Chapter 128: Siege
Outside Northwind Fortress.
The chaotid incessant noise filled the surroundings.
"For Ember !"
"quer Northwind Fortress!"
Dark wyverns swarmed the skies like rolling storm clouds, while kobolds and goblins surged across the ground like a murky tide, c the earth.
The skies and nds outside Northwind Fortress were occupied by the Ss, and to those withiy, the sight was like the arrival of the apocalypse.
"Oh my god..."
A city guard standing on the wall looked up at the sky, muttering to himself.
Ember ’s wyvern riders swept over the city, scattering leaflets like snowfkes.
The leaflets promised generous terms for surrender and included a replica of the tract with Duke Brad La, along with images of the blood thralls of Northwind Fortress.
At the end was a lihat struck at the heart:
【Are you truly willing to pledge your loyalty to a mere vampire until death?】
Previously unseen bards from the Ae Academy appeared withiy. These bards, using their natural charisma, mesmerized their audiences. When the appuse died down, the listeners often found themselves questioning everything they once believed in—from their faith in the clergy of the local temples to their loyalty to the ruling monarbsp;
The tales these bards reted were all dark histories of the La family.
Before the bards could finish their performahey were arrested by guards or hacked to death on the spot, serving as a brutal warning to the publibsp;
Yet the bards were fearless, shouting in their final moments:
"A life for a thousand tribution points—worth it!"
"For Ember !"
For example, at this moment, a bard pyer with the ID “Lonely Like Snow” was being dragged away by guards, yet he shouted: "I ugh at the heavens with bde in hand, life ah a trivial matter!"
Though the people didn’t uand the meaning, they could feel the fierce passion in his tone.
He was dragged into the street and beheaded on the spot.
With a swish, his head fell, blood spraying everywhere, causing the faied to tremble in terror.
Soon, whether deliberately incited or naturally arising, whispers began cirg withiy.
People quickly formed a chilling theory—that the “traitors” being arrested might truly have bee the so-called blood thralls, sacrifices for Duke Brad La’s ritual. Coupled with the previous demon trat, everything started to make uling sense.
Yet no one dared voice such thoughts, for it would surely brih.
They could only bury these fears deep within, though at the right moment, these aies would undoubtedly erupt.
At the entrance of the cil hall in Northwind Fortress, on Eagle Square, frightened citizens were being gathered.
Perhaps learning from the lesson of t Dawson’s death by artillery, the gathering was not held he city walls.
Northwind Fortress’s chief military ander and de facto leader, t Brandon, surveyed the surroundings.
On the pza below the ptform, there were eborately dressed nobles, armored soldiers, ragged beggars, and patched-up farmers. All were gathered there, their eyes filled with fear and unease.
"The Duke has said, we must dey at all costs."
"Ohe Duke pletes the great ritual, everything will fall into pce."
"We must extract every st ounce of value from these people."
With this in mind, Brandon began to speak.
"Citizens, I uand your fear."
"After all, the enemy you face is the infamous ‘Hellish Camity,’ the dragon that annihited thirty thousand allied troops. Perhaps the most terrifying, powerful, and evil creature Aa has seen in a tury. Even with all our forces bined, we may not stand as much as a single ce against it."
The crowd erupted into murmurs.
Despite the siege by Ember ’s forces and rampant rumors iy, many were still unsure of the truth, with some dismissing the “Infernal Sce” as an excuse by allied generals to shirk responsibility.
Now, all was revealed.
"Indeed, I have no iion of hiding it. The red dragon and its vile Ss have desded upon Northwind Fortress, surrounding our city. But should we simply surrender? Give up? Bee sves to monsters and accept the dragon’s brutal rule?"
The crowd fell silent.
Brandon sed the assembly and locked eyes with a middle-aged soldier.
"Soldier, yes, I’m speaking to you."
"Answer me truthfully, do you have children?"
The soldier, startled by being addressed directly, stammered, "Y-yes, a daughter."
Brandon nodded slightly. "A daughter, very well."
"But as I uand it, that red dragon is the Dragon of Lust and Wrath. He oransformed into a terrifying, four-meter-tall humanoid, ravaged a beautiful maiden, and then cruelly devoured her. This was witnessed firsthand by a hidden justice-seeker, a true at."
He paused dramatically, then stared ily at the soldier, tinuing:
"Imagine, when this dragon rules Northwind Fortress, what will he do to your daughter? Could you bear to see her subjected to inhuman torment and ultimately lose her life in misery? Could you eurning home to find your house ransacked, your daughter’s dismembered, bloody remains scattered about?"
"No! Never!"
The soldier, picturing the horrifying se, turned red-eyed with bulging veins.
Brandon nodded in satisfa, shifting his gaze to a mert.
"Do you have a wife?"
"Yes."
Using the same strategy, with the same oute, Brandon’s skillful rhetoric heightehe emotional iy of his speebsp;
"It’s time."
Brandon thought to himself.
Seeing the crowd suffitly roused, Brandon finally sed the entire assembly, raising his sword high.
"Ladies alemen, regardless of your status—noble, soldier, farmer, or mert—at this moment, there are eemed dukes, only ordinary people. Like you, I am a father to a child, a husband to a wife, a son to parents. We are all simply people wanting to protect our loved ones. So, I ask you all, you allow your dearest oo fall into the clutches of the dragon, subjected to inhuman suffering?"
"No!"
"No! Never!"
The crowd was silent for a moment, theed into waves of defianbsp;
Among the thirty thousand citizens of Northwind Fortress, many were genuinely moved by Brandon’s speech, while others scoffed inwardly but were swept along by the crowd’s fervor.
FAL
