Chapter 201: The Southern Situation and Olenna's Dominance

After the Torch Church split, the Gold Mine War started again.

Today, the alliance headed by the Kingdom of Lensa has been greatly weakened due to the ravages of the Northern Alliance, and has fallen into a slight disadvantage in the stalemate with another alliance.

This also led to the southern countries further north, such as the Kingdom of Bolun and the Kingdom of Lensa, having to adopt a more passive response strategy to the Frost Moon Kingdom's territorial invasion plan.

That is to say, retreat and limited indulgence.

If the gold war was won, these occupied territories would not be a great loss.

And if we lose the battle, these are not the losses that need to be considered first.

At least from a national level, this matter is no longer in their consideration.

Of course, if it’s at the level of individual lords, it’s a big deal.

Although for obvious reasons they were not involved in the gold wars, they were allowed to stay and try to defend their territory.

But the country and their feudal lords did not give them more support.

The great nobles retreated due to a strategic buffer, which also resulted in the small nobles being unable to rely on these powerful great nobles for defense.

If they join forces, they might be able to defeat one or even two of the three families sent by the Frost Moon Kingdom, but that's all. No matter how they calculate, it is impossible for them to drive away all three pioneering nobles with their own strength.

By this stage, they naturally knew about the several pioneering viscounts who came to develop their territory. Rand was the ruthless character who defeated the Snow Fox Countess.

Shelan and Pero are both heirs to great noble families, what can they use to fight?

But giving up the territory is impossible. For the nobles with real titles, everything of the family is in the territory. Giving up the territory is equivalent to giving up everything, including wealth, reputation, glory, everything will disappear.

Even nobles who abandoned their territories and fled might lose their noble titles and become ordinary citizens.

Such laws are even stricter in the northern borders of the Northern Union.

Because they had to resist the attacks of orcs and trolls, nobles who abandoned their territories and fled would be considered deserters, and some were even executed.

So they did something that was against their reputation and honor.

Cooperate with the Murlocs and Nagas of the Inner Sea.

This would undoubtedly be a shame for the nobles who were harassed by the amphibious creatures in the inland sea.

If people heard that they actually cooperated with those egg-laying, slimy evil creatures in order to drive out the northern nobles, they would undoubtedly be ridiculed.

But compared to the loss of territory, these are insignificant matters.

Of course, before cooperation, there is still a difficulty that needs to be solved, that is, these monsters cannot understand the common language of the continent.

And apparently, there were no translators capable of translating the language of the merfolk in the territories of these small nobles.

This is not too difficult, as some bards are proficient in multiple languages, but it is not easy to find them in a short period of time.

…

Olenna continued to advance with the army. Because the cultural level of the captured prisoners was too low, the information obtained through torture was neither accurate nor reliable.

The only thing that is somewhat useful is probably the name of the Burning Self-Defense Force.

But there were only some clues. After Olenna finished writing the report, she prepared to go back with the guards and report to Rand.

The specific situation will probably have to wait for Elsa's intelligence system to find out.

Although she has found some clues now, she does not plan to lead people to investigate by herself.

The guards should not be away from their lord for too long, and Olenna's job is not to lead an army abroad. How to make the specific decision is a problem that Rand needs to consider. She does not intend to do something that would disobey the orders of the army abroad.

The Royal Guards naturally had no objections. They felt very comfortable to go out and get some fresh air. Their primary mission was to protect the lord. Although they had a lot of training, they did not have many opportunities to fight in person.

This time, when we went out to fight the thieves, it was the first time in a long time that our swords were stained with blood.

But leaving the lord for too long was obviously inconsistent with their duties.

On the way back, Olenna observed the roadside.

This time they went out for a field investigation. Olena wrote down which sections of the road needed to be reinforced and which sections needed to be widened. She planned to revise the road construction plan after returning to the hideout.

Since arriving at the hideout, she had never been away from Rand for so long.

Maybe it was because of Rand's hobby or her expertise, but her job was to stay by Rand's side.

It's rare to come out on missions nowadays, so it feels quite novel.

It's obvious that before I met Rand, I had been alone for so many years, and at most with Ellie.

After meeting Rand, I have been thinking too much about him.

Coming out now is a kind of relaxation in a sense?

Even when I'm on vacation, I'll often think of Rand's face.

In the warm spring sun, Olenna, wearing soft armor and shoulder armor, rode a horse alongside her personal guards.

She originally wanted to go back earlier, but now it seems that it will not be easy.

There is a lot of woods nearby, which is very suitable for an ambush.

Unfortunately, as a top-level professional, it is too easy to spot the enemy when you are on alert.

"Stop and be on guard." Olenna ordered in a deep voice.

It took the entire army less than two breaths to switch from a marching state to a stationary state.

Suddenly the only sound on the road was the snorting of horses.

If discovered in advance, the effectiveness of the ambush would be greatly reduced, but the ambusher on the opposite side seemed very confident in his own strength and instead slowly walked out of the woods.

In this world, there is no convenient way to accurately judge the strength level of a stranger.

But as long as there is no deliberate disguise, the general level can still be felt.

The gap between an ordinary professional and a superior professional is obvious.

If the observer himself is strong enough, it will be easier to judge the enemy's strength.

Olenna glanced around and saw that they were led by a senior mage, twelve senior warriors, and twenty-five elite warriors.

It is a terrifying number of high-level professionals. Including the believers and all the adventurers in the hideout, it is estimated that there are only this many high-level professionals.

"Burning the Self-Defense Force?" Olena asked coldly.

"Know?" The leading mage stared at Olenna's pretty face, wondering if it would be a pity to destroy such a beauty. "Then why did you dare to provoke us?"

Now Olenna almost knows that the Burning Self-Defense Force should actually be called the Burning Regiment. They are a group of mercenaries born in the Burning Land and later became roving bandits.

Their hometown, the Burning Land, is slightly to the south, in a no-man's land on the border between the Kingdom of Lensa and the Kingdom of Bolun.

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It is not far from Full Moon Territory. If Rand sends troops to attack from Full Moon Territory, he can arrive within half a month.

I didn't expect that there was actually a famous bandit group entrenched in the Frost Moon Kingdom.

The wizard of the bandit group looked at Olenna, and now he gradually began to feel guilty. He originally thought that this beauty was just an ordinary person.

Now he was a little unsure.

Now the problem arises. If his judgment as a senior professional is wrong and the opponent is not an ordinary person, then it can only be the top professional.

Although it is not difficult to defeat the top-level professionals with their numbers and strength, the opponent is not just one person.

"It seems that your intelligence system is not very well-informed?" Olena's originally cold voice became a little gentler.

"Do you know who we are?" Olenna continued.

“You don’t know anything, but you are so arrogant?

"Don't robbers always scout the place and gather intelligence before going out?"

Olenna was not a talkative person, but she still said a lot this time. After all, this group of people had been so fierce and arrogant before, which really made her angry.

This gang of bandits should be cooperating with some nobles outside or some forces within the Frost Moon Kingdom, or they may be cooperating with some evil cult organization.

The leading senior wizard felt that it was too embarrassing to be scared away like this, but if he took action, his side would definitely lose manpower, and definitely not a small number.

After secretly cursing his collaborators for using them as pawns, the mage looked at these knights in full plate armor and cloaks.

He still felt that his own side's combat effectiveness was stronger. Although these knights seemed to exude a powerful aura, there were very few high-level professionals among them.

In other words, the only one who poses a real threat is this beautiful woman.

The wizard raised his staff.

The magic ball shot out.

Then he was stunned to find that his magic sphere was punctured by the swift sword of the brown-haired beauty, just like popping a bubble.

Then his orb disappeared.

Now he began to regret his recklessness.

The next moment, Olenna's blade pierced through his throat and stabbed out from the back of the wizard's neck.

Olenna drew the sword back, blood dripping down the blade.

However, due to spinal injury, the mage couldn't even cover his throat and fell down.

No one present could see clearly what Olena was doing.

Olenna had accidentally used such an outburst when facing the White King, but it had been difficult for her to achieve since then. Now it seems that she has done it again.

Unfortunately, this kind of attack consumes too much physical strength, and she cannot perform it multiple times in a short period of time.

After calming her breath, Olena looked at the bandit group and said, "If you surrender now, our hideout can provide you with a complete labor reform system. After you are released from the labor reform, you will become qualified citizens."

In other words, hard labor.

These bandits were of relatively high professional levels and could roughly understand what Olenna meant.

Theoretically, the gap between the top professionals and upper-level professionals is not that big.

A dozen senior professionals can basically surround and kill the top professional.

But that's generally the case.

This is obviously not the normal situation now.

The speed of the top professionals may be very fast, but it is definitely not to the point where the higher-level professionals cannot see clearly.

Now they have to consider whether they can accept labor reform.

Olenas was very slow and methodical. She wiped the blood off the blade with a cloth, just like she used to help Rand tidy up his clothes, and slowly put the Swift Sword back into the scabbard.

"Don't try to escape." Olenna smiled gently again. Her gentle smile warmed people's hearts under the sunshine. "Maybe I can't kill all of you at the same time, but the first person who tries to escape..."

…

“You’ll die.”

(End of this chapter)