The wolf cavalry led by Corvinus escorted the remnants of the caravan, but their progress was extremely slow due to the wounded. By the time night fell, they were still at least forty miles away from Casros Canyon. Given the condition of the caravan's injured, Corvinus decided not to travel in the dark to avoid venturing into dangerous territory.
They had set up camp on a high rocky hill that overlooked the surroundings.
"So, the famine in the northern wilderness has become even more severe?" Corvinus was chatting with Gava, the boar man, asking about the situation in the northern wilderness.
"Yes, my lord. Many of our boar man tribes have lost numerous members to starvation. Smaller tribes are scrambling to join larger ones, but even the larger tribes don't have much food left. Some dare to take in the smaller tribes' people, while others don't, leading to chaos in the northern wilderness with refugees everywhere."
"Many merchant camps in the north have been destroyed under the pressure, and there have even been incidents of cannibalism among our own kind. That's why I led a part of my tribe to the southern wilderness."
"But as you know, my lord, we didn't dare to venture deep into the southern wilderness. We ended up here by some strange twist of fate, surviving by raiding. Although we don't dare to touch most caravans, there are still a few small merchants who take risks."
"But opportunities like this only come once every half a month; otherwise, we wouldn't be the only ones left," Gava said with a gloomy expression.
Listening to this, Corvinus sighed inwardly. If ancient farmers lived at the mercy of the weather, then orcs were even more so. They were not as intelligent as humans, nor did they have the resource-rich lands of the elves. They relied even more heavily on the weather for survival. If it didn't rain for a long time, famine was inevitable.
Moreover, the agricultural civilization of orc society was extremely primitive. Most of them only knew how to throw seeds into the ground and wait for the harvest. Unlike humans, who had a complete agricultural civilization and knew how to weed, fertilize, and determine the best seeds and watering times, orcs were far more vulnerable when drought struck.
"What about the royal court? Don't they intervene?" Corvinus asked, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt it was a silly question.
"The royal court?" Gava was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know!"
"Sir, the royal court has long lost its former glory. Most of the northern wilderness is inhabited by boar men, minotaurs, and centaurs. The boar men have been led by Marshal Mashal since a hundred years ago. The authority of the royal court is hardly acknowledged by anyone in the northern wilderness, not even many minotaurs," Tyton explained with a smile.
"Has the royal court really declined that much? I heard that it still has a strong foundation," Corvinus said in surprise.
He didn't know much about this, after all, he was a穿越者（穿越者）and his previous life had no knowledge in this regard.
Tyton's words shocked him. Logically, the entire wilderness was under the rule of the royal court, but he didn't expect the situation in the north to have deteriorated so much.
Moreover, in his understanding, the royal court should still be strong, considering it had recently suffered significant losses of legendary figures and yet remained intact.
"There is a foundation, otherwise the royal court wouldn't exist anymore. But now it's merely a nominal authority. Many large tribes have openly defied the royal court."
"As for why the tribes in the southern wilderness still acknowledge it, it's because the ruling race of the royal court is the werewolves. That's why most of the tribes in the south still give the royal court some respect."
Corvinus understood. If it weren't for the werewolf royal court, the millions of werewolves living in the south would probably have long forgotten the concept of the royal court.
Corvinus was still very surprised that the royal court had declined to such an extent. The concept of the royal court was supposed to be absolute authority, with no tribe daring to act out of line.
Of course, although the royal court had declined, a dead camel was still bigger than a horse.
Moreover, the Silver Mane tribe was still an insignificant tribe.
"Marshal Mashal of the boar men is a strong figure who rose to prominence a hundred years ago. At that time, the royal court was in decline, and conflicts often occurred between centaurs and boar men. There were also goblins and lizardmen eyeing the boar men. The boar men were not united at that time, with internal factions fighting each other, so they were unable to stand against the three races, resulting in significant losses for the boar men as a whole. Mashal's tribe, which came from a large clan, also suffered heavy blows. He appealed to the royal court, hoping it would step in to balance the power of the three races."
"But at that time, the royal court was in decline, with countless factions forming within. The king had become a mere figurehead and puppet, and no one paid any attention to Mashal."
"In a fit of anger, Mashal publicly declared that his tribe would no longer be loyal to the royal court. This caused a huge shock throughout the wilderness, and orcs and other forces from other regions turned their gaze to the northern wilderness."
"At that time, although the royal court was in decline, its authority still existed, and no tribe had truly challenged it. So the royal court was extremely furious."
"It sent a team led by five legends and hundreds of powerful figures to Mashal's tribe, claiming to arrest Mashal and reduce the hundreds of thousands of boar men in Mashal's tribe to slavery."
"When everyone thought Mashal and his tribe were doomed, the five legends and hundreds of powerful figures never returned to the royal court from Mashal's tribe."
"No one knows the exact details."
"But it is rumored that, apart from one legendary figure who was crippled and sent back to the royal court by Mashal, the rest perished."
"After that incident, the royal court surprisingly fell silent."
"It was from that time that the authority of the royal court was completely lost."
"And the boar men in the northern wilderness gradually began to look to Mashal as their leader, eventually leading to the title of Marshal of the Boar Men."
Corvinus was stunned after hearing this.
Mashal was truly a hero, challenging the entire old establishment by himself and emerging victorious.
"However, it is rumored that the royal court dared not cause trouble because Mashal was an epic-level strong figure at that time," Tyton said.
"Of course, this is just a rumor. After all, an epic-level strong figure might not even exist in the entire wilderness."
"Epic-level?"
Corvinus was astonished. Above legendary was epic. What was epic? It meant living history. Their lifespan could reach several thousand years. They were almost witnesses and observers of history.
"You really know a lot!" Corvinus looked at Tyton and smiled.
Tyton's knowledge truly surprised him. Forget epic, Cadia and the others probably didn't even know what legendary meant.
"I heard these stories from my father or other people," Tyton said with a smile.
Corvinus nodded. Orcs rarely recorded history. Most events were passed down orally.
At that moment, a wolf man guard from the caravan approached and said, "Respected sir, this is the food our boss has sent for you to taste."
With that, he placed several large cloth bags beside Corvinus.
It was dried meat!
The scent of the dried meat, Corvinus immediately identified it.
Then, Corvinus turned his head and looked a few meters away, where the elven noble and his guards were also sitting around a fire.
As Corvinus turned to look, the elven noble's gaze also met his. They nodded at each other.
"Tell your boss that we will take care of the night watch. You all should rest well."
"Yes, sir!" The wolf man guard bowed respectfully before leaving.