Translator: AnubisTL
Golden Harbor remained outwardly as bustling as ever during the past two months.
The docks were perpetually crowded with merchant ships coming and going, their sails snapping in the wind, while the shouts of dockworkers rose in a continuous chorus.
At the Drunken Dolphin tavern, Jieming occasionally met with Old Grey, from whom he gathered street-level intelligence.
"Things are getting restless on the border again, Jack," Old Grey said, draining his mug of ale and wiping his mouth. He lowered his voice. "The orcs are skirmishing constantly on the front lines. Those green skins were beaten like dogs by the wizards before, but now that the wizards' offensive has stalled, they're getting cocky again."
Jieming nodded calmly. "I heard the nobles plan to renege on the supplies they promised?"
"Heh, that's nothing new," Old Grey scoffed dismissively. "Those nobles would betray their own kin, let alone those green skins."
He took another swig of wine. "I don't know what these nobles are thinking. How can they be so brazen during a war? They must be crazy! Aren't they afraid of retaliation from the orcs?!"
"Probably... blinded by greed," Jieming said, shaking his head.
He could feel the city's nerves gradually loosening.
The local nobles, especially those who had made fortunes through smuggling and hoarding during the Planar War, had recently become increasingly extravagant and turned a blind eye to external threats.
Perhaps they hadn't failed to notice the danger, but the immense profits had clouded their minds, forcing them to willfully ignore the potential risks.
"However... according to intelligence from Amy and the others, the camp has already ceased its offensive and even begun to withdraw its defenses. It seems the wizards also plan to take advantage of this situation."
With that thought, Jieming raised his wine glass and took a sip, concealing the slight upturn of his lips.
Night fell, and a private banquet was underway at a noble's estate, the air filled with the clinking of wine glasses and continuous laughter.
In the noble district at the heart of the city, opulent silk gowns and glittering jewels were everywhere. In the brightly lit salons, nobles swirled their wine glasses, their hushed conversations tinged with the arrogance of victors.
"I hear those green skins are stirring up trouble again, with border skirmishes constantly flaring up," a portly local baron, his fingers adorned with multiple gem rings, said to the earl beside him at the private dinner.
"They're just a pack of barbarians without mage protection. What real threat can they pose? They were routed last time by the wizards, and now that the wizards have eased their offensive, they think they're back in business?"
The earl chuckled contemptuously. "Those orcs should be grateful! We don't need to fully honor the supplies we promised them. A few sweetening the deal is enough to keep them slaughtering wizards on the frontlines—that's the best outcome. Besides, the wizards have clearly been beaten into submission, judging by their current defensive posture."
Though he spoke of wizards, his eyes were calculating, clearly more interested in how to squeeze more from the orcs.
To these local nobles, who had grown rich through war profiteering, smuggling, and hoarding, the current "peace" was a testament to their intelligence and wealth.
Yet, in the shadowy corners of this bustling city, a starkly different scene unfolded.
The foreign nobles who had fled to Golden Harbor due to the war had lost their ancestral lands and sources of income, leaving them in dire straits.
Forced to sell off their remaining assets, they rented rooms in the city's remote districts. Though their clothes remained neat, they couldn't conceal the weariness on their faces or the resentment in their eyes.
Jieming's Hundred Flowers Dew primarily relied on the servants of these foreign nobles for collection.
In fact, the compensation for the Hundred Flowers Dew had become the sole means of livelihood for many of these displaced nobles.
However, Jieming's ability to distribute benefits was limited, and his arrival merely delayed the inevitable eruption of conflict.
At least his presence pushed back the outbreak of Golden Harbor's internal tensions, plunging the city into a false sense of peace for a time.
Under this deceptive calm, the city's defenses grew lax to an appalling degree.
Guards on the walls idled away their time playing dice, occasionally glancing at the outside world with weary eyes.
Patrol teams gathered in small groups, boasting about tavern women and their own exploits.
The commanders, meanwhile, were consumed by internal power struggles and the scramble for resources. Their minds were focused solely on how to seize more land and wealth after the war.
The entire city seemed like a massive ship, adrift in false tranquility on the eve of a storm, its hull already riddled with rot.
As night fell once more, the bustling Golden Harbor gradually grew quiet.
Jieming returned to his villa, sat cross-legged in his study, and entered a deep state of meditation.
His mental sea resembled a tranquil lake, where spell runes and soul intertwined, emitting a faint glow.
Suddenly...
An imperceptible tremor rippled from the depths of the earth. Though faint, it made Jieming's heart skip a beat.
Immediately after, a faint night breeze carried a pungent stench—a mix of blood, slaughter, and charred charcoal—that abruptly filled his nostrils.
In the distance, something that sounded like an unusual roar, filled with bestial fury, faintly carried on the wind before being swiftly dispersed.
Jieming's eyes snapped open, his icy gaze piercing the thick walls to fix on the edge of Golden Harbor.
He stared blankly in a certain direction, then let out a low chuckle. "It's begun."
The next moment, the city's silence was shattered by a deafening explosion!
In the west, a pillar of fire shot skyward, accompanied by the thunderous roar of the blast. A massive breach had been torn in the city wall.
"ROAR!"
"KILL!!!"
The roars of beasts and their deep, wild growls thundered across the night sky like thunder.
Countless towering figures surged through the breaches in the city walls like a tide. Their tough, green skin was clad in crude armor, and they wielded massive, primitive weapons.
Orcs!
At the same time, chaos erupted throughout the city.
Through his pre-arranged Glimmering Eye surveillance system, Jieming could clearly see the unfolding chaos across the entire city.
Except for the western gate, which had been blasted open by magic, the remaining seemingly impregnable gates had been silently opened from within.
Dark figures, some dressed as noble servants, others in tattered mercenary armor, their eyes burning with fanatical rage, stabbed their swords into their companions, tearing open fatal gaps for the surging orcs.
It was those exiled nobles from outside the city and their private soldiers.
The contrast between their own ruined fortunes, caused by the war, and the prosperity of the other nobles, who had grown fat on war profits, made it easy for the orcs to sway them. They were determined to "redistribute" the city's wealth.
"Kill! For Mother Earth!" The savage orc vanguard, like bloodthirsty wolves, charged straight for the city's core and Command Center.
Clad in war paint and wielding massive axes and bone blades, their every step shook the ground.
Among them, Jieming spotted hulking war boars, each carrying an orc rider armed with a spear, plowing through the streets like an unstoppable force. Agile wolf cavalry, like black whirlwinds, darted between the houses.
Golden Harbor's already weak defenses were utterly overwhelmed by the surprise attack from both sides.
The Command Center was destroyed in the initial assault, crippling the defense systems.
Guards on the city walls didn't even have time to react before being stabbed in the back or shot down by orc arrows.
Chaos spread like a plague.
Flames soared into the sky as buildings crumbled under the orcs' onslaught. The air filled with a hellish symphony of screams, curses, desperate wails, and the orcs' frenzied roars.
The streets ran with rivers of blood. The unprepared local nobles and wealthy merchants, their opulent nightgowns soaked in crimson, were torn to shreds by the orcs like rag dolls.
Yesterday's debauchery had today devolved into a scene of utter devastation.
The orc vanguard forces pressed on relentlessly, their objective clear: to clear the entire city and pave the way for the main army.
Jieming's district, the heart of the noble and merchant elite, naturally became a primary target.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Heavy footsteps and savage war cries rapidly approached the villa.
Yet as the orc army entered the Noble District, their initial momentum faltered.
The guards hired by the wealthy and nobles proved far more capable than Golden Harbor's official forces, and many nobles were themselves formidable warriors.
Moreover, both nobles and merchants possessed a vast array of magical tools. For a time, they managed to fortify the district's buildings into ramparts, halting the orc advance!
But that was the extent of their success.
As the gates in the other directions were silently opened, the orcs relentlessly squeezed the living space of the city's residents, driving them in waves toward the Noble District.
Whether out of fear of spies among the populace or concern that the rabble might breach their lines, the nobles couldn't simply let them flood in.
But under such relentless pressure, the noble-formed front lines would soon be crushed.
The flickering light of torches pierced the curtains, casting the room in alternating light and shadow.
Hearing the approaching roars, Jieming slowly rose, his aura instantly shifting from calm restraint to the profound stillness of an abyss.
With a casual flick of his hand, he extinguished the lights within the villa, plunging Dawnlight Manor into darkness once more. It lay dormant in the night, like a giant beast lurking in the shadows, exuding an invisible danger.
Outside, the main gate trembled under the assault of several rampaging war boars, then collapsed with a thunderous crash.
A horde of orc warriors clad in crude leather armor, flanked by a few defected human soldiers, stormed into the villa, roaring and grinning as they prepared to plunder the place.
(End of the Chapter)
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