A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

The Gastadians are fierce and ferocious in battle, fearless and fearless on the battlefield.

They were born in Gastard Snowfield, a world covered with ice and snow for most of the year.

Barrenness, cold, hunger and death go hand in hand.

Survival of the fittest.

Gastadians who survived this environment learned the cruelty that their environment taught them.

The harsh environment also led to the poverty of their civilization.

They never care about morals and ethics, propriety, righteousness and shame.

Because these useless things do not allow them to survive in the cruel Garstad snow field.

It is the instinct of their Gastadians to survive by any means.

At the beginning, they had done the thing of suppressing the people of Kanal to attack the King City of Kanal, which made the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack King City of Kanal quickly fall.

In fact, when they attacked the King City of Aaron Landis, the Gastadians wanted to repeat the same trick, capturing the civilians of Aaron Landis and driving them to attack the King City as hostages.

However, Heymos, who was guarding the royal city at that time, used an unprecedented tactic of "strengthening the wall and clearing the field". Before they arrived, he drove away the civilians hundreds of miles away from the royal city, preventing them from capturing the hostages.

Now, the commander of Gastard is very grateful that these Aaron Landis prisoners of war were escorted here as slaves, which gave him an excellent bargaining chip.

When he found that the city wall was in danger under the thrown stones and giant crossbow arrows, he decisively ordered the group of Aaron Landis to be tied and pushed to the city wall, making them the meat shields of the city wall.

He was very satisfied to see that the attack of the Aaron Landis stopped immediately the moment his compatriots appeared on the city wall.

After the army outside the city was silent for a moment, a raging roar suddenly broke out.

The soldiers who saw their compatriots couldn't control their anger, and they all cursed at the Gastadians.

They were furious at the despicable behavior of the Gastadians.

However, the Gastadians obviously didn't care about their scolding at all.

In their view, it doesn't matter whether the means are mean or not, as long as they are useful.

They only care about the result.

So they continued to yell, pushing the Aaron Landis slave to the edge of the city wall.

The Aaron Landis slaves were roughly pushed forward by Gastad soldiers, and walked forward involuntarily.

They walked slowly, stumbling one step at a time.

Both their hands and feet were handcuffed with bronze handcuffs, and heavy bronze chains were dragging under their feet, making harsh friction sounds against the stone ground as they walked with difficulty.

These brave and fearless soldiers who followed the Lion King on the battlefield have been tortured both physically and mentally for more than a year.

They became the most humble slaves from the respected soldiers, and they also became the slaves of their most hated enemies, suffering all kinds of humiliation.

Many people died in pain and hatred.

Those who survived felt like they were in hell, and all their struggles and unwillingness were in vain. They gradually became numb, living like clay sculptures and wood carvings, and their eyes were no longer bright.

That bony body, withered and pale face, could no longer see the demeanor that dominated the battlefield in the past.

Until that day, they heard a message.

The Kanals, who hated and sympathized with the Gastadians, secretly told them to hold on a little longer.

The Kanal people said that their new boy king has announced in public that they will send troops to Kanal.

'I will never abandon my people of Aaron Landis. '

This sentence ignited the flame of hope in the bottom of their hearts, who had already died of ashes.

Their king has not forgotten them.

enough.

This is enough.

This is enough for them to live on with hope.

They waited bitterly for the arrival of the Aaron Landis army, waiting for the day when they returned to Aaron Landis.

As long as this hope is still there, let alone wait another year, even if they wait another ten or twenty years—even when they are dying, they can continue to wait.

…………

Sid has been hungry for two days.

The Gastadians imprisoned their group of Aaron Landis in one place, and gave them no food except some water.

He is weak.

Unprecedented weakness.

However, even though he was suffering from hunger, his mood was still as bright as the scorching sun at the moment.

With his stomach deeply swollen, Sid resisted the uncomfortable feeling of hunger, and looked at the direction of the gate of Kanal King City with anticipation.

Not only him, but also the other companions, even though they were dying of hunger, their eyes were still full of spirits - completely different from the numbness half a year ago.

almost.

Sid thought.

Soon, they will be able to go home.

At this moment, a group of Gastard soldiers ran in quickly.

They yelled, pulled, and forcibly got the Aaron Landis slaves up, and drove Sid and many of his companions up the city wall.

When Sid was forcibly driven to the city wall, he immediately reacted.

These cruel and barbaric guys are going to use them as human shields on the city wall to threaten Aaron Landis's army to stop attacking.

Not only him, but many of his companions soon realized this.

Suddenly, the team became chaotic.Many Aaronlandians began to struggle, unwilling to go up the wall.

But after two days of starvation, they were so weak that they couldn't resist at all. Instead, many of them were severely beaten by the soldiers who drove them away, and their heads were broken.

If Gastad's generals hadn't stopped in time, those people might have been beaten to death just like that.

In the end, they were all forcibly dragged to the city wall by the Gastadians.

Dragging the heavy bronze chain, Sid staggered to the edge of the city wall.

Raising his eyes, he saw the familiar black and red army that could not be seen at the bottom of the city wall.

Aaron Landis' army, his comrades.

The lion flag with red background and gold pattern is flying high in the sky.

Everything is as it used to be.

For a moment, Sid's eyes turned red.

He once thought that he was the strong and fearless warrior of Aaron Landis, even in the face of death, even if he shed the last drop of blood, he would never shed a single tear.

But when he saw the familiar armor and flag again at this moment, it was only a year and a half away, but it seemed to him that hundreds of years had passed. At this moment, he could no longer control it, and the corners of his eyes instantly became moist stand up.

Not only him, those companions who were forcibly pushed to the edge of the city wall like him, looked at everything familiar under the city wall, all of them had red eyes, and they tried their best not to let the tears flow out.

Because of excitement.

Also because of unwillingness.

They also want to wear black and red armor, hold long swords, and fight for Aaron Landis with their comrades.

But now, they can only appear in front of everyone in such a distressed appearance, and even become a burden to their colleagues.

Sid took a deep breath, and he raised his hand to wipe away the tears from the corners of his eyes. His movements touched the chains on the ground and made a harsh friction sound.

Losing to the Gastadians was a lifelong shame for him, and he only regretted not dying on the battlefield back then.

But now, he is absolutely unwilling to be used by the Gastadians as a tool to threaten his comrades.

"Even if we can't fight - we must not become a burden to Aaron Landis!"

Roaring with the last of his strength, Sid jumped out of the city wall.

With the determination to die, he saw that most of his body had fallen outside the city wall, and he was about to fall from a high altitude——

But he suddenly fell back to the city wall.

A Gastard soldier grabbed the bronze chain on his feet in time and dragged Sid back.

After Sid failed, some Aaron Landis tried to jump down and commit suicide, but all of them were firmly held down by the guarded Gasdad soldiers.

The Gastadians were shocked by Sid and others' attempt to commit suicide by jumping off the city wall. They couldn't understand why the Aaron Landis would do this.

Worried that such a situation would happen again, they simply tied the Aaron Landis slaves two or three firmly to the wooden poles or stone poles on the city wall with ropes.

Sid, who wanted to die but was tied to the city wall by the Gastadians, gritted his teeth.

He almost bit his lower lip to bleed, his head was lowered, his eyes were gloomy.

"Steed, don't worry."

Seeing his decadent appearance, the middle-aged man tied up with him suddenly said,

"We will not become a burden to the Aaron Landis army. I just saw that the leader of the army this time is His Excellency Heymos."

The middle-aged man, who used to be a respectable knight commander, was now just a scrawny slave with a calm face.

"You should know the character of this lord. It is impossible for the Gastades to threaten this lord with us."

"I think His Excellency Heymos will give the order to continue the attack soon."

If the coach were someone else, he would not dare to be so sure.

But if it was His Excellency Heymos who they were familiar with, he would definitely order to continue the attack.

The middle-aged man said so, with relief in his tone.

But under that comfort, there were traces of discomfort.

Struggling for so long, looking forward to returning to Aaron Landis day and night, but now he still has to die in a foreign country.

It is impossible to say that there is no regret and discomfort at all.

...that's all.

He would rather die for his country than suffer humiliation at the hands of the Gastadians as a slave.

Rather than being tortured to death by the Gastadians, he would rather die at the hands of his own people.

He only hoped that after his death, his compatriots could take his body back to the land he had dreamed of.

…………

...It's just that, after all, I'm still not reconciled...not reconciled.

He had already seen the raised right hand of the black-armored knight standing on the ground outside the city from a distance.

he knows.

It was a gesture ordering to continue the attack.

Just wait for that hand to wave down, countless boulders and crossbow arrows will come overwhelmingly, taking the lives of everyone on the city wall.

With a silent sigh in his heart, he closed his eyes, waiting for the arrival of death.

…………

........................

The bright sunlight shone on Heymos's shiny black armor, and then everything was swallowed by the darkness.

Riding on the horse, he slowly raised his hand.

Everyone knew that was a signal to continue the attack.

Looking at the compatriots tied to the city wall, everyone felt that their breathing became short of breath.

Military orders are like mountains.

Once the coach Heymos gives the order, they must continue to attack.

They will kill their siblings with their own hands, and take the lives of their comrades with their own hands.

What a cruel order—

Kaihos stared at Heymos who had raised his hand from a distance, with a complicated look on his face.

It appears that Heymos has already made his decision.

In order to break through the city, Heymos gave up the lives of his captured compatriots.

He had guessed this would be the result from the beginning.

It is absolutely impossible for Heymos to give up the easy victory for the lives of those prisoners of war.

This person has always been like this and has never changed.

Kyhoes looked away.

He couldn't stop it.

According to the order of King Garlan, Heymos was the commander of the army on this expedition.

He must obey the commander's order.

It's just... His Majesty will definitely be very sad after learning about this...

…………

At this moment, there was a strange silence on the battlefield.

Almost everyone's eyes were on Heymos.

Everyone held their breath, watching his every move.

"The order."

Heymos raised his right hand in full view, said, expressionless.

There was no trace of anger on his face, let alone wavering.

He gave the order that took him for granted in a calm tone.

"continue……"

Keep attacking.

A bright sunbeam shone, and a light was refracted between the fingers of his left hand that held the rein.

The golden ring inlaid with green malachite refracted that light into his indifferent eyes.

The right hand that Heymos was about to swing down stopped in mid-air.

He lowered his eyes, the shadows of his slender eyelashes falling into his pupils.

His eyes reflected the malachite ring on his left hand, and his lips tightened suddenly.

"Master Heymos?"

The subordinate standing behind Heymos saw that he had only spoken halfway and then fell silent, so he couldn't help asking in doubt.

Heymos lowered his right hand slowly.

He said, "Retire, return to camp."

"what?!!"

A few minutes later, a low-pitched horn sounded suddenly on the battlefield, causing Kyhos to turn his head suddenly.

The horn sounding back to camp? !

He had a look of astonishment and disbelief.

Is this Heymos' order?

How can it be?

The low sound of the horn spread throughout the battlefield, and also reached the ears of the Aaron Landisians who were tied to the city wall.

The middle-aged man who had closed his eyes and waited to die suddenly opened his eyes when he heard the familiar sound of the horn representing retreat.

He looked at the Aaron Landis army that was slowly retreating, his eyes full of disbelief.

Could it be that the coach is not actually His Excellency Heymos?

he thought blankly.