System: Build My Own Territory

Chapter 1140: Chapter 316: Rising From Here (10,000 Words) (Part 3)

"Well done."

Mok’s brows lifted as he replied respectfully.

"Captain Hele flatters me."

Heler’s gaze shifted; he looked at a soldier beside him and opened his mouth to instruct him.

"Return at once and inform the Viscount that everything in the forest is normal."

"The army can march straight in and head directly for Morgan Town!"

Hearing Hele issue his orders, the soldier hurriedly bent at the waist in reply.

"Yes, Captain Hele!"

As his answer fell, the soldier turned the horse beneath him and rode back toward the main force of Viscount Jon Zuck’s army in the rear.

Heler shouted to the advance soldiers beside him.

"Everyone, into the forest!"

Hyah~

Amid a series of whip-cracks and driving cries at the horses,

Heler led the fifty soldiers at the forest entrance into the trees.

At the forest entrance.

Crouched with five soldiers in the thick underbrush, Earl stared fixedly at Heler and his men.

Perhaps because the seals of his armor were too tight and airless.

Or perhaps because he was simply too tense inside.

Earl’s cheeks were covered in beads of sweat as big as soybeans.

The sweat kept building up, then ran down Earl’s face and dripped onto the rotting soil, littered with dead branches and leaves.

Though their bodies felt hot and stifled and the sweat would not stop flowing,

Earl and the others still did not dare relax in the slightest.

Even their breathing had become like drawing silk, taken in and let out ever so lightly.

When he heard the orders coming from Hele’s mouth, Earl’s thick black brows shot up at once.

A look of delight rose in Earl’s heart.

It worked!

At least half of it worked!

All they had to do was wait for this advance Scout unit to enter the forest, then wait for Jon Zuck’s main army in the rear to march into the woods.

The only thing they had to do was wait for the signal from the forest’s exit by Morgan Town!

Only after the Scout unit at the forest entrance had entered the forest and vanished into the darkness

did Earl dare to gently turn his head and look at the five soldiers not far away.

Clearly.

The five soldiers had also heard Hele’s orders.

Earl could see an obvious joy on their faces.

Earl thought it over and could understand it in his heart.

If this advance Scout team had decided to carry out a thorough, all‑round search of this forest,

they, hidden in the brush, would surely have nowhere to hide.

At that point, their lives would be in danger.

Let alone completing the instructions Lord Master Lynn had given them!

Earl withdrew his gaze and quickly looked again toward the forest entrance, his expression turning solemn.

Vaguely, Earl could hear

a rolling thunder of marching feet drawing closer from afar!

It was the army of Guards, Peasants, and soldiers that Jon Zuck was leading toward Morgan Town!

Rumble~ rumble~

The noisy tramp of feet, the hooves and neighing of horses, the clatter and scrape of armor pieces on the soldiers...

all blended together.

At the very front of the marching column,

Jon Zuck, clad in a suit of Leather Armor, rode atop his Warhorse.

Jon Zuck gazed into the distance at the great stretch of forest ahead, a faint frown creasing his brow.

As he was turning things over in his mind,

the advance Scout came galloping back from the front.

The Scout hauled on the reins in his hands; amid a chorus of neighs, the horse finally came to a halt.

Without the slightest hesitation, the Scout hurriedly reported with respect.

"My lord Viscount, by Captain Hele’s order, I have come to make my report."

"Everything in the forest is normal. There are no traps or ambushes."

"The army can pass through and head straight for Morgan Town!"

Listening to the Scout’s report,

the frown that had just formed on Jon Zuck’s brow instantly eased.

"I understand. Continue scouting and exploring!"

The Scout quickly answered and drove the horse beneath him toward the forest ahead.

Jon Zuck had just opened his mouth to speak

when Chambers, also mounted on a Warhorse, spoke first.

"In such a dense, overgrown forest, they didn’t set up any traps or ambush forces at all..."

"It seems this little town Lord, for whom Viscount Jon is willing to pay such a great price to wipe out, is nothing special after all..."

At these words, Jon Zuck’s eyes narrowed slightly; he looked at Chambers and asked,

"Viscount Chambers means to say..."

"that because Lynn did not set an ambush in this forest, Viscount Chambers is a bit disappointed?"

Jon Zuck of course understood that Chambers was using Lynn as a pretext to mock him.

Sensing the odd note in Jon Zuck’s tone, a smile immediately surfaced on Chambers’s face.

"Viscount Jon misunderstands."

"Setting aside the fact that Viscount Jon has promised me a tenth of the profits from Morgan Town’s three major mines,"

"as your military supporter, I naturally have no wish to see the armored soldiers I brought suffer heavy casualties!"

"Naturally I’d prefer this campaign to be won easily and without trouble!"

Jon Zuck said nothing, merely giving Chambers a long, deep look.

And behind Jon Zuck and Chambers,

when Werner and the other four Manor Lords heard their exchange, their expressions shifted slightly.

Werner and Mateo couldn’t help but glance at each other.

Jon Zuck had actually promised Chambers a tenth of the profits from the three main mines?

As the price for Chambers’s military aid?

Wasn’t that a bit too much?

The Manor Lords naturally knew that even if they took Morgan Town and destroyed Lynn,

as the Manor Lords backing Viscount Jon Zuck, they still wouldn’t be able to control the three major mines in Morgan Town.

But Jon Zuck had promised them

that the profits of the three major mines would be distributed according to the contribution each of them made!