A campsite in the woods with dozens of horses bolted inside!
Rodman's heart sank, a total of 120 men had taken part in the ambush, but there were less than 100 horses here, so the men responsible for staying here must have taken them, and more than one. At least five or more. If each man had taken four horses and fled in separate directions, they simply would not have had enough men or time to intercept them.
The lieutenant's mood sank even though she was prepared for it. It seemed that her hopes of a surprise attack to wipe out her opponents had been completely dashed.
It wouldn't be long before the opponents' hordes would be back, and could they hold off the next one?
Rodman mentally also thinking, continue to go forward, the danger will be greater, or even they simply have no chance of success, just now the battle has been very illustrative.
Rodman walked up to the Duke and asked for his opinion in a whisper.
The Duke tenderly looked at Sylia in his arms, just now she overexerted herself and still hasn't recovered by now. Sylia did not say anything, just looked at the Duke and nodded firmly. The Duke said nothing more, his eyes gazed deeply at the road ahead.
Rodman sighed and pulled the Chief to the side and whispered, "Spike, I'm well aware that you know who we really are. Although this is a bit of an imposition,but ~~~~"
The chief did not speak, Rodman: "But I still want to ask you to help us continue to go. I have just seen your great strength, if you help maybe we still have the possibility to walk back, no matter what conditions you want I promise you."
The Chief still did not speak.
The lieutenant looked at the chief from a distance and asked Yas in a small voice, "What is the chief thinking? Never seen him so serious."
Yas nodded and replied, "He was not willing to risk our lives. But ~~~~~"
Hahn also came over at this time, smiled gratefully and said: "Although he is usually cheeky, but in fact the heart is very delicate. It's just that he deliberately hides it and doesn't want to be discovered by others."
The lieutenant nodded, her heart heating up. SHe had always thought his chief was someone who was namely incompetent, lustful, and irresponsible, but She hadn't expected that she would be wrong about her chief.
The Chief didn't say anything, just looked at Rodman seriously.
Rodman was about to say something else, but the Duke approached.
Rodman greeted him and tried to say something, but the Duke shook his head and stopped it.
The Duke walked up to the chief and suddenly dropped to one knee. Rodman was about to rush over to stop it, but was stopped by the Duke.
The Duke said to the Chief: "Mr Spike, I know that our request is excessive and that, according to the rules of the mercenaries, you have the right to leave because we have deliberately concealed our true purpose. But I beg you, not as a duke, but as a son who wishes to return home to see his father one last time. Help us. My father is about to die!" Here, the Duke could no longer control his emotions and burst into tears.
The chief looked at the lieutenant, who nodded solemnly as a sign of her willingness to follow to the death.
The Chieftain gave a bitter laugh and said, "Do you know? The ones who want your life are not only your two brothers, but also His Majesty the Emperor of the Lanfaxit Empire?"
The Duke looked up in astonishment and looked at the Chief with a skeptical look on his face. Clearly not believing this.
The Chief walked over and helped the Duke to his feet and said, "Perhaps you would like to think that you have done nothing to harm the Lanfaxit Empire, that you are even better at diplomacy than your two brothers, and even more so that the Empire has shown you its support for your attainment of the throne."
The Duke nodded.
Chief : "The fact is that you did two things wrong, one, you should not have shown yourself too much, and two, you should not have been betrothed to Princess Sylia."
The Duke nodded and shook his head, clearly understanding the first, but not the second.
The Chief explained, "If you gain the throne and marry Princess Sylia at the same time, the Throat Fortress will lose his strategic importance." Looking at Rodman next to him, he continued, "The military personnel of the Principality are also very supportive of you, I believe."
The Duke nodded, as anyone would understand now.
The Chief: "There are two ways to go now, one is to retreat back to the Lanfaxit Empire and publicly seek protection from the Imperial Emperor while renouncing the throne so that you can live happily ever after with the Princess, but you will not see the last of your father. The second way is to go straight back to the capital from here, and if you are lucky you will see your father and perhaps gain the throne. But the chances of success are almost nil."
The Duke looked at Princess Sylia, did not speak, Sylia: "Ronald to there, I will go there. Husband you will be looked down upon by me if you fail to do your filial duty in order to save your life and mine."
Rodman also came over and shook the Duke's hand tightly.
The Duke turned resolutely to the Chief and said, "I don't care about the throne, but I want to see my father one last time."
The Chief seemed to have known this answer would come, and looked at the Lieutenant and his men.
The lieutenant and they both nodded.
The Chief turned to the Duke as if he had also made up his mind and said, "Fine I will grant your request, but I have four conditions that you must agree to, otherwise I am afraid I have no way to guarantee your safety."
The duke saw the chief promised to continue to escort them overjoyed, busy said, as long as I can do, I will promise. Next to Rodman also let out a long breath.
The Chief said, "The four conditions are ~~~~"
Duke: "Go ahead, I'll do what I say."
The Chief Minister: "1. I want to have a dinner with the Princess alone. 2.Hahn wanted a bottle of Bordeaux noble rot wine from the 1300s of the Red Moon calendar from the collection of the Duchy of Silliman. 3. Open the National Library to Yaz and allow access to the records of the First Human-Devil War. By the way Yas do you want the princess to accompany you?4. ~~~~."
The chief turned to the lieutenant and said, "By the way, what are your hobbies and what do you want, Lieutenant? You should be considered a woman, do you like pretty clothes, gold and silver jewelry or something?"
I reject Spike's request," the chief was frothing at the mouth about the lieutenant's preferences when he suddenly heard Hahn's statement.
Hahn came forward, with his usual smile on his lips, and gave the princess a standard aristocratic salute, saying, "Precious wine must be accompanied by a beautiful woman in order to taste its fragrance, I ask to drink this wine with the princess alone."
With a thud, Princess Hillier fainted.
The lieutenant felt a little dizzy spinning, but military instincts told her to hold on, not to fall. Vaguely remembered the "but" when Yas spoke to him earlier.Vaguely heard Yas say, "But he's always see profit and forget morality." Hahn went on to say, "But he hides very deeply. Not easy to be discovered by others."
Finally, the lieutenant understood why even Yas had been expelled from school. Why Hahn had smiled with relief just now.
The lieutenant had not yet recovered from the blow, while the duke was busy giving artificial respiration to the princess. Rodman is flabbergasted.
The chief went to the lieutenant and vigorously shook him awake and said seriously, "Lieutenant, don't be too happy too early, you have to complete the mission before you can get the reward. You are not as good as me at getting benefits, but I am not as good as you at fighting, so you have to work hard in the future."
The lieutenant gave the chief a stern look and mentally cursed, "I'm such a pig that I almost shed a tear for such rubbish." Outwardly he still gave a respectful military salute and replied, "Yes, sir."
Whatever the current thoughts of the Duke and Princess, the road ahead was not smoothed by the shamelessness of the chief . It was time to prepare for what was to come.
Sobering up, the lieutenant walked over to Rodman and asked, "How do you see the road ahead."
Rodman replied, "If the other side rode four horses each in turn, without stopping, it would only take four days to get back to the royal capital and meet us in six days if they brought men and horses to intercept us again."
Lt: "What if, for example, they have a backup man set up midway?"
Rodman: "Then most likely within 2 days, we will be attacked."
Lt: "Where are your pick-up men arranged?"
Rodman's embarrassed, "Go 50 miles through the woods to a cavalry post up ahead. The soldiers there will be under my immediate command and there should be no problem with their loyalty. We won't be afraid of a sneak attack when we get there." It was Rodman who had initially hired the chief to keep the situation to himself and had not told them that there were men on the road to meet them, so he was embarrassed to be told straight away by the lieutenant.
Lt: "450 miles down the road. Had to take a gamble."
Rodman understood what the lieutenant meant. It was that they would each take four horses on the road without stopping and try to reach the garrison before the enemy arrived. The reason why he had not offered to do so was that he was afraid that the Princess was not in a position to support her in her current physical condition.
The lieutenant glanced at Rodman and then at the princess. Rodman's face flushed for a moment. Although the Princess had to be preserved for the sake of the Kingdom's revival. But to give up his last chance and put the lives of the four mercenaries in front of him at risk was not an honorable thing to do. Rodman's initial plan was to sacrifice the lives of these four men to help him fend off his pursuers at a critical moment, while he took the Duke and the Princess and forced his way through the siege.
The lieutenant looked at Rodman without saying anything else. Instead, he walked up to the Duke and said, "Do the four demands you promised us still count?"
The Duke said grimly with a long sigh, "Count on it, say it! What is your request?"
The lieutenant said, "All I ask is that from now on, you must follow my command until you are safe."
The Duke still seems to have not come back to his senses. See the lieutenant continued: "We deal with those enemies just used the method can no longer be used. If we meet a large number of enemies again we will definitely not be able to escape. So now the only way is to rush through the night and try to get to the cavalry station before the opponents. It's hard for you to accept, but it's the only way." After saying that, he looked at the princess in his arms. Continued, "Give you 10 minutes to get ready, then we'll hit the road."
The duke finally understood the lieutenant's meaning and nodded his head. In fact, he himself is clear that this is the only way, just looking at the princess in his arms, he could not bear to say it.