Chapter 654: Chapter 654

Du You paced back and forth, immediately giving orders: "Starting now, send out scouts for a comprehensive investigation and gather all detailed information about the enemy. This will be crucial for the upcoming war."

Suddenly, something seemed to occur to him, and he quickly asked, "What about the nobles of the Divine Flame Empire? What has been their reaction?"

"The situation at present is still uncertain or even dangerous. The nobles have not shown any significant reaction. There’s a high demand domestically, but those young nobles are only forming armies and there’s very little action. The few that have started moving are doing so very slowly, apparently waiting for the right opportunity."

"Hmm, waiting for the right opportunity? They’re simply afraid of death. But this leaves an opening for us."

Another person spoke up from the side. Du You did not recognize him, he was presumably one of the military leaders Luo Jia had recently groomed.

Du You did not dismiss him. After all, when discussing strategies, he should give others a chance to speak up.

"Also, Lord, we just received an appeal for help from other areas. They’re asking for our assistance. The goblins here have been dispersed, but attacks are happening elsewhere. The military resources in South Mountain City are insufficient. Should we come to their aid?"

"If they lack the manpower, we should send ours to help them out. The newly formed third-tier flight team can be put to test and this can also serve as a training exercise."

Du You agreed immediately and just as well, a new task emerged.

Temporary Task: Rescue other checkpoints, help them repel the Goblins. Rewards will be given based on the level of completion.

Seeing this task, Du You’s mouth turned up in a smirk. As expected, without any advanced or special tasks to hinder him, he could take on numerous tasks as his scope expanded. Such tasks were bound to continue.

With one territory’s support, even solely through undertaking tasks, he could develop faster than others.

"Let’s give it our all and show them our true power. This will increase our influence too."

A man below opened his mouth as if wanting to say something but finally chose to keep silent. After all, Du You was the Lord and he controlled the entire territory. The others were simply subordinates.

Crucially, only two individuals including himself were promoted from commoners by Luo’s family. The others were chosen from the villagers recruited by Du You and would unconditionally agree to Du You’s orders.

And so, the seemingly impulsive orders were ratified.

That day, the griffins had just rested when they were ordered to mobilize. All third-tier soldiers were divided into ten groups. Each team consisted of five Griffin Knights and two higher-tier griffins, joined by many second-tier Griffin Knights, who all set off together.

Almost immediately, they arrived at the other checkpoints. The Griffin Knights were not particularly useful against the Goblins due to their massive numbers and poor skills, and the lack of wide-ranging attack methods.

Eventually, most of the Griffin Knights were assigned to transport teams focused on carrying supplies while the high-ranking Griffin Knights and high-tier Griffins were used to disrupt the Goblin’s dense formations. This proved quite effective.

Even though their presence was largely symbolic on the battlefield, their prestige was quite high. Especially in South Mountain City, the citizens looked on with incredulity at the news of their arrival.

As a result, they held another meeting.

"Lord Mayor, I believe that having so many third-tier fighters in the army of Mountain Town far exceeds normal standards and that we need to curb this development," a nobleman loudly voiced his concerns.

"Curb? Why should we do that? As long as they recruited legitimately, who can oppose them? If you think you can do better, then go ahead."

"I believe that the force made up of so many powerful fighters poses a serious threat to South Mountain City. We can request Mountain Town to surrender this army to South Mountain City and let us take control."

The nobleman who made such a suggestion was met with distaste from many others. If such a decision was approved, what would other noble territories do if they managed to assemble a powerful army? Would they also hand them over? They were all nobles. For the collective benefit of nobility, they would never let such idiotic orders pass.

Admittedly, the power Du You displayed this time was a bit overwhelming, causing much unrest among them.

While the people below were arguing, Anlute was somewhat distracted as he looked at the information he held. From the data, there were already fifty Griffin Knights at the third-tier alone, not to mention the Griffins.

According to the information, a large number of third-tier soldiers came in for reinforcement later on. Du You had started building a fortress where they were guarding with a team of laborers. The outline was already set.

Once the fortress was completed, it would serve as a significant military stronghold blocking the South.

What vexed Anlute the most was that Du You had broken through to the third-tier himself, and somehow he had managed to recruit so many third-tier soldiers to form the army. This was no small matter.

Even if it were Du You, not to mention the counts and lords within the country, most of them had not assembled such a powerful army, at least not openly. Anlute’s own family could gather such power.

But how long had his family been developing to reach this stage, compared with how long Du You had been developing for? The power Anlute had control over was barely greater than the force Du You had shown this time. Before the follow-up troops reached South Mountain City, Du You’s display of third-tier force actually outnumbered the total third-tier force of South Mountain City.

This situation increased Du You’s prestige and popularity. If this trend continued, what would happen to him as the mayor and to his South Mountain City? It was detrimental to his development if people in this area considered Du You the strongest.

He had managed to secure this task of protecting the Southern border of the empire after much struggle. If he did not perform well, he would lose more than just his face; it would also impact his future prospects.

But he couldn’t target Du You without a reason, could he? ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦•𝘯𝘦𝘵

Only after a long time did Anlute realize the commotion below: "Enough, everyone quiet down. It’s a good thing that Du You has such a formidable force. Aren’t we going to probe the reality of the Kingdom of Hanhai? We can simply assign this task to him."

"But Lord Mayor, isn’t that just handing him the honor?"

"If you want that honor, you can go get it yourself," a noble quickly commented.

What a fool, although it did hand Du You an honor, it wasn’t easy for a count to get a promotion. This method could weaken Du You’s forces, which was the most crucial thing.