usatvline Chapter 229 Current Status of the River Valley
Chapter 229 Current Status of the River Valley
Hammond was dug out by his comrades. Although the final charge was overwhelmed by the waves of mud monsters, the knights were fortunate enough to be doused with holy water, preventing them from being assimilated by the mud monsters.
"Did we win?"
Hammond lay dead in the middle of the battlefield, watching the rare winter sunset in the North pierce through the clouds.
"We won, Captain."
Hammond's men helped him up, and the exhausted knights, supported by their comrades, limped back to their positions.
Such situations continued to occur on the battlefield. At this time, the monsters on the battlefield had been almost completely wiped out, with only a few soldiers carrying out the final annihilation mission. Most soldiers were either cleaning up the battlefield or using holy water and potions to save people.
Linde immediately wrote a report of victory and sent it along with some basic arrangements and post-war precautions to Sean, who was stationed in the rear. At the same time, he began to record the merits of the soldiers.
Two days later, Linde received a message from White. After receiving the letter, Linde showed no expression and turned to Lena, who was recording her achievements, saying, "Something has happened in the valley, and I need to go there to deal with it."
Without turning her head, Lena said directly, "Okay, leave this to me."
Lena didn't notice anything amiss. After all, the valley was practically the enemy's rear, and it was normal for news to come from there that something had gone wrong and Lind needed to be there to oversee things.
There was nothing on the battlefield of the Golden Harvest Plain that required Linde's personal attention; he could simply follow the established procedures, and Lena would handle all the work.
After the couple parted ways, Lind led his men to the Valley, once the richest place in the North.
Along the way, there was no sign of human habitation, not even the crowing of a rooster, and not a single animal in sight. With a heavy heart, Linde arrived at the valley.
By the time Lind stepped into the valley, there were hardly any residents left in the outer city. Only a few people who had hidden themselves and had not been sent to the battlefield by Doug cautiously peeked out from the dilapidated houses, carefully observing Lind's army.
The demons had already shown the gray-collar workers how those mud monsters were created from the beginning, and judging from the scale of those mud monsters on the battlefield, the population of the areas controlled by Doug is probably quite depleted now.
While thinking about future immigration plans, Linde had unknowingly arrived at the so-called inner city. This inner and outer city was modeled after the royal capital by Doug and was used to distinguish between nobles and commoners.
Although the original valley had similar distinctions, the nobles were only concentrated on a certain street. However, in order to highlight the difference between nobles and commoners, and also to win over the hearts of the nobles in the city, Doug directly began to enclose land within the city and built a luxurious city within a city.
The towering white stone walls, adorned with gold trim, stood in stark contrast to the dilapidated state of the outer city. At the gates of the inner city, there were many ornate suits of armor, which looked rather ostentatious and impractical, and were not actually meant for human wear, but merely intended to intimidate the commoners of the outer city.
While the common people might not care—after all, under Doug's rule, even survival was a problem for them—the nobles seemed to thoroughly enjoy this kind of spiritual victory over the common people.
The massive lintel is engraved with many family crests symbolizing noble status. These are the noble families that live in the inner city, and every detail reveals the antiquity, nobility, and inviolability of the corresponding noble families.
However, these ancient, noble, and inviolable nobles were now kneeling in unison at the gate. They seemed to have been kneeling for a long time, and some of the nobles, who were still children, had even fallen asleep.
When they saw Linde arrive with his guards, these nobles lowered their heads even further, not daring to even glance at Linde. Although there were many people, not a single breath was uttered.
Everyone hunched their shoulders, awaiting judgment.
The number of these nobles, including their servants, might already exceed the number of commoners in the outer city.
Linde ignored the nobles and walked along the wide, colorful stone-paved streets of the inner city towards its depths.
Doug's castle is tall and exquisite, with some towers decorated with ornate reliefs and stained glass, as if the castle towers themselves were works of art. If Sean is not mistaken, before he escaped, the castles in the valley were in the classic Lars military fortress style. It is hard to imagine how much money Doug spent to transform the castle into what it is today.
White's soldiers had been waiting at the castle gate for a long time. When they saw Lind arrive, they immediately stepped forward to salute and led Lind into the castle.
It's clear that White is very professional in his work. After Lind entered the castle, he saw secret passages marked and blocked everywhere. After all, White had defended Winterhold before, so he was very familiar with the ways and places inside the castle.
The soldier led Lind down step by step into a hidden area of the castle, filled with dungeons and torture instruments, designed to satisfy the peculiar tastes of some nobles, but presumably also used to imprison some real criminals.
For example, those two who kept wailing in prison.
"Let me go! I need to see the Governor's wife! Let me see the Governor's wife!"
Linde glanced at the two middle-aged men in the cell. The two men were wearing magnificent cloaks, but the cloaks looked very dirty and messy, as if the two men had been rolling around on the floor of the cell while in shackles.
Upon seeing someone approaching, the two middle-aged men immediately rolled over and stood up from their prone position.
Although they had never met Linde, the two immediately guessed his identity based on his age and the guards around him.
"Your Excellency! Your Excellency! Where is Lena? Did Lena come with you?"
"Your Excellency, please, let us see our niece."
After asking the questions, the two hurriedly bowed to Lin De, a gesture of respect from retainers to the Grand Duke. However, it was clear that the specific form of their bow was irrelevant.
“My wife doesn’t have that much time; she’s currently tallying up war merits on the Jinshui Plain.”
Faced with Lena's two uncles, Lind decided to waste a little of his time to express his attitude, lest anyone below misunderstand him.
"How can you leave Lena in such a dangerous place as the battlefield?"
"Yes, I even held Lena when she was little. Your Excellency, please, please allow us to see the Madam."
Looking at Lin De's cold eyes, it was clear that the two of them had realized that facing their nephew-in-law alone was a dead end.
I had originally thought that since I'd heard Linde and Lena were inseparable, I might see Lena when I saw Linde. I could then use my status as their uncle to say a few nice words and appeal to their emotions. Given their understanding of Lena, she might actually forgive them and even treat them well.
After all, the two of them did not directly compete with Linde, and although they became his lackeys, they could explain it away by saying that they had no choice in the matter.
Moreover, given the relationship between Linde and Lena, Linde would never allow Lena to bear the reputation of killing her uncle; she would survive no matter what.
But to everyone's surprise, Linde, who is always inseparable from her, didn't bring Lena this time, and his thoughts were self-evident.
"Watch closely, keep him for trial alongside Doug."
Linde's flat, emotionless words shattered the two men's last illusions. Upon hearing Linde's order, the soldiers went straight into the cell without any hesitation and tied the two men up tightly.