180: Chapter 180 Cheap Beast Tribe Orcs

"Chief Lim, since the contract is settled, we will set off for the border to provide assistance early tomorrow morning. As for logistics, I'll have to trouble your tribe to take care of it."

After Lister put the contract into his storage ring, he looked at Lim and promised.

The tone of his voice gave the impression that if it weren't too late today, they would set off for reinforcements immediately.

This was indeed his true thought. Upholding the spirit of the contract was one thing, but on the other hand, the messenger dispatched by Count Theodore would soon arrive at the Iron Thorn Territory Branch.

If they could not initiate a battle with the Black Wolf Tribe before the messenger arrived and create the illusion of a stalemated war...

In case they were discovered at that time, even if his first meeting with Count Theodore had been pleasant, and there was the connection with his convenient father...

It would still not be enough to offset the charge of refusing military conscription, and receiving the corresponding punishment would be unavoidable.

At this critical moment of the Pioneer Territory's development, he would absolutely not allow such a mistake to occur.

Lim and the others were unaware of his true thoughts, simply assuming that those words were due to Lister's noble character.

With expressions of gratitude, without needing any prior signal, they simultaneously performed the tribe's most sincere gesture of thanks toward Lister.

Lister accepted it graciously. After some farewells, Lim and the others walked quickly out of the room, no longer continuing to disturb him.

After exiting the guest house, Natia, who had been silent the whole time, looked at Lim and said: "Brother, I feel that Lord Howard's cooperation with us is genuine, but there should be some other purpose."

"Heh, is that so?" Lim laughed freely, the gravity on his face much lighter than before.

Natia asked suspiciously: "Brother, aren't you worried?"

"What is there to worry about."

Lim waved his hand indifferently and said: "Didn't you say that Lord Howard is cooperating sincerely? As for what other purposes he might have, is that very important to us?"

"Natia, you must understand, it doesn't matter what a person thinks; what's important is what they do."

"Through our brief time together just now, I can tell that Lord Howard is not some sinister villain. Even if he has other purposes, they are certainly not directed at us."

Her fair and smooth little face froze slightly. Natia blinked her charming large eyes with sky-blue pupils and curiously looked Lim up and down.

"Brother, why do I feel like you've become more mature?"

"Mature?" Lim frowned slightly and asked back with a straight face: "Isn't it that I've become more handsome?"

"Giggle~" Natia couldn't help but laugh out loud, and Potter and the others behind her also couldn't help but chuckle.

"Hey, what are you laughing at? Is there a problem with what I said?"

That night, the snowstorm still showed no signs of weakening.

After enjoying the sumptuous dinner specially prepared by the people Lim sent, Lister and the other four, including Red, came into the room and sat around the fireplace flickering with fire inside.

Feeling the warmth brought by the fireplace in front of him, Lister looked at Red and asked: "Red, what is your assessment of the White Cat-Ear Tribe's strength?"

"——" After thinking for a moment, Red responded: "Reporting to Lord Lister, based on my observation of Chief Lim and the others I saw today, the overall strength of the White Cat-Ear Tribe is not very strong."

"The one with the strongest mental fluctuation is Chief Lim. I estimate his strength has just reached the equivalent of a Bronze Rank Intermediate Knight not long ago. The other key members of the tribe are hovering between Bronze Rank Intermediate and Silver Rank Initial strength."

"However, Chief Lim's sister, Natia, gives me a strange feeling. In reality, she should only have High-Rank Bronze strength, but she inexplicably gives me the feeling of containing powerful energy."

Nodding slightly, Lister said with a calm expression: "Tribal forces generally have their own foundations or special existences. I guess Miss Natia is one of them."

"This point can be noticed from when Chief Lim was negotiating with us, always looking at Natia intentionally or unintentionally. However, as long as it is beneficial to us, there is no need to delve into it."

Red and the other three nodded gently to show they understood. Since Lister had spoken, they naturally had nothing more to say.

Next, Sejin gave a brief report on the overall structure and defensive forces of the White Cat-Ear Tribe, based on the intelligence he had gathered by going deep inside today.

Compared to the current Iron Thorn Territory Branch, the White Cat-Ear Tribe is worthy of being a tribe that has taken root here for a long time. Although their high-end combat power is far inferior to Lister's forces...

But their number of military personnel is quite large. Aside from those fighting on the border line, there are currently about a dozen primary transcendents stationed within the tribe.

As for ordinary soldiers, there are even more, with about nearly a hundred people guarding the tribe, deployed in various directions on the outskirts of the tribe.

Such a force, if placed in the Pedan Kingdom, could absolutely serve as a Viscount Territory. And the Black Wolf Tribe, which initiated the invasion and forced them to only be able to defend passively, goes without saying.

From this, it can be seen that the strength of these Western Frontier tribal forces is definitely much stronger than the rumor that they are "not much stronger than the Pioneering Lord's forces."

As for who spread this rumor, Lister could figure it out with his feet, it must be Count Theodore.

And his purpose for doing so was obviously not wanting those Pioneering Lords to be too afraid, thereby causing them to be timid in the development of their territories.

This approach, if you say it's good, seems to have some benefits, but if you say it's bad, it indeed has great drawbacks.

That is, if there is no accurate judgment of the potential enemy's strength, there will definitely be a very large hidden danger.

Fortunately, although most of the Pioneering Lords who came to the Pioneer Territory were "castaways" of their families, that does not mean they are fools.

Regarding the situation of these tribal forces, they would more or less inquire about some, it was just a matter of how much intelligence they gathered and whether it was accurate.

Moreover, with the behemoth that is the Pedan Kingdom behind them, unless the Pioneering Lord initiates an attack, most tribal forces would not actively harass them.

Due to the combination of various subtle factors, this has led to the current relatively balanced situation between the Western Frontier Territory and those tribal forces.

And this has given Lister precious time to develop the Iron Thorn Territory Branch, but now he needs to face Count Theodore's military conscription, so he has to take the initiative to provoke trouble.

Picking up a cup of hot milk on the small table beside him, Lister took a sip and continued: "In the evening, I received news brought by the Magic Cloud Eagle that the personnel and supplies sent by the magistrate to support us will arrive at the Iron Thorn Territory Branch tomorrow."

"This time I have mobilized ten Bronze Tier 3 knights, thirty cavalrymen, and fifty infantrymen, including a well-trained thirty-man firearm squad."

"Lord Lister, have the firearms already been put into military use?" Spartacus asked excitedly, and the others also showed expressions of excitement.

"That's right." Lister nodded with a smile and said: "Not only are the ordinary short-style firearms, but the long-style firearms with greater power, capable of killing Bronze Rank Intermediate knights, have also been developed by Forgemaster Gimel and the others."

"Now the Weapon Development Department, under the leadership of Gimel, is working overtime every day to produce firearms and has long since put them into military use."

"This batch of firearm squads that are coming are the elites who have been strictly trained by Locke."

As his voice fell, the excitement and anticipation on the faces of the others besides Lister became even more intense.

Although they all liked close-quarters combat with real swords and guns, where every strike hit flesh, and before departing, they had only seen a few test demonstrations of short-style firearms.

But it was these few short times that made them feel very amazed at the power of the firearms.

Neither needing to release battle qi or other transcendent energy, nor needing to perform complicated operations, it only requires a few seconds of reloading time, and then with a gentle press of the finger, it can release a fatal attack.

The changes brought about by this kind of powerful and simple-to-operate weapon are absolutely huge for the army, even a subversive revolution.

Not to mention that compared to the previous short-style firearms, now even more powerful long-style firearms have been developed.

For a moment, the gazes of the few people looking at Lister became incomparably eager and longing, just like beasts courting during the estrus period.

Unable to bear their gazes, Lister coughed lightly and said: "Rest assured, the firearm squads will be allocated to you in corresponding numbers according to the number of people in the Knight Squads you lead."

"When we get to the battlefield, it will be up to you how much effect you can make them have."

"However, for the battle with the Black Wolf Tribe, I am not prepared to use the firearm squads. After they are assigned to your Knight Squads and have been trained to cooperate maturely, we will put them into the battlefield."

"Thank you, Lord Lister." The few people did not show any disappointment, but instead became even more expectant.

After all, this is the first time the firearm squads have come to the Western Frontier Territory. They are not familiar enough with this side, and they have not practiced combat with the various Knight Squads.

If they were rashly put into the battlefield, it would easily cause situations of unfamiliar coordination and chaotic scenes, and it would be even worse if they suffered a defeat.

Therefore, they estimated that the Black Wolf Tribe would find it difficult to enjoy the treatment of being shot through by bullets, so that would just have to be left for the incoming Beast Tribe Orcs.

After the short meeting ended, Red and the others returned to their respective rooms to rest, preparing to recuperate for tomorrow's battle.

Lister in the room was not in a hurry to rest. He leaned against the head of the bed and summoned the white ancient book in his mental sea, and four divination messages emerged one by one.

[Divination 1: The messenger dispatched by Count Theodore will arrive at your Pioneer Territory in three days.]

"Three days, huh——"

Lister whispered a sentence. The time of the messenger's arrival was much earlier than he had expected, which surprised him a little.

However, from this, it can also be seen that Count Theodore attaches great importance to the war between the northwest and the Beast Tribe, and the situation may not be as relaxed as the previous divination said.

But these have nothing to do with Lister. He just needs to complete his own affairs well now.

Taking a step back, even if he led his troops to the northwestern front, with his current overall strength, he might not necessarily be able to have any critical impact on the overall situation of the battlefield.

The key to the final victory on the front line still depends on the battle of high-level knights like Montgomery and Wells.

As long as Tiffany can deliver the intelligence he secretly gave her in time, Montgomery and Wells will certainly not encounter an ambush again.

Even if Count Theodore is smart, he can use this pre-planned ambush operation to set a counter-ambush for those few High Orcs of the Beast Tribe.

Of course, this is just a beautiful thought in Lister's mind. After all, to counter-ambush five High Orcs, the number of Golden Knights that need to be mobilized certainly cannot be small.

But whether so many Golden Knights can be quickly mobilized at once is a hard thing to say.

At least, without knowing the overall military strength of the Western Frontier, it is still not good to draw conclusions rashly.

And even if they could really be mobilized, they would have to be perfectly executed without being detected.

The difficulty of executing this is not as easy as saying it with one's mouth; everything depends on Count Theodore's operation.

His gaze shifted to the next divination message.

[Divination 2: Late tonight, the Black Wolf Tribe, taking advantage of the cover of the snowstorm's visibility, launched a fierce attack on the White Cat-Ear Tribe's border defense line, but the border defense army had long anticipated it and successfully repelled the Black Wolf Tribe.]

Regarding this divination message, Lister did not feel surprised.

In the discussion with Lim and the others today and the divination messages from the previous few days, he had already anticipated this situation. Although the Black Wolf Tribe is much stronger than the White Cat-Ear Tribe, due to the deterrence of the Flame Tiger Tribe being too strong...

It led to the Black Wolf Tribe arranging a large number of military personnel to defend the border line facing in their direction.

Therefore, the military force currently attacking the White Cat-Ear Tribe is only a small part of their tribe.

Otherwise, if they had dispatched the majority of their forces, the White Cat-Ear Tribe's defense line would have been broken through long ago.

Of course, just this small part was enough to make the White Cat-Ear Tribe almost unable to hold on, otherwise they wouldn't be asking for help everywhere.

However, this is a good thing for Lister. He never intended to fight to the death with the Black Wolf Tribe; it was just a pawn used to achieve his goal.

Therefore, his control over the situation during the subsequent battle can be more relaxed, and it will be easier to extricate himself from the quagmire of war.

He continued to look at the third divination message.

[Divination 3: The Black Witch Church's Bishop stationed in the Western Frontier, Godfrey Mick, will soon seize an opportunity to incite riots within the Western Frontier and send people to intensify the conflict between tribal forces and the southwestern Pioneer Territory.]

His eyes turned slightly cold. Lister did not expect that this group of rats in the darkness from the Black Witch Church was preparing to make trouble again.

Before, when he was in Aetheria, their forces wanted to burn the main street to incite a riot, but it was all secretly sabotaged by him.

Now, the action they are plotting, in his view, is obviously because they know that Count Theodore is worrying about the war between the northwestern Pioneer Territory and the Beast Tribe, which is why they dare to do so.

Otherwise, in normal times, even if they were given a hundred guts, they probably wouldn't dare to incite such a large riot.

However, as for these people, although he dislikes them, he doesn't have any good way to deal with them now, especially their plotting within the kingdom's Western Frontier.

It makes him unable to reach them, and he can only rely on the response of those lords within the kingdom.

As for the matter of intensifying the conflict later, he can take a look to see if there is any opportunity to disrupt it. After all, it would not be good for him if the tribal forces were in chaos now.

Without thinking too much, he looked at the last divination message——