242: The lively Bucks territory

Northern region of the Stag Territory.

Colt had just led a group of men in a successful raid on a merchant caravan belonging to a noble of the Stag Territory. After obtaining a significant amount of resources, the entire team was very excited.

As the commander, Colt did not show much joy; his brow was furrowed as if he were deep in thought.

After a moment, Colt took out a pen and paper to write a letter, then pulled out a short whistle and gave it a sharp blow.

The unique sound of the whistle pierced the sky, and before long, a cry from the heavens responded to Colt's signal.

A majestic eagle landed precisely on Colt's shoulder, its sharp eyes fixed on him.

The four-armed Colt placed the written letter into a specially made wooden tube on the eagle's leg while taking out two pieces of dried meat to feed it.

The eagle swallowed the dried meat and then, carrying Colt's letter, shot up into the sky and vanished from his sight.

"Commander, do you really believe what that caravan leader said?"

Colt's deputy understood the reason behind his actions upon seeing them.

Colt had once been nothing more than a bandit leader wandering the wilderness, but after joining Renn's ranks, his fate had undergone a massive change.

Not only had his strength broken through to the Gold Rank, but the pustules that originally covered his skin had disappeared. If it weren't for those signature four arms, no one would recognize him as the same person as before.

Renn had sent Colt to the north of the Stag Territory to resume his old trade, raiding the merchant caravans of the Stag Territory's nobles to gather resources while also conducting reconnaissance on the territory.

He led a team of a hundred men, all of whom were cavalry with two horses each and exceptional strength. Under Colt's leadership, the name of the Four-Armed Bandit had become extremely famous in the northern region of the Stag Territory.

"Better to believe it might be true than to dismiss it as false. Besides, this matter is extremely important; I believe the Lord will make his own judgment."

"True, the Lord will certainly be able to distinguish truth from falsehood."

The men under Colt's command were all assigned to him by Renn, so their loyalty to Renn was naturally beyond question.

"Let's go. We'll head to the mines in the Thorn Territory. After all this time, a lot of minerals must have been stockpiled there. Once we raid the mines, this mission's objectives will be complete, and we can head back."

Hearing that they could go home, the eyes of the men behind Colt lit up; having been out for several months, they missed home as well.

"Yes, Commander!"

The team, moving like the wind, set out once more, galloping across the wilderness.

Iron Wall Fortress!

Renn looked at the several pieces of intelligence in his hand, four or five of which were entirely about the Stag Territory, including the one sent by Colt.

"Klimp has not disappointed me, nor have the Shadow Guards. To be able to arrange informants even inside Stag Fortress, your abilities are quite impressive."

"Commander Klimp is indeed very capable. Our infiltration of the Stag Territory has been extremely successful; not just Stag Fortress, but the castles of every noble throughout the entire Stag Territory have our Shadow Guards present."

The one standing before Renn reporting was the Vice Commander of the Shadow Guards and the head of Eagle Fortress, Ranke.

Three years had passed since the end of the Second Magic Stone War, and three years had passed since Renn became the commander of the Iron Wall Fortress. The passage of three years had changed too many things.

Ranke had broken through to the Gold Rank a few months ago, and under his leadership, Eagle Fortress had trained even more powerful Eagle Messengers.

Black Iron Rank, Bronze Rank, and even Silver Rank Eagle Messengers had become a vital link in transmitting information for the Red River Territory.

In these three years, the Shadow Guards had also achieved the goal Renn had set for Klimp: the eyes and ears of the Shadow Guards were spread throughout the three grand duchies of the Kingdom of Asriel's northern border.

Klimp himself had personally gone to the Cold Wind Territory a year ago to arrange and develop the expansion of the Shadow Guards there. Of the three grand duchies in the north, the Cold Wind Territory was the hardest to penetrate, so Klimp chose to oversee the operation personally. The results were significant; under Klimp's command, the Shadow Guards in the Cold Wind Territory had successfully completed their expansion.

Not long ago, Klimp had received a new order from Renn to continue expanding the Shadow Guards westward. To the west of the Cold Wind Territory lay Eight Peaks Mountain, which was the territory of the dwarves.

The difficulty of developing the Shadow Guards in Eight Peaks Mountain, which was occupied by dwarves, could well be imagined.

Fortunately, Klimp's strength had also broken through to the Gold Rank. The quality and quantity of Shadow Potions, Dark Shadow Potions, and other magic medicines related to the Shadow Guards produced by the territory had increased significantly, which also led to a direct increase in the strength of the Shadow Guards under Klimp.

With these capable subordinates at his disposal, Klimp was able to achieve the goals Renn had set for him, and Renn believed that Klimp would not disappoint him in the future either.

"Our Grand Duke of Stag really has ruthless methods. He has only been the Grand Duke of Stag for four years, yet in such a short time, more than a dozen long-standing families in the Stag Territory have been wiped out by him."

"The adventurers who were originally under him have now all transformed into nobles of the Stag Territory."

"It seems his continuous successes over these four years have made him lose his head; this time he actually wanted to destroy a powerful Earl's family."

"It's only natural that he messed up!"

The intelligence from the Shadow Guards in the Stag Territory stated that the Grand Duke of Stag had used various means to destroy over a dozen noble families in recent years, and a few days ago, he had even tried to forcibly move against an Earl's family.

Then, news leaked from out of nowhere that during the Magic Stone War three years ago, Heisenberg had joined forces with Horn, the Earl of the Rage Bear Territory who had invaded the Stag Territory, to move against two noble families in the northern Stag Territory. Heisenberg's men had even personally stepped in to slaughter every member of those two noble families.

Along with the rumors, a significant amount of evidence and witnesses were also exposed.

Following that, similar incidents were leaked one after another. At this point, people suddenly realized that so many noble exterminations had actually occurred in the Stag Territory over the past four years.

This scandal instantly spread throughout the northern border and even became widely circulated in the capital, Saint Stratos, drawing the attention of the Golden Royal Family.

Faced with these rumors, the Grand Duke of Stag, Heisenberg, naturally denied them flatly. The soldiers of Stag Fortress were sent everywhere to hunt down those spreading the rumors, and anyone caught was executed on the spot.

Heisenberg's violent response not only failed to curb the spread of rumors but instead caused an even stronger negative impact.

Heisenberg's half-sister, Lelia, publicly questioned Heisenberg's actions within the territory. A large group of Stag Territory nobles gathered around Lelia, creating a confrontation with Stag Fortress.

In less than a month, the entire Stag Territory was in an uproar. The northern nobles had all gathered by Lelia's side, and many southern nobles were also in frequent private contact with her. However, because Stag Fortress was in the south, most southern nobles did not yet dare to openly rebel against Heisenberg.

This strange situation of North-South confrontation in the Stag Territory was thus formed. The Rage Bear Territory and the Cold Wind Territory, also being grand duchies of the north, watched from the sidelines without any reaction.

Renn, situated in the Iron Wall Fortress, had originally thought he was just a bystander, but an unexpected visitor gave him the chance to turn from a bystander into a participant.

Among the intelligence on the table was a letter sent from Red River Fortress; an uninvited guest was waiting at Red River Fortress for Renn's audience.

Having finished reading and processing all the intelligence and various news, Renn stood up and turned to look at the large map hanging on the wall behind him.

He was growing more and more fond of looking at maps. Seeing the territories on the map that he had ruled and built gave Renn a strong sense of pride.

And those territories not yet conquered made the fire of ambition within him burn fiercely.

The map showed the entire northern border and some areas adjacent to it.

On the map, a long, narrow red area stretched across the north, with the middle part of the strip protruding significantly downward.

This red area was the territory controlled by Renn, and that long red strip was the Black Corridor.

In these three years, through Renn's tireless efforts, the several-thousand-mile-long Black Corridor region had been completely brought under his control.

Nearly a hundred thousand Treants, hundreds of thousands of wolves, and thousands of giant eagles were distributed throughout this Black Corridor, guarding this vast land for Renn.

Renn and Dora's heavy investment of effort had yielded rich returns. The Treant Clan had expanded to a hundred thousand, among which the number of Gold Rank Treant Elders had reached seventy-seven.

The Wolf Pack led by Anatolis had seen explosive growth, and among his offspring, Renn had cultivated seven more Gold Rank Demon Wolves. Ten Gold Rank Demon Wolves led over a thousand Wolf Packs, active in the Black Corridor and throughout the northern border region.

Beyond the red area were vast territories not yet controlled by Renn, which remained in darkness.

"Stag Territory!"

Renn placed his finger heavily on the black area to the east; that was precisely the Stag Territory.

"Ranke, inform Klimp to return first. Put the matters at Eight Peaks Mountain on hold for now. The Shadow Guards' primary target for the near future is the Stag Territory."

"Yes, Lord!"