Chapter 27: Regal and Matthew

  The southern region of Carthage is the most prosperous area of Carthage. Due to its proximity to the coast and several natural good ports, Carthage has been able to maintain trade with several island nations and sell their specialties processed throughout the continent. Because it needs to process raw materials obtained through transactions, the population in southern Carthage is large, and industry and agriculture are far more developed than in the north.

  The royal capital, originally in the south, was also moved to the north by the previous generation of Carthage King Arthur, in order to promote development in the north, and also to guard against the increasingly powerful Marlo Empire in the northwest.

  But obviously the defense of the north was not as solid as that of the south, and the capital, which symbolized imperial power, had put itself in the tiger's mouth after moving to the north.

  Underestimating Marlo's ambition, Arthur died in battle against the first invasion of the Marlo Empire by Caesar, due to insufficient preparation at the border, having only built half of the Macedon fortress. After being cut off from contact with the south by the Marlo Empire, the capital, which had been besieged for two months, also fell under Caesar's strong attack.

  The southern nobles, although they organized a large army, have never been able to break through Caesar's defenses and rescue the besieged capital. There are too many conspiracies and intertwined interests in this. Lacking a leader with prestige, the southern nobles can only maintain their current defensive line while hindering each other. It has now been a month since the fall of the capital.

  Nobles hoping to find the royal bloodline sent large numbers of scouts to Eran, hoping to find the princess and young king who had escaped there. Meanwhile, Caesar's pursuit troops, as well as some southern nobles who did not want the royal family to survive for various reasons, also dispatched elite assassination teams.

  "Damn it! Those fiends again!" A soldier from the Caesar's pursuit unit, gritting his teeth in pain, pulled out the crossbow bolt stuck in his shoulder and grasped his long sword, forming a circle with his comrades to guard against the eerily quiet forest. "How many times have we been ambushed now?"

  "This is the twentieth time already." The companion beside the warrior, with dark circles under his eyes and a weak tone, said: "Last night's raid killed thirty of our men. At this rate, we'll be dead or wounded before we even enter Eland territory."

  "Hey! You've got some spirit!" The warrior nudged his companion, but ended up making him fall to the ground: "Hey, what's wrong? Matthew, are you hurt?"

  "Ah... no." Matthew shook his head and struggled to get up again, saying: "I'm too tired, I accidentally fell asleep just now."

  "Get serious at this moment! Otherwise, you'll die!" The warrior kicked Matthew's butt and scolded: "After this wave of attack passes, we can rest."

  After waiting for a few minutes, after confirming that it was another hit-and-run harassment, the warrior, somewhat exhausted, slumped to the ground and said to Matthew, who was already a bit dazed: "Matthew, you go to sleep first, I'll wake you up later."

  "Captain Regal." A scout who had gone out to investigate returned and said to the soldiers, "At this rate, we really can't hold on. Why don't we abandon our mission? Maybe that princess and the King of Carthage are already dead at the hands of these monsters. Even we can't withstand such an attack."

  "Hah~~" Regal let out a weak sigh and said: "I wanted to give up last night, but what if that small squad breaks through the monsters' defense line and reaches the designated gathering point. Do you think we'll have good days ahead of us if we abandon our mission and go back?"

  "Is there really no other way?" The warrior with the dark circles under his eyes asked, looking at Grelle who had similar dark circles.

  "Perhaps surrender is an option," Regal said suddenly.

  "Captain! What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!" The warrior said with some incredulity: "Are you planning on becoming food for those demonic creatures?! Even if I die, I don't want to be eaten by monsters!"

  "But look at what's behind you." Regal pointed to the warriors' rear, looking at the suddenly appearing numerous corner demons and the iron-clad cow-headed men holding giant axes, saying: "With such numbers, how can our remaining thirty-odd people win?"

  ……………

  Regel was captured without surprise, and the warrior who said that he would rather die than be eaten indeed fulfilled his wish, as he charged at the monsters with no regard for life or death and was directly chopped into mincemeat. What was somewhat unexpected to Griel, however, was that these monsters did not immediately kill them, but instead took them to a strange camp.

  The camp was not very far from their location. The location at the valley mouth, as well as the numerous defensive facilities established, made this camp easy to defend and difficult to attack. In the camp, Regal saw not only those who had entered Eren with him, but also other members of the pursuit team, as well as many Carthaginian fugitives. These former enemies were now all prisoners of this demon legion.

  "Hey! Isn't that Kira?! After being locked up in a cell, looking at the Katagaki soldiers who were also locked up, he suddenly found a familiar face and Matthew immediately went over to greet him: "What a coincidence, you guys got caught too? I thought with your escape skills, you'd be able to get away!"

  "Get out! You're a villain who invades other people's lands!" Apparently, although Matthew showed a very familiar appearance, the man called Kira didn't intend to give him face.

  "Don't say that." Matthew stepped forward and forcibly wrapped his arms around Kira's neck, saying: "The war wasn't started by me, I'm just a small soldier who follows orders. I've never killed anyone who didn't have a weapon in their hand. How can you call me a villain?"

  "In fact, you're a villain." Looking at the Carthaginian soldiers around him, Regulus' increasingly angry eyes followed Matthew's back as he pulled him back and said: "Don't you see that your appearance is infuriating? I won't save you if you continue to be so reckless!"

  "Alright." Matthew sat dejectedly in the corner of the cage, picked up a twig and drew circles on the ground, muttering: "Anyway, I'm just a small deputy captain, always being bullied by you."

  "Look at you so spirited." At this time, Kira suddenly said: "Aren't you being harassed by those werewolves?"

  "Ah!" Matthew said, "I accidentally forgot, I should be sleepy now! Yeah... sleep, sleep." Matthew muttered to himself and found a corner of the cage, spread out the blanket and bedding that had not been confiscated on the ground, lay down and immediately started snoring.

  "What a brainless guy." Regretful, Ragle rubbed his temples and also felt a wave of drowsiness coming on, and he too lay down to rest near Matthew.

  "These two guys... aren't they afraid we'll kill them?" The others in the cage looked at the two who had been assigned to a cell full of Carthaginian soldiers and were still daring to rest so boldly.

  "If it were ordinary people, of course, they wouldn't dare do this." Kira, who seemed to hold a high position and was respected by the other soldiers, looked at the two who had already fallen asleep and said: "But these two are not ordinary people."

  "Are they some kind of big shots?" The other warriors asked curiously: "Or are they actually two strong ones? Not afraid of our large numbers?"

  "No." Kira shook his head and said, "They're just short of a few screws!" The two Geth soldiers who heard this unexpected answer suddenly had the mysterious image in their minds collapse. And under Kira's indication, these Geth soldiers did not go to disturb the already exhausted two people either. Sometimes war is not everyone's choice.

  At this time, in the center of the camp, Reforra was looking at the latest battle report in his hand, rubbing his temples with a headache. Having already fought against tens of thousands of people and captured thousands, Reforra felt that the current outcome had reached the limit of the Demon Army. The demons in the army were also starting to get tired, and their weapons and crossbow arrows were almost depleted.

  Mo Yan's handover training mission has also been completed, and the demons can now skillfully apply the tactics in those manuals. The training for weapon usage and trap setting has also begun to come to an end. It's almost time to bring the demon legion back to Lei Ting Village to rest for a while.

  Although it has been around ten days since the start of the defense, there shouldn't be any large groups of defeated soldiers choosing to take this blocked route. However, it can't be guaranteed that there won't be another large group of defeated soldiers trying their luck. Lei Fu La wanted to hold out for a while longer, but the massive number of prisoners wouldn't allow him to do so. With no extra troops to take over the defensive line, Lei Fu La was torn between retreating and not retreating.

  "Why don't we just kill all these captives?" Refora sighed, looking towards the direction of Leifeng Cliff with a tone of complaint: "Why do we have to try our best to capture them alive?"

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  Chapter 2 for today.