Warlord: King of All Clans

"No matter what happens with Leo, I expect you all to do your jobs diligently, each fulfilling your responsibilities, and not give outsiders a reason to laugh at us."

Everyone stood up with a roar, pounding their chests in unison, "Yes, Matriarch!"

The backbone of Riverbend isn't just Leo; it's the Matriarch who has always managed the family business!

After the crowd dispersed, Rigolav grabbed Strong and warned, "Strong, even if Leo is not here, do not act recklessly. If we survive this crisis, I will have Leo name you an Earl, ensuring your goblin clan has a place here."

Strong grinned, "You've all been misled by Leo. How can there be no deaths in war? It's because he's too protective of his troops that Riverbend is always bullied!"

"Now that he's not here, why not let me unleash our power and show outsiders the might of Riverbend!"

Rigolav was speechless. He knew Leo was overly cautious, giving outsiders the impression that Riverbend was weak, as if it needed to retreat and recover after just a couple of battles.

In reality, the Riverbend Legion had been striking out in all directions during these years of constant warfare, and the Riverbend territory had not only maintained basic survival but also improved in science, education, culture, and health.

Other Earldoms were devastated by the wars, but the Riverbend Earldom grew richer day by day.

It's only natural that the Southern Territory, after figuring out Riverbend's true strength, couldn't sit still and launched a preemptive encirclement.

"Then go ahead and do as you please this time. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility."

"Thank you, sir!"

Hermann, who came from Vrowald, had been living in Riverbend for some time, waiting for Leo's return.

When the Great Hall meeting was held, he was in the Great Hall's reception room and could hear some of the discussions.

Hearing Rigolav and Strong's conversation, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "The Southern Territory imprisoned Leo; I really don't know if they've cut off the dragon's head or loosened its reins."

Making up his mind, he stood up, approached the two, and said to Rigolav, "Lord Petukhov, Vrowald can still conscript three thousand soldiers, plus the one thousand heavy infantry left behind by the Grand Duke in Ilen Lado City, the two thousand Lord's army can also form a strong legion, ready to await Riverbend's orders."

Rigolav wasn't surprised and simply asked, "Isn't that all of your territory's forces? What about the northern defense line?"

Hermann laughed, "The Beastmen are on good terms with Riverbend and know our difficulties; they won't easily turn against us. Besides, what if they really take it? As long as we defend Riverbend, we can take it back sooner or later."

"Good, you go back now, lead your own troops, and wait for orders in Isenborg."

"Yes, sir."

At the same time, in the main city of Beowulf Earldom, Kitland, in the main city of Grant Earldom, Kleimos, and in the main city of Pine Earldom, Pishnik, legions were being urgently conscripted.

Some advisors also suggested taking this opportunity to recuperate, watch the tigers fight, and then swoop in like a mantis stalking a cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

However, the Earls were all intelligent people and ignored such advice.

Soon, the Bear Army led by High Knight Gunther, the Heavy Infantry Legion led by Oleg Pine, and the Grant Legion led by Grant marched south.

The great North-South war was about to break out.

Fisha returned to the Kobold Valley to conscript her core clansmen.

The entire valley had been hollowed out, turning into a field of rubble, and the iron mine was almost exhausted.

Most of the Kobold miners and craftsmen had moved to support the construction of the Red Mountain Fort mining area.

Now, besides a group of old, weak, sick, and disabled Kobolds, there was also a Kobold musketeer training base and Fisha's steam tank testing ground.

In the Kobold tribe, not everyone could be a musketeer. First, they had to have more than a year of mining experience and be able to understand the various instructions of human foremen.

They also had to have more than a year of wilderness hunting experience, be brave enough not to run away when they saw the enemy, and at least fire one shot before running.

Finally, they had to be strong, intelligent, and able to use the magical Kobold muskets, various strange Kobold equipment, and keep up with their companions.

The chief instructor of the Kobold musketeers was a deputy trained by Strong, a strangely colored muscular dog who liked to carry a flintlock hunting gun and fire it at the sky to intimidate the recruits.

These recruits had to be intimidated. For example, today, one Kobold musketeer couldn't tell the difference between crossbow bolts and arrows and kept loading the wrong ones, making it impossible to fire.

The chief instructor angrily scolded, "Bolts, hard and short! Arrows, long and soft! Idiot, woof!"

The Kobold musketeer spent half a day finally figuring out the difference between crossbow bolts and arrows, so he happily inserted the arrow into the muzzle of the musket, ready to fire.

The chief instructor finally realized, "Woof? You're a musketeer, why do you have arrows and bolts?"

The Kobold musketeer recruit wagged his tail, "Two-Dog stole my bullets, so I stole Three-Dog's arrows and Four-Dog's bolts. I'm a smart woof!"

At this time, Fisha walked over and said to the chief instructor, "This batch of musketeers is qualified. Take them directly to the battlefield."

The chief instructor was dumbfounded, "They haven't fired a gun yet!"

"Never mind, they can learn on the battlefield. Also, continue to conscript new musketeers and send them all to Star Tower City. I want to have a musketeer legion before the enemy appears!"

"Yes, Great Queen!"

After giving the order, Fisha walked towards the steam tank testing ground, where a brand-new tank was parked.

It was no longer driven by steam but by Holy Light Magic Crystal, a new technology she obtained after participating in the research of magic mechs.

Holy Light Tank!

However, the Holy Light Tank was expensive, three times the cost of a steam tank. Even with Little Mouse's funding, Fisha had only built one.

Looking at her beloved Holy Light Tank, Fisha announced, "This time the enemy is strong, your Queen will personally lead the expedition!"

Thousands of miles away in Olenic, Locke finally finished his duties.

The ten red lines in his hand had disappeared one by one. This was a secret technique of the Blood Moon Sect Master to control the Blood Apostles, and only the Blood Moon Sect Master could master it.

But Leo had ordered that the Blood Moon Sect had launched the Blood Moon Incident, a heinous crime, and these manipulated Apostles and Blood Bishops were unforgivable, so once the rescue of the Blood Slaves was over, he had to cut off the secret technique and execute these scourges.

Although Locke was very reluctant, he felt ashamed of the Blood Moon Sect's actions and acted accordingly.

After the secret technique connection was cut off, the Blood Bishops, who had already become flesh puppets, could no longer maintain their forms and turned into pools of pus and blood, wailing as they lost their lives.

As for the tens of thousands of Blood Slaves, they had gradually regained their sanity and were reborn under the efforts of the Ancestor Shamans and Holy Light Priests over the past six months.

Renee, the daughter of the bakery owner, had also returned to her home, but her parents and younger brother were no longer alive.

Beside her was Landy, who had become a simpleton.