Chapter 56: Vesra''s mixed feelings


    In front of the entrance of the Steel-tipped Tarants'' cavern, Vesra was pacing back and forth with uneasiness. Honestly, this situation was too much to handle for a sixteen years old.


    "What a crazy n! I can''t believe that I might die here. Ahhh!" She couldn''t help but utter to herself as she oversaw and coordinated the troops for the uing battle. With all the words she could think of, she cursed Venn with all her heart.


    Despite her reluctance, it was toote to withdraw now. Like a bow that has its string drawn, there is no going back from this.


    Thus, along with the okay signal from Venn''s shadow, she readied the troops at a moment''s notice.


    Together with her, were 240 of the militias under Venn''smand standing at attention with their tower shields held high up. Lined up in two straight rows, their shields were covering their bodiespletely and their boots were dug deep into the dirt ground as they waited.


    No one said anything.


    The atmosphere in the air was filled with dead silence as it was the first time they were engaged in actualbat since they joined the militias.


    Although Venn had prepared them mentally in advance, some of them couldn''t help but shake their hands in fear. In a moment, each and everyone of them would be under intense pressure and danger, hence, it would exin their shaky hands and grim expression on their faces.


    During this time, many of them began to think about the easy job that the other 10 men had to do. With nervousughter, they wondered if their bodies would still be in one piece for them to recover.


    Nevertheless, even if they were staring at death itself, not a single one of them was cowering in fear.


    Rather than bravery that was supporting their morale, it was the absolute trust that they had on Venn that supported their morale from crashing down.


    Vesra was watching from the sidelines as she waited. As she looked at each and every one of the militias'' faces, she was in awe of Venn''s ability to take effective control of the troop''smand within such a short period of time.


    In the beginning, she could not understand why her elder sister would ce her trust on Venn so readily that she hatched a n with Granny to bring Venn on their side, going so far as to use her body to seduce him to attain that goal.


    It wasn''t until she had seen it with her own eyes this morning that she was convinced that her sister was right.


    It was totally unheard of for the proud Onis to ce their trust on an outsider. Even now, she could not believe the absurdity that happened in front of her eyes just hours before.


    ***


    At the break of dawn, the militias were assembled in the training grounds fully equipped. In front of them was a heightened wooden tform where themanders would oversee their troops. However, this time, rather than theirmanders, it was the second princess and a feeble looking man climbing up the stairs to the middle of the tform.


    Venn was quivering in his boots as nervousness overwhelmed him when he faced such a big crowd of people. Nevertheless, he quickly regained hisposure especially after having done so many shameless acts to deceive the NPCs in the game.


    Heck, he even coerced a princess into submitting herself to him.


    It had been his n all along to reach this stage when he realised the entire situation surrounding the quest. He was not going to fail this.


    With the loudest voice he could muster, he addressed the Onis troops that were watching him from below the stage drawing from the mountains of books that he had read in Rosewell Library.


    "I am Lord Night Raid, themander of you for the uing battle against the goblins! Do you know why you are here with me as yourmander?"


    "Let me answer that question for you!"


    "It is because all of you are unfathomably and disgustingly weak! Weak like the squirming maggots, all of you could only grovel on the ground incapable of doing anything!


    "What!"


    "Who is this clown?"


    "How dare he mocked us!"


    The troops below the wooden tform exploded with anger as the newmander mocked them for no reason. Furthermore, it was the first time they had met and the other party was an outsider that knew nothing about them.


    Faced with furious reactions from the Oni militias below, Venn smiled. It was just the reaction that he was hoping for. However, he needed them to react much more violently. As such, he continued to fan the mes of fury.


    "Are you all exasperated? Are you all offended by my words? But what rights do a weakling like you have? Eight dayster, all of you will be joining the war to kill the goblins that destroyed your life, but what can you achieve? As the militias of the n, all of you will be charging as vanguard in the front and die a worthless and gruesome death. In the eyes of your elders, all of you are only capable of being cannon fodder for the main troop!"


    "Your life is meaningless and all of you know it! Deep down, you know that all that I said is right! Let me ask you this! Why did you join the militias!"


    "I want to avenge my wife and daughter!"


    "They killed my parents in cold blood! I want their blood to spill as well!"


    "Mimi My Mimi! They took her away right in front of my eyes! We were going to get married and they snatched her away from me!"


    In response to Venn''s question, desperate shouts from various parts of the troops echoed loudly in the training ground. When the Onis heard the same predicament that happened to them had happened to their fellow brother-in-arms, all of the militias clenched their fists and bit on their teeth, remembering the humiliation they suffered in the past when their viges were attacked by the goblins.


    "I couldn''t save them! Only I survived" That was their only thought when they found out they survived whilst their viges were destroyed.