Volume 3: Chapter 257 – Gathering Shadows (2/3)

Second year of the King’s Calendar, the first summer.

As the Goblin King steadily built his royal capital and reorganized his army, a report came from Gi Gi Orudo, one of his four goblin generals, and was currently in charge of watching over the southern border.

“What’s the gist of the issue?”

The Goblin King, who was buried with documents in his office, asked.

“There was a small battle at the border, but they immediately counter-attacked and repelled the enemy. No casualties came out of it, but some monster beasts were hurt. The enemy lost 30 footmen.”

“Hmm… Do we know who attacked us?”

“It was the Kingdom of Shirad who attacked us, but its domestic situation is a mess.”

“So they might not have intended to attack us?”

“Yes. After all, not even their king has their army under control.”

The Goblin King nodded, then after confirming the strength of the reorganized army, his gaze fell on his desk.

Gi Ga Rax’s Tiger and spear army (Aransain), Gi Gu Verbena’s Axe and Sword Army (Felduk), Ra Gilmi Fishiga’s Bow and Arrow Army (Fanzel), and Gi Gi Orudo’s Twin-Headed Beast and Axe Army (Zeilduk).

These were the four great armies supporting Alrodena Kingdom, but they were too big to be used in a small skirmish by the border. Especially now that Alrodena Kingdom was currently planning to rescue the saint.

The new Short Sword Battle Maiden (Valkyria) has been added to Aransain and trained to be able to coordinate with them. Some of the excess lance knights and archer knights that the smaller Holy Shushunu Kingdom couldn’t accommodate anymore were also added to Aransain.

Presently, Aransain boasted a cavalry that was 6,700 men strong.

Felduk took the new soldiers born in the Forest of Darkness to increase its strength. They were put under the command of noble goblins like those three sibling goblins under Gi Gu Verbena, Gu Tough, Gu Big, Gu Naga (Long), so the training turned out harsh, but it was also because of the harshness of the training that they could coordinate as though they were Gi Gu’s limbs.

Boasting 7,500 men strong, Felduk was the goblin’s biggest army.

After the annexation of the Holy Shushunu Kingdom, Fanzel took the warriors of the various elven tribes under it. The alliance required the elves to regularly provide soldiers, so when they sent out 100 soldiers from their respective villages, Gilmi thought to use them as an exclusive elven squad.

Feeney the King of Bows, Barrui the Salamander, Berk Alsen the Sword Dancer. These were famed warriors whose name resounded even in the world of humans; hence, Gilmi chose to use them as commanders. The only problem was that the elven warriors amounted to a measly 600 soldiers. To compensate for that, he tested fielding them with Shumea’s border defense unit, the demihumans, the Ganra Tribe, and the orcs.

Now, they numbered 4,500 men strong and could pass for a mid-sized army.

Zailduk was split between The Ones Behind Everyone, the Kurua, led by Gi Bu Rakuta and the monster army led by Gi Gi Orudo. Zailduk would be the smallest army if only its 1,200 beast tamers were considered, but when their monster beasts were counted as well, their numbers were overwhelming.

No precise number could be given, however, due to the monster beasts’ unending cycle of breeding and devouring each other.

Gi Gi Orudo has always wanted to test his monster army ever since the War Princess Battle. In a sense, it could be said that the one who wished to fight the most was him.

If the king were to throw him into the fray sloppily, he might just accidentally wipe out a country.

“…Hmm.”

After the War Princess Battle, Pale advised him to consider permitting Gi Zu Ruo and Gi Jii Yubu to have their own army.

Presently, Gi Zu Ruo had 1,000 goblin soldiers under him, while Gi Jii Yubu had 2,000 goblin soldiers. Both built their armies around their veteran soldiers, who’ve gone through countless battles, while supplementing their numbers with new soldiers.

The brawler faction centered their forces around Zu Ved, who has been with Gi Zu Ruo since he defeated the mindless giant ( gigantopitecus). Their training was so fierce that the goblins would come out half dead. It’s a mystery that no one has died yet.

Gi Jii Yubu’s regiol was the army that required the most finesse among the goblins. He focused on employing spear squads that employed group tactics and sword squads that imitated Gi Gu and Valdor the Holy Knight.

Because of that they were much easier to handle compared to the other forces. The way they would advance and retreat as Gi Jii commanded didn’t pale at all when compared to the human forces.

“Fanzel or the Regiol…”

When the king compared the two armies, he figured that Fanzel would likely take more time given its nature as a mixed army. Compared to the other armies, the leader was chosen for being relatively more calm. Gi Jii Yubu’s Regiol should be more than enough to threaten the enemy.

“There’s no need to spread the flames of war needlessly. Our main objective right now is Orphen’s saint, so we’ll dispatch Regiol to the borders, and get the enemy to give us some concessions immediately.”

Pale nodded to the Goblin King. She’d half-expected his decision, so she just bowed in response to the king’s wise judgment.

“If you want them to negotiate, then we should have someone tag along with Gi Jii-dono. Who would you like to send?”

The minor nation known as Shirad was originally under the protection of the Holy Shushunu Kingdom. Just recently, they rose in revolt against the War Princess and became obedient again, but they’ve once again fallen into a state of chaos and can’t even confront the goblins properly.

“Barad Agarmua has submitted a request to resign. We’ll use him.”

“I see. He’s not a bad choice.”

After that the Goblin King went back to his documents, and Pale left.

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