132. Burn it to the ground...

"Leader." Gesh was taken to the leader of the enemy, only to find that the woman was very young. 

The idea of sending such a young noble to the front lines made him question whether or not the kingdom was truly desperate. However, the path he had taken to get to this place surprised him more.

The moment he came out of the makeshift prison, he first noticed the two dead bodies on both sides of the building. 

Although he did not examine them closely, he did not notice any outward signs of injury. If anything, it looked like they vomited before they died.

It wasn't just them. Gesh had seen many other bodies in the same condition as this one as he was led down the path to the waiting enemy leader. The captor did not respond to his questions with anything more than a smile.

"I thought you would struggle to get free." As soon as he met the young leader of the enemy army, she asked. "Or, you were trying to attack me after coming close to me?"

"What do you want?" Gesh didn't have any intention of playing with words. "If you are planning to ransom me off, then give up. I am not a wealthy noble, and I do not have any strong people behind me. They won't pay a single penny to you for me."

Gesh looked around him before adding, "The person you are supposed to ransom off must have died by now."

"You must be talking about the leader." With a sigh, the young leader continued, "Whether it was because he had a high amount of knight energy or because he drank the water after diluting it with wine, the poison weakened. He was one of the few we found alive in the city. Alas! He won't be living for too long. The poison had spread too much. But, aren't you the lucky one…"

Gesh couldn't say that he was the lucky one. After all, he was one of the few alive when the two thousand soldiers who came after him died. 

Thinking about it, Gesh couldn't help asking, "You really poison all the city's wells just to kill the soldiers? Isn't that too much?"

Seeing the young leader just smile but not say anything, he couldn't help but remind her, "You must have poisoned all the wells of the city. You know that you won't be able to use the city for a long time."

The young leader paused as she looked at him for a moment before adding, "It is just a small price to pay for the win."

"Do you understand how many people will lose their homes because of your one decision?"

"Does it matter?" The young leader smiled, adding, "Do you think you would have let them live after what we have done to your soldiers? If you are worried so much, then you shouldn't have attacked us in the first place."

Gesh didn't know what to say. After all, what the young leader said was the truth. Even the war was advertised in the empire as an easy fight to recruit more soldiers for the army.

"Your army is superior, bigger, and well-trained than ours. When we are unsure if we can live long enough to see the sun tomorrow, do you think we will be worried enough to lose a city or two? A city is worth nothing as long as its citizens are alive. They will struggle but won't die easily."

Even if Gesh wanted to say something, he couldn't find the right words.

The bees would still attack the intruder even if they knew doing so would result in their deaths. 

A tiny ant would still try to inflict as much damage as possible on a massive elephant, even if he knew he had no chance of winning.

"Now, what do you want to do with me?" Although he was sure that death might be his only way out, he still couldn't help asking.

"Nothing much. Eat and rest while you watch the show."

"Huh!" Gesh wasn't sure what he had heard was right.

"Why do you want me to kill you?"

Gesh didn't know what to say. Of course, he didn't want to die. 

But he also knew that the main army would not welcome him back with open arms after the army's death. 

After all, he was the captain of the knight corps, and none of his knights might have survived.

The young leader ordered the soldiers to lead him away before she turned to him, adding, "Don't try to do something funny. Just enjoy the show. And be assured that you won't be waiting for long."

Seeing the soldiers take Gesh out of the city, the young leader said, "I have done it, right?"

Rika smiled and rubbed Nisa's head. "You have done well enough. You are more of a leader than Thyra."

Nisa, who was acting as the young leader, smiled and said, "Thyra is really mad, isn't it? Astonishingly, she actually gave us the order to set fire to the city."

Rika agreed, saying, "With the water source poisoned, there would not be much we could do about the city. If the 2,000-strong army had successfully retaken the city, we would have had more difficulty reclaiming it. It will not be as powerful as Digen, but it will help them launch additional attacks there."

Nisa could understand Rika's logic. It was still very surprising to her. She asked, "We have to wait for night to put the city on fire, right?"

"That would have maximum effect." Rika nodded. Only about ten enemy soldiers were left, and the rest had all been killed. The wine and oil were spread out across the city. Now we have to wait until the sun sets. Let them just watch the city burn and send them back."

"We can start the fire early. It will take some time for the fire to spread across the city. "

"Yes, let's do that."

Nisa sighed, adding, "Even more surprising is that Thyra dared to infiltrate the empire with such few soldiers."

"Either she is a genius or the biggest idiot."

"She is an idiot." Nisa nodded as if she were sure of it. "After all the things she had done, if they learned that Thyra was inside the empire, they would just block the border and start a manhunt."

"Didn't she say she would be out before they would know they were there?"

"I seriously doubt she would be capable of pulling that off. According to Fanger's map, the farthest village that Thyra plans to attack is located about 8-9 days away from here. Despite the fact that she left three days ago, it is possible that these soldiers might reach their main camp before Thyra launches her first attack."

"But if you give it some thought, they would only find out that Thyra burned the city, not that she was hiding somewhere inside the empire. That is why Thyra only brought a small band of supporters; she did not want to draw unnecessary attention from the enemy."

"I do not know how she will pull it off, but I guess we will find out soon enough."