The witch thought I am a Demon God-Chapter 52 - The Knights with Homeward Hearts_1
Chapter 52: Chapter 52 The Knights with Homeward Hearts_1
Chapter 52 -52 The Knights with Homeward Hearts_1
Ivita handed the task of delivering the challenge to war to Blanton.
But actually, this task wasn’t hard to do.
Because it only required Blanton to stand on the city wall, attach the parchment to an arrow, and then shoot the iron-tipped arrow onto the deserted ground below the city wall.
At that time, the Sons of Forest would pick it up by themselves.
The reason Ivita handed this task to Blanton was also to give him an outlet for his anger.
Because Blanton’s family had been virtually wiped out by the Sons of Forest.
For this kind of small matter that could win people’s hearts effortlessly, Ivita was only too glad to take advantage of it.
Sure enough, after Blanton finished this task, he felt satisfied for the rest of the half-day, feeling like he had vented his spleen.
He even went to the study, took the initiative to find Ivita, and spoke about how liberated he felt when he personally delivered Baron Moro’s challenge to the Sons of Forest on his behalf.
After he left the study, Ivita tapped on the table, murmuring to himself, “Sure enough, when people are together, what they remember most is not what you say to them, but the mood when they are with you.”
“I see that Blanton is in a good mood. This is good, and I didn’t even have to spend an extra penny.”
Knowing how to be thrifty makes a good lord.
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
Those who know how to spend money are the ones who earn it.
Ivita realized belatedly, “That’s not right. A grey goose feather arrow from the Baron’s territory is worth three pennies! I did spend three pennies. What do you think, Hearthstone Grand Witch?”
The Hearthstone Grand Witch laughed awkwardly. “Your Highness, you’re right.”
The old witch has been silently observing Ivita’s behavioural logic, the more she observed, the more fearful she became.
She wasn’t scared of the Demon God not understanding human hearts, but feared that he understood it too well.
Looking at the degree of Ivita’s familiarity in winning over people’s hearts, the Hearthstone Grand Witch guessed that Ivita was not encountering humans for the first time.
Otherwise, he was not a human at all, yet how could he understand human hearts so well.
He even understood it to a very terrifying extent.
It was almost as if Ivita had always been a human.
But the witch knew, the Demon Gods of Subspace will never empathize with humans.
She believed, all of Ivita’s human emotions were just a disguise to deceive humans.
This was terrifying.
But when could she escape from the Demon God’s side like this!
The Hearthstone Grand Witch remembered her beloved disciple again, she had to quickly find a scapegoat to take her place.
Soon, the Black Wolf came to the study to report the current food situation in the castle.
About the food, they don’t have to worry for the time being, because Baron Moro’s castle cellar stored a lot of food.
As for the water source, there is also a two hundred meter deep well behind the castle.
But the situation of weapons was not positive.
Out of all, there were only just over two thousand arrows left in the armory.
It seemed that after the Treant took over from Baron Moro, he had frequently found excuses to transport weapons to the outside, thinking about it now, it was probably all sent to the Sons of Forest army now on the outskirts.
“It seems the Sons of Forest are not short of food, but they seem to be short of weapons,” Ivita started pondering.
“There were not many armors in the castle to begin with, and even the ones there were just barely passable as leather armors, merely cotton or cloth armors.”
“So, I guess even if the Sons of Forest now have enough bows and arrows, the rate of their armor use is still a problem.”
The Black Wolf suggested, “This is quite normal, as far as food is concerned, perhaps they can gather some wild fruits and beasts from the mountains to replace wheat.”
“But if they want to improve the armor usage rate, they need a vast hinterland to support the trades and industries, with enough fields and farmers to support blacksmiths, tanners and other craftsmen.”
“This needs a sizeable market town and developed agricultural civilization, but…”
“The Sons of Forest, don’t have such conditions.”
Ivita nodded, “We need to strengthen the city defense, and this task is most suitable for the Hearthstone Grand Witch to do, you go and check if there are any loopholes in our city defense.”
The old witch was a very insecure person.
So, she didn’t trust the people around her, even if slightly suspicious, she would harm those around her.
This kind of person with such traits was very suitable to review whether the city defense had any loopholes.
Because it related to her own safety, she will double her effort to prevent any loopholes in the city defense.
The old witch said, “Your Highness. I need your permission to mobilize fifty able-bodied laborers to dig trenches in front of the city wall.”
Although Ivita was puzzled, he nodded nonetheless.
The old witch felt somewhat happy at Ivita’s trust, the Demon God even agreed without asking why.
But she still felt the need to explain out of courtesy, “There are only a few methods in a siege.”
“Without large-scale siege equipment, they could only besiege and assassinate the city’s senior officials to create chaos. With large-scale siege machinery, they could directly impact the city walls.”
“The castle of Baron Moro is too small, lacking moats and outer walls, there are not enough towers for defense, if the Sons of Forest really have large siege equipment, then there’s a big problem.”
“Therefore, we should dig pits and trenches outside the castle walls and fill them with wooden spikes. This can prevent the enemy from pushing large siege machines over and effectively prevent their cavalry troops.”
The old witch said, “Add to this, our castle is located halfway up a hillside, where we have the upper hand, not to mention an abundance of food and water sources.”
“In such a situation, even if the enemy’s forces are ten times ours, they will definitely not be able to capture such a castle.”
Ivita secretly admired in her heart. As expected of the old witch, when it comes to survival ability, no one can compare to you.
The old witch thought and continued: “Ah, the troops of the Son of Forest may have a small number of treants. When necessary, we should have a team to fill the trenches with torches to keep the treants from approaching the city walls.”
“The treants pose a real threat to the relatively low walls of Baron Moro’s fortress.”
“Luckily, this is on a mountain. The rocks are hard, so we don’t have to worry about the treants damaging the castle’s foundations.”
“These are all basic city defenses.”
Black Wolf seemed to see the witch in a new light. “I didn’t expect you witches to understand such things, I am sorry for my ignorance.”
The old witch sneered. “General witches don’t understand. But I am the Guardian of Hearthstone Castle. When I was the Guardian of Hearthstone Castle, I learned city defense techniques on the side. However, in my opinion, this tattered castle, really can’t compare to Hearthstone Castle.”
“The moat of Hearthstone Castle is a majestic river of flame. It was my teacher’s teacher who stole a spark of Hellfire from Hell and added a special magic to it, creating a bed of alien flames that burns life.”
When it came to Hearthstone Castle, the old witch paused again.
She didn’t know why, but she always thought of Hearthstone Castle.
Ivita said to the Black Wolf: “You and Rayli lead trusted people, let the villagers from the three villages near the castle evacuate into our castle in batches.”
“As for how to do it in batches, how many people at a time, that’s up to you.”
Black Wolf said, “Alright, your Highness.”
After everyone left, Ivita sat in a chair, twirling the Ring of Desire on her pinky. “I hope to reduce the number of deaths.”
Wars inevitably incur deaths. He was not naive enough to hope that no one would die.
If a person tries to do something that he cannot do, then he will only experience failure.
On this night, the war letter that Bran sent out disappeared, probably picked up by the Sons of the Forest.
Who knows what the Sons of the Forest’s reaction will be after reading it.
Meanwhile, Ivita received another piece of information that was somewhat good news for him, but bad news for Bran –
Knight Taville died, four out of the six knights who went with him died as well, over fifty soldiers were all killed in battle, and over two hundred serf soldiers only eleven had escaped and returned.
It was said that they encountered an ambush by a Horseman Squad and a Snake Man Squad while chasing the Treant Troops.
The enemy deployed thousands of soldiers and at least eight official sacrifices, plus some knights who had drunk the water given by the treants and were turned against them by the treants’ ancient tree juice, resulting in a near-annihilating defeat.
While shocking, this news wasn’t surprising for Ivita.
Instead, from the two surviving knights, she learned that what the treants had added to the water originally was ancient tree juice.
Rather, Bran was deeply saddened as he had lost some of his elders again.
But he knew he could not blame Ivita for it. Ivita had done her best, and it was Knight Taville who stubbornly went his own way, even harming the troops that followed him.
All Bran could do was direct his hatred towards the Sons of the Forest.
That night, the two surviving knights and another knight who had been watching from the sidelines and did not follow Taville out of the castle came to the study on the second floor.
Behind them, seven knights’ attendants followed.
The group of people barged into the study, startling Bran who thought they were revolting.
Ivita sat calmly in her chair, seemingly oblivious to the knights who were fully armored and brandishing sharp knight swords, she seemed to have forgotten that she was just a novice wizard.
The three official knights suddenly drew their knight swords, then lifted them up high over their heads.
Bran screamed, “What are you doing! I voluntarily gave my territories to Ivita.”
The knights glanced indifferently at Bran, then they plunged their swords into the floorboards and knelt on one knee in unison before Ivita.
“So… you’re here to pledge loyalty to me?” Ivita looked at them indifferently. “But…what if…I refuse?”
The knights were silently amazed at young Ivita’s composure. Was she really just a common adventurer?
This kind of composure was beyond the reach of Bran, the son of a Baron.
Even the former Baron Moro did not possess such a demeanor.
Even the knights had a feeling that they were just the starting point for the soaring eagle, who would be heading to a higher and bigger stage next.
Even if they were to accompany this eagle for a short journey, it would be a legendary story for them.
“Please, Lord Ivita, consider the lives of tens of thousands in the Baron’s territories and accept our loyalty,” one knight said. “The current Baron’s territories are very dangerous, we are in desperate need of an excellent leader, we cannot continue to be divided.”
“Taville is dead, the baron is also dead, all the people who could lead us are dead.”
“We must obey you so that we can continue to resist!”
Ivita was silent.
This was the benefit that Taville’s death brought to him.
Although cruel, this is reality.
