Joint Action at the Meeting

Everyone present was stunned by Benedict's remarks. A Mercenary representative spoke first:

"A hairy monster, watch your words, or you don't want to end up hairless when your hair is plucked..."

The Mercenary who spoke directly attacked one of the orcs' most prized possessions: their fur, which they considered a symbol of their own kind.

Therefore, attacking an orc's hair directly is even more effective than attacking their parents, because orcs may not actually have parents, but they do have a small tuft of hair on their body that represents their identity.

Surprisingly, Benedict, upon hearing this, did not fly into a rage like the other orcs. He merely clenched his fist slightly and slowly said:

"Even if you say that, you can't deny that you and she are a bunch of wild dogs who can't distinguish the important things and are going to starve to death in winter. How come you haven't even dealt with that lord yet?"

There was a moment of silence among those present, and no one responded directly to his words. Finally, it was Parkerrick who spoke.

"It's not that we don't want to deal with the lord first, but we previously discovered an the Alliance mage near him, and we suspect that the mage might be representing the Alliance."

Upon hearing this, even Benedict stopped joking around. He asked about the details seriously, and when he learned that Fran was just a mage and had come alone, he immediately burst into laughter.

"Haha!!!" Benedict stopped and then said.

"I don't know why you're so wary of that lord's simple trick. He doesn't have the Alliance behind him at all. That mage might just have been passing by and hired by the lord to fill in..."

Unlike Mercenary and the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents, the Orc Tribe was actually located in the Northern Territory, so he was well aware that there was a Northern Lands Society in the Northern Territory.

The Northern Lands Society also frequently sends its own Battle Mage to take on missions from those lords, though not often.

Even Benedict remembered seeing three mages casting spells on the city walls during an attack on a territory one year.

At that time, they did not understand that this was the appearance of a mage, nor did they know that these people were the famous Battle Mage of the Northern Lands Society in the Northern Territory.

Therefore, they paid a heavy price in that battle. Almost ten minutes after the start of the battle, they had to retreat due to heavy casualties, leaving behind hundreds of corpses.

However, he later inquired about the details, which prevented the mages from interfering with the orcs' actions.

He knew that these sorcerers' actions were time-limited; unless it was during their working hours, you would never see them.

So after that, every time he fought those lords, he would send people to observe whether there were any mages present. If there were, he would temporarily stop fighting; if not, he would launch an attack directly.

At the same time, he also knew that these mages were not invincible. As Profession, they also had weaknesses, and they would all die if their throats were slit.

Moreover, for safety reasons, these mages almost never leave the city to fight; they either stay near the city gates or inside equally sturdy towers.

He knew this, knew that hiring these mages would require a great deal of money to get them to work for the lords.

At the same time, he had been suppressing the hatred of his orc brethren towards the mages. If someone could kill more than a dozen of your men with a flick of their wrist, anyone would want to retaliate.

He thwarted all the orcs' ideas on this matter, so as not to provoke the mages.

Therefore, in the Northern Territory, he could be said to be the person who understood these mages the most.

He glanced disdainfully at the other representatives present and began to speak:

"I never imagined you would be fooled by such a simple trick by that lord, allowing him to prolong his life for a few more days."

"That mage isn't representing the Alliance at all; she's just a mage who accepted a quest from the lord here. The Alliance wouldn't even notice this place."

Parkerrick and Gillian both realized something at the same time, their faces turning ashen.

"If the Alliance truly knows about that azure box and really wants it, a Battle Mage Corps will appear when that mage shows up, and we will naturally be powerless to resist."

"But given that the Northern Lands Society is so close to here, the fact that you only saw one mage means that mage must be working with that lord."

"And now, even that mage has disappeared, and you don't even dare to attack that lord, letting him occupy that position."

"That's absolutely hilarious!!"

It's no wonder the Mercenary and Bishop Gillian thought that way; they didn't have that much intelligence. Although the Northern Lands Society wasn't far from here, it wasn't something that could be figured out in just a few days.

Furthermore, in order to prevent people from fleeing to the Northern Lands Society, Blake deliberately spread a lot of false information, which made the intelligence they gathered even more confusing.

This has led to their conservative approach over the past few days, with neither side choosing to eliminate the lord outright.

Now, it seems, is the time to take action, and this may be one of the few agreements they can reach at this meeting.

"After our meeting, everyone should send a group of people to that lord's castle to let the lord know who's in charge here now."

"What if that mage is still alive?" one of the Mercenary representatives asked, a question shared by everyone present.

Even if that mage didn't come representing the Alliance, she was still a mage of the Alliance, a member of the Alliance. How should they deal with a mage like that?

"What else can we do? Arrest her, but don't kill her. Just restrict her movements, then find someone to throw her into the Northern Lands Society."

Benedict made a suggestion that everyone could accept. There was no other way; although the Northern Lands Society might not be interested in this place, they were making a big fuss here, and if they even killed an the Alliance mage.

If they were mages from the Alliance, they would have responded immediately to this provocative act. Moreover, they would have to stay here for a while longer and could not possibly deal with Fran directly.

Inside Blake's castle, Fran was holding the metal communication plate and writing the following message on it.

[Inform the person in charge of finding the Azure Box: I have found it and am currently at the lord's castle in Snow Bear Territory. It is surrounded by enemies. Come quickly, the situation is critical!!!]

To emphasize the urgency of the situation, Fran added several exclamation marks. Although things were still peaceful, she didn't want to stay here any longer. She should have accumulated enough Contribution Points to go back and exchange them for a method to advance to Second Order Mage. She didn't want to waste time here.

"My lord, those people outside are gathering their troops and approaching this place!!" An urgent and loud voice shattered the tranquility of the castle, forcing Fran to put down her pen.