223 Reason to Follow You
In fact, according to the custom of Cathay, there was a ritual for retainers.
Contract, alliance letter, and oath. This meant a two-way contract. The retainers and the head of the family had corresponding responsibilities to each other. In this simple and promising era, the ritual had a supreme effect.
However, this was meaningless to Kang De and Hong San.
Kang De did not understand this at all, and Hong San did not care. The so-called ritual had already been reflected in a simple question and answer. There was no need for unnecessary courtesy.
Therefore, Hong San offered his loyalty to Kang De.
In this world, Kang De had his first true follower.
If it was described in the ancient era, it was “the wheel of fate begins to turn”.
No, if he had to say that, when the Penguin arrived at Glory Sand Town, Hong San, who was still working under Viscount Samuel, knelt in front of Kang De cleanly. Fate had begun.
After waking up, Hong San immediately began to do his duty.
The reason why he was unconscious for two days was mainly because he was physically and mentally exhausted to the point of fainting. After all, for the past few days, he had racked his brains because of defending the city and was worried all day. He had also experienced fluctuations in his emotions before and after the last battle and even fought to the end. When the reinforcements arrived, he completely relaxed and fell asleep.
As for his injuries, they were not important. Although there were some flesh wounds from top to bottom, they were not fatal. Instead of saying that he was lucky, it was more like he had put his life aside in the last battle. His thoughts were pure and he had displayed his combat instinct and life’s martial arts to the extreme, so he was not seriously injured.
Therefore, he rejected the suggestion to recuperate first.
He quickly found his position. In his words, it was a “temporary advisor”.
“After this battle, Your Highness will definitely be famous in the world. It’s not a problem to open up a residence and build your forces. This is only the beginning. As you continue to build contributions and become famous, more heroes and talents will join you. Only then will they learn to be a hundred times better than me. However, now that we have no options, I can only be the advisor for Your Highness.”
After saying that, Hong San was kicked. “Speak properly and get down to business.”
“Yes… Then let’s talk about what happened after this battle.”
Kang De had already told the other party everything that had happened after Hong San fainted. Even with his current temperament of seeing through life and death, he could not help but be shocked. It could be seen how terrifying what Kang De had done earlier was. Then, he found out that Kang De had not filmed the scene at that time and felt even more regretful.
What else could Kang De say?
With the situation at that time, how could he have the time to film? How could he film that thing? For a live broadcast? Could he look at the camera and smile as he filmed, saying things like, “Thank you, my dear viewers, for gifting hundreds of presents. Please remember to subscribe to my channel?”
How disgusting.
He could only say to pay attention next time.
Hong San also personally went to the battlefield to observe carefully and take a photo of the scene. No description could compare to the shock of seeing it with his own eyes. After returning, he looked at Kang De with more awe, but his tone and attitude were still the same, which made Kang De relatively gratified.
Of course, Kang De did not follow. He did not want to go to that place. In his words, “What for? To see the pool of peanut butter I smashed?”
In fact, most of the people who went to observe were either so frightened that they knelt on the ground and prayed to the gods repeatedly, or they vomited until they could not straighten up.
The five armies, more than 60,000 elite soldiers, and more battle beasts were torn apart by the shock wave, buried by the fallen and collapsed ground, sprayed to death by the metal jet after the collision, burned to death by the blazing temperature, frozen metal, broken limbs, and the river of blood that gathered. Countless elves and livestock piled up into a broken mountain of corpses and sea of blood, making that place one of the most terrifying places in the world.
In fact, after two days, the scavengers did not dare to approach.
Then, Hong San suggested that the gorilla’s mercenary group mobilize a group of the most heartless gladiators who were used to bloody scenes to form a scavenging team. Coupled with the green-skinned people who treated that scene as ordinary, they carried tools of various sizes into this battlefield to find possible survivors and undamaged magic items. In the end, they collected various broken weapons and armor.
These were all very valuable things.
The interim city of Valentine paid for this.
The other mission was to patrol and guard in case anyone got too close or secretly took something. In theory, Kang De had indisputable legal ownership of the two lumps of peanut butter here. This was his spoils of war. No one could or dared to take them.
How should he put it… Think about this scene. The mercenary group did not have the same equipment. The scavenging team was wearing all kinds of pieced-together protective equipment and holding strange civilian weapons. Sometimes, they would even team up with the extremely burly, tall, and terrifying green-skinned to pick up trash.
It was simply the style of a dungeon explorer.
“However, such a job is necessary, and it has to be completed as soon as possible. We can’t let these bloody seas of corpses accumulate for too long. They can easily become a hotbed of evil and attract the arrival of dark creatures.”
Hong San said, “We need a large number of priests to purify those corpses. We have to quickly search for still valuable resources. The shattered armor and fragments of weapons are all extremely precious metal raw materials. As for equipment that can remain intact under that attack, they’re even more priceless magic items. These have to belong to us… Your Highness, we have to be prepared to recruit further workers.”
Kang De recalled the two piles of peanut butter and pinched the space between his eyebrows.
The American pilot who had dropped the atomic bomb on Japan back then did not have any regrets until he died. It was not only because his mind was as clear as a mirror, but also because he had not personally seen the tragic scene of the hundreds of thousands of people who had died at that time and later, but Kang De had.
At that time, the giant eagle flew at a low altitude. He sent down a rain of flames, and large numbers of lives were quickly devoured. They screamed, hurt, and wailed. It happened in front of his eyes. A few elf experts who rose into the air and counterattacked angrily were also struck by the violent impact and smashed to death. That scene was like hell.
If it happened again, Kang De would still attack without hesitation, but this did not mean that he would not care about the deaths of tens of thousands of elves… These two emotions did not conflict.
He sighed and decided not to think about that for the time being. He picked up the cup at the side and asked, “No matter what, the key is what to do with those corpses. Bury them on the spot?”
“Of course not. The landfill is a huge project, and there will be hidden dangers of being targeted by dark creatures. Those are all elves who died in battle. Why should we work and lose money for this?”
Hong San said matter-of-factly, “Of course, after searching them, we’ll sell these corpses back to the elves. They still have to pay extra for the harmless treatment of the corpses, safekeeping, patrolling, and chasing away dark creatures. We have to take the opportunity to earn a large sum and let go of the blood of the Twilight Dynasty.”
“The money obtained will become one of the capital for Your Highness to expand in the future.”
Kang De spat out the water in his mouth.
He felt that Hong San had become different from before.
He said with a subtle expression, “This is completely blackmail… can it work?”
Hong San nodded and said, “It can work. If our enemy is the Empire, and if many elite human armies die there, this method won’t work. Not only won’t work, but we have to burn the corpses as soon as possible. Otherwise, with the character of the Empire, not only will it not agree to our… I mean deal, it will secretly plan a conspiracy to lure the dark creatures into the battlefield to devour flesh and blood and revive the undead. It will gather a dark army to threaten Valentine and consume one of your Meteor Fire Rain attacks.”
“But the elves won’t do that.”
“The tradition of the elves is similar to our Cathay. They both have the tradition of returning to their roots. They even value these more. Only the clansmen buried in the forest can be accepted by the Moon God and enter the Great Reincarnation again.”
Hong San said with certainty, “After all, there are a total of six Royal Dragon Flag Legions. Not only are there a large number of pure-blooded elf soldiers, but there are also many officers from the upper class. It’s already a huge crime and responsibility to wipe them out. If we let these dead soldiers explode in the Goethe wilderness and be used and blasphemed by dark creatures, devoured wantonly by carrion-eating creatures, and humiliated wantonly by despicable humans, they won’t be buried or allowed to return…”
“—Especially the deal of us taking the initiative to return the corpse. If the elves don’t agree, it will definitely cause a huge commotion in the country.”
“Even the Elven Empress can’t suppress such a thing. There are high-level generals in the Elven Expeditionary Force. They can forget about living in the country in the future.”
Kang De nodded repeatedly and praised, “You’re really something.”
Hong San smiled humbly, “Your Highness is flattering me. I’m ashamed.”
Kang De thought for a moment and suddenly said, “In other words, after we release this news, the Elven Expeditionary Force will probably have no choice but to agree and even… temporarily stop the war?”
Speaking of this, Hong San’s expression became serious.
The source of everything was still war.
“I don’t know… I don’t know enough about the elves. The direction of the war involves the game between the pro-war faction and the peace faction in the elves’ country. The instant destruction of the six Dragon Flag Legions and the strategic deterrence brought about by Your Highness will become an important weight for the peace faction, but I don’t know if it’s enough.”
Hong San sighed, “I’m afraid only the intelligence departments of the various countries can make relatively precise judgments. We know nothing about the distribution of power in the Elven Council, so we can’t deduce it.”
Kang De nodded. “Then in your opinion, what should we do next?”
His voice was calm, but it was as hard as steel.
If necessary, he would carry out a second mass projection.
Hong San understood what Kang De meant and looked at him worriedly.
Then, he revealed a sincere expression and said, “There’s no need for that for the time being, Your Highness. The arrow on the bowstring is the most threatening. In the next few days, you’ll become the most eye-catching starlight on this continent. You should continue to show a deterrent attitude, but you shouldn’t act rashly.”
“The Twilight Dynasty is an unimaginable colossus, so it needs time to react. Although we can obtain another huge victory by rashly attacking another elf army, it’s also possible to make the response of the Twilight Dynasty develop to the extreme.”
“After all…”
He said softly, “In this war, Goethe is an irrefutable weakling. To the current Goethe, the greatest victory is only for the elves to admit defeat and retreat. That’s all they can do now. If we destroy a few more large armies of the elves, although it’ll be satisfying, we’ll also form an even greater death grudge. After all, you have to know that it’s not only the elves who covet Goethe but also the Empire in the east.”
Kang De nodded silently.
“Therefore, my suggestion is to wait,” Hong San said. “Contact Princess Tina and even the Goethe Palace to obtain their support and spread this news. Then, wait for the Elven Expeditionary Force to contact us. In the meantime, we have many things to do. Dealing with the corpses of the Elven army is only one of them.”
Kang De asked curiously, “Many things? What are they?”
“Actually, there’s only one.”
Hong San stood up seriously and took a step back. He cupped his hands and bowed, “To lay the foundation for Your Highness.”
“…Huh?” Kang De was puzzled, “What?”
Hong San straightened up and said, “Your Highness, regardless of whether you like it or not, and regardless of whether you’re willing, the people who come in an endless stream every day to try to inquire, visit, and join us have already announced this—today or night, a huge military headquarters will gradually be built around you.”
“You alone are enough to form a strategic deterrence against the current large countries. Absolute power will continuously attract ambitious fanatical followers. This is an ironclad fact that can’t be changed. As long as you exist in this world, you will forever change many things and even affect a country’s defense strategic deployment.”
“I can guarantee that no matter what the Twilight Dynasty takes next, they will definitely plan to kill you at the same time. The Empire is the same. Goethe will think of all ways to rope you in and protect you now, but they might have other thoughts in the future. As for Cathay… after they confirm it, I’m afraid an imperial edict and countless rewards will pass through the sealed sea area and reach the continent. They’ll ask you to return and serve your nation.”
“Even if it’s to protect yourself, you have to build your own military headquarters.”
Hong San’s words were serious and sincere.
If it was anyone else who said such a thing, Kang De would definitely think that the other party was ambitious and want to take this opportunity to obtain benefits… However, the person who spoke was Hong San.
The original Hong San was a good-for-nothing who took things as they came. The current Hong San would not become an ambitious person blinded by greed. The other party’s eyes were clear and did not dodge or feel guilty at all.
Kang De was silent for a moment before saying indifferently, “I actually don’t care much about power, status, and enjoyment. As for safety, if I want to hide, even the elves and the Empire can’t find me.”
“Of course, I believe that you’re not interested in power, status, and beauty. I also believe that the Empire and the elves can’t hurt you at all, but Your Highness, I will ask you again.”
Hong San looked at Kang De as if he had seen through his mind.
Then, he said calmly, “Your Highness, your goal in coming to Goethe is only to repel the elves and return peace to Goethe? Don’t you have other plans?”
Kang De’s expression froze.
He did not want them to be cows and sheep anymore.
Those detestable and pitiful people that night.
Everything in Nick’s letter.
Those lives that were born stupid and sad in death could have been peaceful and happy.
The brave people Valentine had sacrificed themselves.
Everyone’s life should not be like this.
That day, he was excited that he had finally obtained the approval of Akatum and could use the dragon’s divine power.
Pity.
Hong San looked at him and bowed deeply. “This is the reason why I’m following you.”
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