Duel?

The reason the Foreigners were called Foreigners was because their customs were fundamentally different from those of the Empire.

They were similar to the primitive indigenous people Lilith knew of, who ate raw meat and drank blood.

Their customs had never changed for thousands of years, which was also why the First Emperor had driven them all out a thousand years ago instead of subjugating them.

Because the First Emperor knew that these Foreigners could never be successfully civilized!

After being driven out of the Empire by the First Emperor, these Foreigners never gave up their covetous desire for the Empire's land.

This was not because they had much affection for the land they originally lived on, but purely because they only wanted to plunder the Empire's food, or women.

Women who were plundered and taken away would mostly become tools for reproduction, and if any women died from unbearable torment, they would also become food.

Because the hatred of the Empire's people for the Foreigners had never diminished.

There had been Emperors of the Empire who wanted to exterminate these Foreigners.

But the lands outside the Empire, besides being desolate and barren, were also very dangerous.

High mountains, swamps, and the Icefield.

These became the biggest obstacles for the Empire's armies to exterminate the Foreigners.

After suffering significant losses, the Emperors of the Empire realized that it was impractical to exterminate the Foreigners.

And because the barren lands outside the Empire could not support too many people, the Foreigners would often go to the Empire's borders to plunder.

This was both for food and to reduce the population.

At this moment, the corpses that Esdeath and Lilith saw were all Foreigners.

These were people who had been abandoned by their tribes due to injuries, disabilities, or old age, and their current assault on the Empire's cities was nothing more than a desire to die.

Or rather, they wanted to contribute their last bit of usefulness; even killing one Imperial citizen was a gain.

However, facing these Foreigners, the border guards were very familiar with them.

For a small group of a few hundred Foreigners, before they could even reach the city gates, they were almost all killed by a few volleys of arrows.

At this moment, someone was dragging the bodies of the Foreigners to the side. They didn't need to deal with these corpses; wild beasts would carry them away before long.

If these bodies hadn't been blocking the middle of the road, they wouldn't have even wanted to touch them.

Esdeath did not go out immediately.

Going out at this time could easily lead to misunderstandings.

If they encountered suspicious individuals, they would not be polite and would shoot them with arrows. They would have died for nothing.

After waiting for a while, Esdeath and Lilith walked towards the city gate.

"Halt! Who are you?"

As soon as Esdeath and Lilith appeared before the gate guards, they were stopped by a shout.

The two gate guards' hearts were beating very fast. Looking at the two beauties, one tall and one small, they felt like they had fallen in love.

"Hello, we are here to enlist. Are there any procedures we need to follow?"

Esdeath directly stated her purpose.

Meanwhile, Lilith was observing the city, which had stood for who knows how many years.

"Enlist?"

The gate guards looked at Esdeath, then at Lilith.

Then they lingered on Lilith for a moment longer.

Esdeath frowned. For some reason, she felt like she had been outshone.

"The army is not a place for two young girls like you. You should give up this idea."

Another soldier showed a lewd smile. "Of course, it's not impossible, provided you listen to me. Hehehe."

Lilith turned to look at the lewd soldier, feeling speechless. As expected, she shouldn't have had too many expectations for soldiers from another world.

Esdeath's expression turned grim. Although she had lived in a tribe since childhood and didn't understand many things, she clearly sensed the malice emanating from that lewd soldier.

This made Esdeath's killing intent flare up.

"..."

Perhaps it was due to a gust of cold wind, but Lilith shivered, feeling that the surrounding air had suddenly become much colder, and even goosebumps had appeared on her smooth arms.

Lilith looked at Esdeath and found that Esdeath's expression was terrifying. She had never seen Esdeath wear such an expression before.

Even though she had only known Esdeath for a few days...

Lilith stepped forward and took Esdeath's hand, hoping she wouldn't act impulsively.

Offending the gate guards at this moment would not be a wise decision.

If they angered this lewd soldier, and he became even more shameless, he might call a few soldiers to apprehend them.

And then it would escalate into Esdeath beating up all these soldiers.

"I challenge you to a duel!"

"A duel? Me?"

The sleazy soldier burst into laughter as if he'd heard the funniest joke.

Esdeath's delicate appearance was indeed quite deceptive.

"What? Scared now?"

Esdeath continued to taunt him.

"How could I be scared? Don't cry when I beat you up later." The sleazy soldier was indeed provoked.

However, looking at the skin exposed by Esdeath's slightly too-small clothes, he started to smirk lecherously again.

He had already imagined the sensation of accidentally touching Esdeath's body during the upcoming "duel."

Thinking of this, he unconsciously drooled.

The commotion at the city gate attracted the attention of many soldiers, and some were already approaching.

Another gate guard, watching the scene, tried to stop his comrade but failed.

He sighed, feeling that his companion was about to suffer a great loss.

And...

He turned to look at Lilith. Just now, from beneath the animal hide coat Lilith was wearing, he had glimpsed a corner of the skirt Lilith had on underneath.

Though it was only a glance, he could be sure that the fabric of the clothing was no ordinary material.

He immediately concluded that this young girl must be a noble lady, or perhaps a wealthy young miss.

After all, girls from wealthy or noble families were usually beautiful.

But he still had doubts. Why would someone so distinguished come here? And in this direction?

The duel began quickly, or rather, it ended as soon as it began.

Before the soldier who challenged Esdeath could even react, he was already thrown to the ground.

Lying on the snow, the bewildered soldier had no idea what had happened.

Who am I? Where am I? How did I end up lying down?

Even among the surrounding soldiers, very few could clearly see what had happened.

They were all lamenting that such a beautiful girl was about to be taken advantage of by that sleazy guy, wishing they could have taken his place.