The ladders are set, the kobolds try their best to push back the attackers. However, as the vanguards are the soldiers of the Phoenix Legion, who are the elites of the Albion Kingdom, they stand no chance against the odd. In less than 20 minutes, the defenders are overwhelmed and they have to retreat.
Siesta is the first one who gets on the wall. Throwing her spear, which pierces the head of a kobold who is trying to run away, she orders her men to capture strategic points on the wall and not pursue the running kobolds. She understands that Perseus orders them to be the vanguards so that his men will not be damaged. But she had lost the duel with him and had no reasons to argue about his decisions. Although under normal circumstance, if she pursue now, they can finish the enemies and take control of the settlement, she cannot risk losing her men if the kobolds decide to fight till death. Even a rabbit can damage a lion if it doesn't care for its' life anymore.
The gates are opened and the combined army of goblins and humans get inside the settlement. Every kobold who doesn't manage to run away are captured, waiting for judgement. Kurk and his goblins build simple trenches in strategic surrounding the second layer of the settlement, where the kobolds are preparing their last stand.
Perseus orders his army to rest, aside from a portion assigned to stand on watch in case the kobolds rally out to carry a surprise attack. Although this is the best chance to attack the disorganized kobolds and finish them, Perseus forbid the advance of his army since his purpose is not slaughtering the kobolds but bringing them under his command.
" How many there are behind that wall, Freya? " Perseus ask Freya, who is the witch and one of his advisors.
" There are around 300 kobolds left, my chieftain. But there are many females, elders or immatures, they are distributing weapons, it seems they will fight to their last breathe against us. We should send a negotiator, there is no point in inflicting more casualties. " Freya speaks. Deep in her heart, she doesn't want the the kobolds be exterminated. After working with the goblins, she has realized that races prosper much faster if cooperating rather than fighting. She would have opposed Perseus of invading this settlement if not for his purpose of uniting the North Arcadia.
" If we listen to you, who would be the diplomat. We can't guarantee the safety of whom we sent, just tear down that gate and capture all of them as slaves. " Kurk suggests. Enslaving the captives is a common tradition of the goblin. Hence, the Redhorn tribe is a defensive tribe and hasn't had any aggressive move until now so currently they are having no slaves.
" WE WILL TAKE NO SLAVE." Perseus insists when he hears Kurk's words. Slavery is one of the most thing Perseus hates. In his opinion, every intelligent race are equal and none should be treated as inferior to others. Kurk shows some uneasiness but he doesn't mention the same topic again; although Perseus has the smallest number of men among the army, his monstrous strength has given him the most power voice among the commanders.
After several hours of debating, Freya and Otto, both are Perseus's advisors will approach the goblins and convince them to surrender. Since Perseus didn't send any men to fight, he can't deny sending his people to danger this time or the Albions and the Redhorns will protest.
Together, Otto and Freya slowly walk forward the inner walls of the kobold settlements. Freya raises a white flag, which is the sign of peace and negotiation. The kobolds look surprised when they see them. The archers draw their bow and aim at the two people. Otto put a hand on his sword and tighten the hand holding the shield; if the kobold archers decide to loose the arrows, he wants to make sure that he can protect Freya, who has almost no strength of combatting in this distance.
After a while, the gate is opened. Freya and Otto looks at each other before they nod and walk through the gate. The kobold fighters form two rows on each side and look at them with hostile eyes. Otto understands that the kobolds are just trying to scare him and Freya; every men in Arcadia Peninsula acknowledges the action of attacking the diplomats are disrespectful to the Gods, but who knows how the kobolds think?
Quickly, they see the meeting hall of the kobolds and one is sitting on the throne. Different of other kobolds, this one is 1.5 times higher and holding a long iron sword. Otto feels the threatening atmosphere from it; causing his back to sweat.