated. But if they do nothing and allow the Iron Wall Legion to pass, they won't be able to explain themselves to their superiors afterward.
As they face this dilemma, an allied army corps arrives in the border region from the south. Their orders are clear: join forces with the border troops to annihilate the Iron Wall Legion.
A few days later, the two sides find themselves in a standoff, separated by more than ten miles. Both parties are caught in a difficult position.
Fabio hadn't anticipated that the allied forces would actually mobilize troops to the border, traveling such a great distance to eliminate his forces. Meanwhile, the newly arrived legion is shocked by the sheer number of the Iron Wall Legion.
According to the intelligence they received, the Iron Wall Legion had been fighting across the eastern part of the kingdom for over two months, engaging in numerous battles. The ed casualties alone suggested that the Iron Wall Legion had lost over six thousand men.
Yet here they are, with more than ten thousand fierce warriors.
Where did they all come from?
Could the Iron Wall Legion actually be a massive corps with a full strength of twenty thousand?
Realizing that the nobles had been falsifying military s, the reinforcements are left uncertain about their next move.
With only seven thousand men in the reinforcements, plus six thousand border troops, they find themselves outnumbered by the Iron Wall Legion.
A siege?
That would mean an all-out battle.
Fabio is equally uncertain. Although the Iron Wall Legion has grown significantly during their two-month journey, Fabio still feels uneasy about facing a regular army directly.
This leads to the current bizarre situation where both sides are in a standoff, yet neither initiates an attack.
However, this prolonged standoff is disadvantageous for the Iron Wall Legion. The allied forces have the fortress at their back, ensuring ample supplies. On the other hand, the Iron Wall Legion has limited provisions and can't afford to wait it out.
Moreover, if this drags on, the enemy might receive reinforcements, not to mention that it's already late autumn. If they delay until winter, things could really take a turn for the worse.