Entering the Trap

Late at night, Ricardo was summoned back to the city lord's mansion from the north city wall.

Ricardo was still leading his men in night training on the city wall when Viscount Hawke suddenly summoned him. Knowing that there might be something extremely urgent, he hurried back to the city lord's mansion.

"Sir, is there something important?"

As soon as Ricardo entered, he saw Hawk sitting at his desk deep in thought, and he asked him a question.

Hawk saw Ricardo enter and immediately handed him a letter.

Ricardo took the letter and narrowed his eyes after seeing the emblem on the wax seal.

He then opened the letter and began to read it. A few minutes later, Ricardo put the letter down.

"Sir, this is a trap!"

Ricardo said firmly.

Hawk nodded. "It's probably a trap. It was just delivered from the east city wall."

Ricardo frowned slightly, recalling the meeting place mentioned in the letter, and said, "In that case, Baron Rubio and Baron Lukaku are indeed the most suspicious."

Hawk shook his head. "Maybe this is a feint to distract us, perhaps they want their inside man to open the west gate."

Ricardo considered Hawk's words for a moment, and realized that it wasn't impossible.

"My lord, what are your thoughts?"

"Of course I'll go to the meeting. The enemy has given us such a stage; if I don't go, wouldn't that be disrespectful to them?"

"But this is clearly a trap!"

"But based on the contents of this letter, we can also determine that one of the two barons on the east wall is definitely a traitor, but the other is definitely not."

Otherwise, the enemy could easily open the east gate and let them into the city through the cooperation of an internal traitor.

In this situation, if I don't go, the enemy will find other ways to attack the city.

Even if they continue their fierce attack for a few more days, and our defensive forces suffer even greater losses, once our troop losses exceed a certain threshold, if the traitor opens the city gates, we will absolutely be unable to stop them from entering the city.

Therefore, the best solution is for me to personally go to the east city wall, cooperate with their plan, and incidentally, find the traitor within.

Ricardo agreed with Hawk's assessment, but he disapproved of Hawk's risky behavior.

"My lord, let me go. I will act as bait to negotiate."

Hawk shook his head. "You are neither a nobleman nor Legion Commander. You cannot replace me, Ricardo. I am the only one suitable to handle this matter."

"But sir, this is far too dangerous!"

Hawk stood up abruptly, went to the wall, took down a short-handled battle axe hanging there, and began to swing it. The rapidly spinning axe made a whooshing sound as it cut through the air, causing Ricardo to involuntarily take a few steps back.

"You know best about the changes I've undergone during this time. Even if they wanted to assassinate me, they could only do so by relying on an inside man."

"They can only send in a hundred or so more at most, but that few people won't be able to deal with me so easily."

Ricardo laughed in anger, "Personal bravery is nothing. What if the enemy has prepared poison, or what if the traitor uses a sneak attack!"

You're just a bit stronger; you're not a god, and you're not invincible.

"But I still have this."

Hawk opened a cabinet behind the desk, which contained two sets of armor. One set was an inner armor made of Iron Birch, which was very light but noticeably larger than normal armor, and should suit Hawk's size well. The other set was a very well-made chainmail, which was a family heirloom of the Pumpkin family and made of the legendary orogen. It was also a set of inner armor with top-notch defensive capabilities.

"With these two inner armors, I don't believe any hidden arrows can penetrate them."

I will wear them underneath, and on top I will wear the plate armor that Viscount Victor gave me, which is what I have been wearing all this time.

With these three sets of armor, I can handle even dozens of enemies.

Hawk said with great pride.

For a moment, Ricardo was stunned; he hadn't expected Hawk to have such a confident side.

Ricardo's eyes were a little moist. Viscount Hawke's behavior during this period was completely different from what it had been a year ago.

More confident, more decisive, and more domineering, Ricardo felt that Hawk had surpassed the previous viscount at this moment.

Given this, Ricardo, as Hawk's most trusted subordinate, no longer intended to oppose Hawk's plans.

He only made one condition. "Lord Hawk, please allow me to go with you. If you disagree, then kill me right here!"

Hawk hadn't expected Ricardo to outmaneuver him. "Ricardo, I need someone to organize the troops from behind. What are you going to do with me? What if something happens to either of us? What will happen to White Earth City?!"

"Then let it fall. My existence is only for the Pumpkin family and for you, as a viscount. If you are gone, I have no reason to exist."

The Pumpkin family has other branches, but I won't support them. It's better to fight alongside you to the very end."

Hawk was stunned by Ricardo's honesty and loyalty. He tried to change Ricardo's ways, but Ricardo blocked him every time. Finally, Hawk gave up trying to persuade Ricardo.

"In that case, you must stay close to me, wear your armor and be vigilant."

Hawk arrived at the east city wall early the next morning with his men and guards.

Baron Lukaku and Baron Rubio were the first to arrive at the city walls to greet Hawk.

"Legion Commander, why are you here so early?"

Lukaku asked, puzzled.

"The previous letter requested a much earlier time; I just moved it up a little bit!"

The group then began discussing the contents of the negotiations.

Baron Rubio asked curiously, "Legion Commander, would you like to take a rest?"

"No need, I'm in great shape right now!"

Hawk patted his armor; the three sets of armor made no difference to him.

An hour later, a messenger ran in and said, "Sir, the enemy's high-ranking officers have arrived, but they have not brought many troops. They are already stationed about 500 meters from the city wall."

Hawk immediately stood up and was about to go up to the city wall, and Baron Rubio and Baron Lukaku's expressions instantly became very strange.

"My lord, please reconsider!"

Rubio tried to stop him again, but Hawk ignored him completely.

Baron Lukaku remained silent throughout the entire process. Only when they arrived at the city walls did he say, "My lord, please allow me to go up with you!"

This shouldn't be something you have to bear alone. Let me go up to the city wall with you and help you negotiate with them!

By this point, Hawk and Ricardo behind him had figured out who the mole was, but since things had come to this, Hawk decided to take another risk.

Ideally, Rubio would expose himself, so that with Lukaku as a witness, there would be no problem with him killing Rubio.

He patted Baron Lukaku on the shoulder. "When we get back, we'll have a drink together tonight."

After saying that, he continued walking forward. Just as he passed Baron Lukaku, Hawk whispered, "Move your troops to the city. The situation inside the city may have changed. Watch out for Baron Rubio."

Hawk and Ricardo began to walk towards the city wall, but Baron Rubio and Baron Lukaku did not follow.

Baron Lukaku glanced at Baron Rubio a few times, and before Rubio could say anything, Lukaku called down one of his men.

"Go find my quartermaster and arrange dinner. Prepare some wine and meat; I'm going to have a good drink with Lord Hawk tonight."

Upon hearing this, Baron Rubio remarked, "Does this mean you're no longer prejudiced against the Legion Commander?"

"One thing at a time, but the current Legion Commander is indeed a trustworthy person."

After Baron Lukaku finished speaking, he continued to talk to his subordinates about the food to be prepared for dinner.

Seeing this, Rubio stopped paying attention to what Lukaku was saying and focused his gaze on Viscount Hawke, who was on the city wall stairs.

Lukaku noticed Rubio's attention shift, his eyes flashed, and he whispered a few words to his subordinates.

His subordinates looked up at Lukaku in surprise, and after receiving confirmation from Lukaku's nod, they immediately ran away.

Rubio was only puzzled by how fast Lukaku's subordinate had run away, and didn't pay much attention to it.

He looked at the scene on the city wall with anticipation on his face.

Hawk walked along the city wall and whispered to Ricardo behind him, "How many of these people on the wall do you think are here to assassinate me?"

Ricardo frowned. "Sir, you need to be careful. This is not a time for jokes. You must be prepared at all times."

After saying that, Ricardo tightened his grip on the longsword at his waist.

Hawk walked to the city wall and saw that, sure enough, several high-ranking officers from the Duchy's Direct Legion were already waiting there.

He looked at a soldier not far away who was making guard movements over the city walls and waved to him.

At first, the soldier didn't notice Hawk, but Hawk shouted, "Hey you, come here?"

He then realized Hawk was calling him and walked over in surprise and doubt.

Hawk said impatiently, "Hurry up. What's wrong with you? You look so listless. With your performance, I could punish you for disobeying orders."

The soldier quickly ran over, his expression turning worried and fearful.

Hawk glanced at the other soldiers on the city wall out of the corner of his eye and immediately noticed that the soldiers closest to him were secretly eyeing him.

Hawk clicked his tongue and said to Ricardo, "Looks like everyone's been replaced. We'll attack together on my signal. Don't hold back; anyone who gets close is an enemy."

The soldier ran up to Hawk and gave him a respectful salute. "Legion Commander, what are your orders?"

Hawk looked the soldier up and down. "Not bad, not bad. You look very spirited. You're definitely an elite soldier."

"How are things going these past few days of fighting? Can you still hold on?"

Unaware that he had been exposed, the duchy soldier continued, following Hawk's words, "Reporting to the Legion Commander, although the enemy continues to launch attacks, we are managing to handle them."

Hawk then asked, "Do you think we will win?"

The soldier replied quickly, "With your wise command, sir, I believe we can definitely defeat them."

"Very good, very energetic!"

Hawk patted the soldier on the shoulder and turned to Ricardo, saying, "Look how great our soldiers are, Ricardo."

"Yes, sir, it is all thanks to your excellent command that our legion's soldiers have been able to fight with all their might and give their all to the enemy."

"Ricardo, you're right."

Hawk turned to the soldier and said, "Since you're so confident, I'll give you a task."

Hawk pointed to the high-ranking officers of the duchy below the city walls. "See those people? Those are the enemy's highest-ranking officers."

You yell at them, calling them cowards, or other nasty things, and finally tell them that I, Hawk, will definitely wring their heads off!

The soldier was stunned. He stammered, "Sir, weren't you going to negotiate with those people?"

"We need to negotiate, right? Well, that's what we're going to do. But that doesn't stop me from letting you yell at them!"

The soldier was speechless after being confronted, and Hawk pushed him.

"What are you standing there for? Just start cursing! Don't you have a mouth?"

The soldier had no choice but to stand by the city wall and began to speak to those below, but no sound came out no matter how many times he opened his mouth.

Hawk said irritably, "You don't even know how to swear? Come here and I'll teach you!"

The soldier had no choice but to take a few more steps closer to Hawk. Hawk immediately swung his arm and lifted him onto his shoulder, putting his arm around him and whispering, "Still waiting for the signal? You're not going to make a move at this close range? You're so bad at seizing opportunities, you're not up to par!"

The soldier's eyes widened; he knew he had been exposed for some reason, and he was about to shout out.

But Hawk covered his mouth with his large hand, and with his other hand he drew his sword and stabbed the soldier through the abdomen.

The soldier tried to pry Hawk's hands open with his bare hands, but the sudden stabbing caused him to lose his strength instantly. He only managed a few "oohs" before his body went limp and he collapsed to the ground.

Before losing consciousness, he vaguely heard Hawk say, "I gave you a chance, but you didn't do it!"

At this point, the other duchy soldiers standing on the city wall hadn't noticed anything yet, but they were wondering why Hawk was putting his arm around that soldier.

But Kimberley, Labia, and others who were watching from a distance below the city walls could see it clearly through their binoculars.

Labia lowered his binoculars. "Damn it, what's going on? Have we been exposed?"

Kimberley then slammed the binoculars to the ground and turned to leave.

Labia also tried to stop Kimberley: "Don't go, there's still a chance, isn't there?"

"Our soldiers are all over the city walls. Hawk is alone; he can definitely take them down!"

Kimberley shook off Labia's hand. "If you want to stay, then stay here. Our plans have been exposed. Do you think the other side won't be prepared? Are you going to stay here and watch a monkey show?"

At that moment, on the city wall, Hawk pulled his sword from the fallen soldier and walked directly to the next soldier who was closest to him. Before the soldier could react, he beheaded him with a single stroke.

The soldier's head fell directly off the city wall, splattering blood everywhere, an act that stunned everyone.