Wallis was lost in his own fantasies, completely unaware that a young woman had silently approached him from behind, stealthily drawing a boning knife concealed in her dress. Her fair right hand gripped the handle tightly, trembling towards Wallis’s neck for quite a while. Until she heard the final sentence, she gritted her teeth and forcefully plunged the sharp blade in.
Wallis only felt a sharp pain in his neck and instinctively turned his head, seeing a pair of eyes filled with hatred.
At the sight of Wallis’s face, the woman was reminded of past humiliations, and her hatred surged. She drew out the knife and stabbed again with all her might.
The blade sank right into the right eye socket, penetrating straight into the skull.
Wallis was in excruciating pain, unable to make any sound, as the first stab had already severed his neck’s blood vessels and throat. He instinctively swung his arm backward.
The strong arm struck the woman’s delicate body, and the immense force he unleashed before dying sent her flying, crashing heavily against the wooden wall, leaving her unconscious...
Guard Captain Munsendes hadn’t seen the leader appear, and now the enemy was fiercely attacking the west gate while also blocking the east gate. Continuously new enemies appeared, and it seemed that they would soon surround the entire village. The situation was extremely critical, and he had no choice but to run to the main building to find Wallis to take charge.
"Leader, it’s not good! The enemy is about to break in—" Munsendes’s shout abruptly stopped as he saw Wallis lying in a pool of blood...
By the time Maximus arrived with his army, Fesaros was already at the fortress gate to welcome them.
"Fesaros, you sneaky one, we’ve hurried all the way here, only to find that you’ve already taken down the fortress," Maximus laughed and scolded.
"Leader, it was just good luck on my part," Fesaros replied with a smile. "When I rushed over with the brothers, the enemy deserters happened to block the gate, unable to close it. I promptly ordered the brothers to charge forward and, remembering your instructions, sent some to block their east gate too...
Later on, when the brothers from the Second Legion arrived, fully armored, I had them lead the charge. This tactic worked as expected, and the enemy couldn’t withstand us. We were just about to storm in from the west gate when the enemy organized a group to desperately hold us back. I was so desperate that I almost ordered the brothers to climb the wooden walls to get in. Then, suddenly, the enemy blocking the way became chaotic, and we seized the opportunity to break in...
I later found out that their leader was killed by a Skodisqi slave, and those Skodisqi slaves started a rebellion inside the fortress, disrupting the enemy’s defenses..."
"Oh? The Skodisqi slaves retaliated against the Segestica people?..." Maximus was immediately intrigued by the information revealed in Fesaros’s words.
"Yes, after we captured this fortress, these Skodisqi slaves were attacking the surrendered Segestica people everywhere. It took me a lot of effort to stop them.
"You did the right thing!" Maximus nodded and said, "The Segestica people are our enemies, but those who have surrendered are now our assets, and we can’t allow anyone to wantonly damage our assets."
Fesaros was happier with the praise: "Oh, right, Leader, the person who organized the Skodisqi slaves to rise in revolt is a man named Emmerich, and he requests to see you."
"See me?..." Maximus thought quickly, then shook his head, saying, "I don’t have the time to see him right now. Tell him that if he can get the Skodisqi slaves here to obediently adhere to our decrees, I’ll consider meeting him."
"...Okay." Fesaros reluctantly agreed, feeling puzzled by Maximus’s refusal to meet the Skodisqi people immediately. He thought of the Skodisqi people as also being oppressed, miserable slaves who had helped them greatly. If not family, they were at least like-minded friends; meeting them should have been the right thing to do, yet Maximus had refused outright.
Maximus, of course, had other intentions. He had heard from the Aldeans before that there were quite a few Skodisqi slaves among the Segestica people, but hadn’t paid much attention to it until today, when the Segestica organized Skodisqi slaves as the vanguard to charge and the Skodisqi incited a revolt within the Segestica’s fortress. These two events made Maximus think differently about the Skodisqi slaves.
But when he heard that the organizer of the revolt wanted to see him, he immediately realized that the other party might be trying to leverage this for benefits, like freedom or something else, which would certainly conflict with Maximus’s plans for the Skodisqi slaves. Thus, he wanted to suppress their spirits for now and deal with it later.
Of course, he wouldn’t reveal his plans and instead asked, "How many casualties did the soldiers suffer?"
"One dead, 19 injured, none seriously harmed." Though the casualties were minimal, Fesaros’s tone was still somewhat low.
"Did any enemy escape when we captured the fortress?" Quintus asked from the side.
"I told the brothers to surround the fortress, so there shouldn’t have been any..." Fesaros wasn’t entirely sure, as the soldiers had arrived gradually and initially he didn’t have enough manpower to encompass the whole fortress.
Maximus and Quintus exchanged a glance, understanding each other clearly.
"Fesaros, how many men do you have under your command now?" Maximus inquired.