The Orlando Mountains at night are full of crises, the ghostly light flickering in the darkness is the eye of a wild beast, and the mournful birdcalls that ring out from time to time are creepy.
The Blue Demoness mercenary group didn't light torches, and the mercenaries carried large packs of loot on their backs, as well as a team of young beasts, and traveled through the mountains in the dark.
The mercenary group traveled with difficulty, the rugged road in the darkness, from time to time the mercenaries would fall, and large beasts that didn't know how to die would suddenly charge at them.
But before the beasts attacking the party could get close to the mercenary group, they would be dealt with by sharp arrows shot out of the darkness. The occasional ones that rushed close to the group were instantly engulfed by Aedryn's flames.
After traveling non-stop for nearly a night, the mercenary group only stopped to rest for the first time when the dawn shimmered.
Even so, the mercenary group was forced to stop, for no matter how much the mercenaries swung their whips the group of captive young orcs could not walk.
All of the orcs had slumped to the ground while the mercenaries briefly set up a guard before they began to take turns resting.
Arthur had been silently watching the actions of the mercenaries along the way, some of which he couldn't even comprehend, but still took note of.
The fatigue from the battle and the night-long march made the mercenaries quickly fall into sleep, and even the mercenaries in charge of the guard duty couldn't help but doze off. Because the day had dawned, the danger had passed.
I don't know how long they had slept, but the mercenaries were awakened by a shriek. All the mercenaries instantly grabbed the weapons at hand and prepared for battle.
"Tony, what the fuck are you howling about?" Cairns yawned and sat up.
"Chief, that lion cub has escaped!"
"How did you run, didn't I tell you to bundle up tighter?"
"Look at the knife cuts in this rope, he was rescued!" Tony carried two neatly cut sections of rope and held them out to Cairns.
Cairns frowned softly, "Do any of the other cubs still run?"
"Nope, just ran that lion cub."
"Forget it, just run away. Rest for a little while longer and we'll continue on our way, leaving here early to avoid a long night."
"Ah!" Tony's jaw almost dropped in shock, "Chief, how can we just let it go? That little lion is our biggest catch this time! And I suspect there's a mole in the team, there's no way the others can bypass our guard so easily." Tony said as his gaze had turned to Arthur.
Cairns waved his hand, "No need to look into it, it's a good thing that little lion ran away."
"Good thing?" Tony scratched his head in confusion.
"Didn't you notice the color of his Dou Qi? That's the Golden Lion family's top fighting qi, 'Red Sun Flowing Gold', and it can only be cultivated by family members with the qualifications of an heir. The Golden Lion is one of the three most powerful families of the orcs, and even in the realm of our human race, their eyes are all over the place. What do you think they would do if they knew that their heir had been sold as a human slave?" There was heaviness in Cairns' seemingly flat tone.
Tony, Angus and the mercenaries around them sucked in a cold breath, that meant another war between man and beast.
Cairns winked at Arthur rather thoughtfully and was rewarded with a polite smile.
...
Three days later, the Blue Leprechaun Mercenary Corps walked out of the Orlando Mountains, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Arthur suddenly realized that there was one more person in the group. It was a man with a slim figure and handsome face, carrying a large bow wrapped with green trailing branches and carved with beautiful patterns. The pointed ears that showed between his long soft blonde hair showed his identity as an elf.
He was the archer who had been hidden in the shadows.
Although the human and elf races were not in a hostile relationship like they were with the orcs, the elves rarely appeared in the human's kingdom, much less allowed humans to enter the elf's kingdom. Arthur was very curious as to how this elf called Ilaya became a member of the Blue Leprechaun mercenaries.
Seeing that Arthur had been staring at himself, the elf Ilaya nodded gently at him and returned the smile, fully displaying the politeness and elegance of an elf in every move.
Two days later, a tall city appeared in front of the crowd.
The gray basalt-stacked walls were twenty meters high, with seven or eight meter high sentry towers erected on the walls, a huge crossbow cannon was set up between the battlements of the walls, and weapon-wielding soldiers patrolled back and forth on the walls.
The drawbridge at the city gates lay on the ground, and people waiting to enter or leave the city were lined up in long lines at the huge arched gates, a team of soldiers scrutinizing the crowds entering and leaving the city.
This was the location of the Blue Goblin Mercenary Corps' headquarters, the small border town of the Human Kingdom of Isaac, the city of Huaorres.
Juarez was also the first line of defense against orc attacks. Historically, the city of Juarez had fallen and been recaptured several times, and the bricks covered with traces of swords and axes and the black-brown bloodstains on the surface of the walls were the best proof of history. Even in times of peace, the city's defenses are never slackened, and a reinforced guard regiment of 5,000 men is stationed in the city.
Arthur stared at the giant city before him in disbelief, from the small village where he was born to the ragged camp of the orcs, this was the first time Arthur had ever seen such a tall, majestic structure.
The mercenary group didn't line up and headed straight for the city gates with Cairns leading the way.
"Cairns leader, your harvest this time is good?" The captain who guarded the door was obviously very familiar with Cairns, not only did he not check but also greeted him warmly.
"Good luck, caught a few orc pups, buy the brothers a drink." Cairns casually threw a few gold coins to the leading captain, receiving a burst of compliments from the soldiers guarding the gate.
Mercenaries have a higher status than nobles and merchants in all human kingdoms. Because mercenary groups are obliged to assist in defending the city in times of war, all cities welcome the presence of mercenary groups, especially large mercenary groups, and the strength of an A-ranked mercenary group is even better than that of a division of the human army.
As the largest city on the border, the city of Juarez was very prosperous during the non-war period. The Orlando Mountain Range was rich in products, from rare ores to cherished herbs and magical beast materials produced in large quantities, and even some commodities smuggled from the Orc Wasteland could be gotten in large quantities, with herb stores, weapon stores, and trade houses lining both sides of the streets, and people coming and going on the wide streets.
Arthur, who had never seen so many people before, was already dazzled; everything was new to him.
Because of escorting a group of small beastmen into the city, the Blue Demoness Mercenary Regiment attracted a lot of onlookers, and the bold children even threw stones and spit at the small beastmen. The conflict between the human and beast races was deeply rooted in the children's hearts, and was passed down from generation to generation.
In a corner of the southern part of the city of Juarez, in front of the gate of a huge courtyard with a green stone wall, stood a tall, fat man.
The fat man had a cold face, full of horizontal meat, his protruding stomach was like a small mountain, and he only had one arm, with the sleeve on the other side cut off at shoulder length.
Looking at the gradually approaching team, Fatty took a few more steps forward to welcome them before a hint of a smile appeared on his face, "Brothers, welcome home!"