Ch.685The March of the Plunderers

“…What are these guys thinking?”

Orhan was lost in thought. Even for him, this was a situation he’d never experienced before.

The Dane soldiers had vanished, and only innocent civilians who knew nothing were left abandoned inside the city. Like a fully prepared meal.

‘It’s as if they’re inviting us to come in… Are they planning to lure our warriors into the city, then counterattack when we scatter for plunder?’

Instead of rushing into the city, Orhan sent out dozens of scouts to thoroughly search the surroundings and understand the enemy’s intentions.

The old Orhan would have charged forward recklessly, claiming he could break through any trap with brute force. But his near-death experience of being buried in a fire pit had transformed him into a more cautious man.

‘If their goal is a counterattack, what means will they use?’

Various hypotheses flashed through Orhan’s mind.

First, they aren’t actually civilians but soldiers disguised as civilians, planning to assassinate Aishan warriors when they let their guard down.

‘…No. That’s too thorough for a disguise.’

Most civilians remaining in the city were women and the elderly. Adult males were extremely rare.

Unless the King of Dane was a madman, he wouldn’t use the elderly, women, and children as assassins.

Second, the Dane army is hiding in the forests or mountains outside the city, planning to surround the Aishan forces once they enter.

‘…This isn’t it either.’

Orhan rejected his own theory.

The scouts had already confirmed there were no troops hiding near the city. They had thoroughly searched the forests and mountains but found no trace of human presence.

Third, they plan to trap the Aishan army inside the city and burn them alive.

‘…Surely not.’

This trap seemed more plausible than the other two theories… but if they closed the city and set it on fire, tens of thousands of Dane people would clearly burn to death too.

‘Are they willing to burn tens of thousands of their own citizens alive just to stop us?’

It was truly a madman’s strategy. Whether it succeeded or failed, massive bloodshed would follow.

—-

“What shall we do, Ka’han? Further reconnaissance seems pointless…”

A middle-aged Champion cautiously asked.

His eyes seemed to say: with such tempting prey before us, why are we endlessly scouting instead of attacking? The other Champions wore similar expressions.

Orhan started to explain the strangeness of the situation and the possibility of traps… but gave up. They wouldn’t understand anyway.

Even if he warned about traps, rather than admiring his caution, they would think he had grown cowardly after losing his arm.

“…Send in an advance party. There seem to be no enemy soldiers, so three hundred should be enough.”

Instead of explaining, Orhan ordered three hundred troops to form an advance party and plunder the city.

Like miners using canaries to check mine safety, he was using three hundred Ka’har as bait to gauge the enemy’s movements.

And before long, Orhan found himself in even greater bewilderment.

‘…Nothing? Nothing at all?’

Nothing happened to the three hundred advance troops.

They galloped majestically toward the city, crossed the gates, and mercilessly slaughtered the Dane people who hadn’t expected the Ka’har attack.

“Thieves…? No, could it be…!”

“Ka’har! The Ka’har are attacking!”

Though only three hundred in number, it was more than enough force to slaughter those who had never experienced battle.

“This can’t be happening, why…?!”

“Aaaaaahhh!”

Their arrows pierced the heads of women fleeing in confusion, and hooves trampled children into pulp. Blood spurted like fountains with each swing of their sharpened spears.

“Run! We’re all going to die!”

“Mother! Motherrr!”

The Dane people screamed and scattered in all directions at the sudden calamity.

“Where are the soldiers, the defense forces?!”

Those fleeing voiced their questions.

Despite the Ka’har rampaging and slaughtering, the defense forces were nowhere to be seen, let alone standing against them.

“They said they were conducting field training against monsters…”

“Training my ass! Those bastards ran away! They abandoned us and fled long ago!”

If they had truly gone for field training, they would have returned by now.

Unlike the civilians inside the city who couldn’t see beyond the walls, troops training outside would have noticed a group of cavalry charging toward the city.

So the Dane people quickly realized: the city’s defense forces had mercilessly abandoned them and retreated.

They were sacrifices.

Living offerings given to the Ka’har plunderers to keep them from pursuing the retreating defense forces.

…A realization that came too late.

“Aaaaargh! Help-!”

Cries, screams, shrieks, and death rattles instantly engulfed the city.

Elderly people who collided with the crowd tumbled to the ground and were crushed by their fellow Dane citizens. Young men who tried to resist with farming tools were impaled on spears, squealing like pigs as their intestines spilled out.

Like sheep facing wolves, tens of thousands of civilians were helplessly slaughtered before the blades of just three hundred cavalry.

For Orhan, watching from afar, it was an utterly bewildering sight.

‘Truly, without any trap or preparation, they just abandoned all those civilians and fled…?’

Even for Orhan, who prided himself on having experienced everything, it was unbelievable. Yet nothing else could explain the scene before him.

‘What a mad country.’

Only then could Orhan be certain of the enemy’s scheme.

The King of Dane had withdrawn his army to preserve his forces instead of protecting his citizens, offering defenseless civilians as tribute to ensure his own safety.

‘So they’re saying: we’ll clear the path and offer plunder, just leave Dane’s heartland alone and march north toward the Empire.’

The attitude of sacrificing tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of civilians without hesitation for the safety of the royal family and nobles. It was despicable even by Ka’har standards. Though he couldn’t deny it was helpful.

“Ka’han, shall we continue to wait?”

Some Champions asked while looking at the city filled with screams. Their eyes burned with desire to rush into the city and enjoy the slaughter and plunder.

‘…It doesn’t matter now.’

Having confirmed there was no trap, there was no reason to hesitate deploying troops.

No, he needed to deploy them actively. It would take ages for just three hundred men to plunder the entire city, and he needed to boost the morale of warriors who had been demoralized by defeat.

Orhan canceled the standby order and sent in about half the army to completely subdue the city.

The Aishan army stayed there for a day, thoroughly plundering the Dane civilians. They killed all who resisted, took all the food they could carry and burned the rest, and gave the surviving women to the soldiers.

The next day. Where the Ka’har army had departed, only corpses remained—violated and stripped of everything.

With no capacity to take subjugated Dane people as slaves to the Great Plains, Orhan ordered them all executed.

To appease his soldiers hungry for slaughter, and to strengthen the army’s power through that Karma of Murder.

—-

The second city was also empty of soldiers.

However, having heard of the first city’s massacre, the civilians there immediately bowed their heads and offered everything they had, begging only for their lives when they saw the Aishan army.

After brief consideration, Orhan accepted this. He declared he would spare them if they provided sufficient food, goods, and young women.

It was a purely strategic decision.

The soldiers were already satisfied with the first city’s massacre, and if they slaughtered even those who surrendered without hesitation and gave up everything, the next cities would resist with their lives.

Besides, there was no compelling reason to kill them.

‘Killing them all wouldn’t significantly increase our soldiers’ strength. Even if we kill tens of thousands, each soldier would only kill three or four people at most.’

Increasing power through the Karma of Murder was terribly inefficient, and if they lost soldiers in the process, it would be worse than not doing it at all.

Thus, the second city was spared from the horrors of slaughter.

Though they lost eighty percent of their stored food and had to sacrifice all their young women—they had barely saved their lives.

—-

The unstoppable advance of the Aishan forces was halted when they reached the third city.

“That flag…”

Orhan frowned as he looked at the military banner displayed on the city wall.

It wasn’t a Dane flag. It was a familiar pattern that had fluttered on the detestable Wall of Berengaria.

The Empire’s flag stood tall on the city wall.