A Core Ship From The Start

Chapter 2666: Chapter 1799: The People Here Only Want Peace (As Expected, It’s Scarce and Tasteless)

"Hoo..."

Old Jimmy lifted his head, gazing at the farmland before him, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was already evening, the glow of the sunset shone upon the farmland, reflecting golden brilliance.

It seems like this will be another good harvest this year.

Satisfied, Old Jimmy nodded and left the farmland. They had lived here for generations, even before the Orcs defeated the Humans. Unlike people elsewhere, the locals here did not resent the Orc rule. It should be noted, before this land belonged to the Human Kingdom, the old Lord had always exploited them. Old Jimmy remembered those days when he was a child, living a life of hunger daily.

However, that despicable Lord dined on lavish feasts every meal, indulging in beauties and wine inside the castle. Any woman he fancied would be taken to the castle for his pleasure, and most of those women never returned.

Back then, life was like a nightmare for Old Jimmy. That’s why when the Orcs broke through this city and killed that Lord, everyone felt relieved. Although there were terrifying tales about the Orcs, compared to their own Lord, those tales weren’t as scary.

After that, the Orcs replaced the Humans, ruling this land. And Old Jimmy felt his life gradually improved.

The Beastman Lord here advocated coexistence between Humans and Orcs. Though they occupied the land, the Orcs did not treat the Humans violently. On the contrary, they helped rebuild the houses that were destroyed due to the battle and stated that as long as they obeyed, they wouldn’t be harmed.

These Orc soldiers seemed much better than the private soldiers of the previous Lord.

Old Jimmy enjoyed such a life, though people weren’t allowed to leave, and would face severe punishment if caught. Nonetheless, everyone believed no one would be foolish enough to leave. After all, for them now, there was no better place to live than this land; even others from neighboring lands fled here.

From them, Old Jimmy learned that life over there was terrifying, treated as slaves, being killed or eaten was commonplace. But he didn’t feel it had much to do with the Orcs, because the former Lord, apart from not eating people, did things much worse than those Orcs.

Therefore, no matter how those refugees spoke, Old Jimmy felt it was just their misfortune not meeting a Beastman Lord like here.

Just like the former Human Kingdom, there were good Lords and bad Lords, nothing unusual. It was simple; he had bad luck before, and now they were just unlucky.

Ending his work for the day, Old Jimmy went to the tavern, ordered a beer to drink heartily, while listening to the nearby conversations. Everyone here was local and more familiar with each other. Any news spread quickly.

However, today’s atmosphere seemed gloomy; it wasn’t good news.

"Recently, the Lord’s Guard Army has taken over our duties, starting to lock down the outer city."

"Eh? Why?"

"I heard a war broke out in the neighboring land; Humans and Orcs have started fighting."

"What does that have to do with us?"

"The Lord probably fears we might assist those Humans. After all, we’re guarding the city gates, and if an enemy launched an attack, just opening the gate would let them in directly."

A Guard spoke while drinking sullenly, and hearing his answer, the nearby patron frowned.

"How could that be? Everyone loves life as it is now, there’s absolutely no way to do such things. Even as Humans, what help would they offer us? Who can guarantee those Humans wouldn’t be as cruel as the former Lord?"

"We certainly wouldn’t, but as for those outsiders, who knows?"

The Guard lowered his voice.

"Actually, I’ve long heard that quite a few refugees from outside are secretly wary of the Lord. Saying how Orcs would never coexist peacefully with Humans, the Orcs being so nice, must be up to some conspiracy or such nonsense..."

"Hmph, truly foolish."

The tavern patron also snorted coldly.

"In my opinion, they shouldn’t have let these refugees in. They’ve made everything chaotic since arriving here. Wasn’t there an incident of someone trying to attack the Lord’s soldiers? I really don’t understand why the Lord doesn’t just keep them all outside!"

That’s the difference between locals and outsiders. Locals who have lived here for generations mostly don’t see a problem with Orcs ruling the Humans. But those outsiders are different; they hate the Orcs and even wish to wipe them out. After they arrived, the originally peaceful life frequently encountered issues. Some even attempted to attack the Lord’s Guard Army, trying to ignite a full-scale war between Humans and Orcs.

Of course, such evil schemes were quickly stopped, the Lord was wise and didn’t get provoked. But this made locals increasingly hate the outsiders. To them, being able to live peacefully here was enough. Yet these outsiders, clueless, even intent on killing the Lord, they’re simply insane!

They’d never ally with a group of deranged fools!

But fortunately, the Lord understood this well. Hence, the soldiers from the Human Army here were mostly local youths. As for the outsiders, they could only do menial tasks unless they proved loyalty to the Lord or contributed to the city; otherwise, they could only be laborers.

Still, for most refugees, this was already quite good.

But there are always some...

"Hope those guys don’t come here."

Another patron said with feeling.

"We are living such good lives here, we don’t want these guys to mess things up. We only wish for a peaceful life, it doesn’t matter who rules us, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I really don’t get what those people are trying to do. We really don’t need them to save us."

"And what if they go too far and make the Lord suspicious of all of us?"

"Exactly, not all Humans are against the Orcs..."

As they spoke, everyone nodded in agreement. They truly disliked those attackers because along with one Orc territory after another being attacked, the Orcs were keeping a stricter watch over Humans. They also noticed that the Orc soldiers who previously spoke to them politely were now becoming more serious, causing the locals to feel very uneasy and worried.

They wanted to show their loyalty to the Lord, but unfortunately, they didn’t yet know how to do it. Although someone suggested forming a patrol team voluntarily, the idea was rejected by everyone. After all, doing so might just make the situation worse.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang!!"

Suddenly, urgent bell rings echoed. Hearing this sound, the people in the tavern were taken aback, and the Soldier leapt to his feet!

"There’s an enemy attack!!"

When the soldiers hurriedly arrived at the city wall, they clearly saw thousands of soldiers dressed in black standing in the distance, staring at them. At the same time, the Orc army was already prepared, their captain glaring forward at the enemy.

"Black clothes, steel armor—no doubt, it’s them. Report to the Lord immediately!"

"Yes!"

Quickly, another Messenger Soldier from the Beast Race departed to convey the message, and the captain turned to the Human soldiers beside him,

"You all, leave here and guard the refugee area. The battle is about to start, and it might cause chaos in the city!"

"We want to stay here too!"

Upon hearing the Orc captain’s order, the Human soldiers mustered up courage and spoke.

"We, like you, want to protect our hometown. We will never betray it!"

"You..."

Hearing the Human soldiers speak, the Orc captain frowned for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright, half of you stay here, the others guard the refugee area to prevent any chaos!"

"Yes!"

Soon, some Human soldiers left, while others remained, holding their bows and arrows, staring at the distant enemies. They gritted their teeth, their eyes burning with rage. This was their home, here they lived in peace, and they would never allow anyone to trample on their home!

Even though beside them were not their kin, but Orcs, at this moment, they were comrades, because they were fighting for the same goal!

Just then, the Human army in front started to slowly advance. Meanwhile, the Guard saw behind them several tall figures covered in steel appear, raising their weapons towards the city wall.

"Get down!!"

"Boom!!"

The stone wall suddenly exploded, as if hit by artillery shells. Both Orcs and Humans at that moment crouched behind the wall, unable to even retaliate, only hearing the continuous roar of artillery and the sound of the wall being bombarded.

"Counterattack, counterattack, don’t let them get close to the city gate!!"

The Orc captain shouted as he raised his long bow and shot forward. Other soldiers also picked up their weapons to retaliate, and the attackers raised their guns, lasers and arrows entwined in flight, sparking a chaotic battle.

The Human Guards desperately fired while dodging the red beams shot towards them—they had just seen an Orc beside them get hit by the beam and turned into a charred black body. He definitely didn’t want to use his body to test how powerful this thing was.

"Boom!!"

Another explosion sounded, the city wall was breached again, and at this moment, the Orc captain was already severely injured, but he continued to shout loudly.

"Everyone, hold on, the Lord’s army is arriving soon! Guard the city gate!"

"...Huh?"

Just then, the Human Guard suddenly noticed a familiar figure swiftly traversing the chaotic battlefield, reaching the nearby path, and taking advantage of no one paying attention, reached out and grabbed the handle.

"Wait, stop, what are you doing!"

Upon seeing this, the Human Guard was shocked and urgently screamed, but it was too late.

"Boom!"

As the figure pulled down the handle, the previously tightly closed gate suddenly fell open completely!