Chapter 808: Chapter 808 — SSS Tier Military Quest

Over two hundred young maidens were soon gathered outside of the Violent Thunder Spear Army camp. Most of them were girls who had been kidnapped from the villages, brought to become slaves for these high ranked officers. I walked over before the crowd of women and asked, “Which one of you is Iris?”

As soon as the words left my mouth, all of the girls frantically whispered amongst themselves. They were all incredibly afraid and wouldn’t trust anybody.

I cleared my throat and continued, “I’m the Commander of the Royal Army, Li Xiao Yao, and I once passed through Starlight Village. The old chief asked me to find his granddaughter, whose name is Iris. Iris, if you don’t come out, your grandfather will continue to worry for you. I will send my men to escort you back, please believe me!”

Finally, a young elegant girl walked out, dressed completely in green. She was one of the girls that came from Yugo’s tent. She looked up at me with her beautiful eyes and trembled in fear. Tears filled her eyes as she asked, “You… you… Did my grandfather really send you here to save me?”

I nodded, “You’re Iris?”

“Yes…” She turned her face away and looked at Yugo’s body with hatred in her stare, “Half a year ago, I was kidnapped by the pirates. Since then, I’ve always been serving this man… General, thank you for killing Yugo and taking revenge for me!”

I pursed my lips and didn’t say anything. I turned around to Han Yuan and said, “Have one of the captains lead a hundred man team to take Iris back to Starlight Village. The rest of you, begin distributing some rations to the remaining girls and take those five thousand Spear soldiers back to the capital!”

“Yes sir!”

After the hundred man unit left to escort Iris back, the quest was considered complete. A bell rang beside my ear——

“Ding!”

System Notification: Congratulations, you have completed the SSS tier quest [Rescue the Maiden Iris], and have received the following reward: Experience Bar +75% , Gold +10000, Charm+10!

Not bad. This kind of reward was better than nothing. At least I was leveling up faster than I would have if I were to farm experience from monsters. I was getting close to the next level now.

……

The Violent Thunder Long Spear Garrison was sealed off by my troops, but a few of their soldiers still managed to escape the net. It was not safe for us to stay too long in one place. We needed to return to Tian Ling City as soon as possible. Otherwise, based on my understanding of Louis’ personality, he will definitely deploy troops to stop us midway. At that point, it would be difficult for us to carry out the mission.

Thankfully, we didn’t encounter any obstacles on the way there. The Royal Army escorted five thousand NPC soldiers into the city, gaining a lot of attention as we passed through the central plaza. However, everyone was able to understand with a single glance about what had happened. At the current stage, every player knew that I was the highest military ranked player in Tian Ling City.

Twenty thousand Royal Army troops escorted five thousand Long Spear soldiers to the gates of the Royal Palace and waited there for further instructions. I then led Han Yuan and Xiao Lie along with five of the lieutenants from the Long Spear Garrison into the Great Hall. Before the great doors, one of the guards walked out and glared at me, “General of the South, you’ve really outdone yourself this time. You actually dared to flaunt your new status and take your own soldiers to interfere with another army of the empire…”

I wryly smiled, “Thank you, thank you, his majesty and Princess Pearl are in the hall, correct?”

“Yes they are. They’re in the middle of a discussion, but they’ve allowed you to bring the men in for an audience!”

“Yes sir!”

I led the line of people and stepped into the Great Hall. Who knows how many times I’ve stepped into the same hall, and yet it felt oppressive and daunting this time. I didn’t feel worried until after the deed had been done. If King Rob was a wise ruler, he would undoubtedly speak up for me, but if he wasn’t, then this latest incident was more than enough to kill me. Thankfully this was a game, and so dying once was no big deal. Players had the power to resurrect themselves multiple times after all.

Military and diplomatic officers stood in a long line on both sides in the Great Hall. When I walked in, I could see the commander of the Violent Thunder Army—Guardian General Louis, kneeling on the ground. The red handkerchief that was tied around his armed swayed slightly in the breeze. He tearfully cried out, “Your majesty, you must bring justice for the soldiers of the Violent Thunder Army! At the Sea of No Return and the Battle of Deer Lake, our soldiers were bathed in blood and we’ve lost over half our men! Our blood has dyed every inch of this empire’s land. But Li Xiao Yao, under the guise of Princess Pearl’s protection and his one military achievement, actually dares to attack a garrison of the Violent Thunder Army in broad daylight and kill my general, Yugo. Not only that, he’s humiliated five thousand of my soldiers by parading them through the capital like prisoners. This… this is an utter disrespect to my men. Your majesty, you have to bring this to justice. Otherwise, the thousands of men who have died for this country will not rest peacefully…”

The Louis right then didn’t have an ounce of a commander’s dignity. Instead, he acted more like a little b*tch. Theodore, Owen, and Les looked disdainfully at him. Princess Pearl was more candid and spoke out, “General Louis, please stand up. Is this how a commander of a nation’s army should act?”

Louis looked up with swollen eyes, “Your majesty, I’ve been wronged!”

King Rob stood up with the Ruler’s Sword at his hip and addressed me in a calm and powerful voice, “General Li of the Royal Army, do you have any objections to Commander Louis’ allegations? Without permission, you deployed the Royal Army troops against the Violent Thunder Army and furthermore seized their garrison. Is this true?”

I nodded, “Everything you have stated is true, but there were necessary reasons for these actions.”

“What reasons?” the crown prince Theodore asked coldly.

I looked up at the officers around me and at his majesty. Without arrogance nor craven, I stated, “The War God’s River has long faced the wrath of the pirates. These pirates call themselves the Dragonling Army and hold close to a hundred battleships. In addition, they have over ten thousand men in their ranks. On countless occasions they have raided the villagers that live on both shores, not only murdering the innocents and setting fire to their homes, but also kidnapping their women and children. Based on my understanding, the one imperial army that is based there, the Violent Thunder Army, have left them to wreak havoc without moving a single finger. There are even allegations of shady dealings between the two. As such, I took it upon the Royal Army to investigate further.”

Louis immediately stood up and glared at me with his red eyes, “General Li, you are maliciously defaming my good name! My Violent Thunder Army is completely loyal to the empire. How… how could we do something so dishonorable? What evidence do you have? Just what gives you the right to smear the name of the Violent Thunder Army? I will not forgive you for this!”

Princess Pearl added, “Exactly. Li Xiao Yao, do you have evidence?”

I nodded and waved my hand, signaling for Xiao Lie to bring in the Dragon Crystal Cannon and the regular cannon into the great hall. I pointed at the insignia on the base and said, “These are cannons I found in the Dragonling ships and they just happen to have the insignia of the Violent Thunder Army. This is proof that it was assigned to the Violent Thunder Army from the military treasury. Even though its been filed down, you can still recognize the outline. Moreover, the Dragonling Army kidnapped several young women from their families in the villages, and quite a few have been sent to entertain the soldiers of the Violent Thunder Army’s Long Spear Garrison. On this point, there are just too many witnesses.”

It was only after I spoke that the old king was enraged. He slammed his fist against the throne and roared, “Louis, what is the meaning of this? Did your Violent Thunder Army really collude with the pirates?”

Louis was so stunned and intimidated that he immediately fell to his knees and reported, “Your majesty, I… I have no knowledge of this!”

I smiled wryly, “Perhaps General Louis truly is ignorant of these matters. After all, it was completely controlled by the commander of the Long Spear Garrison, General Yugo. Your majesty, please judge wisely.”

The old king looked over at Louis and said, “General Louis, did you truly have no knowledge of this?”

Louis bowed his head to the floor in a rough kowtow and cried out, “Your majesty is wise, I truly did not know. I am guilty of not supervising my soldiers well enough and allowing Yugo to commit such heinous acts. For that I have no argument!”

The old king smiled softly, “Alright then, seeing as you have admitted to your guilt, then I shall leave mercy! Now, General Louis will be demoted to a Deputy General, but will still remain the commander of the Violent Thunder Army. Make sure you properly command your troops before something like this happens again!”

Before this, Louis, as a Guardian General, was one rank higher than me, a General of the South. However, now that he was demoted to a Deputy General, he was one rank lower than me. Sliding down two ranks must be a hard pill for him to swallow, but this punishment was already very light.

……

Louis retreated into the line of officers while I remained in my spot. King Rob looked over at me with a mysterious look in his eye. He smiled, “General Li Xiao Yao, your achievements against the Dragonling Army will not be overlooked. You have once again worked hard for the empire and its citizens. I will remember this!”

“Ding!”

System Notification: Achievement Points+400

I let out a sigh of relief. This entire night’s worth of work has not gone to waste, and I didn’t even get punished.

The old king coughed and continued, “My generals, the Dragonling Army has been creating chaos on the War God’s River, and is like a tumor on this nation. We must deal with them quickly. What are your suggestions?”

Marquis Les held up his broken hand and stepped out from the line, “Your majesty, I previously had already sent out several units to counter the attacks of the Dragonling Army, but the empire has too few battleships to go against them. We would suffer a loss every time. It is only because of this that the Dragonling Army can act so recklessly. In my opinion, we should not carelessly charge in. We should place our priorities on the Hybrid Demon Territory in the north and not a mere ten thousand men for the Dragonling Army.”

I furrowed my brow and muttered, “You actually want to leave them alone?”

Pearl whispered, “Don’t say anything. Can’t you tell that Father is already angry at you for making a move against the Long Spear Garrison without permission?”

I nodded, “I could tell…”

Pearl smiled, “Then why don’t you act obediently and await for orders?!”

“Oh?”

Right as I pursed my lips at the thought, Crown Prince Theodore immediately stood up and said, “Father, we cannot ignore Dragonling Army. I suggest you immediately deploy an army to completely eliminate those pirates!”

The old king asked, “Who do you think we should send out?”

Theodore smiled, “The Royal Army’s Li Xiao Yao is talented in both strategy and in combat. Furthermore, his Royal Army already has 50,000 troops in their navy. They’ve even gone so far as to dig out a reservoir in their garrison to start training their navy troops. There is no better choice than the Royal Army!”

I wrinkled my brows. Looks like Theodore is really being considerate to the Royal Army by giving us this hard bone to chew.

The old king asked, “General Li, are you willing to accept this order?”

I immediately stepped up and replied, “I would be honored to help the empire put these rebels in their place.”

“Good!”

……

“Ding!”

System Notification: You have received the SSS tier main military quest: [Eliminate the Dragonling Army]!

Quest Details: Lead the Royal Army in a campaign to eradicate the Dragonling Army. Bring back the head of the Dragonling Army Commander, Dragon Scale, to the palace as proof of completion. You will receive a very generous reward for your efforts. Please be careful, the Dragonling Army is much more terrifying than you can imagine!