Chapter 3: Despicable Tactics

Not surprisingly, after receiving Dragumo’s assurance, Mainit eventually led the Knozo soldiers who had retreated to the inner fortress to lay down their weapons and come out. Continuing to resist was meaningless—only the soldiers’ lives would be lost. Mainit wasn’t willing to sacrifice his own life for honor at this time; such honor seemed too burdensome for him.

As soon as the three castles fell into the hands of the Caucasus army, Dragumo began recruiting craftsmen and laborers throughout Livonia to start work on upgrading the defenses of the castles. At the same time, he sent out scouts to locate the Knozo forces from Hesse in the north as quickly as possible. He didn’t know how much time he had left—maybe three days, maybe five, but certainly no more than a week.

Livonia was clearly unprepared for war. Dragumo struggled greatly to gather a few dozen crossbows from the armories hidden by the nobles, almost forcing them to take them down from the battlements of their fortresses. Fortunately, the nobles understood well these ferocious half-orc armies and willingly provided their privately stored military supplies to contribute to the impending war.

After all, Lord Komer’s name was well-known throughout Nicomedia. These nobles held no goodwill toward the members of the Northern Alliance. After losing the leader of the Romanov family, they preferred to have a noble family from Nicomedia lead the region.

Without ballistae, with only a few crossbows, and fortresses that were mostly mere formsality—this was the state of the three castles. No substantial improvements could be made in just a few days. But Dragumo couldn’t afford to worry too much. Every bit of improvement brought more hope. He could only hope to buy time so that reinforcements could arrive.

What troubled Dragumo wasn’t just the weakness of the castle defenses but also the thousands of prisoners. Keeping them required resources and a large number of soldiers to guard them, especially with war looming. If the enemy attacked, the prisoners trapped inside the castles might riot, posing an even greater threat to their own side.

“What’s a good way to deal with these guys?” Dragumo was troubled. Letting them go was a pity, as they might join forces against him in future battles. Selling them as slaves seemed like a good idea, but there was no time left—no slave trader would undertake such a task under these circumstances, especially with such a large number of people.
“It’s really difficult to figure out,” Meloni scratched his head. He had already started thinking like Dragumo’s assistant. “If we let them go, they might join Knoso’s army in battle—that’s absolutely unacceptable. If they swear not to take hostile action against us…”
“No, no, I don’t believe in that. These mortals are too cunning; they have no sense of integrity at all.” Thinking of Lord Komer’s tactics against enemies, Dragumo shook his head repeatedly. “If they were orcs or barbarians, maybe it would work.”
“What then? We can’t send hundreds of soldiers to watch over them all day long and take care of their food and drink—that’s absurd,” Meloni said, clicking his tongue.
“I think we have no choice but to let them go, but we need to do something first.” Dragumo racked his brains. What would Lord Komer do in this situation?
“What do you mean?” Meloni asked skeptically.
“Well, make them lose their fighting ability, their will to fight, and their confidence,” Dragumo said, unsure how to express his idea.
“Oh? If that’s possible, that would be great, but how?” Meloni perked up.
Starting that night, nearly a thousand Knoso captives were separated and guarded. In shifts, soldiers were escorted out in the middle of the night by the orc soldiers, who then began digging enormous pits in the open field. No one knew what these pits were for or why they were dug at midnight.
These doubts lingered in the minds of the Knoso captives until, by chance, one of them overheard orc officers discussing how many people could be buried in these mass graves. This discovery terrified the Knoso captives, sparking panic among them. But under the brutal force of the orc soldiers, the unarmed Knoso people could only stand helplessly, filled with fear.

Dragumo stepped in to calm things down just right, but his hesitant and evasive manner only heightened the fear and anxiety among the Knossans. They stayed awake all night, especially after batches of large pits were dug—now even more terrified. In the darkness, they feared at any moment being dragged out by those horrible half-orcs and buried alive. This situation lasted nearly a week, keeping all the Knossan captives in a state of extreme fear and tension. Some suffered from insomnia or dared not sleep, while many even suffered mental breakdowns.

“Well? Isn’t my method good? Hehe, keeping these guys in this state until the last moment before releasing them—let’s see if they can still fight against us!” Dragumo said proudly.

“Hmph, fight? I think what they need now is to go home and heal their wounded minds. It will take months for them to recover, and even if they do, I doubt they’ll ever be able to become true warriors again.” Meloni sighed in admiration. Though this Dragumo was just a half-orc, he truly started to resemble Lord Komer—capable of coming up with such despicable tactics.

“Hmph, I imagine that once these guys are released and reunite with their newly arrived comrades, they’ll likely pass on their fear and despair to others. That would be perfect—killing two birds with one stone.” Dragumo seemed to be thinking even further ahead.