The First Battle of Expansion, Part Two

Watching the goblins draw ever closer, Velin could clearly see their fear. He gripped his Horse Spear tightly and made the first contact.

In an instant, the bodies of the Goblin Warriors at the front were torn apart, several of them pierced through in succession by the Horse Spear.

Relying on that momentum, Velin charged forward for more than twenty meters before abandoning his Horse Spear. He drew his Knight Longsword and began hacking his way through, breaking away from the goblin formation and heading for the conspicuous wooden command platform.

Under normal circumstances, infantry should have done everything possible to restrict the knights' room to maneuver, creating opportunities for the others.

But Velin and his twelve men easily slaughtered their way through the goblin formation, charging straight toward the command platform where the Boulder Goblin Chief stood.

Seeing this, Belder, who was in charge of commanding the infantry, ordered the Slave Cannon Fodder to attack.

When the Slave Cannon Fodder came into contact with the goblins, Belder gave another order, sending the Armed Serfs charging forward.

At the same time, Orlando and Hebrew donned Leather Armor, drew their Knight's Shortswords, and followed behind the Armed Serfs into the first battle of their lives.

Seeing the human knights approaching, the goblin chief commanding from the raised platform hurriedly ordered the Goblin Warriors guarding him to meet the enemy. At the same time, he mobilized the magic within his body, activated his Staff, and launched a magical attack, intending to teach these humans a lesson.

Velin stepped forward and cut down several Goblin Warriors in succession. Then he leaped from his horse onto the wooden command platform and cleaved the two burly Goblin Warriors blocking his path in half at the waist.

Boulder Tribe Chief Gley saw that his final barrier was gone. His legs turned weak with terror, his spellcasting was interrupted, and he suffered a backlash. Green blood spilled from his mouth as he collapsed helplessly to the ground.

Staring up at the sky, he desperately wished that the decision he had made a day ago had been to migrate rather than fight these humans.

Velin thrust his sword through Boulder Tribe Chief Gley's heart, raised the corpse high, and hurled it hard toward the goblin formation.

The instant the goblins saw their chief's corpse, they scattered like monkeys from a falling tree, fleeing in every direction.

Seeing this, Belder allowed the Armed Serfs to act freely. Whether they could break free of their serf status depended on themselves. He then rode toward Velin.

Velin removed his helmet and sat atop the platform, watching the battlefield being cleared up. He looked at Orlando and Hebrew with great interest.

The two had gone from initial panic to gradually adapting, and finally to fighting with ease. They had grown remarkably quickly.

Orlando in particular made Velin feel as though he were witnessing the rise of a genius—a genius who belonged to him.

"Lord."

"Belder, these goblins were even weaker than I imagined. I think we'll soon claim this land and gain our first expansion territory." Seeing Belder arrive, Velin jumped down from the four-meter-high command platform, landing precisely on horseback as he spoke.

"Not only that, we can select some of the better-performing Armed Serfs and form the territory's first army."

"Mm. I'll have Orlando assist you."

When it came to the military, he needed to keep a hand in it. He could not leave every matter to Belder.

So he set his sights on Orlando, his Guardian Knight, intending to make him the core of a force that could balance the army.

At that moment, a knight ran over and said excitedly, "Lord, Captain, the extra goblins here are warriors from the six surrounding tribes. They... that is roughly the situation."

"So the six goblin tribes around us are currently leaderless." Velin smiled. He had not expected such a pleasant surprise to arrive so suddenly.

"Lord, why not seize this opportunity to strike at those six goblin tribes?" Belder quickly understood and eagerly offered his advice.

After hearing Belder's suggestion, Velin considered it for a moment before ordering, "Leave thirty Armed Serfs behind to clean up the battlefield. The remaining eleven knights, along with Orlando, will form teams of four. Each team will lead five squads of Armed Serfs and choose two goblin tribes. By tomorrow morning, I want to hear good news from them."

"Yes, Lord."

The knight accepted the order and went down to relay Velin's command.

"Belder, have the remaining people set up camp first. We still need to spend the night here."

"Understood, Lord."

After Belder struck his chest in a military salute, he left. Counting casualties, inventorying supplies, and planning the camp all required his attention.

On the other side, after receiving Velin's orders, the eleven knights and Orlando, the Guardian Knight, split into teams, agreed on their targets, and immediately set out with their troops without daring to delay for even a moment.

That night, inside the luxurious cave of the Boulder Tribe, Velin, Belder, and Hebrew sat beside a fire, eating roasted meat as they reviewed the battle.

"Lord, in this battle, we lost twelve Slave Cannon Fodder. Eight died on the spot, while the remaining four lost hands or feet and had no further use. I have already ordered their execution."

"Well done. There is no need to be softhearted toward those Bandit Slaves. If they have no use, kill them. There is no point wasting food on them." Velin nodded in approval at Belder's handling of the matter.

Seeing this, Belder continued, "In this battle, we killed a total of three hundred and twenty-one goblins. We seized 142 Gold Coins, 382 Silver Coins, over 1,500 Copper Coins, more than 5,300 jin of grain, more than 1,100 jin of dried meat, and 600 jin of salt..."

"Salt? Wait a moment." Velin reacted and raised a hand to interrupt Belder's report. "Six hundred jin of salt? That much? Is there a Salt Mine nearby?"

Belder shook his head. "Lord, I do not know. It may be nearby. If we send people to search tomorrow, we should be able to find it."

"Make a note of it. If we find a Salt Mine, I'll be rich."

Belder watched Velin grin foolishly, rather puzzled. Salt mines contained harmful substances and were of little value. On the market, salt was worth only eight Copper Coins per jin.

He then continued reporting the seized supplies.

"Thirty Inferior Iron Swords, sixty spears, fifteen sets of Leather Armor, twenty hides from unknown creatures, two tons of Iron Ore, six Low-Grade Magic Crystals, thirty jin of fruit wine, and three Common Grade Staffs."

"Altogether, they are worth approximately 821 Gold Coins."

In this world, one Gold Coin equaled ten Silver Coins, while one Silver Coin could be exchanged for one hundred Copper Coins.

The spoils from this battle were truly substantial.

But the Boulder Tribe was the strongest tribe within this hundred-plus square kilometers. Whether all the other goblin tribes combined possessed this much wealth was still unknown.

"Lord, we are still counting the number of goblins killed by the serfs. It will take some time."

Afterward, Velin and Belder began reviewing and analyzing the battle. Hebrew, the Guardian Knight, sat quietly to one side and learned, while also serving as a Recorder.

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