ALL NOVEL Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen: So-called Beastmen
In summary, due to a series of coincidences, Miss Vilyric, who originally planned to head to the City of Courage in the royal capital, took a major detour after encountering the Fifth Princess, Liliya Meikailande, and set off westward with the princess’s commanding army.
Liliya’s silver-armored Imperial Guards were a select unit she assembled after receiving an appointment from the Royal Western Commission, responsible for the princess’s safety. Among them, part consisted of the guards and knights Liliya personally trained—totaling two thousand men—while the remaining three thousand were drawn from the Imperial Guards stationed in the royal capital.
The army of the United Kingdom was organized into teams of ten, with a hundred forming a detachment, a thousand constituting a legion, and ten thousand forming a corps. On the surface, the three legions temporarily under Liliya’s command appeared to be above reproach, free from political intrigue, but since they were dispatched by the council manipulated by the three princes, the princess remained cautious.
Not long after departing the royal capital, Miss Hua, who had been advised to stay vigilant, sensed something amiss and informed Liliya about the presence of unidentified individuals among the three legions, hinting at potential chaos. This enabled Liliya to proactively develop a strategy to suppress it.
It had been a little over a week since Vilyric accepted the princess’s commission to act as her guard, and after this period of marching, the troops were nearing the Wanku Fortress near the western borders. They should arrive within a day or two.
According to Liliya, General Layton, the fortress’s commander and the western military’s chief, was one of the few loyal talents in the kingdom. He had commanded three hundred thousand western troops defending the borders of the Beast Kingdom for over twenty years, known for his integrity and widely loved by the locals. He was also incredibly powerful, reaching the pinnacle of human potential, mere steps away from legendary status.
Thanks to General Layton, the kingdom had enjoyed years of peace; he would not get involved in the princes’ tiresome political struggles and could be trusted.
The princess was also eager to reach their destination because, although they had won the recent battle against the rebellion, her direct troops had suffered heavy losses, particularly the guards assigned to protect carriages, which had acted as decoys.
Out of the two thousand Imperial Knights, including the lightly injured, only about twelve hundred were still combat-ready. Additionally, they had to escort over a thousand captives. Though Liliya didn’t voice her thoughts, Vilyric could tell she was quite distressed, and it would be difficult for that unit to withstand another battle.
The leader of the rebel forces, the man severely injured by the exploding carriage, had decisively committed suicide upon defeat, leaving behind nothing but fools who knew only half the story. Liliya couldn’t gather evidence and certainly couldn’t send these individuals back to the royal capital, allowing them to return to their old ways, so the best solution was to take them all along to the City of Courage.
…
Inside the princess’s carriage, Liliya stood before a simulation sand table that encompassed the entire western region of the kingdom and half of the Beast Kingdom, deeply contemplating and continuously running simulations in her mind.
Putting political intrigue aside for the moment, Liliya’s primary goal was to win this war, expand her accomplishments as much as possible, and prove herself in order to gain fame and public support.
I have to say, the princess’s carriage was so luxurious that, calling it a carriage was almost misleading. The creature pulling it wasn’t even a horse but a strange being covered in scales, with a single horn on its head, thick limbs, and measuring nearly five to six meters long.
Liliya called it a Horned Beast, said to have traces of a mythical creature, the blood of a Giant Dragon, immense strength, excellent endurance, and outrageously high defenses. It was a second-tier Magical Beast, and many high-ranking nobles in the kingdom liked using them to pull carriages.
Of course, these things were very expensive.
The bottom of the carriage seemed to have magical shock absorbers installed, combined with the Horned Beast’s steady gait; Vilyric couldn’t feel even the slightest bump inside. Even the pieces on the sand table remained perfectly still. It had to be said that having money really was wonderful…
Vilyric, sitting on the other side of the carriage, set down the “World Geography and Cultural Atlas” gifted by the princess and lazily spoke up.
“By the way, Liliya, what kind of country is the Beast Kingdom? This book says that most beastmen can stand on their own as warriors on the battlefield once they reach adulthood, and they can even match trained elite human soldiers. Is that true?”
“Well… yes, and no,”
The princess put down her simulation piece, and her expression grew somewhat serious as she organized her thoughts before explaining.
“Actually, in order to avoid causing unnecessary panic and reduce the Beast Kingdom’s intimidation over our country, the domestic books have deliberately downplayed the evaluations of beastmen. In reality, they are much more troublesome.”
“Huh? Is that really what you call downplaying…?”
Vilyric looked astonished, thinking that a single beastman couldn’t possibly take on ten human soldiers, could they?
“Indeed, as much as I hate to admit it, beastmen may indeed be biologically superior to us humans, representing a more evolved species. What you read in that book is just the basics; in reality, different beastmen possess all sorts of unbelievably strange abilities.”
“For example, Bird-Humans can soar through the sky like the Winged People of the far south and even manipulate some wind; Bear-Humans are incredibly strong, towering over four meters tall, capable of easily smashing through a thirty-centimeter thick tower shield in close combat; Tiger-Humans and Lion-Humans are natural warriors, and once they reach adulthood, they can at least match human Mithril-level fighters…”
“Besides that, there are the strangely fast Wolf Clan, the agile and stealthy Ape-Humans and Leopard-Humans, the Fox-Humans possessing special summoning powers, and the most crucial…”
Liliya paused and said solemnly, “Their royalty, the Half-Dragons, are true super warriors with the bloodline of Giant Dragons, legendary creatures thought to exist only in myths. Their power is beyond human imagination; even inheriting just half of that bloodline grants them horrifying strength.”
“In fact, while Half-Dragons are few in number, it is said they possess at least Earth-level strength at birth. What’s legendary to us is merely a natural progression for them. There’s even a rumor that the current Beast Emperor, the leader of the Half-Dragons, has surpassed the legendary level and reached another unfathomable realm…”
Miss Hua, who had been quietly listening from the side, suddenly added, “I don’t know how strong the Beast Emperor is, but during my travels in my early years, I met a newly adult Half-Dragon, and even after exchanging a few blows, I had just recently broken through to legendary level and didn’t have a sure chance of defeating them.”
“Wow…”
Vilyric was momentarily stunned by their words, starting to understand why Liliya was constantly on edge. However, if beastmen were truly that powerful, how come the United Kingdom had been able to contend with them for so long without being wiped out?
“It’s civilization,”
As if reading Vilyric’s thoughts, the princess explained, “The civilization of the beastmen is very backward. What they call a kingdom is essentially a tribal lifestyle; even farming is not widespread, and they are still at the stage of hunting and foraging for wild fruits. They can’t even use overly complex tools.”
“Due to insufficient food, the population has struggled to grow. A rough estimate suggests that the entire Beast Kingdom has only about two to three million inhabitants, which is less than one-tenth of the United Kingdom’s population. That’s why we can hold our own, thanks to our numbers and tall city walls.”
“Is that so…”
Vilyric muttered softly, but her mind drifted elsewhere.
I wonder how the Giant Dragons of this world compare to the Holy Crystal Dragon Xiao Guang from the game?
And that Beast Emperor, surpassing the legendary… sounds incredibly powerful. I wonder what level they are… lv60, lv70, or even higher?
Since there are such unknown powerful beings, I guess it’s best to stay alert moving forward. After all, even though my level is quite high, I’m just a priest, and without Xiao Guang by my side, it’s better to tread carefully… Better safe than sorry, as they say!